Lord Rippon was appointed as the Under Secretary for India in 1859, when he entered the House of Commons on the Liberal Party ticket. In 1880 the Liberal Party came in power in England under the leadership of Gladstone. Gladstone, a chief devotee of Liberty in Europe, entrusted lord Rippon to carry out his policy in India. Rippon was an honest man with broad outlook. India was in a state of revolution-political, social and religious, when Lord Rippon came to India. The unpopular policies of Lord Lytton had driven discontent among the masses and India was bordering on revolution. Rippon tried to heal the wounds of India and adopted several positive and constructive measures in order to do some good to the Indians. It was he, who formulated the policy of the local self-government, which laid the foundations of the representative institutions in India. After becoming the Governor general of India Rippon adopted several policies, which constituted his reign as one of the important epoch of the history of British India.

Act III of 1882 repealed the horrible Vernacular Press Act of 1878. Through this act the newspaper was given the equal freedom with the rest of the Indian Press. This wise action of Rippon tried to undo the wrong done by Lytton and went a long way in conciliating the public opinion. Of Course the Government retained the Sea Customs Act of 1878, which authorized the Post Office authorities to search and seize any vernacular writing of a seditious nature.

To improve the condition of the factory laborers, the Government of Rippon passed the first factory Act, which sought to regulate and improve the condition of the labor in Indian factories. The Act was applicable in case of factories employing 100 or more laborers. The factory Act also prohibited the employment of children under the age of seven. Moreover through this Act the number of working hours for the children below 12 years. Inspectors were appointed to supervise the implementation of these measures. The Act though limited in its scope opened a new phase in the industrial history of India.

Lord Rippon continued the financial decentralization inaugurated under Lord Mayo. When the first experiment in financial devolution worked well, the government of Rippon decided to increase further financial responsibilities of the provinces. The sources of revenue were divided into three classes namely- Imperial, Provincial and Dividend. Revenue from the Customs, Posts and Telegraphs, Railways, Opium, Salt, Mint, Military Receipts, Land revenue etc. went wholly to the Central government and the Central expenditure was to be met out of this income. Incomes from the subjects of local nature like jails, medical services, printing, roads, and general administration was to be maintained by the provincial governments. Income of the Excise, stamps, forests, registration etc was proportionally divided between the Central Government and the provincial Governments. The Resolution of 1882 introduced the system of quinquennial settlement with the provinces. However the chief merit of the financial reforms introduced by Lord Rippon, gave the provincial governments a direct interest in the dividend heads raised within their jurisdiction.

The most notable work of Lord Rippon in the field of administration was the introduction of the local self-government. Rippon set the municipal institutions at work for this purpose. In this way he initiated the political education of the people. The development of the Local government was intended not to strengthen the administrative set up, rather was an instrument of political and popular education. According to the administrative reforms introduced by Rippon, Local boards were to be developed throughout the country. In the Rural areas the governor general made the smallest administrative unit- the subdivision, the Taluk or tahsil forming the maximum area under the local board. In towns the municipal Committees and the City bodies formed the local board. Local bodies were charged with the definite duties and entrusted with the several sources of revenue. Moreover according to this administrative reforms Rippon proposed that the provincial government should follow the financial decentralization introduced by Lord Mayo. The local boards both urban and rural must had the predominance of non-official members. Moreover the election of the local bodies would be permitted considering the circumstantial situations. The unjust official interferences should be reduced. The Government had to supervise the entire works of the local bodies but would stop dictating them. Chairmen of these local offices should not be the official staff rather he should be elected from the local bodies in the respective areas. Of course the official executive sanction was necessary in certain cases, such as the raising of loans, undertaking works which costs more than prescribed sum imposition of tax other than the authorized ones, the alienation of the municipal property, framing of rules and bye-laws etc. In pursuance of the Resolution the Local self Government Acts were passed in various provinces during 1883-85. In the Madras Local Boards Act of 1884, the work of lighting and cleaning of streets, education, water supply and medical aid to the local bodies etc were taken into consideration. Similar acts were also passed in Punjab and Bengal.

Lord Rippon also introduced new measures in the land revenue policies in India. He disfavored the system of Permanent Settlement of Lord Cornwallis. In 1793 Lord Cornwallis had by the system of Permanent Settlement transformed tax Collectors into landlords and placed the riots at their tender mercy. Lord Rippon, from the very beginning of his career in India, sought to modify the "Permanent Settlement" in Bengal. He also gave the riots assurance of permanence and security, while at the same time committing the government not to make any further enhancement of the land revenue except during the case of price rise. But the Revenue policy of Rippon did not work. The zamindars of Bengal opposed the measure and the peasants did not support it because they thought that the Anglo-Indian bureaucracy would be worst than the zamindars of Bengal. Moreover the secretary of State did not accept the land revenue of Reforms of Rippon favorably.

In1882, the Education Commission was appointed under the chairmanship of Sir William Hunter with the charge to look after and review the progress of education in the country. The commission emphasized the State`s special responsibility for the expansion and improvements of the elementary or the basic level of education. It recommended that the newly established municipal or the District boards would review the system of primary education. However the government would keep a watchful supervision to the successful functioning of the municipal bodies. As far as the secondary education was concerned, it was laid drown by Rippon that there would be two categories of education. The first was a literary education preparing the students for the Entrance Examination in the university. And the second one was entirely the vocational education. The vocational education would give the students a practical career in the commercial fields. Moreover the education commission also recommended the grants-in-aid for the progress of the primary and the secondary educatioan. A general principle was laid down that the Government should withdraw from the direct managements of the secondary schools. The inadequate facilities of the female education were also taken in consideration under the new policy of educational reforms. However the Education Commission of Rippon did not make any recommendations regarding the University education. The Government accepted most of the recommendation made by the Education Commission. The last s quarter of the nineteenth century witnessed an unprecedented growth in the field of education

One of the chief achievements of Lord Rippon was his judicial reform as is proposed in the Ilbert Bill. Sir C.P. Ilbert was the law member of the Viceroy`s council. With the instruction of the Viceroy, Ilbert introduced a bill popularly known as Ilbert Bill. The bill was introduced in the Legislative Council on 2nd February 1883. The sole purpose or the motto of the Ilbert bill was to abolish the judicial disqualification based on race distinctions. Before 1857, there were two separate systems of law in the Company`s territories. The first was the Mohammedan Law administered in the rural areas by the Company`s courts. The second one was the English law administered in the Presidency towns. There was also discrimination between the Indian and the European judges. No Indian judges were entitled to try the criminal cases involving the Europeans. The Ilbert Bill however sought to correct this anomaly and declared the equal powers of the Indian and the European judges.

The Ilbert Bill proved most unpopular among the European subjects in India. The proposal of Rippon was not even accepted favorably by the House authorities in England. The Europeans in India thought that Rippon had launched attack against his countrymen. This discontent between the viceroy and the Europeans give rise to the possibility of the racial riots. Under such circumstances, Rippon bowed before the agitation of his countrymen. Consequently he was bound to amend the bill, which was enacted on 26th January 1884.

On the charge of misgovernment Lords William Bentinck had annexed the state of Mysore in 1831. Later on it is known that the information of misgovernance was an exaggerated facts. But the company at that time refused to transfer the state of Mysore to the rajah. Rippon, after becoming the viceroy restored the administration of the state to the adopted son of the deposed raja who had died in 1866. The instrument of power transformation by which the maharaja of Mysore got his power initiated the changed nature of the paramount power and the Indian Princess.

Rippon however resigned before the term of his viceroyalty. India made an unprecedented progress in the socio-economic and the political field under Rippon. The best measures Rippon adopted in India were the introduction of the local self-government and the educational reforms. In this way Lord Rippon was indeed a different stamp from the typical viceroy.