Superior economic systems destroyed by colonialists
It is history that the European colonialists interfered with the native functioning systems in different parts of the world, after they entered their territories. As a result the political, economic, social and cultural systems that were functioning in different countries came under attack. India remained a unique country in the world, full of wealth and prosperity, sustained by superior economic systems functioning very successfully for at least five thousand years or more. So India was the “ crown jewel” among all the colonies of the British with abundant resources and opportunities. One of their Viceroys, namely Curzon, made their intentions clear when he declared: “India is the pivot of Empire, by which I mean that outside the British Isles we could, I believe, lose any portion of the dominions of the Queen and yet survive as an Empire; while if we lost India, I maintain that our sun would sink to its setting”.
The East India Company, founded in 1600, gained its entry into India within a few years by establishing its trading post in Surat, through the rights granted by the ruling Mughal Emperor. Over the years the Company became richer and stronger and was able to take control of a few regions in the country. Robert Clive’s victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 made the Company so powerful, that it ultimately became the ruler. The Company and its officials misused their positions and plundered the resources of the country in every possible way. Widespread resentment against the attitudes and approaches of the Company led to mass uprisings, resulting in the First War of Independence in 1857. Soon India was brought under the British sovereign rule in 1858.
The biggest loss to the country under the British domination, initially through the Company and later through the sovereign Government, was the attacks on the time-tested and well -functioning systems nurtured over thousands of years of experience. The attacks were made continuously and systematically, especially targeting the economic systems. As a result all the different sectors of the economy had to face serious problems, leading to the loss of their original status, which in the process made India one of the poorest countries in the world.
The Indian farmers, who were known throughout the world for their outstanding knowledge of agriculture and abundant production, could not continue their vocation due to unbearable taxes and unfavorable conditions. Naoroji quoted the narrations of the British officials themselves to prove the pathetic condition of the Indian farmers. One of the officials by name Mr.Giberne who returned to India as a judge in 1840, saw the wealthy farmers in Gujarat becoming poorer in a period of just fourteen years. To quote: “I did not see so many of the more wealthy classes of the natives. …… The ryots all complain that they had money at once, but they had none now.” The attitude of the state was to collect as much revenue as possible even in difficult times, thereby pushing the farmers into debt and poverty. The following words taken from a letter written by John Bruce Norton, an official, to another official in 1854 mentions the condition of the farmers. “Now, it may certainly be said of almost the whole of the ryots, …………, that they are always in poverty and generally in debt.”
Their taxation system was so oppressive that even a few of their own officials voiced their opinions against it. For example, Frederick John Shore of the Bengali Civil Service had recorded in 1837: “The fundamental principle of the English has been to make the whole Indian nation subservient, in every possible way, in the interests and benefits of themselves. They have been taxed to the utmost limit; every successive province, as it has fallen into our possession, has been made a field of higher exaction; ……………. The summary is that the British Indian Government has been practically one of the most extortionate and oppressive that existed ever in India -- ……….”
The native industries, that were admired and respected for their products of highest quality throughout the world, were killed by the British within a short period. India, that remained an exporter of textiles for centuries since the ancient times earning enormous surpluses to the treasury, was forced to import from Britain due to their one-sided policies. Even Karl Marx who otherwise supported the British rule in India noted in 1853: “It was the British intruder who broke up the Indian hand-loom and destroyed the spinning-wheel. England began with driving the Indian cottons from the European market; it then introduced twist into Hindostan, and in the end inundated the very mother country of cotton with cottons. From 1818 to 1836 the export of twist from Great Britain to India rose in the proportion of 1 to 5,200. In 1824 the export of British muslins to India hardly amounted to 1,000,000 yards, while in 1837 it surpassed 64,000,000 of yards. But at the same time the population of Dacca decreased from 150,000 inhabitants to 20,000. This decline of Indian towns celebrated for their fabrics was by no means the worst consequence. British steam and science uprooted, over the whole surface of Hindostan, the union between agriculture and manufacturing industry.” As a result the local industries were wiped out leading to the “de-industrialisation” of the country. Millions of artisan families with skills acquired through centuries of involvement in their vocation lost their livelihood and were pushed into land based activities and other menial jobs as there was no place for them to go. This, of course, gave further pressure to the already struggling agricultural sector.
India was well known for exports since the ancient periods. Experts note that the country has a proud record of at least five thousand years in trade. The important point to be remembered is that India had maintained a favorable balance in international trade from the beginning, resulting in huge accumulation of gold and silver in the country. But all this changed with the entry of the British. India was made to become a net importer. Jawaharlal Nehru made the following observations on the trade practices of the British and their consequences in the country. “It was pure loot. The ‘Pagoda tree’ was shaken again and again till the most terrible famines ravaged Bengal. This process was called trade later on but that made little difference. Government called this so-called trade, and trade was plunder. There are few instances in history of anything like it. And it must be remembered that this lasted, under various names and under different forms, not for a few years but for generations. ”
The destruction of all the critical sectors of the economy, namely agriculture, industry and trade severely affected the overall performance of the country. Besides the other services sector activities also suffered serious blows. The figures provided by Maddison show as to how the share of India in the global GDP went down drastically from the eighteenth century, while that of the UK had increased many times.
Share of GDP of India and the UK in Global GDP
Year/ Country
1700
1820
1870
1913
1950
India
24.4
16.0
12.1
7.5
4.2
UK
2.9
5.2
9.0
8.2
6.5
The figures show that India’s share of global GDP, which in fact was the highest in the world in 1700, came down to 4.2 per cent in 1950, about one sixth of what it was just before 250 years. At the same time, the share of the U K, whose GDP was less than one eighth of that of India’s in 1700, overtook India in 1913. Studies undertaken during the past few years indicate that it was the stolen wealth from India which was mainly responsible for the “industrial revolution” in the U K.
The destruction of the native economic systems and the consequent difficulties led to the growth rates of per capita GDP of Indians to almost zero or negative, beginning from the nineteenth century till independence. The above rate during 1913-50 was a pathetic -0.22 per cent. So when India got her independence, she was a poor, illiterate and underdeveloped country. This was not due to any fault in her economic systems. India was made poor, illiterate and underdeveloped as the colonial rulers did not allow the home- grown systems to function, even while bleeding the country of all her resources and imposing alien systems that suited their self interests. As a result the most sustainable and effective economic system ever practiced in the history of mankind, which made India remain a superpower continuously for centuries had become extinct by time the British handed over the reins of the Government to the Indians.
References
1. Angus Maddison, The World Economy- A Millennial Perspective, Overseas Press ( India) Private Limited, New Delhi, 2003
2. Dadabhai Naoroji, Poverty and the Un-British Rule in India, Second Edition, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1996
3. Jawaharlal Nehru, Discovery of India, Penguin, New Delhi, 2004
4. Karl Marx, ‘The British Rule in India’, New-York Herald Tribune, June 10, 1853
( Yuva Bharati, Vol.38, No.8, Vivekananda Kendra, Chennai, February, 2011)
No comments:
Post a Comment