Tag: British rule

Imperial plunder — II

How many million Indians were victims of famine during the 190 years of British rule? Thirty? Or, may be forty. And overall, India was never deficient in food grain. This has been testified by Robert Orme, the Travancore-born East India Company historian, in his 1778 book A History of Military Transactions of the British Nation...

February 28, 2017

Purifying democracy

When India attained freedom in 1947, its people were not familiar with the democratic system. Democracy was once described by Abraham Lincoln as a system “of the people, by the people and for the people’. But, such a definition hardly mirrors the reality of politics. It implies, ultimately, the existence of a system of Government...

February 13, 2017

Purifying democracy

When India attained freedom in 1947, its people were not familiar with the democratic system. Democracy was once described by Abraham Lincoln as a system “of the people, by the people and for the people’. But, such a definition hardly mirrors the reality of politics. It implies, ultimately, the existence of a system of Government...

February 13, 2017

Imperial India — I

A widely known Indian author and a prominent public figure has severely criticized British rule in India as an “era of darkness”. He has held the British responsible for widespread rural poverty, dismantling of trade and commerce, introducing ‘bureaucratic despotism’ and a calculated indifference to the well-being of Indians. He has derided Lord Macaulay as...

February 7, 2017