• Latest
  • Trending

How Britain stole $45 trillion from India and lied about it

December 15, 2018
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

October 4, 2023
Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu

Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu

October 4, 2023
Children. Image credits - Piron Guillaume gpiron

Adults shouting at children can be as harmful to a child’s development as sexual or physical abuse, study finds

October 4, 2023
Vaccines. Image credits - Mufid Majnun / Unsplash

mRNA vaccines: 5 things to know

October 4, 2023
A coffee tree in Hacienda Alsacia. Image credits - Joshua Trujillo/Starbucks

Coffee is in danger. Starbucks is working on solutions

October 4, 2023
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy quits after historic vote to oust him

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy quits after historic vote to oust him

October 4, 2023
Apple

Why your new Apple iPhone 15 is overheating

October 3, 2023
Ranil Wickremesinghe’s explosive interview to DW

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s explosive interview to DW

October 4, 2023
Roots of Sikh gangsterism in Canada

Roots of Sikh gangsterism in Canada

October 4, 2023
Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

October 3, 2023
Mosquitoes

WHO recommends malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year

October 3, 2023
Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara appointed as new chair of MCC’s World Cricket Committee

October 3, 2023
  • About Us
  • Advertisements
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
Thursday, October 5, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NewsIn.Asia
  • Home
  • Around South Asia
    • All
    • Afghanistan
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • China
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Myanmar
    • Nepal
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu

    Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu

    Ranil Wickremesinghe’s explosive interview to DW

    Ranil Wickremesinghe’s explosive interview to DW

    Roots of Sikh gangsterism in Canada

    Roots of Sikh gangsterism in Canada

    Kumar Sangakkara

    Kumar Sangakkara appointed as new chair of MCC’s World Cricket Committee

    FILE PHOTO: A Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle is displayed at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada February 18, 2020. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

    Sri Lanka to implement new vehicle revenue licence issuing system

    Nepal wants development aid from China, not a security pact

    Nepal wants development aid from China, not a security pact

    Winner Muizzu meets Solih to smoothen post-poll transition  

    Winner Muizzu meets Solih to smoothen post-poll transition  

    New Maldivian President to balance India and China

    New Maldivian President to balance India and China

  • World
    • All
    • Japan
    • Russia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    Children. Image credits - Piron Guillaume gpiron

    Adults shouting at children can be as harmful to a child’s development as sexual or physical abuse, study finds

    Vaccines. Image credits - Mufid Majnun / Unsplash

    mRNA vaccines: 5 things to know

    A coffee tree in Hacienda Alsacia. Image credits - Joshua Trujillo/Starbucks

    Coffee is in danger. Starbucks is working on solutions

    US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy quits after historic vote to oust him

    US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy quits after historic vote to oust him

    Apple

    Why your new Apple iPhone 15 is overheating

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Mosquitoes

    WHO recommends malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year

    Is Canada becoming the “new Pakistan” for India

    Is Canada becoming the “new Pakistan” for India

    China

    What China’s economic problems mean for the world

  • Business
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Books
    • Gaming
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Series
    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Jawan is releasing on 4000 screens internationally. It is the widest release for an SRK centric film (Credit: Red Chillies Entertainment)

    This actor is so huge his fans lined up at 4.30 a.m. to watch his new movie

    Instagram. Solen Feyissa @solenfeyissa / Unsplash

    New report reveals highest earners from Instagram posts

    Barbie

    Lebanon bans ‘Barbie’ movie

    How I came to love ‘Oppenheimer’ and still detest the bomb

    How I came to love ‘Oppenheimer’ and still detest the bomb

    Rajnikanth

    Back Offices in Chennai, Bengaluru declare holiday on August 10 for Rajnikanth’s ‘Jailer’ movie premiere

    Taylor Swift

    Taylor Swift Seattle concert generates seismic activity

    Actors Emily Blunt (L), Cillian Murphy (centre) and Florence Pugh (R) at the premiere of Oppenheimer. Image credits - Getty Images.

    Hollywood actors announce historic strike

    Hugh Jackman dons classic Wolverine suit in Deadpool

    Hugh Jackman dons classic Wolverine suit in Deadpool 3 first look

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Science
    • Travel
    Children. Image credits - Piron Guillaume gpiron

    Adults shouting at children can be as harmful to a child’s development as sexual or physical abuse, study finds

    Vaccines. Image credits - Mufid Majnun / Unsplash

    mRNA vaccines: 5 things to know

    A coffee tree in Hacienda Alsacia. Image credits - Joshua Trujillo/Starbucks

    Coffee is in danger. Starbucks is working on solutions

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Mosquitoes

    WHO recommends malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year

    This dish on Mugaritz's tasting menu is called "Technique: beef contrasts."

    This country has more of the world’s 50 best restaurants than any other

    Biden’s campaign team to prevent him from falling

    Biden’s campaign team to prevent him from falling

    This dish on Mugaritz's tasting menu is called "Technique: beef contrasts."

    The world’s 50 best restaurants for 2023 revealed

    The Upper House (Hong Kong): This beloved Hong Kong classic sits above Admiralty's Pacific Place and features 117 luxuriously-designed rooms. Courtesy Upper House Hong Kong

    World’s 50 best hotels for 2023 revealed

    Indian government’s decision to delay the census raises suspicions, says Lancet

    Indian government’s decision to delay the census raises suspicions, says Lancet

    Trending Tags

    • Golden Globes
    • Mr. Robot
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Climate Change
    • Flat Earth
  • Tech
    Apple

    Why your new Apple iPhone 15 is overheating

    Whatsapp. Image credits - AARN GIRI / Unsplash

    New features introduced in Whatsapp’s latest update

    iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature a gorgeous new and durable design, the Dynamic Island, a powerful 48MP Main camera, and A16 Bionic.

    iOS 17 release: See what’s new in iPhone features

    How to erase everything that Google and Facebook know about you

    How to erase everything that Google and Facebook know about you

    Apple

    France orders Apple to halt iPhone 12 sales

    iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature a gorgeous new and durable design, the Dynamic Island, a powerful 48MP Main camera, and A16 Bionic.

    Apple debuts iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus

    Trending Tags

    • Sillicon Valley
    • Climate Change
    • Election Results
    • Flat Earth
    • Golden Globes
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Mr. Robot
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Home
  • Around South Asia
    • All
    • Afghanistan
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • China
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Myanmar
    • Nepal
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu

    Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu

    Ranil Wickremesinghe’s explosive interview to DW

    Ranil Wickremesinghe’s explosive interview to DW

    Roots of Sikh gangsterism in Canada

    Roots of Sikh gangsterism in Canada

    Kumar Sangakkara

    Kumar Sangakkara appointed as new chair of MCC’s World Cricket Committee

    FILE PHOTO: A Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle is displayed at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada February 18, 2020. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

    Sri Lanka to implement new vehicle revenue licence issuing system

    Nepal wants development aid from China, not a security pact

    Nepal wants development aid from China, not a security pact

    Winner Muizzu meets Solih to smoothen post-poll transition  

    Winner Muizzu meets Solih to smoothen post-poll transition  

    New Maldivian President to balance India and China

    New Maldivian President to balance India and China

  • World
    • All
    • Japan
    • Russia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    Children. Image credits - Piron Guillaume gpiron

    Adults shouting at children can be as harmful to a child’s development as sexual or physical abuse, study finds

    Vaccines. Image credits - Mufid Majnun / Unsplash

    mRNA vaccines: 5 things to know

    A coffee tree in Hacienda Alsacia. Image credits - Joshua Trujillo/Starbucks

    Coffee is in danger. Starbucks is working on solutions

    US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy quits after historic vote to oust him

    US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy quits after historic vote to oust him

    Apple

    Why your new Apple iPhone 15 is overheating

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Mosquitoes

    WHO recommends malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year

    Is Canada becoming the “new Pakistan” for India

    Is Canada becoming the “new Pakistan” for India

    China

    What China’s economic problems mean for the world

  • Business
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Books
    • Gaming
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Series
    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

    Jawan is releasing on 4000 screens internationally. It is the widest release for an SRK centric film (Credit: Red Chillies Entertainment)

    This actor is so huge his fans lined up at 4.30 a.m. to watch his new movie

    Instagram. Solen Feyissa @solenfeyissa / Unsplash

    New report reveals highest earners from Instagram posts

    Barbie

    Lebanon bans ‘Barbie’ movie

    How I came to love ‘Oppenheimer’ and still detest the bomb

    How I came to love ‘Oppenheimer’ and still detest the bomb

    Rajnikanth

    Back Offices in Chennai, Bengaluru declare holiday on August 10 for Rajnikanth’s ‘Jailer’ movie premiere

    Taylor Swift

    Taylor Swift Seattle concert generates seismic activity

    Actors Emily Blunt (L), Cillian Murphy (centre) and Florence Pugh (R) at the premiere of Oppenheimer. Image credits - Getty Images.

    Hollywood actors announce historic strike

    Hugh Jackman dons classic Wolverine suit in Deadpool

    Hugh Jackman dons classic Wolverine suit in Deadpool 3 first look

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Science
    • Travel
    Children. Image credits - Piron Guillaume gpiron

    Adults shouting at children can be as harmful to a child’s development as sexual or physical abuse, study finds

    Vaccines. Image credits - Mufid Majnun / Unsplash

    mRNA vaccines: 5 things to know

    A coffee tree in Hacienda Alsacia. Image credits - Joshua Trujillo/Starbucks

    Coffee is in danger. Starbucks is working on solutions

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Hungarian and US scientists win Nobel in medicine for COVID-19 vaccine work

    Mosquitoes

    WHO recommends malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year

    This dish on Mugaritz's tasting menu is called "Technique: beef contrasts."

    This country has more of the world’s 50 best restaurants than any other

    Biden’s campaign team to prevent him from falling

    Biden’s campaign team to prevent him from falling

    This dish on Mugaritz's tasting menu is called "Technique: beef contrasts."

    The world’s 50 best restaurants for 2023 revealed

    The Upper House (Hong Kong): This beloved Hong Kong classic sits above Admiralty's Pacific Place and features 117 luxuriously-designed rooms. Courtesy Upper House Hong Kong

    World’s 50 best hotels for 2023 revealed

    Indian government’s decision to delay the census raises suspicions, says Lancet

    Indian government’s decision to delay the census raises suspicions, says Lancet

    Trending Tags

    • Golden Globes
    • Mr. Robot
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Climate Change
    • Flat Earth
  • Tech
    Apple

    Why your new Apple iPhone 15 is overheating

    Whatsapp. Image credits - AARN GIRI / Unsplash

    New features introduced in Whatsapp’s latest update

    iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature a gorgeous new and durable design, the Dynamic Island, a powerful 48MP Main camera, and A16 Bionic.

    iOS 17 release: See what’s new in iPhone features

    How to erase everything that Google and Facebook know about you

    How to erase everything that Google and Facebook know about you

    Apple

    France orders Apple to halt iPhone 12 sales

    iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature a gorgeous new and durable design, the Dynamic Island, a powerful 48MP Main camera, and A16 Bionic.

    Apple debuts iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus

    Trending Tags

    • Sillicon Valley
    • Climate Change
    • Election Results
    • Flat Earth
    • Golden Globes
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Mr. Robot
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
NewsIn.Asia
No Result
View All Result
Home Around South Asia

How Britain stole $45 trillion from India and lied about it

Editor by Editor
December 15, 2018
in Around South Asia, Around The World, India, Top Story
Reading Time: 5 mins read
6 0
A A
50
SHARES
Share on WhatsApp

By Dr.Jason Hickel

London, December 15 (Al Jazeera): There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonization of India – as horrible as it may have been – was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the fact that the empire was sustained for so long – the story goes – was a gesture of Britain’s benevolence.

New research by the renowned economist Utsa Patnaik – just published by Columbia University Press – deals a crushing blow to this narrative.

ADVERTISEMENT

Drawing on nearly two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade, Patnaik calculated that Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938.

It’s a staggering sum. For perspective, $45 trillion is 17 times more than the total annual gross domestic product of the United Kingdom today.

How did this come about?

It happened through the trade system. Prior to the colonial period, Britain bought goods like textiles and rice from Indian producers and paid for them in the normal way – mostly with silver – as they did with any other country.

But something changed in 1765, shortly after the East India Company took control of the subcontinent and established a monopoly over Indian trade.

Here’s how it worked. The East India Company began collecting taxes in India, and then cleverly used a portion of those revenues (about a third) to fund the purchase of Indian goods for British use. In other words, instead of paying for Indian goods out of their own pocket, British traders acquired them for free, “buying” from peasants and weavers using money that had just been taken from them.

It was a scam – theft on a grand scale.

Dr.Utsa Patnaik

Yet most Indians were unaware of what was going on because the agent who collected the taxes was not the same as the one who showed up to buy their goods. Had it been the same person, they surely would have smelled a rat.

Some of the stolen goods were consumed in Britain, and the rest were re-exported elsewhere. The re-export system allowed Britain to finance a flow of imports from Europe, including strategic materials like iron, tar and timber, which were essential to Britain’s industrialization.

Indeed, the Industrial Revolution depended in large part on this systematic theft from India.

On top of this, the British were able to sell the stolen goods to other countries for much more than they “bought” them for in the first place, pocketing not only 100 percent of the original value of the goods but also the markup.

After the British Raj took over in 1857, colonizers added a special new twist to the tax-and-buy system. As the East India Company’s monopoly broke down, Indian producers were allowed to export their goods directly to other countries. But Britain made sure that the payments for those goods nonetheless ended up in London.

How did this work? Basically, anyone who wanted to buy goods from India would do so using special Council Bills – a unique paper currency issued only by the British Crown. And the only way to get those bills was to buy them from London with gold or silver. So traders would pay London in gold to get the bills, and then use the bills to pay Indian producers. When Indians cashed the bills in at the local colonial office, they were “paid” in rupees out of tax revenues – money that had just been collected from them. So, once again, they were not in fact paid at all; they were defrauded.

Dr.Jason Hickel, Anthropologist  London School of Economics

Meanwhile, London ended up with all of the gold and silver that should have gone directly to the Indians in exchange for their exports.

This corrupt system meant that even while India was running an impressive trade surplus with the rest of the world – a surplus that lasted for three decades in the early 20th century – it showed up as a deficit in the national accounts because the real income from India’s exports was appropriated in its entirety by Britain.

Some point to this fictional “deficit” as evidence that India was a liability to Britain. But exactly the opposite is true. Britain intercepted enormous quantities of income that rightly belonged to Indian producers. India was the goose that laid the golden egg. Meanwhile, the “deficit” meant that India had no option but to borrow from Britain to finance its imports. So the entire Indian population was forced into completely unnecessary debt to their colonial overlords, further cementing British control.

Britain used the windfall from this fraudulent system to fuel the engines of imperial violence – funding the invasion of China in the 1840s and the suppression of the Indian Rebellion in 1857. And this was on top of what the Crown took directly from Indian taxpayers to pay for its wars. As Patnaik points out, “the cost of all Britain’s wars of conquest outside Indian borders were charged always wholly or mainly to Indian revenues.”

And that’s not all. Britain used this flow of tribute from India to finance the expansion of capitalism in Europe and regions of European settlement, like Canada and Australia. So not only the industrialisation of Britain but also the industrialisation of much of the Western world was facilitated by extraction from the colonies.

Patnaik identifies four distinct economic periods in colonial India from 1765 to 1938, calculates the extraction for each, and then compounds at a modest rate of interest (about 5 percent, which is lower than the market rate) from the middle of each period to the present. Adding it all up, she finds that the total drain amounts to US$ 44.6 trillion. This figure is conservative, she says, and does not include the debts that Britain imposed on India during the Raj.

These are eye-watering sums. But the true costs of this drain cannot be calculated. If India had been able to invest its own tax revenues and foreign exchange earnings in development – as Japan did – there’s no telling how history might have turned out differently. India could very well have become an economic powerhouse. Centuries of poverty and suffering could have been prevented.

All of this is a sobering antidote to the rosy narrative promoted by certain powerful voices in Britain. The conservative historian Niall Ferguson has claimed that British rule helped “develop” India. While he was prime minister, David Cameron asserted that British rule was a net help to India.

This narrative has found considerable traction in the popular imagination: according to a 2014 YouGov poll, 50 percent of people in Britain believe that colonialism was beneficial to the colonies.

Yet during the entire 200-year history of British rule in India, there was almost no increase in per capita income. In fact, during the last half of the 19th century – the heyday of British intervention – income in India collapsed by half. The average life expectancy of Indians dropped by a fifth from 1870 to 1920. Tens of millions died needlessly of policy-induced famine.

Britain didn’t develop India. Quite the contrary – as Patnaik’s work makes clear – India developed Britain.

What does this require of Britain today? An apology? Absolutely. Reparations? Perhaps – although there is not enough money in all of Britain to cover the sums that Patnaik identifies.

In the meantime, we can start by setting the story straight. We need to recognize that Britain retained control of India not out of benevolence but for the sake of plunder and that Britain’s industrial rise didn’t emerge sui generis from the steam engine and strong institutions, as our schoolbooks would have it, but depended on violent theft from other lands and other peoples.  

(The featured picture the top shows Britain’s last Viceroy in India Lord Louis Mountbatten and Lady Edwina Mountbatten riding to the Viceregal Lodge in New Delhi on March 22, 1947)  

 

Related Posts

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners
Culture

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindaban Gurukul for new-age learners

October 4, 2023
Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu
Maldives

Former Maldivian President Nasheed extends full support to Muizzu

October 4, 2023
Children. Image credits - Piron Guillaume gpiron
Around The World

Adults shouting at children can be as harmful to a child’s development as sexual or physical abuse, study finds

October 4, 2023
Vaccines. Image credits - Mufid Majnun / Unsplash
Around The World

mRNA vaccines: 5 things to know

October 4, 2023
A coffee tree in Hacienda Alsacia. Image credits - Joshua Trujillo/Starbucks
Around The World

Coffee is in danger. Starbucks is working on solutions

October 4, 2023
Apple
Around The World

Why your new Apple iPhone 15 is overheating

October 3, 2023
  • Electricity

    Power cut schedule for today in Sri Lanka: Uninterrupted power supply

    60414 shares
    Share 24188 Tweet 15094
  • Registration open for National Fuel Pass

    6647 shares
    Share 2696 Tweet 1646
  • Foreign Currency Official Exchange Rates from Central Bank of Sri Lanka

    2097 shares
    Share 845 Tweet 522
  • 12 hour water cut in areas of Colombo

    818 shares
    Share 349 Tweet 196
  • WATCH : Yohani’s first live performance in India

    791 shares
    Share 329 Tweet 193
  • About Us
  • Advertisements
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

© 2022 All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Around South Asia
    • Afghanistan
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • China
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Myanmar
    • Nepal
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
  • Around The World
  • Breaking News
  • Business
    • Exchange
  • Climate Change
  • Governance
    • Crime
    • Diplomacy
    • Defense
    • Human Rights
    • Politics
    • Strategic Affairs
  • Lifestyle
    • Books
    • Entertainment
      • Arts
      • Cinema
      • Gaming
      • Music
      • Movie
      • Series
      • TV
    • Health
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
  • Culture
    • Ethnicity
    • Gender
  • Development news
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Coronavirus
  • History
  • National
  • Offbeat
    • Media
    • Music and arts across South Asia
  • Recommended
    • Headlines
    • Highlights
    • Top Picture
    • Top Story
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Cricket
      • LPL
      • IPL
    • Tennis
    • Formula 1
    • NBA
  • Tech
    • Instagram
  • United Nations
  • Weather
  • World
    • Japan
    • Russia
    • United States
  • Videos

© 2022 All rights reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

eskisehir escort -

https://www.vudols.com/

- mersin escort - Antalya korsan taksi -
ip booter
-
deneme bonusu
- deneme bonusu veren siteler - Kiralık bahis sitesi - vbet giriş