In order to discuss India’s development, we need to see where India has been historically in terms of standard of living among nations. We need to also compare the performance of pre-independence India to India after 1947. Let us look at some figures.
In the year 1700, when Aurangzeb was ruling India, the three major economic zones in the world were India, China and Western Europe. The USA did not exist. Each of these three regions had an estimated GDP of about 20-25% of world GDP. In other words, India and China were quite prosperous regions during that time when Industrial Revolution was yet to happen.
The British invasion and Industrial Revolution changed all that and made these two countries very poor. India’s share of world GDP came down to 7.5% in 1913.
Although the British introduced English education and built schools, colleges and universities, the literacy rate in 1881 was 3.2% which went up to a majestic figure of 12% in 1947. That was an interval of about 65 years. In next 60 years, independent India saw a rise in literacy from 12% to estimated 70% today.
In 1931 India’s life expectancy was a miserable 23 years. In 1947 when the British left, it rose to 28 years. Today, the estimated figure is 68.5.
During the British raj, products exported from India to Britain attracted a duty of 80 to 100% while products made in Britain in the mechanized manufacturing units were imported to India with a duty of 0 to 5%. This discrepancy killed all prospects of industry in India.
During the 200 years of British rule, some estimates claim that nearly 50 million people died in various famines. In 1943-44 Bengal famine, the total death toll was estimated to be 3 million. In contrast, there was no famine in independent India.
In 1973-74, 55% of all Indians were below poverty level. In 1987-88, it came down to 39%. Today it is somewhere between 21 and 27%, based on which estimate you look at. In spite of rising inequality, Gini index which measures degree of inequality, in India is much lower than China or the USA. A higher value of Gini index indicates higher inequality between rich and poor.
All these numbers indicate that the British plundered India and made it poor. It also ensured very low human development in India. In the 62 years since independence, in spite of all its flaws, the government has done far, far better than the British.
Another thing to note is that it was because of Nehru’s vision of a liberal, modern, secular, democratic, tolerant India that we have a functioning, albeit chaotic, democracy. I think that without Nehru, India could have been another Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.
However, India could have done better. We will discuss those in later blogs.