Positive And Negative Effects Of British Rule On India

Each story has a diverse point of view, correspondingly one can approach the topic globalization in India by British from two points of views, one would be the point of view of India and the other would be the point of view of British. British increased control of India through a variety of strategies which include trade, commerce and their motto known as “divide and rule”. It was in no time that they took control of most of India’s states, leaving out a few. However, we cannot deny the fact that British imperialism had outcomes on a spectrum that ranged from great to poor in political, economic and social manner. Though, the globalization in India due to the British gave rise to a few advancements, it led to a long term destruction of the country as most of its valuable resources that it needed it to thrive were used in foreign interventions and affairs.

India was not a free state before the British arrived and was ruled by the Mughal emperors. Mughal Empire ruled parts of Afghanistan and most of the Indian Subcontinent between 1526 and 1857 period. The Mughal religion was Islam and it was a clear-cut factor in molding the culture and society of India. The Mughal Empire was founded by Bahadur Shah Babur in 1526 when he defeated the last Afghan Lodi Sultan at the first battle of Panipat. After that Mughal Empire kept expanding and later got control of most of the Indian subcontinent. The Mughal Empire consolidated Islam in South Asia and spread Muslim especially Persian arts, culture, traditions as well as the faith. The crucial part is that India was still a Hindu majority country ruled by Muslims. The Mughals played a vital role in shaping India and were responsible for many changes in its society. A vital point the Mughals did was that they developed a “central” government, something that we would see now known as our federal government, that brought many smaller kingdoms and states together. As, Sugata Bose, Ayesha Jalal write in their book, “Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy” that around 1500 Indo-Islamic cultures with their creativity, ambiguity, accommodations, and tensions had struck deep roots in the subcontinent. Mughals assembled a government in which everybody had a voice and they had huge respect for human rights. Mughals also developed the modern architecture in India, introduced Persian art and culture, and had a great focus on education as well. One of the achievements by Mughals was that they were successfully able to mix Arabic, Persian, and Hindi to create Urdu. Consequently, the people can easily understand one another. India had an amazing prospect during Mughal Era.

Mughals conquered India, but British had an alternate approach. They did not get control of India through war, rather they came to India for trade. During the 16th and 17th centuries, many European trading companies competed in India with each other. But by the end of the 18th century, the English “East India Company” had outdone all other trading companies and were able to establish themselves the dominant power. East Indian Company started with the spice trade and later got control over almost all trade of India. With Emperor Jehangir’s permission, they were able to build small bases and factories on Indian soil. They started making these bases and factories on India’s eastern and western coasts. The company grew both in size and influence across the 17th and 18th centuries. This company was so profitable that it emerged as one of London’s most powerful financial institutions. Later this company became an important player in country’s politics. Since East Indian Company managed to maintain a large standing army in India who mainly consisted of Indian mercenary soldiers trained in European military techniques. This made East, Indian company a powerful player in local wars and disputes, as did the financial support that was offered to them by some Indian and merchants and bankers. At this point, Mughal Empire was crumbling as states started turning against each other and the company expanded influence over local Nawabs and rulers. After the military victories at the battle of Plassey in 1757 and Buxar in 1764 completely turned the tables and the company got full control over the administration ion of the region and for the first time in history they got the authority to collect taxes and impose taxes on the region. Similarly more victories paved the way and by 1818 the east Indian company wast the paramount political power in India, with direct control over two-thirds of the subcontinent's land mass and indirect control over the rest. In the wake of the uprising of 1857 also known as the war of independence, another great victory by East Indian Company paved their way to full control over India.

The Indian national scholars believed that India was rich in economy, culture, and polity and was pushed into backwardness by British rule. However, British scholars tend to differ and blame factors such as overpopulation, religion, social attitude for the downfall of the Indian economy. Many British policies hindered India's path of economic progress such as British policy of the land system, this policy had a large impact on India’s economic and social’s life. Under this new law, the peasants lost the lands that had belonged to them for centuries. Land rents were excessive an average peasant was unable to pay which resulted in the destruction of the organic village community based on customs and traditions. Apart from exploiting the agricultural system, British also destroyed the Indian economy through their commercial and industrial policies which mainly benefitted the Britishers and had deeply negative impacts on Indian economy. The main reason behind this new law was to impose tariffs on Indian manufacturers which completed destroyed the equilibrium of Indian imports and exports. This new tariff made it nearly impossible to export manufactured goods to Britain. On the other hand, a vast number of British manufactured goods were imported by India. This resulted in the destruction of many small businesses and a large proportion of population affiliated with trade business had to face severe consequences, as most of the business got shut down. Not only this, the court of director opposed the use of Indian ships in trade between England and India. Therefore, not only terminating India’s remaining exports but also was responsible for the serious impediment to the Indian shipping industry. Indian companies were not allowed to set up iron and steel plants, therefore, India had to import all iron and steel from India which had a great set back on India’s economy. “Indian revenue swelled from thirty three million to fifty two million a year during the first thirteen years of Crown administration and that deficit accumulated from 1866 to 1870 amounting to L eleven and a half million. A home debt of L 3,00,00,000 was brought into existence between 1857 and 1860 and steadily added to”.

No doubt the British rule also brought some advancements to India, such as the development of modern education system, development of modern architecture like Railways, Bridges, roads, tunnels etc, development of some of the best universities and Medical Colleges. They introduced the irrigation programme, which increased the amount of land available for farming 8 times. They developed a coal industry, which had not existed before. Public health and life expectancy also prospered under British rule, mainly due to improved water supplies and the introduction of quinine treatment against malaria. Also, it was the British who introduced the judiciary system in India and their most important advancement is that they introduced democracy in the subcontinent of India. But the overall negative impact overweigh these few advancements. Hence, it can be concluded that that British policy had a disastrous effect on India especially the labor sections and put them into the life of poverty and destitution. Due to these policies, politics turned against them and they were ultimately forced to leave subcontinent. But before leaving British divided India into two states. Thus, following their policy of “divide and rule” which devastated India leaving behind a million dead, seventeen million displaced, billions of rupees property destroyed and flames of communal hatred blazing hotly across the ravaged land.

Throughout such historical events, one can conclude that the British ran a political marathon that gave rise to a vital condition in molding India’s socio-economic status. Althought it was not the best for the people of India, the aspects of colonization did bring forward technological adavancements that became the early foundation of the country. One might also argue that without the British, India would not be the country we see today. Though, its resources were used throughout foreign lands which lead to economic deprivation of India.