A new academic study has shed light on the devastating impact of British colonialism on India, uncovering staggering death tolls and immense wealth extraction that was carried out by the empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The study, conducted by economic anthropologist Jason Hickel and his colleague Dylan Sullivan, is published in the respected journal World Development, entitled ‘Capitalism and Extreme Poverty: A Global Analysis of Real Wages, Human Height, and Mortality since the Long 16th century.’
The report estimates that India suffered 165 million excess deaths due to British colonialism between 1880 and 1920, a figure that is larger than the combined number of deaths from both World Wars and the Nazi holocaust.
The study also estimates that during nearly 200 years of colonialism, the British Empire stole at least $45 trillion in wealth from India.
This new research highlights how British colonialism in India was not only devastating for the Indian people, but also had a profound impact on the global capitalist system, inspiring fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
The genocidal crimes committed by European empires outside of their borders inspired these fascist leaders, leading to the rise of regimes that carried out similar genocidal crimes within their own borders.
This new research exposes the dark reality of the British Empire’s impact on India and its people, showing that colonialism was not a benevolent force, but a human tragedy with few parallels in recorded history.
The study shows that the period from 1880 to 1920, the height of Britain’s imperial power, was particularly devastating for India.
Comprehensive population censuses carried out by the colonial regime beginning in the 1880s reveal that the death rate increased considerably during this period, from 37.2 deaths per 1,000 people in the 1880s to 44.2 in the 1910s.
Life expectancy declined from 26.7 years to 21.9 years.
According to research by economic historian Robert C Allen, extreme poverty in India increased under British rule, from 23 per cent in 1810 to more than 50 per cent in the mid-20th century.
Real wages declined during the British colonial period, reaching a nadir in the 19th century, while famines became more frequent and more deadly.
The study also examines the impact of colonialism on living standards in India. Data on real wages indicate that by 1880, living standards in colonial India had already declined dramatically from their previous levels.
Allen and other scholars argue that prior to colonialism, Indian living standards may have been ‘on a par with the developing parts of Western Europe.’
The study states that the precise number of deaths is sensitive to the assumptions made about baseline mortality, but it is clear that somewhere in the vicinity of 100 million people died prematurely at the height of British colonialism, which is among the largest policy-induced mortality crises in human history.
It is larger than the combined number of deaths that occurred during all famines in the Soviet Union, Maoist China, North Korea, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, and Mengistu’s Ethiopia.
Furthermore, another study suggest that the 1943 Bengal famine was not a result of natural causes; it was the product of the policies of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill was a notorious racist who stated, ‘I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.’
In the early 1930s, Churchill also admired Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and the Italian dictator who founded fascism, Benito Mussolini.
Churchill’s own scholarly supporters admit that he ‘expressed admiration for Mussolini’ and, ‘if forced to choose between Italian fascism and Italian communism, Churchill unhesitatingly would choose the former.’
Indian politician Shashi Tharoor, who served as an under-secretary general of the United Nations, has exhaustively documented the crimes of the British empire, particularly under Churchill.
He points to ‘the decisions that he (Churchill) personally signed off during the Bengal famine, when 4.3 million people died because of the decisions he took or endorsed.’
This new research highlights the importance of understanding the true cost of British colonialism and its impact on India, and the world as a whole.
It is a call to acknowledge the atrocities committed by the British Empire and to work towards a more just and equitable global system that doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
British colonialism has had a profound and long-lasting impact on the world, and its effects continue to be felt in the present day.
One way in which the legacy of colonialism persists is through the ongoing economic exploitation of colonised nations.
For example, many former colonies in Africa and Asia are still heavily dependent on exporting raw materials to their former colonisers, and continue to suffer from low wages and high levels of poverty as a result.
Another way in which colonialism continues to exist in the present day is through the ongoing effects of imperialism on culture and identity.
The legacy of colonialism can be seen in the ongoing struggles of Indigenous and other marginalised peoples to maintain their traditional cultures and ways of life in the face of ongoing attempts to assimilate them into the dominant culture of the colonising power.
Furthermore, the education system and media in many former colonies still tend to reflect the values and perspectives of the colonisers, rather than those of the local people.
Moreover, the ongoing political and economic instability in many former colonies is also a legacy of colonialism.
Colonial powers often imposed arbitrary borders, pit ethnic groups against each other, and left behind authoritarian leaders that serve their interests.
These leaders in turn has to rely on the support of former colonisers to maintain power, and as a result, many countries that were once colonies continue to be plagued by civil war, corruption and political repression.
Additionally, the political and economic global system still reflects the hierarchy established during colonialism with the Western countries on the top and the rest far behind.
The UN Security council, World bank, IMF and other global bodies are dominated by the Western countries and their decisions often reflects their interests.
British imperialism and colonialism continue to shape the political, economic and social landscape of India in the present day.
One way in which this is evident is through the continuation of a colonial-era land-tenure system, known as the zamindari system, which has led to the concentration of land ownership in the hands of a small elite, while the majority of farmers and rural labourers continue to live in poverty and lack access to resources and opportunities.
According to a 2019 report by Oxfam India, the top 10% of landowners in India own more than 70% of rural land, and farm labourers, who make up almost half of the rural workforce, earn less than minimum wage.
This unequal distribution of land and resources can be traced back to the colonial period when the British government took over land from local communities and handed it over to loyal landowners.
Another way in which colonialism continues to affect India is through the legacy of the British education system, which has reinforced social and economic inequality by prioritising the education of a small elite and neglecting the education of the majority of the population.
According to a 2018 report by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, only around 90 million of India’s population of over 1.3 billion people have a higher education degree.
This lack of education and skill development opportunities has led to a large proportion of the population being trapped in low-skilled, low-paying jobs, making it difficult for them to break out of poverty.
Additionally, India continues to struggle with the aftermath of the ‘drain theory’ – a concept that describes the systematic transfer of wealth from India to Britain during the colonial period.
The drain of a staggering $45 trillion of wealth from India between 1765 and 1938, along with lack of investment in infrastructure and industrialisation during British rule, has resulted in the underdevelopment of the Indian economy and poor living standards, which have continued to affect the majority of Indians even post-independence.
In summary, British imperialism and colonialism continue to shape India in the present day through ongoing issues such as unequal land distribution, poor access to education and skill development opportunities, and the legacy of wealth drain.
These historical injustices continue to perpetrate the cycles of poverty and inequality that many Indians still face today.
While colonialism officially ended many decades ago, its effects continue to be felt in the present day through ongoing economic exploitation, cultural suppression, political instability and global power imbalances.
