Thoughts as they flow...

Which is top economy in the world

I hope a lot of hands will raise when this question is asked..

Lets go back a bit - at the dawn of 18th century country was the top economy in the world - China. Its coming back on top. All the best..

In 17the century...


Surprisingly it was India.

I happened to read this economic history of India which unraveled this fact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_India

What kind of structure was there then ? There were a lot of traders and trade unions in India which were quite autonomous and not under the control of governments as was the model adopted by the West. Even today we follow the strict norms for business that were there during British Colonial rule to stop India from growing.

What was the basis of British economy ? British took all the land taxes (valued at more than 40 billion pounds) and cotton from Bengal and returned them as clothing back go India. They imposed heavy taxes on local clothing from being sold. They killed many people in that - this can also be seen in the film on Gandhi.

Surprisingly wikipedia also talks about 1777 when India faced a harsh famine and East India company took all the money out to wage war with Napolean and 5% of the population in India died due to this negligence. Thats a cold blooded massacre of innocent lives.

At the dawn of 20th century, group of countries declared themselves as superior currency countries and anybody who trades with them will be subjected to undue financial stress. Is there any fairness ?

I am not sure why such vital points are missing in history books in India which only projects things such British introduced Railways.

But time and again my mind revolves around one thought - what if guns were not discovered..

Labels: british, economy

posted by csganesh @ 8:24 AM