After Colonialism Tharoor Leaves Unexplained Why India’s Slide Continued After The British Left

Subscribe to Times Of India's Youtube channel here: http://goo.gl/WgIatu ongress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor recently spoke at Oxford criticising British colonialism in India. He ended by suggesting reparations for colonialism where his emphasis was on atonement rather than financial transfers. Colonialism is indefensible. But when a critique of colonialism rests on the use of economic statistics we must be wary of two pitfalls. For one, statistics when used without context can be misleading. The greater danger is that history becomes a way to rationalise contemporary failures. Also Subscribe to Bombay Times Youtube Channel here: http://goo.gl/AdXcgU Social Media Links: Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TimesofIndia Twitter : https://twitter.com/timesofindia Google + : https://plus.google.com/u/0/+timesindia/posts 'Download TOI app on Android & iPhone and WIN free recharge coupon worth Rs. 50/- from Paytm - http://goo.gl/AvRYmM Times Of India's Official YouTube channel is managed by Culture Machine Media Pvt Ltd. Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor recently spoke at Oxford criticising British colonialism in India. He ended by suggesting reparations for colonialism where his emphasis was on atonement rather than financial transfers. Colonialism is indefensible. But when a critique of colonialism rests on the use of economic statistics we must be wary of two pitfalls. For one, statistics when used without context can be misleading. The greater danger is that history becomes a way to rationalise contemporary failures. British economist Angus Maddison’s statistical tables of medieval world GDP show that India and China together contributed about half of it. Following the advent of British rule, India’s share dropped consistently. Colonial exploitation was a cause, but factors such as Britain’s industrial revolution may have been bigger causes. From a contemporary standpoint, it’s disappointing that almost seven decades of independence have made little difference to India’s economic size in relation to the world. And for much of this period Tharoor’s party, Congress, was in power. World Bank data shows India contributed just 2.65% of global GDP in 2014 but supported almost 17% of the world’s population. Blame that on bad policies in independent India.