Wednesday, February 3, 2016

What did the British East India Company do to India?

The Brits came, they saw, they were amazed, they plundered, rendered the local economy rootless, they left. A single statement that summarizes the British East India Company's (and later the British Raj's) stay in Indian sub-continent from 1700s to 1947.
When trade and politics are completely intermixed, there is no way a trader can remain solely one, and a politicians can afford not to trade. The brutal death of Indian economy under British rule is a proof of the above axiomatic truth. The East India Company found India very rich, and left it poor beyond imagination!
Despite the Company officers' blatant corruption, genocidal tendencies and ruthlessness, the British Monarch and Parliament allowed it to continue so for decades, as it was fuelling their Industrial Revolution. Thus, the East played the biggest role in enriching the West.

Various pointers to what actually happened -
  • It is important to understand the background of Europe in the 15th century. All the newly emerging nation-states were assuming that the only way they could stay ahead of the rest was for them to hoard as much gold and silver as they could.
  • This meant international campaigns aided by the State's military. Economists define it as Mercantilism. It ended up becoming competitive mercantilism due to severe struggle among the various European nations themselves.
  • Once that demon was set free, global conflict was inevitable. Continent after continent, region after region, became prey to the greedy and rapacious European powers (companies and state agents both). There was little separating commercial actions from political ones.
So the simple observation is - the only thing that could have prevented the BEIC from taking over India was if Queen Victoria would never have granted the royal charter for trade in the East to them, and there would have been no competitive Mercantilism at all.
  • Once the charter was granted, and the BEIC set out to conquer the East, India was the richest fruit, that became low-hanging due to our own complicated sequence of reasons, and facilitated the BEIC's takeover of entire subcontinent in the years to come.
  • And once that was achieved, history took on an entirely new colour, in decades to come. Even relatively minor incidents like the Black Hole of Calcutta (which is minor if it were true indeed) were used to morally justify the BEIC's ambitious to become the rulers.
The entire history of East India Company in India and its so-called intentions is a mix of blatant racism, genocidal murders, looting and societal division.
  • It was the Company’s plunder that first de-industrialized India and then provided the massive finance that fueled Britain’s own industrial revolution, with which it dominated entire Europe and the World.
  • The conspiracy that BEIC and its masters indulged in has perpetrated such deep-ingrained beliefs that the poverty of today's India is due to the unproductive Indians and their climate. The destruction by the British is blissfully overlooked.
  • One of the biggest mass-murderers in history - the honourable PM Winston Churchill - escaped unscathed in history's gaze due to this fraud that was so successfully perpetrated.
Any intellectual who still has any doubt left, should carefully read this brilliant source - in search of the East India Company, the world’s first transnational corporation
Clive knew what he was doing. Indians grossly misread his intention. Just look at the eyes of the elephant. If only it could speak!
~

8 comments:

indraaaj said...

Dear sir,

I think EIC estb at 1600, if m incorrect please correct me

thanks

Unknown said...

Once again a masterpiece from our most lovable teacher "Sandeep sir"..if one has to comprehend the brutalities of BEIC over Indian-subcontinent then this should be the way to describe ..Thanks sir thanks a lot for enlightening us every time..
and the best line for this blog is the last line mentioning the eyes of the elephant..which just pinched me..with the thought ""Alas..! If only it could speak.."

Aniruddha Chaudhari said...

The most precise and short overview of the prevailing situations of those days and their effects on present day world

Navdeep said...

Hello sir, I find these posts and answers very helpful for my use also. Thanks and regards

jatin1990 said...

Once again, made my day! By the way, just to satiate my curiosity, I had read in one of the book of our college library book fair, that, the today's Indian army roots belongs to the security team of British East India Company. Can you please confirm whether it's true or myth?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

They(BEIC) did what they were sent for.. now moreover making it as a topic of history one should summarize the learning from the story of BEIC - perhaps they talked about "White Mans Burden Theory" to civilize us,main objective was just to fulfill their Mercantilistic desires and to make their Mother country rich.They did barbarous business....TRIN-TRIN its an alarm for the blind supporters of MNC's and High sharing of FDI in retail in INDIA... Yes one may nod his head in dissent challenging that -the time has been changed...so what ? the Mercantalism has also been changed, a new name Capitalism!! it was then BEIC, now it might be Wall-MART!!

I know in today's globalized world it may sound foolish...but one never knows... as we have seen many of the 'What Ifs' in History.... and finally! "History does not repeat itself,but it does rhyme..

Avantika said...

Wow.. a completely new perspective about East India Company History.. I had read some thing more at a site called Mintage World..