Features of Colonialism in India - a historic as well as modern perspective

Colonialism, as a historical phenomenon of territorial expansion, is intimately connected with the rise and growth of the modern capitalist world system. So it is entwined with history, economics, politics, etc., of the modern capitalist society. Colonialism, as a historical pheno­menon, refers to foreign domination which implies that the colonised area is regulated in a manner known as ‘unequal exchange’. Colonised societies are intended to serve the interests of the ruling country. Thus, by colonialism, we mean a system of political and social relations between two countries—of which one is the ruler and the other is its colony.

In a narrow sense, colonialism refers to the process of control of supplies of raw materials, mineral resources, and markets in underdeveloped and pre­capitalist regions. Such narrow definition of colonialism overlooks a vital aspect of colonialism relating to political activity and the drive for dominance over the daily lives of the people of colonies.

In a modern sense, colonialism is a general description of the state of subjection—political, economic, intellectual—of a non-European society as a result of the process of colonial organisation. Colonialism deprives a society of its freedom and its earth and, above all, it leaves its people intellectually and morally disoriented.

Basic Features of Colonialism in India

The historical process that led to colonial integration of India with world capitalist economy inevitably led to the underdevelopment of India, or “the development of underdevelopment.” Above all, Indian economy and her social developments were completely tied to the British economy and social development. To safeguard the interests of the British Government, India was transformed into a chief market for British manufactured articles. India’s industrialisation was scrupulously thwarted. India became a rich source of supply of raw materials for Britain’s industries. In fact, India was made “supplier of anything and everything, mender, repairer of all things on earth, but maker of none.” The four basic feaatures of colonialism in this respect can be given as follows;

1. Colonialism was the complete but complex integration and enmeshing of India’s economy and society with the world capitalist system carried out for a period of roughly 200 years in a subordinate or subservient position. It is to be noted here that dependence or subservience of the colonial economy and society was the crucial or determining aspect “and not mere linkage or integration with world capitalism or the world market”.
2. “Colonialism in India is encompassed by the twin notions of unequal exchange (Aghiri Emanuel) and internal disarticulation of the economy and the articulation of its different disarticulated parts, through the world market and imperialist hegemony, with the metropolitan economy (S. Amin and Hamaz Alvi).” In fact, this was one of the principal forms of colonial exploitation through which India led British industries by supplying raw materials and foodstuff and bought manufactured goods from biscuits, shoes to machinery, cars and railway engines from Britain. As a result of this ‘unequal trade policy’, India was increasingly reduced to the status of an agricultural appendage and a subordinate trading partner of Britain in the latter part of the 18th and the earlier part of the 19th century.
3. As far as the process of economic development is concerned, .the generation as well as utilisation of economic surplus is crucial for any economy. The advancement of the Indian economy had been largely halted during the British regime due to the low availability of actual social surplus or internal savings available for investment in the economy. Such scarcity of internal savings is attributed to drain of wealth or unilateral transfer of surplus to the metropolis through unrequited exports.
4. The fourth basic feature of colonialism “was the crucial role played by the colonial state in the subordination of India to Britain and in construction, determining and maintaining other features of the colonial structure.” Being an important colony of Britain, India was managed and administered by Britain.
5. Over time, forms or patterns of subordination underwent changes with the changing conditions of the historical development of capitalism as a worldwide system, the place of Britain within this system, and the development of colonialism in India. Appropriation of social surplus was another hallmark of colonialism. Like subordination, the appropriation of India’s social surplus by Britain was a constant and regular phenomenon though its forms underwent changes with the changes in stages of British exploitation of this country. In view of this, Bipan Chandra holds that the stages of colonialism in British India were basically differentiated by the patterns of subordination or subservience and surplus appropriation.

However, colonialism in India, as a structure or social formation, was beset with inner contradictions right from the beginning, the character of which changed with the changes in stages.

“Crucial contradiction came into being between the need to make India a reproductive colony on an extended scale in order to sub-serve the interests of British industrial and finance capital and the objective consequences of capitalism producing the opposite result of under developing India. This, in turn, led to the basic or central contradiction between colonialism and the Indian people, leading to the struggle for national liberation.”

By: Abhishek Sharma