Colonialism in action. Trade, development and dependence in late colonial India

Banerjee, Debdas

ISBN 10: 0863118402 / ISBN 13: 9780863118401

Published by Sangam Books, 1999

About this Item

sewed, 231 pp. Some traces of use.

Seller Inventory # geschw458

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Colonialism in action. Trade, development and dependence in late colonial India
• Publisher: Sangam Books
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0863118402
• ISBN 13: 9780863118401
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • India

About this title

Synopsis

The book provides an analysis of the historical origins of the problems of development as rooted firmly in the colonial trade and discusses the ways in which the rich-poor dichotomy was propagated and perpetuated

From the Back Cover

India under Pax Britannica was a free market economy. There was a flourishing trade of primary goods from India for manufactured goods from the West -- on the same lines as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. What, then, went wrong? Why India was caught in the vicious circle of low per capita income, poverty, illiteracy and mortality? Dr. Banerjee goes beyond simplistic port-to-port relations and examines the processes of generation of exportable surplus to find out why. He examines the 'induced' terms of trade in Indo-British commodity relations, the system of multiple pricing, orchestrated by the non-resident oligopolist export-import agencies, that was the crucial element in the chain of imperialist domination. This book attempts to relate the structure of India's foreign trade with changes in the domestic conditions of production and consequent development, or underdevelopment, of the internal market. It delves into how institutions of colonial oppression completely eclipsed all modernising projects for an industrial, capitalist economy. In essence, it helps provide a better grasp of what is meant by Colonialism in Action.