India inherited a legacy of challenges from British. Comment.OR
Discuss the indicator of underdevelopment observed in India during the British rule.
Discuss the indicator of underdevelopment observed in India during the British rule.
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It will be quite right to say that India inherited a legacy of challenges from British.
- Massive Poverty: Half of India's population was living in extreme poor conditions.
- Rural Economy with Stagnant Agriculture: Nearly 85% of the population was living in rural areas where agriculture was the main occupation. But this sector remained stagnant during British rule.
- Poor Demographic Conditions: Only 17% of total and 7% of females were literate. Life expectancy was quite low at 32 years. Infant mortality rate was as high as 218 per thousand live births.
- Negligible Industrial Growth: There were hardly any industries in India at the time of independence. There was acute shortage of basic and strategic industries needed to develop infrastructure and secondary sector.
- Lack of Employment Opportunities: There was a gradual decline of India's traditional art and handicrafts industry. This along with rapid population growth pressurised land and led to low productivity per person in agriculture.
- Adverse Effects of Partition: A high portion of the undivided country's highly irrigated land went to Pakistan. Almost, the whole of jute producing area became part of East Pakistan. India's jute industry had monopoly during British rule that started suffering heavily for lack of raw material.
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