[Complete] INDIAN ECONOMY ON THE EVE OF INDEPENDENCE

Examines the structure and performance of the Indian economy under British colonial rule, highlighting how colonial policies reshaped agriculture, industry, trade, infrastructure, demography, and employment. It describes the transformation of India into a supplier of raw materials and a market for British manufactured goods, resulting in low economic growth, agricultural stagnation, deindustrialisation of traditional handicrafts, limited modern industrial development, and a drain of wealth through foreign trade. The narrative outlines the agrarian dominance of the workforce, exploitative land revenue systems, poor technological progress, weak capital goods industries, trade monopolies favouring Britain, adverse demographic indicators such as low literacy and life expectancy, and infrastructure developed primarily to serve colonial interests. It concludes by emphasising the widespread poverty, unemployment, and structural weaknesses that shaped India’s post-independence development challenges.