The Transformation of the Indian Economy in the Contemporary Period: from the Colonial to the Post-Colonial

Abstract

The paper contrasts the important economic parameters during the last few decades of colonialism in India with those during the first few decades after independence. In doing so it questions the colonial position that colonialism led to development in the colony and further argues that it was the breaks from colonialism, rather than the continuities, which explain the post-colonial developments. The paper also critiques the Orthodox Left and the Dependency school argument that all post-colonial developments in the colony would lead to further underdevelopment or dependency unless the post-colonial country broke away from the capitalist system into socialism. Finally, it is argued that the continuities with colonialism are not so much in the economic sphere but in the social and intellectual sphere. The longest lasting legacies of colonialism have been that it has left behind a divided people and a people who are yet to fully overcome the colonization of the mind.