WHAT MADE BRITAIN ‘THE GREAT’ BRITAIN ?

Be it William Shakespeare or J.K. Rowling, Britain has been a pivotal contributor in the field of literature. Whether it is the University of Oxford or Cambridge, Britain is known to have the best universities in the world. Moreover, 40% of the world’s inventions and discoveries are credited to Britain. Is this only reason what makes it ‘Great’? Well! History has a lot to narrate now.

 

India: In Contrast

 

Rabindranath Tagore, Arundhati Roy or Chetan Bhagat, they’re well known to the world and even Munshi Premchand has been referred to as the ‘Emperor Among Novelists’. India gave the world’s first International university, Nalanda University which is considered to be the very first residential university in the world. Agonizingly, jealous of the profound knowledge of Indian people, Bakhtiyar Khilji burnt its library consisting of 9 million manuscripts (hand-written scripts) and it is believed that it smouldered incessantly for 3 months. 

 

Here, a burning question arises:

 

What turned a ‘well-developing country' into a ‘country of sufferings'?

24 August 1608 - A date worth remembering for Indians, the only day when the English took our consent, a day when the English landed in India for trading purposes and ended becoming our rulers only. The exploitative trade system expanded from Surat to Bombay, Madras and Bengal rapidly.

But, was it easy to rule such a diverse and populated India by a country that wasn’t even well-known? And, did it all happen in a day?

The answer is a big NO. 

 

With proper planning and plotting, slowly and gradually they made us believe them and paved the way for a conspired scam.

 

HOW DID THEY DO IT? They made us believe that the Indian lifestyle was inferior and made theirs appear ideal. Living and wearing according to the Britishers became a matter of pride. Indians started emulating them and became their slaves in their own country, with their own money. The person inside the attire was Indian but the outfit and the lifestyle was more like the English.

 

     And that’s how we became their followers (slaves).

Can anything be startling and sarcastic concomitantly? We bought their goods, gave them money but were their slaves!

 

● In the construction of Victoria Memorial, India gave about 1 crore.

● During various wars, we gave approximately 17 crore and also our people as soldiers to fight for them and sacrifice their own lives in these wars. And yes, not mentioning different direct/indirect taxes will be an atrocity.

● The Koh-I-Noor Diamond which was mined in Andhra Pradesh is in London at the moment.

● The Victoria and Albert Museum in England has the Tipu Sultan’s mechanical tiger and many Indian belongings. Though, allegedly proved!

 

The population of India allured the Britishers to trade but they wanted the profit of the English only. Thus, they tried their best to demolish our handloom industry which was the backbone of employment in the country. They sold their synthetic clothes in the markets at cheaper rates. Indians, unaware of the ‘actual losses', bought foreign goods.

 

THEY LEFT NO STONE UNTURNED TO BREAK THE ECONOMY OF INDIA !!

 

BIG MISAPPREHENSION –

(1)   Our Rationalization: The Britishers introduced us to railways for our welfare.

Reality: Their major motive was trading and pillaging, so they required a strong network to connect with their ports. The introduction of railways was for their sake more than ours.

 

(2)   Our Rationalization: They brought a change in education during their reign.

Reality: According to reports, when the Britishers left the divided and helpless India, the literacy rate was even below 17%. Now, India has a literacy rate of more than 70%. 

 

 

The growth rate of India from 1900-1947 was 0.001%.

These traders ransacked ensuring no profit to India and took Indian goods as a token of bestowment! 

 

SO, SHOULD WE ALL BOYCOTT THE ENGLISH AND BRITAIN?

 

The world has turned into a global village, therefore, boycotting any nation is not a solution. On the contrary we should promote Indianness and rebuild our handlooms and cottage industries in a full throttle. We can sustain easily on domestic products and promote Indian brands and add to the growth of Indian economy and become ‘Atma Nirbhar'.

 

Knowing our past we should try our best not to compel History to repeat itself. We should be proud and at the same time responsible for its glory.

 

Indians , as a colony of Britain, helped them to achieve this Epithet of Great Britain and like India, more colonies created by the British, in numerous countries accorded them this assistance in achieving the title of Great Britain where the Sun never sets.

The East India Company is now owned by an Indian!

Ambiguously, India has played a vital role to make Britain - 'The Great Britain.

 

An article by

Richa Singh

Grade IX