India of Our Times

An Experiment in Democracy

This book explores the recent history of India -a history that focuses on the British Empire, and all that it did on the vast subcontinent during centuries of governance. While, it was neither planned nor premeditated, the slow and complex historical process of British rule resulted in the unfolding of a new process of viable governance and modernisation that transformed the socio-ecnomico-political map of India-a transformation India had never experienced before. The British legacies—negative and positive—are enormous. While much has been written on the dark period of colonial repression inflicted by the British, this treatise focuses on the positive side of the British presence in India. It is the purpose of this publication to show that the establishment of ideological pragmatism, political pluralism, the initial enactment of social reforms, the introduction of self-governing institutions, and the introduction of technology are the legacies that remain an undeniable part of post-independent India. The British past, thus, has not been completely unkind to India. What the country is today, and the direction in which it is heading are the results of the legacies that the British left, the foundations of which are still visible.