British Rule in India - Page 2

Originally posted by: mythili_Kiran

WOW in Dm freshers like me are getting wonderful topics to answer.
Will reply befor monday!!
Cheers,
Mythili

Originally posted by: Kay Kay

The were other positives that came out of the British Raj. Abolition of Sati and Widow re-marriage are two instances that come to mind.. which in a way were kind of first steps towards the emancipation of our women.

FYI, abolition of Sati and encouraging widow re-marriage was brought about by two Bengali social reformers, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar respectively. Since the British were in charge of the administration at that time they helped them in passing that law. After these two laws were passed the Indian public erupted in protest and the British promptly distanced themselves from anymore social reforming activity.

Originally posted by: sneha3105

Well, I agree with Aparna. It has both its positives and negatives.

the negatives are clear.

Well without British rule, we would never have had such good infrastructure.

1. It spared us from feudal rule.

And put upon us a foreign rule, a king and queen who the public never used to see.

2. They united us.Political unity after some decades leads to complete unity.

'Love, friendship and respect do not unite a people as much as a common hatred of something'- Anton Chekov.

3. They never tried to desroy our great cultural heritage.Look at Latin America ,whose culture and language were exterminated by spaniards.They never laid their hands on any temple. In fact they did encourage our cultures.

They destroyed many cottage industries and local arts of India which the British felt would harm their industry, e.g., muslin.

4. They have given us english,which engraved the ideas of free speech and democracy in our minds.

You'll be surprised to see that people from other countries find it ridiculous that Indians cannot do their major works in their own language.

5. They invested heavily in railways.Look at the statistics and the amount ofnew railway lines we have added after our independence.It is just pathetic!!!!

Railways was completely new at that time and everywhere new tracks were to be built. After Independence some more were built but obviously it is of no use to build tracks where the costs incurred will never see BEP. Now it is more about converting single lines into double and double into more lines.

6.They did not try to rub christianity on our heads.Look at Goa ,a portugese colony.It is largely a christian community with no resemblance to rest of the country.

The British knew very well they would do much better in India if they don't mess with the religions.

Well as most importantly, we got to see people like Gandhi arise.

You can refer to Gandhi Vs Bhagat Singh topic to know what I feel about Gandhi's policies. 😉

Originally posted by: souro

4. They have given us english,which engraved the ideas of free speech and democracy in our minds.

You'll be surprised to see that people from other countries find it ridiculous that Indians cannot do their major works in their own language.

If not English then it would have been Urdu or Persian or Arabic in the long run. How many are comfortable conversing in that? Even the language which we claim majority speaks is still not popular when we take all the languages spoken in India. Before British people were conversing in their language in their provinces.

Originally posted by: sneha3105

6.They did not try to rub christianity on our heads.Look at Goa ,a portugese colony.It is largely a christian community with no resemblance to rest of the country.

That is what Christian missionaries did and are still doing in South Asian and African countries. For each convert, missionaries are provided aid. They don't believe in forceful conversions like the Mugals but they are much more refined.

Originally posted by: Maya_M

If not English then it would have been Urdu or Persian or Arabic in the long run. How many are comfortable conversing in that? Even the language which we claim majority speaks is still not popular when we take all the languages spoken in India. Before British people were conversing in their language in their provinces.

I didn't understand what you wanted to say. But do you really feel that because of English we've the ideas of freedom of speech and democracy in our mind.

The language problem is quite unique of India and the Indian Govt. has done precious little to solve it. But even if a person goes to some international meet where all other countries are speaking in their native language, Indians always stick to english. Why??

Originally posted by: souro

I didn't understand what you wanted to say. But do you really feel that because of English we've the ideas of freedom of speech and democracy in our mind.

The language problem is quite unique of India and the Indian Govt. has done precious little to solve it. But even if a person goes to some international meet where all other countries are speaking in their native language, Indians always stick to english. Why??

This is what I meant in my previous post.

If not English then Indians would have been forced to converse in Persian or Arabic which is not our language either. I don't consider English an alien language now because when the country were divided into provinces most spoke their mother tongue so any other Indian language is as alien as English to them.

I find it extremely difficult to brand one single language as Indian. So many languages are spoken widely in India that it is practically impossible for two Indians to converse in a common language.

I have no solution to offer in this regard. We truly are 'United in diversity'.

Originally posted by: sandya_rao7

life can never return then the rift they created in our country (india and pakistan)the affects of which we r still suffering can irreparable

People can create rift only when there is scope.