Making of the Indian Constitution : Legacies of the British rule

‘Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall
redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the
midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.’ - Jawaharlal
Nehru

“I am sure that British will leave this country one day. However I am sure that before leaving,
British will leave so much dirt and filth, that generations of Indians will not be able to clean
it.”- Rabindranath Tagore

According to Bipin Chandra, there is a legacy of British rule because unlike China, India did
not start with a clean slate. If China has gone through the communist revolution, what
happened in India was ‘transfer of power’. Indian elites, educated in the western liberal
education system had preference for the liberal, democratic, political order.

From Gramscian perspective, the legacy of the British rule show the continuing hegemony of
the British. If we apply the perspective of structural Marxist, Hamza Alvi, the elites in South
Asia preferred to continue with ‘the overdeveloped state’ .Alavi argued that the post-colonial
state is ‘over-developed’, a superstructure capable of dominating all indigenous social
forces.

British legacy in Economy

India can be categorised as a semi-periphery county in Immanuel Wallerstein’s world system
theory. In world economic system, advanced capitalist countries constituted the core and
developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America constituted peripheries.
Subsequently, the world economic systems theorists added another category of semi-
periphery consisting of the newly industrialised countries (NICs) of Asia (India, Singapore,
Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan, among others).

Even after independence, Indian economy remained

colonial. India continued to be the supplier of raw
materials and the market for the goods of the western
countries. In international economy, India continues to
reflect the nature of colonial economy, categorized as the
state in periphery or semi periphery.
The continuing regional imbalance show that we have not
been able to overcome the impact of colonialism. Rural
backwardness, rural poverty, lack of public investment in agriculture, failure of land reforms,
agricultural crisis show the continuation of the colonial approach towards the development.
Besides agriculture all other sectors of economy with the exception of service sector show
that there is no distinct break from colonialism.

British legacy on Indian society

The continuing social conflicts, the politics of caste, religion, language can be seen as the
legacy of the British Raj. Many contemporary problems have been because of the divide and
rule policy of the British. Unfortunately Indian elites preferred continuity over change.

British legacy on the Political system

It is surprising that there has been extreme protests against Simon commission. Govt. of
India Act 1935 is based on the recommendations of the Simon Commission. Govt. of India
Act 1935 has become the foundation for India’s political system. The nature of Indian
federation, the institution of governor, ordinance making powers, emergency provisions are
drawn from colonial constitution which has been framed with the objective to maintain the
hold of the raj. GOI Act has not been framed with the objective of shifting the political power
from the hands of administrators into the hands of the people.

British legacy in Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy in India continues to manifest the colonial character. British legacy on the
criminal justice system has hardly changed over period of time. If any change has come, it
has come because of civil society working in coordination with judiciary . Many laws based
on Victorian norms had been continued. Only recently SC had decriminalized Homosexuality
(Art 377), Adultery 497.
The Indian Police Act, 1861 create a police force capable of dealing with any government
uprising. All powers were centralised in the hands of the state, which acted as a dictatorial
administration under this Act. However, despite the fact that India has declared itself a
sovereign republic, this act is surprisingly still in force.
Recently, the colonial era Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (IEA),
and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) were replaced with following laws:
1. Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act, 2023 (BNS) replaced the IPC,
2. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) will replace the CrPC, and
3. Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) will replace the IEA.

However, majority of the provisions still remains colonial in nature.

British Legacy on the Education system

British education system aimed at the production of clerks. It emphasized on rote learning, it
was actually against developing creative and rational thinking. One of the most unfortunate
continuation of the British rule has been the continuation of Macaulay’s system of
Education.

British legacy on the Foreign policy.

The partition of the subcontinent has been one of the worst legacies of the British rule.
Unfortunately elites on the subcontinent could not overcome the legacy of the partition.
South Asia remains the least integrated of all regions, only next to middle east. The South
Asian elites have brought South Asia on the brink of the nuclear war. They continue to
remain plaything in the hands of neo imperialist power. According to C Rajamohan, Nehru’s
policy towards neighbours was based on Curzon’s policy. Nehru’s ‘treaty diplomacy’ with
South Asian neighbours like Nepal, Bhutan is nothing but superficial modification of the
treaties entered by British with these Kingdoms. Indian neighbours continue to believe that
India has colonial mindset.
Conclusion
Thus India reflect more of a continuity and less of change from the Raj. Unfortunately there
are more negative consequences of the legacy.

Rabindranath Tagore was right when he held that – ‘I am sure that British will leave this
country one day however I am sure that before leaving, British will leave so much dirt and
filth that generations of Indians will not be able to clean it.’