Previous Year Question

Poverty and Un-British Rule in India was written by Dadabhai Naoroji. The book was published in 1901 in London by Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

The book presents an important analysis of the impact of British colonial rule on the Indian economy. Naoroji identified the Drain of Wealth from India to Britain as a major cause of Indian poverty.

According to his analysis, a portion of income generated in India was transferred to Britain through salaries and pensions of British officials, Home Charges, government payments abroad and other remittances, without an equivalent economic return to India.

Because of this economic analysis, Dadabhai Naoroji occupies an important place among the early Economic Nationalists of the Indian national movement. His Drain Theory provided a strong intellectual basis for the nationalist critique of colonial economic policies.

The book also brought together his earlier writings, speeches and economic arguments concerning Indian poverty and colonial administration.