Yes, Britain famously transferred wealth to India. When British arrived in India its share of the world economy was 4%. When they left in 1947, they had taken it to 23%, roughly equal to all of Europe combined.
On a serious note.
The Indian railways were financed entirely by bonds sold on the London Stock Exchange. British investors were guaranteed a return of 5% per annum by the colonial government. A guaranteed return, in an era when no other safe investment in Britain offered anything close. And who guaranteed those returns? Indian taxpayers. Indians paid for the construction. Indians paid the guaranteed profits to British shareholders. Indians paid for the equipment, which was manufactured exclusively in Britain and shipped to India at inflated prices. One mile of Indian railway cost twice what the same mile cost to build in Canada or Australia, because the guaranteed return meant there was no incentive to control costs. The more it cost, the more British investors and suppliers earned.
And what were these railways designed to do? Move raw materials from India’s interior to ports. Cotton from the Deccan to Bombay. Jute from Bengal to Calcutta. Coal from Bihar to wherever the Empire needed it. Tea from Assam to London’s drawing rooms. The routes connected mines and plantations to harbors. Not cities to cities. Not people to opportunities. Raw materials to ships. The Indian public’s transportation needs were, as Shashi Tharoor put it, entirely incidental.
Oh, and the railways also moved troops. Very efficiently. So that when Indians protested being looted, the British could deploy soldiers to shoot them. That was the other “infrastructure investment.”
But wait, there is more. Before the railways, India had the world’s finest textile industry. The British smashed the looms, broke the weavers’ thumbs (this is not metaphor, this is documented history), imposed tariffs on Indian cloth, and shipped raw cotton to Manchester to be manufactured into garments that were then sold back to Indians. India went from being the world’s largest textile exporter to an importer of British cloth within a generation.
The Bengal Famine of 1943 killed an estimated 3 million people. Churchill diverted food supplies from Bengal to already well-supplied British troops and European stockpiles. When informed of the famine, his response, on the record, was to ask why Gandhi had not died yet. This is the “infrastructure investor” Musk is defending.
India contributed 2.5 million soldiers to fight in two World Wars on Britain’s behalf.
So let us summarize the colonial “investment” in India. They took a 23% global economy and left it at 4%. They destroyed the world’s finest textile industry. They built railways with Indian money, for Indian resources, generating British profits. They engineered famines that killed millions. They drained an estimated $45 trillion in today’s value over 200 years.
That’s some unprofitable adventure.
Early Topuria fights are hilarious to rewatch.
The commentators will be mid-sentence praising the other guy right before he puts them completely out cold. 😂
Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof.
They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers.
Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent.
We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law.
Truth will prevail.
@SpinninBackfist Strickland face looks like fuck around and find out, its finally downing on him that he has to fight khamzat and no one is saving him now, all talk now has to be backed with a tip kick and jab
Sean striclands face in walkout looks like fuck around and find out, its finally downing on him that he has to fight khamzat and no one is saving him now, all talk now has to be backed with a tip kick and jab
#ufc#UFC328#seanstrickland#khamzat
Do you rank your friend circle by deciding who is most likely to leave your gang or who is least important
If yes... You are a terrible friend
And Luffy is not
Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting onting on captain Shreyas Iyer : IPL 2026 | PBKS
Ricky Ponting 🗣 "After Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni, Shreyas is one of the finest captains in IPL. Even after leading KKR to a title and taking DC/PBKS to the finals, he is still being overlooked! He can easily captain both the T20 and ODI teams, based on his IPL performances, he also deserves to lead India, yet he is not being considered."