British Rule

After 111 yrs, John Nicholson's statue stripped of national monument status

The statue is located near the Kashmiri Gate in Delhi, where Nicholson died during the 1857 rebellion

Birsa Munda's 150th anniversary: A life cut short but an immortal legacy

Birsa Munda's birth anniversary on November 15 is celebrated as 'Janjatiya Gaurav Divas' to celebrate his legacy and observe the role of the tribal population in preserving India's heritage

PM Modi's 'billionaire raj' more unequal than British Raj, says Congress

The Congress on Thursday latched on to a new rich list to attack the Centre, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "billionaire raj" is more unequal than even the British Raj and it is also the cornerstone of the government's economic policy-making. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared on X a media report which cited the Hurun India Rich List to state that India created a new billionaire every five days throughout 2023. "India has had one billionaire for every five days in 2023, and the non-biological Prime Minister's closest friend is the foremost among them all," Ramesh said on X. "Modi's Billionaire Raj is more unequal than even the British Raj. But it is also the cornerstone of the government's economic policy-making," he alleged. This is why, at a time when countries across the world are coalescing around the idea of a global billionaire tax, the Indian government has been conspicuously silent and continues to remain blind to rapidly

Making sense of the British Raj and its long shadow in Amrit Kaal

This week in BS also looked at two books that deal with the post-Independence India and the Congress

Jallianwala Bagh massacre: What happened on the dark day 104 years ago

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a tragic event that will live on in the history of British colonial rule in India

The last days of Mughal Delhi

The best sections in the book are those that deal with the revolt of 1857 in Delhi

British rule prevented Indians from learning about traditions: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said three centuries of British rule had prevented Indians from learning about their glorious traditions. "A strong awareness of the country's glorious past, its great cultural and spiritual legacy is a must for today's youth to build a strong India," he said addressing a convocation of the Swami Ram Himalayan University here. Singh said international acceptance of India's spiritual and intellectual supremacy in the past was spontaneous and cited Chinese scholars who acknowledged India's path breaking role in various realms of knowledge. Quoting one of the Chinese intellectuals he said, "India was China's teacher in quadratic equation, grammar and phonetics." Referring to a former Peking University vice chancellor who represented China subsequently at the United Nations, the defence minister said, "India has dominated China culturally for more than 2000 years without sending a single soldier." Also quoting French philosopher Voltaire,

Rajasthan: PM pays tributes to tribals killed by British in Mangarh in 1913

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday paid tributes to the tribals who were massacred by the British army in 1913 in Mangarh in Rajasthan. Modi during his visit to the Mangarh Dham in Banswara district was accompanied by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other leaders. The dham, a memorial for around 1,500 tribals massacred by the British army in 1913, is located in the district on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border, a region with a large tribal population. During his visit, the prime minister will also address a gathering of Bhil adivasis and members of other tribes of the region. The gathering of tribals and forest dwellers in 1913 in Mangarh against the British Raj was being led by social reformer Govind Guru.

Queen's reign saw ages of British rule leave Middle East with mixed legacy

The long reign of Queen Elizabeth II saw large swaths of the world cast off London's rule, but after her death a handful of British-installed monarchies still endure in the Middle East. They have survived decades of war and turmoil and are now seen as bastions of a certain kind of authoritarian stability. When popular uprisings erupted across the region a decade ago in what was known as the Arab Spring, sweeping away regimes with anti-colonial roots, hereditary rulers were largely unscathed. The days of imperial pomp and gunships may be over, but the region's emotional and financial ties to England run deep. Emirs, sultans and kings attend the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Gulf Arab sovereign wealth has helped reshaped London's skyline. As the son of a British mother, Jordan's King Abdullah II also has familial and cultural ties to Britain. Jordan's ruling Hashemites, who come from the Arabian Peninsula and claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad, launched the revolt agains

Memsahibs in the Raj

Ipshita Nath's book captures the hermetically sealed nature of the memsahibs' world from the country in which they lived

Many thought India will go to ruins if British left, but it flourished: PM

The people made efforts and proved that India has immense capacity to survive all odds even as "hundreds of years of slavery" had inflicted "deep wounds" on it, PM Modi added.

Imagining India in the world

The book does much to underline the fact that there is more to Indian thinking than what has been discussed in the popular writings

A superpower's long decline

Book review of THE AGE OF DECADENCE: A History of Britain, 1880 to 1914

A glorified rehash of the Raj

Book review of Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain

The British extortionist who built Bombay

Book review of The Arthur Crawford Scandal: Corruption, Governance and Indian Victims

Queen agrees to 'period of transition' for Prince Harry and Meghan

Meghan is currently in Canada with their infant son Archie

Letter to BS: Why did many Indians join the army of colonial powers?

Even the Congress party that was formed in 1885 did not ever try to dissuade Indians from joining the British Indian Arm

Did Sandip, anti-hero in Ghare Baire, have a moral route for his struggle?

While both Ray and Tagore, from whose eponymous novel the film was adapted, seem to favour Nikhilesh, Sandip's 'perfect counterfoil', one wonders if Sandip has any need to follow a moral route

A welfare state born in India

How William Beveridge's Bakargunje legacy is safe in modern Britain

The Imperial Gazetteer on roads

Before the advent of British rule, roadways in the modern sense were practically unknown; and even after its establishment there were few to be found, except within urban limits