Should India thank the British for the advances we gave the country?

Question

In responce to proudhindu... lets see

We installed a rail system (which your still using today)
We gave you banks.
We trained most of your early scholars (Ghandi was qualified as a lawyer in a british university).

I think its safe to say that what we've done for your country we have discredited by the attrocities, but YOU wouldn't have electric, the internet, a computer without the advances we gave you.

Britain dragged a barren country like India 200 years ahead of itself during the empire and if you watch the documentaries, it doesn't appear that a great deal has changed since.

nothing personal to any india, this proudhindu fella just seemed intent on ripping on the UK

Answer 1

Good on you Mike...love what you said in response to this 'proudhindu.' Brilliant! I am right behind you on this! WELL SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE THAT PROUDHINDU!!!!!!!!
Fancy giving a response to Paul Hxyz? what is he on? So what if he is a descendant of Henry, and related to someone who signed the magna carta? Self praise is no recommendation! :o)
Have just read proudhindu's response to you......he is obviously not as intelligent as you, when you tell him something he doesn't like, and he can't think of a decent reply, he resorts to swearing....pleb!

Answer 2

I havent approved of proudhindus questions but i would also like to say that during colonisation during the empire the indian poeple werent treated very well at all. Now im just glad that we have moved on from that and see such treatment as wrong. Racism is wrong and people have a right to be treated with respect. I am white and Scottish and whilst i dont appreciate proudhindus narrow views i am aware of what went on during the Empire which i hope is something that is never repeated despite what they may have got out of it in the end as im sure their losses were equally felt!

Oh and proudhindu as for the 15 million that we supposedly starved to death. dont you think you should be looking more closely at the Indian government? You prized prat!

Answer 3

Sorry Mike....though I agree with you that proudhindu is deliberately irritating people on here I will not agree with you that India would have not advanced. The Indian people are very intelligent and the majority are hard working. There are many Indians amongst the richest people in the world. The Mittals are Ibelieve the richest people in England. It was an Indian who invented the radio and not Marconi as was first supposed. Gandhi qualified as a lawyer in England because India was under British Rule. Had India had its own govenment and its own rule the laws would have been different and therefore there would have been no need for any of the English educated Indians to hav come over here.The Indians have excellent colleges as Mark Tulley will verify (Mark Tulley works for the BBC in Delhi). Stairs were invented by Sindhis (Sindh is now in Pakistan) .There are many old books the Vedas which contain a lot of information that the modern world is now using that were written hundreds of years ago before the British went to India. You probably did start the banking system in India...I am not sure of that fact...but the Italians from Lombardy started the banking system in the first place and gave that to England so its a but of a merrygoround here.. Yes the railway system was built by the British and is still going strong. There are many famous Indians who have invented various things but at the moment I do not have them to hand. India is NOT a barren land....it is fertile and they have two lots of crops a year. India is barren in the desert regions but has also been self sufficient for years and only opened itself up to imports a few years ago. India relies on the monsoon for its food..if there are heavy rains there is an abundance of food if the rainfall during the monsoon is poor then things get tough but they are still self sufficient. One has to remember that India is prone to geographical disasters. When you say that India has not progressed...again you are wrong. Unfortunately the media like to depict the bad things of India but if you go to the cities you will find...especially so in Bombay (Mumbai) that they have very modern roads...their hotels are far superior to ours...many villas, and flats are far superior to ours here. There is no doubt poverty in India but it has improved immensely over there in the past few years. India is on the rise and in a few years will become very important. You must remember that England did take a lot of Indian resources at India's expense...such as bringing cotton over from India and making the cloth over here when it could have been done in India...the lancashire mills no longer have the monopoly of doing that. India has iron, steel and magnates. It is a very rich country in having so many natural resources. One must remember it was under British rule for a long time and this again was done in a very underhand way...you must read Indian history to know all the details because I could go on for a long time.Forget the past atrocities.....I dont believe in having to say sorry for past deeds...we did not do them it was our ancestors and we cannot be answerable to living people for what the dead have done. I think thats absolutely stupid but apologies galore seem to be the "in" thing at the moment.Sorry if this is long but its a debateable answer.
I did forget to add that India makes even more films that Hollywood and supply films not only to England but also to the Middle East.

Answer 4

Thank Britain for invading their country and imposing a brutal form of white rule upon their people. Thank them for the millions who were murdered by British crown forces during the suppression of the 1857 uprising. Should they thank the Brits for causing the famine of the 1870's where over 30 million died. Should they thank the Brits for the Amristar massacre, for plundering their country's resources. Finally should they thank Britain for ruling their country with a policy of 'Divide and Rule' where ancient ethnic and religious rivalries were played upon, where Hindu was turned against Muslim, Hindu against Sikh, Muslim against Sikh and divisions between local principalities were exploited. This led to the partition of India and several wars between the people of the Indian subcontinent at the time of independance and since and these wars continue to this this day. In reality Indian people (and Irish, Kenyan, Malaysian, South African etc) have the right to hate Britain and everything it stands for

Answer 5

Proud Hindu is clearly upset and appears to have an inferiority complex. I think both countries have much to thank each other for. India introduced us to daily bathing and bathrooms. Both countries benefitted.

Answer 6

India had a civilization 5,000 years ago. Britain did eventually develop "civilization", but compared to the glory that was the Indian civilization at the time, it was peasants compared to royalty. Britain KILLED people to establish its dominance. India would have advanced all on its own without any help from Britain, and it was far MORE advanced THOUSANDS of years earlier.

btw: I'm a direct descendant of King Henry VIII and two of my ancestors signed the Magna Carta.

Answer 7

since iam an indian ican answer this more sensibly.
yh we do thank ya for everything, but u were ruling us very bad for over 150 yrs. and we hated ya guys, but it was gd that u ruled us otherwise we wouldnt learn english as a language.

Answer 8

Same way as we always thank the Romans and the Norman French?

Answer 9

But India has better tasting food than Britain...

Answer 10

honestly people you do have a lot of time on your hands
yahoo answers is meant for serious questions about everyday life ,not academic debates about history