Indian Economy and Society during World War One

In order to understand how the Indian society and economy fared during the World War I (WWI from now on), an abnormal period, it is necessary to grasp the ‘normal’ functioning of the economy and society and the normal style of governance of that economy. India was the most prominent example of the style of governance that can be characterised as Occidental despotism. The British rulers claimed to have instituted a regime of law and order in that country, but the law was what has been appropriately styled as  the law of emergency (Hussain 2003). In colonial India, for most Indians rights to land were contingent on prompt payment of a substantial land tax, labour was constrained first by systems of slavery and then by laws of indenture with plantation managers being given judicial powers over their workers, officials of the government were given enormous discretionary powers over Indians and the latter faced racial discrimination in most walks of life. Under the circumstances, there was very little of the civil freedom for the subject population (Bagchi 2010b).