(From the Independent)
An Indian politician has called for Britain to pay reparations to India and other former colonies for its decades of imperial rule, in a speech at the Oxford Union.
Dr Shashi Tharoor, a former Indian government minister and Member of Parliament, made the case in a debate entitled ‘This house believes Britain owes reparations to her former colonies’, which was put on by the world-famous debating society, the Oxford Union.
The main thrust of Dr Tharoor’s speech was about the economic toll that British rule took on India.
He said: “India’s share of the world economy when Britain arrived on it shores was 23 per cent. By the time the British left it was down to below four per cent. Why? Simply because India had been governed for the benefit of Britain. Britain’s rise for 200 years was financed by its depredations in India.” Read more