"India's Resentment of the British" by Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru, an Indian nationalist during the 1940's alongside Gandhi, blames British economic exploitation for India's continued poverty:

• The British were allowed free reign to rule over and exploit India
• Although the railways and steam engines modernized the country, they also helped consolidate British rule and helped to exploit the interior of the country
• The British acted as feudal landlords and used India as if it were their own estate. The millions of Indians working functioned as tenants of the landlords
• The Indian newspapers talked only of British life and included nothing regarding the Indian people
• English clubs were exclusive and most of them refused Indian members
• Racism was prevalent in India with many segregated areas designated for "Europeans Only"
• The British markets were closed to Indian goods but the Indian markets were flooded with British products made from Indian resources. This situation crushed Indian manufacturers and caused a lot of Indians to lose their jobs
• The British hindered India's industrialization and forced it to be a agricultural nation
• All of these measures result in the widespread poverty in India