How Did British Imperialism Improved The Lives Of The Colonized Indians?

British imperialism improved the lives of the colonized Indians to no extent due to the unreasonable economic policies that lead to famine, the extreme poverty caused by the heavy taxation of Indians, and the unjust and one-sided British government that gave the colonized no say.

The lives of the Indians were not improved from the British imperialism because of the implementation of cash crops and mercantilism that lead to starvation. Cash crops are crops produced for their commercial value rather than for the use of the grower. The British forced Indians to only grow cash crops to strengthen the British economy. Consequently, the Indians were not able to make their own food, which lead to starvation (Imperialism Evidence Graphic Organizer, Handout). The purpose of the cash crops was to only benefit
Therefore Britain did not care about Indians and their well-being, and instead only cared for their own profit and gain. In addition, Britain was able to control the Indian economy due to mercantilism. Mercantilism is the establishment of foreign trading monopolies. This can be seen in India where the British took raw materials from India, produced them in their own industries in Britain, and sold the finished products back to India (Textbook, pg. 358). Britain was able to control the economy because the imported goods were much cheaper than the ones made in local Indian industries. For this reason Indians made minimal profit in comparison to the British. Britain had no interest in how much Indians made, which resulted in starvation and famine because there was not enough money to buy food. As a matter of fact, Britain