The Economic History of India: Under Early British Rule  (Paperback, Romesh Dutt)

About The Book : The author undoubtedly was one of the great figures of his generation in India. Taken together, the two volumes cover the entire period of British rule in India,—from the battle of Plassey in 1757 to the commencement of the 20th century. No history of the people of India, of their trades, industries, and agriculture, and of their economic condition under British administration, has been compiled till then. Our story concerns itself with the growth of the British Empire in India, or rather with the economic condition of the people under that Empire. And it will enable us to trace the economic history of the people more clearly if we briefly review in this preliminary chapter those great political events which led to the steady rise and expansion of the British power during the period of eighty years which forms the subject of this volume, from the battle of Plassy in 1757 to the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. About The Author : Romesh Chunder Dutt CIE (1848 –1909) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Dutt is considered a national leader of the pre-Gandhian era, and was a contemporary of Dadabhai Naoroji and Justice Ranade.He was one of the prominent proponent of Indian economic nationalism. He entered the Indian Civil Service as an assistant magistrate of Alipur in 1871. A famine in Meherpur district of Nadia in 1874 and another in Dakhin Shahbazpur (Bhola District) in 1876, followed by a disastrous cyclone, required emergency relief and economic recovery operations, which Dutt managed successfully. He served as administrator for Backerganj, Mymensingh, Burdwan, Donapur, and Midnapore. He became Burdwan's District Officer in 1893, Commissioner of Burdwan Division in 1894, and Divisional Commissioner for Orissa in 1895. Dutt was the first Indian to attain the rank of divisional commissioner. He was president of the Indian National Congress in 1899. He was also a member of the Bengal Legislative Council. While still in office, he died in Baroda at the age of 61 on 30 November 1909.