As this is my first post on insideiim.com, I would like to declare at the outset that my writing skills arent the greatest and I deeply apoloize to the grammar nazis for any grammatical errors that may have made their way into the write up. Also, this is not a rant of a bored guy dabbling in indian history, but an attempt to ignite the pride in every indian that they are inheritors of a great legacy.
I would like to clear a few misconceptions that people in india have about their country; the land that has sheltered and sustained a human civilization since around 15,000 BC. Our ancestors evolved from hunting and gathering to growing food grains and finally mastered the art of producing myriad products; The Indus valley civilization that blossomed on the banks of river Indus was the worlds largest civilization and the people prospered through free trade with other thriving civilizations viz. mesopotamians(present day Iraq), sumerians and the bablyonians.
Gradually as people moved further east into the ganga plains and saw the emergence of the greatest ever empire known to mankind (The mighty mauryas) prosperity spread and our trade linkages deepened and widened especially with the Greeks. Also, moving to a different era, the imperial cholas also had extensive trade linkages with the romans and the chinese and the bay of bengal was termed the "chola lake" due to the warrior ships and sheer domination of the ocean! The trade was free and India was running a current account surplus! In fact, the romans were pouring wine, gold and silver and other precious gems into the country for her ivory, spices etc. India and China literaly ruled the oceans and lands as far as trade was concerned until the 17th century when west europe was swept by an industrial revolution and in the pursuit of cheap raw materials(like cotton, spices etc) they waged wars, colonized countries and India thanks to the neglect of sea power succumbed and ultimately was subdued at the hands of a few british men.
MYTH 1: India is a emerging economy. NO India is a re-emerging economy that until the 17th century combined with China contributed 33% of world GDP(Please refer Angus Madison's groundbreaking work on world economy). The west entered the game much later and adopted questionable and coercive methods to get a slice of the growing pie.
MYTH 2: Western world is a devotee and a die-hard believer in free trade and enterprise and now a narrative has gained ground that India is impeding free trade. Irony has died a million deaths! The WEST distorted and created barriers to free trade starting from the 17th century. They coerced and imposed heavy tarriffs,duties on indian products that inflicted heavy losses on indian industry. See how fiercely USA is protecting their cotton farmers but is denying India some leeway. And western media is painting India as the villain!
If you have read this far I thank you and appreciate your patience.