Gopal Krishna Gokhale, born on 9 May 1866 in a village named Kothuluk of Guhagar Taluka in Ratnagiri district in the present day State of Maharashtra (at that time in the Bombay Presidency) in a Chitpavan Brahmin family, was an outstanding intellectual India witnessed during the early quarter of the 20^th century.

His education, Gopal Krishna Gokhale graduated from Elphinstone College in 1884, influenced his career in a tremendous way, for, in addition of learning and becoming familiar with English language, he was exposed to Western political thought; those thoughts impressed him to such an extent that Gopal Krishna Gokhale became a great admirer of authors like John Stuart Mill and Edmund.

Although Gopal Krishna Gokhale was a staunch critic of the English colonial rule, the respect for English political theory and institutions acquired by Gokhale in his college days remained with him for the rest of his life and often reflected in his way of dealing many situations he encountered.

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Entry into Indian National Congress

Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who acquired the membership of India National Congress in 1889, struggled for decades to get greater political representation and power over public affairs for common Indians.

As Gopal Krishna Gokhale was moderate in his views so he always approached British authorities with petitions to cultivate a process and system of dialogue and discussion that in Gokhale’s opinion, would fetch greater British respect for Indian rights. Gopal Krishna Gokhale became the joint secretary of the Indian National Congress in 1895.

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Gopal Krishna Gokhale: an outstanding intellectual

Gopal Krishna Gokhale got intensive training in India Economics by Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade and G.V. Joshi. Some historians have even called him ‘a protégé’ of social reformer Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale was not a “good orator” as it was not in his nature to use strong and forceful language as was the case with his other well-known Colleges like Tilak, Dadabhai Naoroji and RC Dutt.

As a speaker, Gopal Krishna Gokhale was gentle, courteous, reasonable, non-flamboyant and lucid. He always favoured detailed knowledge and the careful, cool and logical presentation and analysis of data. All these reflected in his speeches that did not entertain or hurt; however, they slowly drew the listener’s or reader’s attention by their intense intellectual power.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale got famous, primarily, for his budget speeches that were reported widely by the newspapers whose readers used to wait eagerly for their morning copy. He virtually changed the Legislative Council into an open university for catering political education to the people of the country.

It was his first budget speech on 26 March 1902 that earned him the name and fame of ‘the greatest parliamentarian that India has produced’.

In that historic session of the Parliament, when Edward Law, the Finance Member, presented the budget of a seven-crore-rupees surplus, he received congratulations of the house with great pride.

When Gopal Krishna Gokhale started to speak he began by saying that he could not ‘conscientiously join in the congratulations because of the huge surplus’. For him surplus budget did not bring the good news; on the contrary, the surplus budget, for G.K. Gokhale, “illustrated the utter absence of a due correspondence between the condition of the country and the condition of the finances of the country”.

In fact, according to Gopal Krishna Gokhale, this surplus in times of serious depression and suffering, made a wrong to the community.

Every aspect he raised indicated that the centre of his speech was the poverty of the people.

After examining all aspects of the problem Gokhale came to the conclusion that the material condition of the majority of people was ‘Steadily deteriorating’ and that the phenomenon was ‘the saddest in the whole range of the economic history of the world’.

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Gopal Krishna Gokhale as a staunch economist

Analyzing the budget (1902) in detail he demonstrated how to land revenue and the salt tax had been soaring even in times of drought and famine. Demanding the reduction of these two taxes he vigorously sought for raising the minimum level of income liable to income tax to Rs. 1000 so that the lower middle classes would not face the heat.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale not only demanded greater expenditure on education and industry but also condemned the large expenditure on the army and territorial expansion beyond Indian boundaries. He plainly, without putting any irony in his tone or without raising the pitch of his voice, said that the management of Indian Finances revealed that Indian interests were invariably subordinate to foreign interests.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale became successful in linking the poor condition of Indian finances and the poverty of the Indian people in general with the colonial status of the Indian economy and polity. And he did all this by quoting at length from the Government’s own blue books.

On Gokhale’s getting sudden fame for his first budget speech, that had ‘an electrifying effect’ on the people, his biographer B.R. Nanda has perhaps rightly observed “Like Byron, he could have said that he woke up one fine morning and found himself famous.

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Colonial Exploitation of Indian economy, prior to the British Raj in India, was controlled and managed by village communities, which consisted of farmers and the functionaries. While the farmers were fully engaged in crop farming or Cattle farming, the functionaries provided essential services like that of blacksmiths, goldsmiths, Washer-men and shoe-makers.  Although agriculture was subsistence base (depended on rain), cultivators enjoyed the ownership rights.

There were no intermediaries (like Zamindars of the Colonial period) between the State and the farmers who had to pay a reasonable amount as land revenue directly to the king. Rural India’s life was a portrait of prosperity and stability. It was so Bernier, the famous French traveler, described Bengal in 17 century as “richer than Egypt” producing enough for self- consumption and exporting in abundance.

Industry was dominated by handicrafts. However, it had got a worldwide reputation of producing quality products like ‘Decca Muslin’. Export consisted of finished products, imports were largely of gold and silver.

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However colonial policies of British Raj, which were intended to exploit the Indian economy as fully as possible, fully reversed the composition or output, as well as the composition of exports and imports, leading to a severe damage to the pace of growth of Indian economy. How did the Britishers achieve their intended goal of subjecting Colonial Exploitation of Indian economy to such an exploitation can be comprehend by the ways and mans they chose:

Colonial Exploitation of Indian Economy – Agriculture Sector

Two factors, invented and implemented by the colonial masters of India, can be held responsible for the backwardness and stagnation of Indian agriculture during the British rule:

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Land Revenue System Devised by the British Raj:

A unique system of land revenue was invented by the British Raj with an intention to draw maximum benefit from the Indian agriculture and in the process destroying it. This system was popularly termed as the Zamindari system of Land Revenue. This system functioned at three levels:

(a) The Zamindars were made, by their colonial masters, permanent owners of the soil,

(b) it was the responsibility of Zamindars to pay a fix amount to their colonial masters as land revenue, and

(c) Zamindars were given a free hand in extracting as much amount from the tillers of the soil as they could. In this way they set up a triangular relationship among the government, the owner of the soil and the tiller of the soil. The direct result of this land revenue system was that the Zamindars became the cruellest exploiters of the tillers of the soil. They frequently raised the land revenue without caring for the miseries of the tillers of the soil.

Eventually tillers became landless labourers and lost the interest in agriculture. However, they could not desert agriculture because there was no alternative means of subsistence for them.

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Forced Commercialisation of Agriculture

The colonial masters forced the farmers to Shift cultivation from the conventional subsistence crops (like rice and wheat) to the commercial crops (Indigo in particular), because Indigo was in great demand in Britain in textile industry for dyeing and bleaching. It resulted in the farmers’ helplessness to be at a mercy of landlords because they became dependent on them for cash to buy food. Earlier farmers would grow grain for their family consumption but this forced shift in crop cultivation completely ruined them.

Under the British rule the Zamindars started to exploit agriculture as a source of un-earned income, the zamindar never invested, rather unfortunately, this income in agriculture. They wasted it on their luxurious lifestyle.

Colonial Exploitation of Indian Economy – Industrial Sector

Industrial sector in India, prior to the British rule, implied predominance of handicrafts which were systematically destroyed by permitting tariff-free import of machine made goods from Britain. However, they placed a heavy duty on export of Indian handicraft products. As a consequence while the British products started pouring in the Indian markets, the handicraft products of India began to lose their domestic as well as foreign markets.

One important factor of the decaying of handicraft in India was the end of princely courts due to the hold of the British rule. Nawabs, rajas, princes and emperors formed the princely classes which used to patronise the handicrafts that enabled this industry in acquiring in international reputation. This ended with the end of this princely class.

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Colonial Exploitation of Indian Economy – International Trade

Prior to the British rule India was a well known exporter of finished goods like fine cotton, silk, textiles, iron goods, wooden goods, ivory work and precious stones. India exported these items to different countries. However, since India was being ruled as a British Colony, exports and imports of the country came under monopoly control of the colonial masters. They directed more than 50 % of India’s international trade towards Great Britain. In the process India became net exporter of raw materials and primary products like raw silk, cotton, wool, jute, indigo, sugar, etc. And not only this, it became a net importer of finished goods produced by British industry. India’s imports consisted of cotton, silk and woolen clothes besides several kinds of capital goods produced in Britain. This is the most explicit example of the direct Colonial exploitation of Indian economy by the colonial masters.

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It can be appropriately claimed that the Mauryan administration system, though monarchical, was sufficient because it had the privilege of possessing successful administrators such as Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara Maurya and Ashoka. The King, as the supreme and sovereign authority of the Mauryan Empire, had the supreme executive, legislative and judicial powers and functions in the administration.

It was the responsibility of the Mauryan King, as the head of the executive, to maintain social order by punishing guilty. He was also accountable for the safety and security of his kingdom. Protecting the life and property of his subjects (people of the kingdom) was also the part of his duty.

As the head of the administration the king formulated the general lines of policy which his subordinate officers were bound to follow. He selected ministers and other officers of the royal administration.

As the head of the judicial department, it was the duty of the Mauryan king to ensure justice to the people and rectify their grievances. However, the vastness of the Mauryan Empire restrained the king from personally settling all the cases himself. But as his was the final court of appeal he issued final judgement.

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To hear appeals from the people the king of the Mauryan Empire often spent whole day in the court and during this period they even did never care for their personal amenities. King Ashoka the Great made several reforms in the judicial system of the Mauryan Empire. The king had the sovereign power of law making and also the power and right to suspend customs and justice.

As the head of the Military administration of the Mauryan Empire, the king was the supreme commander of the army. The king was not only the ultimate authority of the bureaucracy, but he was also the head of the revenue system of the Mauryan Empire.

No one can deny that kings of Mauryan Empire possessed huge power. However, there were still some limitations upon the royal authority.

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Limitations of Mauryan Empire were:

• Before Ashoka the Mauryan Empire was primarily a Hindu State. According to the Hindu concept, the Supreme Sovereign of the State was Dharma or law and the king had to act as its guardian. The king never dared to challenge the ancient laws and practices.
• In the Mauryan Empire there was a Mantri Parishad in place, whose function was to aid and advice the king. He, in ordinary times, could defy the advice of the officers of this Mantri Parishad, but in times of emergency it was binding on him to listen to the individual and collective advice of his ministers.
• In the Mauryan Empire the Brahmins had huge influence over the king who often dared not to disobey them. Instead he always looked for their support.

As the Mauryan Administration was decentralized in nature, the officials of the provincial administration had the right to be consulted by the king especially in all provincial matters.

Because of the vastness of the Empire the king had to depend on the council of minister for discharging his responsibility and for the success of the Mauryan administration.

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The council of Ministers of the Mauryan Empire were known as the Mantri Parishad. The number of its ministers was not fixed and varied according to needs. Kautily supported a large Council according to the need of the empire. The aspirant members, to show their ability, had to go through tests of religion, love, fear, and money to qualify for becoming the full-fledged members of the Mantri Parishad.

In the Mauryan Empire there was an efficient and well organized hierarchy of bureaucrats belonging to central executive, judicial and revenue officers for efficient central administration of Mauryan government.

The functions of the Mauryan Empire administrative system were carried forward by several departments. Each of these departments, in turn, was led by a superintendent (Adhyaksha). The Adhakshya was assisted by a band of clerks, accountants and spies etc. for the smooth functioning of the department.

There were two other posts, in addition to the posts of Adhyakshas, of high ranking in Mauryan Administrative System – the “Samaharta” and the “Sannidhata”. The Samaharta was the collector general of revenue for the whole of the Mauryan Empire. And Sannidhata was the office-in-charge of the treasury and store.

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