With reference to the period of colonial rule in India, “Home Charges” formed an important part of the drain of wealth from India. Which of the following funds constituted “Home Charges”?
- Funds used to support the India Office in London.
- Funds used to pay salaries and pensions of British personnel engaged in India.
- Funds used for waging wars outside India by the British.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
- 1 only
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Explanation
Only 1 and 2 are correct
- Dadabhai Naoroji and other economic nationalists gave several factors that caused external drain. These are:
- “Home charges” or paying for the secretary of state and his establishment at the India Office in London, as well as pay, pension and training costs for the civilian and military personnel— or “the men who ruled India”.
- Annuities on account of railway and irrigation works;
- guaranteed interest on foreign investments in railways, irrigation, road transport and various other infrastructural facilities,
- Indian office expenses including pensions to retired officials who had worked in India or England, pensions to army and Navals etc.
- Remittances to England by Europeans to their families.
- Remittances for purchase of British Goods for consumption of British employees in India.
- the government purchase policy of importing all its stationery from England
- interest on foreign debt incurred by the East India Company,
- military expenditure,
- Also, trade as well as Indian labour was deeply undervalued.
- However, the funds used for waging wars outside India by the British were not part of the Home Charges.
