In News:

Report “Takers not makers: The unjust poverty and unearned wealth of colonialism” published by Oxfam.

Key Highlights:

• Released by: Oxfam International at the World Economic Forum 2025
• Core Focus: The report explores historical colonial wealth extraction, especially from India, and connects it to contemporary global inequalities.

Colonial Wealth Drain – India:

• $64.82 trillion extracted from India by Britain (1765–1900), adjusted to today’s value.
  • $33.8 trillion (52%) enriched the UK’s richest 10%
  • 32% benefited the British middle class
• India's industrial output dropped from 25% in 1750 to 2% in 1900 due to:
  • British protectionist policies (especially targeting Asian textiles)
  • High taxation, home charges, currency manipulation, and profit repatriation

Conceptual Framework:

• "Drain of Wealth" Theory by Dadabhai Naoroji forms the report’s foundation.
• Colonialism framed as both:
  • Historical phenomenon: Loot, repression, forced de-industrialization
  • Modern structure (Neo-colonialism): Corporate dominance, digital colonization, and unjust global governance

Neo-Colonial Parallels Today:

• Wages in Global South: 87–95% lower than for same work in Global North
• Multinational corporations:
  • Descendants of colonial entities like the East India Company
  • Extract resources & exploit labor under unequal terms of trade
• Global institutions like WTO and World Bank perpetuate inequity through imbalanced power dynamics

Ongoing Consequences in Global South:

• Poor public services, education, and healthcare
• Caste, religion, and language divisions institutionalized during colonial rule
  • E.g., Only 0.14% of Indian languages used as medium of instruction
• Bengal Famine (1943): Caused by wartime policies & racist attitudes, ~3 million deaths
• Biopiracy cases (e.g., neem) reflect continued exploitation

Wealth Disparity & Inequality:

• Billionaire wealth tripled in growth rate in 2024 (vs. 2023)
• Top 1% own more than 95% of global wealth
• Over 3.5 billion people survive on less than $6.85/day