Dadabhai Naoroji and Drain Theory — Prelims Strategy

Prelims Strategy

Keep the book title, publication year and parliamentary milestone separate: Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, 1901; election to the House of Commons, 1892. A question may exchange the dates while preserving the association with Naoroji. Do not rely on recognition of the name alone.

For conceptual questions, ask whether an outward payment has a corresponding return and how it is connected to colonial government. A payment for an imported good cannot be classified as drain solely because money crossed a border. Salaries, pensions and externally incurred charges require attention to who financed them and where the resulting income accrued.

Avoid treating drain theory as identical to deindustrialisation. The two arguments can be related within colonial economic criticism, but one concerns resource transfer and the other changes in industrial production and employment. Also distinguish a mechanism from an estimate: a particular numerical assessment belongs to a source, period and method. Reject an unsupported universal figure even when the underlying description of the drain sounds familiar.