India: Poverty and Change [Notes on the Problems of Modernization]

1) The Heritage of Traditional Society

India has been a traditional society for centuries. Writing of the country as it was after the death of Akbar the Great, in 1605 A.D., W. H. Moreland, the distinguished historian of India, observes that there were hardly any middle classes—very few lawyers, professional teachers, journalists, or politicians. There were no men of science investigating peasant problems, no skilled engineers designing implements to meet their needs, and no financia...