Consider the following statements about the estimates of India’s national income during the colonial period:
(A) The colonial government made regular official estimates of India’s national and per capita income.
(B) Some individual attempts to measure India’s national and per capita income gave conflicting and inconsistent results.
(C) Among the estimators of that period, the estimates of V.K.R.V. Rao were considered very significant.
(D) Most studies found that India’s aggregate real output grew by less than two per cent a year in the first half of the twentieth century.
(E) Most studies found that India’s per capita output grew by about two per cent a year in the first half of the twentieth century.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (B), (C) and (D) only
(A) The colonial government made regular official estimates of India’s national and per capita income. — Incorrect. The government never made any sincere attempt at such estimates.
(B) Some individual attempts to measure India’s national and per capita income gave conflicting and inconsistent results. — Correct. Individual estimates were conflicting and inconsistent.
(C) Among the estimators of that period, the estimates of V.K.R.V. Rao were considered very significant. — Correct. Rao’s estimates were considered very significant.
(D) Most studies found that India’s aggregate real output grew by less than two per cent a year in the first half of the twentieth century. — Correct. Aggregate real output grew by less than two per cent a year.
(E) Most studies found that India’s per capita output grew by about two per cent a year in the first half of the twentieth century. — Incorrect. Per capita output grew by only about half per cent a year.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.2 Low Level of Economic Development Under the Colonial Rule The economic policies pursued by the colonial government in India were concerned more with the protection and promotion of the economic interests of their home country than with the development of the Indian economy. Such policies brought about a fundamental change in the structure of the Indian economy — transforming the country into supplier of raw materials and consumer of finished industrial products from Britain. Obviously, the colonial government never made any sincere attempt to estimate India’s national and per capita income. Some individual attempts which were made to measure such incomes yielded conflicting and inconsistent results. Among the notable estimators — Dadabhai Naoroji, William Digby, Findlay Shirras, V.K.R.V. Rao and R.C. Desai — it was Rao, whose estimates during the colonial period was considered very significant. However, most studies did find that the country’s growth of aggregate real output during the first half of the twentieth century was less than two per cent coupled with a meagre half per cent growth in per capita output per year.” |