Essays in Modern Indian Economic History is part of a three-volume set, comprising representative articles of Indian History Congress Proceedings (1935-85). The essays in this volume provide an overview of the continuities and changes in the historians’ approach to the economic aspects of ‘modern’ Indian history. In the agenda of economic historians, the problems uppermost have been the policies of the colonial state, the impact of metropolitan capitalism on colonial trade and industry, and in particular the evolution of land revenue systems in various regions. At the same time, many of the continuities from the pre-colonial period to the so-called modern period in terms of social institutions, political structures, and organization of production have engaged historians. This collection indicates how historical research in modern economic history has pushed beyond the study of colonial economic policies per se, into the processes internal to the economy and society under the impact of these policies — resulting in the development of a culturally and socially sensitive economic history.
Re-issued in a revised form to synchronize with the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian History Congress, the essays in this volume are accompanied by a new Preface and an Introduction that highlight the changing contours of emphasis, shifting focus/es and methodologies and projections of research, held under the aegis of the Indian History Congress.