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There is one salient example: fresh water in India. In 1947, the British departed with 24/7 pressurized water across the developed parts of India. Now, the Br
by british_india 11y ago
There is one salient example: fresh water in India.
In 1947, the British departed with 24/7 pressurized water across the developed parts of India.
Now, the British-built water system has all but collapsed. Instead of pressurized water, the water comes weakly and only intermittantly. What difference does that make, you ask?
Well, if a pressurized system leaks, the leak causes water to leave the pipe. In a non-pressurized system--coupled with the user-side pumps that are used to pull in more water--leaks flow INTO the water line, bringing contamination with it. Couple that with the common practice of placing fresh water and sewer lines in the same trench and everytime somebody pumps that water toward them, they are pulling in fecal matter that leaked from the adjacent sewer lines, which also leak.
That's why Indians often cannot drink their water without going through reverse osmosis. This is just an example of how India frittered away a resource the British brought them.
- ilurkedhere 11y agoInteresting... Did the British also leave with the knowledge of how to maintain it?
- oblio 11y agoI doubt even the Indians themselves are debating that the British brought many new technologies to India or that they maintained them well. Something which the later Indian administrations did not do as well. But when, in the end, the whole system was a huge scam meant to get resources out of India and into Britain, everything comes into a larger perspective.
- geofft 11y agoHm, I'm curious to see more about this. I was a young child when I last visited my family in India, many years ago, but I don't remember a particular need to filter water. And if I google 'india reverse osmosis', the second result (the first is a sales site) is a Times of India article about how it's a scam: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Reverse-osmosis-Need-or-waste/articleshow/46648223.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Reverse-osmosi...
- npalli 11y agoDeveloped parts of India made up about 10% in 1947. Today Urban india is almost 35% and the population is 4 times larger. So effectively an increase of 14 times in number of people that are urbanized. Highly doubt the British system would scale to current population and density levels. We just saw reports of Flint, Michigan and multiple cities having excessive lead and contamination in water supply etc. I wouldn't use that to suggest British need to come back and take over the US.
- shripadk 11y agoThe British also brought the Great Bengal Famine along with them. Funny how this 24/7 pressurized water could not prevent a famine in which millions died. And yes, the famine took place when India was still a colony of the British Empire.