Enough hatred was fumed between the native population of India and Pakistan. The 200 years of anti-incumbency and hatred against the British was forgotten and used to build a civil war. A permanent scar and hatred that would not heal even after a century was created by the British empire. It was the parting gift by the British empire to the people of the Indian sub-continent. More than 14 million people were displaced and close to two million people died or went missing. The partition of India was the most tragic ever human genocide artificially perpetrated in the human history. What happens to these countries now was determined long before and planned by the British empire when their representatives packed bags and transferred power to the local natives. The landlocked populations of these countries are known as the black hole of humanity, waiting for ultimate catastrophe- either natural or man-made humanitarian crisis. Today, just under two billion people, or a quarter of the earth's population, live in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Indian sub-continent has still not recovered from the systemic malnutrition inflicted upon the population. The per capita annual consumption of food grains went down from 200kg in 1900 to 157kg on the eve of World War II, and further down to 37kg by 1946 (Prof Utsa Patnaik). Food grain was available, however the purchasing power of ordinary Indians was being squeezed. It is to be noted that the life expectancy of Indians at birth was just 22 years in 1911. Over two centuries, the East India Company and the British empire siphoned out at least £ 9.2 trillion or $44.6 trillion since the exchange rate was $4.8 per pound sterling during much of the colonial period. The Lancet, a leading health science journal, has published a political editorial, raising interest in the impact of British colonization on the current status of healthcare, economy and development of the Indian subcontinent.
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