Forms of economic organization or the economic development of the great powers and India (from early times upt 1914)

In recent years, most of the educated Indians have become deeply conscious of the fact that, while several countries in the West and Japan in the East have made stupendous económic progress and remarkably raised the standard of life of their people during the 19th and 20th centuries, India's economic progress and the improvement in the standard of life of her people have been negligible throughout this long period, although nature has been far more bountiful to her than to the other countries. They are, therefore, now evincing keen interest in a comparative study of the economic development of these countries and India, with a view to finding out the causes of this amazing contrast, so as to devise proper remedies for the deplorable economic condition of India. Moreover, in the recently revised courses of study for its Intermediate Commerce and Bachelor of Commerce examinations, the University of Bombay has made the Economic Development of the Great Powers and India a compulsory subject and other Universities in India may follow its example. This book is, therefore, meant for the general reader as well as the student. Its aim is to focus, within a reasonable compass, the reader's attention on the fundamental economic and social forces that have been at work in these countries from early times upto 1914, so that he can study the causes of the great contrast mentioned above.