British Colonial Commonality: East Africa and India

Abstract

This note examines aspects of colonial commonality between British colonised East Africa and India. Community development as a rural development programme, its presence in academic institutions and its use as an expression in development discourse are some of these commonalities. With the passage of time, British East Africa and India have diverged on some of these commonalities. In India, community development began with great developmental hopes in 1952, but it ended miserably and was soon abandoned as a rural development programme. While it vanished from India’s development lexicon, community development still retains a place in the development discourse of Botswana. It also seems to resonate in the mainstream life of some East African countries unlike in India. But one commonality still continues. Community development finds some place in the halls of academe in both Botswana and India today. To discuss these aspects of colonial commonality, this article moves back-and-forth among Botswana, India and British East Africa. This article needs to be read in the historical context of de-colonisation struggles over developmental ideas in British East Africa and India and the role of the native elites in this process.