Prime Minister highlighted that colonial mindset started taking root when in 1835, British MP Thomas Babington Macaulay launched a major campaign to uproot India from its cultural foundations.

• Macaulay’s Minute on Education in 1835 promoted English education in India at the expense of education in Oriental languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic etc.
• To promotion of British Education system, Mahatma Gandhi noted that India’s ancient education system was a beautiful tree that was uprooted and destroyed.

Colonial Mindset in India: Core Elements

• Language: Use of English in courts and universities is seen as aspirational, sometimes hindering access for non-English speakers.
• Culture: Colonial rule imposed Western cultural elements including western dress, food, art forms, manners, and values, often projecting Indian knowledge systems as inferior.
• Laws & Institutions: Many colonial laws, such as the IPC (Indian Penal Code), Forest Laws, Sedition etc. and criminal procedures, are rooted in establishing control rather than service.
• Economic System: Imported economic models and emphasis on private capital led to impoverishment of a large section of population.  
• Knowledge Systems: Indigenous knowledge systems forgotten due to large emphasis on imported models of research and innovation.