New Delhi, Jan. 28 -- Oxfam, in its report Takers not Makers, claims Imperial Britain "extracted" $65 trillion from India between 1765 and 1900 in today's money, "enough to carpet London with £50 notes" four times over, taking these numbers from calculations others have done before.

The origins go back to Dadabhai Naoroji, who, writing 125 years ago, called the outflow a "drain." Oxfam uses the number to support a modern-day movement: a case for reparations Britain should pay India.

Such numbers are more than a criticism of Raj policies. There are plenty of grounds to criticize these. For example, it spent too little on welfare and infrastructure and too much on the army.

But extraction data doesn't just put public policy but the ...