Correct Option (D)
Dadabhai Naoroji was the first to estimate India's per capita income during the British colonial period. In his work, "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India" (1901), he calculated the per capita income for the year 1867-68 to be Rs. 20. His methodology involved estimating the total national income and then dividing it by the population. Naoroji's estimates highlighted the economic drain from India under British rule and contributed significantly to the nationalist discourse.
Incorrect Options:
M. G. Ranade: Mahadev Govind Ranade was a prominent social reformer and economist during the British Raj. While he critically analyzed British economic policies and advocated for industrialization in India, his primary focus was not on the initial estimation of per capita income. His work contributed to understanding the economic conditions but did not involve the first calculation of per capita income.
Sir W. Hunter: Sir William Wilson Hunter was a British historian and statistician who served in the Indian Civil Service. He is known for his extensive work on Indian gazetteers and statistical surveys, such as "The Imperial Gazetteer of India." While his contributions were significant for administrative and statistical data collection, he did not undertake the pioneering estimation of India's per capita income in the 19th century.
R. C. Dutta: Romesh Chunder Dutta was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, and writer. He is renowned for his economic critiques of British rule, particularly his work "The Economic History of India" (1901-03), which detailed the economic exploitation of India. While Dutta provided a comprehensive analysis of the economic drain and poverty, he built upon earlier estimates and did not perform the initial calculation of per capita income for 1867-68.