caste system in India

I. Background
An Area of Darkness is a travel genre written by V.S. Naipaul. It tells about poverty, caste system and colonialism condition in India. He thinks that the poverty in India is because of British colonialism. Let us see other countries which were British colonies: Singapore and Hong Kong, they are wealthy countries. Why can not it happen in India? Is it colonialism that creates poverty in India? What actually creates poverty in India?