History

The Age of Industrialisation

Question:

Industrialisation was a mixed blessing.’ Explain by giving examples. [CBSE 2014]

Answer:

(i) Cheap goods : The machine made goods were cheap and fine. So people of colonies could purchase cheap, fine and a variety of goods.
(ii) New entrepreneurs : The process of industrialisation provided an opportunity to Indian entrepreneurs to factories. Though they were junior players, but they earned a good amount.
(iii) Growth of industrial sector : Before the arrival of outsiders, most of the people were involved in agriculture, but the process of industrialisation provided them opportunity to work in other fields.
Life of the workers :
The process of industrialisation brought with it miseries for the newly emerged class of industrial workers.
(i) More workers than the demand : There was an abundance of workers in the market than the demand This had an adverse impact on the lives of the workers. Due to the shortage of work, most of the workers failed to get jobs So they offered their services at lower wages.
(ii) Seasonality of work : Seasonality of work any industries meant prolonged periods without work. After the busy season was over, the poor were on the streets again. Some returned to the countryside after the winter, when the demand for labour in the rural areas opened up in places. But most looked for odd jobs, which till the mid-nineteenth century were difficult to find.
(iii) Low real wages : Though the wages increased somewhat in the early 19th century, but the increase was nullified by increase in prices. During the Napoleonic ware, the red wages fell significantly.
(iv) Poverty and unemployment : At the best of times, till the mid-nineteenth century, about 10 per cent of the urban population was extremely poor The unemployment rate was also very high.
(v) Housing problem : Factory or workshop owners did not house live migrant workers. Many job seekers had to wait weeks, spending nights under bridges or night in shelters.
Impact on weavers :
To have a direct control over the weavers, the company started the system of advances. Once an order was placed, the weavers were given loans to purchase the raw material, for their production. Those who took loans had to handover the cloth they produced to the Gomastha. They could not take it to any other trader.
The system of advances proved very harmful for the weavers.
(i) The weavers lost any chance of bargaining.
(ii) Most of the weavers had to lease out the land, and devote all their time to weaving. Weaving in fact, came to absorb the labour of the entire family.
(iii) Impact on merchants and traders : The coming of machine-made clothes to India had some serious implications on the merchants on the Indian economy :
1. Collapse In the export market: Before the industrialisation, the Indian traders were exporting their products to different countries of the world. But with the entry of machine-made cloth, they lost their world market.
2. Shrinking of the local market : The machine-made clothes were finer and cheaper. So the producers failed to compete with them. So along with the world market, they started losing the home market also.

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The Age of Industrialisation

Q 1.

Name the European Managing agencies which controlled the large sector of Indian industries.

Q 2.

How did the abundance of labour in the market affect the lives of the workers in Britain during the nineteenth century? Explain with examples. [CBSE Comp. (O) 2008]

Q 3.

What technological change helped in improving production of India industry during the 20th century ?

Q 4.

Why women workers attacked the spinning Jenny a machine which was introduced in Britain ?

Q 5.

Who discovered the Spinning Jenny ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]

Q 6.

Why could Britain not recapture her hold on the Indian market after the Rrst World War ? Explain. [CBSE 2009 (F)]
Or
Explain the impact of the First World War on Britain’s economy ? [CBSE Sept. 2010.2011]

Q 7.

Name the goods from India Which dominated the international market before the age of machine industries.

Q 8.

During the first world war years industrial production in India boomed. Give reason.

Q 9.

What was the result of the import of Manchester cloth to India ?

Q 10.

Explain what is meant by proto-Industrialisation.

Q 11.

What were the benefits enjoyed by the villagers in the proto- industrial system.

Q 12.

How do Cloth Merchants function?

Q 13.

What was Spinning Jenny ?

Q 14.

"In Victorian Britain, the upper classes – the aristocrats and the bourgeoisie – preferred things produced by hand". Give reason.

Q 15.

Industrialisation brought a big change in social structure. Do you agree? Justify.

Q 16.

What is meant by proto-industrialisation ? How did it affect the rural peasants and artisans ? [CBSE 2012]
Or
How did the poor peasants and artisans benefit during the proto-industrialisation phase? [CBSE 2011]

Q 17.

What was the impact of colonisation of India on the Indian traders and merchants ?

Q 18.

Name the provinces where most of the large-scale industries were located. How can you say that small-scale production continued to predominate even in the late 20th century ?

Q 19.

Why did the peasants agree to accept advances made by the merchants to produce goods for them in Europe during the 17th and the 18th centuries* ? Explain three reasons. [CBSE Comp. (D) 2008]
Or
How were new merchant groups in Europe able to spread their business in the countryside before the Industrial Revolution ? Explain.
Or
Briefly explain the method and system of production in the countryside in England.
[CBSE 2013]

Q 20.

Why the production of cotton industry boomed in the late 19th century ?
Or
How had a series of inventions in the eighteenth century increased the efficiency of each step of the production process in cotton textile industry ? Explain. [CBSE 2008]

Q 21.

Mention the major features of Indian textiles before the age of machine industries.

Q 22.

Give reasons why the handloom weavers in India survived the onslaught of the machine made textiles of Manchester ?  [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Or
How did small scale industries survive in India despite of Industrialisation ?  [CBSE 2013]

Q 23.

What were guilds ?

Q 24.

”Before establishing political power in Bengal and Carnatic in the 1760 and 1770s, the East India Company had found it difficult to ensure a regular supply of goods for export. Give reasons.

Q 25.

How the Indian and British manufacturers tried to expand their market ?

Q 26.

When Indian manufacturers advertised, the nationalist message was clear and loud."What was the message ?

Q 27.

What is the importance of advertisement? How advertisement was used by the Britishers to expand the market for their products?

Q 28.

Why did some Industrialists in nineteenth-century Europe prefer hand labour over machines?

Q 29.

Write a brief note on the cotton Industry

Q 30.

What were the problems faced by the textile manufacturers in India in the late 1800s ?

Q 31.

What were the problems faced by the textile manufacturers in India in the late 1800s ?

Q 32.

Why did the industrial production in India increase during the First World War ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]

Q 33.

Explain the major features of pre colonial trade and industries.

Q 34.

Who was a jobber ? Explain his functions. [CBSE 200S. Sept. 2010. 2011. 2012} Or
Why was a jobber employed ? How did jobber misuse his position and power ? Explain. (CBSE 2013]

Q 35.

In the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, the merchants from the towns in Europe began moving to the countryside.' Give reasons.
Or
Explain any three major problems faced by the new European merchants in setting up their industries in towns before the Industrial Revolution. [CBSE 2008 (D) Sept. 2012]
Or
What is meant by proto-industrialisation ? Why was it successful in the countryside in England in the 17th century ?  [CBSE Sept. 2008. 2011. 2012]
Or
Throw light on production during the proto-industrialisation phase in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with an example. [CBSF. Sept. 2010]

Q 36.

The port of Surat and Hoogly declined by the end of the ISth century.’ Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2012]

Q 37.

What steps were taken by the East India Company to contiol the market of cotton and silk goods ? [CBSE 2009 (D)]
Or
The establishment of political power by the East India Company resulted in ruination of the Indian weavers. Support the statement with suitable examples.  [CBSE 2012]

Q 38.

Who were the entrepreneurs or business groups in India during the 19th century ?

Q 39.

Why was it difficult for the new European merchants to set up business in town in the 17th and 18th centuries ?

Q 40.

Who created the cotton mill ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 41.

What was fly shuttle ?

Q 42.

How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers?

Q 43.

How do Cloth Merchants function?

Q 44.

Discuss the plight of the Indian weavers with the advent of the East India company.

Q 45.

Why did some industrialists in the nineteenth century Europe prefer hand labour over machines ? [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]

Q 46.

How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from the Indian weavers ?

Q 47.

What was the role of trade guilds ? Explain.

Q 48.

The proto-industrialisation helped in building a close relationship between the town and the countryside”. Explain.

Q 49.

Who created the cotton mill ? How did it help in improving the production ?

Q 50.

Why was East India Company keen on expanding textile exports from India during the 1760 ? Explain any three reasons. [CBSE 2013]