Industrialisation was a mixed blessing.’ Explain by giving examples. [CBSE 2014]
(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.
Why did the upper class people prefer to use hand products in the Victorian period ? Explain with examples.
Why in Victorian Britain, the upper classes preferred things produced by hand ? Give three reasons. (CBSE Sept. 2010)
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]
Which pre-colonial port connected India to the Gulf countries and the Red Sea ports ? [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Write a short note on the development of factories in India.
Or
Explain the growth of factories in India.
“By the 1860s Indian weavers failed to get sufficient supply of raw cotton of good quality”. Give reason.
What technological change helped in improving production of India industry during the 20th century ?
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]
Write True or False against each statement:
(a) At the end of the 19th century, 80 per cent of the total workforce in Europe was employed in the technologically advanced industrial sector.
(b) The international market for textiles was dominated by India till the eighteenth century.
(c) The American Civil War resulted in the reduction of cotton exports from India.
(d) The introduction of the fly shuttle enabled the handloom workers to improve their productivity.
Name the provinces where most of the large-scale industries were located during the colonial period.
When Indian manufacturers advertised, the nationalist message was clear and loud."What was the message ?
When Manchester industrialists began selling cloth in India, they put labels with pictures on the cloth bundles. Why did they do so ? Explain.
Explain the major features of the industrialisation process of Europe in the 19th century. [CBSE Compt. 2008 (O)]
"In Victorian Britain, the upper classes – the aristocrats and the bourgeoisie – preferred things produced by hand". Give reason.
“Under the colonial era the Indian merchants were discriminated and space within which Indian merchants could function became increasingly limited’. Justify.
How were machines and technology . glorified in England in the early 20th century through pictures on the cover pages of some books ? [CBSE 2013]
Why was East India Company keen on expanding textile exports from India during the 1760 ? Explain any three reasons. [CBSE 2013]
Why did the network of export trade in textiles controlled by the Indian merchants break down by the 1750s ? Mention any two effects of such a breakdown ? [CBSE 2013]
”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.
Name the European Managing agencies which controlled the large sector of Indian industries.
Explain the following :
(a) Woman workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny. [CBSE Sept. 2011]
(b) In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns In Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages.
(c) The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.
(d) The East India Company appointed Gomasthas to supervise the weavers in India. [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Why did the industrial production in India increase during the First World War ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]
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 ?
In the 20th century, the handloom cloth production expanded steadily, i.e.. almost trebling between 1900 and 1940.’ Give reasons.
Or
What led to expansion In handloom craft production between 1900 and 1940 ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]
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]