India and the Contemporary World (History) Class 10, NCERT Solution Ch 4 - The Age of Industrialisation. These solutions are prepared by our subject experts at Textual Solution according to latest CBSE syllabus and marking schemes.
Write in brief
1. Explain the following :
a) Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny.
Answer :
There was widespread unemployment in Europe. In the periods of economic slumps, like the 1830s, the proportion of unemployed went up between 35 and 75 percent in different regions. So, when the Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woolen industry in Britain, workers opposed it. By turning one single wheel a worker could set in motion a number of spindles and spin several threads at the same time. It reduced labour demand. Workers feared that they would be deprived of their jobs. Therefore, women workers in Britain who survived on hand spinning, attacked the Spinning Jenny.
b) In the seventeenth century merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages.
Answer :
In the seventeenth century, world trade expanded and colonies in different parts of the world were acquired. Consequently, the demand for goods began growing. But merchants were not able to expand production within towns. Crafts and trade guilds in towns were powerful. These were associations of producers that trained crafts people, maintained control over production, regulated competitions and prices and restricted the entry of new people into the trade. Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products. It was, therefore, difficult to new merchants to set up business in towns. So they began employing peasants and artisans within the villages and persuaded them to produce for an international market.
c) The port of the Surat declined at the end of the eighteenth century.
Answer :
Before the age of machine industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textile. Coarser cottons were produced in many countries, but the finer varieties often came from India. Armenian and Persian merchants took the goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, eastern Persia and Central Asia. A vibrant sea trade operated through the main pre - colonial ports. Surat on the Gujrat coast connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea - ports. But by the end of the eighteenth century, the European powers gradually gained power. They first secured a variety of cencessions from local courts and then the monopoly rights to trade in India. They began to carry on their trade from the ports of Bombay and Calcutta. This resulted in the decline of the old port of Surat.
d) The East India Company appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers in India.
Answer :
Before the 1760s, British cotton industries had not expanded and Indian fine textiles were in great demand in Europe. So the East India Company wanted to expand textile exports from India. But it was not an easy task. The French, Dutch, Portuguese and the local traders competed in the market to secure woven cloth. So the weavers and supply merchants could bargain and try selling the produce to the best buyer. So the company tried to establish a more direct control over the weavers. For the purpose it appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth.
2. Write True or False against each statement :
a) At the end of the nineteenth century, 80 percent of the total workforce in Europe was employed in the technologically advanced industrial sector.
Answer : False
b) The International market for fine textiles was dominated by India till the eighteenth century.
Answer : True
c) The American Civil War resulted in the reduction of cotton exports from India.
Answer : False
d) The introduction of the fly shuttle enabled handloom workers to improve their productivity.
Answer : True
3. Explain what is meant by proto - industrialisation.
Answer :
Proto - industrialisation indicates the first or early form of industrialisation. There was large - scale industrial production for an international market even before the emergence of factories in England and Europe. This was not based on factories. This was produced by a vast number of producers working within their family farms. This phase of industrialistaion is referred to as proto - industrialisation by many historians.
Discuss
1. Why did some industrialists in nineteenth century Europe prefer hand labour over machines ?
Answer :
Some industrialists in nineteenth century Europe preferred hand labour over machines because of the following reasons :
- There was no shortage of human labour. Poor peasants and labourers moved to the cities in large number in search of work. When there was plenty of labour, wages were low. So industrialists had no problem of labour shortage or high wage costs. They did not want to introduce machines that got rid of human labour and required large capital investment.
- In many industries the demand for labour was seasonal. Gas works and breweries were especially busy through the cold months. So they needed more workers to meet their peak demand. Book-binders and printers, catering to Christmas demand too needed extra hands before December. At the waterfront, winter was the time that ships were repaired. In all such industries where production fluctuated with the season, industrialists usually preferred hand labour, employing workers for the season.
- A range of products could be produced only with hand labour. Machines could be used to produce uniform and standardised goods for a mass market. But the demand in the market was often for goods with intricate designs and specific shapes. The upper classes - the aristocrats and the bourgeoisie - preferred things produced by hand. Handmade products came to symbolise refinement and class. They were better finished, individually produced and carefully designed. Machine - made goods were for export to the colonies.
2. How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers ?
Answer :
The East Indian Company wanted to procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers. But there was many obstacles in the way. The French, Dutch, Portuguese as well as the local traders competed in the market to secure woven cloth. So weavers could bargain and try selling the produce to the best buyer. However, once the East India Company established political power, it could assert a monopoly right to trade. It proceeded to develop a system of management and control that would ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles. It took the following steps for the purpose :
- The Company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade and establish a more direct control over the weaver. It appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth.
- It prevented Company weavers from dealing with other buyers. One way of doing this was through 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 hand over the cloth they produced to the gomastha. They could not take it to any other trader.
3. Imagine that you have been asked to write an article for an encyclopaedia on Britain and the history of cotton. Write your piece using information from the entire chapter.
Answer :
Before the Industrial Revolution, cloth production in Britain was spread all over the countryside and carried out within the village households. Merchants from towns used to visit the countryside. They supplied money to weavers and persuaded them to produce cotton cloth. But after the Industrial Revoltuion in Britain in the 1900s, the production of cotton increased manifold. It was because of a number of changes which occured with the process of its production. Several newly invented machines and equipments were involved in each step of the production process - carding, twisting and spinning and rolling. They enhanced the output per worker, enabled each worker to produce more and made possible the production of stronger threads and yarns.
Richard Arkwright set up the cotton mill. In this mill costly new machines were set up and maintained, and all processes were brought together under one rood and management. It made possible a more careful supervision over the production process, a watch over quality and the regulation of labour. Thus, cotton became the most dynamic industry in Britain. It grew at a rapid pace and was the leading sector in the first phase of industrialisation upto the 1840s.
Although the cotton industry in Britain had developed, yet the demand for the Indian textiles did not reduce. Indian weavers produced the finer varieties and no other country could manufacture goods of the same quality. It worried industrial groups in Britain. So they pressurized the government to impose import duties on cotton textiles so that Manchester goods could sell in Britain without facing any competition from outside. At the same time they persuaded the East India Company to sell British goods in Indian market. As a result, exports of British cotton goods increased. At the end of the eighteenth century there had been virtually no import of cotton piece - goods into India. But by 1850 cotton piece - goods constituted over 31 percent of the value of Indian imports; and by the 1870s this figure was over 50 percent.
4. Why did industrial production in India increase during the First World War ?
Answer :
The First World War broke out in 1914. Before the war industrial growth in India was slow. But the war created a dramatically new situation. Almost all the British mills started the production to meet the needs of the British army. Consequently, Manchester imports into India were stopped. It gave a golden chance to the Indian industry to produce goods for home supply.
But the British mills alone were unable to cater to the war needs of the British army. So, as the war prolonged Indian factories were called upon to supply to the army jute bags, cloth for uniforms, tents and leather boots, horse and mule saddles and a number of other items. As a result, many new factories were set up, many new workers were employed and workers were made to work longer bonus. All this resulted in increase of industrial production of India.