Age of Industrialization: 10th Social Science

Question: “By the 1860s Indian weavers failed to get sufficient supply of raw cotton of good quality”. Give reason.

Answer:

1. American Civil War: 1860s was the era of American Civil War. When the American Civil War broke out and cotton supplies from The US were cut off, Britain turned to India. As raw cotton exports from India increased, the price of raw cotton shot up Weavers in India were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at exorbitant prices.
2. Industrialization in India: By the end of the 19th century factories in India began producing machine made cloth. This also reduced the supply of raw cotton ill the market.

Question: Why was East India Company keen on expanding textile exports from India during the 1760? Explain any three reasons.

Answer:

1. Consolidation of the Fast India Company’s power after the 1760s did not initially lead to a decline in textile export from India.
2. British cotton industries had not yet expanded.
3. Fine Indian textiles were in great demand in Europe.

Question: Name any two European Managing Agencies which controlled a large sector of the Indian industries. Describe any three functions performed by such agencies.

Answer: European Managing Agencies which controlled a large sector of the Indian industries were: (i) Bird Heiglers & Co. (ii) Andrew Yule and (iii) Jardine Skinner & Co. Functions:

1. European Managing Agencies mobilized capital.
2. They set up joint stock companies and managed them.
3. In most instances. Indian financiers provided the capital while the European Agencies made all investment and business decisions. The European merchants-industrialists had then own chambers of commerce which Indian businessmen were not allowed to join.

Question: Mention any five restrictions imposed by the British government upon the Indian merchants In the 19th century.

Answer:

1. The spare within which Indian merchants could function, became limited.
2. They were barred from Trading with Europe in manufactured goods.
3. They had to export mostly raw materials and food-grains, raw cotton, opium, wheat and indigo required by the British.
4. They were gradually edged out of the shipping business.
5. Till the First World War, European Managing Agencies controlled a large sector of Indian industries.

Question: “Certain group of weavers were in a better position than others to survive the competition with mill industries”. Explain.

Answer:

1. Producers of coarse cloth: Amongst weavers some produced coarse cloth while others wove finer varieties. The coarser cloth was bought, by the poor and its demand fluctuated violently. In times of bad harvests and famines when the rural poor had little to eat. and their cash income disappeared, they could not possibly buy cloth.
2. Producers of finer varieties: The producers of finer varieties were in a better position because the demand for the finer varieties bought by the well- to-do was more stable. The rich could buy these even when the poor starved. Famines did not affect the sale of Banarasi or Baluchari saris. Moreover, as you have seen, mills could not imitate specialized weavers. Saris with woven borders, or the famous lungis and handkerchiefs of Madras, could not be easy displaced by mill production.

Question: Who was a jobber? Explain his functions.
Or
Why was a jobber employed? How did jobber misuse his position and power? Explain.

Answer: Getting lobs was always difficult, even when mills multiplied, and the demand tor workers increased. The numbers seeking work wore always more than the jobs available. Entry into the mills was also restricted.

Industrialists usually employed a jobber to get new recruits. Very often, the jobber was an old and trusted worker. He got people from his village, ensured them jobs, helped them settle in the city, and provided them money in times of crisis. The jobber, therefore, became a person with some authority and power. He begun demanding money and gifts for his favor, and began. controlling the lives of the workers.

Question: Why could Britain not recapture her hold on the Indian market after the First World War? Explain.
Or
Explain the impact of the First World War on Britain’s economy?

Answer:

1. During the war British mills were busy in war production to meet the needs of the army, Manchester’s imports into India declined.
2. After the war, Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian marker. Unable to modernize and compete with the United States, Germany and Japan, the economy of Britain crumbled after the war. Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically.
3. Within the colonies, local industrialists gradually consolidated the position, substituting foreign manufactures and capturing the home market.

Question: 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.

Answer:The upper class people preferred to use hand products In the Victorian period because :

1. They symbolized refinement and class.
2. They were better finished, in They were individually produced and carefully designed.