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(Under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Qatar)
Academic year 2022-23

Chapter 4. The Age of Industrialisation

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a) The War situation had forced the British mills to produce things that were
needed for the army.
b) This had led to the decline of Manchester imports into India.
c) Suddenly, Indian mills had a vast home market to supply to.
d) As the War prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to supply war
needs: jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents and leather boots, horse
and mule saddles and a host of other items.
e) New factories were set up and old ones ran multiple shifts.
f) Many new workers were employed and everyone was made to work
longer hours.
g) Over the war years, industrial production boomed, local industries
consolidated their position, substituting foreign manufactures and
capturing home markets.
2. How did a series of inventions in the eighteenth century increased the
efficiency of each step of the production process in cotton textile industry?

Ans. A series of inventions in the 18th century increased the efficiency in every
step of the production process, especially of cotton.
a) The process of producing cotton involved carding, twisting, spinning and
milling.
b) The inventions enhanced the output per worker, enabling each worker to
produce more, and they made possible the production of stronger threads
and yam.
c) Richard Arkwright then created the cotton mill. Cloth production was
spread all over the countryside and was carried out in village households.
d) Also now the costly new machines could be purchased, set up and
maintained in the mill under one roof and management.
 e) This allowed a more careful supervision over the production process, a
watch over the quality and the regulation of labour, all of which was
difficult to do when production was in the countryside.
3. What problems were faced by the Indian cotton weavers in the 19th
century? Describe.
Ans. The Indian cotton weavers faced many problems in the 19th century:
a) Their export collapsed.
b) The local market shrank being flooded by the Manchester imports.
Produced by machines at lower costs, the Manchester cotton goods were
so cheap that they attracted the buyers and the Indian textiles could not
compete with them.
c) By 1860, Indian weavers faced a new problem. They could not get
sufficient supply of raw cotton of good quality.
d) This happened because a Civil War had broken out in America and the
cotton supplies from the US to Britain were cut off and Britain turned to
India.
e) As raw cotton export from India increased, the price of raw cotton shot up.
f) Indian weavers were forced to buy raw cotton at a very high price, so
weaving did not remain profitable.
g) Factories in India also produced goods at a mass scale which flooded the
Indian markets.
Thus the Indian weavers faced a tough time and it became difficult to
survive.
4. Why did technological changes occur slowly in Britain in early 19th
century? Explain any three reasons.
Ans. Technological changes occurred slowly in Britain due to the following
reasons:
a) New technology was expensive and merchants and industrialists were
cautious about using it. For example, at the beginning of the 19th century,
there were only 321 steam engines. There were no buyers of steam
engines for years.
b) The machines often broke down and repair was costly.
c) The machines were not as effective as their inventors and manufacturers
claimed.
 d) Machines were oriented to produce uniform, standardised goods for a
mass market.
e) But the demand in the market was often for goods with intricate designs
and specific shapes which required human skill, not mechanical
technology.
f) At that time the upper classes preferred things produced by hand.
5. Who were gomasthas? Why were they appointed? How did they treat the
weavers?
Ans. a) The paid servants appointed by the East India Company to supervise
weavers are called gomasthas.
b) The East India Company appointed them to establish a more direct control
over the weavers and to eliminate traders and brokers connected with cloth
trade.
c) In many weaving villages there were reports of clashes between weavers and
gomasthasThe new gomasthas were outsiders, with no long-term social link
with the village.
d) They acted arrogantly, marched into villages with sepoys and peons, and
punished weavers for delays in supply – often beating and flogging them

6. Who were ‘gomasthas?’ How did they become good partners of the British
management system?
Ans. a) The Gomasthas were paid servants whose job was to supervise
weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth.
b) The aim of the East India Company behind appointing gomasthas was to work
out a system of management and control that would eliminate competition,
control costs and ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk.
c) For this reason, gomasthas were appointed to supervise, collect supplies and
examine the quality of cloth.
d) They did not allow the company weavers to sell their produce to other buyers.
e) Once an order was placed, the weavers were given loans to purchase the raw
material. Weavers who had accepted loans from the company had to hand over
the cloth they produced to the gomasthas only.
Thus gomasthas become good partners of the British management system.
7. Describe the achievements of any three early industrialists in British India.
Ans. Having earned enough from trade, some businessmen had visions of
developing industrial enterprises in India.
a) In Bengal, Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the China trade. He turned
to industrial investment, setting up six joint stock companies in 1830s and 1840s.
b) In Bombay, Parsis like Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata who
built huge industrial empires in India accumulated their initial wealth from
exports to China and raw cotton shipments to England.
c) Seth Hukumchand, a Marwari businessman, who set up the first Indian jute
mill in Calcutta in 1971, also traded with China.
8. How did many Indian Entrepreneurs survive despite of tight economic
controls imposed by the British Government?
Ans. a) Many Indians became junior players in the trade with China by providing
finance, procuring supplies and shipping consignments.
b) Some merchants from Madras traded with Burma, Middle East and East
Africa and accumulated capital.
c) Certain other commercial groups operated within India by carrying goods from
one place to another, banking money, transferring funds between cities and
financing traders.
9. Advertisements played a part in expanding the markets for products and in
shaping a new consumer culture. Explain.
OR
Explain the role played by advertisements in creating new consumers for
the British products.
OR
In which ways did the British and the Indian manufacturers and traders
advertise their products?
Ans. a) When Manchester industrialists began selling cloth in India, they put
labels on the cloth bundles, to make the place of manufacture and the name of
the company familiar to the buyer.
b) When buyers saw ‘Made in Manchester’, written in bold on the label, they felt
confident to buy the cloth.
c) But labels did not carry words and texts. They carried images and were
beautifully illustrated with images of Indian gods and goddesses.
 d) The printed image of Krishna or Saraswati was also intended to make the
manufacture from a foreign land, appear familiar to Indians.
e) Manufacturers also printed calendars to popularise their products.
f) These calendars were used even by the illiterate. They were hung in tea shops
and in the homes of the poor and even in offices and middle class apartments.
g) When Indian manufacturers advertised, the nationalist message was clear and
loud. If you care for the nation, then buy only ‘Indian’ products.
Advertisements became a vehicle of the nationalist message of Swadeshi.
10. Why was it difficult to get jobs in Indian factories and mills even when so
many of them had come up in the 19th century?
Ans. Even when the mills multiplied and demand for workers increased, it was
difficult to get jobs. The reason was that
a) The number seeking jobs always remained more than the jobs available.
b) During the same time agriculture was also not prosperous. Therefore,
there was always a large influx of unemployed youths from villages who
came to cities and towns looking for jobs in the newly set up mills and
factories.
c) Entry into the mills was also restricted. Industrialists usually employed
jobbers to get new recruits.
d) Very often, the jobber was an old and trusted worker.
e) He got people from his own village, ensured them jobs and helped them
settle in the city.
f) Gradually, they began to demand money and gifts for this favour and
began controlling the lives of workers.
11. Explain the following :
(a) Woman workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny.
Ans. a) Abundance of labour affected the lives of the workers because the period
of employment was less.
b) Sometimes the proportion of unemployment went upto between 35 and 75
per cent.
c) The fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the introduction of new
technology.
d) When the Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woolen industry, women who
survived on hand spinning began attacking the new machines because the
 machine speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demand as by
turning one single wheel a worker could set in motion a number of spindles
and spin several threads at a time.
e) This conflict over the introduction of Spinning Jenny continued for a long time.

(b) In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns In Europe began

employing peasants and artisans within the villages.
Ans. In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns in Europe began
employing peasants and artisans within the villages due to following factors:
a) As a result of expansion of world trade and acquisition of colonies, demand for
goods had increased significantly.
b) The merchants, however, could not increase production in towns as the urban
crafts and trade guilds were powerful.
c) These were associations of producers that trained its people, maintained control
over production, regulated competition and prices and restricted the entry of new
people into the trade.
d) Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in
specific products.
e) It was, therefore, difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns. So they
turned to countryside.
f) In the countryside the conditions were favourable for them because in the
countryside, with the disappearance of open fields and enclosure of common
lands, the peasants were in search of alternative sources of income.
g) Many peasants had tiny plots of land which could not provide work for all
members of the household.
h) The peasants agreed to do work for the merchants because it was beneficial for
them too because they could remain in the countryside and could also cultivate
their small plots of land.
i) It enabled them to use full strength of their families as well.

(c) The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.
Ans. The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century due to the
factors:
a) Before the age of machine industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated
the international market in textiles.
b) A vibrant sea trade operated through the main pre-colonial ports.
c) Surat on the Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea ports.
d) By the 1750s the network controlled by Indian merchants was breaking down as
the European companies gradually gained power including concessions from the
local courts as well as the monopoly rights to trade.
e) This resulted in a decline of the old ports of Surat and Hoogly through which local
merchants had operated.
f) Exports from these ports fell dramatically, the credit that had financed the earlier
trade began drying up, and the local bankers slowly went bankrupt
g) Thus, export from Surat fell dramatically. In the last years of the seventeenth
century, the gross value of trade that passed through Surat had been 16 million
by the 1740s, it declined to 3 million.
h) While Hoogly and Surat decayed, Bombay and Calcutta grew because now trade
was carried through the new ports and was carried in European ships. As a result
of it, many of the old trading houses collapsed.
(d) The East India Company appointed Gomasthas to supervise the
weavers in India.
Ans. The East India Company appointed gomastha to supervise weavers in India
due to the following factors :
a) After establishing its political power in India, the company wanted to establish
a monopoly ‘right to trade.
b) It proceeded to develop a system of management and control that would
eliminate competition, control costs and ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk
goods. This it did through a series of steps.
c) The most important step was to eliminate the existing traders and brokers
connected with the cloth trade and establish a more direct control over the
weaver.
d) It appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, collect
supplies and examine the quality of cloth.
e) The weavers who had taken advances from the company had to handover the
cloth they produced to the gomastha.
12. Explain what is meant by proto industrialisation.
Ans. a) Even before setting up the factories, there was large-scale industrial
production for an international market.
b) This was not based on factories.
c) It is known as proto-industrialization.
d) It was a part of a network of commercial exchanges.
e) Merchants were based in towns but the work was done mostly in the
countryside.