NOTES- XII Chapter 1- India on the eve of independence

Before British Advent

Handicraft – cotton & silk, metal & precious stone

Had worldwide market – fine quality & high standards of craftsmanship

Muslin (from Dhaka – now in Bangladesh) – finest quality as malmal – known as malmal khas or malmal shahi

British Advent

Protect & promote British interest

Transform India into supplier of raw materials and consumer of finished industrial products from Britain

No sincere effort to measure national & per capita income

Some efforts - Dadabhai Naoroji, William Digby, Findlay Shirras, V.K.R.V. Rao (most significant estimates) and R.C. Desai

Agricultural Sector (British Impact)

• 85% agrarian & in villages – stagnation & deterioration (in contrast to agricultural prosperity in 17^th century)
• Agricultural productivity was low - low levels of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and negligible use of fertilizers
• Stagnation due to land settlement – Zamindari system in Bengal (profit went to zamindars)
• Zamindars collected rent regardless of the economic conditions
• Revenue settlement –dates for depositing specified sums of revenue were fixed, if not zamindars were to lose their rights
• Higher yield of cash crops in some areas (for British industries) – commercialization of agriculture (small section of farmers)
• Majority farmers - small farmers and sharecroppers neither had resources and technology nor had incentive to invest

Industrial Sector (British Impact)

• Handicrafts declined – created unemployment & demand for consumer market (as now these are not locally available)
• No modern industrial base was coming up
• 2 fold objective - reduce India to exporter of important raw materials for industries in Britain & turn India into market for the finished products of those industries
• Increased import of cheap goods from Britain
• 2^nd half of 19^th century – modern industry started but slowly – initially as cotton textile (Maharashtra & Gujarat) & jute mills (Bengal)
• Early 20^th century – iron & steel industry – TISCO in 1907
• After WW-II: Sugar, cement & paper industry
• No Capital Goods Industry (which can make machine tools to make articles for current use) to promote industrialization
• Growth rate of new industrial sector & % contribution to GDP was small
• Limited operation of public sector only in railways, power generation, communications, ports

Foreign Trade

• Affected by restrictive policies of commodity production, trade and tariff pursued by the colonial government
• Britain maintained a monopoly control over India’s exports & imports
• More than 50% of India’s foreign trade was restricted to Britain while rest was with China, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Persia (Iran)
• • Generated large export surplus – but no inflow of gold or silver to India but as payment for expense of British offices
  • Essentials like food, kerosene & clothes were scarce in India

  Demography

  • 1^st population census in 1881 – revealed uneven distribution and growth
  • Census conducted every 10 years
  • Before 1921- 1^st stage of demographic transition
  • After 1921 – 2^nd stage of demographic transition
  • Low literacy, high IMR, low life expectancy, rampant water & airborne diseases & extensive poverty

  • Occupational Structure

    • Colonial period – Agriculture at around 70-75%, manufacturing at 10% & services at 15-20%
    • Regional Variations - then Madras Presidency (includes present-day Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka), Bombay and Bengal – showed increase in industrial & service sectors
    • Agriculture increased in Orissa, Rajasthan & Punjab

    Infrastructure

    • Development of railways, ports, water transport, posts & telegraphs (to maintain law & order) under British rule – subserve colonial interest & give basic facilities to people
    • Roads – to mobilize army & carry raw material out of nation to railways or ports
    • Acute shortage of all-weather roads to reach out to rural areas during the rainy season – suffered calamities & famines
    • Railways introduced in 1853 (1^st b/w Bombay & Thane) – enabled people for long distance travel & broke geographical and cultural barriers & fostered commercialization of agriculture which affected self-sufficiency of villages
    • Exports expanded but no real benefit to people
    • Tata Airlines was established in 1932 inaugurating the aviation sector in India
    • Inland waterways were uneconomical (Coastal Canal on Odisha Coast) – huge cost & parallel to it was railways, so waterways abandoned

    Challenges in SUMMARY

    • Agriculture – low productivity & surplus labour
    • Industries – needed modernization, diversification, capacity building & public investment (collapse of handicrafts)
    • Foreign trade – to feed Industrial Revolution in Britain
    • Infrastructure – required upgradation, expansion and public orientation
    • Rampant poverty & unemployment