Page 45 - SST Class 08

forced to become an importer. The British began Patna, Ahmedabad and Surat in the west,
to follow the policy of ‘one-way free trade’. This Lucknow, Jaipur and Benaras in the north, and
meant that British textiles coming into India did Petaboli, Masulipatnam and Madras in the south,
not pay any duty while Indian textiles sent to became deserted.
England had to pay prohibitive duties. This,
along with the fact that British cotton cloth was
manufactured on machines, made it much
cheaper than Indian textiles. So, Indian textile
producers were thrown out of business

Printed Cotton Cloth (Chintz)
from Masulipatnam
Increased Pressure on Land
The change resulted in increased pressure on
agriculture. For generations, weavers and spin-
As the British went about conquering one Indian ners had been practicing, their craft. They did not
territory after another, the native rulers, nobles, possess any other skill. So, once they were
landlords and others who patronised the crafts- jobless, they became agricultural labourers. Since
men lost their power. As a result, there was a modern machine-based industries developed late
sudden downslide in demand. This loss of in India, they could not get aborbed in factories.
patronage was a severe blow particularly to those As a result, there was large-scale under-
weavers who produced expensive textiles like employment in agriculture.
brocades. GOWTH OF MODERN INDUSTRIES
Impact You have already read that Britain wanted India
The decline of Indian handicrafts transformed to remain a colony so that it could be exploited
India into an exporter of raw materials and an for the enrichment of the mother country.
importer of British manufactured goods. These However, despite the reluctance of the British to
goods entered the Indian market virtually free start modern industries in India, the progress of
while Indian goods were kept out of Britain’s industrialsation started in India from the 1850s.
markets. British cotton cloth flooded the Indian Most mills were set up by wealthy Indian busi-
markets. Many weavers and spinners became nessmen.
jobless.
Cotton textiles
De-Urbanisaition The first cotton textile mill was set up in Bombay,
With the decline of the textile industry, there was in 1854, by Cowasjee Nanabhai. Bombay was
large-scale de-urbanisation. The main centers of an ideal center for setting up mills as it had easy
the textile industry in the late eighteenth century access to raw cotton which was grown in the
such as Murshidabad and Dacca in the east, black soil region of western India. By 1900,

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