- What is the economic during the pre British period?
- Define industries and urban handicrafts?
- what are the economy impact of British rule in India,.?
Development strategy and Economic reforms:
■ economy during pre British period:
During the pre-British period, i.e. during the mid-eighteenth century, the condition of Indian economy was not at all satisfactory. Just after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the central power at Delhi was so weak that the situation had led to disintegration and gradual downfall of deep rooted Mughal Empire. The village community was composed of different group based on Simple division of labour there were farmers who cultivated land and tended cattle.
All the occupations were hereditary. These Indian villages are functioning independently as most of food articles and raw material produced within the villagers were either consumed and purchase by the village communities itself.During 1750, the Indian economy was passing through recurrence of crisis and disorders because by this time the central power at Delhi was either weakened or disappeared.Indian economy, during the pre-British period, consisted of backward, isolated and self sustaining villages on the one hand and on the other hand, there were number of towns which were the seats of administration, pilgrimage, commerce and handicrafts. Agriculture and handicraft industries were interdependent and thus the village Republic were able to function independently. Indian villages were almost self sufficient in respect of daily necessities excepting commodities like salt ,Spices, fine cloth,luxury and semi luxury goods.
■ INDUSTRIES AND URBAN HANDICRAFTS:
The Indian handicrafts that had made the country famous, collapsed under the colonial rule. This was mainly due to the competition posed by the machine made goods that were imported from Britain. The ability of mass production of goods helped Britain to flood the Indian markets with cheap products especially cotton textiles. Although he agriculture had dominated the Indian economy during the pre British period ,yet some in Indian industries producing certain special products enjoyed worldwide reputation. Among all those various famous urban handicrafts textile Handicrafts and a special status and were also spread all over the whole country. During those days, the Muslin of Dhacca, silk saree of Banaras ,shawls and carpets of Kashmir and Amritsar, the calicos of Bengal, dhoti and dupattas of Ahmedabad, silk and boarded cloth of Nagpur and Murshidabad, were very very famous and they were received much recognization in international market.
This forced many a craftsman to abandon their ancestral trade. The British exported raw materials from India like cotton. As a result the Indian weaver had to buy these materials at higher prices. This in turn raised the cost of Indian handicrafts as compared to the machine made goods. Indian goods were also subjected to high tariffs in the English market whereas the British goods gained duty free access into the Indian markets.
■ economic impact of British rule in India:
The economic policies followed by the British led to the rapid transformation of India’s economy into a colonial economy.
The British always remained foreigners in the land, exploiting Indian resources and carrying away India’s wealth as tribute.The economic policies followed by the British led to the rapid transformation of India’s economy into a colonial economy whose nature and structure were determined by the needs of the British economy. In this respect the British conquest differed from all previous foreign conquests. The previous conquerors had overthrown Indian political powers but had made no basic changes in the country’s economic structure; they had gradually become a part of Indian life, political as well as economic. The peasant, the artisan, and the trader had continued to lead the same type of existence as before. The structure and and operation of Indian economy were determined by the interest of the British economy.
- De industrialization:
De-industrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. Cheat and machine made imports flooded the Indian market after the Charter act of 1813 allowing one way free trade for British citizens on the other hand Indian product found it more and more difficult to penetrate the European markets. after 1820 European markets were Virtually closed to Indian exports the newly introduced Rail Network helped the European products to reach the remotest corners of the country.
Another feature of de industrialisation was the decline of many cities and process of ruralization of India.this result in increased pressure on land. An overburdened agricultural sector was a major cause of poverty during British rule and this upset the village economic set-up .from being a net exporter, India became a net importer.
Research has pointed to investment in patents rather than in new capital equipment as a contributing factor.
2.impoverishment of peasantry:
The peasant was also progressively impoverished under British rule, his material condition deteriorated and he steadily sank into poverty. In the very beginning of British rule in Bengal, the policy of Clive and Warren Hasting of extracting the largest possible land revenue had led to such devastation. The government only interested in maximization of rents and insecurity its share of revenue had in forced the permanent settlement system in large parts .there was little spending by government on improvement of land product productivity the overburdened presents had to approach the money lenders to be able to pay their dues to the zamindars.Even though the land revenue demand went on increasing year after year it increased from Rs 15.3 crore in 1857-58 to Rs 35.8 crore in 1936-37 the proportion of the total produce taken as land revenue tended to decline, especially in the twentieth century as the prices rose and production increased.
- Emergence of new land relations:
By 1815 half the total land and half of the total land in Bengal has passed into new hands. the new Zamindar with increase powers but with little or no avenues for new investments, resorted to the land grabbing and sub infeudation .increase in number of intermediaries to be paid gave rise to absentee landlordism and increase the burden on the peasant. - Stagnation and deterioration agriculture:
The cultivator does not had neither the mean nor any incentive to invest in agriculture .the zamindars had no roots in the village, while the government spent little on agriculture ,technical or Mass education. all this, together with fragmentation of land due to subinfeudation , made it difficult to introduce modern technology which caused a perpetually low level of productivity.
5.commercialization of indian agriculture:
Till latter half of the 19th century, agriculture had been a way of life rather than a business enterprise.
Now agriculture began to be influenced by commercial consist consideration certain specialised crops begin to be grown not for consumption in the village but for sale in the national and international markets.
Commercial crops like cotton jute groundnut oil seeds sugarcane tobacco more remunerative then foodgrains action of crops like condiments spices fruits and vegetables could cater to a wider market. The new market trend of commercialization and specialisation was encouraged by many factors spread of money economy replacement of custom and tradition by competition and contract emergence of a unified national market growth of internal trade improvement in communication through rail and roads, boost to international trade given by entry of British financial capital.
There was hardly any surplus for him to invest in commercial crops given the subsistence level at which he lived while commercialization linked Indian agriculture with international market trends and there fluctuations.
Www.vinayiasacademy.com - Development of modern industry:
It was only in the second half of the 19th Century that modern machine based industries started coming up in India. The first cotton textile mill was set up in 1853 in Bombay by cowasjee Nanabhoy and the first Jute mill came up in 1855 is rishra. There was a rush of foreign capital in India at this time due to prospectus of high profits availability of cheap labour cheap and readily available raw material ready market in India and The Neighbours diminishing revenue for investments at home willingness of the administration to provide all help and ready markets abroad for some Indian exports such as tea,jute and manganese.
In the 20th century, Indian owned industries suffered from many handicaps credit problems ,no Tariff protection by government ,unequal competition from foreign companies and stiff opposition from British capitalist interest who were backed by sound financial and Technical infrastructure at home. - Rise of indian bourgeoisie:
Stop the Indian traders money lenders and bankers had Amassed some wealth as junior partners of English merchant capitals in India the Indian money lender provided loans to hard breast agriculturist and thus facilitated the state collection of revenue.
8.Economic drain:
The central point of the drain theory is that a portion of the national product of India was not available for capital formation or consumption by her own people but was drained away to England for political reasons without getting an adequate economic, commercial or material return. The major components of these drain were salaries and pensions of civils and military officials interest and loans taken by the Indian government from abroad profits on foreign investment in India stores purchased in Britain for civil and military departments payment to be made for sitting Banking and Insurance services which stunt the the growth of Indian Enterprise in the services.
- Famine and poverty:
Regular recurrence of famines become a common feature of daily existence in India. these famines were not just food grain scarcity based phenomena ,but were a direct result of poverty unleashed by colonial forces in India .between 1850 and 1900, about 2.8 crore people died and famines.
