indian economy on the eve of independence Flashcards
What was the Indian economy like pre-British rule?
- independent, self-sufficient villages
- agriculture was the main occupation
- yet there were other economic activities that people particpiated in
- india was a manufacturing hub with cotton and silk textiles, metal and precious stone works,etc.
- demand for indian-made goods especially textiles because of high reputation due to high standards of material used and high craftsmanship
- large amounts of international trade - spices - sugar butter rice - exports
- lots of handicraft cottage industries
- muslin - type of cotton textile - very prominent in bengal especialy in Dhaka - Daccai Muslin - worldwide reputation - finest form - malmal - foreigners refereed to it as malmal khas or malmal `shahi - fit for royalty
- large share of worldwide trade
- Francois Bernier described India as richer than Egypt
- ample agricultural production for own consumption
- sufficient ware infrastructure for irrigation and navigation
What was the major aim of British economic policies?
The British made economic decisions in India based on their desire for protection and promotion of their own economy rather than the interests of India - Thus they turned India into a feeder economy where it would export raw materials to Britain and become a market for finished British goods
What was the state of national and per capita income during British Rule in India
There was never any serious attempt to measure the national output and per capita output
All the measures concluded were conflicting and inconsistent
Some individual efforts were made by Dadabhai Naoroji, V.K.R.V Rao , R.C Desai, Findlay Shirras, William Digby
However most studies found that the aggregate real output during the first half of the 20th century was less than 2% and the growth of per capita output was 0.5%
What was the state of agriculture in British India?
- Highly agrarian
- 85 % lived in villages - indirectly or directly dependent on agriculture
- country was not self -sufficient in food and raw materials
- even thought the absolute level of agricultural production increased due to expansion the level of agricultural productivity was low
- Land Revenue System
- fized - no incentive - harsh treatment
- no care for tenants
- Commercialization of agriculture
- production of agricultural crops for sale in the market rather than for self-consumption
- British paid high prices to incentivise farmers growing raw materials for their industries
- more cash crops but less production of food grains
- food shortages and famines
-Low level of production - low level of technology
-lack of irrigation - negligebly use of fertilisers
- no incentive to improve agriculture - unedcucated
- Irrigation
- though irrigation facilities improved lack of investment in terr÷ace, flood - control and drainage and desalinisation of soil
EFFECTS OF PARTITION - - ;arge areas of highly irrigated and fertile lands went to Pakistan
- much of the jute producing areas went in East pakistan now Bangldesh depriving india of its much worldwide reputed jute industry
What was the state of industry during British rule?
DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION - DECLINE OF HANDICRAFT INDUSTRIES
- systematic deindustrialization without any replacement by a modern industrial base
- motive was two - fold
- india exporter of raw materials - British industries
- imprter of finished British goods
- done through Discrimantory Tariff policy - free exports of raw materials
- cheap imports of finished british goods
- high tariffs on export of Indian finished products
EFFECTS
- massive unemployment - shift to agriculture - already overwhelmed
- new demand for consumer goods that could not be met by local means but by cheap industrial goods
MODERN INDUSTRIES
- establishment of modern indutries late 19th century - slow and insufficient for th ecomplete breakdown of handicrafts industry
- cotton and jut mills
- cotton - dominated by indians - western parts - Maharasthra and Gujarat
jute - dominated by foreigners - Bengal
Iron and Steel industries early 20t century
Tata Iron and Steel Company - Jamshedpur - 1907
Few industries in fields of cement, sugar, paper after WWII
LACK OF CAPITAL GOODS INDUSTRIES
- further prevent industrialization\
LOW GROWTH OF INDUSTRIES
LOW CONTRIBUTION TO GDP BY INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
LACK OF ROLE OF PUBLIC SECTOR
Public sector was mainly involved in communications, ports, railways, power generation and other developmental undertakings
What was the state of foreign trade during British rule?
- restrictive policies
- trade and tariff structure
- resulted in change of structure, composition and volume of foreign trade
- exporter of raw materials
- importer of British consumer and capital goods
- monopoly of Britain over India’s foreign trade
- more than half - restricted to Britain
- foreign trade was only allowed with a few other countries like China, Ceylon(Sri Lanka) or Persia(Iran)
- Large surplus but at a cost - essential commodities were scarce
+ this extra surplus was not used for the inflow of wealth like gold or silver in india rather it was for the expenses of the British - like the expenses incurred by the office of the colonial Government in Britain
or on the expenses of War fought by the BRITISH
or the import of invisible items - the opening of the Suez Canal further intensified British monopoly - The Suez canal is an artificial canal running from north to south along the Isthmus of Suez near north-eastern Egypt
- Provides a direct route for Europe and America to gain access to North East Africa, South Asia and Oceania
strategically and economically one of the most important waterways in the world
opening of Suez canal in 1869 reduced the costs of transportation and made access to india easier
What was the Demographic conditions during British Rule?
First census of India - 1881
Though suffering from certain limitations - it revealed the uneven growth in population
1921 - year of great divide - before that first stage of demographic transition
after that 2nd stage of demographic condition
yet the growth of population and the total population was very high
overall literacy rate v low - less than 16%
female literacy rate - 7%
public health facilities - large chunk of population did not have access - very insufficient and even when they did have access - insufficient - water borne air-borne disease - high mortality rate - even higher infant mortality rate - 218 per 1000 compared to the present 33 per thousand
life expectancy low - 44 years compared to the current 69years
lastly there isn’t any reliable data so it is difficult to know the extent of poverty - widespread - worsening of population
What was the occupational structure like in British rule?
Occupational structire refers to the distribution of working persons across different industries or sectors
did not change much
70-75% agri
10% - manufacturing
15-20% services
Growing regional variations
Madras Presidency(karnataka Andhra pradesh, kerala, Tamil Nadu), Bombay Bengal - decline in dependence on agri increase in manu and services
opposite increase in dependence on agri in states like Punjab, Orissa and Rajasthan
What was the state of infrastructure during the colonial period?
Improve but not in the interests or for the benefits of the common people but to subserve colonial interests
ROADS
- pre-british india - not adequate for modern transportation
- in colonial period used for mobilising the army
+ transportation of raw materials from countryside to the ports and railway that would take it to England and other foreign lucrative decisions
- however lacked all-weather road connectivity during rainy season to rural areas thus, the peoples suffered a lot during natural calamities and famines
RAILWAYS
- one of most important contributions
facilitated long-distance communication and travel
-broke down geographic and cultural barriers
- fostered commercialisation of agriculture adversely impacted the self-sufficieny of the village economies
- first Bombay to Thane - 1854
- volumes of exports increased but not in the benefit of indian people
INLAND TRADE ANS SEA LANES
- far from satisfactory
- uneconomical - inland waterways
- Coast Canal Orissa Coast
- huge cost to government
- could not compete with railways
- soon construction of railways running parallel to it
- abandonment
COMMUNICATION
- expensive electric telegraph - helped in maintaining law and order
- postal system - despite serving a public purpose remained inadequate
