First Part
Q. Discuss in about ten lines the main features of Colonialism.
A. There are two basic features of colonialism -
a) The complete subordination of the colony , politically , economically and ideologically to the needs of the imperialist power.
b) Economic exploitation of the colony or the appropriation of the colony's economic surplus by the metropolis.
Colonial power controlled the politics ,policies of the subjugated colony . Colonial interests
were paramount , administration ,policies adopted were all for the welfare of colonial power . The culture , society undergoes transformation influenced by colonial power. The ideas and ideologies of colonialists were imposed on colony . The economy was reshaped to benefit the colonial power . Revenues collected through taxes , home charges ,land revenues through Permanent land settlement , Ryotwari or Mahalwari settlement were siphoned off to colonial country on dubious pretexts. Salaries , pensions of colonial officers were paid through taxes . Subordinate colony was mischievously debared from industrialization due to skewed policies etc. Drain theory and De- industrialization were important theories that proves that wealth drain from colony to colonial power .
Q. Discuss the two major objectives of the East India Company in about ten lines.
A. The Company had two basic objectives -
1) The first was to acquire a monopoly of trade with India. This meant that other English or European merchants or trading companies should not compete with it in purchase and sale of lndian products. Nor should the Indian merchants do so. This would enable the East India Company to buy lndian products as cheaply as possible and sell they in World markets at as high a price as possible. Thus, they would be able to reap in maximum benefits through trading monopoly . The English competitors were kept out by persuading the British Government to grant the East India Company a Royal Charter giving them exclusive rights in Britain to trade with India and the East. Against the European rivals the Company had to wage long and fierce wars on land and the sea. To acquire monopoly against Indian traders and to prevent lndian rulers from interfering with its trade, the Company took advantage of the disintegration of the Mughal Empire to acquire increasing political domination.
2) The second major objective of colonialism at this stage was to directly appropriate or take over governmental revenues through control over state power. The East India Company required large financial resources to wage wars in lndia & on the seas against European rivals & lndian rulers and to maintain naval forces, forts and armies around their trading posts, etc. The much needed financial resources had, therefore, to be raised in India from the Indian people. This provided another incentive to make territorial conquests in India.
Both the objectives -the monopoly of trade and appropriation of government revenues - were rapidly fulfilled with the conquest firstly of Bengal and parts of South India and then over the years of the rest of India. The East India Company now used its political power to acquire monopolistic control over Indian trade and handicraft products. Indian traders were gradually replaced and ruined, while the weavers and other craftsmen were compelled either to sell their products at uneconomic rates or to work for the Company at low wages. It is important to note that at this stage there was no large scale import of British goods into India because the British produced hardly any goods which could be sold in lndia in competition with Indian products; rather the reverse occurred, that is, there was increase in exports of Indian textiles, etc. The weavers were, for example, not ruined at this stage by British imports but because of the Company's monopoly and their exploitation by being forced to produce for the Company under uneconomic conditions.
With political conquest, the East India Company acquired direct control over the revenues of the Indian states. Moreover, both Company and its servants extorted illegally immense wealth from Indian merchants, officials, nobles, rulers and zamindars. In fact, this element of plunder and direct seizure of surplus was very strong in the first stage of colonialism. Gradually, large number of highly paid British officials were appointed in India and their salaries and pensions became a form of surplus appropriation .
Q. List the main features of the monopoly trade phase of colonialism in India.
A. This period witnessed large scale drain of wealth from India. This wealth played an important role in financing Britain's industrial revolution. Drain of Wealth from India constituted 2 to 3 per cent of Britain's national income at the time. The East India Company now used its political power to acquire
monopolistic control over Indian trade and handicraft products. Indian traders were gradually replaced and ruined, while the weavers and other craftsmen were compelled either to sell their products at uneconomic rates or to work for the Company at low wages. It is important to note that at this stage there was no large scale import of British goods into India because the British produced hardly any goods which could be sold in lndia in competition with Indian products; rather the reverse occurred, that is, there was increase in exports of Indian textiles, etc. The weavers were, for example, not ruined at this stage by British imports but because of the Company's monopoly and their exploitation by being forced to produce for the Company under uneconomic conditions.
Q. Discuss the basic forms of surplus extraction or exploitation and social cultural changes that took place during the second and third stages of colonialism in India.
A. Second stage- Britain after 1750 underwent the Industrial Revolution. The newly emerged industrial capitalists started attacking the East India Company and the forms of its exploitation of India. They demanded that colonial administration and policy in India should now serve their interests which were very different from those of the East India Company. They did not gain much from a monopoly trade in Indian products or from the Company's control over Indian revenues. They wanted India to serve as a market for their ever-increasing output of manufactured goods, especially textiles. They also needed from India exports of raw materials, especially cotton, and food grains.
Since the British were for years not willing to let India's textiles be imported into Britain and later their export was no longer economic, thus exports from India could consist only of agricultural raw materials and other non manufactured goods. India thus became a subordinate trading partner of Britain, as a market to be exploited and as a dependent colony to produce and supply the raw materials and food-stuffs Britain needed. India's economic surplus was appropriated through trade based on manipulated currency exchange rate.
As a result, Britain increasingly produced and exported goods which were produced in factories using advanced technology and less labor, and in which level of productivity and wages were high. On the other hand, India produced agricultural raw materials through orthodox methods of production using great deal of labor leading to low productivity and low wages. This international division of labor was not only highly unfavorable to India but was unnatural and artificial and was introduced and maintained forcibly through colonial domination.
In 1813, Charter Act was passed by which the Company had lost most of its political and economic power in India ,the real power being wielded now by the British Government which started ruling India in the interests of the British capitalist class as a whole. The British government started changing the existing economic, political, administrative and socio-cultural settings in India .
In the economic field started integrating India's colonial economy with the British and world capitalist economy. The chief instrument of this was the introduction of free trade. All import duties in India were either totally removed or drastically reduced to nominal rates. Thus India was thrown open to British manufactures. Free entry was also now given to British capitalists to develop tea, coffee and indigo plantations, trade, transport, mining and modern industries in India. The British Indian Government gave active state help to these capitalists.
In the agrarian field , British introduced Permanent and Ryotwari system . Sale and purchase of land was introduced .For exporting raw materials and importing manufactured goods, emphasis was given on improving transportation both railways and waterways were improved .Emphasis was given on improving communication thus modern postal and telegraph system was introduced to facilitate economic transactions. Many changes were now brought about in the administrative field. Legal and judicial structure of India was overhauled to promote capitalist commercial relations and maintain law and order. The changes were related to criminal law, law of contract and legal procedures. Personal law related to marriage and inheritance, was largely left untouched since it did not in any way affect colonial interests .
In the 1830s and 1840s, English replaced Persian as the official language in India.
Modern education was introduced with intention to -
i) create an overall climate of change and development and,
ii) generate a culture of loyalty to the rulers.
India played a crucial role in the development of British capitalism during this stage. British
industries, especially textiles, were heavily dependent on exports. India absorbed 10 to 12 per cent of British exports and nearly 20 per cent of Britain's textile exports during 1860 to 1880. After 1850, India was also a major importer of engine coaches, rail lines and other railway stores. Moreover, Indian army played an important role in extending British colonialism in Asia and Africa. Throughout this stage Indian wealth and capital continued to be drained to Britain.
Third Stage - After 1850 third stage of colonization started in India .This was the result of several major changes in the world economy:
i) Spread of industrialization to several countries of Europe, United States & Japan with the result that Britain's industrial supremacy in the world came to an end.
ii) There was intensification of industrialization as a result of the application of scientific knowledge to industry. Modern chemical industries, the use of petroleum as fuel for the internal combustion engine and the use of electricity for industrial purposes developed during this period.
iii) There was further unification of the world market because of revolution in the means of
international transport.
During this stage, Britain's position in the world was constantly challenged and weakened by the rival capitalistic countries. This prompted Britain to consolidate its control over India. Reactionary imperialist policies now replaced liberal imperialist policies. The strengthening of colonial rule over India was essential to keep out the rivals, to attract British capital to India and to provide it security. After 1850, a very large amount of British capital was invested in railways, loans to the Government of India, trade and to a lesser extent in plantations, coal mining, jute mills, shipping and banking in India. India also performed another important role for Britain. Its army -men & financial resources -were used by Britain to fight its rivals and for the expansion & consolidation of British empire in Africa and Asia.
Politically and administratively the third stage of colonialism meant renewed and more intensive control over India. It now became even more important than ever before that colonial administration should reach out to every nook and corner of India. The administration now became more bureaucratically tight,efficient and extensive than earlier. A major change now occurred in the ideology of colonialism. All talk of training the Indian people for self-government died out. Indian people were declared to be a permanently immature, a 'child' people, needing British control and trusteeship.
========================================================================
Q. Write in about ten lines the contribution of early nationalist leaders towards an understanding of colonialism.
A. Nationalist leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahadev Gobind Ranade, Romesh Chandra Dutt were critical of the policies adopted by colonial Britain . They highlighted some of the important features of misgovernance policies in their analysis as follows -
i) The concept of Drain of Wealth evolved in the writings of Naoroji and Dutt. To them it meant the transfer of wealth from the late 18th century in the form of plunder and loot and illicit gains by servants of the East India Company and in the form of Home charges, i.e. the expenses incurred by the Government of India in England out of its income derived mainly from the taxation of the Indian people and finally, in the form of interests and profits and capital transfer from India to England on private account. Nationalist critics pointed out how drain in these different forms impoverished this country and increased the economic gap between India and England which was the destination of
the drain of wealth.
ii) They also pointed out how British regime brought about the destruction of the small-scale industries of India, a process that in more recent times has been called de-industrialisation.
iii) The idea of Free Trade and laissez faire, nationalists contended, led to a tariff and industrial policy which stifled the possibilities of growth of industries in British India. Consequently, India became "the agricultural farm" of industrial England, i.e. a source of raw materials and food-grains, dependent totally on industrial supplies from England.
iv) The rate of taxation of agriculture was also criticized by R.C. Dutt who felt that the burden of land revenue was excessive in areas which were subjected to periodical temporary settlements. This, in his opinion, was the cause of frequent recurrence of famines in British India. Wealth of the countryside was drained away through the revenue collection machinery, making the economic viability of farming so precarious that the farmer could not withstand failure of rain and other natural disasters.
v) Finally, an important part of the nationalist analysis of British economic policy in India was their criticism of government expenditure on the army, the police and other apparatus of government. The expenditure was so excessive that developmental investments were neglected. For example, the low expenditure on irrigation works contrasted sharply with the generous expenditure on the British Indian army, the railways, etc.
Q. What do you understand by the terms 'formal imperialism' & 'informal imperialism?
A. 'Formal imperialism', means imperialism as witnessed in India under formal political subjugation of the colony under British Imperial power.
'Informal imperialism' means where political subjugation of the colony might not have occurred but economic colonialism characterized metropolitan colonial relations (e.g. in the case of China or the Latin American countries).
Q. On what grounds do Morris David Morris and Danial Thorner attempt to disprove the
hypothesis of de-industrialisation? Do you agree with their views?
A. Morris debunked the de- industrialization theory and considered the data and statistics inconclusive provided by nationalists like Romesh C. Dutt and Madan Mohan Malviya. According to stats provided by the nationalists, import of Manchester cloth increased in value from 96 lakh sterling in 1860 to 27 crore sterling in 1900. Morris argue that this evidence is not decisive. He argued that under British rule the population of India increased; the per capita income increased, the sale of cloth increased due to change in consumption habits, and thus it was possible for Indians to buy more foreign cloth, leaving the market for indigenous artisans unaffected. In short, Morris's argument is that the market expanded so that it was possible to accommodate both Manchester and Indian Weaver's produce. Manchester cloth, Morris maintained, did not displace indigenous weaver's cloth.
This view of Morris is unacceptable because he does not produce any evidence to prove increase in population and per capita income during the 19th century.
Deniel Thorner has put forward the controversial thesis that the census data available from
1881 do not suggest that de-industrialization was in progress from 1881 to 1931. At first sight, the census figures indicate that the male work-force in agriculture increased from 65% in 1881 to 72% in 1931, while the proportion in industry declined from 16% in 1881 to 9% in 1931. But Thorner believes that this categorization was erroneous and one should lump together agricultural work force with another category of general Labor and likewise industrial work-force with 'Trade'. If that is done, the picture looks different. The increase in the labor appears to be far less in the primary sector (only about 2% growth between 1881 and 1931). Similarly the decline in industry and trade put together is also much less (only about 3% decline in 1881-1931). Further, Thorner dismisses the data on female labor force on the ground that the data collected were inaccurate in the opinion of
census officials. In this way Thorner arrives at the conclusion that the 1881-1931 census
does not show any evidence of substantial de-industrialization.
Thorner is wrong as that the process of de-industrialization had already done the damage
well before the census operations began. Secondly data related to employment of women cannot be dismissed as done by Thorner.
Q. Cotton Boom & international division of labor
A. During 1860, the civil war started in USA, which was the main supplier of cotton to west . As USA was incapable of sending cotton to markets due to the civil war , it led to a massive short-fall of cotton in the world markets between 1860-64. This led to the increase in cotton prices around the world . During this time export of cotton from India, and the growth on cotton cultivating acreage in India increased immensely . This Cotton Boom brought the Indian peasants in indirect contact with world markets as supplier of raw cotton . The important export houses of Bombay, the wholesale traders in the big cities, the brokers and other middlemen in cotton export trade, down to the level of the village bania who advanced credit to the peasant for cotton cultivation, all profited enormously from the Cotton Boom. More important was the fact that the Cotton Boom established India as an
assured supplier of agricultural commodities to the industrialized West. Thus it complemented the process of de-industrialization of India. The role of the colony specializing in agriculture and of the industrialized colonialist country in the West were now demarcated clearly proving the theory of international division of labor. This was characteristic not only of India and England, but also of other colonies and industrial capitalist colonialists .
Q. Discuss in about ten lines the main features of Colonialism.
A. There are two basic features of colonialism -
a) The complete subordination of the colony , politically , economically and ideologically to the needs of the imperialist power.
b) Economic exploitation of the colony or the appropriation of the colony's economic surplus by the metropolis.
Colonial power controlled the politics ,policies of the subjugated colony . Colonial interests
were paramount , administration ,policies adopted were all for the welfare of colonial power . The culture , society undergoes transformation influenced by colonial power. The ideas and ideologies of colonialists were imposed on colony . The economy was reshaped to benefit the colonial power . Revenues collected through taxes , home charges ,land revenues through Permanent land settlement , Ryotwari or Mahalwari settlement were siphoned off to colonial country on dubious pretexts. Salaries , pensions of colonial officers were paid through taxes . Subordinate colony was mischievously debared from industrialization due to skewed policies etc. Drain theory and De- industrialization were important theories that proves that wealth drain from colony to colonial power .
Q. Discuss the two major objectives of the East India Company in about ten lines.
A. The Company had two basic objectives -
1) The first was to acquire a monopoly of trade with India. This meant that other English or European merchants or trading companies should not compete with it in purchase and sale of lndian products. Nor should the Indian merchants do so. This would enable the East India Company to buy lndian products as cheaply as possible and sell they in World markets at as high a price as possible. Thus, they would be able to reap in maximum benefits through trading monopoly . The English competitors were kept out by persuading the British Government to grant the East India Company a Royal Charter giving them exclusive rights in Britain to trade with India and the East. Against the European rivals the Company had to wage long and fierce wars on land and the sea. To acquire monopoly against Indian traders and to prevent lndian rulers from interfering with its trade, the Company took advantage of the disintegration of the Mughal Empire to acquire increasing political domination.
2) The second major objective of colonialism at this stage was to directly appropriate or take over governmental revenues through control over state power. The East India Company required large financial resources to wage wars in lndia & on the seas against European rivals & lndian rulers and to maintain naval forces, forts and armies around their trading posts, etc. The much needed financial resources had, therefore, to be raised in India from the Indian people. This provided another incentive to make territorial conquests in India.
Both the objectives -the monopoly of trade and appropriation of government revenues - were rapidly fulfilled with the conquest firstly of Bengal and parts of South India and then over the years of the rest of India. The East India Company now used its political power to acquire monopolistic control over Indian trade and handicraft products. Indian traders were gradually replaced and ruined, while the weavers and other craftsmen were compelled either to sell their products at uneconomic rates or to work for the Company at low wages. It is important to note that at this stage there was no large scale import of British goods into India because the British produced hardly any goods which could be sold in lndia in competition with Indian products; rather the reverse occurred, that is, there was increase in exports of Indian textiles, etc. The weavers were, for example, not ruined at this stage by British imports but because of the Company's monopoly and their exploitation by being forced to produce for the Company under uneconomic conditions.
With political conquest, the East India Company acquired direct control over the revenues of the Indian states. Moreover, both Company and its servants extorted illegally immense wealth from Indian merchants, officials, nobles, rulers and zamindars. In fact, this element of plunder and direct seizure of surplus was very strong in the first stage of colonialism. Gradually, large number of highly paid British officials were appointed in India and their salaries and pensions became a form of surplus appropriation .
Q. List the main features of the monopoly trade phase of colonialism in India.
A. This period witnessed large scale drain of wealth from India. This wealth played an important role in financing Britain's industrial revolution. Drain of Wealth from India constituted 2 to 3 per cent of Britain's national income at the time. The East India Company now used its political power to acquire
monopolistic control over Indian trade and handicraft products. Indian traders were gradually replaced and ruined, while the weavers and other craftsmen were compelled either to sell their products at uneconomic rates or to work for the Company at low wages. It is important to note that at this stage there was no large scale import of British goods into India because the British produced hardly any goods which could be sold in lndia in competition with Indian products; rather the reverse occurred, that is, there was increase in exports of Indian textiles, etc. The weavers were, for example, not ruined at this stage by British imports but because of the Company's monopoly and their exploitation by being forced to produce for the Company under uneconomic conditions.
Q. Discuss the basic forms of surplus extraction or exploitation and social cultural changes that took place during the second and third stages of colonialism in India.
A. Second stage- Britain after 1750 underwent the Industrial Revolution. The newly emerged industrial capitalists started attacking the East India Company and the forms of its exploitation of India. They demanded that colonial administration and policy in India should now serve their interests which were very different from those of the East India Company. They did not gain much from a monopoly trade in Indian products or from the Company's control over Indian revenues. They wanted India to serve as a market for their ever-increasing output of manufactured goods, especially textiles. They also needed from India exports of raw materials, especially cotton, and food grains.
Since the British were for years not willing to let India's textiles be imported into Britain and later their export was no longer economic, thus exports from India could consist only of agricultural raw materials and other non manufactured goods. India thus became a subordinate trading partner of Britain, as a market to be exploited and as a dependent colony to produce and supply the raw materials and food-stuffs Britain needed. India's economic surplus was appropriated through trade based on manipulated currency exchange rate.
As a result, Britain increasingly produced and exported goods which were produced in factories using advanced technology and less labor, and in which level of productivity and wages were high. On the other hand, India produced agricultural raw materials through orthodox methods of production using great deal of labor leading to low productivity and low wages. This international division of labor was not only highly unfavorable to India but was unnatural and artificial and was introduced and maintained forcibly through colonial domination.
In 1813, Charter Act was passed by which the Company had lost most of its political and economic power in India ,the real power being wielded now by the British Government which started ruling India in the interests of the British capitalist class as a whole. The British government started changing the existing economic, political, administrative and socio-cultural settings in India .
In the economic field started integrating India's colonial economy with the British and world capitalist economy. The chief instrument of this was the introduction of free trade. All import duties in India were either totally removed or drastically reduced to nominal rates. Thus India was thrown open to British manufactures. Free entry was also now given to British capitalists to develop tea, coffee and indigo plantations, trade, transport, mining and modern industries in India. The British Indian Government gave active state help to these capitalists.
In the agrarian field , British introduced Permanent and Ryotwari system . Sale and purchase of land was introduced .For exporting raw materials and importing manufactured goods, emphasis was given on improving transportation both railways and waterways were improved .Emphasis was given on improving communication thus modern postal and telegraph system was introduced to facilitate economic transactions. Many changes were now brought about in the administrative field. Legal and judicial structure of India was overhauled to promote capitalist commercial relations and maintain law and order. The changes were related to criminal law, law of contract and legal procedures. Personal law related to marriage and inheritance, was largely left untouched since it did not in any way affect colonial interests .
In the 1830s and 1840s, English replaced Persian as the official language in India.
Modern education was introduced with intention to -
i) create an overall climate of change and development and,
ii) generate a culture of loyalty to the rulers.
India played a crucial role in the development of British capitalism during this stage. British
industries, especially textiles, were heavily dependent on exports. India absorbed 10 to 12 per cent of British exports and nearly 20 per cent of Britain's textile exports during 1860 to 1880. After 1850, India was also a major importer of engine coaches, rail lines and other railway stores. Moreover, Indian army played an important role in extending British colonialism in Asia and Africa. Throughout this stage Indian wealth and capital continued to be drained to Britain.
Third Stage - After 1850 third stage of colonization started in India .This was the result of several major changes in the world economy:
i) Spread of industrialization to several countries of Europe, United States & Japan with the result that Britain's industrial supremacy in the world came to an end.
ii) There was intensification of industrialization as a result of the application of scientific knowledge to industry. Modern chemical industries, the use of petroleum as fuel for the internal combustion engine and the use of electricity for industrial purposes developed during this period.
iii) There was further unification of the world market because of revolution in the means of
international transport.
During this stage, Britain's position in the world was constantly challenged and weakened by the rival capitalistic countries. This prompted Britain to consolidate its control over India. Reactionary imperialist policies now replaced liberal imperialist policies. The strengthening of colonial rule over India was essential to keep out the rivals, to attract British capital to India and to provide it security. After 1850, a very large amount of British capital was invested in railways, loans to the Government of India, trade and to a lesser extent in plantations, coal mining, jute mills, shipping and banking in India. India also performed another important role for Britain. Its army -men & financial resources -were used by Britain to fight its rivals and for the expansion & consolidation of British empire in Africa and Asia.
Politically and administratively the third stage of colonialism meant renewed and more intensive control over India. It now became even more important than ever before that colonial administration should reach out to every nook and corner of India. The administration now became more bureaucratically tight,efficient and extensive than earlier. A major change now occurred in the ideology of colonialism. All talk of training the Indian people for self-government died out. Indian people were declared to be a permanently immature, a 'child' people, needing British control and trusteeship.
========================================================================
Q. Write in about ten lines the contribution of early nationalist leaders towards an understanding of colonialism.
A. Nationalist leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahadev Gobind Ranade, Romesh Chandra Dutt were critical of the policies adopted by colonial Britain . They highlighted some of the important features of misgovernance policies in their analysis as follows -
i) The concept of Drain of Wealth evolved in the writings of Naoroji and Dutt. To them it meant the transfer of wealth from the late 18th century in the form of plunder and loot and illicit gains by servants of the East India Company and in the form of Home charges, i.e. the expenses incurred by the Government of India in England out of its income derived mainly from the taxation of the Indian people and finally, in the form of interests and profits and capital transfer from India to England on private account. Nationalist critics pointed out how drain in these different forms impoverished this country and increased the economic gap between India and England which was the destination of
the drain of wealth.
ii) They also pointed out how British regime brought about the destruction of the small-scale industries of India, a process that in more recent times has been called de-industrialisation.
iii) The idea of Free Trade and laissez faire, nationalists contended, led to a tariff and industrial policy which stifled the possibilities of growth of industries in British India. Consequently, India became "the agricultural farm" of industrial England, i.e. a source of raw materials and food-grains, dependent totally on industrial supplies from England.
iv) The rate of taxation of agriculture was also criticized by R.C. Dutt who felt that the burden of land revenue was excessive in areas which were subjected to periodical temporary settlements. This, in his opinion, was the cause of frequent recurrence of famines in British India. Wealth of the countryside was drained away through the revenue collection machinery, making the economic viability of farming so precarious that the farmer could not withstand failure of rain and other natural disasters.
v) Finally, an important part of the nationalist analysis of British economic policy in India was their criticism of government expenditure on the army, the police and other apparatus of government. The expenditure was so excessive that developmental investments were neglected. For example, the low expenditure on irrigation works contrasted sharply with the generous expenditure on the British Indian army, the railways, etc.
Q. What do you understand by the terms 'formal imperialism' & 'informal imperialism?
A. 'Formal imperialism', means imperialism as witnessed in India under formal political subjugation of the colony under British Imperial power.
'Informal imperialism' means where political subjugation of the colony might not have occurred but economic colonialism characterized metropolitan colonial relations (e.g. in the case of China or the Latin American countries).
Q. On what grounds do Morris David Morris and Danial Thorner attempt to disprove the
hypothesis of de-industrialisation? Do you agree with their views?
A. Morris debunked the de- industrialization theory and considered the data and statistics inconclusive provided by nationalists like Romesh C. Dutt and Madan Mohan Malviya. According to stats provided by the nationalists, import of Manchester cloth increased in value from 96 lakh sterling in 1860 to 27 crore sterling in 1900. Morris argue that this evidence is not decisive. He argued that under British rule the population of India increased; the per capita income increased, the sale of cloth increased due to change in consumption habits, and thus it was possible for Indians to buy more foreign cloth, leaving the market for indigenous artisans unaffected. In short, Morris's argument is that the market expanded so that it was possible to accommodate both Manchester and Indian Weaver's produce. Manchester cloth, Morris maintained, did not displace indigenous weaver's cloth.
This view of Morris is unacceptable because he does not produce any evidence to prove increase in population and per capita income during the 19th century.
Deniel Thorner has put forward the controversial thesis that the census data available from
1881 do not suggest that de-industrialization was in progress from 1881 to 1931. At first sight, the census figures indicate that the male work-force in agriculture increased from 65% in 1881 to 72% in 1931, while the proportion in industry declined from 16% in 1881 to 9% in 1931. But Thorner believes that this categorization was erroneous and one should lump together agricultural work force with another category of general Labor and likewise industrial work-force with 'Trade'. If that is done, the picture looks different. The increase in the labor appears to be far less in the primary sector (only about 2% growth between 1881 and 1931). Similarly the decline in industry and trade put together is also much less (only about 3% decline in 1881-1931). Further, Thorner dismisses the data on female labor force on the ground that the data collected were inaccurate in the opinion of
census officials. In this way Thorner arrives at the conclusion that the 1881-1931 census
does not show any evidence of substantial de-industrialization.
Thorner is wrong as that the process of de-industrialization had already done the damage
well before the census operations began. Secondly data related to employment of women cannot be dismissed as done by Thorner.
Q. Cotton Boom & international division of labor
A. During 1860, the civil war started in USA, which was the main supplier of cotton to west . As USA was incapable of sending cotton to markets due to the civil war , it led to a massive short-fall of cotton in the world markets between 1860-64. This led to the increase in cotton prices around the world . During this time export of cotton from India, and the growth on cotton cultivating acreage in India increased immensely . This Cotton Boom brought the Indian peasants in indirect contact with world markets as supplier of raw cotton . The important export houses of Bombay, the wholesale traders in the big cities, the brokers and other middlemen in cotton export trade, down to the level of the village bania who advanced credit to the peasant for cotton cultivation, all profited enormously from the Cotton Boom. More important was the fact that the Cotton Boom established India as an
assured supplier of agricultural commodities to the industrialized West. Thus it complemented the process of de-industrialization of India. The role of the colony specializing in agriculture and of the industrialized colonialist country in the West were now demarcated clearly proving the theory of international division of labor. This was characteristic not only of India and England, but also of other colonies and industrial capitalist colonialists .
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