NCERT Class 11 Economics Chapter 1: Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence YouTube Lecture Handouts
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NCERT Class 11 Economics Chapter 1: Indian Economy on Eve of Independence
- Understand historical backdrop
- Britishers turned India into raw material supplier for their own industrial development โ exploitative nature of development
Before British Advent
- Agriculture
- Handicraft โ cotton & silk, metal & precious stone
- Had worldwide market โ fine quality & high standards of craftsmanship
- Muslin (from Dhaka โ now in Bangladesh) โ finest quality as malmal โ 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
- Countryีs growth of aggregate real output during the first half of 20th century was growth in per capita output per year
Agricultural Sector (British Impact)
- 85% agrarian & in villages โ stagnation & deterioration (in contrast to agricultural prosperity in 17th century)
- Agricultural productivity was low - low levels of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and negligible use of fertilizers
- Stagnation due to land settlement โ Zamindari system in Bengal (profit went to zamindars)
- Zamindars collected rent regardless of the economic conditions
- Revenue settlement โ 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) โ 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 โ 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
2nd half of 19th century โ modern industry started but slowly โ initially as cotton textile (Maharashtra & Gujarat) & jute mills (Bengal)
Early 20th century โ iron & steel industry โ 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
Ramesh Chandra Duttีs Economic History of India (3 volumes)
B. H. Baden-Powellีs The Land Systems of British India (2 volumes)
Amartya Senีs book Poverty and Famines
Foreign Trade
- Affected by restrictive policies of commodity production, trade and tariff pursued by the colonial government
- Britain maintained a monopoly control over Indiaีs exports & imports
- More than 50% of Indiaีs foreign trade was restricted to Britain while rest was with China, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Persia (Iran) โ Opening of Suez Canal (connects Port Said on Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez, an arm of the Red Sea in 1869) intensified it further
- Generated large export surplus โ 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
- 1st population census in 1881 โ revealed uneven distribution and growth
- Census conducted every 10 years
- Before 1921 - 1st stage of demographic transition
- After 1921 โ 2nd stage of demographic transition
- Low literacy, high IMR, low life expectancy, rampant water & airborne diseases & extensive poverty
Occupational Structure
- Colonial period โ 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 โ 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 โ subserve colonial interest & give basic facilities to people
- Roads โ 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 โ suffered calamities & famines
- Railways introduced in 1853 (1st b/w Bombay & Thane) โ 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) โ huge cost & parallel to it was railways, so waterways abandoned
Challenges in SUMMARY
- Agriculture โ low productivity & surplus labour
- Industries โ needed modernization, diversification, capacity building & public investment (collapse of handicrafts)
- Foreign trade โ to feed Industrial Revolution in Britain
- Infrastructure โ required upgradation, expansion and public orientation
- Rampant poverty & unemployment
โ Manishika