4.9 De industrialisation

De Industrialisation

2020-04-27 15:04:22

1.1 Introduction

  • destruction of traditional Indian industries was earliest consequence of colonialism.
  • British gradually removed all of their competitors French, Dutch which put the artisans in a bad bargaining position with only one entity to sell to.
  • Monopoly in the market, exploited the artisans to sell at a lower price so that their profit margins would be high
  • This left them with little money to invest in newer technology

1.2 Effects of British Industrialisation on Indian Industry [1]

  • Industrial revolution in Europe wiped out the market for Indian artisans due to mass production of goods.
  • also led the home market be invaded by cheap mass produced goods.
  • In Gangetic Bihar ratio of industrial population to total pop dec from 18.6 in 1809 to 8.5% in 1901
  • Industrial pop dec from 62.3% to 15.1 %
  • Real income per worker in industry inc b/w 1900 - 1947
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**Tirthankar Roy** on real income increase 
- achieved due to tech specialisation and industrial reorganisation like substitution of family labour w/ wage labour, 
- inc commercialisation and inc labour productivity in small scale industry that catered to non local markets
  • Agri 80%, Mfd 10% and services 10-15%
  • Discriminatory intervention
  • IN money market was dominated by EU banking house
  • Investment only in railway, jute, tea plantation and mining
  • Chamber of commerce, Managing agency houses influenced gov policy - control 75% industrial capital
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-   **RC Dutt and MM Malviya** showed that there was a significant increase in the value of Manchester cloth from 1860-1900.
-   Recent economic historians like **Sarda Raju for Madras, NK Sinha for Bengal, Bagchi for Bihar** have given considerable evidence of de-industrialisation
-   **Deniel Thorner** has tried to show that there was **no de-industrialisation** from 1881-1931.  A/C to him male work force increased and different industries should be lumped together so that now the decline does not look very high.

1.2.1 Criticism of No Deindustrialisation Theory :

  • damage had already been done before the census
  • completely dismissed the workforce of women as being erroneous which is not true as women are significant contributors to Indian agriculture
  • Certain imperialist openly admitted the need and desire for de-industrialisation of India viz John Maynard Keynes who wanted India to become prosperous by supplying agricultural good to the industrialised west

  1. From Sekhar Bandyopadhyay↩︎