NCERT Solutions For Class 10 History Chapter 5 The Age Of Industrialisation

The Age Of Industrialisation Long Questions And Answers

Question 1. Explain the main features of Proto-industrialisation.

Answer:

The main features of Proto-industrialisation were:

1. Production was not based on factories.
2. Large-scale home-based production for the international market.
3. Merchants moved to the countryside and supplied money for artisans to produce for the international market.
4. It provided an alternative source of income.
5. Income from pro-industrial production supplemented their shrinking income.
6. It helped in fuller use of their family labour resources.

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Question 2. How did the British market expand their goods in India?

Answer:

1. Advertisements make products appear desirable and necessary. They try to shape the minds of people and create new needs. During the industrial age, advertisements played a major role in expanding the market for products.
2. The labels were needed to make the place of manufacture and the name of the company familiar to the buyer. When buyers saw ‘MADE IN MANCHESTER’ written in bold on a label, they felt confident about buying the clothes.
3. Images of Indian Gods gave approval to the goods being sold. Images of Krishna and Saraswati were intended to make the manufacture from a foreign land appear somewhat familiar to the Indian People.
4. Printing calendars to popularise their products. Unlike newspapers and magazines, calendars were used even by people who could not read. They were hung in the tea shops and in poor people’s homes, just as much as in the offices and in the middle-class houses.

Question 3. The Industrial Revolution was a mixed Blessing. Explain.

Answer:

Blessings of the Industrial Revolution:

1. Production by machines has met the growing needs of the growing population of the world.
2. Only machines have made it possible for mankind to meet the primary necessities of food, clothes and shelter.
3. Machines have relieved man of the drudgery of tiring and unpleasant jobs.
4. Machines have brought more leisure.
5. Harmful Effects of the Industrial Revolution:
6. The Industrial Revolution shattered the rural life by turning the farmers into landless labourers.
7. Rural unemployment forced the unemployed farmers to migrate to cities in search of jobs.
8. The cities became overcrowded and many problems of insanitation and housing arose.
9. The Industrial Revolution gave birth to imperialism.

Question 4. Why did the system of advances prove harmful for the weavers?

Answer:

The system of advance proved harmful for the weavers on account of given below reasons:

1. No chance of bargaining: The weavers lost any chance of bargaining.
2. Leasing of land: Most of the weavers had to lease out the land and devote all their time to weaving.
3. Dependency for food on others: Most of the weavers after losing their land became dependent on others for food supplies.
4. Clashes with gomasthas: Gomasthas acted arrogantly, marched into villages with police and punished weavers for the delay in supply.

Question 5. Explain the miserable conditions of Indian weavers during the East India Company’s regime in the eighteenth century.

Answer:

Once the East India Company established political power, it started asserting monopoly rights to trade.

It proceeded to develop a system which gave it control to eliminate all competition, control costs and ensure a regular supply of cotton and silk goods.

It took the following steps. First, it eliminated the existing traders and brokers and established direct control over the weaver.

It appointed a special officer called ‘gomastha’ to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of the clothes. Secondly, it prevented the Company weavers from dealing with other buyers.

They advanced loans to weavers to purchase the raw materials, after placing an order. The ones who took loans had to give their clothes to the Yamashita. They could not sell it to any other trader.

Weavers took the advance, hoping to earn more. Some weavers even leased out their land to devote all their time to weaving. The entire family became engaged in weaving.

But soon there were fights between the weavers and the gomasthas. The latter used to march into villages with sepoys and often beat up the weavers for delays in supply.

In many places like Carnatic and Bengal, weavers deserted the villages and had to migrate to other villages. In many places, they revolted against the Company and its officials.

Weavers began refusing to accept loans after some time, closed down their workshops and became agricultural labourers.

Question 6. How had a series of inventions in the 18th century increased the efficiency of each step of the production process in the cotton textile industry? Explain.

Answer:

A series of inventions in the 18th century increased the efficiency of each step of the production process in the cotton textile industry.

1. Each step means carding, twisting, spinning and rolling. They enhanced the output per worker, enabling each worker to produce more and produce stronger threads and yarn.
2. Richard Arkwright created the cotton mill. Before this, cloth production was carried out within village households. Now costly machines could be set up in the mill and all the mill processes were completed under one roof.
3. Spinning Jenny devised by James Hargreaves in 1764 speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demand. By turning one single wheel, a worker could set in motion a number of spindles and spin several threads at a time.
4. The steam engine, invented by James Watt in 1781, was used in cotton mills.
5. Factories came up in large numbers and by 1840, cotton textile became the leading sector in industrialisation. The expansion of railways also helped in the production of textile goods.

Question 7. State reasons for the increase in production of cotton textiles.

Answer:

The reasons for the increase in cotton textile production were:

1. Inventions of the 18th century, For Example., Cotton Mill by Richard Arkwright.
2. Enhanced output per worker by machines like cotton mills.
3. Quality products with stronger threads, etc.
4. Maintenance of mills is made easier if located in one place.
5. Efficient management due to regulations.

Question 8. How did industrial production in India increase during the First World War?
Or
“The First World War created favourable conditions for the development of industries in India.” Justify the statement.

Answer:

Industrial production in India increased during the First World War because of the following reasons:

1. British mills became busy with war production and Manchester imports into India declined.
2. Suddenly Indian factories had a vast home market to supply goods.
3. Indian factories were called upon to supply war needs: jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents and leather boots, horse and mule saddles and a host of other items.
4. New factories were set up and old ones ran multiple stuffs. Many new workers were employed and everyone was made to work longer hours. Over the war years industrial production boomed.
5. After the war, Manchester could not recapture its old position in the Indian market. The economy of Britain collapsed after the war, and cotton production and exports fell. Local industrialists in India consolidated their position, substituting foreign goods and capturing the home market.

Question 9. “The modern industrialisation could not marginalise the traditional industries in England.” Justify the statement with suitable arguments.

Answer:

1. The new industries could not easily displace traditional industries. At the end of the 19th century itself, less than 20% of the total workforce was employed in advanced technological industrial centres.
2. Textile industry itself produced a large portion of its output not within the factories, but outside, within domestic units.
3. In non-mechanised sectors such as food processing, building, pottery, glasswork, tanning, furniture making and production of implements, ordinary and small innovations were the basis of their grants.
4. Technological changes were not accepted at once by the industrialists. Their growth was slow as new technology was expensive and often broke down, and repairs were costly.
5. The autocratic class preferred handmade items as they defined class and status.
6. The traditional craftsmen and the labourers, and not machine operators were still more popular. Hand-made things were popular, as machines produced mass designs and there was no variety.
7. For example, human skill produced 45 kinds of axes and 500 varieties of hammers, which no machine could produce.

Question 10. How did the seasonality of employment affect the lives of workers?

Answer:

Seasonality of employment badly affected the lives of workers in the following ways:

1. It prolonged the period of unemployment and the poor workers came to the streets again.
2. A few of them went back to the countryside.
3. Most of them looked for odd jobs in the cities.

Question 11. Why did cotton and textiles become the chief industry in England?

Answer:

Cotton and textiles became England’s chief industry because:

1. England had a climate favourable for the cotton and textile industry.
2. The cotton and textile industry had already been started in the middle of the 16th Century in England.
3. Ores and coal required for machines and factories were available in plenty.
4. Cotton was also easily available in England from her colonies.