Previous Year Question
Which of the following statements correctly explains the impact of Industrial Revolution on India during the first half of the nineteenth century?
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
The Industrial Revolution in Britain increased the use of machines and steam power in spinning and weaving. Consequently, British factories began producing textiles on a large scale and at a lower cost.
Colonial trade policy imposed heavy import duties on Indian textiles in Britain, while British factory-made products were allowed to enter India with minimal tariffs. Consequently, Indian producers lost both foreign and domestic markets.
India’s textile exports declined sharply and cheap British factory-made textiles spread throughout the Indian market. The incomes of Indian weavers and other artisans declined, many craftsmen became impoverished, and they were forced to return to subsistence agriculture. This process is described as the decline of Indian handicrafts or deindustrialisation. Therefore, option (a) is correct.
Option (b) is incorrect because the expansion of the modern machine-based textile mill industry in India occurred later. The first successful modern cotton mill in Bombay was established in 1854, which was after the first half of the nineteenth century.
Option (c) is incorrect because India’s first passenger train ran between Bombay and Thane on 16 April 1853. The railway network expanded into many parts of the country after this.
Option (d) is incorrect because the actual policy was the opposite—Indian textiles faced heavy duties in Britain, while British products were imported into India with minimal tariffs.