Previous Year Question
Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R):
Assertion (A): Ahmedabad is the largest centre of cotton textile industry in India.
Reason (R): Ahmedabad is located in Major cotton growing region of India, so it has no problem of raw materials.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below:
Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
(A) is true but (R) is false
(A) is false but (R) is true
Correct Answer: D
Detailed Solution
Assertion (A) is incorrect. Ahmedabad is an extremely important and historic cotton-textile centre, but it is not regarded as the largest cotton-textile centre in India. NIOS describes Maharashtra as the leading producer of cotton textiles and Mumbai as the major centre of textile mills, while Gujarat ranks second in cotton-textile production and Ahmedabad is its major centre.
Ahmedabad is often called the “Manchester of India” because of its historically important cotton-textile industry. Modern cotton-mill manufacturing developed there during the nineteenth century, and it subsequently became the principal textile centre of Gujarat.
Reason (R) is correct. Ahmedabad lies close to a major cotton-growing region of Gujarat. The climate and soil of Gujarat are favourable for cotton cultivation, and the State has long been one of India's major cotton-producing regions. Therefore, Ahmedabad enjoys an important locational advantage in access to raw cotton.
However, access to raw material does not make Ahmedabad India's largest cotton-textile centre. Market, labour, capital, transport, power and historical industrial development are also important locational factors for the cotton-textile industry.