During the 17th and 18th centuries, i.e., before the advent of the Europeans in India, India was the ‘industrial workshop’ of the world. But currently India is not an industrial country in the true and modern sense.
India witnessed the process of De-Industrialization within a space of 60 years, once British started ruling the subcontinent.
The process of
destruction of Indian handicraft industries by competition from the
products of British manufacture during the nineteenth century made the term
de-Industrialization to come into prominence in India.
De-Industrialization in India:
The “blending of agriculture and handicrafts” was the term in which India’s traditional village economy was characterized by. But the British Government systematically slaughtered the internal balance of village economy; this came to be known as de-industrialization.
At the turn of the 18th century traditional handicraft industries slipped away, from its pre-eminence and its decline started and proceeded rapidly almost to the beginning of the 19th century. It is considered as the first step towards de-Industrialization.
In a span of 60 years India’s share of manufacturing output
in the world came down to 8.6 % in 1860 and to 1.4% in 1913 which was once was
as high as 19.7 % in 1800.
Reason for De-Industrialization in
India:
Disappearance of the
court culture of late Mughal days and old aristocracy:
The royal courts and the urban aristocrats served as the main source of demand for the products of these handicrafts. One source of demand for the products of these crafts dried up with the abolition of the royal court.
However, the class of nobles and urban aristocrats who patronized the arts and the handicrafts in satellite states like Awadh, Bengal, Hyderabad, Punjab etc counterbalanced the demand to some extent.
But, the craftsmen gradually pulled down the shutters of
their karkhanas with the decline in royal power all over India and with the
gradual extension of the British rule.
The establishment of an alien rule:
The European officials and tourists were looked upon as a new source of demand though they favored imported manufactures. A certain amount of European Demand for these handicrafts existed for a certain amount of European which eventually slackened decline to a smaller degree rapidly.
However, the artistic quality of Indian handicrafts got sabotaged with the small European demand since they introduced new forms and pattern to suit their tastes which were beyond the craftsmen’s comprehension.
The guilds and other bodies which regulated and supervised the trade lost their powers due to the establishment of the British rule. This resulted in a decline of the artistic and commercial value of the products with the adulteration of materials shoddy and slovenly workmanship.
Alike the Kashmir Shawl industry the blind imitation which
they assiduously cooled became disastrous to indigenous art.
The competition from machine-made goods:
Since 1750 Indian industry dealt with great damage with the machine-made textile goods of Britain. The decline of this important industry was completed by the invention of power-loon in Europe. The cotton textile industry was the industry which experienced the onslaught of de-industrialization most.
After agriculture it was the largest provider of employment in India. Before 1800 India’s cotton goods were the best in the world. There had been massive growth of British imports in India and the domination of British cloth in the Indian market after the consequent industrial revolution in cotton textile industry.
The spinners and weavers saw an unbelievable drop in wages
as the havoc in market created large scale unemployment. Jute handloom weaving
of Bengal, woolen manufacturers of Kashmir, silk manufacture of Bengal etc
these industries also got affected during this time.
Tariff policy:
The leading cause towards the decay of industries was the tariff policy pursued by the British Government. According to British government if it was good for England was considered to be good for India; it was their tariff policy which came to be known as 'one-way free trade'.
England pursued the policy of protection through the
imposition of import duties to put her manufacturing industries on a sound
footing at home. But for India, the gospel of free trade was preached by her.
Internal causes:
The decline of handicraft industries must also be blamed to the weaknesses in the industrial structure itself. India’s foreign trade was in the hands of foreigners as no efforts were made to explore markets for products.
As far as sales or demand propagation in overseas markets were concerned which meant that the Indian artisans and producers were at the mercy of foreign merchants.
Secondly, India had a very weak guild organization.
Finally, she did not possess a class of industrial
entrepreneurs unlike its western counterparts.
India mainly became an exporter of raw materials and importer of finished goods
which led to De-Industrialization and overcrowding of agriculture. This also
led to economic drain of India.
Imperialism and colonialism became the reason for the backwardness of the Indian economy as various policies like zamindari system, forest laws were used to extract more and more revenues, hurting the interest of common people and leading to their impoverishment.
Written by: Gourav Chowdhury
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