Class 10 NCERT Solutions History Chapter 4: The Age of Industrialisation

The Women workers attacked the Spinning Jenny because:

1. Many women in rural areas helped out in augmenting family income by working on the spinning wheel.
2. They feared that the Spinning Jenny, which was introduced in woolen manufacture, if generally adopted would lessen the demand for manual labour.
3. Also, the Spinning Jenny came at a time when already the cottagers and poor peasants were facing economic hardships due to disappearance of open fields and enclosure of common lands. Many women used to survive on hand spinning. Hence, fear of unemployment led them to attack the Spinning Jenny. 

In the 17^th century, merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within villages because:

1. Demands for goods began to increase with the expansion of world trade and the acquisition of colonies in different parts of the world.
2. Despite increased demands, merchants could not expand production within towns, since urban crafts and trade guilds had a stranglehold over that market. The guilds expressly controlled over trade in towns and restricted the entry of new players in the market.

The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century because:

1. As European companies gradually consolidated their power in India, they began to export their goods from the ports of Bombay and Calcutta in European ships.
2. As a result, exports from the port of Surat fell sizably. The credit that financed trade began drying up and local bankers slowly went bankrupt. This resulted in the decline of the port of Surat.

The East India Company employed gomasthas to supervise weavers in India because:

1. The East India company wanted to ensure regular supply of fine Indian silk and cotton textiles that were in great demand in Europe.
2. Through the gomasthas, the Company intended to develop a system of management that would eliminate competition from existing traders and buyers and assert monopoly rights of trade.
3. Through the gomastha system, the Company started a system of advances to the weavers. This way, the Company controlled the costs and eliminated the bargaining power of the weaver.

a. False

b. True

c. False

d. True

Proto-industrialisation refers to that phase of industrialisation when there was large scale industrial production in England and Europe for an international market not based on factories. During proto-industrialisation period of 17^th and 18^th century, a close relationship developed between the town and the countryside. The merchant supplied money to the artisans living in the rural and encouraged them to produce for the international market. A merchant clothier purchased wool form a wool stapler, carried it to the spinner, the yarn was taken in stages to weavers, fullers and dyers. The process of finishing was done in London before export. During this time, London became known as 'the finishing centre'. At each stage of this commercial exchange system, 20 to 25 workers were employed by each merchant. Each clothier was thus controlling the work of hundreds of weavers.

In 19^th century Europe, industrialists preferred hand labour over machines because;  

i. In 19^thcentury Europe, there was no shortage of labour. Peasants and vagrants moved in large numbers to cities in order to find work. The industrialists could engage this labour with low wages and hence weren't keen on machine production which entailed big capital investment.

ii. Many of the industries like gas works, breweries, binding, printing etc had a seasonal production process. Hence, industrialists preferred employing human labour just for the seasonal requirement.

iii. There was a large demand for intricate handicrafts in Europe. This could, as is obvious, be produced only by hand and not by machines which were geared for producing uniform, standardized goods for mass consumption rather than class consumption. For example, in Britain, handmade goods symbolized class and refinement and hence fetched more value.

Following are the conditions that were helpful for the East India Company to ensure a regular supply of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers:

i. After consolidating itself politically, the company began to assert monopoly rights over textiles trade and took steps to eliminate competition from French, Dutch, Portuguese and local traders in securing woven cloth from the market.

ii. The Company actually developed a management system and established direct control over the weavers by appointing paid supervisors called 'gomasthas' for the collection of supplies and quality control.

iii. It controlled costs and eliminated existing traders and brokers from dealing with Company weavers by adopting a system of advances.

iv. The new gomasthas were outsiders with no long term social links with the village. They acted only and only in the interest of the Company and controlled the lives of weavers through coercion, often beating and flogging them in case of default.

Reference Points:

Inventions -

i. James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny in 1764, cut short the time required for spinning work.

ii. John Key invented the 'flying shuttle' which speeded up weaving.

iii. Arkwright improved Hargreaves invention in 1769 and conditioned it to run on water power. The new machine was called 'water frame'.

iv. Crompton invented the powerloomin 1785, which used steam power for spinning and weaving.

v. Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Jin in 1793. It could separate seeds from cotton 300 times faster than hand.

Hints -

i. The link between history of cotton production and the textile industry.

ii. Cotton textile import of India.

iii. The English East India Company and the gomasthas.

iv. Cotton industry/new era/first phase of industrialisation.

v. Inventions.

vi. Raw cotton/USA.

vii. Manchester mills/pressure groups

viii. The American Civil War/disruption of cotton supply/India becomes the major exporter of raw cotton.

ix. Condition of labour/employment.

x. World War I/Decline of Britain as en economic power/effect on the cotton mills of Manchester.

xi. Indian national movement/Swadeshi/boycott/Gandhi's insistence on khadi.

Industrial production in India increased during the First World War due to following reasons: 

i. With the British industrial sector geared to provide for the British war effort, Manchester exports of India dropped dramatically and the Indian mills had access to the home market.

ii. As the war prolonged, Indian mills were called upon to provide for British war needs, e.g., jute bags, cloth for uniforms, tents, leather and other items. This gave a much needed boost to the local industrial units and increased the operation capacity of Indian factories.

iii. Manchester could never regain its old position in the Indian market as after the war, Britain's economy completely crumbled under the financial ruin and international competition. As a result, Indian mills further got the chance to consolidate their position in the Indian market.