What are the characteristics of Indian economy during the British period?
I. Introduction: The British captured political power in India in 1757 A. D. They ruled India from 1757 to 1947 A. D.
Characteristic of Indian Economy:
1. During the British period, there was a continuous exploitation of economic resource and material wealth, which resulted in the permanent loss of India’s National wealth.
2. The British plunder of Indian wealth assumed various forms Chief among them were :
- Modified land tenure system .
- Improved irrigation systems.
- Creation of railways.
- Industrial transformation.
3. Agriculture became commercialized and plantation jute and other agro-based industries were developed.
4. There was a stiff competition to indigenous products through British export of machine made goods.
5. Since the British followed discriminatory tariff policy, the local textiles and other artisan based industries were suppressed.
6. There was an enormous decline in real per capita income, decrease in wages, enormous decline level, and substantial rise in poverty and unemployment in India during British period.
7. All this led to slow growth of agro-based industry and industrialization of indigenous manufactures.
- What is organised sector?
A. Organised sector of the economy refers to the large scale industrial and agricultural units with a defined pattern of production and employment.Industries such as automobiles, chemicals, machine tools, engineering goods, textiles, electronics etc come under this sector. This sector requires a substantial proportion of labour force and output.
- Explain the mean of unorganised sectors?
A. Unorganised sector: it refers to the household based production activities, small and tiny sectors of the industry like handicrafts handloom etc. In this sector, there are works both in agriculture and industry whose employment pattern and wage levels do not follow a defined pattern.
The handicrafts artisan professions, khadi and village, industries such as beedi making Agarbatti making etc can be located in the unorganised sector of the Indian economy.
- What is role of monsoons in Indian agriculture?
Ans: Introduction: Monsoons play a great role in Indian agriculture. India receives the rainfall from South–West monsoons and North– east monsoons.
II. Role of Monsoon: In Indian agriculture
- Indian agriculture depends mostly on rain water for cultivation through canals, tanks etc.
- South –West monsoons bring most of the rainfall to supply necessary water for cultivation.
- The rest of the rainfall is provided by the North-east monsoon or the retreating monsoons.
- In a given year, if the rain fall is more than the optimum then that year is said to be a good year.
- In a given year, If the rain fall is less than the optimum then that year is called a bad year.
- In India, rainfall is not uniform all over the country due to different geotropical conditions, climate variations and terrestrial differences.
- This gives rise to uneven distribution of rainfall so the rainfall varies from place to place.
Hence it is said that Indian agriculture is a gamble on monsoons.
- Explain the different Land tenure systems.
A. Land tenure system in India: Land tenure was one of the forms that give rise to socio- economic inequalities.
The British reign introduced three important land tenure systems in India. They were
i. Zamindari system
ii. Mahalwari system.
iii. Ryotwari system
1. Zamindari System: In this system, the existing tax collectors were converted into the landed proprietor and the original owners of the land into tenants by Cornwallis.
2. Mahalwari System: In this system the land belonged to a small group of families who were usually the most powerful in their regions. They were responsible for paying taxes /rents to the state.
Ryothwari system: Under this system, land may be held in single independent holdings. The individual holders were responsible for payment of revenue to the state.
- Distinguish various Economic systems.
Fill in the blanks:
||Mixed Economic system
|1. It is organised by a Number of Private
|1. It is organized by the public enterprises .
||1. It is organised by both private and public enterprises.
|2. Individual owners organise production
and supply .
|2. State ownership organises production and supply.
||2. Private firms and public enterprises organized production and supply.
|3. It is based on the objective of
profit maximization. There is no
|3. Centralized planning mechanism responsible for the supply of the commodities.
||3. Public and Private both sectors protect the interest of the public on large scale.
|4. Market forces of supply and demand
determine price, production, and
distribution of goods and service.
|4. Usually the public en terprises determine price, production and
distribution of goods.
|4. The government controls and
regulates the private sector to protect the
interest of the public.
|5. It operates on the principle of free
market enterprise yet state intervene to
|5. The state market only decides the free market conditions and price mechanism.
||5. Both the private and public enterprises organize together. Yet the government would not effectively
protect the interest.
Match the following:
- Before the colonial rule, the Indian village community republics consisted of agriculurists, artisans, and menials
- Handicrafts, handlooms, household manufacturing activities are included in the organised sector of economy
- Most of the rain water needed for cultivation comes during the month of June- September which is known as South West monsoons.
- Under the Mahalwari system, land is owned by a small group of families who pay rent to the state.
- Firms operating under the ownership of the state are known aspublic sector.
- Supply and demand forces determine the price in capitalistic economic system.
- Dadabhai Nauroji a) Growth of towns [ 3 ]
- D.R. Gadgil b) Soialist system [ 4 ]
- Urbanisation c) Plunder of wealth [ 1 ]
- Public sector d) Mixed Economic system [ 5 ]
- Centralised planning e) Economic drains [ 2 ]