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

Jobbers were kept for recruitment. Jobber was generally an old confident. He used to bring people from villages.

1. Number of people working in industries was less.
2. Slow changes in technology.
3. Cloth industry was dynamic
4. Technology was expensive.
5. A large part of production was done in Handlooms

It is the part of money which is invested for trade purpose.

A person who ‘Staples’ or sorts wool according to fibre.

Fuller is a person who ‘Fulls’ that it gathers cloth by pleating.

The process in when fibres such as cotton or wool are prepared prior to spinning.

Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny because it speeded up the spinning process, and consequently, reduced labour demand. This caused a valid fear of unemployment among women working in the woollen industry. Till date, they had survived on hand spinning, but this was placed in peril by the new machine.

In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages because production in urban areas could not be increased due to the presence of powerful trade guilds. These maintained control over production, regulated prices and competition, and restricted the entry of new people in the trade. Monopolisation was also a common tactic. In the countryside, there were no such rules, and impoverished peasants welcomed these merchants.

The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century on account of the growing power of European companies in trade with India. They secured many concessions from local courts as well as the monopoly rights to trade. This led to a decline of the old ports of Surat and Hoogly from where local merchants had operated. Exports slowed and local banks here went bankrupt.

The East India Company appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers in India to establish a more direct control over the weavers, free of the existing traders and brokers in the cloth trade. The gomasthas were the paid servants who supervised the weavers, collected supplies and examined the quality of cloth. The gomasthas ensured that all management and control of the cloth industry came under the British. This helped in eliminating competition, controlling costs and ensuring regular supplies of cotton and silk products.

Proto-industrialisation is the phase of industrialisation that was not based on the factory system. Before the coming of factories, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market. This part of industrial history is known as proto-industrialisation.

Some industrialists in nineteenth-century England preferred hand labour over machines because there was no labour shortage in the market, and as a result, there was no problem of high wage costs either. Industrialists did not wish to replace hand labour with machines that would require large capital investment. Also, in industries where the production and amount of labour required were dependent on the seasons, hand labour was preferred for its lower costs. Apart from this, many goods could only be manufactured by hand. Machines could provide mass quantities of a uniform product. But the demand was for intricate designs and shapes; this required human skill, and not mechanical technology. Handmade products also stood for refinement and class status. It was commonly believed that machine-made goods were for export to the colonies.

After establishing political power, the East India Company successfully procured regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers via a series of actions. These actions were aimed at eliminating competition from other colonial powers, controlling costs and ensuring regular supplies of cotton and silk goods for Britain. Firstly, it appointed gomasthas or paid servants to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine textile quality. Secondly, it disallowed Company weavers from dealing with other buyers. This was ascertained by a system of giving advances to the weavers for procuring raw materials. Those who took these loans could not sell their cloth to anyone but the gomasthas.

Industrial production in India increased during the First World War because British mills became busy with tending to war needs. Manchester imports decreased, and Indian mills suddenly had a huge home market to supply. Later, they were also asked to supply war needs such as jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents, leather boots, saddles and other items. There was so much demand that new factories had to be set up even when old ones ran on multiple shifts. Industrial production boomed with the employment of new workers and longer working hours.