Decline of traditional artisanal industry in colonial India

Examine how the decline of traditional artisanal industry in colonial India crippled the rural economy.

    The deindustrialization of India and the ruin of artisan and handicrafts happened side by side. After the Charter Act of 1833, a one way free trade Agreement was imposed on India. On the one hand cheap industrial goods from England flooded the Indian markets, denying the local market to artisans. On the other, there were high tariffs imposed on Indian goods. This made Indian goods uncompetitive and too expensive in Europe, thereby denying the European markets also to them.

    With the advent of British, there was decline in nobility and royalty as well as change in preferences due to western tastes and values. The artisans thus lost their patronage. The loss of traditional livelihood was not accompanied by establishment of local industries as witnessed elsewhere in the Western world. This contributed to the ruralisation of economy. Because of diminishing returns and regressive British policies the artisans abandoned their vocations and returned to villages to take up agriculture. This overburdened the agriculture sector and contributed to rise in poverty and disturbed the village economic setup.

    Under colonial rule, India from a net exporter was transformed to a net importer.  There was change in the type of goods traded also. India exported raw materials to Britain and imported manufactured goods. The railway network was laid with the goal of furthering British Colonial interests.

Thus the British colonial rule aided in the decline of traditional artisanal industry and a crippled the rural economy. The regressive colonial policies promopted Karl Marx to comment that Britain had innundated the mother of cotton with Manchester Cotton.