Impacts of decline of traditional artisanal industry

12. Examine how the decline of traditional artisanal industry in colonial India crippled the rural economy. (250 words) 15M

Ans. Since the ancient and medieval times, Indian economy was mainly rural based. Rural areas were the growth centers of the economic activities. They supplied food crops for feeding as well as raw materials for the basic artisanal industries like cotton-silk weaving, cloth making, handicrafts etc. Due to this linkage, Indian agriculture and rural areas were regarded as self-sufficient in nature. These regions also exported finished materials to the other nations as well which were regarded of very high quality.

However, due to the discriminatory and exploitative policies adopted by the British Government, Indian artisanal industry was completely ruined which resulted in the crippling of the Indian rural economy.

British through their imperialist policies increased the export duties on finished goods which made it impossible for the artisans to export their products, on the other side they decreased the import duties. This led to the overflow of the British goods which were manufactured in the factories with machines. Indian artisans were not able to compete with these goods.

This forced them to quit their job and to work in the British factories in India. In these factories they worked in cotton ginning occupation. This broke the relationship between Indian artisanal industry and Indian agriculture. As a result India was transformed from a net exporter of finished products into a net exporter of the raw materials and an importer of finished goods.

All this led to the de-industrialisation of India as more and more artisans were umemployed. They chose to shift to agriculture and the farmers who worked in artisanal industries in the idle period could not find any work. This further fueled unemplyment and crippled the rural economy.

This situation resulted in the overburdening of the agriculture and led to disguised unemployment. Agriculture which was already commodified was not in a condition to absorb this huge demand of employment.

Agriculture was affected by the devastating revenue policies of the British Government mainly the permanent settlement revenue policy. This made the land owners peasants and mere tenants, who worked on the will of zamindars and were regularly exploited. This entangled them in the vicious cycle of debt and poverty. This did not allow them to invest in agriculture to increase the yield which ultimately resulted in famines.

These famines had resulted in various protests and revolts which further deteriorated the health of Indian rural economy.

So, all these issues resulted in crippling the rural economy which did not come out the cycles of regular famines till the land revenue reforms and Green Revolution of post-independence India.