Indian Economy at the time of Independence
Learning objectives
1) Introduction 2) Low level of economic development under colonialism 3) Agricultural Sectors 4) Industrial sectors 5) Foreign sectors 6) Demographic conditions 7) Occupational Structures 8) Infrastructures 9) State of Indian economy on the eve of independence 10) Positive contribution of the colonial leader
Q.1 What was the condition of agriculture sector at the time of Independence? Ans : Low level of agricultural productivity : Agricultural productivity was very low and the stagnation of the agriculture sector was mainly due to the Permanent Land Settlement system that was introduced by the British Government. In the Zamindari system, the profit accrued out of the agricultural sector went to Zamindaris instead of the cultivators. This lead to discouragement amongst the cultivators, and they produced less.
High dependence on Monsoon :-Indian agriculture sector was vulnerable to monsoon. No efforts were ever made on the part of the British rulers to develop or improve the conditions of this agro climatic agriculture.
Lack of Proper Input:
Low level of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and insufficient use of fertilizers, aggravated the plight of the farmers and contributed to an abysmally low level of agricultural productivity.
Q.2 What was the condition of Industrial sector at the time of Independence? Ans : - i) Discriminatory Tariff Policy : The British Government allowed tariff free export of raw materials from India and tariff free import of British industrial products into India. But imposed heavy export duties on Indian handicrafts products, which lead to the decay of Indian handicrafts.
(ii) Competition from machine : Industrial revolution in Britain gave a stiff competition to the handicraft industries in India. The goods produced mechanically in Britain using cheap raw material from India were comparatively lower in price and of superior quality, which narrowed down Indian handicrafts industries.
(iii) New Patterns of Demand :- Owing to British rule, a new class of people emerged in India. Consequently, the demand pattern changed and got in favour of British products, which gave a blow to the Indian handicrafts industries.
(iv) More market for British Goods :- An introduction of railways facilitated the transportation of the British products to different parts of the country. As a result, the size of the market for the low cost British product expanded while it started shrinking for the high cost Indian products. This again lead to decay of industries in India.
Q3. What was the condition of foreign trade under the British rule ? Ans i) Due to discriminative tariff policy adopted by the British Government, India became a net exporter of raw materials and primary products. On the other hand, it became a net importer of finished goods reproduced by the British Industry. (ii) Composition of exports and imports showed the backwardness of Indian economy. Exports and imports were largely restricted to Britain only due to monopoly control of India’s foreign trade. (iii) Surplus profit made on the account of foreign trade during the British rule were spent in expenses pertaining to the administrative affairs and war. It was only used to increase the pursuits of the British Government.
Q 4 Mention the demographic profile during the British rule. Ans : 1) High birth and High death rate implied low survival rate, which was nearly 8 per thousand per annum. 2) Life expectancy was as low as 32 years which disclosed the lack of health care facilities. 3) Literacy rate was as low as 16 percent, which reflected the social and economic backwardness of the country.
Q5. Mention the condition of occupation structure at the time Independence. Ans : - (i) India primarily being an agrarian economy employed nearly about 72.7 percent of the population in agriculture. (ii) Only 10.1% of the working population were engaged in the manufacturing sector, which manifested the signs of backwardness of Indian Industry at the time of Independence. (iii)only 17.2 percent of the working population were engaged in the service sector, which also proved the slow growth of tertiary sector at the time of Independence. (iv) There was an unbalanced growth of Indian economy during Independence
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