The traditional handicraft industries were ruined under the British rule. Do you agree with this view? Give reasons in support of your answer.

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes, we agree with the statement that the traditional handicraft industries were ruined under the British rule. Before the advent of the British, India was well known for its handicraft industries in the fields of cotton and silk textiles, metal and precious stone works. Handicraft products enjoyed a worldwide market due to their fine quality and high standards of craftsmanship. The following are the reasons in favour of the statement:

1. **Discriminatory tariff policy**: The British rule used India both as a source of cheap raw materials as well as an easily accessible market for their finished products. Thereby, they imposed heavy tariffs, or export duties, on India's export of handicraft products, while allowing free export of India's raw material to Britain and free import of British finished products into India. This made India's exports costlier and its international demand fell drastically, leading to the collapse of the handicraft industries.

2. **Competition from machine-made British goods**: The demand for handicraft products experienced a downward trend in the domestic markets as well. This was due to stiff competition from the machine-made textiles of Britain. The goods produced mechanically in Britain, using cheap raw materials from India, were comparatively lower in price and of superior quality than the Indian handicraft goods. This narrowed the market for Indian handicraft industries.

3. **Emergence of western lifestyle**: The British rule popularised the western lifestyle in India. There was an emergence of a new section of population, consisting mainly of zamindars, who liked the British goods and also promoted their use to please the British government. This section used to spend lavishly on British products, which provided impetus for the development of British industries at the cost of the domestic industries. Hence, gradually the Indian handicraft industries perished away.

4. **Downfall of princely states**: Prior to the British rule, nawabs, rajas, princes and emperors ruled different parts of the country. They used to patronise the handicraft industries, and consequently Indian handicrafts gained reputation in the international markets. But during the British rule, these princely states were ruined, thereby ruining the protection of those handicraft industries.

Thus, the Indian handicraft industries could not survive, and the colonial era was clearly responsible for their decline and ruin, causing mass unemployment and the increasing dependence of the population on agriculture.