Class 11 Economics: Indian Economic Development Question and Answer 2nd paper

Categories: NCERT Class 11

Class 11 Economics: Indian Economic Development Question and Answer 2nd paper

 

Q1: Critically appraise some of the shortfalls of the industrial policy pursued by the British colonial administration.

Answer: The focus of the industrial policies pursued by the colonial government in India was to make our country a mere supplier of Britain's own flourishing industrial base. The policies were concerned mainly with the fortification and advancement for their own country.

The industrial policy pursued by the British colonial administration has the following shortfalls:

  1. Neglect of Indian Handicraft Industries: The British followed a discriminatory tariff policy under which they imposed heavy tariffs (export duties) on India's export of handicraft products while allowed free export of India's raw material to Britain and free import of British products to India. This made Indian exports costlier and its international demand fell drastically leading to the collapse of handicrafts industries. Also, Indian handicrafts faced a stiff competition from machine made textiles of Britain. The emergence of a new section of people who liked the British goods more in comparison to the domestic goods encouraged British industries at the cost of Indian industries. This led to the declining demand for Indian products and encouraged foreign products.
  2. Lack of Investment in Indian Industries: The modern industries in India demanded investments in capital goods that were beyond the means of Indian investors. On the other hand, British government was least interested in investing in Indian industries.

Thus, due to the lack of sufficient investment, the growth of Indian industries was acutely constrained.

 

Q2: What do you understand by the drain of Indian wealth during the colonial period?

Answer: Dadabhai Naroji advocated the theory of 'Drain of Wealth' in the 19th century. The colonial period was marked by the exploitation of Indian resources. The sole motive of Britain to conquer India was to own a perennial source of cheap raw materials to feed its own industrial base in Britain. Further, the British government used India's manpower to spread its colonial base outside India. Also, the administrative expenses that were incurred by the British government to manage the colonial rule in India were borne by Indian Exchequer. Thus, British rule drained out Indian wealth for the fulfillment of its own interests.

 

Q3: Which is regarded as the defining year to mark the demographic transition from its first to the second decisive stage?

Answer: The year 1921 is regarded as the defining year or the 'Year of Great Divide' because prior to 1921, population growth in India was never consistent. India was in the first phase of demographic transition till 1921 that was characterised by high birth rate and high death rate. It implies low survival rate (or low life expectancy), which was nearly 8 per thousand per annum. Therefore, the period before 1921 witnessed stagnant population growth rate. After 1921, India's population growth never declined and showed a consistent upward trend.

 

Q4: Give a quantitative appraisal of India's demographic profile during the colonial period.

Answer: India's Demographic conditions during the British rule depict our economy as stagnant and backward. Both the birth rate and death rate were as high as 48 and 40 per thousand. Due to high birth rate and high death rate the population growth was stagnant. The Infant Mortality Rate was also very high of about 218 per thousand. The Life Expectancy Rate was as low as 32 years while presently it is 63.5 years. The literacy rate was less than 16 percent which denotes social backwardness and gender bias in the economy. We can infer from the above figures that India was featured with massive poverty, low standard and quality of living and low survival rate in the country. The lack of health care facilities and lack of health awareness were the main causes behind such demographic conditions of India.

 

Q5: Highlight the salient features of India's pre-independence occupational structure.

Answer: The occupational structure that refers to the distribution of population engaged in different occupations, showed no variation throughout the British rule. The following are the salient features of India's pre-independence occupational structure:

  1. Agriculture- The Prime Occupation: Under colonial rule, India was basically an agrarian economy, employing nearly 85% of its population. As India had a massive poverty during the colonial rule, so a large proportion of the population was engaged in agricultural sector to earn their subsistence. But due to the prevalence of Zamindari system, agricultural sector lacked investment and, thereby, its growth was highly constrained. Thus, in other words, despite employing a significant proportion of the population, the growth of agriculture sector was meager.
  2. Industry- The Bleak Occupation: Apart from agriculture, a small proportion of population was employed in manufacturing sector. Nearly 10% of the total workforce was engaged in manufacturing and industrial sector. This was due to the stiff competition that the Indian industries faced from the machine made cheap goods from Britain. Further, the lack of investment, initiatives and the unfavourable tariff structure constrained industrial sector. Thus, the Indian industrial sector failed to contribute significantly to India's GDP.
  3. Unbalanced Growth: The three sectors of Indian economy, i.e. agricultural, industrial and tertiary sector were unequally developed. While the agricultural sector was relatively developed, whereas, the other two sectors were at their infant stage. In addition, there was regional variation in the occupational structure of India. While on the one hand, states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Bombay experienced a fall in the agricultural workforce on the other hand states like Orissa, Rajasthan and Punjab experienced a rise in the agricultural workforce.

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