Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): India’s world-famous handicraft industries declined under colonial rule.
Reason (R): The colonial government followed a policy of systematically de-industrialising India, partly to turn India into a market for British finished goods.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
Assertion (A): India’s world-famous handicraft industries declined under colonial rule. — True. The famous handicraft industries declined, and no modern industry took their place.
Reason (R): The colonial government followed a policy of systematically de-industrialising India, partly to turn India into a market for British finished goods. — True. The colonial policy was to de-industrialise India.
Why R explains A?
The British wanted India to supply raw materials and to buy finished goods from British factories. Indian handicrafts stood in the way of this market. So the policy of de-industrialisation led to their decline.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 Industrial Sector As in the case of agriculture, so also in manufacturing, India could not develop a sound industrial base under the colonial rule. Even as the country’s world famous handicraft industries declined, no corresponding modern industrial base was allowed to come up to take pride of place so long enjoyed by the former. The primary motive of the colonial government behind this policy of systematically deindustrialising India was two-fold. The intention was, first, to reduce India to the status of a mere exporter of important raw materials for the upcoming modern industries in Britain and, second, to turn India into a sprawling market for the finished products of those industries so that their continued expansion could be ensured to the maximum advantage of their home country — Britain.” |