In the nineteenth century, Ram Lakhan, a landless labourer from a small village, put his thumb impression on a contract and sailed from an Indian port to Mauritius, where he spent years cutting cane. More than a century later his great-grandson Vikram, a teacher in Port Louis, visits relatives in Pune. He finds that most of his cousins now work in an automobile plant, an insurance company and a mobile phone store, while only one uncle still tills the family land.
Vikram's cousin works in an automobile plant, a product of industrialisation. In sociology, industrialisation refers to:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → the emergence of machine production, based on inanimate power resources like steam or electricity
Option (1) the emergence of machine production, based on inanimate power resources like steam or electricity — Correct. Industrialisation means the rise of machine production that runs on inanimate power such as steam or electricity. An automobile plant, with its powered machines, is a product of this change.
Option (2) the growth of towns and cities, where most jobs and new job opportunities are found — Incorrect. This describes urbanisation, the growth of towns and cities where most jobs are found. It often goes along with industrialisation, yet the two can also happen apart.
Option (3) a system where the means of production are privately owned to accumulate profits — Incorrect. This describes capitalism, an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned to make profits. It is about who owns production, and it has no link to machines or power sources.
Option (4) the decline of traditional crafts in the face of cheap machine-made imports — Incorrect. This describes deindustrialisation, as when Indian cotton and silk exports declined in the face of Manchester competition. It was one effect of British industrialisation on colonial India.
NCERT (2026-27): “The Colonial Experience |