Read the following chain of events of the colonial period with one step missing:
(A) Indian handicrafts such as Daccai Muslin enjoyed a worldwide market.
(B) Under the colonial policy of de-industrialisation, these handicraft industries declined.
(C) ____________
(D) Increasing imports of cheap manufactured goods from Britain filled the Indian consumer market.
Which of the following is the missing step (C)?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Massive unemployment followed, and locally made goods became scarce.
When the handicrafts declined, no modern industry took their place. So the decline caused massive unemployment, and the market was deprived of locally made goods. This new demand was then met by cheap imports from Britain, which is step (D).
Option (1) Handicraft workers moved to the new cotton mills of Maharashtra and Gujarat. — Incorrect. The decline caused massive unemployment. Modern industry grew very slowly and did not absorb these workers.
Option (2) The public sector took over the handicraft units across India. — Incorrect. The public sector was very limited. It was confined to the railways, power, communications, ports and some departmental undertakings.
Option (3) India began to export raw cotton instead of muslin to Britain. — Incorrect. India did become an exporter of raw materials, but that does not explain the new demand that British imports filled in step (D).
Option (4) Massive unemployment followed, and locally made goods became scarce. — Correct. This step links the decline in (B) to the imports in (D).
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 de-industrialising 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. In the unfolding economic scenario, the decline of the indigenous handicraft industries created not only massive unemployment in India but also a new demand in the Indian consumer market, which was now deprived of the supply of locally made goods. This demand was profitably met by the increasing imports of cheap manufactured goods from Britain. …” |