Question

" certain groups of indian weavers were in better position than others to survive the competition with the mill industries ". explain.

Answer 1

a. Small scale industries survived despite Industrialisation in the post first world era because of technological changes introduced by handicrafts people, which helped them in expanding production and bringing about improvement in their methods of production.
b.Weavers for instance used looms with a fly shuttle which increased speed and pace of production, reduced demand for labour.
c.It helped them in expanding overall productivity in a cost effective manner.
d. The demand for hand made goods, more or less remained stable, rich continued to buy such products even during crisis. Those weavers who produced fine quality were still in a better position.
e. The demand for finer variety by the rich remained stable.
f. The demand for certain products like Banarsi, Baluchari saris or lungis from Madras could not be easily replaced by machine made cloth
g. Those who produced coarse cloth however, were badly effected as they mainly catered to the poor and its demand fluctuated.