How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from the Indian weavers ?
Answers
(i) Monopoly right : Once the East India Company established political power, it asserted a monopoly right to trade
(ii) New system : After establishing monopoly over trade :t proceeded to develop a system of management and control that would eliminate competition, control costs, and ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk goods. This it did through a series of steps.
(iii) Appointing Gomasthas : The Company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the doth trade, and establish a more direct control over the weavers. It appointed a paid secant called the Gomostha to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth.
(iv) System of advances : To have a direct control over the weavers, the company- started the system of advances. Once an order was placed, the weavers were given loans to purchase the raw material for their production. Those, who took loans had to hand over the doth they produced to the Gomastha. They could not take it to any other trader.
(v) Use of power : The places where the weaver refused to cooperate the Company used its police. At many places weaver were often beaten and flogged for delays in supply.
Answer:
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre: A public meeting was announced for the 13th April 1919, at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar to protest against the Rowlatt Act. The people were allowed to assemble there. After they had gathered there in thousands, General Dyer marched there with armoured cars and troops. Without giving any warning to the people to disperse, he ordered firing on the unarmed, and peaceful people. The casualties among the Indians were very heavy. Dyer’s purpose in doing so was to ‘produce a moral effect’, to create in the minds of Satyagrahis, a feeling of terror and awe. This massacre of innocent people in thousands converted Mahatma Gandhi into a non-cooperator.
Explanation: