Modes of procurement in jute, cotton, silk textile industry and also in iron and steel industry
Answers
Answer:
The Cotton Textile Industry
The cotton textile industry is one of the
traditional industries of India. In the ancient
and the medieval times, it used to be only a
cottage industry. India was famous worldwide
for the production of muslin, a very fine variety
of cotton cloth, calicos, chintz and other
different varieties of fine cotton cloth. The
development of this industry in India was due
to several factors. One, it is a tropical country
and cotton is the most comfortable fabric for a
hot and humid climate. Second, large quantity
of cotton was grown in India. Abundant skilled
labour required for this industry was available
in this country. In fact, in some areas the
people were producing cotton textiles for
generations and transferred the skill from one
generation to the other and in the process
perfected their skills.
Initially, the British did not encourage the
development of the indigenous cotton textile
industry. They exported raw cotton to their mills
in Manchester and Liverpool and brought back
the finished products to be sold in India. This
cloth was cheaper because it was produced at
mass scale in factories in U.K. as compared to
the cottage based industries of India.
In 1854, the first modern cotton mill was
established in Mumbai. This city had several
advantages as a cotton textile manufacturing
Fig 8.10 : Production of Cotton Textile
Spinning yarn in powerloom Handloom Cotton Textile Industry
centre. It was very close to the cotton producing
areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Raw cotton
used to be brought to Mumbai port to be
transported to England. Therefore, cotton was
available in Mumbai city itself. Moreover,
Mumbai even then was the financial centre and
the capital needed to start an industry was
available there. As a large town, providing
employment opportunities attracted labour in
large numbers. Hence, cheap and abundant
labour too was available locally. The machinery
required for a cotton textile mill could be directly
2015-16
92 India : People and Economy
Fig. 8.11 : Cotton Textile Industries
2015-16
The Iron and Steel Industry
The development of the iron and steel industry
opened the doors to rapid industrial
development in India. Almost all sectors of the
Indian industry depend heavily on the iron
and steel industry for their basic
infrastructure. Can we make tools to be used
in agriculture without iron?
The other raw materials besides iron ore
and coking coal, essential for iron and steel
industry are limestone, dolomite, manganese
and fire clay. All these raw materials are gross
(weight losing), therefore, the best location for
the iron and steel plants is near the source of
raw materials. In India, there is a crescent
shaped region comprising parts of
Chhattisgarh, Northern Odisha, Jharkhand and
western West Bengal, which is extremely rich
in high grade iron ore, good quality coking coal
and other supplementing raw materials.
The Indian iron and steel industry
consists of large integrated steel plants as
well as mini steel mills. It also includes
secondary producers, rolling mills and
ancillary industries.
Integrated Steel Plants