Question

What happened to the spinners and weavers who lost their livelihood in


India?

Answer 1

The development of cotton industries in Britain affected textile producers in India in several ways.

Indian textiles  had to complee with British textiles in the European and American markets. Exporting textiles to England also became increasingly difficult since very high duties were imposed on Indian textiles imported into Britain.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, English made cotton textiles successfully outsets Indian goods from their traditional markets in Africa, America and Europe. Thousands of weavers in India were now thrown out of employment. Bengal weavers were the worst hit. English and European companies stopped buying Indian goods and their agents no longer gave out advances to weavers to secure supplies. Distressed weavers wrote petitions to the government to help them. The textile factory industry in India faced many problems. It found it difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from Britain.

Answer 2

Handloom weaving and the occupations associated with it provided livelihood for millions of Indians.........Many weavers became agricultural labours...... Some migrated to cities in search of work and yet others went out of the country to work in plantations in Africa and South America.