what was the impact of world war 1 on indian politics
Answers
The First World War (1914-18) plunged Britain into a savage, utterly destructive war. To maintain the war effort, Britain needed huge supplies of commodities and manpower. Being the biggest and the most populous colony, India got drawn into the conflict as a major source of men and material. The massive mobilization of resources from India unsettled the impoverished country in the following ways.
a. The war operations in Europe sucked huge quantities of basic commodities like wheat, rice, sugar, tea, coffee etc. The accelerated export of the items from India caused scarcity in the domestic market. Prices rose sharply bringing immense distress to the low and middle class consumers.
b. Jute bag was among the non-food item that was in great demand in the war front. Huge numbers of jute bags had to be procured and rushed to the war front. Such procurement caused acute shortages of jute bags at home.
c. A group of entrepreneurs who bagged war supply contracts, however, made windfall profits in a short time.