Question

what were the problems of the Indian Weavers at the early 19th century​

Answer 1

Answer:

(i) Collapse of local and foreign market : Due to industrialisation in Britain, their export market collapsed.

As British traders started exporting machine- made clothes to India, so their local market shrank.

(ii) Shortage of raw material : As raw cotton was being exported to England, there was a shortage of raw materials. When the American Civil War broke out. and the cotton supplies from the United States were cut off. Britain turned to India. As raw cotton exports Iron India increased, the price of raw cotton shot up Weavers in India were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at higher prices.

(iii) Clashes with Gomasthas : Gomasthas were appointed by the government to supervise weavers to collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth. The Gomasthas acted arrogantly and punished weavers for delays in supply. So. the weavers dashed with them.

(iv) System of advances: The Britishers started the system of advances to regularise the supply of cotton and cloth. The weavers eagerly took the advances, in a hope to cam more but they faded to do so They even started losing small plots of land which they had earlier cultivated.

Explanation:

By turn of the 19th century weavers faced a new set of problems. As the cotton industry developed in England, Indian cotton weavers faced two problems - their export market collapsed and local market shrank being flooded with British goods. Indian handmade goods could not compete with fine machine made goods of England.

By 1860, they faced a new problem. They could not get sufficient supply of raw cotton which was sent to England for their industries after American world war. The prices of raw cotton shot up and Indian

weavers were forced to buy raw cotton at exorbitant prices. In most cases they were unable to pay.

By the end of 19th century, Indian weavers again got a blow when textile factories were set up in India flooding market with machine made goods. It was difficult for the weavers to survive.