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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
The structure of India’s presentday economy is not just of current making; it has its roots steeped in history, particularly in the period when India was under British rule which lasted for almost two centuries before India finally won its independence on 15 August 1947. The sole purpose of the British colonial rule in India was to reduce the country to being a raw material supplier for Great Britain’s own rapidly expanding modern industrial base. An understanding of the exploitative nature of this relationship is essential for any assessment of the kind and level of development which the Indian economy has been able to attain over the last seven and half decades.
Q1: What was the primary objective of British colonial rule in India during the period of British rule?
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Q2: What impact did British colonial rule have on India's economic development?
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Q3: Why is understanding the exploitative nature of British colonial rule essential for assessing India's economic development?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
Agricultural productivity became low though, in absolute terms, the sector experienced some growth due to the expansion of the aggregate area under cultivation. This stagnation in the agricultural sector was caused mainly because of the various systems of land settlement that were introduced by the colonial government. Particularly, under the zamindari system which was implemented in the then Bengal Presidency comprising parts of India’s present-day eastern states, the profit accruing out of the agriculture sector went to the zamindars instead of the cultivators.
Q1: Why did agricultural productivity in India remain low despite an expansion in the cultivated land area during the colonial period?
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Q2: Which specific land settlement system contributed significantly to the decline in agricultural sector growth during the colonial era?
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Q3: What was the consequence of the profit distribution under the zamindari system on the agricultural sector in colonial India?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
To a very great extent, the terms of the revenue settlement were also responsible for the zamindars adopting such an attitude; dates for depositing specified sums of revenue were fixed, failing which the zamindars were to lose their rights. Besides this, low levels of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and negligible use of fertilisers, all added up to aggravate the plight of the farmers and contributed to the dismal level of agricultural productivity.
Q1: What factors contributed to the negative attitude of zamindars in the revenue settlement system during colonial India?
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Q2: Apart from revenue settlement issues, what other factors worsened the condition of farmers and reduced agricultural productivity during colonial rule?
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Q3: How did the lack of irrigation facilities and technological advancements affect agricultural productivity in colonial India?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
The primary motive of the colonial government behind this policy of systematically deindustrialising India was two-fold. The intention was, first, to reduce India to the status of a mere exporter of important raw materials for the upcoming modern industries in Britain and, second, to turn India into a sprawling market for the finished products of those industries so that their continued expansion could be ensured to the maximum advantage of their home country — Britain. In the unfolding economic scenario, the decline of the indigenous handicraft industries created not only massive unemployment in India but also a new demand in the Indian consumer market, which was now deprived of the supply of locally made goods.
Q1: What were the dual objectives of the colonial government in deindustrializing India during the British rule?
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Q2: What were the consequences of the decline of indigenous handicraft industries in India under British colonial rule?
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Q3: How did the deindustrialization policy impact India's economy and consumer market during the colonial period?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
The Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was incorporated in 1907. A few other industries in the fields of sugar, cement, paper etc. came up after the Second World War. However, there was hardly any capital goods industry to help promote further industrialisation in India. Capital goods industry means industries which can produce machine tools which are, in turn, used for producing articles for current consumption.
Q1: When was the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) incorporated in India?
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Q2: What types of industries emerged in India after the Second World War?
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Q3: What was the significant gap in India's industrial landscape despite the establishment of certain industries?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
Consequently, India became an exporter of primary products such as raw silk, cotton, wool, sugar, indigo, jute etc. and an importer of finished consumer goods like cotton, silk and woollen clothes and capital goods like light machinery produced in the factories of Britain. For all practical purposes, Britain maintained a monopoly control over India’s exports and imports. As a result, more than half of India’s foreign trade was restricted to Britain while the rest was allowed with a few other countries like China, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Persia (Iran).
Q1: What were some of the primary products that India exported during the colonial period?
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Q2: What were the main categories of goods that India imported during this period?
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Q3: Which country had significant control over India's exports and imports during the colonial era?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
The various social development indicators were also not quite encouraging. The overall literacy level was less than 16 per cent. Out of this, the female literacy level was at a negligible low of about seven per cent. Public health facilities were either unavailable to large chunks of population or, when available, were highly inadequate. Consequently, water and air-borne diseases were rampant and took a huge toll on life. No wonder, the overall mortality rate was very high and in that, particularly, the infant mortality rate was quite alarming—about 218 per thousand in contrast to the present infant mortality rate of 33 per thousand. Life expectancy was also very low—32 years in contrast to the present 69 years.
Q1: What was the overall literacy level in India during the colonial period, and how did female literacy compare to the overall rate?
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Q2: What were the challenges in public health facilities during the colonial era, and what were the consequences of inadequate healthcare?
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Q3: How did life expectancy during the colonial period compare to the present life expectancy in India?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
The various social development indicators were also not quite encouraging. The overall literacy level was less than 16 per cent. Out of this, the female literacy level was at a negligible low of about seven per cent. Public health facilities were either unavailable to large chunks of population or, when available, were highly inadequate. Consequently, water and air-borne diseases were rampant and took a huge toll on life. No wonder, the overall mortality rate was very high and in that, particularly, the infant mortality rate was quite alarming—about 218 per thousand in contrast to the present infant mortality rate of 33 per thousand. Life expectancy was also very low—32 years in contrast to the present 69 years.
Q1: What was the overall literacy rate in colonial India, and how did female literacy compare to the overall rate?
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Q2: What were the challenges regarding public health facilities during the colonial period, and what were the consequences of inadequate healthcare?
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Q3: How did life expectancy and infant mortality rates in colonial India compare to the present-day statistics?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
Another striking aspect was the growing regional variation. Parts of the then Madras Presidency (comprising areas of the present-day states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka), Bombay and Bengal witnessed a decline in the dependence of the workforce on the agricultural sector with a commensurate increase in the manufacturing and the services sectors. However, there had been an increase in the share of workforce in agriculture during the same time in states such as Orissa, Rajasthan and Punjab.
Q1: Which regions in colonial India experienced a decline in workforce dependence on agriculture and a rise in manufacturing and services sectors?
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Q2: In contrast, which states in colonial India saw an increase in the workforce engaged in agriculture during the same period?
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Q3: What was the significant regional variation in workforce trends during colonial times in India?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
The British introduced the railways in India in 1850 and it is considered as one of their most important contributions. The railways affected the structure of the Indian economy in two important ways. On the one hand it enabled people to undertake long distance travel and thereby break geographical and cultural barriers while, on the other hand, it fostered commercialisation of Indian agriculture which adversely affected the self-sufficiency of the village economies in India. The volume of India’s exports undoubtedly expanded but its benefits rarely accrued to the Indian people.
Q1: When did the British introduce railways in India, and what significance did it hold in their contributions to the country?
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Q2: How did the introduction of railways impact the Indian economy, particularly in terms of travel and agriculture?
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Q3: Despite the expansion of India's exports due to railways, who primarily benefited from this growth?
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Direction: Read the following Passage and Answer the Questions.
Along with the development of roads and railways, the colonial dispensation also took measures for developing the inland trade and sea lanes. However, these measures were far from satisfactory. The inland waterways, at times, also proved uneconomical as in the case of the Coast Canal on the Orissa coast. Though the canal was built at a huge cost to the government exchequer, yet, it failed to compete with the railways, which soon traversed the region running parallel to the canal, and had to be ultimately abandoned.
Q1: What measures did the colonial government take for the development of transportation in India during the colonial period?
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Q2: What issues did the colonial administration face in developing inland waterways, and can you provide an example?
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Q3: How did the failure of certain transportation projects impact the colonial government's efforts to improve trade and connectivity in India?
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