RBSE Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 6 Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners

Rajasthan Board RBSE Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 6 Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners Textbook Exercise Questions and Answers.

RBSE Class 8 Social Science Solutions History Chapter 6 Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners

RBSE Class 8 Social Science Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners InText Questions and Answers

Activity (Page-69)

Question 1. 
Why do you think the Act was called The Calico Act? What does the name tell us about the kind of textiles the Act wanted to ban?
Answer:

1. This Act was called ‘Calico Act’ because the use of printed cotton textile, which was initially known as “calico”, was banned under this Act.
2. Calico name is derived from Indian word Calicut. Therefore, this tell about the ban of Indian cotton textiles.

Activity (Page-72)

Question 1.

Read source 1 and 2 (in textbook). What reasons do the petition writers give for their condition of starvation?
Answer:

1. The people sending the application are weavers and spinning workers and do not know anything about any other profession.
2. Not only their ancestors but they also used to get advance money from the Company, which has been stopped. Aurangas (workshops) have been closed.
3. Due to the non-ordering of clothes, now weavers who buy yam do not come to the house of spinners.
4. If spinning workers send their yam to the market, now they do not get even one-fourth the price as before.

Activity (Page-75)

Question 1. 
Why would the iron and steel making industry be affected by the defeat of the nawabs and rajas?
Answer:
Nawab and Rajas used to use swords and armour. After the British conquest of India, the sword and armour making industry collapsed and iron and steel imported from England replaced iron and steel made by Indian artisans.

Let’s imagine (Page-79)

Question 1. 
Imagine you are a textile weaver in late-nineteenth century India. Textile produced in Indian factories are flooding the market. How would you have adjusted to the situation.
Answer:
In such situations we will bring the following changes in our lives-

1. We will start the production of clothes which cannot be manufactured by machines.
2. We will make intricate edging saris and traditional weaving fabrics. These will be in good demand among the nobles and the middle-class people.
3. In the event of not doing the above work, we will try to get employment in the factory.

RBSE Class 8 Social Science Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners Textbook Questions and Answers

Let’s Recall 

Question 1. 
What kinds of clothes had a large market in Europe?
Answer:
There were a huge demand for printed Indian cotton clothes in Europe. By European merchants these were called chintz, cossaes (or khassa) and bandanna.

Question 2. 
What is jamdani?
Answer:
Jamdani is a fine muslin on which decorative motifs are woven on the loom, typically in grey and white. Often a mixture of cotton and gold thread was used, as in the cloth in weaving. 

Question 3.
What is bandanna?
Answer:
The word bandanna now refers to any brightly coloured and printed scarf for the neck or head. Originally, the term derived from the world “bandhna” (Hindi for tying), and referred to a variety of brightly coloured cloth produced through a method of tying and dying.

Question 4. 
Who are the Agaria?
Answer:
Agaria was a community of people .who made iron. These people were experts in smelting iron.

Question 5. 
Fill in the blanks-
(a) The word chintz comes from the word .....................
(b) Tipu’s sword was made of..................steel.
(c) India’s textile exports were declined in the ............................century.
Answer:
(a) chhint
(b) wootz 
(c) nineteenth.

Let’s Discuss 

Question 6. 
How do the names of different textiles tell us about their histories?
Answer:
History is hidden in clothes names. Different clothing names have a different history. As-
(1) Muslin (Mulmul):
European traders first encountered fine cotton cloth from India carried by Arab merchants in Mosul in present day Iraq. So they began referring to all finely woven textiles as “muslin”.

(2) Calico:
When the Portugueste first came to India in search of spices they landed in Calicut on the Kerala coast in south-west India. The cotton textiles which they took back to Europe, along with the spices, came to be called ‘calico’ (derival from Calicut), and subsequently calico became general name for all cotton textiles.

(3) Chintz: The English word chintz is derived from Hindi word chhint.

(4) Bandanna: This word is also derived from ‘bandhna’ (Hindi for tying).

(5) Others: Apart from these, there were other cloths that were named by their place of origin, like-Kasimbazar, Patna, Calcutta, Orissa, Charpoore.

Question 7. 
Why did the wool and silk producers in England protest against the import of Indian textiles in the early eighteenth century?
Answer:
The development of textile industry began in England in the early eighteenth century. Being unable to compete with Indian textiles, British producers wanted to ensure a market for themselves by banning Indian textile in their country. Thus, by the early eighteenth century, worried by the popularity of the Indian textiles, wool and silk makers in England began protesting against the import of Indian cotton textiles. In 1720, the British government enacted a legislation banning the use of printed cotton textiles -chintz-in England. Interestingly, this Act was known as the Calico Act.

Question 8. 
How did the development of cotton industries in Britain affect textile producers in India?
Answer:
The development of cotton industries in Britain affected textile producers in India in several way-

1.  Indian textiles now had to compete with British textiles in the European and American markets. 
2. Exporting textiles to England also became increasingly difficult since very high duties were imposed on Indian textiles imported to Britain.
3. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, English made cotton textiles successfully ousted Indian goods from their traditional markets in Africa, America and Europe. Thousands of weavers in India were now thrown out of employment.

Question 9. 
Why did the Indian iron smelting industry decline in the nineteenth century? 
Answer:
By the late nineteenth century, the craft of iron smelting was in decline because of the following reasons-
(1) Defeat of Nawabs and Kings: The defeat of Nawabs arid Kings in India reduced the demand for iron for traditional weapons and patronage of kings to iron smelters was over.

(2) New Forest Laws: In the nineteenth-century new forest laws were enacted. When the colonial government prevented people from entering the protected forests, it became difficult for iron smelters to obtain wood for making coal and to get iron ore from forest.

(3) Heavy tax: In some areas the government did grant access to the forest. But the iron smelters had to pay a very high tax to the forest department for every fumance they used.

(4) Import from Britain: By the end of the nineteenth century, iron and steel was being imported from Britain. As a result, the demand for iron produced by local iron smelters decreased. 

(5) Rise of iron and steel factories: By the early twentieth century, the artisans producing iron and steel faced new competition with the rise of iron arid steel factories.

Question 10. 
What problem did the Indian textile industry face in the early years of its development?
Answer:
In the first few decades of its existence, the textile factory industry in India faced many problems like-
(1) It found it difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from Britain.

(2) In most countries, governments supported industrialisation by imposing heavy duties on imports. This eliminates competition and protected infant industries. The colonial government in India usually refused such protection to local industries.

Question 11. 
What helped TISCO expand steel production during the First World War?
Answer:
TISCO was helped to increase its steel production during the First World War by-

1. In 1914 the First World War Broke Out. Steel produced in Britain now had to meet the demands of the war in Europe. So imports of British steel into India declined.
2. The Indian Railways turned to TISCO for the supply of rail tracks.
3. As the war dragged on for several years, TISCO had to produce shells and carriage wheels for the war.
4. By 1919, the colonial government was buying 90 per cent of the steel manufactured by TISCO.
5. Over time TISCO became the biggest steel industry within the British empire.