Social Lens - Peter Dawes
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. ~Gandhi
How did Industrialization begin in India?India was a British colony full of resources. After seeing how successful the Industrial Revolution had been in other Western countries like Great Britain and the United States, India saw potential in being able to grow and become a profitable market worldwide. Goods and resources in India were also much cheaper than compared to that in other countries, which allowed for industrial reforms to be made quicker and more productively. However, during Britain’s rule of India, the British initiated many big industries like clothing manufacture, textiles, tea and spices. These industries allowed for an economy to build in the nation, ultimately allowing for the commencement of industrialization in India. Other industries that allowed for industrialization to flourish in India included: mining (iron ore, gold and coal), livestock, meats, agriculture, by-products, cotton and main food crops. Industrialization partially initiated in India due to Gandhi and Nehru’s increased will to push social reforms and improve the overall standard of living in India. (Moritsugu, Ken)
Industrialization: Social Situation and Economy Changes (Analysis of 2 Perspectives) |
In a little over a decade, the percentage of Indians living below the poverty line has dropped more than 8 points. “Between years 1930-1994 (a prime time of Indian industrialization), 36.0% of the Indian population was living in absolute poverty. However, as a result of sufficient industrialization, now only 27.5% of India’s current (2004-2015) population lives in poverty.” *CHART 1* (Moritsugu, Ken) This statistic, provided by the National Sample Survey of the Indian Government provides evidence to the general success of industrialization in India, during the 20th century. Industrialization in India has urbanized cities like Mumbai, allowing for cities to have economic booms. Rural migrants, many illiterate and uneducated, come to India’s booming cities (ex: Mumbai) in hope to work, but end up eking our a hardscrabble existence in slums filled with dangerous and inhumane shacks made of scrap wood, old metal and no electricity or plumbing. As a result of industrialization and urbanization, India’s Congress part has promised to help all Indians benefit from its economic boom which occurred as a result of industrialization in India. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution was tough for India. While the West roared ahead, today’s so-called “developing world” (including India), remained largely stagnant. “By the mid 20th century, the United States produced 27% of global GDP. On the other hand, China’s share had plummeted to 4.5%; India’s to 4.2%. *CHARTS 3 & 4* Although India’s shares did increase, the increases were not nearly large enough for the country to fully benefit off of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, “universal poverty” was normal and common- especially amongst developing countries like India.” (Masci, David)
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How did Industrialization allow for India to become more self-sufficient, secure and economically stable?
With more than one billion people living in India, India is the world’s second most-populous country and its largest democracy. Sweeping economic reforms such as the ongoing Industrial Revolution (which initiated in the early 20th century) and the ever-increasing development of high-tech industries in the recent century have given the nation optimism for its overall future. However, poverty, food shortages, violence, crime and other social issues still continue to plague India. Although these issues are still common in India, they are not nearly as common as they were prior to its initial efforts at industrialization. “Like the 15-member European Union, India is a relatively recent creation. India was only born after nearly two centuries of British rule. The leader’s of India’s independence movements, Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, are famous the world over as the architects of a non-violent reformation and revolution that wrested the country away from the most powerful of its day.” (Moritsugu, Ken) Linked with India’s industrialization regimes in the 20th century, Gandhi and Nehru set India on a democratic path and as a result, the nation is the world’s most populous democracy. However, “Gandhi and Nehru’s belief in socialism and economic self-sufficiency stunted the new nation’s economic growth during the mid 20th century (1960s-70s) while other Asian counties were developing more rapidly. Consequently, India remained desperately poor, with a $500 per capita GDP (about the same as both Nigeria and Kenya).” (Moritsugu, Ken) In the past 30 odd years, however, India has instituted striking economic reforms, selling off many publicly owned industries and allowing the private sector to compete in areas once monopolized by the government. Additionally, as a result of its industrialization regimes, India as begun to force a new relationship with the world’s leading sole superpower, the United States. The overall combination/ mix of economic reforms, industrialization and closer ties to the West allowed for newfound optimism among many India-watchers and Indian sociologists/ economists. As a result of its increased efforts to industrialize, some even saw India in becoming an economic and geopolitical powerhouse in the coming decades. (Jung, Jewon)
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In spite of India’s initial violence problems and early difficulties, Nehru began to successfully move India forward on several fronts. He and his colleagues in 1950 adopted a democratic constitution. The idea of Nehru’s democratic constitution was came as a result of his efforts to industrialize and connect with more Westernized nations like the United States of America. In addition, Nehru also pressed many new social reforms. (Sen, Ajit) Nehru pushed laws through India’s Parliament aimed at improving the overall status of women in society. As a result of such, the nation’s minimum marriage age was raised from 12 to 15, and women were given the right to divorce their husbands and inherit their husband’s property. “Nehru’s attempts at reforming social problems positively benefited people socially and lead to further social reforms as a result of industrialization in India.” (Masci, David)
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As a result of industrialization efforts in India, a Green Revolution started whereby a worldwide transformation of agriculture production that led to significant increases in food grain production. As a result of industrialization in the 20th century, the Indian nation adopted many measured in order to attempt to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains. India’s most notable are the ‘Industrial’ “Green Revolution”, where India flourished in its self-sufficient production of wheat and rice. India was the second nation to lead the Green Revolution. “By the late 1970s, the Green Revolution raised rice fields in India by 30% and consequently became self-sufficient in food grain production. Thus, as a result of industrialization, India was able to get through the recurrence of the devastating famines of the 1940s.” (“India’s Efforts in Self-Sufficiency in Food…”) Furthermore, the increase in food grain production was not the same in all the States in India. This meant that Punjab and Haryana recorded the highest food production growth rate. Regions like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, also recorded significant increases in rice yield. On the other hand, regions like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and other Northeastern states continued to flounder. It was only after the northeastern states started to industrialize that they became self-sufficient in food production. India’s self-sufficiency allowed for India to make use of their own natural resources and spend less on importation. Less importation allowed for India to focus more on economic income and retail value. (Moritsugu, Ken)
Industrialization in India: Effect on Overall Standard of Living
For India, industrialization has had both negative and positive impacts on its overall standard of living, economy and political situation. India is a predominantly agricultural country. Therefore, the wellbeing of the Indian economy is directly connected with the welfare of her masses accommodating in its rural areas. However, with the scientific and industrial development in which has taken place for almost a century in India, India has had to adapt to a vigorous, but seemingly beneficial industrial policy. Consequently, the introduction of industrialization in India has had both positive and negative impacts on Indian society, politics and economy.
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Although Indian industrialization essentially started in the early 20th century with Nehru and Gandhi, the Indian Government took initiative and introduced a new economic policy in the mid 1900s. This economic initiative enshrined the industrial plans; projects and schemes in which the Indian Government intended to establish throughout the nation in order to properly industrialize like its Western allies. In order to attempt to improve the overall standard of living in India through industrialization, the Indian Government encouraged the private sector to invest into heavy industries. As a result of this implementation, the Indian Government used investments from the private sector to establish and further develop heavy industries (ex: gigantic steel plants located in Durgapur, Rourkela and Bhilai) to increase self-sufficiency and industrialization production. (Sen, Ajit)
Industrialization in India has been both beneficial and negative towards its general population and standard of living. Industrialization in India has helped to lower the cost of production. The introduction of industrialization in India has led to the decrease in the cost of production of many essential items. This decrease in cost is the result of economy on a large scale of production. As a result of this, such allows for better time efficiency and labor time. India’s overall cost of production has also been lowered as an almost immediate consequence of the nation becoming almost entirely self-sufficient for basic natural resources needed for effective industrialization. Additionally, in relation to sociology, a lower cost of production has ultimately allowed for industrial goods to become more affordable for common people. (Jung, Jewon) Another example of as to how industrialization has benefited the overall standard of living in India is the fact that as a result of industrialization, India is self-sufficient across many factors.
Prior to India’s independence, the nation used to spend hundreds of millions of rupees over import of basic resources like cloth as no heavy industries “existed”. With the advancement of the textile industry and increased rate of industrialization, the nation was soon able to manufacture clothes to a sufficient extent independently and at lower economic revenue. In this way, India was able to improve its standard of living through becoming self-sufficient and servicing the general population’s general needs as an ultimate result of industrialization. Furthermore, India’s general standard of living was improved as a result of increased employment rates. This was due to the fact that new, large industries needed thousands of skilled and semi-skilled workers. Industrialization provided massive employment opportunities for a large portion of people in India.
According to The Economist, India’s employment rate went up by 26.3% between the years 1930-1940. (“The Elephant in the Stats”) This particular statistic shows how beneficial industrialization was to India’s society and overall standard of living. Finally, India’s defense and security was greatly improved as a result of its industrialization initiatives. Throughout the duration of India’s most significant industrialization period (the 20th century), India was able to keep peace with much of the world. Even despite there being no major Indian-based conflicts at the time of its industrialization period, India were still successfully able to manufacture new weapons and warfare technology in which could be used to defend upon foreign aid and for ultimate defense of one’s country. Additionally, continuously rising incomes, as a result of industrialization, have dramatically helped to bring down poverty too. According to official figures, the proportion of poor in total population has declined from 40% in 1993-1994 to 26% as of 2000. (Moritsugu, Ken)
Summary of Information
In summary, industrialization in India has played a major role in economic development for undeveloped countries like India. Industrialization allowed for and provided a secured basis for a rapid income growth. An increased, rapid income growth resulted in the overall Indian standard of living being improved (ultimately posing a beneficial outcome to that of a social lens). Therefore, as a result of industrialization in India, the overall standard of living was increased quite significantly. An increased standard of living and increased efforts for the nation to industrialize, lead to more employment, lower production costs and higher income demands. Additionally, industrialization brought in much technological advancement and ultimately contributed with other social factors to change individuals’ overall outlooks on life. Furthermore, industrialization in India allowed for India to become self-sufficient in its grain and rice production. This contributed to an increased standard of living (positively effecting social standards) as it meant that the nation was less reliant on other countries for food supplies and resource demand. Therefore, in summary, this meant that India decreased its overall dependency on foreign resources and made use of its own resources. Finally, India’s government took over sick-units, which were unable to be re-habilitated by the public sector financial institutions. Overall, to an extent, industrialization in India has contributed to an increase in its overall self-sufficiency, security and defense techniques, technological advancements and overall economic wellbeing. Industrialization is crucial these days, especially for gigantic nations like India. If India were to have not undergone an industrialization process, many of today’s social problems would be far worse and increased. Despite the fact industrialization has the potential to pose possible negative effects, its overall outcome on society and humanities based lenses weighs out the negatives and ultimately proves how necessary industrialization is for India and other, similar nations.
A Map of India's Largest SlumLocated on the map to the left is one of India's largest slum: Dharavi. All cities in India are loud, but nothing even compares to the 24/7 decibel of Mumbai, where the traffic never seems to stop. Noise, however, is not a problem in Dharavi. Dharavi, the teeming slum of one million souls, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. Dharavi is regularly referred to as the "largest slum in Asia". Dharavi is relevant to this page as it is a real life example of how industrialization has only effected some of India's ever-increasing population. Feel free to browse Dharavi (located in the heart of India's sprawling economic capital, Mumbai) with the use of the map embedded to the left.
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