Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Industrialization in India’ for class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Industrialization in India’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on Industrialization in India
Essay Contents:
- Essay on the Meaning of Industrialization
- Essay on the History of Industrialization
- Essay on the Causes and Consequences of Industrialization
- Essay on Industrialization in Asia
- Essay on the Chronological Development of Industrialization in India
- Essay on the Industrial Development and Progress after Independence in India
Essay # 1. Meaning of Industrialization:
Industrialization is the process by which manufacturing industries develop from within a predominantly agrarian society.
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change whereby a society is transformed from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one.
Industrialization is the process of converting to a socio-economic order in which industry is dominant. It is an economic and social system based on the development of large-scale industries and marked by the production of large quantities of inexpensive manufactured goods and the concentration of employment in urban factories. We can say it is an economic system built on large industries rather than on agriculture or craftsmanship.
It is a part of a wider modernization process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy production.
It is the extensive organization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing. Some writers argue that the term may also be used to describe the methods used to increase productivity in areas other than manufacturing, such as agriculture or administration.
Characteristic features of industrialization are:
(i) the application of scientific methods to solving problems,
(ii) mechanization and a factory system,
(iii) the division of labor,
(iv) the growth of the money economy, and,
(v) the increased mobility of the labor force—both geographically and socially.
One problem is that these are features of capitalism which is not the same thing as industrialization, although it was the first instrument of industrialization.
The factors facilitating industrial modernization and enterprise development as identified by researchers range from favorable political-legal environments for industry and commerce, through abundant natural resources of various kinds, to plentiful supplies of relatively low-cost, skilled and adaptable labor. Industrialization entails both technology and profound social developments.
Essay # 2. History of Industrialization:
Process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture began in England in the 18th century. Technological changes included the use of iron and steel, new energy sources, the invention of new machines that increased production (the steam engine and the spinning jenny), the development of the factory system, and important developments in transportation and communication (railroad and the telegraph).
The Industrial Revolution was largely confined to Britain from 1760 to 1830 and then spread to Belgium and France. Other nations lagged behind, but, once Germany, the U.S., and Japan achieved industrial power, they outstripped Britain’s initial successes. The Industrial Revolution spread to China and India around the mid-20th century.
Industrialization resulted in many changes in Economic, political, and social organization.
These were:
(i) A wider distribution of wealth,
(ii) Increased international trade
(iii) Political changes resulting from the shift in economic power
(iv) Social changes that included the rise of working-class movements,
(v) Development of managerial hierarchies to oversee the division of labor,
(vi) The emergence of new patterns of authority, and
(vii) Struggles against externalities such as industrial pollution and urban crowding.
According to a survey of countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean in the late 20th century found that high levels of structural differentiation, functional specialization, and autonomy of economic systems from government contributed greatly to industrial-commercial growth and prosperity. Relatively open trading systems with zero or low duties on goods imports tended to stimulate industrial cost-efficiency and innovation.
The freeing of laborers from feudal and customary obligations created a free market in labor, with a pivotal role for the entrepreneur. Cities attracted large numbers of people, amassing workers in new industrial towns and factories.
Free and flexible labor, positive work ethics combined with skills in quickly utilizing new technologies and scientific discoveries probably boosted production and income levels. As the income levels rose, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tended to expand and provide a further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth.
By the end of the century, East Asia was one of the most economically successful regions of the world – with free market countries such as Hong Kong being widely seen as models for other, less developed countries around the world to emulate.
Essay # 3. Causes and Consequences of Industrialization:
With rapidly increasing populations, the demand for goods were pushed up which was beyond the capability of the domestic system and could only be met through machines. As use of machinery increased, cottage industries were rapidly replaced by factories employing hundreds of workers. The mechanization not only led to an increase in production but also an improvement in the quality of products. The goods produced by machines were cheap, standardized and available in bulk.
Industrialization is generally accompanied by social and economic changes, such as a fall in the birth rate and a rise in per capita.
Furthermore, the pollution associated with industrial activity may cause serious difficulties:
1. Urbanization:
Due to the concentration of labor into factories, large towns came up to serve and house the working population. Urbanization was encouraged and groups of manufacturing towns were formed. Within the developed world, the growth of the factory system led to the separation of home and workplace with major repercussions. Initially there was an emphasis on primary and secondary but as industrialization continued, there was a shift to tertiary industry.
2. Exploitation:
Some exploitation of natural resources is unavoidable for the existence of man. This refers primarily to food production and necessities. However, the exploitation of nature done in an unsustainable manner, is a matter of increasing concern, as the depletion of natural resources from economic growth and population growth ultimately threatens human existence.
The natural resources are under pressure because:
i. Increase in sophistication of technology enables quicker and efficient extraction of natural resources e.g. by using sophisticated technology, it takes a machine only a few minutes to cut down a tree whereas earlier, it took several hours to cut it with a saw.
ii. A rapidly increasing population which leads to greater demand for natural resources.
iii. Industries promote mass consumption and unnecessary use of these resources. Examples are gold, diamonds for making jewellery.
3. Change in Family Structure:
The family structure changes with industrialization. The sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there was an extended family structure spanning many generations who probably remained in the same location for generations. Owing to lack of residential accommodation in industrialized towns, joint family structure became difficult to retain.
Children no longer opt for their parents’ professions, preferring options available due to industrialization. Elimination of family trades and professions have given rise individualism Families and children reaching adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to places where jobs exist. In industrialized societies the nuclear family, consisting only of parents and their growing children, predominates Extended family bonds become weaker.
4. Health Problems:
Industrialization has spawned many health problems. Health problems in industrial nations are as much caused by economic, social, political, and cultural factors as by pathogens. Noise, air, water pollution have increased leading to many health problems with stress leading the list.
Modern stress factors include cut- throat competition, impersonal work, isolation, poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse. Large concentrations of workers—men, women, and children—crowded together in factories and working long hours for low pay made health and social problems much more publicly visible. Industrialization has become a major medical issue worldwide.
5. Population Explosion:
The growth in population corresponds with the growth of industrialization. As more and more people experience economic growth, they become capable of starting their family lite. Some sections of society have the misconception that more working hands in the family mean more economic growth for the family and hence they try to have more and more children. This leads to population explosion which has many serious consequences like poverty alleviation and environmental degradation.
6. Environment:
Rapid industrialization, development, consumerism and population growth have upset the ecological balance. Affluent sections of society increase pollution levels in the process of raising their living standards. Industrialization increases the pressure on natural resources, disrupting the ecological processes so much that the earth’s life supporting capacity is substantially threatened.
The toxic effluents of industrial and agricultural activities are polluting the water bodies and disrupting entire food chains. Fossil fuel based industrialization generate greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Employment Opportunities:
As the products have to be transported from one place to another and ultimately reach the markets, the transport systems, markets, godowns etc. are required to be developed. A big labor force and supervisory staff is employed.
Although industrialization is often seen as a solution to problems of poverty in the Third World, its benefits are enjoyed only by a small section of society.
Essay # 4. Industrialization in Asia:
Apart from Japan, where industrialization began in the late 19th century, a different pattern of industrialization followed in East Asia One of the fastest rates of industrialization occurred in the late 20th century across four countries known as the Asian tigers because of:
(i) The existence of stable governments and well-structured societies
(ii) Strategic locations
(iii) Heavy foreign investments
(iv) A low cost skilled and motivated workforce
(v) A competitive exchange rate and
(vi) Low custom duties.
In the case of South Korea, the largest of the four Asian tigers, a very fast paced industrialization took place.
From manufacturing of value added goods in the 1950s and 60s, South Korea shifted to the more advanced steel, shipbuilding and automobile industry in the 1970s and 80s, focusing on the high-tech and service industry in the 1990s and 2000s. As a result, South Korea became a major global economic power and is one of the wealthiest countries in Asia today.
This starting model was afterwards successfully copied in other larger Eastern and Southern Asian countries. The success of this phenomenon led to a huge wave of off-shoring, that is, Western factories or tertiary corporations moved their activities to countries where the workforce was less expensive and less collectively organized.
China and India broadly followed this pattern of development. However they made adaptations, in line with their own histories and cultures, their major size and importance in the world, and the geo-political ambitions of their governments etc.
Currently, the Government of China is actively investing in expanding its own infra-structures and securing the required energy and raw materials supply channels, is supporting its exports by financing the United States balance payment deficit through the purchase of US treasury bonds, and is strengthening its military in order to endorse a major geopolitical role.
Meanwhile, Government of India are in the forefront regarding research in sectors such as bioengineering, nuclear technology, pharmaceuticals, informatics, and technologically-oriented higher education. Both Chinese and Indian corporations have also started to make huge investments in Third World countries, making them significant players in today’s world economy.
Essay # 5. Chronological Development of Industrialization in India:
According to S.Haward Patterson, “Industrial revolution may be defined as changes in methods of production brought about by the invention of power machinery and the consequent development of factory system. ” The term ‘revolution’ denotes a turning away from movement or any sweeping and sudden changes.
The word ‘industry’ is derived from the Latin word industria which means dexterity and resourcefulness.
Thus industry basically signifies the technique to do anything efficiently and smoothly with the use of machinery and raw material etc. in an economic way.
The history of industrialization can be divided into 3 periods:
(i) Ancient period
(ii) Medieval period
(iii) Modern period.
i. Ancient Period:
This period includes the time when early man existed in the Stone Age. Food and Protection were the main concerns for man in the Stone age. The industrious nature of man was symbolized by his efforts to fulfill these two needs. Hunting animals by bow and arrow and sharpened stones tied to Wooden Sticks were the innovative weapons, he made for his primitive life needs.
Making fire by rubbing two stones was the result of another industrious effort by him. Discovery of wheel and its use was the next step man took towards industrialization.
ii. Medieval Period:
In this period the development of industrialization was witnessed by fabrication and use of many manually operated machines in the field of Agriculture.
Producing beyond his need lead to stocking and later exchange of his goods with another were the next steps man took towards industrialization.
Next was the setting up of a few small industries by carpenters, blacksmiths and weavers etc.
iii. Modern Period:
In the pre-colonial period India had a stable economy. Self-sufficient agriculture, flourishing trade and rich handicraft industries made Indian artisans famous for their skills all over the world. India was involved in a large scale manufacture of cotton and silk fabrics, sugar, jute, dyestuffs, mineral and metallic products like arms metal wares and oil.
India enjoyed extensive trade both within the country and with other countries of Asia and Europe. The main items exported from India were cotton textiles. Besides cotton textiles which were famous all over the worlds, India also exported raw silk indigo opium rice, wheat, sugar, pepper and other spices precious stones and drugs.
Towards the end of the 18th century India was undoubtedly one of the main centers of world trade and industry. There were many flourishing centers of textiles industry and ship building industry. Many European companies were so impressed that they brought ships made in India for their use. The level of prosperity can be gauged from the fact that Lord Curzon wrote: “India is the pivot of Europe if the empire loses any other part of the Dominion we can survive, but if we lose India the sun of our Empire will have set”.
This status of India was completely destroyed under colonial times and it coincided with the industrial revolution in England. The machine-made cloth of England began to replace indigenous manufacture, Indian artisans were forced out of production. It was this pressure from British goods, which led to the decline of India’s traditional centers of economic activity.
Colonialism is a system of domination, exploitation and underdevelopment of one society by another. In the first stage of the colonial rule no basic changes were introduced in the colony in administration, the judicial system, transport and communication, methods of agricultural or industrial production, forms of business management or economic organization, education culture and social organization. In the second stage of colonialism the colony was made into a subordinate trading partner who would export raw materials and import manufacture and in the third stage of colonialism control over the colony was renewed more intensively.
In the absence of political unity, eighteenth century India had a very low level of commerce and capital accumulation India was underdeveloped when the British gradually conquered it. The British provided political unity; they developed a system of roads and rail transport which had a positive impact on the economic development of India; they developed irrigation and other public works which facilitated the growth of agriculture, commerce and manufacturing activities in India.
The pre-industrial British capital, instead of making so called ‘investments’ were buying Indian commodities for profitable exports on the basis of money earned from revenue in India. Towards the beginning of the 19th century the emphasis shifted from revenue collection and trade. India was earlier used to provide raw material to the industries of England. It later became the market for readymade British manufactured industrial goods. Indian resources continued to be drained out to England.
After 1857, when the British government took on direct control of India, some British capital also started pouring into the Indian market, along with the manufactured goods. As a result of accumulation of capital at an unprecedented level in the leading industrial countries, now England needed India, not only as a market for their goods but also as a fertile ground for the investment of their capital.
As a result India started getting industrialized but only on foreign capita!. All the major industries like Railways, Jute, Iron and Steel (With the exception of cotton textiles) were being run by British Capital. This resulted in a drain of wealth, as all the profits made on British capital were going back to England.
Till the end of nineteenth century during the British rule India was to provide a ready captive market for British goods made from Indian raw materials. Therefore, the resultant enrichment and industrial development took place in Britain and not in India.
During the First Word War, the British faced a big setback. As the sea routes were blocked, they could not export raw material from India in order to manufacture goods in this country and import the finished goods into India at exorbitant prices. Neither could they utilize the raw materials available in India to manufacture the goods in India itself as the Indian Industry was too undeveloped to be of use to them.
When their army based in India suffered on account of this situation, the British decided to take action.
After the World War 1, the British setup industries in India.
However, it was only after the Second World War and Post-Independence period that Indian Industry actually began to progress.
At the dawn of independence, India inherited an economy that had the worst features of both the feudal and the industrial ages without the advantages of either.
Since independence, India has achieved a good measure of self-sufficiency in manufacturing a variety of basic and capital goods including aircraft, ships, cars, locomotives, heavy electrical machinery, construction equipment, power generation and transmission equipment, chemicals, precision instruments, communication equipment and computers.
Early planners in free India had to keep in mind two aims: all-round development and generation of large-scale job opportunities. Economic development strategies were evolved with an eye on these twin objectives.
Though agriculture has been the main preoccupation of the bulk of the Indian population, the founding fathers saw India becoming a prosperous and Modern State with a good industrial base. Programmes were formulated to build an adequate infrastructure for rapid industrialization. With industrialization there has been substantial growth of the organized sector though the unorganized sector remains much larger in size.
Essay # 6. Industrial Development and Progress after Independence in India:
India has made considerable economic progress since its Independence, especially the expansion and diversification of production both in industry and agriculture. Industrial investment took place in a large variety of new industries. Modern management techniques were introduced.
Entrepreneurs have come up with the support system from the Government, and a large number of new industrial centers have developed in almost all parts of the country. Over the years, the Government has built the infrastructure required by the industry and made massive investments to provide the much-needed facilities of power, communications, roads etc.
Institutions were promoted to help entrepreneurship development, provide finance for industry and to facilitate development of a variety of skills required by the industry as well as agriculture. The Government also followed a policy of encouraging indigenous industries by providing facilities and encouragement. As a result, we now have a widely diversified base of industry and an increased domestic production of a wide range of goods and services.
Many promotional policies were followed by the Government to achieve this success. In the early years, Indian industry thrived within protective tariff walls. The policy was to encourage Indian industries and though foreign technical collaborations were encouraged, direct foreign investment in any corporate body was restricted to 40%.
In 1991, this policy was changed completely and foreign majority investment was encouraged in a variety of industries, import restrictions were removed, customs tariff was brought down and the doors of the Indian economy were opened for foreign competition. The year 1991 is now regarded as a landmark in the economic history of India.