Question

How did the loss of royal patronage lead to the decline of Indian industries?

Answer 1

Instructions:
The answer to this question can be broken into 3 main parts:

• Mention the political growth of East India Company in India.
• Describe the decline of the Indian rulers and craftsmen
• Describe the impact of the introduction of commercial crops on Indian industries.

Solution:

• The British after arriving in India slowly started to gain political and territorial control.
• Due to the increasing control of the British, the Indian rulers, nobles, and landlords slowly lost their influence.
• These rulers and nobles earlier used to support the craftsmen and display fine articles in their durbars. The rulers and nobles were no longer able to support the craftsmen due to their decreasing influence.
• As a result, craftsmen lost their livelihood due to which they had to shift towards agriculture in large numbers. This contributed to large-scale underemployment.
• The situation worsened as the Indian agro-based industry was ruined due to the introduction of commercial food crops.
• These factors led to the decline of Indian industries.