Question

How does the existence of a large urban population affect each of the following? Illustrate with historical examples.
(a) A private landlord
(b) A police Superintendent in charge of law and order
(c) A leader of a political party
OR
Write in detail about the effects of Great Depression on Indian trade.
OR
Write some points that show the pathetic life of workers during industrialisation.

Answer 1

(a) The existence of a large urban population means that there would be many people requiring a place to stay. The increased demand for places to stay was profitable for private landlords who could rent out rooms at high rates. In 19th century London, individual landlords put up cheap and usually unsafe tenements for the new migrants.
(b) The existence of a large urban population will cause more crimes, social conflict and rebellion. Police are responsible for maintaining law and order.
In 19th century London, policemen had a tough time controlling crime during the migrant influx. In the 1870s, there were 20000 criminals living in London.
The job of a policeman was made more complex in hunting down pick-pockets, thieves, cheats and tricksters as their numbers kept on increasing. So, the responsibility of a Police Superintendent became very tough in London.
(c) The existence of a large urban population causes many social problems such as problems of housing food, water etc. These issues become political issues when these are taken up by political parties.
A political party and its leaders can mobilize the masses by assuring them to solve their problems immediately. This was the case in 19th century London where the politicians became very active.
OR
Colonial India has become an exporter of agricultural goods and importer of manufactured goods. The great depression immediately affected Indian trade.
The effect of Great Depression on Indian trade were as follows
(i) India's exports and imports declined to half and prices of primary products like wheat and jute fell sharply (wheat 50 percent and jute more than 60 percent) between 1928 and 1934.
(ii) But the colonial government refused to reduce revenue demands and the peasants producing for the world market were the worst sufferers.
(iii) The jute producers of Bengal grew raw jute that was processed in factories for export in the form of gunny bags but as gunny bags exports collapsed the price of raw jute plunged.
(iv) In the depression years, India became an exporter of precious metals, especially gold. Indian gold exports certainly helped speed up Britain's recovery, but did little for the Indian peasants.
Since, there was an abundance of workers in the market, getting a job was not easy. Seasonality of work in many industries was another big problem.
The following points state that the life of workers at that time was pathetic
(i) After the busy season was over, labourers looked for even odd jobs which till the mid-19th century were difficult to find.
(ii) Though, the wages increased some what in the early 19th century, the increase was nullified by an increase in prices of commodities.
(iii) The income of workers depended not on the wage rate alone, it also depended on the number of days of their work.
(iv) Till the mid-19th century, about 10 percent of the urban population was extremely poor.
(v) Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the introduction of new technology. When the spinning jenny was introduced in the woollen industry, women who survived on hand spinning began attacking new machines.