Describe the impact of British rule on Indian handicrafts and trade.
How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.
1 · Open in one line. British policy turned India from a maker of fine cloth into a supplier of raw materials and a market for British goods.
2 · Cheap machine goods. After the Industrial Revolution, cheap machine-made British cloth flooded Indian markets.
3 · Unfair duties. British goods came in duty free, while Indian goods paid heavy duties and a protective tariff in Britain.
4 · Raw materials controlled. The British bought raw materials cheap; weavers had to buy them at very high prices.
5 · Markets lost. After the Company's monopoly ended in 1813, Indian crafts lost home and foreign markets; textile, metal, glass and paper work declined.
6 · Unemployment. Weavers became farm labourers and crowded the villages. Nationalists called this de-industrialisation.
7 · Close with the drain. Profits, salaries and pensions drained India's wealth to Britain.
Scoring tip: Use the word de-industrialisation and the year 1813. Six points of one sentence each fit the 120-word limit.
