Industrial Revolution
Topic: Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence"; Class 11, Ch 7 "Environment and Sustainable Development"
Meaning
The Industrial Revolution was the shift from making goods by hand to making them with machines in factories. It began in Britain in the late 18th century. Britain's new factories needed large amounts of raw materials and large markets to sell their goods in. Colonial India was used to meet both needs, and that shaped India's whole economy.
Example
British textile mills needed raw cotton. India was turned into an exporter of raw cotton. It was also made to import the finished cloth from those same mills. As a result, Indian weavers lost their work.
Don't confuse with
- Green Revolution: this was a big rise in farm output in India from the late 1960s, using high-yielding seeds, fertilisers and irrigation. The Industrial Revolution was about machine-based manufacturing in Britain.