System of advances
Also called: Dadni system · Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "The Age of Industrialisation"
Meaning
The system of advances was how the East India Company tied Indian weavers to itself after it gained political power in the 1760s. Once an order was placed, the weaver got a loan, called an advance, to buy raw material such as yarn. In return, he had to hand over all the cloth he made to the Company's gomastha, a paid agent who watched over the weavers and checked the cloth. He could not sell to any other buyer. This matters because it cut weavers off from other merchants and kept them in debt to the Company at very low prices.
Example
In Bengal and the Carnatic in the late 18th century, gomasthas came into villages with sepoys and peons and had weavers beaten or flogged for delays. Many weavers refused advances, ran away from their villages or took up farm labour. In 1834 Governor-General William Bentinck wrote: "The bones of the cotton weavers are bleaching the plains of India."
Don't confuse with
- Proto-industrialisation: this was production for world markets before factories, usually organised by merchants. The system of advances was the Company's way of forcing such weavers to sell only to the Company.
Related concepts
- Surat
- Gomastha
- Deindustrialisation
- American Civil War
- Cotton Supply Association
- Manchester Cotton Company
- Bombay Gazette