Question

How did the Crafts persons lose their independence?

Answer 1

Hint:We will discuss the condition of craftsman.By the middle of the nineteenth century, export of cotton and silk goods from India practically ceased. The arts of spinning and weaving which for ages had given employment to thousands of artisans became extinct. Manufacturing towns of Dhaka, Murshidabad and Surat now looked helpless and desolate.There was the economic exploitation of the country.

Complete answer:
Indian conditions are discussed in the answer.Indian textiles were in great demand in European markets as a result English men began to make attempts to control Indian craftsmanship. They appointed Indian trade traders as their agents. A system of advances was introduced under which we had to give clothes which were already promised to European agents. They do not have the liberty to sell their own clothes or weave on their own deciding their own patterns. They had to reproduce the design which was supplied to them by the company agents. This system has the freedom of Indian viewers who began to be guided by someone else. Indian textiles became so popular in England that pepper, indigo, spices and other goods were relegated to a secondary position. The popularity of Indian textiles alarmed the policy-makers in England. An Act was passed which prohibited the use of Indian silks and calicoes in England.

Note:The Indian arts and crafts were crippled by britishers deliberately. Heavy duties on Indian silk and cotton textiles in Britain seventy to eighty per cent respectively destroyed those industries. On the other hand, British goods were imported.