Wednesday, December 17, 2008

work, life and leisure

Bombay the prime city
--the East India company quickly shifted its capital from Surat to Bombay.
--at first Bombay was the major outlet for cotton textiles from Gujrat , later in the 19th c , the city functioned as a port through which large quantities of raw materials such as cotton & opium would pass.
--gradually it also became an important administrative centre in the western India and by the end of 19 th c a major industrial centre.
WORK IN THE CITY
Bombay became the capital of Bombay Presidencyin 1819, after the Maratha defeat In the Anglo-Maratha war.
--with the growth of trade in cotton & opium, large communities of traders & bankers as well as artisans & shopkeepers came to settle in Bombay.
--the establishment of textile mills led to a fresh sBOMBAY AS THE CITY OF DREAMS:
. Controlling domestic smoke, however, was far more difficulturge in migration.
--the first textile Mill in Bombay was established in 1854. By 1921, there were 85 cotton mills.Large number of workers to these mills came from nearby districts.
--women formed 23% of mill workforce between 1919-1926, after that the number droppedto less than 10%as machines had come.
--Bombay dominated the maritime trade of India.
--Bombay was also at the junction head of two major Railways, which encouraged an even higher scale of migration into the city.
For example during the famine in 1888-89, large number of people drove into Bombay from the dry regions of Kutch.
HOUSING & NEIGHBOURHOODS
Q. How was Bombay city planned?
Bombay was a crowded city with average space of 9.5 square yards, with an average of 20 persons.
Bombay was not a planned city and the house especially in the Fort area, were interspersed with gardens.
--in Bombay the FORT AREA which formed the heart of the city in early 1800s was divided between a ‘native town’ where most of the Indians lived, and a European or ‘white section.’
--the European suburb & an industrial zone began to develop to the north of the Fort area, with similar suburb & cantonment in the south. This racial pattern was true of all three Presidency cities.
--rapid & unplanned expansion of the city and growing mills led to the crisis of housing and water supply by mid-1850’s.
--like the European elite the richer Parsi , Muslim & upper caste traders & industrialist of Bombay lived in sprawling spacious bungalows and in contrast, more than 70% lived in the thickly populated CHAWLS of Bombay
CHAWLS:
--They were multi-storied structures built from 1860’s in the ‘ native’ parts of the town.
--they were like the tenements in London they were largely owned by the private landlords as merchants, bankers & building contractors for quick way of earning money from the migrants.
--chawl was divided into smaller one-room tenements which had no private toilets.
--many families could reside at a time in a tenement, which were of one room with 4-5 occupants.
--people had to keep their windows closed even during the humid weather due to the ‘close proximity’ of filthy gutters, prives, buffalo stables etc.
--water was scarce and there were quarrels over it.
--streets & neighbourhoods were used for a variety of activities such as cooking, washing & sleeping.
--LEISURE ACTIVITIES: -- liquor shops & akharas came up in any empty spot.
--There were magicians, monkey players or acrobats.
--chawls were also the place for the exchange of news about jobs, strikes, riots or demonstrations.
-- at times the jobber settled disputes, organized food supplies or arranged informal credit & also brought important information on political developments.
--people who belonged to ‘depressed classes’ found it even more difficult to find housing or were kept out of many chawls & had to live in shelters made of corrugated sheets, leaves or bamboo poles.
TOWN PLANNING:
Planning in Bombay was a result of fears about epidemic plague.
--the city of Bombay Improvement Trust was established in 1898, it focused on clearing poorer homes out of the city centre.
--by 1918, Rent Act was passed to keep rents reasonable, but it had the opposite effect of producing severe housing crisis, since landlords withdrew from the market.
--one of the way the city was developed was through massive reclamation projects.
LAND RECLAMATION IN BOMBAY:
--THE EARLIEST PROJECT BEGAN IN 1784. THE Governor of Bombay approved of building of the great sea-wall which prevented the flooding of the low-lying areas of Bombay.
--the need for additional commercial space in the mid-19thc led to the formulation of several plans, both govt. & private companies for the reclamation of more land from the sea.
--private companies became interested taking financial risks. In 1864, the Back Bay reclamation company won the right to reclaim the western foreshore from the tip of Malabar Hill to the end of Colaba. By 1870’s the city was expanded to about 22 square miles.
--successful reclamation project was undertaken by the Bombay Port Trust, which built a dry dock between 1914& 1918 and used excavated earth to create the 22-acre Ballard Estate. And famous Marine Drive of Bombay was developed..


BOMBAY AS THE CITY OF DREAMS:
Bombay appears to many as a ‘mayapuri’- a city of dreams.
--many films in Bombay deals with the arrival in the city of new migrants & their encounters with the real pressures of daily life.
--some popular songs from the Bombay film industry speak of the contradictory aspects of the city, as in CID, Guest house etc.( TAKE SONGS FROM BOOK-PG—145)
HISTORY:
Q. When did the Bombay film industry make its first appearance?
Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatwadekar shot a scene of wrestling match in Bombay’s Hanging Gardens & it became India’s first movie in 1896.
--Dadasaheb Phalke made Raja Harishchandra in 1913.
--by 1925, Bombay had become India’s film capital producing films for national audience.
--the amount of money invested was about 756 million in 1947 in 50 films & the industry employed 520’000 people.
PEOPLE: most of the people employed in the industry were themselves migrants who came from cities looking like Lahore, Calcutta & Madras which contributed to the national character of the industry.
--people who came from Lahore than in Punjab were important to the development of the industry.
--many famous writers like Ismat Chughati & Saadat Hasan Manto, were associated with Hindi cinema.
--Bombay films have contributed in a big way to produce an image of the city as a blend of dream and reality, of slums & star bungalows.
LEE KUAN YEW’S SINGAPORE:
Singapore a successful, rich & well planned city, a model for city planning worldwide.Until 1965, Singapore though an important port but had all the problems of a Asain cities. It was overcrowded, lack sanitation, had poor housing & poverty.
Planning was known in Singapore since 1822,but benefitted only a small community of white people who ruled Singapore.
--all this city changed after the city became an independent nation in 1965. Under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, the President a massive housing and development programe was under taken and it completely altered the face of the island nation.
--through the planning every inch of the island’s territory was controlled in its use.
--the tall housing blocks, which were well ventilated & serviced were built.
--crime was reducedthrough external corridors, aged were housed alongside their families, ‘void decks’ or empty floors were provided in all buildings.
-migration to the city was strictly controlled.
--news-papers& journals and all forms of communication & association were strictly controlled.
--the citizens of Singapore enjoy a very high degree of material comfort & wealth.
CITIES & THE CHALLENGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT:
City development every occurred at the expanse of the ecology and environment.
--natural features were flattened out and transformed in response to the growing demands of space for the factories, housing and other institutions.
--large quantities of refuseanmd waste products polluted air & water, while excessive noise became the feature of the urban life.
ENGLAND:
Widespread use of coal in homes & industries I 19thc England raised serious problems such as :
a)in the industrial cities Leeds, Bradford & Manchester, hundreds of factory chimneys polluted the air—skies were always grey and all vegetation black.
--black fog that descended on towns, causing bad tempers, smoke related diseases and dirty clothes.
STEPS:
1.People joined campaigns for cleaner air, the goal was to control the nuisance through legislation. This was not easy as the factory owners & steams engine owners did not want to spend on technologies that improve their machines.
2. By the 1840’s few towns such as Derby, Leeds & Manchester had laws to control smoke in the city but the smoke was not easy to monitor or measures and the owners got away with minor adjustments to their machinery that did nothing to stop the smoke.
3.Smoke Abatement Acts of 1847-53 did not always work to clean the air.
CALCUTTA:
It too had the history of pollution.
–its people inhaled grey smoke, particularly in the winter.
–since the city was built on the marshy land, the resulting fog combined with the smoke to generate thick black smog.
–high level pollution was the consequence of the huge population that was dependent on the dung and wood as fuel in their daily life.
–the main polluters were the industries & establishments that used steam engines run on coal.
STEPS:
1. Colonial authorities were at first intent on clearing the place of miasmas, or harmful vapours, but the railway line introduced in 1855 brought a dangerous new pollutant into the picture-coal from Raniganj.
--the high content of ash in Indian coal was a problem. Many pleas were made to banish the dirty mills from the city with no effect.
--in 1863, Calcutta became the first Indian city to get smoke nuisance legislation.--in 1920, the rice mills of Tollygunge began to burn rice husk instead of coal, leading residents to complain that the air is filled up with black soot which falls like drizzling rain from morning till night. The inspectors of the Bengal Smoke Nuisance Commission managed to control industrial smoke. Controlling domestic smoke, however, was far more difficult


Monday, December 15, 2008

WORKS,LIFE AND LEISURE

Work , life and leisure in the cities of contemporary world.
CHARACTERSTICS OF THE CITY:
Q. Which were the ancient towns & cities and where did they emerge?
They first appeared along the river valleys, such as Ur, Nippur and Mohenjadaro.
--the ancient cities could only when the increase in food supplies made it possible to support a wide range non- food producers.
--cities were often the centres of political power, administrative network, trade & industry, religious institutions & intellectual activities.
--they supported social groups such as artisans, merchants & priests.
METROPOLISES:
Cities which are great in size & complexity, which are densely settled , which combine political.& economic functions for the entire region, and support very large populations.
URBANISATION: Development of city or town.
ENGLAND:
INDUSTRIALISATION & RISE OF MODERN CITY—LONDON

--Many decades after the beginning of the industrial revolution, most Western countries were largely rural. The early industrial cities of Britain such as Leeds and Manchester attracted large numbers of migrants to the textile mills setup in the late 18th c.
--London, by 1750’s one out of every nine people living in Wales & England lived in London.
--It was the colossal city with large population which was fast multiplying.
--it was a powerful magnet though it did not have many large factories.
--It was a city of clercks, shopkeepers, small masters & skilled & semi artisans, casual laborers, street sellers and beggars.
--London had apart from the Dockyard five major types of industries: a) clothing & footwear, (b) wood & furniture, (c)metals & engineering, d) printing & stationary ,(e)precision products-as surgical instruments, watches & objects of precious metals.
--during the First world war London also started manufacturing motor cars & electrical goods.
MARGINAL GROUPS:
As London grew the crime flourished and soon it became the object of prime concern.
--the police were worried about the law & order
--philanthropists were anxious about the public morality.
--the industrialists wanted a hard working and orderly workforce.
Measures:
--population of children was counted, their activities were watched & they ways of life were investigated.
--in the mid-19th c Henery Mahew wrote several volumes on the London labour complied the list of the ones who made living from the crime.
--these criminals were in fact those who made their living stealing lead from the roofs, food from the shops and clothes drying on the hedges.
--there were other who others who were more skilled at their trade, expert in their jobs, they were cheats, tricksters & pickpocket and thieves.
--in an attempt to discipline them heavy penalties for the crimes were imposed& work was offered to those who were considered ‘deserving poor.’
WOMEN:
Women in the 18th c and early 19th c were employed in factories in large numbers.
--with the technological developments they gradually lost their industrial jobs & forced to work in households.
--a large number of women used to increase family income by taking in lodgers or through such activities as tailoring, washing & making match box making.
--there was once again in the20th c as women got employment in wartime industries & offices, they withdrew from domestic service.
CHILDREN:
Large number of children were pushed into low paid works, often by their parents.
--it was only after the passage of Compulsory Elementary Education Act of 1870, and the factory acts beginning from 1920, that children were kept out of industrial work.
HOUSING:
Older cities like London changed dramatically when people began pouring in after the industrial revolution. Factory or workshop owners did not house the migrant workers.
--individual landowners put up cheap, & usually unsafe, TENEMENTS for the new arrivals.
--better –off city dwellers demanded that slumps be simply cleared away, but gradually larger & larger number of people began to recognize the need for housing for the poor.
Q Why was there an increasing concern for Housing poor?
There were reasons for it:
1.--the vast one room houses occupied by the poor were too small & were seen as the threat to the public health, as they were over crowed & badly ventilated and lacked sanitation.
2.-- there were worries about fire hazards created by poor housing.
3. -- there was a wide spread fear of social disorder, especially after Russian Revolution. Worker’s mass house schemes were planned to prevent the London poor from turning rebellious.
CLEANING LONDON:
A variety of steps were taken to cleanup London.
1.--Attempts were made to decongest localities.
2.--green the open space, reduce pollution, landscape the city, large blocks of apartments were built.
3.--rent control was introduced to ease the impact of severe house shortage.
4.--the congestion in the 19thc also led to a yearning for clean country air.
--many wealthy residents of London were able to afford a holiday home in the countryside.
--demands were made for new ‘lungs’ for the city .
5. -- some attempts were made to bridge the gap between city & countryside through the Green Belt around London.
6.--Garden City , a pleasant space full of plants& trees, where people would both live & work. This was also to produce better quality citizens.
(Raymond Unwin & Barry Parker designed the garden city of New Earswick.) There were common garden spaces & beautiful views..., but only well-off people could afford them.
TRANSPORT IN THE CITY:
London underground Railways partially solved the housing crisis by carrying large masses of people to and from the city.
--the very first section of the underground in the world opened on 10th January 1863 between Paddington & Farrington street in London.
NEGATIVE RESULT:
--At first people were afraid to travel underground.
--it was felt that the ‘iron monster’ added to the mess & unhealthiness of the city.
--its construction led to massive destruction..
--in London railway led to massive displacement of London poor, especially between two World Wars.
POSITIVE RESULTS:
It became a huge success as the population in the city became more dispersed.
--better planned suburbs & good railway network enabled large number of people to live out side London and travel to work.
--these new conveniences wore down social distinctions and also created new ones.
SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE CITY:
In thec18th c , the family had been unit of production & consumption as well as political decision making. But the function and shape of family were completely transformed by the life in industrial city.
a) The family ties between he members of households loosened .
b) among the working class the institution of marriage tended to break down.
c) women in the upper& middle class in Britain faced increasingly higher levels of isolation, although their lives were made easier by the domestic maids who cooked, cleaned and cared for children on low wages.
d) women who worked for wages had some control over their lives especially among the lower social classes.
e) family as an institution had broken down.
MEN, WOMEN AND FAMILY IN THE CITY.
The city encouraged the new spirit of individualism among men& women and a freedom from the collective values that were the feature of the smaller rural communities.
WOMEN:
--but men & women did not have equal access to this new urban space. As women lost their industrial jobs , conservative people rallied against their space in the public spaces, women were forced to withdraw into their homes.
--public spaces increasingly became a male preserve and the domestic sphere was seen as the proper place for women.
--political developments of 19th c as Chartism movement demanding vote for all males and labour movement –limiting hours of workers in factories, mobilized large number of men.
--gradually women did come to participate in political movements for suffrage that demanded the right to vote or married women’s right to property.
FAMILY:
By the 20th c the urban family had yet been transformed partly by the wartime work done by women, who were employed in large numbers to meet war demands.
--the family now consisted of smaller units.
--family became the heart of a new market—of goods & services and of ideas.
LEISURE & CONSUMPTION:
For the wealthy Britishers there had been an annual ‘London Season’.
1.Several cultural events, such as the ‘OPERA’, THE THEATRE & CLASSICAL MUSICAL PERFORMANCES, were organized for an elite group of 300-400 families in the late 18th c.
2.working classes met in the PUBS to have drinks, exchange news & sometimes to organize political actions.
3.new types of large scale entertainments for the common people came into being, some made it possible with the money from the state.
4. LIBRARIES, ART GALLERIES& MUSEUMS were established in the 19th c to provide people a sense of history& pride in the achievements of British.
5. MUSIC HALLS were popular among the lower classes and became great mass entertainment for mixed audiences.
6.British industrial workers were increasingly encouraged to spend their holidays by sea, so as to derive the benefits of the sun and bracing winds.
POLITICS IN THE CITY & INDUSTRIES:
1. BLOODY SUNDAY OF NOVEMBER 1887.
In late 1887 a riot occurred. Out door work came to a standstill, London poor exploded in riots, demanding relief from the terrible conditions of poverty. It was brutally suppressed by the police.
2. Two years later, thousands of London dockworkers went on strike and marched through the city. The 12 day long strike was called to gain recognition for the Dockworker’s union.
3. Large masses of people could be drawn into political causes in the city. A large city population was thus both a threat and an opportunity.
HAUSSMANISATION OF PARIS:
In 1852, Louis Napoleon III (a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) crowned himself emperor and under took the rebuilding of Paris.
--the chief architect of the new Paris was Baron Haussmann, he came up with the forcible reconstruction of the cities to enhance their beauty and impose their order.
--the poor were evicted from the centre of Paris to reduce the rebellion & beautify the city.
--Straight, broad avenues or boulevards and open spaces were built.
--full grown trees were transplanted.
--policemen were deployed, night patrols begun and bus shelters and tap waters were introduced.
I nspite of the views of people that the city was monstrously transformed, Paris soon got converted into civic pride and the new capital became the toast of all Europe. Paris became the hub of many new architectural , social, & intellectual developments.





Wednesday, December 10, 2008

THE AGE OF INDUSTRIALISATION

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Proto-industrialisation -
first or form of something. It was a part of network of commercial exchanges, controlled by the merchants and the goods were produced by vast number of producers within their family farms.
--In the 18 c merchants from towns & cities began moving to the countryside supplying money to the peasants & artisans to produce for the international markets.
--As demands were increasing, merchants could not expand in the urban areas because of the existing TRADE GUILDS.-(these were the associations of producers that trained the craftspeople, maintained control over production, regulated prices and production and also restricted the entry of new merchants.) Therefore these merchants turned to the countryside.
CONDITIONS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE:
--Openfields were disappearing & common lands were enclosed & as a result cottagers & poor peasants now had to look for the alternative source of income.
--their tiny plots could not provide work for all members of the household so when merchants offered them advances they readily agreed.
RESULTS:
--By working for the merchants the villagers could remain in the countryside & continued to cultivate their small plots.
--income from proto-industrial production supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation.
--it also allowed them fuller use of their family labour resources.
--a close relationship developed between the town & the countryside, as the merchants were based in towns but the work was done in the countryside.
COMING UP OF FACTORIES.
The earliest factories came up by 1730s & they multiplied by late 18th c.
--COTTON FACTORY-its production boomed in late 19thc, this increase was linked to number of changes in the production process as
--series of inventions which not only increased the efficiency of production process but also enhanced the output per worker, enabling the workers to produce more.
--the Richard Arkwright created a cotton Mill.
--MILL-- the costly machines could be purchased, setup and maintained in the Mill. Within the mill all the processes were brought together under one roof & management.This allowed a more carful supervision, watch over quality & regulation of labour, all of which was otherwise difficult in the countryside.
PACE OF INDUSTRIALISATION:
Was it a rapid process?
1.The most dynamic industries were that of Cotton & Metals. With the expansion of transport the demand for Iron & Steel increased.
2.The new industries could not easily displace traditional industries. At the end of 19thc only 20% of total workforce were employed in technologically advanced industrial sector. Historians say that thr typical worker in mid 19thC was not machine operator but the traditional craft person & labourer.
--Textile was a dynamic sector but a large portion was being produced in the domestic units.
3.The pace of change in the traditional industries was not set by the steam-powered industries.
--ordinary &small innovations were the basis of the growth in many non-mechanised sectors as food-processing, building, pottery, glass work, tanning, furniture making & production of implements.
4. Technological changes were slow: it was because:
New technology was expensive & merchants were cautious of using it.
--machines often broke down and repair was costly.
--they were not as effective as were claimed.
Q. WHY WAS THE INDUSTRIAL PROCESS SLOW IN ENGLAND?
It was because in the Victorian Britain there was no shortage of human labour. Poor peasants moved into the cities in search of jobs. So the industrialist had no problem in hiring them at low cost nor were they interested in introducing machines which required large capital investments.
2. In many industries the demand for labour was seasonal . For example Gas works & breweries were busy during the cold months, also the printing & book binders were busy at this time due to Christmas, ships were also repaired during this time.
--in all such industries where production fluctuated with the season, industrialist usually preferred hand labour.
3. Range of products could be produced only with hand labour.
--machines were oriented to produce uniforms, standardized goods for mass market but the demand for goods with intricate design and specific shapes.
4. The upper class-the aristocracies and bourgeoisie- preferred things produced by hands.
--handmade products came to symbolize refinement and class.
--they were better finished& carefully designed and were mainly for export.
5. In the countries with shortage of labour , industrialist were keen on using mechanical power so that the need for human labour can be minimized.
LIFE OF WORKERS: (Negative effects of industrialization)
1--The abundance of the labour affected the lives of workers.
2--the news of jobs led many workers to travel to the cities but the actual possibility of jobs depended upon the existing network of friendship and kin relations. But not everyone had connections, and they had to wait for weeks, spending nights under bridges or in the ‘Night Refuges’ set up by private individuals and at ‘Casual Wards’ maintained by poor law authorities.
3.Seasonality of work meant prolonged period without work. Some returned to countryside and looked for odd jobs.
4. Wages were increased but not welfare of workers. As when the prices rose sharply after the Napoleonic wars wages of workers fell.
--It was the period when number of days determined the average daily income of the workers.
--about 10% of the population was extremely poor.
5. Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the technology.
As when Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woolen industry , women who survived on hand spinning began attacking the new machines.
Positive results of industrialization:
1. Building activities intensified in the cities, opening up greater opportunities of employment.
2. Roads were widened.
3. New railway stations came up and railway lines were extended, tunnels dug up.
4. Drainage & sewers were laid, rivers embanked.

INDUSTRIALISATION IN THE COLONIES—INDIA

--Before the age of industrialization silk& cotton goods onlydominated the international market in Textile.
--other countries produced only coarser cotton and finer varieties came from India.
--the Amercian merchants took goods from Punjab to Afganisthan, eastern Persia& Central Asia and the Bales of fine cotton were carried on camel back via the NWFP, through mountain passes across deserts.
--sea trade operated through the per-colonial ports—Surat on Gujrat coast connected India to the Gulf & Red sea ports; Masaulipatnam on the Coromandel coast &Hoogly in Bengal had trade links with the South-east Asian ports.
EARLIER:
--A variety of Indian & merchants bankers were involved in the export trade-Financing production, carrying goods & supplying exporters.
--Supply merchants linked the port towns to the inland regions-they gave advances to weavers, procured woven cloth & carried supply to the ports.
--at the ports the big shippers and export merchants had brokers who negotiated the price and bought goods from the supply merchants operating inland.
--by 1750 this network was breaking down.
COMING OF THE NEW COMPANIES:
The European companies gradually gained power first securing a variety of concessions from local courts then the monopoly rights to trade.
--this resulted in the decline of old ports of SURAT &HOOGLY.
--exports from these ports fell dramatically, credit that had financed earlier trade began drying up, and the local bankers slowly went bankrupt.
--while Surat & Hoogly decayed BOMBAY & CALCUTTA grew.
--trade through new ports came to be controlled by the European companies in their ships.
-- those who wanted to survive had to now operate within the network shaped by European trading companies.
Q. How did the expansion of the British industries in India affect the Weavers?
1. INITIALLY THE INDIAN INDUSTRIES DID NOT DECLINE as the Britishers cotton industries had not yet expanded and Indian fine textiles were in great demand.So the company was kenn on expanding the textile exports from India.
2. Befor establishing political power in India-Bengal & Canatic in 1760s&1770s, the Company found it difficult to ensure a regular supply of goods for export.
--the Dutch, the Portuguese as well as local traders competed in the market to secure woven cloth.
--so the weavers could bargain and the try selling the produce to the best buyer.
3. once the Company established its power it could assert a monopoly right to trade. It developed a system of management and control that would eliminate the competition, control cost & ensure regular supplies.
Q. What did English East India Company do to ensure regular supply of cotton & silk? Or to monopolise right to trade?
The company took series of steps:
1.To eliminate the existing traders& brokers connected with cloth trade and to have direct control over the weavers, it appointed GOMASTHA—to supervise weavers, collect supplies& examine the quality of cloth.
2.It prevented the company from dealing with other buyers. One way for doing this was through the system of advances- weavers were given loans to purchase the raw material for their production. Those who took loans had to hand over their cloth to Gomsthas.
RESULTS:
A )As the loans flowed the demand for the fine textile expanded& weavers eagerly took advances, hoping to earn more.
b)--some of the weavers had small plots of land which they cultivated along with weaving, the produce from this took care of their family needs. But now they had to lease it and devote all time to weaving which required engagement of complete family.
c)I n many villages there were reports of clashes between the weavers & Gomasthas. This was because earlier the Gomasthas were from the villages who were concerned but now they walked arrogantly with Sepoys in to the villages & punished weavers for the delays.
d)—the weavers lost their space to bargain for prices and to sell to different buyers.
--the price they received from the company was miserably low and the loans they accepted tied them to the company.
e)—in many place the as in Bengal & Carnatic weavers deserted villages and migrated setting up the looms in other villages.
f)-At some place weavers along with the traders revolted opposing the company officials, and many weavers over the time began refusing loans and started closing their workshops and took to agriculture.
MANCHESTER COMES TO India
Q. Why there was a decline of textile exports from India-?
1.As the cotton industries developed in England, industrial groups began worrying about imports from other countries.They pressurised the govt. to impose import duties on cotton textile so that Manchester goods could sell in Britain without facing competition from outside.
--Industrialists persuaded the Company to sell British manufacturers in Indian market as well. The export of cotton goods increased in the 19th c.
Q. What problems did the Indian weavers had to face when Manchester came to India?
Two problems were:
a)their export market collapsed, and the local market shrank being glutted with the Manchester imports.
--Produced goods by machines at the lower price, the imported goods were so cheap that weavers could not easily compete with them.
b) By 1860’s weavers faced a new problem, they could not get sufficient supply of raw cotton of good quality.
--When the American civil-war broke out & the cotton supplies from the US were cut off, Britain turned to India & as the exports increased the prices shot up.
--weavers in India were forced to buy the it at very high prices.
C) Factories in India began flooding the market with machine made goods.
FACTORIES THAT CAME UP IN INDIA.
--THE FIRST COTTON MILL THAT CAME UP IN India was in 1854.
--In 1855 in Bengal first jute mill emerged.
--in the north India the Elgin mill was set up in Kanpur in 1860.
--the first cotton mill came up in Ahemdabad in 1861.
--1874, first spinning & weaving Mill of Madras.
EARLY ENTREPRENEURS:
In the 18th c during the opium trade there were many Indian junior players in this trade.
--having earned through this trade, some of these had a visions of developing industrial enterprises in India.
--capital was accumulated through other trade networks. Some merchants from Madras traded with Burma while others had links with the Middle East & East Africa.
--there were others who were not directly involved in external trade but operated with in India carrying goods, transferring funds between cities, banking money & financing traders. When the opportunities of investment in industries opened up, many of them set up their industries.
Examples:
1. In Bengal Dwarkanath Tagore had set up six joint stock companies in 1830,s & 40,s.
2. In Bombay Parsis like Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata built huge industrial empires in India.
3. Seth Hukumchand , a Marwari businessman had set up the first Indian jute mill in Calcutta in 1917, So did the father and grandfather of the famous industrialist G.D.Birla.

--When colonial control tightened, the space for Indian merchants became limited and they were barred from trading with Europe in manufactured goods and were to export only raw materials & food grains—raw cotton, opium, wheat & indigo were required by the Britishers. They were also gradually edged out of the shipping business.
Q. Where did the workers come from?
Factories needed workers and their demand was increasing.
--In the most industrial regions workers came from the districts around. Peasants & workers who found no work in the village went to industrial centres.
(over 50% workers in Bombay cotton industryin 1911 came from the neighouring district of Ratangiri so was in the case of Kanpur Mills.)
--workers travelled great distances in the hope to get work in the Mills.

Q. Why getting jobs in the Mills was always difficult?
Getting jobs was always difficult (a) as number of job seekers was more than the jobs.
(b) entry into mills was restricted.
(c) Jobber ,started demanding money & gifts for getting them jobs.
Q. Who was a jobber?
Industrialist usually employed a jobber to get new recruits. He was often an old & trusted worker who got people from his villages, ensured them jobs, helped them settle and provided them money in the times of crisis.

PECULARITIES OF INDUSTRIAL GROWTH:
EARLIER:
--European managing agencies dominated industrial production in India& they were interested in certain kinds of products.
--they established tea & coffee plantations, invested in mining, indigo and jute—most of these products were required for export and not for sale.
-- when Indian businessmen setting up their in 17thC, they avoided competition with Manchester goods.
-- yarn was not an important part of British imports & when yarn was imported it was only of the superior variety. The yarn produced in Indian spinning mills was used by Indian weavers or was exported to china.
LATER:
With the 20thc series of changes affected the pattern of industrialization.
a) As Swadeshi movement gathered momentum people were mobilised to boycott foreign cloth
b) Industrial groups organized themselves to protect their collective interests by pressuring the govt. to increase tariff protection & to grant concessions.
c) From 1906 the export of Indian yarn to china declined as the produce from the Chinese & Japanese mills flooded the Chinese markets and thus the industrialist in India began shifting from yarn to cloth production.
d) First World war created a new situation, with British Mills busy with war production to meet the needs of army , Manchester imports to India declined & suddenly Indian Mills had a vast home market to supply.
e) As the war prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to supply jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents and leather boots, horse & mule saddles & a host of other items.
f) Many new workers were employed and everyone was made to work for long hours.
Q. What was the impact of the First World War on the Manchester goods or the Company?
a) Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian markets.
b) unable to modernize and compete with the US, Germany & Japan, the economy of Britain crumbled after the war.
c) cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically.
d) within the colonies, local industrialists gradually consolidated their position, substituting foreign manufacturers and capturing the home market.
Small-scale industries predominate
Factory industries grew steadily and after the war large industries formed only a small segment of the economy.
--most of them were located in Bengal and Bombay, and over rest of the country small –scale production continued.
--only a small section of the industrial labour force worked in the registered factories.
The rest worked in small workshops and household units, often located in alleys and by lanes.
--handicrafts & handloom production actually expanded in the 20th c.
--cheap machine-made thread wiped out the spinning industry in 19thc , weavers survived despite problems.
Q Despite the cheap machine-made goods , wiped the spinning industry the weavers survived. How did this happen?
1.This was partly because of the Technological changes. Handicrafts people adopted a new technology that helped them to improve the production without pushing up the costs.
2.by the second decade of 20th c the weavers were using looms with a fly-shuttle, which increased their productivity per worker, speeded up production and reduced labour demand.
3. there were several other innovations that helped the weavers improve their productivity and compete with the Mill sector.
WEAVERS:
There were two types of weavers one—rich and well to do and the others not so rich.

MARKET FOR GOODS
Q. What were different ways which Britishers used to advertise their products?
When new products were produced people had to be persuaded to buy them .
1. One way to do this was through the advertisements.
ROLE OF ADVERTISEMENTS:
--They make products appear desireable and necessary.
--they try to shape the minds of people and create new needs.
--they appear in the newspapers, magazines, hoarding, street walls, television screens.
--advertisements have played a part in expanding the markets for products, and in shaping a new consumer culture.
2. When the Manchester industrialists began selling their cloth in India , they put ‘LABLES’ on the cloth bundles.
LABLES:
-- it was needed to the place of manufacture & the name of the company familiar to the buyer.
-- it was also to be the mark of quality.
-- when buyers saw ‘MADE IN MANCHESTER’ written on the lable they were expected to feel confident about buying the cloth.
3.IMAGES:
The Lables did not only carry words or texts but they also carried images which were often very beautifully illustrated.
--the images ogf Gods & Goddesses regularly appeared on these lables.
--it was as if the association with the Gods gave divine approval to these goods .E xample: the printed image of Krishna or Saraswati was also intented to make the manufacture from foreign land appear somewhat familiar to the Indian people.
4. PRINTING CALENDARS:
In the late 19th c Calendars were also printed to popularize the products.
--unlike the news papers& magazines the Calendars could also be used by the people who could not read.
--they were hung in tea shops & people’s home, offices and middle class apartments.
--in these Calendars also there were images of Gods & Goddesses to sell the products.
5. FIGURES OF IMPORTANT PERSONAGES & NAWABS:
--images of important personages, Nawabs adorned the advertisements & calendars which gave the message that if you respect the royal figure, then respect this product and when the product was being used by the royal families its quality could not be questioned.
6. Indian manufacturers also advertised the nationalist message clear & loud. They said that if you care for your nation then buy the products that Indians produce.
--advertisements became a vehicle of the nationalist message of swadeshi.



Sunday, October 5, 2008

Announcement-Notes of economics chapter-1

Dear students I have completed notes of chapter one of Economics-DEVELOPMENT
Kindly take them dowm from the index given on right hand side.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

DEMOCRACY AND DIVERSITY

DEMOCRACY & DIVERSITY
STORY OF MEXICO OLYMPICS
In 1968, Olympics held at Mexico city, in the medal ceremony of 200m race, where gold and bronze medals were won by the AFRICAN –AMERICANS & the silver was bagged by the white.
In the ceremony Tommie Smith & John Carlos (African- Americans)stood on the dice with clenched fists upraised & heads bowed while the American anthem was played. They received their medals wearing black socks & no shoes to represent ‘BLACK POVERTY.’ The silver medalist, white Australian athelete, Peter Norman, wore human rights badge on his shirt to show his support to the two Americans.
Q. Why did Tommie & Smith wear black socks & no shoes?
--To represent Black poverty.
Q. What did their clenched fists &black gloves represent?
--They meant to symbolize the Black Power.
Q. What did the two players intend to do with this kind of gesture?
They wanted to draw the international attention to racial discrimination in the United states.
Q. What was the result of their action?
a) The International Olympics Association held Carlos & Smith guilty of violating the Olympic spirit by making a political statement.
b)their medals were taken back.
c) back home they were subjected to lot of criticism.
d) Norman too suffered for his action & was not included in the Australian team in the next Olympics.
e) but their action did succeed in getting international attention for the Civil Rights Movement in the US.
ORIGINS OF SOCIAL DIFFERENCES
Social diversity can take different forms in different societies.Social differences can be both accidental or by choice.
1. Some of the social differences are based on accident of birth.
We do not choose to belong to our community, we belong to it simply because we are born to it.
We all experience social difference based on accident of birth in our everyday lives, it can be in the form of male-female, being tall-short, different complexions, or have different physical abilities.

2. Some of the differences are based on our choices. For example, some people are atheists—they do not believe in God or any religion, some choose to follow religion other than in which they were born;Some choose what to study and what occupation to takeup and which game to play or which cultural activities to take part in.All these lead to formation of groups of our choices.
Every social difference does not lead to social division.
-- Social differences divide similar people from one another but, they also unite people very different people.
--People belonging to different social groups share differences and similarities cutting across the boundaries of their groups. Eg. Carlos & Smith joined hands because as they both were similar but Peter supported them as they were athletes.
--It is common for people belonging to the same religion feel that they donot belong to the same community because their caste or sect is different. It is also possible for the people from different religions to have same caste and feel close to each other.
--Rich & poor persons from the same family often donot have close relations with each other for they feel they are very different.
--Thus we all have more than one identity and can belong to more than one group.
OVERLAPPING & CROSS-CUTTING DIFFERENCES.


OVERLAPPING DIFFERENCES
1. When some social difference overlaps with other difference.

2. Situations of this kind produce social divisions, when one kind of social difference becomes more important than the other and people start feeling that they belong to different communities.
3. Example—a)difference between Black & White in the US becomes a social division because they tend to be poor & landless, and often face injustice & discrimination.
b) In our country Dalits tend to be poor & landless and often face injustice & discrimination.
4. Overlapping differences create possibilities of deep social divisions and tensions.
CROSS-CUTTING DIFFERENCES
1.If social differences cross-cut one another, it is difficult to pit group of people against the other.
2. It means that group that share a common interest on the issue are likely to be on different sides on a different issue.
3. Example -Northern Ireland & Netherlands both are predominantly Christians but divided between Catholics & Protestants. In Northern Ireland class & religion overlap each other, if catholic one tend to be poor & have suffered discrimination where as in Netherland, class & religion tend to cross-cut each other and both are equally likely to be rich or poor. It means they have conflict in Northern Ireland and it is not so in Netherlands.
4. Cross-cut social differences are easier to accommodate.


Q. Most countries of the world are multi-cultural? Why? Give examples.
Countries that were once highly Homogeneous are now becoming Hetrogneous and are undergoing a rapid change
a) with the influx of people from other parts of the world.
b) Migrants bring with them their own culture and to form a different social community.
POLITICS OF SOCIAL DIVISIONS
Q. How do social divisions affect politics?
The combination of politics & social divisions is very explosive and dangerous.
a) democracy involves competition among various political parties. Their competitions tend to divide society.
b) if they start competing in terms of some existing social divisions , they can make social divisions into political divisions and lead to conflict , violence or even disintegration of a country.
c)social divisions affect voting in most countries, people from one community tend to prefer one party more than others.
d)in many countries there are parties which focus only on one community.
--yet all this does not always lead to disintegration.


This has happened in many countries ---Examples(negative results)
1. As in the case of Northern Ireland, this region of UK has been for many years a sight of violence& bitter ethno- political conflict.
--Its population is divided into into two major sects of christianity: 53%--Protestants & 44%--Catholics.
--Catholics are represented by the Nationalist parties, who wanted Northern Ireland to be united with the Republic of Ireland, predominantly catholic.
--Protestants are represented by the Unionist who wanted to remain with UK.
--hundreds of civilians and militants were killed in the fight of political parties till 1998, the UK govt. & the Nationalists reached a peace treaty after which the latter suspended the armed struggle.
2. In Yugoslavia the political competition along religious and ethnic lines led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia into six independent countries.
--such examples lead some people to think that politics & social divisions should not be allowed to mix; if social divisions exists in a country they must never be expressed in politics.
POSITIVE EXAMPLES:
Every expression of social division in politics does not lead to disasters. Social divisions of some or the other kind do exist in every society of the world and are reflected in politics.
--in a democracy it is only natural that political parties talk of these divisions, make different promises to different communities, look after their representation and policies to redress the grievances of disadvantaged communities.
THREE DETERMINANTS:
There are three factors which are crucial in deciding the outcome of politics of social divisions.
1. Outcome depends upon how people perceive their identities. If they see their identities in singular and exclusive terms it becomes very difficult to accommodate. As in India we think of ourselves as Indians as well as belonging to a state or a language group or a social or religious community.
2. It depends on how political leaders raise the demands of a ny community. It is easier to accommodate demands that are within the constitutional framework and are not at the cost of another community.
Example –the demand for only Sinhala was at the cost of the interest and identity of Tamil community in Srilanka; in Yugoslavia also the ethnic communities presented their demands in such a way that these could not be accommodated with in a single country.
3. It depends on how the govt. reacts to the demands of different groups. Example—In Belgium and Srilanka if the rulers are willing to share power & accommodate the reasonable demands of minority community, social divisions become less threatening for the country. But if they suppress such a demand in the name of national unity, the end result can be quite opposite & such a forced integration can sow the seeds of disintegration.
Q. ARE SOCIAL DIVISIONS ARE DANGEROUS OR NORMAL & HEALTHY?
In a democracy political expression of the social divisions is very normal and can be healthy as….
--It allows various disadvantaged and marginal social groups to express their grievances and get govt. to attend to these.
--The expression of various kinds of social divisions in politics often result in cancelling one another out and thus reducing their intensity. This leads to strengthening of a democracy.
--People who feel marginalized, deprived and discriminated have to fight against the injustices and such fights often takes the democratic path, voicing their demands in a peaceful & constitutional manner and seeking a fair position through the elections.
--sometimes these social differences can take a form of the unacceptable level of social inequality and injustice. The struggle against such inequalities sometimes take the path of violence and defiance of state power.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

CH-2-ECONOMICS-SECTORS OF THE INDIAN ECONOMY

Chapter –2—Economics
SECTORS OF THE INDIAN ECONOMY

In order to understand the functioning of any economy, we need to study various sectors that it comprise. All around us we find people engaged in different types of activites.
CLASSIFICATION OF THE ECONOMIC SECTORS:
The classifications are based on
1.Nature of activity being performed.—Primary, Secondary & Tertiary
2.Working conditions of the workers—Organised & unorganized.
3.Who own the assets/ on the ownership basis.—Public & Private
PRIMARY SECTOR: 1.Activites undertaken by directly using natural resources.
2. Example—Agriculture, Mining, Fishing, Forestry, Dairy etc.
3.It is called primary sector because it forms the base for all other products that we subsequently make.
4. Since most of the natural products we get are from agriculture, dairy, forestry, fishing it is also called Agriculture and related sector.
SECONDARY SECTOR:
It covers activities in which natural products are changed into other forms through ways of manufacturing that we associate with industrial activity.
2. it is a next step after primary, where the product is not produced by nature but has to be made.
Some process of manufacturing is essential, it could be in a factory, a workshop or at home.
3. Example: Using cotton fibre from plant, we spin yarn and weave cloth; using sugarcane as a raw material we make sugar or gur; we convert earth into bricks.
Since this sector is associated with different kinds of industries, it is also called industrial sector.
TERTIARY SECTOR:
1.These are the activities that help in the development of the primary & secondary sector.
2. These activities by themselves do not produce good but they are an aid and support to the production process.
3.Example: a)Transportation--Goods that are produced in the primary sector need to be transported by trucks or trains and than sold in the wholesale and retail shops;
b) Storage--at times it is necessary to store these products in godowns,which is also a service made available.
c)Communication --talking to others on telephone);
d) Banking--borrowing money from the banks.
4.Since these activities are generate services rather than goods it is also called Service sect
or.


Q. How do we count the various goods and services and know the total production in each sector?
As thousands of goods and services are produced, it is an enormous task to add up all these.
To get to this problem economists suggested that the value of goods and services should be used rather than adding the actual numbers. But only one precaution is to be undertaken ie., only final value of the goods and services should be counted as it already includes the value of all intermediate goods.
GDP— The value of final goods and services produced in each sector during a particular year provides the total production of the sector for that year. And sum of production in three sectors give Gross Domestic Production—GDP of the country.
--It is the value of all final goods and services produced within the country during a particular year.
--GDP shows how big the economy is.
Q. Who measures the GDP in India?
This mammoth(huge) task in India is carried on by the Central government ministry , with the help of various govt. Departments of Indian states and union territories.
The information relating to total volume of goods and services and their prices is collected and then estimates the GDP.
Historical change in the sectors: three stages.
INITIAL STAGE:
After observing the changes that have come in the development patterns of the sectors, it has been found that

- in the Initial stages of the development the Primary Sector was the most important sector of economic activity.
-As the methods of farming changed and agricultural sector began to prosper, it produced much more food than before and many people could takeup many other activities which led to the increase in number of activities.
-However at this stage most of the goods produced were natural products from the primary sector, hence most people were employed in this sector.
SECOND STAGE:
-Over a long time(more than hundred years or so) because new methods of manufacturing were introduced, factories came up and started expanding.
-People began to work in factories in large numbers, and also people started using factory goods in large numbers as they were cheap.

-Secondary sector gradually became the most important in total production and employment. There was a shift and the importance of the sectors also changed.
THIRD STAGE:
In past hundred, there has been a further shift from Secondary to Tertiary sector in the developed countries.
-The service sector has become the most important in terms of total production.Most of working people are also employed in the service sector.
Q. What does the history of developed countries indicate about the shifts that have taken place between sectors?(book question)
It indicates that both secondary and tertiary sectors are developing and are becoming major contributors of the GDP.

-This shift has come up with the improvement in the agricultural sector, people now had more time for other activities and the number of craft persons, traders (SECONDARY) increased and also buying and selling activities also increased .Now there were many transporters, administrators, army etc.(TERTIARY)
Rising importance of tertiary sector in production:
Over thiry years between 1973 and 2003, production in the tertiary sector has increased the most, and it has emerged as the largest producing sector in India replacing the primary sector.


Q. Why the Tertiary sector is becoming so important in India?
There are several reasons to it:
1. In any country several services such as hospitals , educational institutions, post and telegragh services, police stations, courts, village administrative offices, municipal corporations, defence, transport, banks, insurance companies etc. are required.
These services are called the’ Basic services.’ In the developing countries the government has to take the responsibility for provision of these services.
2. The development of the agriculture and industrial leads to the development of services such as transport, trade, storage and the like. Greater the development of primary and secondary sectors more will be demand of such services.
3. As the income level rise, certain sections of people start demanding many more services like eating out, tourism, shopping , private hospitals, professional training etc. This is found especially in the big cities.
4. Over the past decade or so certain new services such as those based on the information and communication technology have become important & essential.


INDIAN SECTORIAL GROWTH:
It is a remarkable fact that while there has been a change in the share of three sectors in GDP, a similar shift has not taken place in employment.

--Service sector in India employs many different kinds of people—at one end there are a limited number of services that employ highly skilled workers and on the other end there are a very large number of workers engaged in services such as small shopkeepers, repair persons, transporters etc. Hence only a part of sector is growing in importance.
-- More than half of the workers in the country are working in primary sector, mainly in the agricultural, producing only a quarter of GDP. In contrast to this secondary and tertiary sector are producing three-fourth of the produce whereas they employ less than half the people.


Q. WHERE ARE MOST OF THE PEOPLE EMPLOYED? WHY?
The primary sector employs the largest number of people in India.
--It is because not enough jobs were created in the secondary and tertiary sectors.
Q. Even though primary sector employs largest number of people yet its share in GDP is less. Why?

--More than half of the workers in the country are working in primary sector, mainly in the agricultural, producing only a quarter of GDP. In contrast to this secondary and tertiary sector are producing three-fourth of the produce whereas they employ less than half the people.
--This also means that there are in agriculture more people than necessary and even if we move a few people out, production will not be effected. In other words, workers in the agricultural sector are under-employed.
UNDER-EMPLOYMENT:
It is a situation, where people are apparently working but all of them are made to work less than their potential.
--if few people move out , it will not effect the production.
--it is hidden in contrast to the open unemployment where a person is clearly or visibly without job.
--it is also called disused unemployment.
--this underemployment also happens in the other sectors for example there are thousands of casual workers in service sector in the urban areas as painters, plumbers, repair persons etc.
HOW CAN WE CREATE EMPLOYMENT?
There are various ways in which govt. can create employment opportunities as…
1.The govt. can spend some money or banks can provide loans to construct well ect. Which will reduce the dependency of farmers on rains, and they will be able to grow two crops a year.
2.Construction of Dams and Canals can lead to lot of generation of employment in agricultural sector itself.
3.If govt. invests some money on transportation and storage of crops or makes better rural roads, it can provide productive employment not just to farmers but alsoto other who are in services like transport or trade.
4. If local banks give credits at reasonable rates to the small and marginal farmers ,they will be able to buy necessary inputs for their crops in time.
5.Another way to solve this problem is to identify , promote and locate industries and services in the semi-rural areas where a large number of people maybe employed.Example:many farmers grow arhar &chickpea for them a dall-mill to procure and process these & sell in the cities;opening a cold storage will give an opportunity to thefarmers to store their produce like potato &onion and sell them price is good; villagers near forests can start with honey collectionect.
5.To improve health situation we need health centres, hospitals & for that doctors, nurses, workers.
6. Similarly to provide education to all children we would need lot of schools which can also generate employment.
7.Tourism:every state or region has the potential for increasing the income and employment for people in that area.This can also be done by promoting tourism or regional craft industry.
8.News services like IT are also creating jobs.
All these are the long term projects but govt also has certain short term projects for people as:NREGA-2005.
NREGA—2005
--National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005.
--started by the Central govt.
-- made a law implementing Right to work in 200 districts of India.
--all those who are in need of work will get guaranteed 100 days work and if the govt. fails to do so, it will give unemployment allowances to them
--the work will of the type which will in future help to increase the production from land.

Monday, July 14, 2008

DEVELOPMENT--CHAPTER - 1--ECONOMICS

Q. What is development?
A. It means progress. It has many aspects. Different people have prespectives on development.
Q. Why do different people have different notions of development?
A. Different people have different notions of development because life situations of persons are different and therefore their aspirations and desires and goals.
Q. Do the statements mean the same? Give examples to prove.
a)people have different development goals.
b)people have conflicting development goals.
No the two statements differ.
a) People have different development goals means that since people come from different situations therefore their development goals differ as an urban unemployed youth would aspire for a good salaried job,promotions ect. And on the other hand a rural unemployed would want better job oppurtunities in the village, job security and dignity of labour.
b) People have conflicting goals means that development for one may not be development for the other .Their goals may clash.
For example-1. industrialist may want more dams for electricity but this may submerge the land disrupt lives of the people who are displaced-such as tribals, who may prefer small check dams or tanks to irrigate their lands.
2.Landless rural labourers want more days of work &better wages;schools for quality education;no social discrimination and politcal participation whereas the Prosperous farmer wopuld want assured high family income through high support prices for their crops and hard working and cheap labour.
Here if the labour wants high wages and the farmer wands cheap labour their goals clash and are conflicting.

HOW TO COMPARE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES OS STATES?
For comparing countries, their income is considered to be one of the most important attributes.
--Countries with higher income are more developed than the countries with less income.It means that higher income means more of all things that human beings need.
Q. Why do we take average income to compare two countries?
Since countries have different populations comparing total income doesnot tell us what an average person is likely to earn, hence we compare the average income which is the total income of the country divided by its total population.
It is also called per capita income.
Q. What criterion is being used by the World Bank as per World Development Report 2006, in classifying the countries?
--World Bank says that countries with the per capita income of Rs 4,53,000 per annum and above in 2004 are called rich countries and those with the per capita income of Rs 37,000 or less are called low-income countries.
--India comes in the categoery of low income countries because its per capita income in 2004 was just Rs. 28000 per annum.
--Rich countries excluding the countries of Middle-East and certain other small countries are generally called developed countries.







Q. What does this table show?

A- In this Punjab has the higest per capita income and Bihar is at the bottom. If per capita income is used as the measure of development, Punjab Punjab is the most developed and Bihar is the least developed state.

SOME NEW TERMS:


IMR-Infant mortality rate-it indicates the number of children that die before the age of one year as a proportion of 1000 live children born in that year.


LITERACY RATE-measures the proportion of literate population in 7 and above years of age.


NET ATTENDENCE RATIO- is the total number of children of the age group of 6-10 attending school as a % of total number of children in the same age group.



Q What does this table show?
--The first column of the table show that in Kerala out of 1000 children born alive 11 died before completing one year of the age but in Punjab the proportion of the children dying within ne year of the birth is 49, which is nearly 5 times more.
--also per capita income of Punjab is much more than Kerala.
--The last column shows that more than half of the children donot go school.
Q. How is it that the average person in Punjab has more income than in Kerala but lags behind in other crucial areas?
A. The reason is that money cannot buy all the goods ans srevices that we need to live a healthy and happy life. Therefore income by initself is not the only adequate indicator of the material goods & services that citizens are able to use.
Q. Why does Kerala has low infant Mortality rate?
It is because it has adequate provision of basic health and educational facilities.
Which has resulted in better health and nutritional status of the people.

BMI-BODY MASS INDEX
How is calculated?
Take the weight of a person in Kg and then take the height in metres. Divide the weight by square of height, if this figure is less than 18.5 then the person is undernourished and if it is more than 25 than the person is overweight.
--this is though not applicable to the growing children.
Human development report:(published by UNDP)
According to the HDR health and education are the indicators of the development besides food, clothes and shelter.
--HDR compares countries on the basis of educational levels of the people, their health status and per capita income.
SUSTAINABILITY OF DEVELOPMENT:
It means that development which is not only for the present times but is also for the future generations too.
Q. "The earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to meet the greed of one". How is the statement relevant to the discussion of the development?
A. this means that there are enough resources to meet the needs of all if they are used judiciously and not over exploited by a few,& depriving the others who need them.
--Over exploitation of resources has led to their depletion.
--Some resources are non-renewable, can not be replenished and will soon get exhausted.
--Therefore with the greed of a few developed and rich countries the other coutries are bound to suffer a shortage of resources.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

ASSIGNMENT ON WATER RESOURCES

ASSIGNMENT:
1.Why is Earth called watery planet?
2.What do you mean by water scarcity and what are its causes?
3.Is it possible that an area or a region has ample water resources but is still facing water scarcity?Give examples to prove your answer.
4.Why do we need to conserve & manage water?
5.What do you mean by a dam or a multipurpose project? Give examples .
6.List four ancient hydraullic structures of India.
7.In the recent years muliti-purpose projects have come under great scrutiny and opposition for variety of reasons.What are these reasons?
8.What do you know about 'Narmada Bachao Andolan' and' Tehri Dam Andolan'?
9.What is rooftop rain harvesting?How it is being practised in different parts of India?
10.Write a short note on Tanks or Tankas used for storing water.
11.How is water harvested in Shilong, Meghalaya?
12.Name the state where rain water harvesting structures are compulsory?
13.Compare advantages and disadvantages of multi-purpose projects.
14.Discuss how rain-water harvesting in semi arid regions of Rajasthan are carried on?
15.Write a short note on Bamboo drip irrigation system.
16. How has Gendathur, a village in Mysore in Karnataka has come into prominence?

Friday, May 9, 2008

WATER RESOURCES--CH-3-GEOGRAPHY




WATER RESOURCESS
SOME FACTS:
Earth is watery planet.
--96.5 percent of the total volume of world,s water is existing in the oceans and only 2.5% is fresh water.
--Nearly 70% of this fresh water is in the form of glaciers, while little less than 30% is stored as ground water in water acquifers.
--India receives nearly 4% of global precipitation and ranks 133 in the world in terms of water availablity per person per annum.
--3/4 of earth,s surface is covered with water, but only small portion of its fresh water can be put to use.
--Fresh water is mainly obtained from surface run-off and ground water and is being continually renewed & recharged through hydrological cycle.

Q..If ¾ of world is covered with water & water is renewable resource, then why do countries of the world suffer from water scarcity?
The availibilty of water resources varies over space and time, mainly due to the variations in seasonal and annual precipitation, but water scarcity is mainly caused due to
–Over exploitation
–Excessive use
–Unequal acess of water among different social groups.
–It can be the outcome of the large growing population and consequent greater demands for water.(for domestic use and for production of food.)
–Ever increasing number of industries exert pressure on existing freshwater resources. As these industries require power to run tem and much of this energy comes from hydroelectric power(approx.22% of the total energy produced.)
–Urbanisation and urban lifestyles require added water and energy resources which has further aggravated the problem.
–This scarcity is also due to the bad quality of water, which is due to domestic and industrial wastes
MULTI PURPOSE RIVER VALLEY PROJECTS
These were launched after the independence with their integrated waer resources management approach.These were thought of as the vehicle that would to national development and progress.
Jawhar lal Nehru called them to be the ‘Temples of modern India’, as it would integrate the development of agriculture and village economy with rapid industrialisation and the growth of the urban economy.

Q.What are Dams and how do they help us?
A. A Dam is a barrier buitl across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment.
Today Dams are built for: irrigation, generation of electricity,flood control, recreation inland navigation and fish breeding.
Example--Bhakara dam,(on sutluj-Beas ), Hira kund on the Mahanadi river.
Q. Why in the recent years multi-purpose projects and the dams are under great scrunity and opposition?
A. There are variety of reasons for this, which are as follows:
1.regulating and damming of rivers affect the flow and excessive sedimentation of at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the rivers acquatic life.
2.dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning.
3. the reservoirs that are created on the flood plains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time.
4. resistance to these projects , recently has also been due to the displacement of local communities.People have to give up their livelihood and their meagre access and control over resources for the greater good of the nation.
5.dams have transformed the social landscape i.e increasing the social gap between the richer landowners and landless poor. As in Gujrat, the Sabarmati basin farmers were agitated and almogst caused a roit over the higher priority given to water supply in the urban areas, particularly during the droughts.
6. Inter-state disputes have also become common with regard to the sharing the cost and benefits of the multi-purpose project.
7.The objections to the projects arose due to their failure to achieve the purpose for which they were built.
as these pojects were built to control floods have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the reservoir, moreover the big dams are extremely unsucessful in the times of excessive rainfall(in 2006 the release of water from dams during the floods aggravated the flood situation )
--sedimentation also meant that the folld plains were deprived of the silt, natural fertiliser, further adding on to the problem of the land degradation.
8. multipurpose projects also induce earthquakes, cause waterborne diseases and pests and pollution resulting from excessive use of water.
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN--OR SAVE NARMADA MOVEMENT.
--It is a non-governmental organisation that mobolised tribal people,farmers, environmentalist and humanrigts activitists against the sardar-sarovar dam being built caross Narmada in Gujrat. --It orginally focussed on environmental issues related to trees that would be submereged under the dam water.
--recently it has re- focussed the aim to enable poor citizens, especially outees(displaced people) to get full rehabilitation facilities from the government.
RAIN WATER HARVESTING
Disadvantages and rising resistance against the multipurpose projects, have diverted us to the water harvesting system as the viable solution, both socially , economically and environmentally. 1. In hills and mountainous regions people built diversion channels like 'guls' and'kuls' of the western Himalayas for agriculture.
2.Roof top rainwater harvesting was earlier commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan.
3. In flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.
RAJASTHAN
4. In the arid and semi arid regions , agricultural fields were converted into rainfed storage structurs that allowed water to stand and moisten the soil like 'khadins' in Jaisalmer and Johads in the other parts of Rajasthan.
5.In the arid and semi arid regions of Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer, almost all the houses traditionally had tanks or tankas for storing drinking water.
--they could be as large as a big room.
--they are a part of well developed rooftop water harvesting system, built inside main house or courtyard.
-- they are connected to the sloping roof of the houses through the pipe.Rain falling on the rooftops would travel down the pipe and was stored in these underground 'tankas' .
--the first spell of rain was usually not collected as this would clean the roofs and the pipes.
--it is a extremely reliable source of drinking water when all othersources of water are dried up, particularly in summers.
--'Palar pani" or the rain water is the purest form of natural water. Many house constructed undergroung rooms adjoining the tanka to beat the csummer heat as it is would keep the room cool.
Today in Rajasthan sadly this practice is on decline as plenty of water is available due to perennial Rajasthan canal.
ROOF TOP WATER HARVESTING IN SHILONG,MEGHALAYA
It is a most common practice in Shilong and is also very interesting because Cherapunji & Mawsynram situated at a distance of 55km from Shilong receive higest rainfall in the world yet the state capital Shilong faces acute shortage of water.
--nearly every household in the city has rooftop water harvesting structure.
--nearly 15-25%of total water requirement of the house hold comes from the rooftop water harvesting.
--BAMBOO DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM IN MEGHALAYA
In Meghalaya, a 200 year old system of tapping stream & spring water by using bamboo pipes is prevalent.
--over 18-20 litres of water enters the pipe system and gets transported over hundreds of metres.
EXAMPLES—
Today in many parts of rural and urban Indiarooftop water harvesting is sucessfully adapted to store and conserve water
1. TAMIL NADU—is the first and the only state in India which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structure compulsory to all the houses across the stste. There are leagle provisions to punish the defaulters.
.
2. KARNATAKA: In Gendathur, a remote backward village in Mysore, Karnataka, villagers have installed in their houses rooftop waterharvesting system to meet their water needs.Nearly 200 households have installed this system and the village has earned a distinction of being rich in rain water resources.
--HYDRAULLIC STRUCTURES OF ANCIENT INDIA
Archaeological & historical records show that from anicient times we have been construct1.ing structures like dams built of stone rubble,reserveoirs or lakes, embankments or rivers for irrigation. Some of them are as follows.
1.In the 1st century B.C, Sringaverapura near Allhabad had sophisticated water harvesting system challening the flood water of river Ganga.
2.During the times of Chandragupta Maurya, dams , lakes and irrigation systems were extensively built.
3.Evidences of sophisticated irrigation works have also been found in Kalinga(orrisa)Nagarjunkonda(Andhra Prades), Bennur(Karnataka), Kolapur (Maharashtra) etc.
4.In the 11th the Bhopal lake one of the largest artificial was built.
5.In the 14th the tank in Haus-khas, Delhi was built by Illtutmish for supplying water to Siri Fort area.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

A MESSAGE TO ALL NEW X CLASS STUDENTS

Dear students
I welcome you all to my bolg!
Hope you all will find this blog intresting and you will make maximum use of it.
For your information notes of history--chapter-3(Nationalism in India) are on Ms. Saini's blog and its assignment is on my blog.
On my blog on the right side you will find both Ms. Saini's blog link as well as assingnments (when you will scroll down).
Make maximum use of the blog and do comment if you need to, as it will serve as a feedback for me, but please do send related comments only.

Friday, February 29, 2008

SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS--24-29 FEB 08

DEAR STUDENTS I WISH YOU ALL A VERY BEST OF LUCK FOR THE EXAMS!
MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL WITH VERY GOOD MARKS.



Dear Anisha, all the best for yuor exams &here is the answer to your queries.

GERMAN UNIFICATION:--1. Nationalist feeling was widespread among Germans, who tried to topple monarchy in 1848. This feeling was suppressed by the Monarch, army and landlords (called Junkers ) in Prussia. Since then Prussia took leadership in the movement for national unification.2. Its chief minister Otto Von Bismarck was the architect of this process, as he believed in the policy of Blood and Iron.3.. He took the help of army and Bureaucracy to form German nation.6. Three wars were fought for about 7 years with Austria, Denmark and France and it ended in Prussian victory.4.. In January 1871 an assembly of representatives of army, princes of German states, Prussian ministers and Bismarck gathered in hall of Mirrors in the palace of Versailles to proclaim new German state. The new nation laid emphasis on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicious systems of Germany.

CONGRESS OF VIENNA 1.After the defeat of Napoleon, European powers--- Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria met at Vienna.The congress was hosted by Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich.2.The Bourbon Dynasty was restored to power and France had lost all the territories it had occupied under Napoleon.3.Kingdom of Netherlands was set up in north and Genoa was added to Piedmont, an Italian empire.4.But the German confederation of 39 stated that had been set up by Napoleon was left untouched.5.In the east, Russia was given Poland while Prussia was given a portion of Saxony.The main intention behind all this was to restore monarchies, a new conservative order in Europe.

--Yes Pages 147, 139, 65, 15 of history are to be done. Questions have been framed on them . Do them as short notes.
India’s first movie— 1896. RAJA HARISHCHANDRA, by Dada saheb Palke.
ROMANSHA---
Association formed by Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar---DEPRESSED CLASSES ASSOCIATION—1930.
Choice in the maps is not necessary.
Please do learn names of regional parties and how are they formed.
SHALINI
CHAPTER-2 of pol.sc.—federalism.
Definition, feature—pg.15 any four.
Difference bet. Coming and holding fed—pg-15.
Q.what makes Indian federal/ power distribution.—3 lists, pg-16,17
Q how can we change power sharing arrangement—pg-17.
Coalition govt.—changing trends—pg-20.
Decentralization-1992—4-5 points-pg-24.
Rural local govt. &MCD-pg-25.

OUT COMES OF DEMOCRACY
TOPICS—QUESTIONS
Q. How do we asses democracy’s outcomes?i.e how effective it is?/ how it has proved to be beneficial?
How is democratic govt. better than the other govts.
ANS---It is accounatable, responsive & legitimate.—explain.
2. we judge it through the economic growth and development—compare the ecomomic growth of democratic countries with that of the dictators.-pg-93.
3.democracy is good if it reduces inequality and poverty.
4. democracy should produce harmonious social life—reduces tensions & negotiate differences.
5.promotes dignity & freedom of citizens.
Q. EXPECTATIONS FROM DEMOCRACY—pg-98, right side.

PRINT CULTURE---QUESTIONS.
1.Where did earliest kind of print technology developed?
2.Define Calligraphy, vellum
3.what was the use of printing press in China?
4.write about Dimond sutra.
5.How did paper reach Chima?
6. ‘production of hand written manuscripts could not satisfy ever increasing demands of the people’ Why?—(page—156, 3 para.)
7.Note on Gutenberg’s printing press.
8.Impact of print revulotion—4 marks.
Ans---a)new reading public.
b)impact on religion-debates & fear of print culture.
c)reading mania-reading culture.
d)print & tyrants(despotic rulers)
9.’Earlier there was a hearing public, now a reading public came into being’. Explain the statement. OR
‘Oral culture thus entered print & printed material’ Explain
10.Impact of print cultire on French revolution.
11.Print and children, women & workers.( pg—165, only points.)
12. Names of books & writers on .( page—168—175)

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