Annual Statement Of The Coasting Trade And Navigation Of British India

Preface: The present work examines the industrial experience of Bengal during the period 1900 to 1939 with particular emphasis on the role of the government as the main instrument for growth. For this work, available statistical material has been utilized for the sake of precision as well as to strengthen the qualitative evidence. The book contains eight chapters. While Chapter I builds up the case for industrial development, Chapter II examines in detail the industrial policy of the Bengal government in the light of its own limitations as a subordinate authority to the Government of India and that of Whitehall. Chapter III is an investigation of the labour market in Bengal with emphasis on the supply of labour to jute, tea and coal industries in relation to wages and conditions of work. In Chapter IV, I have examined the rates of profitability and security of industrial investments. In this chapter, I have also examined the financial institutions of the time and their role in the industrial development of the province. Chapter V points to some of the difficulties experienced by Indian entrepreneurs, and in the above light looks at their contribution to the larger industrial establishments of Bengal. The next two Chapters VI and VII examine the growth and development of the two biggest manufacturing industries of our period - jute and handloom cotton weaving industries. The concluding chapter is an estimate of the industrial progress made in the province during the period under review. This book is a slightly revised version of my Ph.D. thesis submitted to the University of London in 1978. In the preparation of this thesis, I have accumulated an enormous debt of gratitude to my Supervisor, Dr. K. N. Chaudhuri whose careful vigilance and timely intervention saved me from many factual errors and infelicities of style. My thanks are also due to Mr. I. B. Harrison, who went through some of my preliminary chapters during the absence of Dr Chaudhuri in 1975-76 and made many useful observations. I am also indebted to Dr. Sirajul Islam of Dhaka University for helping me with some necessary corrections. Here I take this opportunity also to express my deep gratitude to the UK Commonwealth Commission which offered me a scholarship for three years which enabled me to undertake this research work. Needless to say, without their financial help it would have been virtually impossible to pursue this course of studies. I also wish to thank the University of Dhaka for granting me the necessary study leave. There remains also a special group of people - without whose co-operation, patience and tolerance, this work would not have seen the light of day. In this group belong the library staff of the British Library (including the Newspaper Section at Colindale), Senate House Library, the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and particularly, the India Office Library and Records (including their Newspaper Section at the Bush House). I take this opportunity to thank Mr. J. Sims of the India Office Library and Records for being so helpful in tracking down apparently untraceable official documents. I wish to thank the staff of the Bangladesh Secretariat Record Room and of the Secretariat Library, Dhaka for extending me all possible facilities in carrying out my research work. Finally, I owe a special debt of gratitude to my wife, Lilly whose support and constant encouragement over these years was invaluable in completing this work. - A. Z. M. Iftikhar-ul-Awwal

In a developing economy, agriculture must not only provide for a growing populace but also produce a surplus for investment. For an ancient, custom-domi­nated land like India, how does agriculture attempt to meet these demands? In this book, the economic history of India's agriculture and the extent of its development, from 1891 to independence (1947), is closely and authoritatively examined in a study of output, acreage, and yield per acre for the eighteen crops that constitute most of India's agriculture. The nature of change for each of these eighteen crops, and for the foodgrain, non­foodgrain, and all-crop groups is described and analyzed for the fifty-six-year period as a whole, as well as for shorter periods, for British India and six major regions. Output and trade data are combined to determine trends in the availability of crops. These trends are compared with population figures to indicate changes in India's welfare. To explain the trends in acre productivity, close scrutiny is given to changes m the composition of output, intensity of cultivation, agricultural technology, and physical environment. An extensive treatment of the methodological problems encountered in assembling adequate crop data and statistical measurements precedes the investigation of agricultural development. An accurate account must balance the multitude of variables involved in the complex system by which agricultural information was compiled and evaluated: the reliability of the village recorders, the changes in boundary lines and the consequent changes in records, the influence of climate and foreign markets, as well as the larger patterns of history and nature, warfare and catastrophe. The comprehensive Appendix includes, among other source materials, the annual data for individual crops and crop aggregates and their trend rates for individual decades. The text contains numerous tables, charts, and maps.