Chapter 4 - History - Question Paper

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Class 10 History: The Age of Industrialisation, 80 Marks Paper with Answer Key

CLASS X · SOCIAL SCIENCE (HISTORY)

The Age of Industrialisation (India and the Contemporary World II, Chapter 4)

Time: 3 hoursMaximum Marks: 80
Name: ____________________Roll No.: ________   Section: ____

General Instructions

  1. The paper has six sections (A to F) and 37 questions. All questions are compulsory.
  2. Section A: Q1–20, MCQs, 1 mark each. Section B: Q21–24, 2 marks each (about 40 words).
  3. Section C: Q25–29, 3 marks each (about 80 words). Section D: Q30–33, 5 marks each (about 120 words).
  4. Section E: Q34–36, case-based, 4 marks each. Section F: Q37, map work, 5 marks.
  5. Attach the outline map of India to your answer book for Q37.
SECTION A — Multiple Choice Questions (20 × 1 = 20)
1.
In the 1900 music-book cover by E.T. Paull, the "angel of progress" is perched on:
  1. a railway engine
  2. a wheel with wings
  3. a printing press
  4. a factory chimney
[1]
2.
Large-scale production for an international market, done in the countryside before factories, is called:
  1. mechanisation
  2. mercantilism
  3. proto-industrialisation
  4. enclosure
[1]
3.
Merchants of European towns moved to the countryside because:
  1. town guilds were powerful and restricted new entrants
  2. peasants owned large estates
  3. factories were banned in towns
  4. rulers ordered them to leave
[1]
4.
Manchester cloth labels carried pictures of Indian gods and goddesses mainly to:
  1. meet a legal requirement
  2. show the cloth was cheaper
  3. show that gods wove the cloth
  4. make a foreign product look familiar and divinely approved
[1]
5.
In the English cloth trade, the "finishing centre" was:
  1. Manchester
  2. London
  3. Liverpool
  4. Bristol
[1]
6.
Britain's raw cotton imports rose from 2.5 million pounds in 1760 to how much by 1787?
  1. 12 million
  2. 32 million
  3. 22 million
  4. 42 million
[1]
7.
Richard Arkwright is associated with:
  1. the cotton mill, with all processes under one roof
  2. the Spinning Jenny
  3. the improved steam engine
  4. the first trade guild
[1]
8.
By 1873 the value of Britain's iron and steel exports (about £77 million) was ______ its cotton exports.
  1. half
  2. double
  3. equal to
  4. triple
[1]
9.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, England had no more than ______ steam engines.
  1. 121
  2. 521
  3. 1,021
  4. 321
[1]
10.
Victorian industrialists hesitated to adopt machines mainly because:
  1. labour was plentiful and cheap, and machines needed heavy investment
  2. workers demanded machines
  3. machines were banned by law
  4. there was a shortage of workers
[1]
11.
The Spinning Jenny was devised by James Hargreaves in:
  1. 1746
  2. 1781
  3. 1764
  4. 1854
[1]
12.
The gross value of trade through Surat fell from Rs 16 million to about:
  1. Rs 6 million
  2. Rs 3 million
  3. Rs 10 million
  4. Rs 1 million
[1]
13.
The paid servant appointed by the East India Company to supervise weavers was the:
  1. jobber
  2. stapler
  3. sepoy
  4. gomastha
[1]
14.
Piece-goods fell from 33% of India's exports in 1811-12 to about ______ in 1850-51.
  1. 3%
  2. 13%
  3. 23%
  4. 30%
[1]
15.
The first cotton mill in Bombay came up in:
  1. 1834
  2. 1874
  3. 1854
  4. 1904
[1]
16.
Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the ______ before turning to industry.
  1. Burma trade
  2. China trade
  3. East Africa trade
  4. Middle East trade
[1]
17.
Which of these was a European Managing Agency in India?
  1. Tata & Sons
  2. Birla Brothers
  3. Madras Chamber of Commerce
  4. Bird Heiglers & Co.
[1]
18.
A jobber in an Indian mill was:
  1. a trusted old worker who recruited people from his village
  2. the owner of the mill
  3. a Company servant supervising weavers
  4. a person who sorts wool
[1]
19.
By 1941, what share of handlooms in India had fly shuttles?
  1. 10%
  2. 20%
  3. over 35%
  4. over 90%
[1]
20.
Early Indian cotton mills produced coarse yarn rather than cloth because:
  1. weavers refused to buy yarn
  2. yarn was not a major British import, so it avoided competing with Manchester
  3. mills could not make cloth
  4. the government banned cloth production
[1]
SECTION B — Very Short Answer Questions (4 × 2 = 8)
21.
Define proto-industrialisation.
[2]
22.
State any two functions of a gomastha.
[2]
23.
Why did women hand-spinners in Britain attack the Spinning Jenny?
[2]
24.
What is a fly shuttle? State one benefit it gave handloom weavers.
[2]
SECTION C — Short Answer Questions (5 × 3 = 15)
25.
Explain any three reasons why European merchants shifted production to the countryside in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
[3]
26.
Why did new technology spread slowly in nineteenth-century Britain? Give any three reasons.
[3]
27.
How did the abundance of labour affect the lives of workers in Victorian Britain? Explain with three points.
[3]
28.
Why did Indian cotton weavers face two problems at the same time by the mid-nineteenth century? Explain.
[3]
29.
Describe the role of jobbers in the Indian mills.
[3]
SECTION D — Long Answer Questions (4 × 5 = 20)
30.
"Industrialisation in Britain was not a story of sudden, rapid change." Support this statement with five points.
[5]
31.
Explain how the East India Company established control over weavers after it gained political power.
[5]
32.
Who set up industries in India? Explain how colonial control limited Indian businessmen.
[5]
33.
Why did handloom and other small-scale production survive and even expand in India in the twentieth century? Explain.
[5]
SECTION E — Case-Based Questions (3 × 4 = 12)
34.
Read the extract and answer the questions.
In November 1881, Will Thorne set out on foot for London with two friends, hoping for work at a gas works where an old workmate was employed. They had little money; it ran out by the third day. They slept under a haystack and in a farm shed. In London they could not find his friend and slept in an old building. Next afternoon they reached the gas works, where the friend spoke to the foreman and Thorne was given a job.
(i) What does the extract show about how jobs were often obtained? [1]
(ii) Why did gas works need more workers in winter? [1]
(iii) Explain two difficulties faced by job-seekers who had no friends or relatives in the factories. [2]
35.
Read the extracts and answer the questions.
An official of Patna reported that a brisk cloth trade in Jahanabad had entirely ceased, and in Bihar it was very limited because cheap, durable goods from Manchester could not be matched by local weavers. The 1872 census report on the Koshti weavers said they could not compete with the showy Manchester goods that came in such profusion, and that many had moved to Berar, where they earned wages as day labourers.
(i) Which imported goods hurt local weavers? [1]
(ii) State one change in the Koshtis' occupation. [1]
(iii) Explain two reasons why Indian weavers could not compete with imported cloth. [2]
36.
Read the extracts and answer the questions.
A former Bombay millworker recalled that workers paid jobbers to get their sons jobs in the mill. The mill worker stayed closely tied to his village and went home for harvesting and sowing, which the mills accepted as normal and granted leave for. A trade unionist recalled that in the 1930s and 1940s the shift ran from 5 pm to 3 am, and that his father, after 35 years in the mill, fell ill with an asthma-like disease, could not work any more and went back to the village.
(i) Why did workers pay jobbers? [1]
(ii) Why did millworkers go back to their villages at certain times of the year? [1]
(iii) Mention two hardships of mill workers shown in the extracts. [2]
SECTION F — Map Work (5 × 1 = 5)
37.
On the outline map of India, locate and label any five of the following:
(a) Bombay (first cotton mill, 1854)   (b) Ahmedabad (a cotton-mill centre)   (c) Kanpur (Elgin Mill)   (d) Madras (mill begun 1874)   (e) Jamshedpur (iron and steel works, 1912)   (f) Surat (old trading port)
[5]

— End of Paper —

Answer Key and Marking Scheme (80 Marks)

Accept any other correct, relevant answer given in the student's own words. Marks in brackets.

Section A (1 mark each)

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Section B

21. A phase of industrialisation before factories, with large-scale production for an international market [1], carried out by peasants and artisans in the countryside for town merchants [1].

22. Any two [1+1]: supervise weavers; collect supplies of cloth; examine the quality of cloth.

23. The Jenny let one worker spin several threads with one wheel, cutting the demand for labour [1]. Hand-spinners feared losing their work and income [1].

24. A mechanical device worked with ropes and pulleys that places the weft threads into the warp [1]. Any one benefit [1]: higher output per worker, faster production, weaving of wide cloth, or less labour needed.

Section C (1 mark per point)

25. Any three: (1) town guilds controlled production and prices, and kept new people out; (2) rulers gave guilds monopoly rights, so new merchants could not set up in towns; (3) peasants and cottagers had lost common lands to enclosure and had tiny plots, so they eagerly took the work; (4) family labour could be used more fully.

26. Any three: (1) machines were expensive, so merchants and industrialists were cautious; (2) they often broke down and repairs were costly; (3) they were not as effective as inventors claimed; (4) example: Watt patented his engine in 1781, yet England had only 321 engines in the early 1800s.

27. Any three: (1) wages stayed low, and industrialists faced no labour shortage; (2) jobs depended on friends and relatives, and others waited for weeks, sleeping under bridges or in night refuges; (3) seasonal work meant long periods of no work; (4) in slumps such as the 1830s, unemployment reached 35 to 75% in some regions.

28. (1) Their export market collapsed: piece-goods fell from 33% of exports (1811-12) to 3% (1850-51) [1]. (2) The local market shrank because cheap Manchester machine-made cloth flooded it: imports rose from 31% (1850) to over 50% (1870s) [1]. (3) Cheap imports could not be matched; from the 1860s raw cotton also became scarce and dear [1].

29. Any three: (1) usually an old, trusted worker; (2) got recruits from his own village and made sure they got jobs; (3) helped them settle in the city and lent money in crises; (4) gained authority and demanded money and gifts, controlling workers' lives.

Section D (any five points, 1 mark each)

30. (1) Cotton led up to the 1840s, then iron and steel; by 1873 iron and steel exports were double cotton exports. (2) New industries could not easily displace traditional ones; under 20% of workers were in advanced sectors by the end of the 1800s. (3) A large share of textile output came from domestic units, not factories. (4) Small innovations drove growth in food processing, building, pottery, tanning and furniture. (5) Technology was expensive, machines broke down, and the steam engine spread slowly (321 engines early in the century). (6) The typical mid-century worker was a craftsperson or labourer.

31. (1) Tried to remove existing traders and brokers and control weavers directly. (2) Appointed paid gomasthas to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine cloth. (3) Gave advances, so weavers had to hand cloth only to the gomastha, not other traders. (4) Weavers leased out their land and worked full-time, with the whole family involved. (5) Outsider gomasthas came with sepoys and peons and beat or flogged weavers for delays, so weavers lost bargaining power and received low prices. (6) Result: many weavers left villages, revolted, or took up agricultural labour.

32. (1) Many business groups began in the China trade (opium out, tea in). (2) Dwarkanath Tagore set up six joint-stock companies (they sank in the 1840s crises); Parsis such as Dinshaw Petit and J.N. Tata, and Marwaris such as Seth Hukumchand and the Birla family, also had China links. (3) Others made capital in trade with Burma, the Middle East and East Africa, or by banking within India. (4) Indians were barred from trading manufactured goods with Europe, had to export raw materials (cotton, opium, wheat, indigo), and were edged out of shipping. (5) European Managing Agencies controlled much of industry till the First World War, with Indians often supplying only capital, and Indians could not join European chambers of commerce.

33. (1) Only 5% (1911) and 10% (1931) of industrial workers were in registered factories; the rest worked in small workshops and households. (2) Handloom cloth production almost trebled between 1900 and 1940. (3) Weavers adopted the fly shuttle (over 35% of looms by 1941; 70-80% in some regions) and other small innovations. (4) Demand for fine cloth was stable even in famines, while coarse cloth demand fluctuated. (5) Mills could not copy specialised weaves such as Banarasi and Baluchari saris, or Madras lungis and handkerchiefs. (6) Weavers still lived hard lives with whole households working long hours, yet their labour was part of industrialisation.

Section E

34. (i) Through networks of friends and relatives already working there [1]. (ii) Demand peaked in the cold months, so more workers were needed [1]. (iii) Any two [1+1]: had to wait weeks; slept under bridges or in night refuges and casual wards; workhouse stays were humiliating; without money they could not pay for food and lodging.

35. (i) Cheap, machine-made cotton goods from Manchester [1]. (ii) They left weaving and became day labourers, after migrating to Berar [1]. (iii) Any two [1+1]: imports were cheaper because machine-made; their export market had collapsed; the local market was glutted; raw cotton was scarce and expensive from the 1860s.

36. (i) To get their sons jobs in the mill [1]. (ii) They stayed closely tied to their village and went back to harvest and sow; mills granted leave [1]. (iii) Any two [1+1]: very long shifts (5 pm to 3 am); serious illness after years of work; no support once unfit, so they returned to the village; paying jobbers for jobs.

Section F

37. Any five, 1 mark each for correct location and label: Bombay (west coast, Maharashtra); Ahmedabad (Gujarat); Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, on the Ganga); Madras (south-east coast); Jamshedpur (Jharkhand); Surat (Gujarat coast). Award 1 mark for each correctly placed and labelled point; no marks for a wrong or unlabelled one.

Mark Summary

SectionABCDEFTotal
Marks208152012580