Formative Assessment
Given below is a list of activities for Formative Assessment. A wide variety of activities
have been given keeping in mind the fact that the students in a classroom have multiple
intelligences. You could use them to assess the understanding of the students either at
the end of the chapter, or at the end of each section.
• Debate: Divide the class into two groups. Give the students about 5-10 minutes to
prepare for the topic and conduct the debate.
• Creative Writing: Ask the students to write about the topic in about 200-250 words.
• Craft Work: Ask the students to complete the activity on page 46.
• Project Work: The students can search the Internet to find out interesting information
about the Tata Iron and Steel works in Jharkhand. Ask them to make a booklet and
present the same in class.
• Peer and self-assessment: Use the Fill in the blanks, True or False and MCQs on pages
46 and 47 for peer and self-assessment.
HOTS
The HOTS question can be discussed in class.
Life skills
Ask the students to find out about any thriving cottage industry in their state.
Value-based question
Ask the students to discuss the answers for the value-based question.
Follow-up
• Find out about the different plantation industries of India and their importance.
Answer key for the exercises in the lesson
Exercises for Summative Assessment
I. Fill in the blanks.
1. Cowasjee Nanabhai set up the first cotton
mill at Bombay.
2. Calcutta was a major centre for the jute
industry.
3. The British started tea plantations in Assam
and Bengal.
4. Jamsetji Tata started the steel plant at
Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.
II. True or False?
1. Before British rule, India was a major centre
of crafts and industry. (T)
2. The indigo plant is used in making a dye for
textiles. (T)
3. Coorg became well known for its tea
plantations. (F)
4. Coal mines are concentrated in Bihar, Bengal
and Odisha. (T)
III. Answer in brief.
1. What were the major exports from India
before the Industrial Revolution?
Calico, muslin, yarn, raw cotton, raw silk,
gold, and silver artifacts, jewellery, leather,
sugar, rice, indigo, pepper and other spices
were some of the major exports from India
before the Industrial Revolution.
2. What was the impact of the Industrial
Revolution on India?
After the Industrial Revolution, Britain
started producing machine-made goods and
textiles that were much cheaper than the
Indian goods. They were also often better
in quality. Indian handicrafts slowly died
because they could not compete against
the cheaper products from Britain that were
flooding the Indian markets.
3. What was the recommendation of the
Famine Commission set up in 1880?
The recurring famines in India forced the
British to set up the Famine Commission
in 1880. The commission strongly
recommended the setting up of factories
in India as this would reduce pressure on
agriculture.
4. What was the impact of World War I on
Indian industry?
When World War I broke out in 1914, Britain
was importing parts of its steel requirements
from India. It realised the need to develop
industries in India to supplement factories in
Britain manufacturing military equipments.
So the British were forced to start factories
in India. The country’s first large scale
industries were set up in the middle of the
19th century. These industries were cotton,
jute, iron, and steel, paper and leather.
IV. Answer in detail.
1. Describe how British rule resulted in the
decline of the Indian industry.
The establishment of British rule set in
motion a series of events which led to
a decline of the Indian industry. a) After
the Industrial Revolution, Britain started
producing machine-made goods and textiles
that were cheaper than Indian goods and
were of better quality. As a result Indian
handicrafts declined and slowly died. b)
When the British started taking over the
country, princes, landlords and nobles could
no longer patronise the artisans as most of
them now depended directly or indirectly
on the British. c) Indian artisans also lost
most of their external market as British
government posed strict laws banning the
import of Indian textiles into Britain. d)
Company agents forced Indian farmers to
cultivate cotton and sell it to them at cheap
rates. Soon only raw cotton was exported
from India and readymade cloth was being
imported. e) The East India Company did
not care about artisans who lost their jobs.
Millions became jobless leading to misery
and poverty. All these resulted in the decline
of Indian industry.
2. Describe the beginning of industrialisation
in India during the colonial period, citing
any two industries as examples.
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The British government’s attitude to
industrial development in India was
lukewarm. It did not establish heavy
industries in India as they would become
competitors to British industries. But
the growing national movement and the
Revolt of 1857 put pressure on the British
to do something about industry in India.
The recurring famines also added to this
pressure. The Famine Commission also
recommended the setting up of factories.
The Swadeshi Movement started by
Mahatma Gandhi, which stressed the need
to develop indigenous industries, also gave
a boost to the industrialisation. Large-scale
industries required large-scale movement of
raw materials and finished products. India
did not have modern and efficient means of
transport and communication. So the British
started building roads, railways and steam
navigation for transporting raw materials
and finished goods. The British invested
largely in factories and mines. They built
jute factories in Calcutta and cotton mills
in Kanpur, followed by metal works, coal
mines etc. This encouraged the growth of
ancillary industries, usually run by Indians.
World War I made the British realise the
need to develop major industries in India to
supplement factories in Britain. Since it was
difficult to get supplies from England due
to the war, the British were forced to start
factories in India. The country’s first largescale industry was set up in the middle of the
19th century with Bombay as the centre. The
first major cotton mill was set up in Bombay
by Cowasjee Nanabhai. This was followed
by one in Ahmadabad, Madras, Kanpur,
Nagpur etc. However, they had to face stiff
competition from British mills. The iron and
steel industry was started in a modest scale
but grew by leaps and bounds. In 1907, The
Tata Iron and Steel Company was founded
by Nusserwanji Tata in Jamshedpur, the first
Indian-owned steel producing unit in India.
3. What was the result of the industrialisation
of India?
Artisans and craftsmen who were producing
fine articles were now without jobs and
became labourers. Since modern industries
were established in locations convenient to
the British, some parts of India progressed
while others remained undeveloped. Since
all factories were originally owned by the
British, all the profits also went to them.
Multiple Choice Questions
1.c
6.d
2.c
7.d
3.c
8.b
4.c
9.b
5.a
Value-based question
• Being proactive and resourceful
• Showing respect for another’s work
• Having empathy; being sensitive to social
issues in the community
• Appreciating traditional skills
Answer key for the worksheet
I.
II.
III.
IV.
1. b 2. a 3. c
1. False 2. True 3. False
1. d 2. c 3. d 4. b
1. India was considered as ‘the industrial
workshop of the world’. Before the
establishment of the British rule, India was a
flourishing centre for craft and industry.
2. Murshidabad, Benaras, Krishnanagar, Dhaka,
Ahmedabad and Mathura were flourishing
cotton textile centres in India during the 17th
century.
3. There were recurring famines in India which
put a pressure on the exports of raw materials
from India. The growing national movement
and the famines forced the British to set up
the Famine Commission in India in the 1880.
4. The sugar factories are concentrated in
the state of Maharashtra as it has large
sugarcane plantations. Maharashtra has the
right resources for the growth of sugarcane.
5. In the 19th century, Indian merchants started
building cotton textile industries in Bombay
and Ahmedabad. Later, Madras too became
a cotton textile centre.