Colonial rule in India brought about structural changes in the legal, industrial and architectural spheres. Give examples.

OR

Exemplify the different kinds of urbanization witnessed in India in the first two decades after independence.

The British came as traders in India but soon became rulers and administrators and influenced the political and economic spheres.

Colonialism brought into being new political, economic and social structural changes in India during the colonial era. All the structural changes were accompanied by cultural changes. The two major structural changes that were brought into British India are industrialization and urbanization.

1. Legal changes- Several acts like Indian Penal Code, 1860; The transfer of property act 1882; Indian Police Act, 1861; Transport of Native Laborers Act 1863 through which recruitment of laborers was carried out by the British; etc. were introduced by the British. Lives of the pastoralists were changed by the forest Act because this act gave British full control over forest resources.

2. Industrial changes- The British era led to the decline of small scale industries which were being set up in the rural areas of India. The small artisans lost their livelihood. The old urban centers declined. The traditional exports of cotton and silk manufacturers from India declined in the face of Manchester competition. The decline of cities like Surat and Masuliptanam and rise of Bombay and Madras took place. The drain of wealth took place.

3. Architectural changes- Numerous European countries invaded India and created architectural designs and styles which resembled their own ancestors. Some examples of colonial architecture can be seen in earlier cities like Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Agra, Nagpur, Bhopal, and Hyderabad. Examples are Victoria Memorial in Calcutta, St. Andrew’s Kirk in Madras (now Chennai), etc. The European towns also had spacious bungalows, elegant apartments and so on.

OR

India witnessed poverty, unemployment, and economic backwardness after independence. Urbanization began to accelerate the adoption of a mixed economic system which gave rise to the private sector. The following are the different form of urbanization in the first two decades in India.

1. After independence, India witnessed numerous types of urbanization in the first two decades. Here we draw from a sociological account of the different kinds of urbanization in India. Sociologist M.S.A. Rao argued that in India many villages are becoming increasingly subject to the impact of urban influences. But the nature of urban impact varies according to the kind of relations a village has with a city or town.

2. The period after the 1940s saw a rapid growth of metropolitan cities in India like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai.

3. The nation’s economy saw an industrial revolution and the invention of new technologies.

4. The living standard of the people living in urban areas increased.

5. The growth of public sector resulted in the development of modern amenities in urban areas like transport, water, and electricity, communication, etc. and hence the infrastructure of the urban areas improved as compared to that in rural areas.

6. Urbanization thus also led to the phenomenon of migration from rural areas to urban areas that had basic facilities.