that all the basic rights that the British denied to the Indians found a prominent place in the Resolution. The colonial government curtailed civil liberties and freedom by passing draconian acts and ordinances. Gandhian ideals and Nehru’s socialist vision also found a place in the list of rights that the Indian National Congress promised to ensure in free India. Period of Radicalism in Anti-imperialist Struggles America, Indian cotton cultivators came to grief.
But Europeans started textile mills in India, taking advantage of the cheapness of cotton available. Ahmedabad textiles mills were established by Indian entrepreneurs and both Ahmedabad and Bombay became prominent centres of cotton mills. By , there were spinning, weaving and other cotton mills within Bombay presidency. Between – and - , the number of cotton textile mills in India increased from to .
An important landmark in establishment of industries in India was the expansion of the railways system in India. The first passenger train ran in , connecting Bombay with Thane. By the first decade of the twentieth century, railways was the biggest engineering industry in India. This British- managed industry, run by railway companies, employed , persons in .
The advent of railways and other means of transport and communication facilities helped development of various industries. Jute was yet another industry that picked up in India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The first jute mill in Calcutta was founded in . The growth of jute industry was so rapid and by , there were mills in Calcutta Presidency.
However, unlike the Bombay textile industry, these mills were owned by Europeans. Though the industrial development in the nineteenth century was mainly confined to very limited sectors like cotton, jute, etc., efforts were made to diversify the sectors. For example, the Bengal Coal Company was set prices of the agricultural products, which depended on export markets like jute and raw cotton fell steeply. The depression brought down the value of Indian exports from Rs.
crores in – to Rs