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A Concise History of Science in India c13.s17: State of Industry

A Concise History of Science in India c13.s17

Language
English

Contents

State of Industry

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While the participation of Indians in the modern scientific investigations was clearly noticeable towards the close of the nineteenth century, the industry in India presented a sharp contrast. Perhaps a brief reference to the state of industry in India during the nineteenth century may not be out of place here.a In the west there was a constant interaction between science-based technology and industry at that time. New industries sprang up spectacularly as a result of the applications of science in the leading western countries. But in India there was practically no industrial base in the modern sense even in the first half of the nineteenth century. The East India Company thought it prudent to adopt a policy of complete *Laissez faire* in the field of industry. In its own interest in the cotton textiles, the Company even adopted a negative attitude which is too well known to merit special mention in this short account.

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It may be noted here that as early as the seventeenth century A.D. India enjoyed a leading position in respect of its manufactures including superfine textile fabrics, indigo and saltpetre. Gujarat, Coromandel Coast and the Indo-Gangetic region were important regions of production. Surat, Musalipatam and Hoogly were the noted ports for export of high quality goods. However, the commerce in textile products began to show signs of decay by the end of the eighteenth century and almost went into oblivion by the middle of the nineteenth century.

Indigo

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In respect of indigo there was a favourable factor, though it was prone to be short-lived. The decline of the indigo industry in the West Indies at that time acted as a powerful incentive to cultivate indigo on a large scale in India. The East India Company brought planters from the West Indies, while the required capital was raised from the savings of the Company's public servants. The result was that there was a phenomenal growth of indigo-processing factories in Bengal and Bihar by the end of the eighteenth century. In the first half of the nineteenth century Bihar, Banaras and the Doab regions emerged as the principal producers of indigo. But the industry had to see its end towards the close of the nineteenth century as a result of the discovery of the synthetic dye (1856) in England.

Jute and Cotton

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The jute industry, from its beginnings in 1855 in Serampore (Bengal), began to flourish rapidly. In less than 50 years there were some 20 mills owned by the British capitalists with 100,000 looms and over two lakh spindles for producing jute goods. When the traditional handloom industry of cotton fabrics fell a foul prey to the British Government's tariff policies, the Indian capitalists, particularly the Parsees, embarked upon the modern cotton industry. The first cotton mill was established in Bombay in 1853 with about 25,000 spindles; later another was established at Ahmedabad. Within a decade, Bombay and Ahmedabad became industrial centres for cotton fabrics (10 in Bombay and 3 in Ahmedabad). In 1890 there were as many as 137 mills which mostly produced cotton yarn for export to China and Japan. But soon Japan began to compete with India and captured the Chinese market.

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a The following account is based on the publications of Mehta and Thomas as well as the official reports of the industries concerned.

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*Iron and Steel*

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The iron and steel industry was indeed in distress. This important industry proved a failure practically during the whole of the nineteenth century despite the concerted efforts made in this direction. In the Salem regiona (Madras Presidency) one such effort was made in 1825 by Josaiah Marshall Heath, an erstwhile civil servant of the East India Company. He resigned from the lucrative job, raised loan from a British firm in Calcutta and spent four years in England to get the technical information, machinery and a few workmen. By 1830 he had erected the iron-smelting works at Porto Novo—two large and two small furnaces—for conversion of high grade iron ore (72% iron) into iron, using charcoal of good quality. Heath had planned to produce 400 tons of bar iron annually. The quality of the bar iron so produced received approbation even in England. In the meantime he had exhausted his resources and applied for government assistance to the tune of a lac of rupees as well as grant of exclusive rights for 25 years. Heath got both; and the rights granted to him were in fact similar to the Parliamentary privileges granted to Messrs. Boulton and Watt of England. But in the iron-smelting process using charcoal as the reducing agent he experienced difficulties, running as many as twelve un-successful trials. Again he was in financial trouble; and the Porto Novo works virtually came to an end by the middle of the nineteenth century.

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In Bengal, an ironworks was started at Barakar by a private firm in 1839, and another near Ranigunj in 1855. Both of them met with failure. In 1875 the Bengal Iron Company came into being and, within two years of its erection, it began to produce pig iron at Rs.40 per ton as against the English pig iron at Rs.60 per ton. But the technological innovations, which were taking place in England then, enabled England to sell the pig iron at Rs.29 per ton in the very next year. This struck a serious blow to the Indian works. In 1882 the government took over the works and appointed one Ritter Von Schwarz,b an Austrian, who had a good deal of experience in mining and iron-smelting operations, to examine the works and submit new proposals. Schwarz prepared a detailed report including the plans of operation for about 25,000 tons of finished iron per year. The Bengal Iron Company was sold by the government to a private firm in 1889 when it was named the Bengal Iron & Steel Company. This Company was producing about 40,000 tons of iron by 1900; it was not producing any steel.

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a *Public Consultations*, 1833.

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b *Fin. Deptt.*, Aug. 1882.

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*Coal and others*

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Coal-mining, from its small beginnings in 1820, progressed rapidly, particularly in the last decade of the nineteenth century, to meet the increasing demands of the jute and cotton industries, and the railways. Among the other industries may be mentioned the tanning industry (flourishing in Madras, Kanpur and Bombay), paper production (in Bengal, Lucknow and Poona) and a chemical works (in Calcutta). The last, known as the Bengal Chemical Works, was started in 1900 by Prafulla Chandra Rây who pooled all his resources to establish this industry which gradually rose to be one of the important chemical manufacturing concerns. But India was still without industries for producing sulphuric acid, alkalis and other heavy chemicals. These made their appearance only in the twentieth century.