Class 8 History Chapter 8 Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation

 NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 8 Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation

Question 1.
Match the following:

Answer:- 

Question 2.

State whether true or false

1. James Mill was a severe critic of the Orientalists.
2. The 1854 Despatch on education was in favour of English being introduced as a medium of higher education in India.
3. Mahatma Gandhi thought that the promotion of literacy was the most important aim of education.
4. Rabindranath Tagore felt that children ought to be subjected to strict discipline.

Answer:

1. True
2. True
3. False
4. False

Question 3.

Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law?

Answer:

1. William Jones came to represent a particular attitude towards India. He shared a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and of the West.
2. Jones and Colebrooke felt that India had attained its glory in the ancient past. It declined later on. In order to understand India, it was necessary to discover the sacred and legal texts produced in the past.
3. These texts would reveal the ideas and laws of Hindus and Muslims and would form the basis of future development.
4. Jones and Colebrooke believed that their project would help the British learn from Indian culture. Indians would also rediscover their own heritage. In this way the British would become guardians and masters of Indian culture.

Question 4.

Why did James Mill and Thomas Macaulay think that European education was essential in India?

Answer:

1. James Mill was the strongest critic of the Orientalists.
2. He declared that the British should not teach what the natives wanted, or what they respected, in order to please them and “win a place in their heart”.
3. The £pm of education should be to teach what was useful and practical.
4. Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that the West had made, and not the sacred literature of the Orient.
5. Macaulay urged the British government in India to stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental learning, for it had no practical use.
6. He felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world had produced; it would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy.
7. The teaching of English could thus be a way of civilizing people, changing their tastes, values, and culture.

Question 5.

Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children handicrafts?

Answer:

Mahatma Gandhi wanted to teach children handicraft because of the following reasons:

1. People would work with their hands.
2. The craft would develop their minds.
3. It would also develop their capacities to understand.

Question 6.

Why did Mahatma Gandhi think that English education had enslaved Indians?

Answer:

1. According to Mahatma Gandhi, colonial education created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians. He said it made them see Western civilisation as superior which destroyed the pride they had in their own culture.
2. He said: It was sinful—it enslaved Indians—it cast an evil spell on them.
3. Charmed by the West, appreciating everything that came from the West, Indians educated in these institutions admired British rule.
4. Mahatma Gandhi wanted an education that could help Indians recover their sense of dignity and self-respect.
5. Mahatma Gandhi -strongly was in favour of Indian languages to be the medium of teaching.
6. Education in English crippled Indians and distanced them from their own social surroundings. This made them “straneers in their own lands”. Speaking a foreign tongue (language) despised local culture.
7. Mahatma Gandhi further said that western education focused on reading and writing rather than oral knowledge;
8. It valued textbooks rather than life experience and practical knowledge.
9. He said education should develop a person’s mind and soul.
10. Literacy or simply learning to read and write—by itself did not count as education.
11. People had to work with their hands and learn a craft. They should know how different things operated.

 Class 8 History Chapter 6 Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners

Question 1.

What kinds of cloth had a large market in Europe?

Answer:

Chintz (chhint), Cossaes (Khassa) and Bandanna. Bandanna word was derived from the word bandhan . It referred to a variety of brightly coloured cloth, produced through a method of tying and dying.

Question 2.

What is jamdani?

Answer:

Jamdani is a fine muslin on which decorative motifs are woven on the loom, typically in grey and white.

Question 3.

What is bandanna?

Answer:

Bandanna is a brightly coloured and printed scarf for neck and head. This word was derived from the word Bandhan. It referred to a variety of brightly coloured cloth, produced through a method of tying and dying.

Question 4.

Who are the Agarias?

Answer:

Groups of men and women carrying basket-loads of iron are known as the Agarias.

Question 5.

Fill in the blanks:

1. The word chintz comes from the word ________
2. Tipu’s sword was made of _____ steel.
3. India’s textile exports declined in the _____ century
4. 
   

Answer:-

1. chintz
2. Wootz
3. 19th.

Question 6.

How do the names of different textiles tell us about their history?

Answer:

• European traders first saw fine cotton cloth from India in Mosul in present-day Iraq. They referred to all finely woven textiles as “muslin”.
• Portuguese first came to India in search of spices and landed in Calicut on the Kerala coast in south-west India. They took back cotton textiles to Europe, along with the spices. They named it “Calico”. Subsequently Calico became the general name for all cotton textiles.
• Many other words point to the popularity of Indian textiles in Western markets.
• The pieces included printed cotton cloths called Chintz, (?5fe), Cossaes (or Khassa) and
• Bandanna is a brightly coloured and printed scarf for the neck or head. This term was derived from the word “Bandanna” (Hindi for tying).
• Other clothes were known by their place of origin: Kasimbazar, Patna, Calcutta, Orissa and Charpoore.
• The widespread use of such words shows how popular Indian textiles had become in different parts of the world.

Question 7.

Why did the wool and silk producers in England protest against the import of Indian textiles in the early eighteenth century?

Answer:

Textile industry had just begun to develop in England in the early 18th century. The wool and silk producers in England found themselves unable to compete with Indian textiles. They wanted to secure the market within the country by preventing the entry of Indian textiles. Therefore, they protested against its import.

Question 8.

How did the development of cotton industries in Britain affect textile producers in India?

Answer:

Cotton industries in Britain developed and adversely affected textile producers in India in several ways:

1. Indian textiles faced competition from British textiles in the European and American markets.

2. Export of textiles to England became more and more difficult because the British Govt, imposed very high duties on Indian textiles.

3. In the beginning of the 19th century, cotton textiles made in Britain successfully ousted Indian goods from their traditional markets in Africa, America and Europe.

4. Thousands of weavers in India were now thrown out of employment.

• Bengal weavers were the worst hit.
• English and European companies stopped to buy Indian goods. Their agents no longer gave out advances to weavers to secure supplies.
• Distressed weavers wrote petitions to the government to help them.

5. By the 1830s British cotton cloth flooded Indian markets. Actually by the 1880s, 67% of all the cotton clothes worn by Indians were made of cloth produced in Britain. This affected not only specialist weavers but also spinners.

6. Thousands of rural spinner women were rendered jobless.

Question 9.

Why did the Indian iron smelting industry declined in the nineteenth century?

Answer:

There were several reasons:

• The new forest laws of the colonial government prevented people from entering the reserved forests. Now it became difficult for the iron smelters to find wood for charcoal. Getting iron ore was also a big problem. Hence, many gave up their craft and looked for other jobs.
• In some areas the government did grant access to the forest. But the iron smelters had to pay a very high tax to the forest department for every furnace they used. This reduced their income.
• By the late 19th century iron and steel were being imported from Britain. Ironsmiths in India began using the imported iron to manufacture utensils and implements. This inevitably lowered the demand for iron produced by local smelters.
• All these reasons caused the decline of the Indian iron smelting industry.

Question 10.

What problems did the Indian textile industry face in the early years of its development?

Answer:

During the early period of its development, the textile industry in India faced many problems.

• In most countries, governments supported local manufacturers by imposing heavy duties on imports. This finished the competition and protected their infant industries.
• English producers wanted a secure market within the country by preventing the entry of Indian textiles. British government enacted the Calico Act.
• The colonial government in India usually refused such protection to local industries.

Question 11.

What helped TISCO expand steel production during the First World War?

Answer:

Before the First World War India imported British steel for rails. When in 1914 the war broke out, steel produced in Britain now had to meet the demands of the war in Europe. So, imports ‘of British steel into India declined and the Indian Railways turned to TISCO for the supply of rails.

As the war dragged on for several years, TISCO had to produce shells and carriage wheels for the war. By 1919 the colonial government was buying 90% of the steel manufactured by TISCO. Over time TISCO became the biggest steel industry within the British empire.

 Class 8 History Chapter 4 Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age 

Question 1.

Fill in the blanks:

1. The British described the tribal people as …………
2. The method of sowing seeds in jhum cultivation is known as …………….
3. The tribal chiefs got …………. titles in central India under the British land settlements.
4. Tribals went to work in the of Assam and the ……………… in Bihar.

Answer:

1. savage
2. broadcast
3. land
4. tea plantations, coal mines

Question 2.

State whether true or false:

1. Jhum cultivators plough the land and sow seeds.
2. Cocoons were bought from the Santhals and sold by the traders at five times the purchase price.
3. Birsa urged his followers to purify themselves, give up drinking liquor, and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery.
4. The British wanted to preserve the tribal way of life.

Answer:

1. False
2. True
3. True
4. False

Question 3.

What problems did shifting cultivators face under British rule?

Answer:

The life of shifting cultivators was directly connected to the forest. So, when the British brought changes in forest laws, their life was badly affected. The British extended their control over all forests and declared that forests were state property. Some forests were classified as Reserved Forests for they produced timber which the British wanted. In these forests, people were not allowed to move freely and practice jhum cultivations. As a result, many jhum cultivators had to move to other areas in search of work.

Question 4.

How did the powers of tribal chiefs change under colonial rule?

Answer:

Change in the Powers of the Tribal Chiefs under Colonial Rule:-

• Before the arrival of the British in India, tribal chiefs were important people.
• They had economic power.
• They had the right to administer and control their territories.
• In some areas, they had their own policy.
• They decided on the local rules of land and forest management.

The British changed their functions and powers considerably.

• They were allowed to keep their land titles over a cluster of villages and rent outlands.
• They were divested of their administrative power.
• They were forced to follow laws made by the British in India.
• They also had to pay tribute to the British, and discipline the tribal groups
• on behalf of the British.
• They lost the authority they had earlier enjoyed amongst their people.
• Now they were unable to fulfill their traditional functions.

Question 5.

What accounts for the anger of the tribals against the dikus?

Answer:

The tribals wanted to drive out the dikus—missionaries, moneylenders, Hindu landlords, and the government because they saw them as the cause of their misery. The following facts account for their anger against the dikus:

• The land policies of the British were destroying their traditional land system.
• Hindu landlords and moneylenders were taking over their land.
• Missionaries were criticising their traditional culture.

Question 6.

What was Birsa’s vision of a golden age? Why do you think such a vision appealed to the people of the region?

Answer:

Birsa was deeply influenced by many of the ideas he came in touch within his growing-up years. The movement that he led aimed at reforming tribal society. He urged the Munda to give up drinking liquor, clean their village, and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery. He often remembered the gloden past of the Mundas, when they lived a good life, constructed embankments, tapped natural springs, planted trees and orchards, practiced cultivation to earn their living. They did not kill their brethren and relatives. They lived honestly.

Birsa wanted to restore this glorious past. Such a vision appealed to the people of the region because they were very much eager to lead a free life. They had got fed up with the colonial forest laws and the restrictions that were imposed on them.