The economic impact of the First World War:

(i)The First World War led to a huge rise in the defence expenditure of the Government of India. The government in turn increased taxes on individual incomes and business profits.

(ii)Increased military expenditure and the demands for war supplies led to the sharp rise in prices which badly affected the common mass. They found it difficult to fulfil even their essential needs.

(iii)On the other hand business groups reaped fabulous profits from the war. The war created a demand for industrial goods like jute bags, cloth, rails, and caused a decline of imports from other countries into India. As a result Indian industries expanded during the war.

 

(i)The Moderate leaders developed public awareness about the unjust nature of British rule. They published newspapers, wrote articles and showed how British rule was leading to the economic ruin of the country.

(ii)They criticised British rule in their speeches and sent representatives to different parts of the country to mobilise public opinion.

(iii)They believed that the British had respect for the ideals of freedom and justice and therefore they would definitely accept just all the demands of the people of India. Their main task was to acknowledge the British government with these demands.

People were dissatisfied with British rule in the 1870s and 1880s for the following reasons:

(i)The British passed the Arms Act in 1878 which disallowed Indians from possessing arms.

(ii)In the same year British passed the Vernacular Press Act was also enacted in an effort to silence those who were critical of the goverment. It allowed the government to confiscate the assets of newspapers including their printing presses if the newspapers published anything that was critical of the government.

(iii) In 1883, the Ilbert Bill was introduced. The bill provided for the trial of British or European persons by Indians and sought equality between British and Indian judges in the country. But the white opposition forced the government to withdraw the bill.