The East India Company appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers in India
The appointment of Gomastha:
(i)The Company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade, and establish a more direct control over the weaver.
(ii)It appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth.
(iii)It prevented Company weavers from dealing with other buyers. One way of doing this was through the system of advances.
(iv)Once an order was placed, the weavers were given loans to purchase the raw material for their production.
(v)Those who took loans had to hand over the cloth they produced to the gomastha. They could not take it to any other trader.
Tips: -
M. Imp.
In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages.
Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny.
Write true or false against each statement:
A.
At the end of the nineteenth century, 80 per cent of the total workforce in Europe was employed in the technologically advanced industrial sector.
B.
The international market for fine textiles was dominated by India till the eighteenth century.
C.
The American Civil War resulted in the reduction of cotton exports from India.
D.
The introduction of the fly shuttle enabled handloom workers to improve their productivity.
The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.
