Read the following excerpts carefully and answer the questions that follow:
“For the regulation of nuisances of every description”By the early nineteenth century the British felt that permanent and public rules had to be formulated for regulating all aspects of social life. Even the construction of private buildings and public roads ought to conform to standardised rules that were clearly codified. In his Minute on Calcutta (1803) Wellesley wrote:
It is a primary duty of Government to provide for the health, safety and convenience of the inhabitants of this great town, by establishing a comprehensive system for the improvement of roads, streets, public drains, and water courses, and by fixing permanent rules for the construction and distribution of the houses and public edifices, and for the regulation of nuisances of every description.
(a) How does Wellesley define the duty of the government?
(b) What was the work done by the Lottery Committee?
(c) How did the threat of epidemics give an impetus to town planning in Calcutta?
(a) Wellesley felt that the duty of the government was threefold in nature:
(i) The government had to provide for the health, safety and convenience of the people.
(ii) For this purpose roads, streets, public drains and water supply had to be improved.
(iii) Construction of houses and public buildings had to conform to standardised rules and regulations.
(b) The Lottery Committee helped to raise fund for town improvement through public lotteries. It got a new map of Calcutta made so as to get a comprehensive picture of Calcutta.
Its major activities included building roads in the Indian part of the city and clearing the river bank of encroachments.
(c) The government believed that there was a correlation between living conditions and the spread of disease. Therefore densely built-up areas like the working people’s huts or bustis were demolished. The city’s poor-workers, hawkers, artisans were forced to move to distant parts of the city.
Why were the figures of mortality and disease difficult to collect? Give two reasons.
The figures of mortality and disease were difficult to collect due to following reasons:
(i) For all deaths were not registered.
(ii) Illness was not always reported and they were not treated by licence doctors.
Choose five different types of buildings in your town or village. For each of these, find out when it was built, how it was planned, how resources were obtained for its construction, and how long it took to built it. What do the architectural features of the buildings express ?
By the mid-nineteenth century second local census had been carried out in different regions. The first all India census was attempted in 1872. Thereafter, from 1881 decadel (conducted every ten years) census become a regular feature.
A careful study of census reveals some fascinating trends. For example, after 1800, urbanisation in India was sluggish. All through the nineteenth century up to the first two decades of the twentieth, the proportion of the urban population to the total population in India was extremely low and had remained stagnant.
Why did paupens from rural areas flock to the cities? Mention any two reasons.
Paupens from rural areas flock to the cities due to two following reasons:
(i) To get work or employment.
(ii) Some persons such as artisans and administrators went there for patronage.
Why was the colonial government keen on mapping? Mention any two reasons.
(i) The colonial government felt that good map is necessary to understand the land sketch.
(ii) It also consider very helpful to know the topography. This knowledge was consider to allow the colonial government to have better control over the region.
(iii) When towns began to grow maps were prepared not only to plan the development of towns but also to develop commerce and consolidate power.
Switch
