The Making of Global World HOTS CBSE Class 10 Social Sciences
Q.1. Why were the Corn Laws scrapped ? Explain any three reasons.[CBSE Comp. (D) 2008, 2009 (F), Sept. 2011]
Ans. Unhappy with high food prices, industrialists and urban dwellers forced the abolition of the Corn Laws.
(i) High prices : Population in Britain grew in the late 18th century. Due to high population, the demand of food grain in Britain went up. With high demand, price of food grains also started rising.
(II) Urban dwellers : With the expansion of industrialisation cities were expanding. More and more people were purchasing food grains from the market. As the prices were pushing up there was a social unrest. This forced the government to scrap Corn Laws.
(HI) Industrialists and landlords : Most of the industrialists and the landlords were also not in the favour of Corn Laws because these laws hindered the free trade.
Q.2. Read the following passage, and answer the questions that are given below : Grow more jute, brothers, with the hope of greater cash. Costs and debts of jute will make your hopes get dashed. When you have spent all your money and got the crop off the ground _______traders, sitting at home, will pay only ? Rs.5 a maund.
(i) Who made profits from jute cultivation according to the jute growers ?
(ii) Explain the factors which were responsible for the poor condition of jute cultivators.
Ans. (i) Traders.
(ii) The Great Depression of1929 was responsible for their condition.
The cultivators grew raw jute that was processed in factories for export in the form of gunny bags. But as gunny exports collapsed, the price of raw jute crashed more than 60 per cent. Peasants who borrowed in the hope of better times or to increase the output in the hope of higher income faced ever lower prices, and fell deeper and deeper into debt. Thus, the Bengal jute growers lament.
Q.3. Why was there a need for clearing lands in Britain during the nineteenth century ? Explain any three reasons.
[CBSE Comp. (D) 2008]
Ans. (i) High demand for foodgrains : Population in Britain grew at a very fast rate in the late 18th century. Due to high population the demand for foodgrains went up. To fulfil the need for foodgrains land was cleared.
(ii) Railway : It was not enough merely to clear lands for agriculture. Railways were needed to link the agricultural regions to the ports. So land was cleared to lay new railway lines.
(iii) New harbours : Land was also cleared to build new harbours and old ones expanded to ship the new cargoes.
(iv) Homes and settlements : People had to settle on the land to bring them under cultivation. This meant building homes and settlements.
Q.4. How was the food problem solved in Britain after the scrapping of the ‘Corn Laws’ ? Explain. [CBSE 2009 (O)]
Ans. (i) Import of food : Through corn laws, various restrictions were imposed on the import of food but after the Corn Laws scrapped, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced within the country. Traders started importing cheap food from Eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia.
(ii) Global agricultural economy : Large- scale import of foodgrains shaped way for global agricultural economy. Food no longer came from a nearby village or town, but from thousands of miles away. Large farms were created. These farms were linked by railways and roads.
(iii) Import from canal colonies : The British colonial government in India and other colonies built a network of irrigation canals to transform semi-desert wastes into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for export to Britain.