Give reasons why the handloom weavers in India survived the onslaught of the machine made textiles of Manchester.
The handloom weavers in India survived the onslaught of the machine made textiles of Manchester and at the same time were able to expand the production due to the following factors : Technological changes : Handicrafts people adopted new technology without excessively pushing up costs. For example, they used fly shuttle. By 1941, over 35 per cent of handlooms in India were fitted with fly shuttles. In regions like Travancore, Madras, Mysore, Cochin, Bengal the proportion was 70 to 80 per cent. Some other small innovations helped weavers improve their productivity and compete with the mill sector. Demand for finer varieties : These were bought by rich and their demand was stable than the coarse qualities because the rich could buy these even when the poor starved. Famines did not affect the sale of Banarasi or Baluchari saris. (iii) In addition to this, the mills could not imitate specialised weaves. For example, Saris with woven borders, or the famous lungis and handkerchiefs of Madras, could not be easily displaced by mill production. However the weavers and other craftspeople who continued to expand production through the twentieth century, did not necessarily prosper. They lived hard lives and worked long hours. But they were not simply remnants of past times in the age of factories. Their life and labour was integral to the process of industrialisation.
