The process of transformation of things

Can you identify and name the various items

available in our environment involves an
used in making life comfortable in our villages
and towns. List the items and name the interactive relationship between nature,
material used in their making. technology and institutions. Human beings
interact with nature through technology and
create institutions to accelerate their
Everything available in our environment economic development.
which can be used to satisfy our needs, Do you think that resources are free
provided, it is technologically accessible, gifts of nature as is assumed by many?
economically feasible and culturally They are not. Resources are a function of
acceptable can be termed as ‘Resource’. human activities. Human beings themselves
are essential components of resources. They
transform material available in our
environment into resources and use them.
These resources can be classified in the
following ways –
(a) On the basis of origin – biotic and abiotic
(b) On the basis of exhaustibility – renewable
and non-renewable
(c) On the basis of ownership – individual,
community, national and international
Fig. 1.1: Interdependent relationship between (d) On the basis of status of development –
nature, technology and institutions potential, developed stock and reserves.

Fig. 1.2: Classification of resources

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DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES
Sustainable development
Resources are vital for human survival as well
as for maintaining the quality of life. It was Sustainable economic development means
believed that resources are free gifts of nature. ‘development should take place without
As a result, human beings used them damaging the environment, and development
indiscriminately and this has led to the in the present should not compromise with the
following major problems. needs of the future generations.’

• Depletion of resources for satisfying the

greed of a few individuals.
• Accumulation of resources in few hands, which, Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992
in turn, divided the society into two segments In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states
i.e. haves and have nots or rich and poor. met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the first
• Indiscriminate exploitation of resources has International Earth Summit. The Summit was
led to global ecological crises such as, global convened for addressing urgent problems of
warming, ozone layer depletion, environmental environmental protection and socio-
pollution and land degradation. economic development at the global level.
The assembled leaders signed the
Declaration on Global Climatic Change and
Biological Diversity. The Rio Convention
endorsed the global Forest Principles and
1. Imagine, if the oil supply gets exhausted adopted Agenda 21 for achieving
one day, how would this affect our life style? Sustainable Development in the 21st century.
2. Plan a survey in your colony/village to
Agenda 21
investigate people’s attitude towards
recycling of the domestic/agricultural It is the declaration signed by world leaders
in 1992 at the United Nations Conference
wastes. Ask questions about :
on Environment and Development (UNCED),
(a) What do they think about resources
which took place at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It
they use?
aims at achieving global sustainable
(b) What is their opinion about the development. It is an agenda to combat
wastes, and its utilisation? environmental damage, poverty, disease
(c) Collage your results. through global co-operation on common
interests, mutual needs and shared
responsibilities. One major objective of the
Agenda 21 is that every local government
An equitable distribution of resources has should draw its own local Agenda 21.
become essential for a sustained quality of life
and global peace. If the present trend of
resource depletion by a few individuals and
RESOURCE PLANNING
countries continues, the future of our planet
is in danger. Planning is the widely accepted strategy for
Therefore, resource planning is essential for judicious use of resources. It has importance
in a country like India, which has enormous
sustainable existence of all forms of life.
diversity in the availability of resources. There
Sustainable existence is a component of
are regions which are rich in certain types of
sustainable development.
resources but are deficient in some other

2 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

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resources. There are some regions which can
be considered self sufficient in terms of the
availability of resources and there are some What resources are being developed in your
regions which have acute shortage of some vital surroundings by the community/village
resources. For example, the states of panchayats/ward level communities with the
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya help of community participation?
Pradesh are rich in minerals and coal deposits.
Arunachal Pradesh has abundance of water
technology and institutions may hinder
resources but lacks in infrastructural
development. There are many regions in our
development. The state of Rajasthan is very well
country that are rich in resources but these
endowed with solar and wind energy but lacks
are included in economically backward
in water resources. The cold desert of Ladakh
regions. On the contrary there are some regions
is relatively isolated from the rest of the
which have a poor resource base but they are
country. It has very rich cultural heritage but
economically developed.
it is deficient in water, infrastructure and some
vital minerals. This calls for balanced resource Can you name some resource rich but
planning at the national, state, regional and economically backward regions and some
local levels. resource poor but economically developed
regions? Give reasons for such a situation.
The history of colonisation reveals that
rich resources in colonies were the main
Prepare a list of resources found in your state attractions for the foreign invaders. It was
and also identify the resources that are primarily the higher level of technological
important but deficit in your state. development of the colonising countries that
helped them to exploit resources of other
regions and establish their supremacy over
the colonies. Therefore, resources can
Resource Planning in India contribute to development only when they are
Resource planning is a complex process accompanied by appropriate technological
which involves : (i) identification and development and institutional changes. India
inventory of resources across the regions of has experienced all this in different phases of
the country. This involves surveying, colonisation. Therefore, in India, development,
mapping and qualitative and quantitative in general, and resource development in
estimation and measurement of the particular does not only involve the
resources. (ii) Evolving a planning structure availability of resources, but also the
endowed with appropriate technology, skill technology, quality of human resources and
and institutional set up for implementing the historical experiences of the people.
resource development plans. (iii) Matching Conservation of Resources: Resources are
the resource development plans with overall vital for any developmental activity. But
national development plans. irrational consumption and over-utilisation
India has made concerted efforts for of resources may lead to socio-economic and
achieving the goals of resource planning right environmental problems. To overcome these
from the First Five Year Plan launched after problems, resource conservation at various
Independence. levels is important. This had been the main
The availability of resources is a necessary concern of the leaders and thinkers in the
condition for the development of any region, past. For example, Gandhiji was very apt in
but mere availability of resources in the voicing his concern about resource
absence of corresponding changes in conservation in these words: “There is enough

RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT 3

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for everybody’s need and not for any body’s available land for various purposes with careful
greed.” He placed the greedy and selfish planning.
individuals and exploitative nature of modern India has land under a variety of relief
technology as the root cause for resource features, namely; mountains, plateaus, plains
depletion at the global level. He was against and islands. About 43 per cent of the land area
mass production and wanted to replace it with is plain, which provides facilities for agriculture
the production by the masses. and industry. Mountains account for 30 per
cent of the total surface area of the country and
ensure perennial flow of some rivers, provide
At the international level, the Club of Rome facilities for tourism and ecological aspects.
advocated resource conservation for the first About 27 per cent of the area of the country is
time in a more systematic way in 1968. the plateau region. It possesses rich reserves
Subsequently, in 1974, Gandhian philosophy of minerals, fossil fuels and forests.
was once again presented by Schumacher
in his book Small is Beautiful. The seminal LAND UTILISATION
contribution with respect to resource
Land resources are used for the following
conservation at the global level was made
purposes:
by the Brundtland Commission Report, 1987.
This report introduced the concept of 1. Forests
‘Sustainable Development’ and advocated 2. Land not available for cultivation
it as a means for resource conservation, (a) Barren and waste land
which was subsequently published in a book (b) Land put to non-agricultural uses, e.g.
entitled Our Common Future. Another
buildings, roads, factories, etc.
significant contribution was made at the Earth
Summit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. 3. Other uncultivated land (excluding
fallow land)
(a) Permanent pastures and grazing land,
LAND RESOURCES (b) Land under miscellaneous tree crops
groves (not included in net sown area),
We live on land, we perform our economic
(c) Culturable waste land (left uncultivated
activities on land and we use it in different
for more than 5 agricultural years).
ways. Thus, land is a natural resource of
utmost importance. It supports natural 4. Fallow lands
vegetation, wild life, human life, economic (a) Current fallow-(left without cultivation
activities, transport and communication for one or less than one agricultural year),
systems. However, land is an asset of a finite (b) Other than current fallow-(left
magnitude, therefore, it is important to use the uncultivated for the past 1 to 5
agricultural years).
5. Net sown area– the physical extent of land
on which crops are sown harvested is
known as net sown area.
Area sown more than once in an
agricultural year plus net sown area is
known as gross cropped area.
LAND USE PATTERN IN INDIA
The use of land is determined both by physical
factors such as topography, climate, soil types
as well as human factors such as population
Fig 1.3: India : Land under important Relief density, technological capability and culture
Features and traditions etc.
4 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

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 2019–20

Reporting Area: 100 Per cent

23.41%

45.64%

5.40%

9.06%

%
3.42
4.49% 3.67% 3.90% 1.02%

Source : Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare,
Government of India, 2023
Fig. 1.4
Total geographical area of India is 3.28 of such land is very high. Hence, these lands
million sq km. Land use data, however, is are cultivated once or twice in about two to
available only for 93 per cent of the total three years and if these are included in the
geographical area because the land use net sown area then the percentage of NSA in
reporting for most of the north-east states India comes to about 54 per cent of the total
except Assam has not been done fully. reporting area.
Moreover, some areas of Jammu and Kashmir The pattern of net sown area varies greatly
occupied by Pakistan and China have also not from one state to another. It is over 80 per
been surveyed. cent of the total area in Punjab and Haryana
and less than 10 per cent in Arunachal
Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Andaman
Try to do a comparison between the two pie
Nicobar Islands.
charts (Fig. 1.4 ) given for land use and find
out why the net sown area and the land
under forests have changed from 1960-61 Find out reasons for the low proportion of
to 2019-20 very marginally. net sown area in these states.

The land under permanent pasture has Forest area in the country is far lower than
also decreased. How are we able to feed our the desired 33 per cent of geographical area,
huge cattle population on this pasture land as it was outlined in the National Forest Policy
and what are the consequences of it? Most of (1952). It was considered essential for
the other than the current fallow lands are maintenance of the ecological balance. The
either of poor quality or the cost of cultivation livelihood of millions of people who live on the
RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT 5

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fringes of these forests depends upon it. A part There are many ways to solve the problems
of the land is termed as waste land and land of land degradation. Afforestation and proper
put to other non-agricultural uses. Waste land management of grazing can help to some extent.
includes rocky, arid and desert areas and land Planting of shelter belts of plants, control on
put to other non-agricultural uses includes over grazing, stabilisation of sand dunes by
settlements, roads, railways, industry etc. growing thorny bushes are some of the
Continuous use of land over a long period of methods to check land degradation in arid
time without taking appropriate measures to areas. Proper management of waste lands,
conserve and manage it, has resulted in land control of mining activities, proper discharge
degradation. This, in turn, has serious and disposal of industrial effluents and wastes
repercussions on society and the after treatment can reduce land and water
environment. degradation in industrial and suburban areas.

L AND D EGRADATION AND C ONSERVATION SOIL AS A RESOURCE

MEASURES Soil is the most important renewable natural
We have shared our land with the past resource. It is the medium of plant growth
generations and will have to do so with the future and supports different types of living organisms
generations too. Ninety-five per cent of our basic on the earth. The soil is a living system. It
needs for food, shelter and clothing are obtained takes millions of years to form soil upto a few
from land. Human activities have not only cm in depth. Relief, parent rock or bed rock,
brought about degradation of land but have climate, vegetation and other forms of life and
also aggravated the pace of natural forces to time are important factors in the formation of
cause damage to land. soil. Various forces of nature such as change
Some human activities such as in temperature, actions of running water, wind
deforestation, over grazing, mining and and glaciers, activities of decomposers etc.
quarrying too have contributed significantly in contribute to the formation of soil. Chemical
land degradation. and organic changes which take place in the
Mining sites are abandoned after
excavation work is complete leaving deep Top soil
scars and traces of over-burdening. In states the upper soil layer
like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Subsoil weathered
Pradesh and Odisha deforestation due to rocks sand and
mining have caused severe land degradation. silt clay
In states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh and Maharashtra overgrazing is one
of the main reasons for land degradation. In
the states of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Substratum
Pradesh, over irrigation is responsible for land weathered parent
degradation due to water logging leading to rock material
increase in salinity and alkalinity in the soil.
The mineral processing like grinding of
limestone for cement industry and calcite and
soapstone for ceramic industry generate huge
quantity of dust in the atmosphere. It retards
the process of infiltration of water into the soil
Unweathered
after it settles down on the land. In recent parent bed rock
years, industrial effluents as waste have
become a major source of land and water
pollution in many parts of the country.
Fig. 1.5: Soil Profile

6 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

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soil are equally important. Soil also consists nodules than the Khadar. It has more fine
of organic (humus) and inorganic materials particles and is more fertile than the bangar.
(Fig. 1.5). Alluvial soils as a whole are very fertile.
On the basis of the factors responsible for Mostly these soils contain adequate proportion
soil formation, colour, thickness, texture, age, of potash, phosphoric acid and lime which
chemical and physical properties, the soils of are ideal for the growth of sugarcane, paddy,
India are classified in different types. wheat and other cereal and pulse crops. Due
to its high fertility, regions of alluvial soils are
Classification of Soils intensively cultivated and densely populated.
India has varied relief features, landforms, Soils in the drier areas are more alkaline and
climatic realms and vegetation types. These can be productive after proper treatment and
have contributed in the development of various irrigation.
types of soils.
Black Soil
Alluvial Soils These soils are black in colour and are also
This is the most widely spread and important known as regur soils. Black soil is ideal for
soil. In fact, the entire northern plains are growing cotton and is also known as black
made of alluvial soil. These have been cotton soil. It is believed that climatic condition
deposited by three important Himalayan river along with the parent rock material are the
systems – the Indus, the Ganga and the important factors for the formation of black
Brahmaputra. These soils also extend in soil. This type of soil is typical of the Deccan
Rajasthan and Gujarat through a narrow trap (Basalt) region spread over northwest
corridor. Alluvial soil is also found in the Deccan plateau and is made up of lava flows.
eastern coastal plains particularly in the deltas They cover the plateaus of Maharashtra,
of the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and
and the Kaveri rivers. Chhattisgarh and extend in the south east
direction along the Godavari and the Krishna
valleys.

Fig. 1.6: Alluvial Soil

The alluvial soil consists of various

proportions of sand, silt and clay. As we move
inlands towards the river valleys, soil particles
appear some what bigger in size. In the upper
reaches of the river valley i.e. near the place
of the break of slope, the soils are coarse. Such
soils are more common in piedmont plains
such as Duars, Chos and Terai. Fig. 1.7: Black Soil
Apart from the size of their grains or
components, soils are also described on the The black soils are made up of extremely
basis of their age. According to their age fine i.e. clayey material. They are well-known
alluvial soils can be classified as old alluvial for their capacity to hold moisture. In addition,
(Bangar) and new alluvial (Khadar). The they are rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium
bangar soil has higher concentration of kanker carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime. These

RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT 7

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 India: Major Soil Types

8 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

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soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents. vegetation and in semi-arid environment, it is
They develop deep cracks during hot weather, generally humus poor. They are prone to
which helps in the proper aeration of the soil. erosion and degradation due to their position
These soils are sticky when wet and difficult to on the landscape. After adopting appropriate
work on unless tilled immediately after the first soil conservation techniques particularly in
shower or during the pre-monsoon period. the hilly areas of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, this soil is very useful for growing tea
Red and Yellow Soils
and coffee. Red laterite soils in Tamil Nadu,
Red soil develops on crystalline igneous rocks Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are more suitable
in areas of low rainfall in the eastern and for crops like cashew nut.
southern parts of the Deccan plateau. Yellow
and red soils are also found in parts of Arid Soils
Odisha, Chhattisgarh, southern parts of the Arid soils range from red to brown in colour.
middle Ganga plain and along the piedmont They are generally sandy in texture and saline
zone of the Western Ghats. These soils develop in nature. In some areas the salt content is
a reddish colour due to diffusion of iron in
very high and common salt is obtained by
crystalline and metamorphic rocks. It looks
evaporating the water. Due to the dry climate,
yellow when it occurs in a hydrated form.
high temperature, evaporation is faster and
Laterite Soil the soil lacks humus and moisture. The lower
Laterite has been derived from the Latin word horizons of the soil are occupied by Kankar
‘later’ which means brick. The laterite soil because of the increasing calcium content
develops under tropical and subtropical downwards. The Kankar layer formations in
climate with alternate wet and dry season. the bottom horizons restrict the infiltration of
This soil is the result of intense leaching due water. After proper irrigation these soils
to heavy rain. Lateritic soils are mostly deep become cultivable as has been in the case of
to very deep, acidic (pH<6.0), generally western Rajasthan.
deficient in plant nutrients and occur mostly
in southern states, Western Ghats region of
Maharashtra, Odisha, some parts of West
Bengal and North-east regions. Where these
soils support deciduous and evergreen
forests, it is humus rich, but under sparse

Fig. 1.9: Arid Soil

Forest Soils
These soils are found in the hilly and
mountainous areas where sufficient rain
forests are available. The soils texture varies
according to the mountain environment
where they are formed. They are loamy and
silty in valley sides and coarse grained in
Fig. 1.8: Laterite Soil the upper slopes. In the snow covered areas

RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT 9

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of Himalayas, these soils experience
denudation and are acidic with low humus
content. The soils found in the lower parts of
the valleys particularly on the river terraces
and alluvial fans are fertile.

Soil Erosion and Soil Conservation

The denudation of the soil cover and
subsequent washing down is described as soil
erosion. The processes of soil formation and
erosion, go on simultaneously and generally
there is a balance between the two. Sometimes,
this balance is disturbed due to human
activities like deforestation, over-grazing,
construction and mining etc., while natural Fig. 1.11: Gully Erosion
forces like wind, glacier and water lead to
soil is washed away. This is known as sheet
soil erosion. The running water cuts through
erosion. Wind blows loose soil off flat or
the clayey soils and makes deep channels as
sloping land known as wind erosion. Soil
gullies. The land becomes unfit for cultivation
erosion is also caused due to defective methods
and is known as bad land. In the Chambal
of farming. Ploughing in a wrong way i.e. up
basin such lands are called ravines.
and down the slope form channels for the
Sometimes water flows as a sheet over large
quick flow of water leading to soil erosion.
areas down a slope. In such cases the top
Ploughing along the contour lines can
decelerate the flow of water down the slopes.
This is called contour ploughing. Steps can
be cut out on the slopes making terraces.
Terrace cultivation restricts erosion. Western
and central Himalayas have well developed
terrace farming. Large fields can be divided into
strips. Strips of grass are left to grow between
the crops. This breaks up the force of the wind.
This method is known as strip cropping.
Planting lines of trees to create shelter also
works in a similar way. Rows of such trees are
called shelter belts. These shelter belts have
contributed significantly to the stabilisation of
sand dunes and in stabilising the desert in
Fig. 1.10: Soil Erosion western India.

10 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

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 EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which one of the following is the main cause of land degradation in Punjab?
(a) Intensive cultivation (c) Over irrigation
(b) Deforestation (d) Overgrazing
(ii) In which one of the following states is terrace cultivation practised?
(a) Punjab (c) Haryana
(b) Plains of Uttar Pradesh (d) Uttarakhand
(iii) In which of the following states black soil is predominantly found?
(a) Uttar Pradesh (c) Rajasthan
(b) Maharashtra (d) Jharkhand

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) Name three states having black soil and the crop which is mainly grown in it.
(ii) What type of soil is found in the river deltas of the eastern coast? Give three
main features of this type of soil.
(iii) What steps can be taken to control soil erosion in the hilly areas?

3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.

(i) Explain land use pattern in India and why has the land under forest not
increased much since 1960-61?
(ii) How have technical and economic development led to more consumption of
resources?

PROJECT/ACTIVITY
1. Make a project showing consumption and conservation of resources in your locality.
2. Have a discussion in the class – how to conserve various resources used in
your school.
3. Imagine if oil supplies get exhausted, how will this affect our life style?
4. Solve the puzzle by following your search horizontally and vertically to find the
hidden answers.
(i) Natural endowments in the form of land, water, vegetation and minerals.
(ii) A type of non-renewable resource.
(iii) Soil with high water retaining capacity.
(iv) Intensively leached soils of the monsoon climate.

RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT 11

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 S F G S F O B R O M S U A P J

Q G A F F O R E S T A T I O N

P N R E C P R S L D M I L N F

S N A T Q X U O V A I O L A L

O D E I D R J U J L D B N B D

T G H M I N E R A L S A X M W

B V J K M E D C R U P F M H R

L A T E R I T E M V A Z T V L

A B Z O E N M F T I S D L R C

C G N N S Z I O P A X T Y J H

K J G K D T D C S L S E G E W

(i) Natural endowments in the form of land, water, vegetation and minerals.
(ii) A type of non-renewable resource.
(iii) Soil with high water retaining capacity.
(iv) Intensively leached soils of the monsoon climate.
(v) Plantation of trees on a large scale to check soil erosion.
(vi) The Great Plains of India are made up of these soils.

12 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

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 NOTES FOR THE TEACHER
CHAPTER 2: SECTORS OF THE INDIAN ECONOMY
An economy is best understood when we industry and services should be related
study its components or sectors. Sectoral to the experience of the children by taking
classification can be done on the basis of more examples that they may observe in
several criteria. In this chapter, three their day-to-day life. Information derived
types of classifications are discussed: from the media could be used for this
primary/secondary/tertiary; organised/ purpose. You may encourage the students
unorganised; and public/private. You can to bring important cuttings and stories
create a discussion about these types by from newspapers, which could be
taking examples familiar to the students prominently displayed in storyboards, and
and relate them to their daily life. It is encourage the class to discuss these
important to emphasise the changing issues. While discussing the unorganised
roles of sectors. This can be highlighted sector, the key issue of protecting the
further by drawing attention of the workers engaged in the sector should be
students to the rapid growth of service highlighted. You may also encourage the
sector. While elaborating the ideas students to visit persons and enterprises
provided in the chapter, the students may in the unorganised sector and get a first
need to be familiarised with a few hand experience from real life situation.
fundamental concepts such as Gross
Domestic Product, Employment etc. Since Sources for Information
the students may find this difficult to The GVA data used in this chapter
understand, it is necessary to explain to pertaining to Real Gross Value Added at
them through examples. Several activities Basic Prices by Industry of Origin at
and exercises are suggested in the chapter 2011–12 prices is taken from Economic
to help the students understand how a Survey. It is a valuable source of GVA and
person’s activity could be placed — other information relating to the Indian
whether in the primary, secondary or economy. For evaluation purposes,
tertiary, organised or unorganised, and particularly to develop the analytical
public or private sector. You may ability of learners, teachers can refer to
encourage the students to talk to various this report through the Internet to get data
working people around them (such as for different years. Due to change in
shop owners, casual workers, vegetable methodology, latest data is not used in the
vendors, workshop mechanics, domestic chapter.
workers etc.) to know more about how they
The employment figures are based
live and work. Based on such information,
on data taken from the five-yearly surveys
the students can be encouraged to
on employment and unemployment
develop their own classification of
conducted by the National Sample Survey
economic activities.
Organisation (NSSO) now known as
Another important issue to be National Statistical Office (NSO). NSO is
highlighted is about the problems caused an organisation under the Ministry of
by the changes in the roles of sectors. Statistics and Programme Implementation,
The chapter has taken the example of Government of India. The website you can
unemployment and what the government log onto is: http:/[Link]. Employment
can do to solve it. The declining importance data is also available from other sources
of agriculture and growing importance of such as Census of India.

18 U NDERST ANDING E CONOMIC D EVEL

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 CHAPTER 2

SECTORS
OF THE INDIAN ECONOMY

SECTORS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Let us look at these pictures. You will find that people are
engaged in various economic activities. Some of these are
activities producing goods. Some others are producing
services. These activities are happening around us every
minute even as we speak. How do we understand these
activities? One way of doing this is to group them (classify
them) using some important criterion. These groups are also
called sectors.

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 spin yarn and weave cloth. Using
at different
We begin by looking sugarcane as a raw material, we make
ities.
kind of economic activ sugar or gur. We convert earth into
bricks and use bricks to make houses
There are many activities that are and buildings. Since this sector
undertaken by directly using gradually became associated with the
natural resources. Take, for different kinds of industries that came
Primary example, the cultivation of cotton. It
(Agriculture) up, it is also called as industrial sector.
takes place within a crop season. For
Sector the growth of the cotton plant, we After primary and secondary, there
depend mainly, but not entirely, is a third category of activities that falls
on natural factors like rainfall, under tertiary sector and is different
sunshine and climate. The product from the above two. These are
of this activity, cotton, is a natural activities that help in the development
product. Similarly, in the case of an of the primary and secondary sectors.
activity like dairy, we are dependent These activities, by themselves, do not
on the biological process of produce a good but they are an aid
the animals and availability or a support for the production
Tertiary
(Service) of fodder etc. The product process. For example, goods that are
Sector here, milk, also is a natural produced in the primary or secondary
product. Similarly, minerals sector would need to be transported
and ores are also natural by trucks or trains and then sold in
products. When we produce wholesale and retail shops. At times,
a good by exploiting natural it may be necessary to store these in
produces resources, it is an activity of godowns. We also may need to talk to
natural others over telephone or send letters
the primary sector. Why
goods (communication) or borrow money
primary? This is because it
forms the base for all from banks (banking) to help
other products that we production and trade. Transport,
subsequently make. Since storage, communication, banking,
most of the natural trade are some examples of tertiary
helps to develop products we get are from activities. Since these activities
Secondary other sectors generate services rather than goods,
agriculture, dairy, fishing,
(Industrial) the tertiary sector is also called the
forestry, this sector is also
Sector
called agriculture and related service sector.
sector. Service sector also includes some
The secondary sector covers essential services that may not directly
activities in which natural products help in the production of goods. For
are changed into other forms through example, we require teachers, doctors,
ways of manufacturing that we and those who provide personal
associate with industrial activity. It is services such as washermen, barbers,
the next step after primary. The cobblers, lawyers, and people to do
product is not produced by nature administrative and accounting works.
but has to be made and therefore In recent times, certain new services
some process of manufacturing is based on information technology such
produces essential. This could be in a factory, a as internet cafe, ATM booths, call
manufactured centres, software companies etc have
goods workshop or at home. For example,
using cotton fibre from the plant, we become important.

20 U NDERST ANDING E CONOMIC D EVEL

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 tegories,
ou gh , ar e grouped into three different ca
th
Economic activities, me examples.
rdepen dent. Let us look at so
are highly inte

TABLE 2.1 EXAMPLES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

EXAMPLE WHAT DOES THIS SHOW?
Imagine what would happen if farmers This is an example of the secondary or
refuse to sell sugarcane to a particular industrial sector being dependent on
sugar mill. The mill will have to shut the primary.
down.
Imagine what would happen to cotton
cultivation if companies decide not to
buy from the Indian market and import
all cotton they need from other
countries. Indian cotton cultivation will
become less profitable and the farmers
may even go bankrupt, if they cannot
quickly switch to other crops. Cotton
prices will fall.
Farmers buy many goods such as
tractors, pumpsets, electricity,
pesticides and fertilisers. Imagine what
would happen if the price of fertilisers
or pumpsets go up. Cost of cultivation
of the farmers will rise and their profits
will be reduced.
People working in industrial and service
sectors need food. Imagine what would
happen if there is a strike by
transporters and lorries refuse to take
vegetables, milk, etc. from rural areas.
Food will become scarce in urban areas
whereas farmers will be unable to sell
their products.

LET’S WORK THESE OUT

1. Complete the above table to show how sectors are dependent on each other.
2. Explain the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary sectors using
examples other than those mentioned in the text.
3. Classify the following list of occupations under primary, secondary and tertiary sectors:
• Tailor • Workers in match factory
• Basket weaver • Moneylender
• Flower cultivator • Gardener
• Milk vendor • Potter
• Fishermen • Bee-keeper
• Priest • Astronaut
• Courier • Call centre employee
4. Students in a school are often classified into primary and secondary or junior and
senior. What is the criterion that is used? Do you think this is a useful classification?
Discuss.

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 21

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 COMPARING THE THREE SECTORS
The various production activities in the primary, secondary and
tertiary sectors produce a very large number of goods and
services. Also, the three sectors have a large number of people
working in them to produce these goods and services. The next
step, therefore, is to see how much goods and services are
produced and how many people work in each sector. In an
economy there could be one or more sectors which are dominant
in terms of total production and employment, while other sectors
are relatively small in size.

How do we count the various goods and services

and know the total production in each sector?
With so many thousands of goods and services produced, you
might think this is an impossible task! Not only would the task
be enormous, you might also wonder how we can add up cars
and computers and nails and furniture. It won’t make sense!!!
You are right in thinking so. To get around this problem,
economists suggest that the values of goods and services should
be used rather than adding up the actual numbers. For example,
if 10,000 kgs of wheat is sold at Rs 20 per kg, the value of
wheat will be Rs 2,00,000. The value of 5000 coconuts at Rs
15 per coconut will be Rs 75,000. Similarly, the value of goods
and services in the three sectors are calculated, and then added
up.
Remember, there is one precaution one has to take. Not every
good (or service) that is produced and sold needs to be counted. It
makes sense only to include the final goods and services. Take,
for instance, a farmer who sells wheat to a flour mill for Rs 20 per
kg. The mill grinds the wheat and sells the flour to a biscuit
company for Rs 25 per kg. The biscuit company uses the flour
and things such as sugar and oil to make four packets of biscuits.
It sells biscuits in the market to the consumers for Rs 80 (Rs 20
per packet). Biscuits are the final goods, i.e., goods that reach the
consumers.
Why are only ‘final goods and services’ counted? In contrast
to final goods, goods such as wheat and the wheat flour in this
example are intermediate goods. Intermediate goods are used
up in producing final goods and services. The value of final
goods already includes the value of all the intermediate goods
that are used in making the final good. Hence, the value of Rs
80 for the biscuits (final good) already includes the value of
flour (Rs 25). Similarly, the value of all other intermediate goods
...BUT I SHOULD BE PAID THE would have been included. To count the value of the flour and
FULL VALUE OF THE WHEAT wheat separately is therefore not correct because then we would
THAT I PRODUCE !
be counting the value of the same things a number of times.
First as wheat, then as flour and finally as biscuits.
22 U NDERST ANDING E CONOMIC D EVEL
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 The value of final goods and services Besides, there were also transporters,
produced in each sector during a administrators, army etc. However, at this
particular year provides the total stage, most of the goods produced were
production of the sector for that year. natural products from the primary sector
And the sum of production in the different and most people were also employed in
sectors gives what is called the Gross this sector.
Domestic Pr oduct (GDP) of a country. It
Product
Over a long time (more than hundred
is the value of all final goods and services
years), and especially because new methods
produced within a country during a
of manufacturing were introduced,
particular year. GDP shows how big the
factories came up and started expanding.
economy is.
Those people who had earlier worked on
In India, the mammoth task of farms now began to work in factories in
measuring GDP is undertaken by a central large numbers. They were forced to do so
government ministry. This Ministry, with as you read in history chapters. People
the help of various government began to use many more goods that were
departments of all the Indian states and produced in factories at cheap rates.
union territories, collects information Secondary sector gradually became the
relating to total volume of goods and most important in total production and
services and their prices and then estimates employment. Hence, over time, a shift had
the GDP. taken place. This means that the importance
of the sectors had changed.
Recently Indian Government began to
bring out the contribution of three sectors In the past 100 years, there has been a
towards Gross Value Added (GVA) in place further shift from secondary to tertiary
of the contribution of three sectors towards sector in developed countries. The service
Gross Domestic Product to be at par with sector has become the most important in
global practices. The GVA measures the terms of total production. Most of the
contribution of three sectors of an working people are also employed in the
economy after adjusting for taxes and service sector. This is the general pattern
subsidies. You will learn more about the observed in developed countries.
GVA and the difference between GDP
What is the total production and
and GVA in higher classes. Here we will
employment in the three sectors in India?
only understand how goods and services
Over the years have there been changes
produced in these three sectors—primary,
similar to the pattern observed for the
secondary and tertiary sectors
developed countries? We shall see in the
have changed.
next section.
Historical Change in Sectors
Generally, it has been noted from the
LET’S WORK THESE OUT
histories of many, now developed, 1. What does the history of developed countries indicate
countries that at initial stages of about the shifts that have taken place between sectors?
development, primary sector was the most 2. Correct and arrange the important aspects for calculating
important sector of economic activity. GDP from this Jumble.
As the methods of farming changed To count goods and services we add the numbers that
and agriculture sector began to prosper, are produced. We count all those that were produced in
it produced much more food than before. the last five years. Since we shouldn’t leave out anything
Many people could now take up other we add up all these goods and services.
activities. There were increasing number 3. Discuss with your teacher how you could calculate the
of craft-persons and traders. Buying and total value of a good or service by using the method of
selling activities increased many times. value added at each stage.

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 23

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 PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY
SECTORS IN INDIA
Graph 1 shows the
production of goods and Graph 1: GVA by Primary, Secondary and
services in the three sectors. Tertiary Sectors
This is shown for two years,
1977–78 and 2017–18. We
have used the data for these 14000000
two years because the data
are comparable and 12000000
authentic. You can see how
the total production has 10000000
grown over the forty years.

Rs. in crores
8000000
LET’S WORK THESE
OUT 6000000

Answer the following questions by 4000000

looking at the graph:
1. Which was the largest producing
sector in 1977–78?
2000000

2. Which is the largest producing 0

sector in 2017–18?
1977-78 2017-18
3 . Can you say which sector has
grown the most over forty years?
4. What was the GDP of India in
2017–18?

Why is the tertiary sector becoming

so important in India? There could be
rison between
What does the compa several reasons.
8 show?
1977–78 and 2017–1
n we draw
What conclusions ca First, in any country several
?
from the compa onris services such as hospitals,
Let’s find out. educational institutions, post and
telegraph services, police stations,
courts, village administrative offices,
Rising Importance of the municipal corporations, defence,
Tertiary Sector in Production transport, banks, insurance
companies, etc. are required. These
Over the forty years between 1977–78
can be considered as basic services.
and 2017–18, while production in all
In a developing country the
the three sectors has increased, it has
government has to take responsibility
increased the most in the tertiary sector.
for the provision of these services.
As a result, in the year 2017–18, the
tertiary sector has emerged as the Second, the development of
largest producing sector in India agriculture and industry leads to the
replacing the primary sector. development of services such as
24 U NDERST ANDING E CONOMIC D EVEL
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transport, trade, storage and the
like, as we have already seen. Greater Graph 2: Share of Sectors in GVA
the development of the primary and
secondary sectors, more would be the
demand for such services.
Third, as income levels rise, certain
sections of people start demanding
many more services like eating out,
tourism, shopping, private hospitals,
private schools, professional training
etc. You can see this change quite
sharply in cities, especially in big cities.
1977-78 2017-18

Fourth, over the past decade or so,

certain new services such as
those based on information and
communication technology have A remarkable fact about India is
become important and essential. The that while there has been a change
production of these services has been in the share of the three sectors in
rising rapidly. In Chapter 4, we shall GVA, a similar shift has not taken
see examples of these new services place in employment. Graph 3
and the reasons for their expansion. shows the share of employment in
the three sectors in 1977-78 and
However, you must remember that
2017-18. T h e p r i m a r y s e c t o r
not all of the service sector is growing
continues to be the largest
equally well. Service sector in India
employer even now.
employs many different kinds of
people. At one end there are a limited
number of services that employ highly
Graph 3 : Share of Sectors in Employment (%)
skilled and educated workers. At the
other end, there are a very large
number of workers engaged in
services such as small shopkeepers,
repair persons, transport persons,
etc. These people barely manage to
earn a living and yet they perform
these services because no alternative
opportunities for work are available
to them. Hence, only a part of this
sector is growing in importance. You
shall read more about this in the next
section.

Where are most of the people

employed? Why didn’t a similar shift out
Graph 2 presents percentage share of of primary sector happen in case
the three sectors in GVA. Now you can of employment? It is because not
directly see the changing importance enough jobs were created in the
of the sectors over the forty years. secondary and tertiary sectors. Even

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 25

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 though industrial output or the underemployment is hidden in
production of goods went up by contrast to someone who does not
more than nine times during the have a job and is clearly visible as
period, employment in the industry unemployed. Hence, it is also
went up by around three times. The called disguised unemployment.
same applies to the tertiary sector
as well. While production in the Now, supposing a landlord,
service sector rose by 14 times, Sukhram, comes and hires one or
employment in the service sector two members of the family to work
rose around five times. on his land. Laxmi’s family is now
able to earn some extra income
As a result, more than half of the through wages. Since you do not
workers in the country are working need five people to look after that
in the primary sector, mainly in small plot, two people moving out
agriculture, producing only about does not affect production on their
one sixth of the GVA. In contrast to farm. In the above example, two
this, the secondary and tertiary people may move to work in a
sectors produce the rest of the factory. Once again the earnings of
produce whereas they employ less the family would increase and they
about half the people. Does this mean
would also continue to produce as
that the workers in agriculture
much from their land.
are not producing as much as
they could? There are lakhs of farmers like
Laxmi in India. This means that even
What it means is that there
if we remove a lot of people from
are more people in agriculture than
agricultural sector and provide them
is necessary. So, even if you move
with proper work elsewhere,
a few people out, production will
agricultural production will not
not be affected. In other words,
suffer. The incomes of the people who
workers in the agricultural sector are
underemployed. take up other work would increase
the total family income.
For instance, take the case of a
small farmer, Laxmi, owning about This underemployment can also
two hectares of unirrigated land happen in other sectors. For
dependent only on rain and example there are thousands of
growing crops, like jowar and arhar. casual workers in the service
All five members of her family work sector in urban areas who search
in the plot throughout the year. for daily employment. They are
Why? They have nowhere else to go employed as painters, plumbers,
for work. You will see that everyone repair persons and others doing
is working, none remains idle, but odd jobs. Many of them don’t find
in actual fact, their labour effort work everyday. Similarly, we see
gets divided. Each one is doing other people of the service sector
some work but no one is fully on the street pushing a cart or
employed. This is the situation of selling something where they may
underemployment, where people spend the whole day but earn
are apparently working but all very little. They are doing this
of them are made to work less work because they do not have
than their potential. This kind of better opportunities.

26 U NDERST ANDING E CONOMIC D EVEL

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 LET’S WORK THESE OUT
1. Complete the table using the data given in Graphs 2 and 3 and answer the question
that follows. Ignore if data are not available for some years.

TABLE 2.2 SHARE OF PRIMARY SECTOR IN

GDP AND EMPLOYMENT
1977-78 2017-18
Share in Gross Value Added (GVA)

Share in employment

What are the changes that you observe in the primary sector over a span of forty
years?
2. Choose the correct answer:
Underemployment occurs when people
(i) do not want to work
(ii) are working in a lazy manner
(iii) are working less than what they are capable of doing
(iv) are not paid for their work
3. Compare and contrast the changes in India with the pattern that was observed for
developed countries. What kind of changes between sectors were desired but did
not happen in India?
4. Why should we be worried about underemployment?

How to Create More

Employment?
From the above discussion, we can see
that there continues to be considerable
underemployment in agriculture.
There are also people who are not
employed at all. In what ways can one
increase employment for people? Let
us look at some of them.
Take the case of Laxmi with her
two-hectare plot of unirrigated land.
The government can spend some
money or banks can provide a loan,
to construct a well for her family to
irrigate the land. Laxmi will then be
able to irrigate her land and take a
second crop, wheat, during the rabi
season. Let us suppose that one
hectare of wheat can provide
employment to two people for 50 days
(including sowing, watering, fertiliser

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 27

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 application and harvesting). So, two interest. If the local bank gives her
more members of the family can be credit at a reasonable rate of interest,
employed in her own field. Now she will be able to buy all these in time
suppose a new dam is constructed and cultivate her land. This means that
and canals are dug to irrigate many along with water, we also need to
such farms. This could lead to a lot of provide cheap agricultural credit to the
employment generation within the farmers for farming to improve. We will
agricultural sector itself reducing the look at some of these needs in Chapter
problem of underemployment. 3, Money and Credit.
Now, suppose Laxmi and other Another way by which we can
farmers produce much more than tackle this problem is to identify,
before. They would also need to sell some promote and locate industries and
of this. For this they may be required to services in semi-rural areas where a
transport their products to a nearby large number of people may be
town. If the government invests some employed. For instance, suppose
money in transportation and storage of many farmers decide to grow arhar
crops, or makes better rural roads so and chickpea (pulse crops). Setting
that mini-trucks reach everywhere up a dal mill to procure and process
several farmers like Laxmi, who now these and sell in the cities is one such
have access to water, can continue to example. Opening a cold storage could
grow and sell these crops. This activity give an opportunity for farmers to
can provide productive employment to store their products like potatoes and
not just farmers but also others such as onions and sell them when the price
those in services like transport or trade. is good. In villages near forest areas,
we can start honey collection centres
Laxmi’s need is not confined to
where farmers can come and sell wild
water alone. To cultivate the land, she
honey. It is also possible to set up
also needs seeds, fertilisers,
industries that process vegetables and
agricultural equipment and pumpsets
agricultural produce like potato,
to draw water. Being a poor farmer,
sweet potato, rice, wheat, tomato,
she cannot afford many of these. So,
fruits, which can be sold in outside
she will have to borrow money from
Gur Making in markets. This will provide
Haryana moneylenders and pay a high rate of
employment in industries located in
semi-rural areas and not necessarily
in large urban centres.

What groups of peop

le do
you think are unemplo
yed
or underemployed in
your
ar ea ? Ca n yo u th in
k of
some measures that
could
be taken up for them
?

Do you know that in India about

60 per cent of the population belongs
to the age group 5-29 years? Out of
this, only about 51 per cent are
attending educational institutions.
The rest and particularly those aged
less than 18 years may be at home or

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many of them may be working as
child labourers. If these children are
to attend schools, we will require more
buildings, more teachers and other
staff. A study conducted by the
erstwhile Planning Commission (now
known as NITI Aayog) estimates that
nearly 20 lakh jobs can be created in
the education sector alone. Similarly,
if we are to improve the health
situation, we need many more doctors,
nurses, health workers etc. to work
in rural areas. These are some ways
by which jobs would be created and
we would also be able to address the
important aspects of development
talked about in Chapter 1.
Every state or region has potential
for increasing the income and
employment for people in that area.
It could be tourism, or regional craft
industry, or new services like IT. Some in about 625 districts of India. It is
of these would require proper called Mahatma Gandhi National
planning and support from the Rural Employment Guarantee Act
government. For example, the same 2005 (MGNREGA 2005). Under
study by the Planning Commission MGNREGA 2005, all those who are
says that if tourism as a sector is
able to, and are in need of, work in
improved, every year we can give
rural areas are guaranteed 100 days
additional employment to more than
35 lakh people. of employment in a year by the
government. If the government fails in
We must realise that some of the its duty to provide employment, it will
suggestions discussed above would
give unemployment allowances to the
take a long time to implement. For the
people. The types of work that would
short-term, we need some quick
measures. Recognising this, the in future help to increase the
central government in India made a production from land will be given
law implementing the Right to Work preference under the Act.

LET’S WORK THESE OUT

1. Why do you think MGNREGA 2005 is referred to as ‘ Right to work’ ?
2. Imagine that you are the village head. In that capacity suggest some activities that
you think should be taken up under this Act that would also increase the income of
people? Discuss.
3. How would income and employment increase if farmers were provided with irrigation
and marketing facilities?
4. In what ways can employment be increased in urban areas?

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 29

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 DIVISION OF SECTORS AS ORGANISED AND
UNORGANISED
Let us examine another way of classifying activities in the economy. This looks
at the way people are employed. What are their conditions of work? Are there
any rules and regulations that are followed as regards their employment?

Ka n ta
nds her office from
Kanta works in an office. She atte
s her salary regularly
9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. She get
ition to the salary,
at the end of every month. In add
as per the rules laid
she also gets provident fund
also gets medical and
down by the government. She
s not go to office on
other allowances. Kanta doe
y. When she joined
Sundays. This is a paid holida
tment letter stating
work, she was given an appoin
work.
all the terms and conditions of
Kamal
Kamal is Kanta’s neighbour.
He is a
da ily wa ge lab our er in a
nea rby
grocery shop. He goes to the
shop at
7:30 in the morning and works
till 8:00
p.m. in the evening. He gets
no other
allowances apart from his wa
ges. He
is not paid for the days he doe
s not
work. He has therefore no leave
or paid
holidays. Nor was he given any
formal
let ter say ing tha t he ha
s bee n
employed in the shop. He can be
asked
to leave anytime by his emplo
yer.
differences in
Do you see the
s of w or k
th e co n d it io n organised because it has some formal
and Kamal?
between Kanta processes and procedures. Some of
these people may not be employed by
Kanta works in the organised anyone but may work on their own
sector. Organised sector covers those
but they too have to register
enterprises or places of work where
themselves with the government and
the terms of employment are regular
follow the rules and regulations.
and therefore, people have assured
work. They are registered by the Workers in the organised sector
government and have to follow its enjoy security of employment. They
rules and regulations which are are expected to work only a fixed
given in various laws such as the number of hours. If they work more,
Factories Act, Minimum Wages Act, they have to be paid overtime by the
Payment of Gratuity Act, Shops and employer. They also get several other
Establishments Act etc. It is called benefits from the employers. What are
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these benefits? They get paid leave, low-paid and often not regular. There
payment during holidays, provident is no provision for overtime, paid
fund, gratuity etc. They are supposed leave, holidays, leave due to sickness
to get medical benefits and, under the etc. Employment is not secure. People
laws, the factory manager has to can be asked to leave without any
ensure facilities like drinking water reason. When there is less work, such
and a safe working environment. as during some seasons, some people
When they retire, these workers get may be asked to leave. A lot also
pensions as well. depends on the whims of the
In contrast, Kamal works in the employer. This sector includes a large
unorganised sector. The unorganised number of people who are employed
sector is characterised by small and on their own doing small jobs such
scattered units which are largely as selling on the street or doing repair
outside the control of the government. work. Similarly, farmers work on
There are rules and regulations but their own and hire labourers as and
these are not followed. Jobs here are when they require.

LET’S WORK THESE OUT

1. Look at the following examples. Which of these are unorganised sector activities?
(i) A teacher taking classes in a school
(ii) A headload worker carrying a bag of cement on his back in a market
(iii) A farmer irrigating her field
(iv) A doctor in a hospital treating a patient
(v) A daily wage labourer working under a contractor
(vi) A factory worker going to work in a big factory
(vii) A handloom weaver working in her house
2. Talk to someone who has a regular job in the organised sector and another who works in the unorganised
sector. Compare and contrast their working conditions in all aspects.
3. How would you distinguish between organised and unorganised sectors? Explain in your own words.
4. The table below shows the estimated number of workers in India in the organised and unorganised sectors
in the late 1990s. Read the table carefully. Fill in the missing data and answer the questions that follow.

TABLE 2.3 WORKERS IN DIFFERENT SECTORS (IN MILLIONS)

Sector Organised Unorganised Total
Primary 1 232
Secondary 41 74 115
Tertiary 40 88 128
Total 82
Total in Percentage 100%

· What is the percentage of people in the unorganised sector in agriculture?

· Do you agree that agriculture is an unorganised sector activity? Why?
· If we look at the country as a whole, we find that ———% of the workers in India are in the
unorganised sector. Organised sector employment is available to only about ———% of the
workers in India.

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 31

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 How to Protect Workers in Who are these vulnerable people
the Unorganised Sector? who need protection? In the rural
areas, the unorganised sector mostly
The organised sector offers jobs that
comprises of landless agricultural
are the most sought-after. But the
labourers, small and marginal
employment opportunities in the
farmers, sharecroppers and artisans
organised sector have been expanding
(such as weavers, blacksmiths,
very slowly. It is also common to find
carpenters and goldsmiths). Nearly
many organised sector enterprises in
80 per cent of rural households in
the unorganised sector. They adopt
India are in small and marginal
such strategies to evade taxes and
farmer category. These farmers need
refuse to follow laws that protect
to be supported through adequate
labourers. As a result, a large number
facility for timely delivery of seeds,
of workers are forced to enter the
agricultural inputs, credit, storage
unorganised sector jobs, which pay a
facilities and marketing outlets.
very low salary. They are often
exploited and not paid a fair wage. In the urban areas, unorganised
Their earnings are low and not sector comprises mainly of workers in
regular. These jobs are not secure and small-scale industry, casual workers
have no other benefits. in construction, trade and transport
etc., and those who work as street
Since the 1990s, it is also common
vendors, head load workers, garment
to see a large number of workers
makers, rag pickers etc. Small-scale
losing their jobs in the organised
industry also needs government’s
sector. These workers are forced to
support for procuring raw material
take up jobs in the unorganised
and marketing of output. The casual
sector with low earnings. Hence,
workers in both rural and urban
besides the need for more work, there
areas need to be protected.
is also a need for protection and
support of the workers in the We also find that majority of
unorganised sector. workers from scheduled castes, tribes
and backward communities
find themselves in the
unorganised sector. Besides
getting the irregular and low
paid work, these workers also
face social discrimination.
Protection and support to
the unorganised sector
workers is thus necessary
for both economic and
social development.

When factories close down, many

once regular workers are found
selling goods or pushing a cart or
doing some other odd job

32 U NDERST ANDING E CONOMIC D EVEL

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 LET’S RECALL
With so many activities taking place around us, one needs to use the
process of classification to think in a useful manner. The criterion for
classification could be many depending on what we desire to find out.
The process of classification helps to analyse a situation.
In dividing the economic activities into three sectors — primary,
secondary, tertiary — the criterion used was the ‘nature of activity’. On
the basis of this classification, we were able to analyse the pattern of total
production and employment in India. Similarly, we divided the economic
activities into organised and unorganised and used the classification to
look at employment in the two sectors.
What was the most important conclusion that was derived from the
classification exercises? What were the problems and solutions that were
indicated? Can you summarise the information in the following table?
TABLE 2.4 CLASSIFYING ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
Sector Criteria used Most important Problems indicated and
conclusion how they can be tackled
Primary, Nature
Secondary, of activity
Tertiary
Organised,
Unorganised

SECTORS IN TERMS OF OWNERSHIP: PUBLIC

AND PRIVATE SECTORS
Another way of classifying economic To get such services we have to pay
activities into sectors could be on the money to these individuals and
basis of who owns assets and is companies. The purpose of the public
responsible for the delivery of services. sector is not just to earn profits.
In the public sector, the government Governments raise money through
owns most of the assets and provides taxes and other ways to meet expenses
all the services. In the private sector, on the services rendered by it. Modern
ownership of assets and delivery of day governments spend on a whole
services is in the hands of private range of activities. What are these
individuals or companies. Railways or activities? Why do governments spend
post office is an example of the public on such activities? Let’s find out.
sector whereas companies like Tata
There are several things needed by
Iron and Steel Company Limited
the society as a whole but which the
(TISCO) or Reliance Industries
private sector will not provide at
Limited (RIL) are privately owned.
a reasonable cost. Why? Some of
Activities in the private sector are these need spending large sums of
guided by the motive to earn profits. money, which is beyond the capacity

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 33

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 of the private sector. Also, collecting government has to bear some of the
money from thousands of people who cost. In this way, the government
use these facilities is not easy. Even supports both farmers and
if they do provide these things they consumers.
would charge a high rate for their
use. Examples are construction of There are a large number of
roads, bridges, railways, harbours, activities which are the primary
generating electricity, providing responsibility of the government. The
irrigation through dams etc. Thus, government must spend on these.
governments have to undertake such Providing health and education
heavy spending and ensure that facilities for all is one example. We have
these facilities are available for discussed some of these issues in the
everyone. first chapter. Running proper schools
and providing quality education,
There are some activities, which particularly elementary education, is
the government has to support. The the duty of the government. India’s size
private sector may not continue their of illiterate population is one of the
production or business unless
largest in the world.
government encourages it. For
example, selling electricity at the cost Similarly, we know that nearly half
of generation may push up the costs of India’s children are malnourished
of production of goods in many and a quarter of them are critically
industries. Many units, especially ill. We have read about I nfant
small-scale units, might have to shut Mortality Rates. The infant mortality
down. Government here steps in by rate of Odisha (36) or Madhya
producing and supplying electricity Pradesh (43) is higher than some of
at rates which these industries can the poorest regions of the world.
afford. Government has to bear part Government also needs to pay
of the cost. attention to aspects of human
Similarly, the Government in India development such as availability of
buys wheat and rice from farmers at safe drinking water, housing facilities
a ‘fair price’. This it stores in its for the poor and food and nutrition.
godowns and sells at a lower price to It is also the duty of the government
consumers through ration shops. You to take care of the poorest and most
have read about this in the chapter ignored regions of the country through
on Food Security in Class IX. The increased spending in such areas.

SUMMING UP
In this chapter we have looked at ways of what all can be done for increasing
classifying economic activities into some employment opportunities in the country.
meaningful groups. One way of doing this Another classification is to consider whether
is to examine whether the activity relates to people are working in organised or
the primary, secondary or tertiary sectors. unorganised sectors. Most people are
The data for India, for the last thirty years, working in the unorganised sectors and
shows that while goods and services protection is necessary for them. We also
produced in the tertiary sector contribute looked at the difference between private and
the most to GDP, the employment remains public activities, and why it is important
in the primary sector. We have also seen for public activities to focus on certain areas.

34 U NDERST ANDING E CONOMIC D EVEL

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EXERCISES
1. Fill in the blanks using the correct option given in the bracket:

(i) Employment in the service sector _________ increased to the same extent
as production. (has / has not)
(ii) Workers in the _________ sector do not produce goods.
(tertiary / agricultural)
(iii) Most of the workers in the _________ sector enjoy job security.
(organised / unorganised)
(iv) A _________ proportion of labourers in India are working in the unorganised
sector. (large / small)
(v) Cotton is a _________ product and cloth is a _________ product.
[natural /manufactured]
(vi) The activities in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors are_________
[independent / interdependent]

2. Choose the most appropriate answer.

(a) The sectors are classified into public and private sector on the basis of:
(i) employment conditions
(ii) the nature of economic activity
(iii) ownership of enterprises
(iv) number of workers employed in the enterprise

(b) Production of a commodity, mostly through the natural process, is an

activity in _________ sector.
(i) primary
(ii) secondary
(iii) tertiary
(iv) information technology

(c) GDP is the total value of _________ produced during a particular year.
(i) all goods and services
(ii) all final goods and services
(iii) all intermediate goods and services
(iv) all intermediate and final goods and services

(d) In terms of GVA the share of tertiary sector in 2017–18 is between

_________ per cent.

(i) 20 to 30

(ii) 30 to 40
(iii) 50 to 60
(iv) 60 to 70

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 35

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 3. Match the following:
Problems faced by farming sector Some possible measures
1. Unirrigated land (a) Setting up agro-based mills
2. Low prices for crops (b) Cooperative marketing societies
3. Debt burden (c) Procurement of food grains by government
4. No job in the off season (d) Construction of canals by the government
5. Compelled to sell their grains to (e) Banks to provide credit with low interest
the local traders soon after harvest

4. Find the odd one out and say why.

(i) Tourist guide, dhobi, tailor, potter
(ii) Teacher, doctor, vegetable vendor, lawyer
(iii) Postman, cobbler, soldier, police constable
(iv) MTNL, Indian Railways, Air India, Jet Airways, All India Radio
5. A research scholar looked at the working people in the city of Surat and found
the following.

Place of work Nature of employment Percentage of working people

In offices and factories registered Organised 15
with the government
Own shops, office, clinics in
15
marketplaces with formal license
People working on the street,
construction workers, domestic 20
workers
Working in small workshops
usually not registered with the
government

Complete the table. What is the percentage of workers in the unorganised

sector in this city?
6. Do you think the classification of economic activities into primary, secondary
and tertiary is useful? Explain how.
7. For each of the sectors that we came across in this chapter why should one
focus on employment and GVA? Could there be other issues which should be
examined? Discuss.
8. Make a long list of all kinds of work that you find adults around you doing for a
living. In what way can you classify them? Explain your choice.
9. How is the tertiary sector different from other sectors? Illustrate with a few
examples.
10. What do you understand by disguised unemployment? Explain with an example
each from the urban and rural areas.
11. Distinguish between open unemployment and disguised unemployment.
12. “Tertiary sector is not playing any significant role in the development of Indian
economy.” Do you agree? Give reasons in support of your answer.

36 U
UNDERST ANDING E
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EVEL OPMENT
EVELOPMENT

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13. Service sector in India employs two different kinds of people. Who are these?
14. Workers are exploited in the unorganised sector. Do you agree with this view?
Give reasons in support of your answer.
15. How are the activities in the economy classified on the basis of employment
conditions?
16. Compare the employment conditions prevailing in the organised and unorganised
sectors.
17. Explain the objective of implementing the MG NREGA 2005.
18. Using examples from your area compare and contrast that activities and functions
of private and public sectors.
19. Discuss and fill the following table giving one example each from your area.

Well managed organisation Badly managed organisation

Public sector
Private Sector

20. Give a few examples of public sector activities and explain why the government
has taken them up.
21. Explain how public sector contributes to the economic development of a nation.
22. The workers in the unorganised sector need protection on the following issues :
wages, safety and health. Explain with examples.
23. A study in Ahmedabad found that out of 15,00,000 workers in the city, 11,00,000
worked in the unorganised sector. The total income of the city in this year
(1997-1998) was Rs 60,000 million. Out of this Rs 32,000 million was generated
in the organised sector. Present this data as a table. What kind of ways should
be thought of for generating more employment in the city?

24. The following table gives the GVA in Rupees (Crores) by the three sectors:

Year Primary Secondary Tertiary

2000 12,56,000 10,12,000 18,17,000
2013 17,87,000 24,59,000 46,30,000

(i) Calculate the share of the three sectors in GDP for 2000 and 2013.
(ii) Show the data as a bar diagram similar to Graph 2 in the chapter.
(iii) What conclusions can we draw from the bar graph?

S ECTORS OF THE I NDIAN E CONOMY 37

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SECTION I

EVENTS AND PROCESSES

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 Chapter I
The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

T h e NRa t i oinsa l ies m inoEfu r o p eN a t i o n a l i s m i n E u r o p e

Fig. 1 — The Dream of Worldwide Democratic and Social Republics – The Pact Between Nations, a print prepared by
Frédéric Sorrieu, 1848.

In 1848, Frédéric Sorrieu, a French artist, prepared a series of four

New words
prints visualising his dream of a world made up of ‘democratic
and social Republics’, as he called them. The first print (Fig. 1) of the Absolutist – Literally, a government or
series, shows the peoples of Europe and America – men and women system of rule that has no restraints on
of all ages and social classes – marching in a long train, and offering the power exercised. In history, the term
homage to the statue of Liberty as they pass by it. As you would refers to a for m of monarchical
recall, artists of the time of the French Revolution personified Liberty government that was centralised,
as a female figure – here you can recognise the torch of Enlightenment militarised and repressive
she bears in one hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man in the Utopian – A vision of a society that is so
other. On the earth in the foreground of the image lie the shattered ideal that it is unlikely to actually exist
remains of the symbols of absolutist institutions. In Sorrieu’s
utopian vision, the peoples of the world are grouped as distinct Activity
nations, identified through their flags and national costume. Leading
In what way do you think this print (Fig. 1)
the procession, way past the statue of Liberty, are the United States
depicts a utopian vision?
and Switzerland, which by this time were already nation-states. France,

3
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 identifiable by the revolutionary tricolour, has just reached the statue. Source A
She is followed by the peoples of Germany, bearing the black, red
Ernst Renan, ‘What is a Nation?’
and gold flag. Interestingly, at the time when Sorrieu created this
In a lecture delivered at the University of
image, the German peoples did not yet exist as a united nation – the
Sorbonne in 1882, the French philosopher Ernst
flag they carry is an expression of liberal hopes in 1848 to unify the Renan (1823-92) outlined his understanding of
numerous German-speaking principalities into a nation-state under what makes a nation. The lecture was
subsequently published as a famous essay entitled
a democratic constitution. Following the German peoples are the
‘Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?’ (‘What is a Nation?’).
peoples of Austria, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Lombardy, In this essay Renan criticises the notion suggested
Poland, England, Ireland, Hungary and Russia. From the heavens by others that a nation is formed by a common
language, race, religion, or territory:
above, Christ, saints and angels gaze upon the scene. They have
‘A nation is the culmination of a long past of
been used by the artist to symbolise fraternity among the nations of endeavours, sacrifice and devotion. A heroic past,
the world. great men, glory, that is the social capital upon
which one bases a national idea. To have
This chapter will deal with many of the issues visualised by Sorrieu common glories in the past, to have a common
in Fig. 1. During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a will in the present, to have performed great deeds
together, to wish to perform still more, these
force which brought about sweeping changes in the political and
are the essential conditions of being a people. A
mental world of Europe. The end result of these changes was the nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity … Its
emergence of the nation-state in place of the multi-national dynastic existence is a daily plebiscite … A province is its
inhabitants; if anyone has the right to be
empires of Europe. The concept and practices of a modern state, in
consulted, it is the inhabitant. A nation never
which a centralised power exercised sovereign control over a clearly has any real interest in annexing or holding on to
defined territory, had been developing over a long period of time a country against its will. The existence of nations
is a good thing, a necessity even. Their existence
in Europe. But a nation-state was one in which the majority of its
is a guarantee of liberty, which would be lost if
citizens, and not only its rulers, came to develop a sense of common the world had only one law and only one master.’
identity and shared history or descent. This commonness did not
exist from time immemorial; it was forged through struggles, through Source
the actions of leaders and the common people. This chapter will
look at the diverse processes through which nation-states and
New words
nationalism came into being in nineteenth-century Europe.
Plebiscite – A direct vote by which all the
people of a region are asked to accept or reject
India and the Contemporary World

a proposal

Discuss
Summarise the attributes of a nation, as Renan
understands them. Why, in his view, are nations
important?

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 1 The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation

The first clear expression of nationalism came with

the French Revolution in 1789. France, as you
would remember, was a full-fledged territorial state
in 1789 under the rule of an absolute monarch.
The political and constitutional changes that came
in the wake of the French Revolution led to the
transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a
body of French citizens. The revolution proclaimed
that it was the people who would henceforth
constitute the nation and shape its destiny.

From the very beginning, the French revolutionaries

introduced various measures and practices that
could create a sense of collective identity amongst
the French people. The ideas of la patrie (the
fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasised
the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a Fig. 2 — The cover of a German almanac
designed by the journalist Andreas Rebmann in
constitution. A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace 1798.
the former royal standard. The Estates General was elected by the The image of the French Bastille being stormed
by the revolutionary crowd has been placed
body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly. New next to a similar fortress meant to represent the
hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, bastion of despotic rule in the German province
of Kassel. Accompanying the illustration is the
all in the name of the nation. A centralised administrative system slogan: ‘The people must seize their own
was put in place and it formulated uniform laws for all citizens freedom!’ Rebmann lived in the city of Mainz
and was a member of a German Jacobin group.
within its territory. Internal customs duties and dues were abolished
and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
Regional dialects were discouraged and French, as it was spoken
and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation.

The revolutionaries further declared that it was the mission and the
Europe

destiny of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europe

from despotism, in other words to help other peoples of Europe
to become nations.
N a t i o n a l i s m in

When the news of the events in France reached the different cities
of Europe, students and other members of educated middle classes
began setting up Jacobin clubs. Their activities and campaigns
prepared the way for the French armies which moved into Holland,
Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790s. With the
outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the French armies began to
carry the idea of nationalism abroad.

5
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 ICELAND
(DENMARK)

ATLANTIC SEA
NORWAY
(SWEDEN)

SWEDEN
SCOTLAND

IRELAND GREAT
BRITAIN DENMARK
RUSSIAN EMPIRE
WALES HABOVER
ENGLAND (G.B.)
PRUSSIA
NETHERLANDS POLAND

GALICIA
BAVARIA
AUSTRIAN EMPIRE
FRANCE
SWITZERLAND AUSTRIA

HUNGARY

SMALL ROMANIA
AL

STATES SERBIA GEORGIA

TUG

SPAIN CORSICA BULGARIA

POR

ARMENIA
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
PER
KINGDOM
SARDINIA OF THE SIA
TWO
SICILIES

GREECE MESOPOTAMIA
TUNIS
ALGERIA CRETE SYRIA
MOROCCO CYPRUS
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
PALESTINE

EGYPT Fig. 3 — Europe after the

Congress of Vienna, 1815.

Within the wide swathe of territory that came under his control,
Napoleon set about introducing many of the reforms that he had
already introduced in France. Through a return to monarchy
India and the Contemporary World

Napoleon had, no doubt, destroyed democracy in France, but in

the administrative field he had incorporated revolutionary principles
in order to make the whole system more rational and efficient. The
Civil Code of 1804 – usually known as the Napoleonic Code –
did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality
before the law and secured the right to property. This Code was
exported to the regions under French control. In the Dutch Republic,
in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon simplified
administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed
peasants from serfdom and manorial dues. In the towns too, guild
restrictions were removed. Transport and communication systems
were improved. Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen

6
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 Fig. 4 — The Planting of Tree of Liberty in Zweibrücken, Germany.
The subject of this colour print by the German painter Karl Kaspar Fritz is the occupation of the town of Zweibrücken
by the French armies. French soldiers, recognisable by their blue, white and red uniforms, have been portrayed as
oppressors as they seize a peasant’s cart (left), harass some young women (centre foreground) and force a peasant
down to his knees. The plaque being affixed to the Tree of Liberty carries a German inscription which in translation
reads: ‘Take freedom and equality from us, the model of humanity.’ This is a sarcastic reference to the claim of the
French as being liberators who opposed monarchy in the territories they entered.

enjoyed a new-found freedom. Businessmen and small-scale

producers of goods, in particular, began to realise that uniform
laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common national
currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods
and capital from one region to another.

However, in the areas conquered, the reactions of the local Europe

populations to French rule were mixed. Initially, in many places such
as Holland and Switzerland, as well as in certain cities like Brussels,
Mainz, Milan and Warsaw, the French armies were welcomed as
N a t i o n a l i s m in

harbingers of liberty. But the initial enthusiasm soon turned to hostility,

as it became clear that the new administrative arrangements did not
go hand in hand with political freedom. Increased taxation,
censorship, forced conscription into the French armies required to
Fig. 5 — The courier of Rhineland loses all that
conquer the rest of Europe, all seemed to outweigh the advantages
he has on his way home from Leipzig.
of the administrative changes. Napoleon here is represented as a postman on
his way back to France after he lost the battle of
Leipzig in 1813. Each letter dropping out of his
bag bears the names of the territories he lost.

7
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 2 The Making of Nationalism in Europe

If you look at the map of mid-eighteenth-century Europe you will

find that there were no ‘nation-states’ as we know them today.
Some important dates
What we know today as Germany, Italy and Switzerland were 1797
Napoleon invades Italy; Napoleonic wars
divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their begin.
autonomous territories. Eastern and Central Europe were under
1814-1815
autocratic monarchies within the territories of which lived diverse Fall of Napoleon; the Vienna Peace
peoples. They did not see themselves as sharing a collective identity Settlement.

or a common culture. Often, they even spoke different languages 1821

and belonged to different ethnic groups. The Habsburg Empire Greek struggle for independence begins.
that ruled over Austria-Hungary, for example, was a patchwork of 1848
many different regions and peoples. It included the Alpine regions Revolutions in Europe; artisans, industrial
workers and peasants revolt against
– the Tyrol, Austria and the Sudetenland – as well as Bohemia, economic hardships; middle classes
where the aristocracy was predominantly German-speaking. It also demand constitutions and representative
governments; Italians, Germans, Magyars,
included the Italian-speaking provinces of Lombardy and Venetia. Poles, Czechs, etc. demand nation-states.
In Hungary, half of the population spoke Magyar while the other
1859-1870
half spoke a variety of dialects. In Galicia, the aristocracy spoke Unification of Italy.
Polish. Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived within
1866-1871
the boundaries of the empire, a mass of subject peasant peoples – Unification of Germany.
Bohemians and Slovaks to the north, Slovenes in Carniola, Croats
1905
to the south, and Roumans to the east in Transylvania. Such
Slav nationalism gathers force in the
differences did not easily promote a sense of political unity. The Habsburg and Ottoman Empires.
only tie binding these diverse groups together was a common
allegiance to the emperor.

How did nationalism and the idea of the nation-state emerge?

2.1 The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class

India and the Contemporary World

Socially and politically, a landed aristocracy was the dominant class

on the continent. The members of this class were united by a
common way of life that cut across regional divisions. They owned
estates in the countryside and also town-houses. They spoke French
for purposes of diplomacy and in high society. Their families were
often connected by ties of marriage. This powerful aristocracy was,
however, numerically a small group. The majority of the population
was made up of the peasantry. To the west, the bulk of the land
was farmed by tenants and small owners, while in Eastern and
Central Europe the pattern of landholding was characterised by
vast estates which were cultivated by serfs.

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In Western and parts of Central Europe the growth of industrial
production and trade meant the growth of towns and the emergence
of commercial classes whose existence was based on production
for the market. Industrialisation began in England in the second
half of the eighteenth century, but in France and parts of the German
states it occurred only during the nineteenth century. In its wake,
new social groups came into being: a working-class population, and
middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen, professionals.
In Central and Eastern Europe these groups were smaller in number
till late nineteenth century. It was among the educated, liberal middle
classes that ideas of national unity following the abolition of
aristocratic privileges gained popularity.

2.2 What did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?

Ideas of national unity in early-nineteenth-century Europe were closely
allied to the ideology of liberalism. The term ‘liberalism’ derives
from the Latin root liber, meaning free. For the new middle classes
liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality of all
before the law. Politically, it emphasised the concept of government
by consent. Since the French Revolution, liberalism had stood for
the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution and
representative government through parliament. Nineteenth-century
liberals also stressed the inviolability of private property.

Yet, equality before the law did not necessarily stand for universal
New words
suffrage. You will recall that in revolutionary France, which marked
the first political experiment in liberal democracy, the right to vote Suffrage – The right to vote
and to get elected was granted exclusively to property-owning men.
Men without property and all women were excluded from political
rights. Only for a brief period under the Jacobins did all adult males Europe
enjoy suffrage. However, the Napoleonic Code went back to limited
suffrage and reduced women to the status of a minor, subject to
the authority of fathers and husbands. Throughout the nineteenth
N a t i o n a l i s m in

and early twentieth centuries women and non-propertied men

organised opposition movements demanding equal political rights.

In the economic sphere, liberalism stood for the freedom of markets

and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement
of goods and capital. During the nineteenth century this was a strong
demand of the emerging middle classes. Let us take the example of
the German-speaking regions in the first half of the nineteenth
century. Napoleon’s administrative measures had created out of

9
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 countless small principalities a confederation of 39 states. Each of Source B
these possessed its own currency, and weights and measures. A
Economists began to think in terms of the national
merchant travelling in 1833 from Hamburg to Nuremberg to sell economy. They talked of how the nation could
his goods would have had to pass through 11 customs barriers and develop and what economic measures could help
pay a customs duty of about 5 per cent at each one of them. Duties forge this nation together.

were often levied according to the weight or measurement of the Friedrich List, Professor of Economics at the
University of Tübingen in Germany, wrote in 1834:
goods. As each region had its own system of weights and measures,
‘The aim of the zollverein is to bind the Germans
this involved time-consuming calculation. The measure of cloth, economically into a nation. It will strengthen the
for example, was the elle which in each region stood for a different nation materially as much by protecting its
length. An elle of textile material bought in Frankfurt would get you interests externally as by stimulating its internal
productivity. It ought to awaken and raise
54.7 cm of cloth, in Mainz 55.1 cm, in Nuremberg 65.6 cm, in national sentiment through a fusion of individual
Freiburg 53.5 cm. and provincial interests. The German people have
realised that a free economic system is the only
Such conditions were viewed as obstacles to economic exchange means to engender national feeling.’
and growth by the new commercial classes, who argued for the
creation of a unified economic territory allowing the unhindered
Source
movement of goods, people and capital. In 1834, a customs union
or zollverein was formed at the initiative of Prussia and joined by Discuss
most of the German states. The union abolished tariff barriers and
Describe the political ends that List hopes to
reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two. The
achieve through economic measures.
creation of a network of railways further stimulated mobility,
harnessing economic interests to national unification. A wave of
economic nationalism strengthened the wider nationalist sentiments
growing at the time.

2.3 A New Conservatism after 1815 New words

Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, European governments Conservatism – A political philosophy that
were driven by a spirit of conservatism. Conservatives believed stressed the importance of tradition, established
that established, traditional institutions of state and society – like the institutions and customs, and preferred gradual
monarchy, the Church, social hierarchies, property and the family – development to quick change
India and the Contemporary World

should be preserved. Most conservatives, however, did not propose

a return to the society of pre-revolutionary days. Rather, they realised,
from the changes initiated by Napoleon, that modernisation could
in fact strengthen traditional institutions like the monarchy. It could
make state power more effective and strong. A modern army, an
efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of feudalism
and serfdom could strengthen the autocratic monarchies of Europe.

In 1815, representatives of the European powers – Britain, Russia,

Prussia and Austria – who had collectively defeated Napoleon, met
at Vienna to draw up a settlement for Europe. The Congress was
hosted by the Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich. The delegates

10
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drew up the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 with the object of undoing
most of the changes that had come about in Europe during the
Napoleonic wars. The Bourbon dynasty, which had been deposed
during the French Revolution, was restored to power, and France
lost the territories it had annexed under Napoleon. A series of states
were set up on the boundaries of France to prevent French expansion
in future. Thus the kingdom of the Netherlands, which included
Belgium, was set up in the north and Genoa was added to Piedmont
in the south. Prussia was given important new territories on its western
frontiers, while Austria was given control of northern Italy. But the Activity
German confederation of 39 states that had been set up by Napoleon
Plot on a map of Europe the changes drawn
was left untouched. In the east, Russia was given part of Poland
up by the Vienna Congress.
while Prussia was given a portion of Saxony. The main intention
was to restore the monarchies that had been overthrown by
Napoleon, and create a new conservative order in Europe.

Conservative regimes set up in 1815 were autocratic. They did not

tolerate criticism and dissent, and sought to curb activities that
questioned the legitimacy of autocratic governments. Most of them Discuss
imposed censorship laws to control what was said in newspapers,
What is the caricaturist trying to depict?
books, plays and songs and reflected the ideas of liberty and freedom

Europe
N a t i o n a l i s m in

Fig. 6 — The Club of Thinkers, anonymous caricature dating to c. 1820.

The plaque on the left bears the inscription: ‘The most important question of today’s meeting: How
long will thinking be allowed to us?’
The board on the right lists the rules of the Club which include the following:
‘1. Silence is the first commandment of this learned society.
2. To avoid the eventuality whereby a member of this club may succumb to the temptation of
speech, muzzles will be distributed to members upon entering.’

11
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 associated with the French Revolution. The memory of the French
Revolution nonetheless continued to inspire liberals. One of the major
issues taken up by the liberal-nationalists, who criticised the new
conservative order, was freedom of the press.

2.4 The Revolutionaries

During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove
many liberal-nationalists underground. Secret societies sprang
up in many European states to train revolutionaries and spread
their ideas. To be revolutionary at this time meant a commitment
to oppose monarchical forms that had been established after
the Vienna Congress, and to fight for liberty and freedom. Most
of these revolutionaries also saw the creation of nation-states as
a necessary part of this struggle for freedom.

One such individual was the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe

Mazzini. Born in Genoa in 1805, he became a member of the
secret society of the Carbonari. As a young man of 24, he was
sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
He subsequently founded two more underground societies,
first, Young Italy in Marseilles, and then, Young Europe in
Berne, whose members were like-minded young men from
Poland, France, Italy and the German states. Mazzini believed
that God had intended nations to be the natural units of
mankind. So Italy could not continue to be a patchwork of
small states and kingdoms. It had to be forged into a single
unified republic within a wider alliance of nations. This
unification alone could be the basis of Italian liberty. Following
his model, secret societies were set up in Germany, France,
Fig. 7 — Giuseppe Mazzini and the founding of
Switzerland and Poland. Mazzini’s relentless opposition to
India and the Contemporary World

Young Europe in Berne 1833.

monarchy and his vision of democratic republics frightened the Print by Giacomo Mantegazza.

conservatives. Metternich described him as ‘the most dangerous

enemy of our social order’.

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 3 The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848

As conservative regimes tried to consolidate their power, liberalism

and nationalism came to be increasingly associated with revolution
in many regions of Europe such as the Italian and German states,
the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland. These
revolutions were led by the liberal-nationalists belonging to the
educated middle-class elite, among whom were professors, school-
teachers, clerks and members of the commercial middle classes.

The first upheaval took place in France in July 1830. The Bourbon
kings who had been restored to power during the conservative
reaction after 1815, were now overthrown by liberal revolutionaries
who installed a constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe at its
head. ‘When France sneezes,’ Metternich once remarked, ‘the rest of
Europe catches cold.’ The July Revolution sparked an uprising in
Brussels which led to Belgium breaking away from the United
Kingdom of the Netherlands.

An event that mobilised nationalist feelings among the educated elite

across Europe was the Greek war of independence. Greece had
been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century. The
growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a struggle
for independence amongst the Greeks which began in 1821.
Nationalists in Greece got support from other Greeks living in exile
and also from many West Europeans who had sympathies for ancient
Greek culture. Poets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of
European civilisation and mobilised public opinion to support its
struggle against a Muslim empire. The English poet Lord Byron
organised funds and later went to fight in the war, where he died of
fever in 1824. Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 Europe

recognised Greece as an independent nation.

3.1 The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

N a t i o n a l i s m in

The development of nationalism did not come about only through

wars and territorial expansion. Culture played an important role in
creating the idea of the nation: art and poetry, stories and music
helped express and shape nationalist feelings.

Let us look at Romanticism, a cultural movement which sought to

develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment. Romantic artists
and poets generally criticised the glorification of reason and science

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 Fig. 8 — The Massacre at Chios, Eugene Delacroix, 1824.
The French painter Delacroix was one of the most important French Romantic
painters. This huge painting (4.19m x 3.54m) depicts an incident in which
20,000 Greeks were said to have been killed by Turks on the island of Chios. By
dramatising the incident, focusing on the suffering of women and children, and
India and the Contemporary World

using vivid colours, Delacroix sought to appeal to the emotions of the spectators,
and create sympathy for the Greeks.

and focused instead on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings.

Their effort was to create a sense of a shared collective heritage, a
common cultural past, as the basis of a nation.

Other Romantics such as the German philosopher Johann Gottfried

Herder (1744-1803) claimed that true German culture was to be
discovered among the common people – das volk. It was through
folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances that the true spirit of the
nation (volksgeist) was popularised. So collecting and recording these
forms of folk culture was essential to the project of nation-building.

14
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The emphasis on vernacular language and the collection of local Box 1
folklore was not just to recover an ancient national spirit, but also to
carry the modern nationalist message to large audiences who were The Grimm Brothers: Folktales and
Nation-building
mostly illiterate. This was especially so in the case of Poland, which
Grimms’ Fairy Tales is a familiar name. The brothers
had been partitioned at the end of the eighteenth century by the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in the
Great Powers – Russia, Prussia and Austria. Even though Poland no German city of Hanau in 1785 and 1786
longer existed as an independent territory, national feelings were kept respectively. While both of them studied law,
they soon developed an interest in collecting old
alive through music and language. Karol Kurpinski, for example, folktales. They spent six years travelling from
celebrated the national struggle through his operas and music, turning village to village, talking to people and writing
folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols. down fairy tales, which were handed down
through the generations. These were popular
Language too played an important role in developing nationalist both among children and adults. In 1812, they
published their first collection of tales.
sentiments. After Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced Subsequently, both the brothers became active
out of schools and the Russian language was imposed everywhere. in liberal politics, especially the movement
In 1831, an armed rebellion against Russian rule took place which for freedom of the press. In the meantime they
also published a 33-volume dictionary of the
was ultimately crushed. Following this, many members of the clergy German language.
in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance. The Grimm brothers also saw French domination
Polish was used for Church gatherings and all religious instruction. as a threat to German culture, and believed that
As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or the folktales they had collected were expressions
of a pure and authentic German spirit. They
sent to Siberia by the Russian authorities as punishment for their considered their projects of collecting folktales
refusal to preach in Russian. The use of Polish came to be seen as a and developing the German language as part of
symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance. the wider effort to oppose French domination
and create a German national identity.

3.2 Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt

The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe. The
first half of the nineteenth century saw an enormous increase in Discuss
population all over Europe. In most countries there were more Discuss the importance of language and
seekers of jobs than employment. Population from rural areas popular traditions in the creation of national
migrated to the cities to live in overcrowded slums. Small producers identity.
in towns were often faced with stiff competition from imports of Europe
cheap machine-made goods from England, where industrialisation
was more advanced than on the continent. This was especially so in
textile production, which was carried out mainly in homes or small
N a t i o n a l i s m in

workshops and was only partly mechanised. In those regions of

Europe where the aristocracy still enjoyed power, peasants struggled
under the burden of feudal dues and obligations. The rise of food
prices or a year of bad harvest led to widespread pauperism in
town and country.

The year 1848 was one such year. Food shortages and widespread
unemployment brought the population of Paris out on the roads.
Barricades were erected and Louis Philippe was forced to flee. A

15
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 Fig. 9 — Peasants’ uprising, 1848.

National Assembly proclaimed a Republic, granted suffrage to all

adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work. National
workshops to provide employment were set up.

Earlier, in 1845, weavers in Silesia had led a revolt against contractors

who supplied them raw material and gave them orders for finished
textiles but drastically reduced their payments. The journalist Wilhelm
Wolff described the events in a Silesian village as follows:

In these villages (with 18,000 inhabitants) cotton weaving is the

most widespread occupation … The misery of the workers is
extreme. The desperate need for jobs has been taken advantage
of by the contractors to reduce the prices of the goods they
order …
India and the Contemporary World

On 4 June at 2 p.m. a large crowd of weavers emerged from

their homes and marched in pairs up to the mansion of their
contractor demanding higher wages. They were treated with
Discuss
scorn and threats alternately. Following this, a group of them Describe the cause of the Silesian weavers’
forced their way into the house, smashed its elegant window- uprising. Comment on the viewpoint of the

panes, furniture, porcelain … another group broke into the journalist.

storehouse and plundered it of supplies of cloth which they

tore to shreds … The contractor fled with his family to a Activity
neighbouring village which, however, refused to shelter such a
Imagine you are a weaver who saw the events
person. He returned 24 hours later having requisitioned the army.
as they unfolded. Write a report on what you saw.
In the exchange that followed, eleven weavers were shot.

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3.3 1848: The Revolution of the Liberals
Parallel to the revolts of the poor, unemployed and starving peasants Source C
and workers in many European countries in the year 1848, a revolution
How were liberty and equality for women
led by the educated middle classes was under way. Events of February
to be defined?
1848 in France had brought about the abdication of the monarch
The liberal politician Carl Welcker, an elected
and a republic based on universal male suffrage had been proclaimed. member of the Frankfurt Parliament, expressed
In other parts of Europe where independent nation-states did not the following views:
yet exist – such as Germany, Italy, Poland, the Austro-Hungarian ‘Nature has created men and women to carry
out different functions … Man, the stronger, the
Empire – men and women of the liberal middle classes combined
bolder and freer of the two, has been designated
their demands for constitutionalism with national unification. They as protector of the family, its provider, meant for
took advantage of the growing popular unrest to push their public tasks in the domain of law, production,
defence. Woman, the weaker, dependent and
demands for the creation of a nation-state on parliamentary
timid, requires the protection of man. Her sphere
principles – a constitution, freedom of the press and freedom is the home, the care of the children, the
of association. nurturing of the family … Do we require any
further proof that given such differences, equality
In the German regions a large number of political associations whose between the sexes would only endanger
harmony and destroy the dignity of the family?’
members were middle-class professionals, businessmen and
Louise Otto-Peters (1819-95) was a political
prosperous artisans came together in the city of Frankfurt and decided
activist who founded a women’s journal and
to vote for an all-German National Assembly. On 18 May 1848, subsequently a feminist political association. The
831 elected representatives marched in a festive procession to take first issue of her newspaper (21 April 1849) carried
the following editorial:
their places in the Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of
‘Let us ask how many men, possessed by
St Paul. They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be
thoughts of living and dying for the sake of Liberty,
headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament. When the deputies would be prepared to fight for the freedom of
offered the crown on these terms to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of the entire people, of all human beings? When
asked this question, they would all too easily
Prussia, he rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the
respond with a “Yes!”, though their untiring
elected assembly. While the opposition of the aristocracy and military efforts are intended for the benefit of only one
became stronger, the social basis of parliament eroded. The half of humanity – men. But Liberty is indivisible!
Free men therefore must not tolerate to be
parliament was dominated by the middle classes who resisted the
surrounded by the unfree …’
demands of workers and artisans and consequently lost their support.
An anonymous reader of the same newspaper
In the end troops were called in and the assembly was forced sent the following letter to the editor on 25 June
1850:
Europe
to disband.
‘It is indeed ridiculous and unreasonable to deny
The issue of extending political rights to women was a controversial women political rights even though they enjoy
one within the liberal movement, in which large numbers of women the right to property which they make use
N a t i o n a l i s m in

of. They perform functions and assume

had participated actively over the years. Women had formed their
responsibilities without however getting the
own political associations, founded newspapers and taken part in benefits that accrue to men for the same … Why
political meetings and demonstrations. Despite this they were denied this injustice? Is it not a disgrace that even the
stupidest cattle-herder possesses the right
to vote, simply because he is a man, whereas
New words highly talented women owning considerable
property are excluded from this right, even
Feminist – Awareness of women’s rights and interests based on though they contribute so much to the
the belief of the social, economic and political equality of the genders maintenance of the state?’
Source
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 Fig. 10 — The Frankfurt parliament in the Church of St Paul.
Contemporary colour print. Notice the women in the upper left gallery.

suffrage rights during the election of the Assembly. When the

Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of St Paul, women
Discuss
were admitted only as observers to stand in the visitors’ gallery. Compare the positions on the question of
India and the Contemporary World

women’s rights voiced by the three writers cited

Though conservative forces were able to suppress liberal movements
above. What do they reveal about liberal
in 1848, they could not restore the old order. Monarchs were ideology?
beginning to realise that the cycles of revolution and repression could
only be ended by granting concessions to the liberal-nationalist
revolutionaries. Hence, in the years after 1848, the autocratic New words
monarchies of Central and Eastern Europe began to introduce the Ideology – System of ideas reflecting a
changes that had already taken place in Western Europe before 1815. particular social and political vision
Thus serfdom and bonded labour were abolished both in the
Habsburg dominions and in Russia. The Habsburg rulers granted
more autonomy to the Hungarians in 1867.

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 4 The Making of Germany and Italy

4.1 Germany – Can the Army be the Architect of a Nation?

After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association
with democracy and revolution. Nationalist sentiments were often
mobilised by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving
political domination over Europe.

This can be observed in the process by which Germany and Italy came
to be unified as nation-states. As you have seen, nationalist feelings were
widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite
the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state
governed by an elected parliament. This liberal initiative to nation-building
was, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and
the military, supported by the large landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.
From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for
national unification. Its chief minister, Otto von
Bismarck, was the architect of this process carried
out with the help of the Prussian army and
bureaucracy. Three wars over seven years – with
Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian
victory and completed the process of unification.
In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I,
was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony
held at Versailles.

On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871,

an assembly comprising the princes of the
German states, representatives of the army,
important Prussian ministers including the chief
minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the
Europe

unheated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles

to proclaim the new German Empire headed
N a t i o n a l i s m in

by Kaiser William I of Prussia.

The nation-building process in Germany had

demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state
power. The new state placed a strong emphasis
Fig. 11 — The proclamation of the German empire in the Hall of
on modernising the currency, banking, legal Mirrors at Versailles, Anton von Werner. At the centre stands the
and judicial systems in Germany. Prussian Kaiser and the chief commander of the Prussian army, General von
Roon. Near them is Bismarck. This monumental work (2.7m x
measures and practices often became a model for 2.7m) was completed and presented by the artist to Bismarck on
the rest of Germany. the latter’s 70th birthday in 1885.

19
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 BALTIC SEA

NORTH SEA
SCHLESWIG-
HOLSTEIN EAST PRUSSIA

MECKLENBURG- POMERANIA
SCHWERIN WEST PRUSSIA

HANOVER
IA
BRANDENBURG SS
U
BRUNSWICK PR
POSEN
WESTPHALIA
RUSSIAN
EMPIRE
A
SS
RHINELAND NA
EN THURINGIAN SILESIA
SS STATES
HE

Prussia before 1866

RG
BE AUSTRIAN Conquered by Prussia in Austro-Prussia
EM EMPIRE War, 1866
TT
UR Austrian territories excluded from German
W Confederation 1867
N

Joined with Prussia to form German

DE

Confederation, 1867
BA

BAVARIA
South German states joining with Prussia to
form German Empire, 1871
Won by Prussia in Franco-Prussia War, 1871

Fig. 12 — Unification of Germany (1866-71).

4.2 Italy Unified

Like Germany, Italy too had a long history of political fragmentation.
Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as well as the
multi-national Habsburg Empire. During the middle of the
nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which
only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house.
The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the centre was ruled by
the Pope and the southern regions were under the domination
of the Bourbon kings of Spain. Even the Italian language had
India and the Contemporary World

Fig. 13 — Caricature of Otto von Bismarck in

not acquired one common form and still had many regional and the German reichstag (parliament), from Figaro,
local variations. Vienna, 5 March 1870.

During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a

coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic. He had also Activity
formed a secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of Describe the caricature. How does it represent
his goals. The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and the relationship between Bismarck and the
1848 meant that the mantle now fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under elected deputies of Parliament? What
its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through interpretation of democratic processes is the
war. In the eyes of the ruling elites of this region, a unified artist trying to convey?

Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and

political dominance.

20
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Chief Minister Cavour who led the movement to unify the regions
of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat. Like many Activity
other wealthy and educated members of the Italian elite, he spoke Look at Fig. 14(a). Do you think that the people
French much better than he did Italian. Through a tactful diplomatic living in any of these regions thought of
alliance with France engineered by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont themselves as Italians?
succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859. Apart from regular Examine Fig. 14(b). Which was the first region
troops, a large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of to become a part of unified Italy? Which was the
Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the fray. In 1860, they marched into South last region to join? In which year did the largest

Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning number of states join?

the support of the local peasants in order to drive out the Spanish
rulers. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united
Italy. However, much of the Italian population, among whom rates
of illiteracy were very high, remained blissfully unaware of liberal-
nationalist ideology. The peasant masses who had supported Garibaldi
in southern Italy had never heard of Italia, and believed that ‘La Talia’
was Victor Emmanuel’s wife!

SWITZERLAND

SWITZERLAND
LOMBARDY VENETIA

SAVOY 1866
SARDINIA PARMA AUSTRIA

MODENA 1858
SAN MARINO
MONACO 1858-60
TUSCANY
PAPAL
STATE

1870

1860
KINGDOM
OF BOTH 1858
SICILIES

Europe

TUNIS
N a t i o n a l i s m in

Fig. 14(b) — Italy after unification.

TUNIS
The map shows the year in which different
regions (seen in Fig 14(a) become part of a
Fig. 14(a) — Italian states before unification, 1858. unified Italy.

4.3 The Strange Case of Britain

The model of the nation or the nation-state, some scholars have
argued, is Great Britain. In Britain the formation of the nation-state

21
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 was not the result of a sudden upheaval or revolution. It was the Box 2
result of a long-drawn-out process. There was no British nation
prior to the eighteenth century. The primary identities of the people Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82) is perhaps the
most celebrated of Italian freedom fighters. He
who inhabited the British Isles were ethnic ones – such as English, came from a family engaged in coastal trade and
Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these ethnic groups had their own cultural was a sailor in the merchant navy. In 1833 he
and political traditions. But as the English nation steadily grew in met Mazzini, joined the Young Italy movement
and participated in a republican uprising in
wealth, importance and power, it was able to extend its influence Piedmont in 1834. The uprising was suppressed
over the other nations of the islands. The English parliament, which and Garibaldi had to flee to South America, where
had seized power from the monarchy in 1688 at the end of a he lived in exile till 1848. In 1854, he supported
Victor Emmanuel II in his efforts to unify the
protracted conflict, was the instrument through which a nation-state, Italian states. In 1860, Garibaldi led the famous
with England at its centre, came to be forged. The Act of Union Expedition of the Thousand to South Italy. Fresh
(1707) between England and Scotland that resulted in the formation volunteers kept joining through the course of
the campaign, till their numbers grew to about
of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’ meant, in effect, that 30,000. They were popularly known as Red
England was able to impose its influence on Scotland. The British Shirts.
parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members. The In 1867, Garibaldi led an army of volunteers to
growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s distinctive culture Rome to fight the last obstacle to the unification
of Italy, the Papal States where a French garrison
and political institutions were systematically suppressed. The Catholic was stationed. The Red Shirts proved to be no
clans that inhabited the Scottish Highlands suffered terrible repression match for the combined French and Papal troops.
whenever they attempted to assert their independence. The Scottish It was only in 1870 when, during the war with
Prussia, France withdrew its troops from Rome
Highlanders were forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or that the Papal States were finally joined
wear their national dress, and large numbers were forcibly driven to Italy.
out of their homeland.

Ireland suffered a similar fate. It was a country deeply divided

between Catholics and Protestants. The English helped the Protestants
of Ireland to establish their dominance over a largely Catholic country.
Catholic revolts against British dominance were suppressed. After a
failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen (1798),
Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.
A new ‘British nation’ was forged through the propagation of a
India and the Contemporary World

dominant English culture. The symbols of the new Britain – the

British flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (God Save Our Noble
King), the English language – were actively promoted and the older
nations survived only as subordinate partners in this union. Fig. 15 – Garibaldi helping King Victor
Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont to pull on the
boot named ‘Italy’. English caricature of 1859.
Activity
The artist has portrayed Garibaldi as holding on to the base of
New words
the boot, so that the King of Sardinia-Piedmont can enter it from
the top. Look at the map of Italy once more. What statement is Ethnic – Relates to a common racial, tribal, or
this caricature making? cultural origin or background that a community
identifies with or claims

22
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5 Visualising the Nation

While it is easy enough to represent a ruler through a portrait or a

statue, how does one go about giving a face to a nation? Artists in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries found a way out by
personifying a nation. In other words they represented a country as
if it were a person. Nations were then portrayed as female figures.
The female form that was chosen to personify the nation did not
stand for any particular woman in real life; rather it sought to give
the abstract idea of the nation a concrete form. That is, the female
figure became an allegory of the nation.

You will recall that during the French Revolution artists used the
female allegory to portray ideas such as Liberty, Justice and the Fig. 16 — Postage stamps of 1850 with the
figure of Marianne representing the Republic of
Republic. These ideals were represented through specific objects or France.
symbols. As you would remember, the attributes of Liberty are the
red cap, or the broken chain, while Justice is generally a blindfolded
woman carrying a pair of weighing scales.

Similar female allegories were invented by artists in the nineteenth

century to represent the nation. In France she was christened
Marianne, a popular Christian name, which underlined the idea of a
people’s nation. Her characteristics were drawn from those of Liberty
and the Republic – the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade. Statues
of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind the public of
the national symbol of unity and to persuade them to identify with
it. Marianne images were marked on coins and stamps.

Similarly, Germania became the allegory of the German nation. In

visual representations, Germania wears a crown of oak leaves, as
the German oak stands for heroism. Europe

New words
N a t i o n a l i s m in

Allegory – When an abstract idea (for instance, greed, envy,

freedom, liberty) is expressed through a person or a thing. An
allegorical story has two meanings, one literal and one symbolic

Fig. 17 — Germania, Philip Veit, 1848.

The artist prepared this painting of Germania on a
cotton banner, as it was meant to hang from the
ceiling of the Church of St Paul where the Frankfurt
parliament was convened in March 1848.

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 Box 3

Meanings of the symbols

Attribute Significance
Broken chains Being freed
Breastplate with eagle Symbol of the German empire – strength
Crown of oak leaves Heroism
Sword Readiness to fight
Olive branch around the sword Willingness to make peace
Black, red and gold tricolour Flag of the liberal-nationalists in 1848, banned by the Dukes of the
German states
Rays of the rising sun Beginning of a new era

Activity
With the help of the chart in Box 3, identify the attributes of Veit’s
Germania and interpret the symbolic meaning of the painting.
In an earlier allegorical rendering of 1836, Veit had portrayed the
Kaiser’s crown at the place where he has now located the
broken chain. Explain the significance of this change.
India and the Contemporary World

Fig. 18 — The fallen Germania, Julius Hübner, 1850.

Activity
Describe what you see in Fig. 17. What historical events could Hübner be
referring to in this allegorical vision of the nation?

24
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Fig. 19 — Germania guarding the Rhine.
In 1860, the artist Lorenz Clasen was commissioned to paint this image. The inscription
on Germania’s sword reads: ‘The German sword protects the German Rhine.’

Activity
Europe

Look once more at Fig. 10. Imagine you were a citizen of Frankfurt in March 1848 and were present during the
proceedings of the parliament. How would you (a) as a man seated in the hall of deputies, and (b) as a woman
N a t i o n a l i s m in

observing from the galleries, relate to the banner of Germania hanging from the ceiling?

25
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 6 Nationalism and Imperialism

By the last quarter of the nineteenth century nationalism no longer

retained its idealistic liberal-democratic sentiment of the first half
of the century, but became a narrow creed with limited ends. During
this period nationalist groups became increasingly intolerant of each
other and ever ready to go to war. The major European powers, in
turn, manipulated the nationalist aspirations of the subject peoples
in Europe to further their own imperialist aims.

The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871

was the area called the Balkans. The Balkans was a region of
geographical and ethnic variation comprising modern-day Romania,
Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were broadly
known as the Slavs. A large part of the Balkans was under the control
of the Ottoman Empire. The spread of the ideas of romantic
nationalism in the Balkans together with the disintegration of the
Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive. All through the
nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire had sought to strengthen
itself through modernisation and internal reforms but with very
little success. One by one, its European subject nationalities broke
away from its control and declared independence. The Balkan
peoples based their claims for independence or political rights on
nationality and used history to prove that they had once been
independent but had subsequently been subjugated by foreign
powers. Hence the rebellious nationalities in the Balkans thought of
their struggles as attempts to win back their long-lost independence.

As the different Slavic nationalities struggled to define their identity

India and the Contemporary World

and independence, the Balkan area became an area of intense conflict.

The Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other and each hoped
to gain more territory at the expense of the others. Matters were
further complicated because the Balkans also became the scene of
big power rivalry. During this period, there was intense rivalry among
the European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and
military might. These rivalries were very evident in the way the Balkan
problem unfolded. Each power – Russia, Germany, England,
Austro-Hungary – was keen on countering the hold of other powers
over the Balkans, and extending its own control over the area. This
led to a series of wars in the region and finally the First World War.

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 Fig. 20 — A map celebrating the British Empire.
At the top, angels are shown carrying the banner of freedom. In the foreground, Britannia — the
symbol of the British nation — is triumphantly sitting over the globe. The colonies are represented
through images of tigers, elephants, forests and primitive people. The domination of the world is
shown as the basis of Britain’s national pride.

Nationalism, aligned with imperialism, led Europe to disaster in 1914.

But meanwhile, many countries in the world which had been Europe

colonised by the European powers in the nineteenth century began

to oppose imperial domination. The anti-imperial movements that
developed everywhere were nationalist, in the sense that they all
N a t i o n a l i s m in

struggled to form independent nation-states, and were inspired by

a sense of collective national unity, forged in confrontation with
imperialism. European ideas of nationalism were nowhere
replicated, for people everywhere developed their own specific variety
of nationalism. But the idea that societies should be organised into
‘nation-states’ came to be accepted as natural and universal.

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 Write in brief

1. Write a note on:

a) Guiseppe Mazzini
b) Count Camillo de Cavour
c) The Greek war of independence

Write in brief
d) Frankfurt parliament
e) The role of women in nationalist struggles
2. What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective
identity among the French people?
3. Who were Marianne and Germania? What was the importance of the way in
which they were portrayed?
4. Briefly trace the process of German unification.
5. What changes did Napoleon introduce to make the administrative system more
efficient in the territories ruled by him?

Discuss

1. Explain what is meant by the 1848 revolution of the liberals. What were the political, social
and economic ideas supported by the liberals?
2. Choose three examples to show the contribution of culture to the growth of nationalism
in Europe.
3. Through a focus on any two countries, explain how nations developed over the nineteenth
Discuss

century.
India and the Contemporary World

4. How was the history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe?
5. Why did nationalist tensions emerge in the Balkans?

Project
Project
Find out more about nationalist symbols in countries outside Europe. For one or two countries,
collect examples of pictures, posters or music that are symbols of nationalism. How are these
different from European examples?

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