Dipsikha Sahoo - Urbanization in India During the British Period (1857–1947)

Dipsikha Sahoo

First published 2021

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sahoo, Dipsikha, 1983 author.

Title: Urbanization in India during the British period (18571947) / Dipsikha Sahoo.

Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020026055 (print) | LCCN 2020026056 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367224868 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429275142 (ebook) | ISBN 9781000196344 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781000196351 (mobi) | ISBN 9781000196368 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: UrbanizationIndiaHistory. | Cities and townsIndiaGrowthHistory. | IndiaHistoryBritish occupation, 17651947.

Classification: LCC HT147.I5 S235 2021 (print) | LCC HT147.I5 (ebook) | DDC 307.760954dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026055

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026056

ISBN: 978-0-367-22486-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-27514-2 (ebk)

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I would like to express my thankfulness to each and every one who helped me directly or indirectly in writing this thesis over the last five years.

First among these people to whom I am indebted is my supervisor, Professor K. Laxmi Narayan, Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad. He is the one who constantly motivated me and guided me in every stage of this research. Without his help and moral support, I would not have been in a position to write this.

The suggestions given by my doctoral committee members Prof Aparna Rayprol and Dr Sandhya contributed greatly to improving the quality of this research. I would like to thank them for their valuable remarks, comments and explanations.

The kind of support I received from librarians and other staff at Parliament Library and National Archives in New Delhi, NIRD and Osmania University in Hyderabad are praiseworthy. So I want to express my thankfulness to them too.

I would like to acknowledge the support received from Dr Suchismita Satpathy. The help I got from Mr Raghavendra Rao Harnoor, who gave a patient reading and insisted on quality, is worth mentioning.

Finally, I thank my parents, family members and husband for their affectionate support and encouragement throughout this work. Its worth mentioning my little sons sacrifice, the time he has spent without his mother.

The present study provides a historical analysis of urbanization in the context of colonial capitalist development in India during the British period. The thesis argues that India under the British served the metropolis as a periphery. Colonial port cities in India became the pivots of India and emerged as the satellite primates of their respective hinterlands. There were many alterations in the size and distribution of urban centres and the structure of the urban population due to the impact of colonial rule. The city-hinterland relationship was reoriented under the colonial capitalist phase of India. The development of modern industry and the political unification mark the formation and development of a specific environment, which constituted the main spatial component of the process of urbanization and development of the port cities. The new forms of production organization such as the factory system, economic organization, trade unions and social organization came into existence in an urban system. The penetration of colonial capital altered the forms of the feudal mode of production and relations of production in the field of agriculture. Other forces which affected urban growth comprised improvements in transportation (overland and water) and technological developments, powered by the innovation of the steam machine. Modern means of transportation brought the isolated areas into the regular exchange of goods and services, while reducing time and space. The four port cities of India, viz. Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Karachi, emerged as major nodes of colonial control, surpassing the cities of the pre-British era. The colonial port cities served as places for exchange of British manufactured goods to India and sources of raw materials from the country. As the capitalist class engaged in trade, commerce entered the immediate hinterlands through negotiating with the local landed gentry for the supply of raw materials, food and labour.