Once the British had consolidated their hold over India, they set up a variety of food industries all over the country. This book provides, for the first time, a detailed survey of the major food industries on which the empire subsisted.
It starts with the salt industry of Bengal, which was a source of revenue that had been under zamindari control. Fluctuations in policy, which were designed to bring about a measure of control and improve salt quality, make for fascinating reading, ending ironically enough in the termination of salt production in Bengal as uneconomic compared to its recovery from sources elsewhere in the country.
Sugar production again represented a very ancient activity in India, and early British intervention along the Gangetic valley lay in the direction of upgrading indigenous products into white crystal sugar.
Other chapters discuss alcoholic products, such as spirits and beer; dairy products; fish curing; meat and egg production; cereal processing; oilseed industries; and, finally, industries which had no indigenous history and were the result of innovative enterprise, like tea, coffee, bread and biscuits, and soft drinks.
The final chapter reviews transport, managing agencies, tariffs and the two World Wars, and controversial issues like the drain of wealth, capital formation, and state participation in industry.
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