Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Step 1 – The Tariff Decision:
British manufacturers pressured their government to impose tariffs on Indian cloth imports into Britain. This immediately cut off India's most important export market for fine cotton textiles.

Step 2 – Collapse of Textile Exports:
Indian cotton textiles' share in total exports fell sharply — from about 30% around 1800 to 15% by 1815, and below 3% by the 1870s. Simultaneously, British manufacturers flooded Indian markets with cheap machine-made cloth, destroying both the export and domestic market for Indian weavers.

Step 3 – Shift to Raw Material Exports:
As manufactured exports collapsed, India was pushed into exporting raw materials. Raw cotton's share rose from 5% (1812) to 35% (1871). Indigo and opium also became major exports.

Step 4 – India Becomes a Raw-Material Supplier:
India's export structure transformed completely — from a manufacturer and exporter of finished goods to a supplier of raw materials for British industry, a classic feature of colonial economic exploitation.

Source: Indian Trade, Colonialism and the Global System, Chapter 3; Manchester Comes to India, Chapter 4

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• Examiners expect a chain of causation, not isolated facts — use linking words like "consequently," "as a result," "this led to."
• Quote the specific statistics given in the passage (30% → 15% → 3%; raw cotton 5% → 35%) — these earn marks.
• The key analytical point is the structural shift: manufactured exports → raw material exports. State this clearly.
• Avoid padding; 5 marks = ~5 linked points, each one sentence long.