AI-generated practice question — model-generated for extra practice, not a previous-year CBSE board question.
Option A is correct. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A. After WWI, Britain, unable to modernise and compete with the US, Germany and Japan, saw its cotton production collapse, so Manchester could never recapture its position in India.
Source: The Peculiarities of Industrial Growth, Chapter 4
The textbook explicitly states: "After the war, Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian market. Unable to modernise and compete with the US, Germany and Japan, the economy of Britain crumbled… Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically." This means R directly and correctly explains A — making Option A the right choice. Students often pick B if they read carelessly; here R is not just true but is the precise cause of A.