Industrialisation and Emergence of Labour Force in Bengal during The Colonial Period: Its Socio-Economic Impact

Abstract

Bengal proved to be one of the most industrially developed regions in India in the colonial period with large number of jute mills, collieries and teagardens, financed mostly by the British capital. The labour force in the province was mostly of non-local origin. and by 1920's we find quite a large wage-earning industrial force in Bengal- large in absolute numbers though not in proportion to total population but as they were of heterogeneous (social, occupational, ethnic or religious) backgrounds with strong ties to their original roots, even at the end of the World War II, they could not be counted as 'industrial proletariat' in the proper sense of the term.