CBSE - Work Life and Leisure

→ The city of London was a magnet for the migrant populations due to the job opportunities provided by its dockyards and industries. By 1750, one out of every nine people of England and Wales lived in London. So, the population of London kept expanding through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
→ During the first world war, London began manufacturing motor cars and electrical goods. This increased the number of large factories, which in turn increased the number of people coming to the city in search of work.

Changes in the kind of work available to women in London between the nineteenth and the twentieth century were primarily based on industrial and technological advancements. Consequently, women had to work in households for a living, and this led to an increase in the number of domestic servants. Some women also began to earn by lodging out rooms, tailoring, washing or making matchboxes. With the coming of the First World War though, women once again joined the industrial sector.

How does the existence of a large urban population affect each of the following? Illustrate with historical examples.
(a) A private landlord
(b) A Police Superintendent in charge of law and order
(c) A leader of a political party

Answer

(a) A private landlord benefits by increasing the rent and he has more control over the price. The rising population would lead to increasing demand for space, e.g. renting of buildings at high rates were common in London and Bombay.

(b) Anyone involved with law and order would find it difficult with increasing population in urban areas. He would have to work hard to maintain law and order as crime rates are usually high in cities. For example, London people employed policemen to curb the rising crimes during night.
(c) Political leaders would have more people voting and hence more responsibilities. In cities, masses of people could be drawn to the political causes as it happened in the Bloody Sunday of November, 1887 in London. The metropolitan character of cities would compel him/her to be more secular and liberal on the one hand. On the other hand, extremism or conservatism might also win them votes as a reactionary phenomenon, e.g. rise of Nazis in Germany or Liberal Democrats in France.

Well-off Londoners supported the need to build housing for the poor in the nineteenth century on account of three reasons:
→ one-room houses of the poor came to be seen as the breeding ground of diseases, and hence, a threat to public health
→ Fire hazards became a worry in these over-crowded, badly ventilated, unhygienic homes 
→ There was a widespread fear of social disorder, especially after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Housing schemes were undertaken to avoid a rebellion by the poor.

Bombay became an attractive destination for people seeking jobs after the British administration replaced Surat with Bombay as its principal western port. The consequent increase in trade and industries led to a great influx of people. Thus, migrants were (and still are) an important facet of Bombay. Most of the people in the film industry were migrants themselves, and wanted to portray the plight of this class of people through films. Thus, a number of Bombay films were about the lives of migrants.

In mid-seventeenth century, Bombay became East India Company's principal western port, replacing Surat. Later, by the end of the nineteenth century, it had become an important administrative as well as industrial centre. All through these years, the prospects for trade and commerce, and employment kept increasing, thereby making Bombay an attractive destination for migrants.

There were many forms of entertainment came up in nineteenth century England:
→ For the upper classes, an annual "London Season" comprised of opera, the theatre and classical music events was one of the sources of leisure.
→ For the working classes, pubs, discussions and meetings for political action served the same purpose.
→ Libraries, art galleries and museums were new types of entertainment brought about through the utilisation of state money. 
→ Music halls and cinema theatres too became immensely popular with the lower classes. 
→ Industrial workers were encouraged to undertake seaside vacations to rejuvenate from the banes of working in the polluting environment of factories.

The development of suburbs as a part of the drive to decongest London led to the extension of the city beyond the range where people could walk to work. Though these suburbs had been built, the people could not be persuaded to leave the city and stay far away from their places of work in the absence of some form of public transport. The Underground railway was constructed to solve this housing problem. It was criticized intially because:
→ A newspaper reported the danger to health and asphyxiation (lack of air) and heat.
→ It was referred to as iron monsters, which added to the mess of the city. Charles Dickens in ‘Dombey and Son’ described its destructive process in construction.
→ About 900 houses were destroyed to make two miles of railways.

Haussmanisation of Paris refers to the forcible reconstruction of cities to enhance their beauty and impose order. The poor were evicted from the centre of Paris to reduce the possibility of political rebellion and to beautify the city.

Government laws play an important role in controlling the rates of pollution in a city. However, simply passing laws is not enough. They need to be properly enforced as well. It is also a fact that people tend to find ways of getting around laws. So, apart from legislations, government also needs to carry out intensive public awareness programmes aimed at educating the public about the need and ways of controlling pollution; and about how they too have a stake in environmental governance.
Public Life:
• Failure: The Underground railway enhanced transport, but caused the demolition of many houses, rendering their inhabitants homeless.
• Success: The British state used public funds to provide for entertainment forms such as museums, art galleries and libraries for the working classes.

Private Life:
• Failure: The availability of one-room tenements and no housing facilities for a major part of the industrial revolution time period caused the family to get divided into smaller units. There were even cases where rural people had to leave their families behind and live alone in the urban areas where they worked.
• Success: British administrative officials built houses in new suburbs for fulfilling the housing needs of the working classes.

Q.1: - Novel written by Durgacharan Ray about the city of Calcutta is—
 (a) Nirmala (b) Godan
 (c) durgesh modin (d) Debganer martye agaman
 
Q.2: - Which of the following city is called ‘Mayapuri’—
 (a) Madras(b) Calcutta (c) Delhi (d) Bombay
 
Q.3: - “The Bitter cry of outcast London” written by—
 (a) Rudyard Kipling (b) Samuel Richardson
 (c) Charles Dickens (d) Andrew Mearns
 
Q.4: - Which of the following film was made by Dada Saheb Phalke?
 (a) CID (b) Guest House
 (c) Tezab (d) Raja Harish Chandra
 
Q.5: - Which was the Indian first city to get smoke nuisance?
 (a) Bombay (b) Calcutta (c) Madras (d) Surat
 
Q.6: - Most of the people in the film industry were –
 (a) Local (b) Migrants from Lahore, Calcutta and madras
 (c) Foreigners (d) Freedom fighter
 
Q.7: - Who developed the principal of ‘Garden City’?
 (a) Ebenezer Howard (b) Charles Dickens
 (c) Thomas Hardy (d) Andrew Mearns
 
Q.8: - The first underground railway was built in –
 (a) New York (b) Calcutta
 (c) London (d) Dubai 
 
 Q.9: - What were tenements –
 (a) Over crowded apartment (b) Official documents
 (c) Surgical instrument (d) wartime offices
 
Q.10: - What does a ‘Metropolis’ refer to
 (a) State (b) Capital (c) Country (d) Town 
 
 Answer Key of Multiple Choice Questions
1. ( d ) 2. ( d ) 3. ( d ) 4. (d ) 5. ( b ) 6. ( b ) 7. ( a ) 8. ( c ) 9. ( a ) 10. ( b ) 

1. Attempts were made to decongest localities, green the open spaces reduce pollution and landscape the city.
2. Large blocks of apartments were built.
3. Demands were made for ‘New Lungs’ for the city and the idea of green belt around London was offered.

1. Industrialization was the most important factor which attracted people to London.
 2. The textile industry of London attracted a large number of migrants.
 3. The city of London attracted people from all walks of life like clerks, shopkeepers, soldiers, servants, laborers, beggars etc. 

1. Magicians, Monkey players or acrobats used to perform their acts on the streets.
 2. The Nandi bull used to predict the future.
3. Chawls were also the place for the exchange of news about jobs, strikes, riots or dmonstrations.

1. British made a million houses, single family cottages.
 2. Now people could not walk to work and this led to the development of underground railways.
3. By 1880, the expended train services were carrying 40 million passengers in a year.

1. Women of upper and middle classes faced higher level of isolation, although their lives were made easier by domestic maids.
 2. Women who worked for wages had some control over their lives particularly among the lower social classes.
 3. As women lost their industrial jobs and conservative people railed against their presence in public plans, women were forced to withdraw into their homes.

1. It was the major outlet for cotton textile from Gujarat.
 2. It functioned as a major port city.
 3. It was an important administrative centre in western India.
 4. It soon emerged as a major industrial centre.
 5. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought the west close to Bombay.

1. Chawls were multistoried structure built and owned by private landlords such as Merchants, bankers and building contractors.
 2. Each chawl was divided into smaller one room tenements which had no private toilets.
 3. Many families could reside at a time in a tenement.
 4. People had to keep the window of their rooms closed even in humid weather due to close proximity of filthy gutters, buffalo stables etc.
 5. Though water was scarce and people often quarreled every morning for a turn at the top observers found that house were kept quite clean.

1. In most of the industries the demand for labour was seasonal.
 2. The workers were getting very low wages.
 3. Factories employed large numbers of women.
 4. Most of the workers were living in slums. Factories or workshop owners did not house the migrant workers.
 5. For the poor workers the street often was the only place for rest, leisure and fun.
 

1. People were afraid to travel underground.
 2. The Compartments were over crowed and polluted by smoke.
 3. The atmosphere was a mixture of sulphur, coal and dust with fuel fumes from the gas lamps.
 4. Many felt that the iron monsters added to the mess and unhealthiness of the city.
 5. Suffocation due to lack of oxygen supply and heat.