ABSTRACT

A Rise in productivity is one, if not the most important, precondition for the improvement of levels of living in under-developed areas. But it is only part of a complex network of measures which has many aspects, economic and non-economic. The most important event towards the attainment of a general rise in living conditions was, in the West, the introduction of the machine, or to use the conventional term, the process of industrialisation. The East, too, has been drawn into this process, though much later and much slower. An appraisal of certain general aspects of the industrialisation which started about 100 years ago in Oriental countries will contribute to our understanding of the requirements which have to be met to secure economic progress in contemporary backward economies.