In general, historians have described the decline of Indian handicrafts during the nineteenth century as de-industrialization. In colonial India, economists such as Ramesh Chandra Dutt and Mahadev Govind Ranade discussed the issue of de-industrialization from a nationalist perspective. According to them, the decline of handicrafts had destroyed Indian industries. Later, historians and economic thinkers such as Rajani Palme Dutt, D. R. Gadgil, Sarada Raju, and Narendrakrishna Sinha also shared similar views. While defining the term de-industrialization, historian Sabyasachi Bhattacharya wrote that the characteristic of industrialization is that the share of national income generated from industrial activities increases in proportion to the share generated from agriculture, and the proportion of the population engaged in industrial activities also increases relative to those engaged in agriculture. Conversely, if people in a country leave industrial occupations and begin to depend on agriculture for their livelihood, or if the agricultural component of national income increases while the industrial component decreases, the process may be described as de-industrialization.