Book review: Suvobrata Sarkar,Let There Be Light: Engineering,Entrepreneurship and Electricity in Colonial Bengal,1880–1945

Suvobrata Sarkar’s Let there be Light is a welcome addition to the existing literature on engineering, entrepreneurship and electricity generation. While there are some studies on the first two themes, the history of electricity generation in India is little addressed as yet. In the first two chapters, the book deals with the institutionalisation of related technical knowledge, the state of education in the relevant field and application of electricity in industry and domestic use. The introduction of electricity is discussed in chapters 3 and 4. The fifth deals with the assimilation of technological ideas.

Against the general perception that all modern knowledge and technology flowed to India from the West, Sarkar shows how in certain cases of engineering and industrial practices, expertise was also developed here and transferred to Britain (pp. 6, 45, 65). He also finds many in Bengal who welcomed Western technology, and the process of industrialisation (p. 35). For example, the Bengal Engineering College, Sibpur, oriented its courses to support the on-going ‘native’ industrial activities in the province; ultimately, its products made a recognisable contribution to national reconstruction. In this way, even under colonial control, Indian scientists and technologists addressed national concerns. They even became concerned about using the mother tongue to spread consciousness of the value of scientific development (pp. 40, 65).

As to electricity, it was introduced in India at the beginning of the twentieth century soon after its discovery and use in Europe. However, it remained confined to the seats of the presidencies; its spread inland was very slow. Before 1947, the state-run Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) was headquartered in London; the expertise and machinery were imported from Europe, and the capital needed for generation and supply too, came from abroad. Hence the Indians’ role in its management was minuscule. This was not the case in engineering and other industries, in which Indians increasingly participated. Our author does find some local initiatives in Bengal; and one, I may add, also from elsewhere, as by the Tatas to generate hydroelectricity in Bombay, and the initiative of Shri Krishna Joshi of Almora who devised a machine to harness solar energy in 1903 (source courtesy: Himalayan Museum, Kumaun University, Nainital).

Sarkar’s work offers distinct instances of colonial and racial discrimination in scientific and technical matters. The colonial establishment allowed ordinary Indians to be trained only in lower skills, just enough to repair machines or execute some civil construction. Advanced technical education and training were confined to higher institutions, reserved practically for elite groups. They were also provided with scholarships to study in Britain.

Sarkar has only fleetingly referred to influences emanating from the US and Germany. The fact is that many Bengalis embarked on industrial ventures on their return from Germany and Japan. M.N. Saha contributed eminently to the planning of the Damodar Valley Corporation on the model of the US’s Tennessee Valley Authority. Again, P.C. Mahalanobis established his Statistical Institute at Calcutta with US collaboration.

The author has done well to dwell upon the emergence of local talent in chapter 5, especially with reference to those who improvised inventions to suit local conditions, or popularised science and applied it to industrial ventures. The list includes M.L. Sircar, Behary Lall Ghose (founder of Viswakarma and Karigar Darpan), P.N. Bose and P.C. Ray. The author also speaks of the ‘Subaltern Technologists’ and their ‘House of Unknown Fame’, recalling S.C. Nandy, Kalidas Moitra, Sitanath Ghose and the versatile inventor Jogesh Chandra Ray. Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905) surely deserved a place in this list: Way back in 1905, she had visualised in her Sultana’s Dream an alternative, feminist vision of society and science, depicting solar ovens, flying cars and cloud condensers.

The narrative in the book is engaging and the author often guides the reader to new sources. Perhaps, readability would have been enhanced, had there been fewer quotations or citations backed always by footnotes.

Suvobrata Sarkar’s book is, indeed, a labour of love, accomplished with intensive, painstaking research. It is also well produced as may be expected from the Cambridge University Press.