Domesticating electric power: Growth of industry,utilities and research in colonial Calcutta

Abstract

Public electricity supplies became available in Calcutta as early as the 1890s and by the 1940s had developed to become the major source of power and lighting both for industries and private use. Could the electrification of Calcutta act as an agent of industrial development? What impact did it have on the socio-economic condition of the city? The twentieth century was to be the age of electricity. Apart from industrial use of this new technology, to realise its full practical capacities a new discipline emerged—electrical engineering. The Bengali electrical engineering community, alumni of Sibpur and Jadavpur Engineering Colleges, gradually oriented themselves towards ideas of industrial development based on Indian realities. Few trained electrical engineers entered in the business sector and became very successful. High level of technological innovation such as that of hydroelectricity was also exploited by the Bengali entrepreneurs. The credentials of the Bengali erudite and ordinary people in the field of electricity, which this article tries to explore, offer an interesting example of Indian response to the new knowledge.

Keywords

Electricity colonial Calcutta motive power industry electrical engineering

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

All India Industrial and Commercial Directory, 1938–39, Bombay, 1938.

Anonymous ‘Corporation Electric Fan’, CMG, Vol. XV (2), 5 December 1931, p. 80.

Anonymous ‘The City’s Lighting’, CMG, Vol. XV (4), 19 December 1931, p. 172a.

Anonymous ‘Municipal Engineering in Calcutta and Bombay’, CMG, Vol. XV (21), 30 April 1932, p. 958.

Anonymous CMG, Ninth Anniversary Number, 25 November 1933.

Anonymous ‘The City’s Lighting’, CMG, Vol. XXIX (4), 17 December 1938, p. 170.

Anonymous ‘Calcutta Corporation VS CESC: Arbitrator’s Award’, CMG, Vol. XXIX (13), 25 February 1939, pp. 534–37.

Anonymous ‘The Corporation and the Gas Company: A New Agreement concluded’, CMG, Vol. XXIX (15), 11 March 1939, p. 608.

Anonymous ‘All-India Electric Supply Workers’ Conference: Mayor of Calcutta Presides’, CMG, Vol. XXIX (14), 4 March 1939, p. 571.

10.

Anonymous ‘Chintakana’, Bijoli, Vol. 1 (3), November 1933, p. 109.

11.

Arnold

David

. Everyday Technology: Machines and the Making of India’s Modernity, Chicago and London, 2013.

12.

Banerjee

Sumanta

. ‘Hundred Years of Electricity in Calcutta’, Indian Journal of Power and River Valley Development, Vol. 52 (7 & 8), 2002, pp. 119–25.

13.

Bengal Engineering College Centenary Souvenir, Calcutta, 1956.

14.

Bhattacharya

Amit

. Swadeshi Enterprise in Bengal 1921–47, Kolkata, 1995.

15.

Boff

Richard B. Du

. Electric Power in American Manufacturing, 1889–1958, New York, 1979.

16.

Chattopadhyay

Sri Bhimchandra

‘Bharate Baidyutik Uniter Ucchahar O Tahar Bipod’, Bijoli, Vol. I (7), March 1934, p. 360.

17.

College of Engineering & Technology, Bengal, Session 1937–38, Jadavpur, undated.

18.

College of Engineering & Technology, Bengal, Prospectus Session 1941–42, Jadavpur, undated.

19.

College of Engineering & Technology, Bengal, Prospectus Session 1944–45, Jadavpur, undated.

20.

Cotton

H. E. A.

Calcutta Old and New: Historical and Descriptive Handbook to the City, Calcutta, 1907.

21.

Das

Ananda Kishore

. ‘Shillong Hydro-electric Limited’, Arthik Unnoti, Vol. 2 (2), Jaistha, 1334 B. S. (1927), pp. 145–48.

22.

Datta

Partho

. Planning the City: Urbanization and Reform in Calcutta c. 1800–1940, New Delhi, 2012.

23.

Debi

Purnima

. Sri Gaganendranath Thakur, Kolkata, 2012.

24.

Dhar

Jawaharlal

. Sachitra Kolikata-Rahasya, Kolkata, 2012 (First published 1896).

25.

Dhar

Jawaharlal

. ‘Souro-boudyutik Jantra’, Mahajanbandhu, Vol. 1 (7), Bhadra, 1308 B.S. (1901), pp. 261–62.

26.

First Quinquennial Review of Education in Bengal, 1892–96, Calcutta, 1902.

27.

Gadgil

D. R.

The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times, New Delhi, 1979.

28.

Ganguly

‘Air-conditioning’, Bijoli, Vol. 1 (2), October 1933, p. 45–47.

29.

General Report Public Instruction in Bengal for 1898–99, Calcutta, 1899.

30.

General, Education, File No. 4C/37, Proceedings Nos. 221–22, June 1911, WBSA.

31.

Ghosh

Siddhartha

. Kaler Sahar Kolkata, Kolkata, 1991.

32.

Goode

S. W.

Municipal Calcutta: Its Institutions in their Origin and Growth, New Delhi, 2005.

33.

Guyol

N. B.

The World Electric Power Industry, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969.

34.

Home

Education, A.

Proceedings, Nos. 80–84, October 1901, NAI.

35.

Home

Amal

. ed., The Imperial Silver Jubilee Commemoration Volume, Souvenir Number of CMG, Calcutta, 1935.

36.

Hughes

Thomas P.

Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930, Baltimore and London, 1983.

37.

Index of the MPI (1888–1924), PWD Series, WBSA.

38.

Indian Industrial Commission, Minutes of Evidence 1916–17, Vol. II, Bengal & Central Provinces, Calcutta, 1918.

39.

Janmabhumi, Vol. 14 (10), Baishak, 1313 B.S., p. 365.

40.

Jugantar, Aswin, 5, 1344 B.S. (1937), p. 10.

41.

Meares

J. W.

Electric Traction: Six Lectures Delivered in March 1902 at the Civil Engineering College, Sibpur, Calcutta, 1902.

42.

Meares

J. W.

Water Power: Its Estimates and Development with Particular Reference to India, Calcutta, 1935.

43.

Morris

Morris D.

‘The Growth of Large Scale Industry to 1947’, in Kumar

Dharma

, ed., The Cambridge Economic History of India, Cambridge, 1983, pp. 599–600.

44.

National Council of Education (hereafter NCE): Annual Reports for the years 1910–1945.

45.

Nye

David E.

Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880–1940, Cambridge and London, 1990.

46.

PWD, Civil Works—Miscellaneous, April 1896, Nos. 1–7, NAI.

47.

PWD, Civil Works: Miscellaneous, November 1896, Nos. 7–46, NAI.

48.

PWD, Civil Works—Miscellaneous, A. Proceedings, April 1904, Nos. 11–12, NAI.

49.

PWD, Civil Works—Electricity, A. Proceedings, May 1907, Nos. 1–19, NAI.

50.

PWD, MPI, File No. 5E/1/1897, Proceed No. A 1–79, January 1897, WBSA.

51.

PWD, MPI, File No. 5E/14/1904, Proceed No. 9–12, April 1904, WBSA.

52.

PWD, MPI, File No. 5E/17/1904, Proceed No. B 16–18, May 1904, WBSA.

53.

PWD, MPI, File No. 5E/56/1904, Proceed No. B 4–6, January 1905, WBSA.

54.

PWD, MPI, File No. 5E/2/1905, Proceed No. B B1–5&KW, March 1905, WBSA.

55.

PWD, MPI, File No. 5E/25/1905, Proceed No. B B13–16, May 1905, WBSA.

56.

PWD, MPI, File No. 5E/59/1905, Proceed No. B B1–4, July 1905, WBSA.

57.

PWD, MPI, File No. 1E/5/1907, Proceed No. A A36&KW, May 1907, WBSA.

58.

PWD, MPI, File No. 1E/16/1908, Proceed No. B B19-25, September 1908, WBSA.

59.

PWD, MPI, File No. 1E/9/1909, Proceed No. A A1-2, August 1909, WBSA.

60.

PWD, MPI, File No. 1E/1/1910, Proceed No. B 82-84, January 1910, WBSA.

61.

PWD, MPI, File No. 1M/8/1912, Proceed No. A 1to10&KW, June 1912, WBSA.

62.

PWD, MPI, File No. 1E/4/1916, Proceed No. A 1-2, March 1917, WBSA.

63.

PWD, MPI, File No. 6C/1/1912, Proceed No. A 7-8&KW, April 1917, WBSA.

64.

PWD, MPI, File No. 1-E-7, Proceed No. 6–7B, March 1920, WBSA.

65.

Rangalaya, 5 April 1902, Report on Native News Papers in Bengal, January–June 1902, p. 212.

66.

Rao

Y. Srinivasa

. ‘Electrification of Madras Presidency 1900–1947’, Unpublished PhD Thesis 2007, IIT Chennai, pp. 194–95.

67.

Rao

Srinivasa

and Lourdusamy

John

. ‘Colonialism and the Development of Electricity: The Case of Madras Presidency, 1900–47’, Science, Technology and Society, Vol. 15 (1), 2010, pp. 27–54.

68.

Rau

B. Ramachandra

. The Economics of Leather Industry, Calcutta, 1925.

69.

Ray

Rajat

. Urban Roots of Indian Nationalism: Pressure Groups and Conflict of Interests in Calcutta City Politic, New Delhi, 1979.

70.

Ray

Jitendranath

. Banglar Kalkarkhana O Karigari Bidyar Ihihas, Kolkata, 2005.

71.

Redclift

S.W.

, ‘Appreciation’, Bijoli, Vol. I (10), June 1934, p. 442.

72.

Report on Public Instruction in Bengal for 1910–11, Calcutta, 1911.

73.

Report on Public Instruction in Bengal for 1937–38, Calcutta, 1938.

74.

Report of the Indian Industrial Commission 1916–18, Calcutta, 1918.

75.

Rieger

Bernhard

. Technology and the Culture of Modernity in Britain and Germany, 1890–1945, Cambridge, 2005.

76.

Roy

A. K.

A Short History of Calcutta: Census of India, 1901, Vol. VII, Part. I, Calcutta, 1902.

77.

Samaddar

Subhas

. ‘Bijoli Bichitra’, Kolkata Kalaha-katha, Kolkata, 1990, p. 45.

78.

Sarkar

Benoy Kumar

. ‘Coal and Electricity’, Bharatbarsha, Vol. 11 (1), Agrahayan, 1330 B.S. (1923), p. 886.

79.

Sarkar

Benoy Kumar

. Education for Industrialization: An Analysis of Forty Years of Jadavpur College of Engineering and Technology, 1905–45, Calcutta, 1946.

80.

Sarkar

(Nee Mitter), Sarmila

. ‘The Urbanization of Calcutta in the Nineteenth Century’, Unpublished M.Phil. Dissertation 1991, Jadavpur University, p. 39.

81.

Sarkar

Suvobrata

. ‘Technical Education and Industrialization Interface in Bengal during 1880–1945’, Unpublished PhD Thesis 2013, Jawaharlal Nehru University, p. 66.

82.

Science & Culture, Vol. I (7), December 1935, p. 367.

83.

Science & Culture, Vol. III (11), May 1938, p. 595.

84.

Sengupta

Nirmal K.

‘What is Electricity?’, Journal of the College of Engineering & Technology, Vol. IX (2), December 1937, p. 121.

85.

Shah

K. T.

ed., National Planning Committee Series, Power & Fuel (Report of Sub-Committee), Bombay, 1947.

86.

Shibpur College Patrika, Vol. I (8), August 1902, pp. 231–32.

87.

Story of Electricity in the City of Calcutta, CESC, 1979.

88.

Tagore

Rabindranath

. ‘Sadhana’, in Das

S. K.

, ed., English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore, Vol. 2, New Delhi, 1996, p. 304.

89.

Tendler

Judith

. Electric Power in Brazil: Entrepreneurship in the Public Sector, Cambridge, 1968.

90.

Thakur

Rabindranath

. ‘Jiban Smriti’, Rabindra Rachanabali, Vol. 11, Kolkata, 1989, p. 101.