Alternative Ideas And Initiatives ~ Chapter - 5 ( History _ WBBSE Questions and Answers )

Alternative Ideas And Initiatives 

~ Chapter - 5

( History_WBBSE Questions and Answers )

 Very Short Answer Type:

Question 1. Which was the first Bengali newspaper?

Answer: Sambad Prabhakar.

Question 2. When was linotype used for the first time?

Answer: Linotype was first used in Ananda Bazar Patrika in 1935.

Question 3. Who was the author of ‘Alaler Ghorer Dulal’?

Answer: Pyarichand Mitra.

Question 4. Which press was set up by Vidyasagar and his friend Madanmohan?

Answer: Vidyasagar along with his friend Madanmohan set up the Sanskrit Press in 1847 at Patoldanga,62 Amherst Street.

Question 5. Who was the pioneer of colored printing press in Asia?

Answer: Upendrakishor Roy Chowdhury.

Question 6. Which was the first college of technology in Bengal?

Answer: Bengal College of Civil Engineering was established in 1856.

Question 7. Which institution was established by Mahendra Lal Sarkar in 1876?

Answer: Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.

Question 8. Who were the founders of Rajabazar Science College?

Answer: Taraknath Palit and Sir Rashbehari Ghosh.

Question 9. What was the objective of the Bengal Technical Institute?

Answer: The main objective of Bengal Technical Institute was to provide technical manpower to the swadeshi engineering projects.

Question 10. Who was the editor of ‘Sambad Prabhakar’?

Answer: Ishwar Chandra Gupta.

Question 11. Who was the first owner of a printing press in Bengal?

Answer: John Andrews.

Question 12. Who was the founder of ‘U K N. Roy and Sons’?

Answer: Upendra Kishore Roy Choudhuri.

Question 13. Who wrote Chheledar Ramayan?

Answer: Upendra Kishore Roy Choudhury.

Question 14. Who brought out Tattvabodhini Patrika?

Answer: Debendranath Tagore.

Question 15. Who published Hindu Patriot?

Answer: Girish Chandra Ghosh under the editorship of Harish Chandra Mukherjee.

Question 16. Who was the editor of Samachar Darpan?

Answer: J.C. Marshman.

Question 17. Who published the magazine ‘Sandesh’?

Answer: Upendra Kishore Roy Choudhury.

Question 18. Who wrote Barnaparichaya?

Answer: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Question 19. Who wrote ‘Annandamangai’?

Answer: Bharat Chandra.

Question 20. Who worte ‘Chokher Bali’?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

Question 21. Who wrote Bishbriksha?

Answer: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Question 22. Name the first pharmaceutical company in India.

Answer: Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Works.

Question 23. Name the oldest Medical School in Asia.

Answer: Calcutta Medical College.

Question 24. Who founded ‘Bengal Chemicals’?

Answer: Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy.

Question 25. Name the first Bengali person to establish a press in Calcutta.

Answer: Baboo Ram.

Question 26. Who established Serampore Mission Press?

Answer: Gangadhar Bhattacharya.

Question 27. Who established Visva Bharati University?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

Question 28. Who founded Shantiniketan?

Answer: Debendranath Tagore.

Question 29. Who wrote Rabindra Rachanabali?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore.

Question 30. When was Bengal Technical Institute established?

Answer: 1906.

Question 31. When was the National Council of Education created?

Answer: 1906.

Question 32. When was Bose Institute of Science established?

Answer: 1917.

Question 34. Who is called ‘The father of the study of Modern Sciences’ in India?

Answer: Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar.’

Question 35. What is the other name of Calcutta Science College?

Answer: Rajabazar Science College or Rashbehari Siksha Prangan.

Question 36. When was Calcutta Science College founded?

Answer: 1914.

Question 37. Who founded Calcutta Science College?

Answer: Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee.

2 Marks Question And Answers:

Question 1. What was the contribution of Upendrakishor Roy Chowdhury in the field of printing press?

Answer: He was the first person to introduce modern halftone blocks in South Asia, which he learned from England. He was also the first person to start a colored printing press located at Garpar Road and named it U. N. Roy and Sons.

Question 2. What was the contribution of Meghnad Saha in the field of science?

Answer: Dr. Meghnad Saha was a space scientist and he joined the Applied Mathematics Department of the University College of Science. He established the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta, which later on came to be known as the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.

Question 3. What were the ideals on which Visva Bharati was established?

Answer: The ideals of Visva Bharati were: the entire world’s combined knowledge to be studied there; it would be a home for students all over the world; it would be a congregation of academics from all over the world and the entire world would merge at Visva Bharati.

Question 4. When was Bengal Technical Institute established? What was the objective behind it?

Answer: Almost on the same day that the National Council of Education was set up, a rival organisation, the Society for Promotion of Technical Education in Bengal was set up by Taraknath Palit. The Bengal Technical Institute came into being on July 25, 1906 under the umbrella of the SPTE, with the objective of spreading technical education among the masses in West Bengal, one of the eastern region states of India.

Question 5. According to Rabindranath, what was the objective of real education?

Answer: Elaborating his own ideas about the aims of education, Rabindranath said that the fundamental purpose of education was not” merely to enrich ourselves through the fullness of knowledge” Rather he believed that the purpose was also to establish the bond of love and friendship between man and man.

Question 6. What were the names of the translators of Mahabharata and Ramayana into Bengali?

Answer: Krittiba translated Ramayana in Bengali and Kabi Sanjay translated Mahabharata in Bengali.

Question 7. When was the Science College in Calcutta established under Calcutta University?

Answer: The Science College was founded in 1914 by the then legendary Sri Ashutosh Mukherjee, the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta.

Question 8. In which year and who wrote Vidyakalpadruma?

Answer: The first volume of Vidyakalpadruma was published in the year 1845. It was written by Reverend Krishna Mohan Banerjee.

Question 9. Who established ‘Basu Vigyan Mandir’ and why?

Answer: On 30th November 1917, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu established the Bose Institute of Sciences. The objectives of the institute were to study both life and non-life sciences.

Question 10. When were Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works and the Indian Chemical Society established? Who set up these two institutions?

Answer: Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. was established on April 12, 1901, by the eminent scientist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy. Indian Chemical Society also was established in 1924 by Prafulla Chandra Roy.

Question 11. Who was called ‘The Serampore Trio’?

Answer: The Serampore Trio was the name was given to three pioneering English missionaries to India in the 18th century, who set up, amongst other things, Serampore College. The trio were Joshua Marshman, William Carey, and William Ward.

Question 12. Name two teachers of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS).

Answer: Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and C.V. Raman were two illustrious teachers of the IACS.

Question 13. Give the names of any two books of Upendrakishor.

Answer:

The names of two books written by Upendrkishor are:

1. Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen.

2. Tuntunir Boi.

Question 14. Who founded Serampore Mission Press and when?

Answer: The Serampore Mission Press was established in 1800 by William Carey, William Ward, and other British Baptist missionaries.

Question 15. What were the contributions of Serampore Printing Press?

Answer: The press published religious Christian tracts, Indian literary works, and translations of the Bible in twenty-five Indian vernaculars and other South Asian languages, but the major contribution of the press was printing vernacular textbooks. The press printed books on grammar, dictionaries, history, legends, and moral tales for the Fort William College and the Calcutta School Book Society.

Question 16. State the objectives of forming the National Council of Education.

Answer: The objective in setting up the institution was to challenge British rule over education. Besides, the institution was to offer education to the masses on ‘national lines and under national control’.

Question 17. Who established Visva Bharati? Why was it so-called?

Answer: Visva Bharati was established by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Vishva Bharati, which means communication of the world with India.

Question 18. What were your beliefs of Rabindranath regarding education?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls. This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind. Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinions matched. Tagore once said, “I do not remember what I was taught, I only remember what I learned.” Tagore’s idea on education was that every person is a genius and that all students may not bloom at the same time. So he devised a new system of learning in Visva Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.

Question 19. Who established Shantiniketan and when?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore established Shantiniketan in 1901.

Question 20. Who was the founder of the modern block-making system in India?

Answer: Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhuri.

Question 21. When and by whom was Bengal Technical Institute founded?

Answer: Bengal Technical Institute was founded by Taranath Palit on 25th July 1906.

Question 22. When and under whose leadership was Bengal Gazette published?

Answer: Under the leadership of Gangadhar Bhattacharya Bengal Gazatte was published in 1816.

Question 23. When and under whose leadership was Digdarshan Patrika published?

Answer: Under the leadership of Marshman, Digdarshan Patrika was published in 1818.

Question 24. Who and when started the publication of Sambad Kaumudi?

Answer: Rammohan Roy in the year 1821 started the publication of Sambad Kaumudi.

Question 25. Who and when edited the publication of Mirat-ul Akhbar?

Answer: Rammohan Roy started the publication of Mirat-ul-Akhbar in 1822.

Question 26. When and by whose initiative was the publication of Banga Dutta newspaper started?

Answer: With the initiatives of Dwarkanath Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore & Rammohan Roy, the Banga Dutta was published in 1830.

Question 27. By whom and in which language was Brahmanical Magazine published?

Answer: Brahmanical Magazine was published by Rammohan Roy in the English language.

Question 28. Who and when published the Bengal Gazette?

Answer: ‘The Bengal Gazette’ was published in 1780 by James Augustus Hickey.

Question 29. Who was the editor of the Calcutta General Advertiser?

Answer: James Augustus Hickey.

Question 30. Who was Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury?

Answer: Upendra Kishor Roy Choudhury (12th March 1963 – 20th December 1915) was better known as Upendrakishore Roy. He was a prominent Bengali writer, artist, violin player and composer and was also an entrepreneur.

Question 31. Who and on what basis wrote Chheleder Ramayan?

Answer: Upendra Kishor wrote Cheeleder Ramayan on the basis of the woodcut block technique.

Question 32. Who and when founded U.N. Roy and Sons?

Answer: Upendranath Kishore founded U.N. Roy and Sons in 1913.

Question 33. When was Shivpur Engineering College established?

Answer: Shibpur Engineering College was established in 1835.

Question 34. Who and when founded Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science?

Answer: Mahendralal Sarkar founded the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) on 29th July 1876.

Question 35. Who and when published Sandesh magazine?

Answer: Sandesh magazine was published by Upendra Kishor in 1913.

Question 36. Who and when invented the principle of the Raman Effect?

Answer: Raman Effect was invented by C.V. Raman in 1928.

Question 37. Name some scientists associated with Calcutta Science College.

Answer: Scientists associated with Calcutta Science College are P.C. Roy, C.V. Raman, etc.

Question 38. Who was the founder of modern scientific research in India? What is its main achievement?

Answer: Acharya Jagdish Chandra Roy was the founder of modern scientific research in India. His greatest achievement was the establishment of Bose Institute.

Question 39. When and why was the National Council of Education established?

Answer: National Council of Education was established in 1906 to promote technical education in Bengal.

Question 40. Who were the main members of the National Council of Education?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, and Subodh Chandra Maliick were some of the main members of the National Council of Education.

Question 41. Who and when formed Brahmacharya Ashram?

Answer: Brahmacharya Ashram was founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1901.

Question 42. What was the main objective of Vishwa Bharati?

Answer: Rabindranath’s idea oftheVisva Bharati was put forward by resorting to the following ideals:

1. The entire world’s combined knowledge to be studied here.

2. Visva Bharati will be the home for students from all over the world.

3. It will be a residence for the entire world’s knowledgeable personalities who will congregate here to discuss and evaluate their knowledge.

Question 43. Name some teachers of Calcutta Medical College.

Answer: Some teachers of Calcutta Medical College were Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, C.V. Raman, Sisir Kumar Mitra, etc.

Question 44. On which subjects have research facilities been provided in Bose Institute?

Answer: The Bose Institute provides research facilities in subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Environmental Science, etc.

4 Marks Questions And Answers:

Question 1. Write a note on Bose Institute.

Answer:

Introduction: Bose Institute is a research institute in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Plant Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Animal physiology, Immunotechnology, Bioinformatics, and Environmental science. The institute was established in 1917 by Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose, who was the founder of modern scientific research in India. Bose Institute was a pioneer in developing the concept of interdisciplinary research in India in synch with global trends. Its alumni have achieved renown in India and the world.

Establishment: Acharya J. C. Bose founded the Institute in 1917 with the purpose of investigating fully “the many and ever-opening problems of nascent science which includes both life and non-life sciences”. Acharya Bose’s early career included many marvelously inventive and pioneering experiments on electromagnetism which, in J. J. Thomson s words, marked “the dawn of the revival in India of interest in researches in the Physical Sciences”, and on the commonality of the response of plants and inorganic materials to electric and mechanical stimuli. Those early successes lay behind the stated purpose. Bose’s successors remained true to that purpose.

Activities: Dr. D. M. Bose and Dr. Biva Chowdhury were the first to experimentally record Meson tracks. They made further pioneering contributions on the susceptibility measurement of paramagnetic compounds. The Institute actively participated in the pioneering discovery of Cholera Toxin and its role in the pathogenesis of Cholera by Prof. S. N. De. This led to a breakthrough in the understanding the molecular mechanism of toxin-receptor interaction in microbial pathogenesis. Prof. B. B. Biswas and his group demonstrated a multiplicity of RNAP from higher plant sources. It is, therefore, not surprising to find Bose Institute’s research activities today spanning a wide compass, a feature that makes it unique amongst all research institutes in India. The Institute’s 600 staff and students mostly work out of two campuses in the city of Kolkata, which house its various academic departments and sections, together with a Library and other service units. The J.C. Bose Museum is a special attraction in the Main Campus. It contains a fine collection of manuscripts, instruments, etc. that record Bose’s life and work; these are on permanent display. In addition, there are four special-purpose Field Stations.

Recent Research: In recent years the impact of scientific research is assessed on objective criteria, e.g. Citation Index, Impact factors, and Peer Review. When the research activities in India were independently assessed by the National Information System for Sciences & Technology (NISSAT) of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the research work from Bose Institute was rated High impact in Biology and Biomedical research areas.

Question 2. Discuss the contributions of Charles Wilkins in the field of the printing press in Bengal.

Answer: Charles Wilkins:

1. Introduction: Charles Wilkins is perhaps one of the most significant figures in the history of printing in Bengal at his time. He was a writer employed by the East India Company. In 1770 he sailed to India where he quickly distinguished himself by showing extraordinary proficiency in Persian, Sanskrit, and Bengali

2. ‘A grammar of the Bengali Language’: In 1778 Governor General Warren Hastings asked him to prepare the earliest known set of Bengali types for N. B. Halhed’s A Grammar of the Bengali Language. The success of the enterprise and Hicky’s scurrilous attacks on the Company led the Company to feel that it would be better off setting up its own press rather than in employing a contract printer. Accordingly, Wilkins was asked to draw up a plan for a press.

3. Past at the Company’s Press: In December 1778 he was given the authority of the first superintendent of the Honourable Company’s Press. The Press began its operations in Malda, 175 miles north of Calcutta, and only shifted to Calcutta in 1781 when Wilkins was appointed the Persian and Bengali translator of the Committee of Revenue. He printed about thirteen works

4. Exemplary Work: In the preface to Halhed’s works Wilkins is applauded for having been a metallurgist, engraver, founder, and printer. He also exemplified how good printing is actually a collaborative exercise. The well-known gem-and-seal engraver Joseph Shepherd as well as the Bengali blacksmith Panchanan Karmakar were employed to help him with the designing and cutting of types, and the casting of fonts.

Question 3. Write a note on the National Council of Education.

Answer:

National Council of Education:

1. Introduction: National Council of Education was one of the three universities in modern India set up by the British in Calcutta in 1861 which were instruments of spreading western philosophical thought among the elite in India and creating in the words of Lord Macaulay, “a class of Indians who would be Indian in blood and color but western in thought and ideas.”

2. Universities Act, 1904: This initiative was furthered by the passing of the Universities Act of 1904. This resulted in the reorganization of Calcutta University’s Senate and Syndicate by the nomination of more white members into them, which in turn, would enable the government to control her policies. The government also decided to stop helping financially many private Indian colleges, which had come up lately and were regarded by the Government as hotbeds of nationalist agitation. The measures stirred the educated middle class to move for alternative systems of education

3. Criticism of Calcutta University: The nationalists in the freedom struggle of India dubbed the Calcutta University, another pillar of India’s education movement, as “Goldighir Ghulamkhana”, or the slave house of Goldighi, with reference to the lake adjacent to Calcutta University, and the number of graduates it churned out who were used in British merchant offices as clerks. Hence, the need for setting up an institution that would impart education along with inspiring nationalist ideas was strongly felt by the luminaries of the period

4. Nationalist Agitation: The real impetus though was provided by the partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon, the then Governor-General of India, into East Bengal on the one hand (the area that was eventually to become Bangladesh in 1971) and West Bengal and Odisha on the other. The youth of Bengal actively participated in the Swadeshi movement, and the participation of university students drew the ire of the Raj. R.W. Carlyle prohibited the participation of students in political meetings on the threat of withdrawal of funding and grants. The decade preceding these decrees had seen Bengali intellectuals increasingly calling for indigenous schools and colleges to replace British institutions

5. Establishment of National Council of Education: On 16 November 1905, the Landholders’ Society organized a meeting at Park Street, attended by around 1500 delegates, including Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick, and Brajendra Kishore Roychowdhury. The idea of the National Council of Education was raised and developed here. While in a meeting held on 9 November 1905 at the Field and Academic Club, Subodh Chandra Mullick pledged one lakh rupees for the foundation of a National University in Bengal. The objective of setting up the institution was to challenge the British rule over education by offering education to the masses ‘on national lines and under national control’. Generous sums of money were also donated by Brojendra Kishore Roy Choudhury, Maharaja Suryya Kanto Acharya Choudhury, and Rashbihari Ghosh, who was appointed the first president of the university. Aurobindo served as the first Principal of the college. The organization in its beginning period was intimately associated with the nascent revolutionary nationalism in Bengal at the time. It was during his time as Principal that Aurobindo started his nationalist publications Jugantar, Karmayogin, and Bande Mataram. The student mess at the College was frequented by students of East Bengal who belonged to the Dhaka branch of the Anushilan Samiti and was known to be the hotbed of revolutionary nationalism, which was uncontrolled or even encouraged by the college.

Question 4. Give an account of the growth of Bengali printing press from the middle of the 19th century.

Answer: Early Development:

Growth of the Bengali Printing Press from the Middle of the 19th Century: From 1780 to 1790, a total of 19 weekly and 6 monthly magazines were published from various printing presses in Calcutta. Gangakishore Bhattacharya was the first Bengali publisher and bookseller in Calcutta who published the book ‘Annadamangal’ of Bharatchandra. In 1800, the total number of printed books on Calcutta was 650. Gradually the number of other types of books printed and sold also increased rapidly. Barnaparichaya of Vidyasagar (1855) was published from 1869 to 1880 – a total number of 50,000. In 1885-1886 there were 1094 printing presses in India, of which 229 were in Bengal.

Contribution of Vidyasagar: The commercial initiative of the Bengali Press in the latter half of the 19th century was taken by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. He had tried to bring about the commercial advantages of the Press in Bengal. It must be said that he had a great influence on the Bengali publication industry of those days. He along with his friend Madanmohan had founded the Sanskrit Press in 1847 at Patoldanga 62, Amherst Street. He became the absolute owner of the press in 1856. This press published many copies of this and his others works regularly. For instance, nearly 50,000 copies of his work Barnoparichay were sold in the year 1856. He also opened the Sanskrit Press Depository, the first book shop in College Street. Those days he used to earn a princely sum of three to four thousand rupees every month by just selling his educational books. For this reason, he is considered the first commercial book vendor of modern Bengal. However, later on, he transferred the exclusive rights of his bookstore to Brajanath Mukherjee in 1864. In 1885 at the autumn of his life he opened another book store Kolkata Pustakalay in 24, Sukia Street. His own and other copyright books were published and sold from this place. For these reasons, Vidyasagar is also called Vidyabanik or the commercial educationist.

Serampore Press: In the second half of the 19th century, Serampore Press was printing books in 34 languages. Here William Kerry printed the first Bengali book. He was assisted in this work by William Ward and Marshman. These persons were nicknamed as Serampore Trio.

Battle Publishers: Besides this, many low-priced books and photographs for the common man were published by the Battala Publishers (1840-70). The printers were mostly located in Chitpur, Shobha Bazaar, Kumartoli, Jorashankho, Mirzapur, Simla, and Sealdah.

Question 5. Give an account of the talent of Upendrakishore in the area of printing.

Answer:

Upendrakishor Roy:

1. Introduction: Upendrakishore Roy Choudhury (12th March, 1863-20th December 1915) was better known as Upendrakishore Roy. He was a prominent Bengali writer, artist, violin player, and composer and was also an entrepreneur. He was the son-in-law of Dwarkanath Ganguly, the author of the book ‘Slave Trade in Assam, father of famous writer Sukumar Roy and the grandfather of the eminent Oscar-winning cinema director Satyajit Ray. He was one of the active members of the Brahmo Samaj. He had very close relations with the Jorashanko Thakurbari family. He was the first person to introduce color printing in Bengal after it was started in western countries.

2. Professional Training and Carrer: Though he was born in the Kishorganj district of Bangladesh, his professional life was spent in Calcutta. He pioneered in introduction the modern halftone blocks in South Asia. He had realized that the use of wooden blocks for printing his book Cheleder Ramayan was very outdated. So he went to England and learned the craft of printing with modern blocks and in 1895 came to ‘India and started a successful business of making modern printing blocks. He had also penned down his knowledge and experience in making modern printing blocks and this manuscript was also published in England in Penrose Annual Volume.

3. U.N. Roy & Sons: In 1913 he was the first Bengali in Asia to start colored printing press. This press went by the name U. Roy & Sons and was located in 100 Garpar Road.

He was also an expert in drawing building answers: His son Sukumar Roy obtained an engineering degree in printing technology from the University of Manchester.

4. Printing Technology: U. Roy learnt the technology of producing half-tone blocks. He established the screen adjusting machine in England. In 1904-05 he has been mentioned in the Penrose Annual Volume X, a handbook of British Printing & Technology as, ‘Mr, Roy is a successful person in the world of printing’.

5. Contribution to Children’s Literature: Upendra Kishore made a stellar contribution to children’s literature. One of these famous works, ‘Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen’ was successfully filmed by his grandson Satyajit Ray. Besides this, his other works included ‘Tutunir Boi’ and ‘Cheleder Mahabharat’. He started the first colored children’s magazine ‘Sandesh’. Though the publishing house U. Roy & Sons was a business house, many of the creations of Upendra Kishore and his son Sukumar Roy were published from this place.

Question 6. Give a description of the ‘Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science’.

Answer:

Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science: In 1876 Mahendralal Sarkar established the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS). This was India’s first center for discussion on the areas of basic science. This is one of the reasons why Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar is called “The father of the Study of Modern Science”. Professor C. V. Raman was attached to this institute from 1907 to 1933. He received his Nobel Prize in 1930 because of his research in light.

Characteristics: This institution was run by contributions from the citizens and was located at 210, Bowbazar Street. In the 19th century, Bengal this institution contributed immensely in the development of Bengal’s intellectual and cultural faculties. This institution gave its students an environment of solely native and purely national character.

The main goal of this institution is research in basic sciences. Even today the IACS is continuing to work with this goal in mind and the object is to make the lives of mankind more comfortable.

Early Phase: In the first phase the lecturers at this institution were highly qualified people. They included Father Lafont, Jagadish Chandra Basu, Chunilal Bose, Premnath Bose, and Ashutosh Mukherjee. Moreover, the IACS trust board consisted of luminaries like Vidyasagar and Keshav Chandra Sen. In 1912 the first Indian President of IACS was Raja Pyarimohan Mukherjee. His successors included Dr. Nil Ratan Sarkar, Gyan Chandra Ghosh, and Dr. Satyendranath Bose (an eminent physicist).

During the time of C. V. Raman: In 1907 with the leadership of Sir C. V. Raman IACS started developing into a new trajectory. At that time Dr. Mahendra Lai Sarkar’s son Amrit Lai Sarkar was the institute’s secretary. He led all the work of the institute. Dr. Raman published his papers on the Raman Effect in 1928. He was awarded the Noble Prize for this discovery. Following Raman’s footsteps, many new areas of science were developed from the IACS. Prominent amongst them was K. S. Krishnan who worked on Modern Magnetism and Structural Physics. Similarly prominent scientist K. Banerjee worked on Crystallography.

Conclusion: Later on the IACS became India’s premier center for research in material sciences. Today also many students come from various places of India to study and continue research in the IACS. Some of the eminent scientists who carried out research in the later years were D. S. Bhagwantam, L. Srinivastav, N. K. Seti, C. Prasad, and Meghnad Saha.

Question 7. Write a note on Calcutta Science College.

Answer:

Calcutta Science College: In 1914 Taranath Palit and Sir Rashbehari Ghosh founded the Rajabazar Science College. Besides this, to carry on research in science and technology, Jagadish Chandra Basu established the Bose Institute.

Establishment: In Calcutta, the West Bengal Institute of Animal and Fisheries Sciences is located at 37-38, Khudiram Basu Sarani. This was established in 1915, on 2nd January. Apart from this, in the entire West Bengal, many agricultural colleges and research institutes were also established.

Research Work: Calcutta was soon made a center for research in Radio Physics by Shishir Kumar Mitra (28 August 1890-13 August 1963). In spite of the tremendous research being done in the west in the field of Radio Physics, Shishir Kumar Mitra along with his colleagues made a great discovery in this area in 1930. Dr. Mitra and his fellow researcher Dr. P. Shyam took a considerable amount of research in the field of Radio Physics. Dr. Mitra started a separate course in Radio Physics at Calcutta University. This was the first established course in the study of Radio Physics in India. Dr. Mitra followed this up with the opening of the new department of Radio Physics and Technology at Calcutta University. A lot of research was done about the various layers of the Ionosphere. He established the ionospheric Field Station in Haringhata about 45 kilometers from Calcutta in 1950. He was also India’s first pathfinder for Radio Broadcasting. He was the founding member of the National Institute of Sciences in Calcutta. He also served as the President of the Asiatic Society from 1951 to 1952. Because of his achievements he was awarded the George Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935. Other awards were also showered upon him like the Joy Kishen Mukherjee Gold Medal in 1943 from the Indian Institute for the Cultivation of Science and again in 1956, he received the Calcutta Science Congress Medal from the Asiatic Society. In 1958 he was declared a Fellow of the Royal Society in London. In 1962 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Question 8. Discuss the contributions of Meghnad Saha and Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the field progress of Bengal’s Science.

Answer:

Meghan Saha (6.10.1893-16.2.1956): Meghnad Saha was a space scientist and in 1916 he joined the Applied Mathametics department of the University College of Sciences. After receiving many honors in both national and international arenas, he established the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta, which was later on renamed as Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. After establishing the National Institute of Sciences, he advised the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the development of industry and national planning. Because of his efforts, the Indian Institute for the Cultivation of Science and Glass and Ceramic Research Institute were established. Meghnad Saha was born in a very poor family but he rose to great heights solely due to his efforts and brilliance. He died in a road accident while on his way to attend the Planning Commission meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.

Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis (21.6.1893-28.6.1972): Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis was the nephew of Dr. Nil Ratan Sarkar and after finishing his studies in Mathematics and Statistics from Cambridge, he joined the Indian Education Service. He established the Indian Institute of Statistical Sciences in Baranagar in 1931. He was the first to initiate a discussion in science and technology in Bengali. The ISI was earlier known as the Statistical Laboratory. This was started as a department in the Presidency College of Calcutta. Mahalanobis had modeled the Institute in the lines of the Institute of Statistics in the U.S. In 1951 the Institute was renamed as the Institute of Statistical Sciences by the Indian Parliament.

Question 9. Write a note on Bengal Technical Institute.

Answer:

Bengal Technical Institute: The Bengal Technical Institute was set up by a Bengali engineer Taraknath Palit in 1906. Its chief aim was to provide technical manpower to the swadeshi (native) engineering projects. This Institute was set up almost at the same time as the NCE. Today this institute is known as the Jadavpur Engineering College. In 1910 the Society for the Promotion of Technical Education (SPTE) was given the task of controlling the Bengal Technical Institute. Later on this institute was rechristened as the College of Engineering and Technology. The institute was intricately related to the National Council of Education. The NCE from 1940 got the status of a University. On 24th December 1955 the Government of India through an act of the Parliament converted this council to the Jadavpur University. But it is to be noted that the first Mayor of Calcutta, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das had provided leased land to the engineering college. The first Principal of the Bengal National College was Aurobindo Ghosh.