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Remembering Romesh Chander Dutt
Economic historian of 19th century India
By Dr Upendra Shenoy
Many of our freedom fighters of the early 20th century had been inspired to dedicate their lives in the cause of liberating their motherland after coming to know the facts and figures related to the misery that had fallen on the country owing to foreign rule.
(Tribute on the occasion of death centenary of Ramesh Chander Dutt which falls on November 30, 2009)
Many of the present generation Indians have forgotten the life and works of Shri Romesh Chander Dutt (1849-1909). He was also one who served to shape the flow of our history of the 20th Century like those illustrious and well-known great Indians as Mahatma, Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Swamy Vivekananda, JC Bose and Sri CV Raman. He deserves to be remembered as one among the galaxy of great Indians.
Shri Dutt was a great scholar in such diverse knowledge fields as Economics, Politics, History and Literature; and had influenced greatly the thoughts and feelings of his contemporary countrymen. His magnum opus—Economic History of India which appeared in two parts (the first in 1902 and the second in 1904) was considered as a very authentic documentation of the colonial exploitation of India by the British. Mahatma Gandhi is on record of having said that he wept profusely after reading that book. Many of our freedom fighters of the early 20th century had been inspired to dedicate their lives in the cause of liberating their motherland after coming to know the facts and figures related to the misery that had fallen on the country owing to foreign rule. Therefore, we would be failing in our duty if we, in the present generation forget to pay tributes to this scholar who both directly and indirectly has shaped our history.
To evaluate his contribution to our country, we should keep in mind the social condition that prevailed during his life span.
A brief description of his times
Shri Dutt lived from mid 19th century to the close of the first decade of the 20th one. (1848-1909). A characteristic feature of this time period can easily be surmised. Those were the days of expansion and consolidation of British rule in India. In fact, our people at that time were led to believe that the British rule was a divine dispensation. Not only Britain, many other European countries too, at that time were moving towards increasing economic abundance and good conditions of life. The period also saw emergence on the European literary scene of most talented and creative men ever known whose clarion calls for freedom, equality, justice and democracy inspired new hopes among the populace. A powerful new intellectual wave arose to first lash the western world and subsequently the other parts of the globe. Inevitably, India that had accidentally come under British rule at that time; was also influenced by that European new wave. Indians who were enamoured of the white skin were also charmed by the economic and intellectual achievements of the British nation.
Inauguration of English Education by the British soon after their conquest also added its bit to this influence of European enlightenment on India. Of course, it was for smooth management of their imperial administration that they had initiated their education. This brought, as was later experienced, both desirable and undesirable changes in the country’s young minds.
Let it be noted that as in Europe of the Middle Ages, India too was passing through a dark period in its history. The oppressive rule of the Muslim Nawabs and Emperors had debilitated the soul of the nation. It had lost its glory and progressiveness in all fields of life, especially in politics, military affairs and cultural state. In the absence of any social reforms, people had developed superstitions and various undesirable social traits. The once famous ‘Gurukula’ system of education had touched its nadir owing to the lack of political patronage. This in turn led to the decay of the society. With the rise of the British power, the scene suddenly changed as at first it removed the fear in the hearts and minds of the people about the Nawab’s rule. Further, the now rule also brought a new system of education which incorporated the aforesaid values of the European Enlightenment.
The first education institution thus set up by the British in Bengal was the ‘Hindu College’ of Kolkata (1817 AD). This new education, however, was a cause of concern among the elderly Bengalis of the day. Because, in the first flush of this Western influence, the newly educated youngsters started showing a new trend of uncritical imitation of the Western habits of smoking, drinking, dress forms and also running down the religious and cultural beliefs and practices of their elders.
But, this deviant behaviour soon brought forth a creative social response. The national genius created such powerful social reformers as Raja Rammohan Roy. Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, Keshav Chandra Sen, Pt. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and such others who while accepting all the positive elements in the new resurgent European culture, tried to blend them with the eternal values of our own culture. Thus, an era of Indian enlightenment too dawned with an upsurge in the national social life. Shri Romesh Chander Dutt, also was one such scholarly regenerator who directly or indirectly strengthened the wave.
Sri Dutt was born in an educated family in Kolkata in 1849 AD. Both his father, Ishan Dutt and his paternal uncle, Soshi Chander Dutt were the products of the Hindu College and both were great lovers of English literature. This provided a family atmosphere to Shri Romesh to inculcate literary sensibility from an young age. Being a brilliant student, he could very easily complete his collegiate education with distinction and as was the wont of such youngsters in his day, he dreamt of taking up the ICS examination in England. Though considered as the toughest task in those days, he could successfully complete it. Available records say that Shri Satyendranath Tagore, the elder brother of Gurudev Rabindranath was the first Indian to complete the ICS and Shri Romesh was the second one in line.
After his return to India, Shri Dutt was immediately appointed for a governmental post. The first appointment was in 1871 A D as the Assistant Magistrate at Alipore, Bengal. Thereafter, his official responsibilities went on increasing from time to time. He proved himself to be a painstaking administrator who did justice to his responsibilities. At the same time, though very occupied in his official duties, Shri Dutt’s innate passion for scholarly pursuits did not lessen. This gets reflected in the number of books he wrote and got published from time to time. In all, he has written 17 books. The first one being - “Three years in Europe”, which is of an autobiographical nature. But the subsequent ones show his widely varying areas of scholarly pursuits. Following are the titles of his published works along with the years of their publication.
If we go through this list, it becomes obvious to us that Shri Dutt was interested in a scholarly way in widely varying areas such as literature, history, law and economics and so on and that he was using both prose and poetry as his medium of communication.
Shri Dutt, like any other Indian who had received the English education of those days, was a great fan of England during his early part of life. He firmly held the view that the rule of England over India was mutually beneficial. But, being a conscientious and responsible administrator, he soon realized that that was not the case. Study of the administrative records related to the socio economic condition in the country startled him. He started writing books and delivering public speeches to give vent to his changed views. The result of this was the publication of his last three books which came at the fag end of his life.
During the final decade of the 19th century, our country experienced bouts of great famine continuously. Millions perished. But, the studies by Shri Dutt were so convincing that the impact of those famine years had become harsh and unbearable owing more to the exploitative colonial British policies than to the Nature’s fury. When he started to freely express his views and support it with official statistics, the ruler’s conscience got disturbed. Serious debates, both in the British press and the parliament followed.
In 1899 A.D. Shri Dutt had been elected to preside over the All India National congress, held in Lucknow. This is what he said on the subject in his presidential speech.
“Gentlemen, . . . I pass on to the great calamity which now stares us in the face, the famine, from which millions of our countrymen are suffering even now. . . This appears to me to be one of paramount importance – the famines of India and the condition of our poorer classes. . . . the time has come. . . to take some effective measures to improve the condition of the agricultural population of India. Their poverty, their distress, their indebted ness, all this is not their fault. Some times it is asserted that the poverty of the people and the farmers which we witness in India and in no other well-governed country on earth are due to the over – increase in the population. Gentlemen, it is not so. If you go into figures you will find that the population does not increase in India as fast as it does in many other European countries, like Germany and England. . . some times, it is asserted that the poverty of the Indian agriculturist is due to his own improvidence, wastefulness and folly. Gentlemen, it is also not so. Those who have passed the best portion of their life among the Indian cultivators, as I have done, will tell you that the Indian cultivator is about the mest frugal, the most provident, the most thoughtful about his future among all races of cultivators on earth”.
After this analysis, Shri Dutt comes to the real causes of the farmer’s in datedness. In continuation he said :
“If he goes to the money-lender, it is not because he is in love with the money-lender but because he has nothing to eat. If he pays 25 to 37 percent as interest on loans, it is because he cannot get loans on lower interest on such security as he can offer...”
He continues – ‘Gentlemen, the real cause of the poverty of our agricultural population is simple and even obvious, if we have the courage and the honesty to seek for it and to grasp it. It is not over population. . . . It is not the improvidence of the cultivators. . . . the real cause of this wretchedness and indebtedness is that. . . the land assessment is so heavy that the cultivator is not able to save in good years enough to meet the failure of harvests in bad years. All our village Industries, like spinning and weaving, have been killed by a free competition with the steam and machinery of England”.
This speech of Sri Dutt in 1899 was soon followed by his magnum opus which already has been mentioned. (Economic History of India. In two Vols. 1902-1904). It has a very meticulous documentation of 18th – 19th century Indian economic condition. It showed how India which was a prominent exporting nation upto 18th century, later became sub-servant to the British imperialism and descended to a wretched status. This book, as also mentioned earlier, offered stimulus to our freedom fighters in the 20th century leading us to our freedom. The book is a proof to show how genuine scholarship can help raising of a nation from distress to glory. We need to dutifully pay our tributes therefore, to such great scholars as Shri Dutt when we do the same to our other very popular national leaders.
(The writer can be contacted at Keshava Shilpa, KG Nagar, Bangalore—560 019, e-mail: drupendrashenoy@sify.com)
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