Download Week-5 Development and Modernization

Week-5 Development and Modernization
As realization of independent self-rule approached and the necessity to develop a new independent
identity led to debates over modernization and development strategies. Prominent Indian scientists such as
Bhabha, Visveraya, and Bhatnagar were debating over which measures to take in order to develop the country.
The reality of the need to organize became apparent as these debates over modernization intensified. There were
similar debates over the import of ideas, culture, and style occurring over the future of city planning and
architecture in India. These debates had to be waged in the context of a country with a large population, low life
expectancy, and concern over falling agricultural productivity that was transitioning towards independence.
The decade leading up to independence was full of political and social turmoil. Nationalist leaders
sought to protect their interests in negotiations over the future constitution. In particular there was fierce
negotiating between leaders of the Congress and leaders of the All-India Muslim league. The Congress had its
eyes set on central control over India. The All-India Muslim league sought to safe guard the interests of
Muslims in both the majority provinces, Punjab and Bengal, as well as in the areas where there was a Muslim
minority, the rest of India. However, the diverse nature of the Muslim Indian population - who did not speak a
common language, held varying positions of economic standing, and had varying regional alliances – made it
difficult for Muslim leaders to unify this political group defined by its religion. In March of 1940 the All-India
Muslim League made a demand for independent Muslim states in the northwest and northeast of India. Tensions
between Muslims and Hindus as well as Muslims and Sikhs exploded into frequent violence. However, not all
of the violence was along religious lines. There was also violence between peasants and rural elites. The
increasing violence in the decade leading up to partition highlighted the class, regional, and rural-urban divides
that were pervasive in India. In 1947 partition displaced 17 million people. It was in this context that India and
Pakistan attempted to forge a new national identity.
The Authors: Deepak Kumar is a Professor of the History of Science and Education at Jawaharlal Nehru
University in New Delhi. He is also the vice president of the International Association of Historians of Asia.
He has been honored visiting fellow at colleges and institutions including Cambrige University and the
Smithsonian Institute. His many publications have helped understand the historical development of science,
industry, medicine, and education in India. Ravi Kalia was born on June 13, 1947 in Simla, India. Kalia was a
child of two educators. He earned an MBA and a PhD from the University of California. Kalia has been an
associate professor at City College of the City University of New York since 1993. In addition to numerous
articles he has written 4 books about Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar which encompass different
architectural perspectives.
Architects discussed in Kalia: Le Corbusier (1887-1965) – A Swiss born architect who became a French
citizen at the age of 30 after the war began. Born Charles Edouard Jeannerct he later adopted the pseudonym Le
Corbusier as a way to reinvent himself. Le Corbusier recognized Charles L’Eplattiener to be his only teacher,
and it was L’Eplattiener who suggested Le Corbusier should be an architect. Le Corbusier always remained on
the forefront of architectural development providing the model for new architectural design in post modern India.
Throughout his career he had build in Europe, Soviet Union, India as well as North and South America. Le
Corbusier played a decisive role in the development of modern architecture in India when he was named to be
an architectural advisor by Indian government in 1951. He did a lot more than simply build buildings in India.
Le Corbusier was also a painter, a writer, and he also made different types of furniture.
Louis Kahn (1901-1974) – Kahn was born on the Estonian island of Sarema. His family was able to move to US
where he was able to get an excellent education at architecture school at University of Pennsylvania using a
scholarship. One of his great contributions to the Indian architecture was the Indian Institute of Management in
Ahmadabad. Although he hasn’t build many buildings in India there always seemed to be the need to hire due to
conflicts in the area.
Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) – Born in Britain he later played a key role in the planning, development, and
building of the New Delhi. Edwin was known for his versatility and range of invention while following
traditional lines. He began working on larger civil projects by 1910 and by 1912 was recruited to work on the
New Delhi. Lutyens was inspired by and Indian architecture and incorporated it into most of his buildings in
India. He employed the garden city pattern using hexagonal shaped blocks outlined by broad avenues with
double tree lines planted down the middle. His most known work in Dehli is the “Viceroy’s House,” containing
340 rooms it is currently used by the President of India.
Key terms:
Weltanschauung – German for worldview (Welt means=world, anschauung=outlook)
Swadeshi- Focus on creating work in the community and spending money within the community.
Swaraj - self-rule
Ameliorative activity – improvements
Keynesianism – economic theory that stresses government spending in dealing with economic depressions.
City-Beautiful- An architectural and city planning movement from the United States in the late 19th and early
20th Centuries that believed city beautification and monument building would increase safety and civic virtue in
the increasingly impoverished US cities. It was implemented as a social control and to mask crime and poverty
which had become pervasive in US cities.
1. Why did Gandhi want an alternative to capitalist Industrialization? What were alternatives he offered?
2. Were the issues of post-colonial architecture and city planning, discussed by Kalia, based on the
symbolic or on the functional nature of cities and buildings? Or both?
3. Why might scientists such as Saha have feared importing western industrial models and insisted on
centralized development of the sciences? Why were scientists such as Visvesvaraya and Bhabha
insistent on importing scientific models?
4. Were there any groups that were underrepresented in the debates presented by Kumar and Kalia? Why
might these groups have been marginalized?
5. How was modernism perceived in India immediately post independence, and how did this perception
eventually change? Why was there anxiety about building new buildings in India?
Kumar, Deepak, ed. Disease and Medicine in India: A Historical Overview. New Delhi:
Tulika Books, 2001
“Deepak Kumar professor, History of Science and Education” Zakir Husain Centre for
Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
http://www.jnu.ac.in/faculty/deepakkumar, (accessed Apr. 24, 2008).
Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal. Modern South Asia. New York: Rutledge, 128-182.
The Lutyens Trust. “Biography”
http://www.lutyenstrust.org.uk/
Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com
Design Museum, “Louis Kahn” Biography
http://designmuseum.org/design/louis-kahn
Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com
Jerzy Soltan, “Working with Corbusier” Essential Reading, Discourse. ArchSociety
http://www.archsociety.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.24
Le Corbusier Foundation. Le Corbusier “Biography,”
http://www.fondationlecorbusier.asso.fr/fondationlc_us.htm
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale,
2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
India West. Review of Gandhihagar: Building National Identity in Post Colonial India, By Ravi Kalia.
San Leandro, Calif.: Sep 16, 2005 Vol XXX, Iss. 46, Pg. b14