Author: jualujvu

Dr Biswanath Bandyopadhyay

Urbanization is a normal phenomena of civilization. It is the process through which people from different areas agglomerate in a particular centre with certain facilities which are helpful for them to earn their livelihood mainly by non-agricultural activities. The common criteria of urbanization is the facility of good communication network with the outer world by means of transport and other media which helps in the establishment of a city or town as a commercial centre. In case of the town Chandernagore, the urbanization was by and large guided by colonial attitude. The growth of urban environment in Chandernagore made by the French and the process of urbanization along with the changes related therein will be discussed. This was guided by political and colonial considerations. A full fledged urban culture could not blossom here. Rural culture along with rural festivals also remained popular among the people of Chandernagore. The French created an urban environment which was guided by their colonial attitude but they could not influence the people of Chandernagore.

Chandernagore made its own cultural heritage with the people who came here due to the changes of socio-politico circumstance of this area. It is difficult to survey all these factors in this brief paper.

Brief History

Chandernagore is situated in the Hooghly district of West Bengal and on the West Bank of the river Bhagirathi. It lies only 32 KM from Calcutta.The nomenclature of the place is indebted to a number of factors but it is more likely that this place was named after its deity Chandi and thus called ‘Chandirnagore’, later it assumed the name Chandernagore. The first written document bearing the name ‘Chandernagore’ was a letter written by Francois Martin, Andre Boureau Desland & Pelé, the officials of French East India Company to the Director Caron of Pondicherry. Its needs to be mentioned here that the process of urbanisation had started before it but under the French influence it was accelerated.

In 1688, the French East India Company received permission from the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to establish their “Kothi” (i.e. office and godown) at Chandernagore. They were granted to purchase 942 hector land for 40,000 Sicca. French office & godown i.e. Kothi was constructed beside Hooghly river at “Kuthirmath”. In 1693, The French East India Company received the ‘FARMAN’ for open trade from Emperor Aurangzeb and began to expand their Kothi area. They at the same time tried to increase the volume of their trade. A little trading port was established at Chandernagore. From 1695 the French East India Company began to purchase more lands in Chandernagore in the name of their officials because the Mughal government did not allow the company to purchase any land in its own name in 1691. Jesuit Dutchatz prepared a plan of the Fort de’orlean, the construction of the fort at Chandernagore was started after getting permission from the Mughal authority. In 1696, the fort was completed. At this hour the political atmosphere of Hooghly became more troublesome. In this year Sova Sing, the Talukdar of Chetuaboroda in Midnapore captured Hooghly. The Foujdar of Hooghly Nurulla Khan fled away which prompted the apprehensive subjects from different areas to seek shelter in Chandernagore under French watch. Most of them decided to stay on and engage themselves in trade or other service under French East India Company. In the mean time the French started their trade and developed their army with multiracial people at Chandernagore. Malaabari, Orria, Telengi, Hindusthani, Armany and other people came to Chandernagore. The town acquired a cosmopolitan demographic character. A systematic plan for urbanization was started by the French. A large pond was dug just behind the fort, its soil was used to raise the embankment of the river for preventing flood and attack from outside. The rapid stages of urbanization under the French were started from the early years of 18^th century. Purchase of land on behalf of company increased. The French and the other communities began to make Pucca buildings. In 1715 Mr Hardancourt was sent to Chandernagore as Director of the Company. In the same year a magnificent French lodge was built for a sum of Rs 14,000/- at Boroquichanpur. Markets and huts were established in different areas. The town Chandernagore achieved its shape, spread over the areas of Boroquinchenpur, Chak Nasirabad and Gondalpara. During the era of Dupleix (1730-1741) the growth of urbanization was further acclimated with the spread of both export and import trading.

Stage of urbanization

Urbanization made its mark from north Chandernagore. After a few years another settlement was developed in south Chandernagore in the area of Gondalpara Dinemardanga by the Danes. Danes left the place in 1755 and the French took possession of the area. In the meantime Dupleix extended the French Territory upto 300 Bighas and its population increased to 25,000. According to an estimate of 1753 the population of Europeans and natives were estimated to be 25722 of which 12228 were males and the rest females. There were more than hundred castes and 6180 families. The period between 1731 to 1755 (approx) saw the rapid growth of urbanization and trade. Different commodities began to be exported to Surat, Jedda, Mocha, Bussora, China and other places.

During 1700-1757 the French designed the first constructive phase of urban administrative structure while the second phase was designed by them in the later part of 18^th century after the colony was handed over to them by the British. Boroquichenpur area was the place from where first step of urbanization was started. The growth of urbanization in Chandernagore was an outcome of the colonial desire of French East India Company. It was not sufficiently aided or guided by the French Monarchy as in the case of the British and sometimes the personal opinion of the director general played an important role for urbanization. It seems that different temples and Pucca buildings was constructed in north Chandannagar as this area was a part of Boro Pargana in Mughal administration. Next to Boroquienchenpur Chak, Nasirabad was developed just beside it and it was spread up to central Chandannagar area. Desland, the French official introduced the second stage of urbanization at this hour with the establishment of Gourhati, Labutala, Barasat and Gondalpara in south Chandernagore. The period between 1731 to 1755 saw the rapid urbanization. Now the French became more concerned with the beautification of Chandernagore as a city.

The French tried to beautify the city for their own purpose. A harmonious co-existence of occidental and oriental cultures prevailed in the city. The French constructed many roads running parallel to each other. These roads were connected with important administrative offices like police headquarters, prison along with places of recreation. Most of the roads were well maintained and named after different French personalities like Rue De Martin, Rue de Desland, and Rue de Kurjan etc. The French clearly divided the town into two areas namd – Ville Noire and Ville Blanche. Ville Blanche was predominantly occupied by Europeans while the natives resided at Ville Noire. Ville Blanche means white area and Ville Noire means black town. The map prepared on 27 March,1863 show a well planned town with straight roads. There were open fields, gardens and ponds in the town. The French established an efficient sewerage system. An account of 1826-27 revealed the existence of a big hydrant constructed in 1766 for sewerage. Many travelers became effusive while describing the beauty of Chandernagore but here it is to be noted that city’s beautification and pattern of urban structure remained within Blanche (white) area. Here the French government was guided by colonial outlook because they did not look after Noire area. During 1700 – 1757 AD the French designed the first phase of urban administration structure. The second phase was designed by them in the later part of 18^th century when the colony was again handed over to them by the British. A careful study into the layout of the urban administration structure reveals that the administration was completely guided by political and colonial considerations. Here the French government was guided by colonial outlook because they purposely did not look after the area where local people resided.

Environmental Policy of the French at Chandernagore

The environmental policy of the French East India Company was shaped by an colonial outlook. The French authority believed in the term “possibilism” in their environmental policy. In geographical terms that means, they believed that man will control nature for their interest. In colony they tried to make an environment helpful for the people residing in the so called white areas. In the case of the beautification of the city the disparity between the Europeans and native areas was clear. They made underground drainage system, footpath, well maintained roads running parallel to each other and water preservers. Tree plantation was done by the bank of the river and throughout white areas. Sewerage system in white areas was remarkable. A different law was enacted to maintain environment (For instance nobody got the right to cut tree or to make house in white area without permission). As a result of it Chandernagore became a healthy place. Europeans used to come here to enjoy the clean environment. Victor Jankemo and other mentioned it in their memories. Most of them opined that it stood on a better site than Calcutta. In 1766 a big hydrant was constructed to drain out the accumulated water of the city into the river. On the other hand the area inhabited by the local people remained poorly drained and underdeveloped. There was no sign of development in the environment policy of the French. Black town or Ville Noire was underdeveloped. There was no proper drainage system. Water bogs were everywhere. Most of the houses were made of mud or bamboo. Frequent destruction of forest or cutting all sorts of trees in native area was very common. Black people were not allowed in white area of Chandernagore for a long time i.e. upto 1789. After 1789 some sort of change occurred.

The French polluted the social environment by starting slave trade. In case of urbanization the French did not expand the town beyond Ville Blanche the French established different recreation centers like Cabaret Hall, Gambling house, Hotel etc. and they started liquor shops. However, the model of French environmental policy for white areas was remarkable for its modern aspect.

Now we should take a look on the cultural aspect followed by the French. Primarily the French maintained a distance socially and culturally from the native people of Chandernagore. French officials and French people were very much reserved, they did not try to mix with the common people of Chandernagore. French established a theatre hall at Gourhati or Gheretti. A few French dramas were started there for the Europeans. Among this drama L Avocat was important. Toynbee mentioned it. Dr Indrani Roy in her essay “Chandernagorer Adi Parba” (published in Jiggasa Patrika) mentioned names of some festivals organized by the French at Chandernagore. After their defeat at the hand of the British in 1757, the French East India Company changed their course of action and tried to influence the people of Chandernagore with their culture. At this hour political hope and colonial glamour of the French in Bengal were lost. Now the French tried to make Chandernagore a cultural centre under their governance. Spreading of French culture and education were started by the French in Chandernagore from the second half of 19^th century. Before it, Indo-French literary activities were started by some French scholars. Among them Antkill Doperran and Ogosta Ossain were remarkable. Ogosta Ossain was an interpreter of French East India Company. Ossian started to compose French Bengali dictionary from 1781 and completed it within few years. He composed another French-Hindostani dictionary and completed it on 25 February, 1784 (Ref. Susil Kr. Chattopadhyay, Bharati Patrika 1330, Jaistha issue “Banglai pratham, Akkhani Puratan Farasi Bangla Dalil). In 1774 Ossain composed “Bangla Sabdamala O Niti” Ankkile Doperrian was also remarkable for his literary works. Dr Kalicharan Karmakar wrote essays on him and described his contribution.

From the second half of 19^th century Indo French literacy activities started in a full swing and continued till 20^th century. The drama of Moliere was translated in Bengali and staged in Chandernagore (Le Medicine Malgre Lui). In 19^th & 20^th century many French literary works were translated into Bengali and many Bengali literary works got translated into French. I shall mention a few from the list.

Translation from French to Bengali :

1. San Familli – by Fatiklal Das.

2. Diary of Miss Aver by Rajkumar Mukhopadhyay.

3. Drama of Moliere by Kalicharan Mitra.

Translation from Bengali to French:

1. Stories of Banaful by Sasanka Boral.

2. Padabali of Chandidas by Nagendranath Chandra.

3. Folk tales of Bengal by Purnachandra Pakre.

In 19^th century Jesuit Missionaries, specially father Berthel and Father Alfanso established St. Maries institution. In this school French and Bengali both were used as medium of instruction. Gradually different schools were established at Chandernagore. Chandernagore Municipal Corporation was established in 1880. The corporation helped in running Bengali medium school with French subjects. A French section was also introduced. In earlier days people had to go to Pondicherry from here to study French literature and language as well as French law and medical science for higher education. At Chandernagore the study of French literature and language has been continued. Free primary education was introduced. A newspaper “Le Pettit Bengali” was published. People of Chandernagore accepted French culture to some extent. They took part in FASTA or fete national which is held on the occasion of French independence day i.e. 14 July.

To sum up it has been found that the history under the French in Chandernagore had undergone evolutionary process. From 1789, the people of Chandernagore began to hear the word “Liberty Equality & Fraternity” from the French. The French government took steps for social welfare. People of Chandernagore were amused by it and at least in two occasions they expressed their will to remain under the French authority. After 140 years of their first colonial advent, they became eager to spread French education and culture among the local people. People accepted them remarkably in the latter half of 19^th century. Chandernagore had a heritage of mixed culture and the French merely added their tune to it.

References :-

• Bagchi Kanongopal – The Ganges Delta – Calcutta University Publication 1944.

• Basu Asoke – Gangapather Itikatha – Rajja Pustak Prasad.

• Blochmann M – Description of the geography & History of Bengal.

• Crawford D. G. – A beief History of Hooghly District, published in 1902, Bengal Press, Calcutta.

• F. B. Bradley Birt – Chandernagore, Calcutta review Jan to Oct 1918.

• Malley L.S.S. & Chakroborty M. – Hooghly – Bengal District Gazetteer, Govt. of Bengal.

• Roy N. R. – Banglar Itihas (Adiparba), Dey’s Publishing.

• Sett Harihar – Sankhipta Chandernagore Parichaya, Chandernagore.

• Sen S. P. – French trade in Bengal, Firme K. L.M.

• Toynbe – A sketch on the administration of the Hooghly District from 1795 to 1845.

• Alexander Hamilton’s account 1723.

• Survey map of 1870-71.

• Bandyopadhyay Biswanath an essay – Banglar Farasi Upanibaser Sahar. Banglar Sahar edited by Sekhar Bhowmick and Arindam Chakraborty, Calcutta 2005, page 44.

  (The author is an Associate Professor of History in the Institute of Education for Women, Chandernagore)

Madhab K. Chattopadhyay

Introduction All of us (barring the exception of a fortunate few) have to seek medical treatment of various health problems during different phases of life. So problems related to medical treatment impact us in various ways. This article deals with two major problems that are widely talked about at present among the medical practitioners, policy-makers and common people alike.

1. Quackery The term “Quackery” implies false claims to have special knowledge in a field. This discourse is focused on therapeutics and quackery in this article means clinical practice as a doctor without having a requisite qualification. Fraudulent medical practitioners, who claim to be doctors without studying in a recognized medical college, are rampant in India and some other third world countries. Most of them claim to be allopath since we generally resort to allopathic treatment when we fall ill. Following a crackdown of police on quacks in West Bengal, it was revealed that some of these self-appointed doctors had degree in pure science (e.g, B.Sc with physics, chemistry or biology), some had a diploma in homeopathy (mostly earned through a correspondence course run by a unrecognized organization) while some had passed only Higher Secondary Examination conducted by the West Bengal Board. How did they venture into the area of medical practice? Some of them had experience of working as a compounder (not as a registered pharmacist) at the chamber of a doctor or at the dispensary of a hospital. Some of them were selling medicines a shop. Some others trained themselves simply by going through some Bengali books on allopathic medicines which are freely available in the market. Needless to say, common people by and large, do not bother to verify the educational background of the doctor while approaching him for medical treatment. The symptom-based prescriptions of these fake doctors provide temporary relief to the patients. But this practice is associated with serious risks. The quacks, not having any in-depth knowledge about drugs and their side-effects, may endanger the life of the patient. When the patient approaches a trained medical practitioner not having any relief by the treatment of the quack, he finds it difficult to choose the correct medicine since in most of the cases he cannot get any idea as to which drugs were applied to the patient by the quack. Suppression of the symptoms by the symptom-based approach of the quack may also complicate the diagnosis.

Suggested remedial measures: Pros and cons

1.1.1 Legal action against the quacks Quite reasonably, people from different walks of life, are condemning such malpractice in strongest possible terms and urging the government to locate the wrong-doers and bring them to the book. They are demanding exemplary punishment of the quacks to put an end to their business. Unfortunately a sizeable fraction of the urban population (including also the educated denizens) promotes quackery in various ways. When they fall ill, instead of seeking help from a qualified doctor, they approach a local pharmacy. The shop-keeper gives them some medicines based on the symptoms. The dual role played by him as a doctor and as a pharmacist promotes sale in his business. His patient cum customer also feels happy to bypass the doctor since it saves a lot of time and money. The role of the pharmacist as a doctor becomes more prominent (and sometimes indispensible) in the rural areas where qualified doctors are seldom available. If the police initiate legal action against the quackery of a pharmacist, who is seeing patients and selling medicines to the patients in a remote village, they are likely to face stiff resistance from the local people. While the attitude of the people appears to be tenable in view of the dismal state of healthcare system in rural India, it is hardly possible to justify similar attitude of the urban people who, despite having the means and scope to approach a qualified doctor, prefer to depend upon the medicines prescribed and dispensed by the pharmacist.

1.1.2 Increase in the number of doctors

Many people believe that we can put an end to quackery by setting up more medical colleges and thereby generating more doctors. The idea is not tenable for various reasons.

1.1.2.1 Challenging dimension of the task

First of all, let us examine the feasibility of implementing the idea. The standard of medical care in a country can be adjudicated, at least to some extent, by the number of doctors available for every 1000 people. Based on a report, provided by the Medical Council of India (MCI), Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health, informed Lok Sabha on 21 July 2017 that less than one doctor was available for 1000 people in India. The Doctor : Patient ration in this country was only 0.62, that was far below the ratio 1: 1000, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The ratio is  4.125:1000 for Germany, 3.374 :1000 for Russia, 3.306:1000 for Australia, 3.227:1000 for France, 2.554 :1000 for the US,1.852 : 1000 for Brazil, 1.49: 1000 for China, , 0.806 : 1000 for Pakistan’ 0.334:, 1000 for Afghanistan and 0.309 : 1000 for Bangladesh. Hence, notwithstanding the fact that India is the largest producer of doctors in the world (49840 seats in 370 medical colleges compared to 18000 doctors produced per year in the US, https://thewire.in/education/medical-colleges-mci-mbbs ), we require to double the number of seats right now to reach the Doctor : Patient ratio recommended by the WHO. The government does not have the resource to meet the challenge. Hence, private organizations have to be granted permission in a very large scale to open medical colleges. But it will be difficult to maintain standard and quality of education and training in those colleges. The newly opened colleges may not survive the stringent quality control system of the Medical Council of India (MCI). “The proposed massive expansion, which would reduce the medical colleges to pathshalas (primary schools), is ill advised.” observes Dr M.G.Deo, the noted oncologist, pathologist and educationist.“ He believes that the idea “will not solve India’s woes of poor health services, but only downgrade country’s standing in the medical world.”

1.1.2.2 Doubtful link between number of doctors and standard of medical care

“Is it really possible to improve the standard of medical care in a country simply by increasing the number of doctors?”- this thought-provoking question was pursued by a group of researchers at the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research in the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada). The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international society formed in 1961 to promote economic development and world trade. Some of the members include the US, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Turkey, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In January 2008, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) launched a ‘More doctor More care” campaign. At that time 26000 more doctors were needed in Canada to meet the average Doctor : Population ratio of the OECD countries. It was at that juncture when the researchers at the aforementioned institute addressed the question whether or not the number of doctors was the right or a relevant parameter for the standard of healthcare. Avoidable mortality, which means extent of preventable death (death before the age of 75) from causes ( e.g bacterial infections, influenza, epilepsy, treatable cancers, maternal death, complications from common surgical procedures) that could be avoidable by timely and effective healthcare, is considered a valid indicator to assess the standard of medical care in a country. Analyzing data obtained from 19 OECD countries, they did not find any association between overall supply of physicians and avoidable mortality. The investigators also did not find any association between avoidable mortality and some other parameters e.g general practitioners per capita, family physicians per capita, specialists per capita, nurses per capita, doctors and nurses per capita and health expenditures per capita. Thus, even if we could increase the supply of qualified physicians, we may not achieve an improved healthcare system.

1.1.3 Production of rural medical personnel by short-term training

Scarcity of qualified doctors and lack of proper infrastructure for medical treatment in the villages pose a serious challenge to the rural healthcare system. Because of the non-availability of the qualified medical practitioners, the villagers are compelled to dependent upon the illegal practice of the pharmacists and also on the service of the village doctors, having no formal education or training in medicine. Seeing no scope of improvement of the situation in the near future, the West Bengal (WB) Government is mooting the idea of providing training to some of the village doctors so that they could take care of the health problems of the villagers to some extent and timely refer them to a qualified medical practitioner or hospital. Earlier a proposal was raised to reintroduce the Licentiate in Medical Faculty (LMF) course in WB. The LMF curriculum was started in British India to meet the crying need of qualified medical personnel in the northeastern region of the country. It was continued till 1962. But when the WB government thought of reviving it to meet the shortage of doctors in the 1980s, it was strongly opposed by the doctors, who were dead against the idea. They argued that it would be unfair to leave the life of the villagers in the hand of some unqualified and untrained persons who claim to be doctors. Their concern about the rural people, though sounding fully justified, was mocked at by a section of the villagers, who found it ridiculous that the doctors who did not want to serve the villagers, were getting worried about them. They wholeheartedly supported the proposal of the government emphasizing that instead of dying helplessly, they would prefer to get at least some amount of medical care from the trained village doctors. However the proposal was not actualized for various reasons. Now the present WB government is considering the proposal again.

1.1.3.1 Barefoot doctors

The idea of generating some village doctors by providing training to some local people, who are working as doctors without studying in any medical college, is neither new nor anything outlandish. A similar idea was implemented in China during the second half of the last century. Usually students who passed from the secondary schools were chosen for the program. They were trained in a hospital (usually for six months) on prevention of epidemics, treatment of diseases that were generally found to affect the villagers and use of some Western medicines and techniques. Qualified doctors were also sent to the villages to train these “barefoot doctors”. The trainees were generally farmers and while receiving the training, they were allowed to do their work in their farms. About one fifth of them later on joined the medical college. The scheme was successful in providing health care in the rural areas in an affordable cost and it earned accolade from WHO as a “successful example of solving shortages or medical services in rural areas”. The potential of a multi-topic medical training as an effective short-run strategy to improve healthcare in India was also demonstrated in a study (published in the premier journal Science) led by Dr Abhijit V.Banerjee, a Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT, US. Hence, though it may appear paradoxical that the WB government is arresting and punishing the quacks in the urban area and at the same time launching a scheme of producing some village doctors who are nothing more than quacks, the utility of the scheme cannot be winked at. The trained health workers will be forbidden to claim that they are doctors and also debarred from writing “Dr” before their name. The WB government believes that if they are trained, they can no longer be called quacks. After getting registered as community health workers, they will be more accountable and hence if any one of them violates the defined limit of his job (i.e, if he prescribes medicines that he is not supposed to use or performs surgery) he could be easily tracked and punished. Thus, it will be possible to minimize indiscriminate quackery of some people, who have no accountability.

1.1.4 Deregulation of the prescriptive right.

The issue of prescriptive right (the legal right to write a prescription) needs serious attention and reconsideration in the Indian perspective. In this country, the right is exclusively confined among the registered medical practitioners, who cry foul whenever any proposal is raised for deregulation of the right. But in the US, the right is deregulated to some extent. According to the law of some states, nurses and advanced practice nurse practitioners have the power to write prescriptions. Veterinarians and dentists also have prescriptive power in all the 50 states. Even clinical pharmacists are given the authority within some defined limitations to write prescriptions in some states. There is another type of health workers called Licensed Physician Assistants in the US. They are meant for prevention and treatment of human illness and injury by working under a supervising physician. Following extensive clinical training, similar to the training of the medical students but shorter in duration, they are licensed to work in hospitals, clinics and other types of healthcare facilities. They are also authorized to write prescriptions within some limitations, defined by the law of different states. Physician Assistants are found also in Canada and known by the designation Physician Associates in the UK. Similar program is undertaken in Australia and New Zealand to help the rural healthcare system.

1.1.5 Scarcity of doctors: A real problem or an overblown issue?

However, some of the doctors believe that the issue of scarcity of allopathic doctors in India is blown out of proportion. The major problem, as perceived and presented by them, is not the shortage of qualified medical personnel but non-recruitment of qualified doctors and lack of infrastructure to retain them in the rural areas. They emphasize that ultimately the pharmaceutical industries and not the common people will be the gainer from deregulation of allopathic prescriptions. Rampant corruption in the health sector leading to the misuse of the allotted funds is also cited as a cause of the miserable state of rural healthcare in this country. According to a recent estimate, India has already achieved a ratio of 1.34 : 1000 Doctor :Patient ratio if the total numbers of available MBBS doctors and ayurvedic doctors are combined. It is also forecast that we shall achieve the WHO recommended ratio of 1: 1000 ratio only with the MBBS doctors a year before the 75^th anniversary of Indian independence.

2. Crosspathy

The term crosspathy implies that a physician is prescribing a medicine that is used by the doctors of some other branch of therapeutics Prescription of an ayurvedic medicine by an allopathic doctor or prescription of an allopathic medicine by a homeopathic doctors are some of the example of crosspathy. During the recent past, examples of crosspathy are widely observed in various branches of therapeutics. Analysis of 300 prescriptions collected from the outpatient department of one tertiary care allopathic hospital and same number of prescriptions obtained from the outpatient department of one tertiary care ayurvedic hospital in the urban North India during August to November 2005, revealed that prescription from the allopathic hospital contained 12% ayurvedic drugs (analgesic ointments, liver tonics, drugs for dysfunctional uterine bleeding) and prescriptions from the ayurvedic hospital contained 88% allopathic drugs including non-steroidal anti-inflammartory drugs (22%) and antibiotics (20%). According to a study conducted at the KIM Hospital Mumbai, 975 of the resident doctors did not learn the basics of ayurveda but 67% of them prescribed ayurvedic medicines (e.g, Liv-52, Shatavari, Cystone).The homeopaths also are found to prescribe allopathic medicines in many cases. 2.1 The controversy Crosspathy is not a recent phenomenon. During the 1960s and 1970s, the allopaths were frequently found to prescribe Liv-52 for liver disorder or Antibactrin for boil. It did not occur to anybody that they were crossing their limit. The problematic nature of the practice came to the forefront when the ayurvedic doctors and the homeopaths started prescribing antibiotics and other allopathic drugs in a wide scale. The allopaths argued that use of these drugs are associated with dangerous side-effects, that doctors of other branches of the therapeutics are blissfully unaware of. So the widespread practice of crosspathy is posing a serious threat to the life of the patients. They demanded stringent legal measures to stop crosspathy. The ayurvedic doctors on the other hand pointed out that the allopaths also are resorting to crosspathy by prescribing ayurvedic medicines. They have no formal training about the use of these plant-based medicines. So, similar type of risk is associated also with the crosspathy practiced by them.

2.2 Opinion of the judiciary 2.2.1 Poonam Verma Vs Ashwin Patel and Others case (1996)

The raging controversy has reached the level of judicial intervention. The most famous and widely- cited example in this context was the Smt Poonam Verma vs Ashwin Patel and Others case at the Supreme Court (1996). Smt Verma’s husband Mr Pramod Verma died at the Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai on 14 July 1992, after four and a half hours of admission in an unconscious condition. He was treated for fever on 4 July by Dr Ashwin Patel, a registered homeopath, who prescribed to him some allopathic medicines (including antibiotics) for viral fever and later on for typhoid. When condition of the patient was not improved, he was admitted to a private nursing home (meant for allopathic treatment) on 12 July following the advice of Dr Patel. His condition deteriorated further and he was shifted to the Hinduja Hospital in the evening of 14July. Mrs Poonam Verma lodged a complaint of carelessness and negligence in the treatment of her husband against Dr Patel and the physician of the nursing home to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (in short Commission), seeking compensation for the damage caused to her. She alleged that Dr Patel administered antibiotics to her husband first for vial fever and subsequently for typhoid without confirming the diagnosis by pathological examinations. Further, he applied allopathic medicines to her husband despite not being authorized to use allopathic medicines. It was his lack of expertise in the practice of allopathic medicine that was responsible for the improper treatment. Her allegation against the physician of the nursing home was that Mr Verma, after admission to the nursing home, was put on intravenous infusion of glucose without being checking for his blood sugar level. She considered it responsible for further deterioration of the condition of her husband.

During the hearing of the case at the Commission , Dr Ashwin Patel informed that he successfully completed a 4-years course on homeopathic medicine and surgery at a homeopathic medical college in Anand (Gujarat) and got registered as a medical practitioner in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1983. The course completed by him was an integrated curriculum of medicine in both homeopathy and allopathic system of medicine. He admitted to practice both homeopathy and allopathy, which was permitted in Gujarat but he was not aware whether or not it was permitted in Maharashtra. He also informed that in the final year of his study, he attended a training program for 6 months at the Anand Municipal Hospital and another private nursing home at Anand. He further claimed to have experience of working as the Chief Medical Officer at a hospital in Mumbai. Hence the allegation of Mrs Verma that he was not competent to use allopathic medicines was baseless. Prior to July 1992, he was the house physician of Mr Pramod Verma and his family and they used allopathic medicines prescribed by him. He further claimed that he advised the patient to get some pathological tests done, but he did not do so.

The Commission dismissed the case. Smt Verma approached the Supreme Court challenging the judgment delivered by the Commission. In its historical judgment, the apex court made it clear that according to the Bombay Homeopathic Practitioners Act, 1959; the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and the Maharashtra Medical Council Act, 1965 a person registered under the Bombay Homeopathic Practitioners Act 1959 can practice homeopathy only and a person having qualification appended to the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 or the Maharashtra Medical Council Act, 1965 cannot be registered as a Medical Practitioner under the Bombay Homeopathic Practitioners Act, 1959. Briefly speaking, a person registered with one particular system of therapeutics cannot practice in any other branch of therapeutics. It was also underscored that though study of human physiology and anatomy is common in all systems of medicines, study of pharmacology is entirely different in different systems of medicines. In order to examine the validity of allegation of Mrs Verma of negligence in the treatment of her husband also against the physician of the nursing home, the Supreme Court requested the director of the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences to form a committee of experts in different branches of medicine and to seek their opinion on the treatment of Mr Patel. Following examination of all the relevant documents, the members of the committee could not arrive at a conclusion on the nature of the medical problem Mr Verma was suffering from, since the patient died before a definitive diagnosis could be established. But they found the treatment done at the nursing home and the hospital in keeping with the usual practice. In view of their report, the Supreme Court did not find it proper to take any legal action against the physician of the nursing home. But the judges observed that initially the patient was treated by a doctor who, despite not having the requisite qualification, administered allopathic medicines to him. Therefore he was a quack. Condition of the patient was “damaged to an unascertainable extent” by his treatment before the patient was shifted to the nursing home. They found Dr Ashwin Patel guilty and ordered him to pay Rs 3,000,00/ to Mrs Verma as compensation and also Rs 10,000/ as the cost of the process of appeal. A copy of the judgment was also sent to the Medical Council of India to examine the feasibility of initiating legal action against Dr Patel for practicing allopathy without being qualified and registered in allopathic medicines. 2.2.2 Some other cases In 2001, the right to practice allopathy was denied to the diploma holders in nature care and hygiene and also to a doctor qualified in any of the branch of the system of Indian Medicine (Ashtang Ayurveda, Siddha, or Unani Tibb) in the judgments of two separate cases filed at the Gujarat High Court and Allahabad High Court. Again in April 2016, in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Delhi Medical Association (an organization of allopathic doctors), the Delhi High Court held that no practitioner of Indian System of Medicine or integrated medicine would be entitled to practice allopathic medicines.

In 2013, a homeopath practicing at the Bedia village near Rajkot (Gujarat) treated a child with paracetamol and subsequently put him on saline drip. The condition of the child deteriorated further and his father had to approach allopaths. Later on, he lodged a case against the homeopath and got Rs 2,00,000/ as compensation, ordered by a consumer court. In its judgment, the court quoted the judgment of the aforementioned case of the Supreme Court (1996) “A person who does not have knowledge of a particular system of medicine but practices in that system is a quack and a mere pretender to medical knowledge or skill, or to put it differently, a Charlatan”.

In 2016, a homeopath at Dakor (Gujarat) treated a woman (65 years) with some allopathic medicines (including an intramuscular injection) for psoriasis. She developed muscular dystrophy and ultimately had to resort to allopathic treatment. The members of her family lodged a case against the homeopath, who had to agree for an outside the court settlement, paying Rs 2,00,000/ to the patient.

2.2.3 Exceptions associated with the rule

In January 2014 the Maharashtra government announced that the qualified homeopaths could practice some form of allopathic medicine after taking a one-year course at the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. The government sought to justify the decision citing acute shortage of qualified medical personnel in the rural areas in the state. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) lodged a protest with the logic that the one-year course won’t be sufficient to train the homeopaths in the practice of allopathic medicines. The IMA approached the High Court and subsequently the Supreme Court for an injunction, which would debar the homeopaths from practicing allopathy. The apex court rejected the petition (much to the chagrin of the IMA) on the ground that since 1992, ayurvedic doctors were permitted to practice allopathy in Maharashtra and hence homeopaths could not be stopped from doing so especially in view of the acute crisis caused by the shortage of qualified doctors in the state.

The judgments of the Supreme Court in the aforementioned case (1996) and this case, though appearing to be contradictory, are based on the framework of the law of the land, which keeps healthcare-related issues within the purview of the state governments. According to the section 2(ee)(iii) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rule 1995, the ayurvedic, unani, siddha and homeopathic doctors are allowed to prescribe allopathic medicines in states, where the state governments have authorized them for this purpose by a general or special order. Interested readers are referred to the judgment of three such cases [Dr. Mukhtiar Chand and Ors. vs. State of Punjab and Ors. (1998); Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical Graduates Association Vs Smt. Letika Saran (2010) ; Dr. J.Santhosh Kumar vs. The Block Medical Officer (2012)].

2.3 Proposal for a bridge course

A proposal was raised in the National Medical Commission Bill (2017) to start a bridge course for the practitioners of alternative medicines (homeopathy and ayurveda) so as to enable them in using some allopathic medicines. As expected, the proposal was strongly criticized by the allopathic doctors. A nation-wide one-day strike was called against the proposal on 1 January 2017. The strike was called off after the bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The bill was opposed by some other quarters also. The Parliamentary Panel for Health, which was reviewing the bill, wanted the government to scrap the proposal for the Bridge Course. Expressing disapproval for crosspathy, one of the members apprehended that it would cause “great harm to ayurvedic medicine “as its practitioners would leave the traditional systems and start practicing allopathy, which is more lucrative. On the other hand, a homeopath defended the proposal on the ground that if homeopaths were allowed to take the Bridge Course it would help to “ease the burden on overworked allopathic doctors and to share the disease burden of the nation”. Even a visionary academic person like Professor Yash Paul proposed for an integrated course, which would include 4-5 commonly used drugs described in different pharmacopoeia. He also proposed for an 8-12 weeks of training or posting for doctors of a particular system of medicine in some other system of clinical practice (e.g, allopaths should be trained in ayurveda and so on). On the other hand some allopaths strongly believe that legalization of crosspathy (which is a shortcut, short-sighted and sightless policy, as viewed by them), will only help to compound and complicate the medical problems.

3. Concluding remarks

Both the problems dealt with in this article, appear to concur at a point (e.g shortage of qualified doctors) as the root cause. But that remains a disputed issue as discussed in Section 1.1.4.1. It is also obvious from the forgoing discussion that it is really difficult to formulate a policy that will ensure safety of the patients as well as availability of medical care even to the people of the remotest villages. It is revealing that even in the developed countries, the policy-makers have come to terms with the reality that effective management of the healthcare system may not be possible only with the help of qualified medical personnel and some amount of deregulation of the right to see patients and prescribe drugs may be inevitable for this purpose (Section 1.1.4). So instead of maintaining a sacrosanct attitude about the medical degree in one hand and throwing the door wide open for the untrained quacks on the other hand, let us think of the alternatives which are working well in other countries.

As to crosspathy, the apprehension that if given liberty, many of the homeopaths and ayurvedic doctors will start practicing allopathic medicine cannot be ignored. The scope of the proposed Bridge Course to train the ayurvedic and/or homeopathic doctors in allopathic medicines within a short time also remains questionable. It will be unwise not to utilize the vast resource of phytomedicines, which are traditionally used in this country in the healthcare management. So the tendency of integrating herbal therapy with modern scientific system of therapeutics appears to be justified. But the idea of many allopaths that use of ayurvedic medicine does not require any training and so they can freely prescribe ayurvedic medicines only on the basis of the reputation of the manufacturers, smacks oversimplification. Plants contain some chemicals with medicinal properties and also some chemicals with potentially toxic properties. Reports on toxicity of herbal medicines abound in the literature. Hence, if any plant product is to be used for therapy, it must be thoroughly studied as to its contents, their effects and side-effects. Moreover it must be borne in mind that simultaneous use of allopathic and plant medicines may be associated with the danger of interaction between the contents of the two types of medicines. It is an issue of serious concern in some Western countries where plant medicines are gaining entry into the market and selling freely as food supplements. Practitioners of allopathic medicines therefore must be well-aware of various types of drug-herb interactions. A plethora of information on this aspect is available online.

References 1) Watson DE, McGrail KM (2009) More doctors or better care? Health Policy Vol 5 (Aug), pp: 26-32.

2) Deo MG (2013) Doctor :Population ratio for India; the reality. Indian Journal of Medical Research.Vol 137(4), pp : 632-635.

3) Kumar R, Pal R (2018) India achieves WHO recommended doctor population ratio: A call for paradigm shift in public health discourse ! Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. Vol 7 (5), pp :841-844.

4) Das J, Chowdhury A, Hussum R, Banerjee AV (2016) The impact of training informal health care providers in India : A randomized controlled trial. Science Vol 364 (6308) pii: aaf7384.

5) Verma U, Sharma R, Gupta P, Gupta S, Kapoor B (2007) Allopathic vs ayurvedic practices in tertiary care institutes of urban north India. Indian Journal of Pharmacology Vol 39 (1), pp:52-54.

6) Paul Y, Tiwari s (2014) Issues to settle-Cross system medical practice. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India. Vol 82 (Mar), pp : 244-247.

7) Bada Math S, Moirangthem S, Naveen Kumar C (2015) Public health perspectives in cross system practice: past, present and future. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. Vol XII (3) , pp 131-136.

8) Kumar R, Roy P (2016) Deregulation of allopathic prescription and medical practice in India: Benefits and pitfalls. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. Vol 5 (2) pp:215-219.

 The author (an M.Pharm, Ph.D from the Jadavpur University, Kolkata) is a microbiologist, retired from service at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad in April 2016. He also worked for some time at the Inst. Jacques Monod, Paris University (France) and Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Neuglobsow (Germany) as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Visiting Scientist, respectively. He is actively involved in public understanding of science for more than 10 years. He can be reached at madhab.ccmb@gmail.com

AINDRILA CHATTERJEE

The focus of my research is on the intangible factors that can improve organizational productivity by studying some of the factors that can affect the output elasticity of labor. It is seen from existing literature that two of the most important factors that impact productivity are organizational culture and human resource management (HRM) practices. My research tries to bring the two aspects together by focusing on a particular aspect of HRM practice, organizational learning (emphasizing on learning transfer) and organizational culture and their interplay on organizational performance.

I build on the following streams of existing literature:

• The Socialization-Externalization-Combination-Internalization (SECI) model of knowledge creation

• Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) which is an instrument which diagnoses the factors affecting transfer of learning.

• Competing Values Framework (CVF) which is used to understand organizational culture and measure it using an instrument called Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)

I study learning transfer, its association with knowledge creation and how it is impacted by organizational culture. I also study the impact organizational culture has on improving productivity through efficiency and finally what needs to go into designing a robust OL&D framework that can improve and impact productivity.

I conclude that learning transfer, organizational learning and organizational culture impact productivity. In today’s highly dynamic environment, it is important to have a nuanced understanding about the intangible influencers of organizational performance for organizations to have competitive advantage. Profitability is caused by both effectiveness and efficiency. I focus on the efficiency aspect and show how some of the intangible factors can be moderated to increase efficiency and subsequently productivity. Schematically, it can be represented as shown in Figure 1.

Shantanu Dey

Tales of Heroism and Betrayals in Indian Freedom Movement

In this narrative we are trying to present some of the facets of Indian freedom movement in which individual as well as the collective heroism and betrayals shaped the dynamics of the overall movement especially in its later stage. It is upto the readers to decide as to who were the betrayers and who were the heroes. We’ll only present some facts that can be easily verified from various sources but not from the school text history books, nor from the so called “facts” presented by the historians who conveniently forgot to acknowledge the contribution of many who actually shaped the course of Indian history. Among historians perhaps the most honest and accurate analysis came from Dr Ramesh Chandra Majumdar which helped us in assessing the facts and discriminating between fiction, propaganda and truth. Let us therefore try to form an independent judgment by going beyond the traditional history books.

Bose – The forgotten Hero

“I was a fighter, one fight more, the last and the best.”

No, we are not talking about Subhas Chandra Bose. Netaji of course was one of the greatest heroes whose contribution has been vastly undermined by the post-independence historians and scholars belonging to certain schools of thoughts who unfortunately dominate the intellectual circle. But there was another Bose before him who defined what heroism was while rushing headlong into opposing the mighty British Empire. We are talking of Rashbehari Bose, the founder of the Indian Independence League and one of the key architects of the Indo German conspiracy of 1914. While studying in Dupleix College in Chandannagar Bose came in contact with the Charu Chandra Roy who was the principal of the college. Charu Chandra inspired the young Bose with the spirit of love for the nation. He realized that independence from an oppressive brutal ruthless foreign regime was the only path that had to be adopted and for that extreme sacrifice is needed. The ground was fertile and the seeds were sown. Now Bose, who was more inclined towards a military career but never got a chance, being a Bengali, had to take up a Government job as a means of livelihood and was staying in Himalayan foothills of the North. However he was influenced and inspired by Aurobindo Ghose and Jatindranath Bannerjee, and secretly worked under the guidance of the latter. He came into prominence through the famous incidence where a major conspiracy was hatched to kill Hardinge, the newly appointed viceroy after transferring the capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi.

It was a general established belief among the Government circles and also among some of the Indians that Rashbehari was a spy. In fact after Hardinge was severely injured Rashbehari went back to Dehradun and organized a meeting to condemn the incident. But the police and authorities discovered much later to their consternation and chagrin that the “spy” was actually a mastermind of a huge conspiracy to overthrow the British Empire.

The entire plan of attacking the Viceroy was hatched in Chandannagar and Shreesh Chandra Ghose, a noted revolutionary was the proponent. The reason was simple and clear – it was to teach the British Government that India did not consider them as legitimate rulers and they had no business spending lavishly Indian money to establish their superiority over India. Rashbehari agreed to implement the plot with the help of some daredevil associates. One of them was a sixteen year old boy named Basanta Biswas. On 23^rdDecember 1912 a huge celebration was planned on the occasion of the coronation of King George V. A huge procession a la Mughals were taken out by the British Raj on the roads of Delhi with Hardinge on an elephant like an emperor. The procession came near the Punjab National Bank in the clock tower. Suddenly there was a major bomb blast and Hardinge was grievously injured. In the cacophony nobody knew who threw the bomb and Basanta who was disguised as a beautiful young lady, escaped. So did Rashbehari. Rashbehari and Basanta had extensively practiced in Dehradun in order to hurl the bomb properly. Hardinge escaped death but no one could be arrested in the incident. However a year later police was able to obtain a major breakthrough and arrested almost all the masterminds like Ameer Chand and Awadh Behari of Delhi, Basanta Biswas and others. British Police’s retribution was swift and the revolutionaries were hanged. One of the conspirators, Deenanath, had possibly betrayed them. Then entire India came to know the mastermind, the chief architect of the plan. But by then he had escaped by taking various subterfuges. Sometimes he was a common Oriya servant or sometimes he was an Anglo Indian violin player. Sometimes he was a fakir and at other times a cleaner of toilets. Every time he escaped the British police net. His escapades remind us of a famous character of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s novel “Pather Dabi” – the revolutionary Sabyasachi.

By then the First World War was imminent and Rashbehari thought that it was a great opportunity to strike the British. He began to work on a pan India operation, enlisting help from different revolutionary organizations across India, in North Indian provinces and in Punjab where he was already well known. The Indians settled in Europe, America and Canada responded to the call. Among them the most prominent were Kartar Singh of Ghadar party and Vishnu Ganesh Pingle, the fiery Maharashtra youth who met Bose in Benaras. At least four thousand revolutionaries, mostly from Ghadar party, pledged support. The local revolutionaries like Sachindranath Sanyal and Damodar Swaroop were not far behind. In Bengal Rashbehari got support from one of the greatest leaders – Bagha Jatin and his associates, and also from prominent members of the Anushilon Samity. The plans were made for an international uprising with a mutiny in the army ranks in different parts of Asia and in barracks in India. Discussions were held with German leaders to send consignment of arms. Berlin Committee was formed in Germany to help the discussions. Rashbehari was the mastermind behind the idea of mutiny in the barracks. Different leaders took the responsibility of different cantonments to spread the message of a coordinated revolution in the army ranks. Headquarter was in Lahore which came under Rashbehari. Minutest details were taken care of and everything was organized by the indefatigable spirit and planning capacity of Rashbehari who would be on whirlwind tours to oversee every details of the operation. Trainings were organized in different districts for the young revolutionaries. Support was enlisted from Indian army personnel and communities in Burma, Singapore and other Asian colonies. 21^st February 1915 was to be the target date.

But it was all in vain! Two traitors divulged the entire plan to British intelligence. The revolution failed and British police and army swooped down on the mutineers. The arms consignment did not reach Balasore because of an international espionage and BaghaJatin and his associates died fighting from a trench. Every revolutionary was caught, a huge cache of arms and ammunitions were discovered by simultaneous raids across India, and mutineers were either court martialed or gunned down in the barracks of India. Only Rashbehari and Pingle escaped. In Singapore Indian army had successfully mutinied and had driven out the British but only to retreat when they heard the failure of the plan, after Russia and Japan joined the British to flush out the mutineers. The army men who were part of the conspiracy were mercilessly killed.

Pingle was caught while trying to enlist the support of Meerut Regiment. SachindranathSanyal was deported to Cellular jail. Lahore conspiracy case was launched and the chief perpetrators including Kartar Singh and Pingle were awarded death penalty. Ghadar party became dysfunctional as almost all its leaders were apprehended and mercilessly dealt with by the ruthless administration. Only Rashbehari could not be caught. In an ingenious move he left for Japan by collecting passport from the very British officers who were literally hunting for him. He disguised himself as Raja P.N Tagore, a distant relative of Rabindranath Tagore and boarded the ship to Japan. He met Sun Yat Sen in China. He tried sending some arms consignment from China but they were caught by the British. Then he arrived in Japan as a fugitive. He was joined by Heramba Gupta from America.

                                           Rashbehari and his wife Toshiko (courtesy Wikipedia)

Birtish government soon got information and sent a strong note to Japanese Government to deport and handover Rahsbehari and Heramba. Japanese Government which was friendly to British had agreed for the extradition. Rashbehari took help of Mitusuru Toyama, a nationalist leader and founder of Genyosha secret society. They called for a press conference to help Rashbehari seek refuge in Japan. In the meanwhile a certain Mr Soma who owned the Nakamuraya bakery had consented to take Rashbehari as a guest. Later as per Toyama’s plan Rashbehari married their daughter Toshiko and had to spend seven years in concealment to escape deportation. The Soma family voluntarily undertook a great sacrifice for a foreigner who had taken refuge with the, first risking their reputation and material interests and then giving their daughter (with her permission) to him. Koko Soma’s infant daughter died because of her severe stress. Rashbehari never forgot the hardship and sacrifices of his Japanese family. He got citizenship in Japan in 1923. Toshiko passed away in 1924. Rashbehari never married again and spent his remaining days as a journalist and writer. He gave his youngest daughter to the Soma family and asked them to adopt her. His son was enlisted in the Japanese air force and died in action in the Second World War.

At the beginning of the Second World War the hero came out of his hiding. He had spent his best years, was aged and lonely but still a lion was a lion. He sensed opportunity and used his connection with the Japanese authorities to ensure better treatment of Indian prisoners of war and Indian families living in South East Asian nations captured by the Japanese. Thanks to his tremendous influence on Japanese Government no Indian soldier was mistreated by Japanese army and no Indian family suffered from the atrocities. He gave the clarion call, “Asia is for Asians, White supremacists leave Asia”, which was echoed across Asia. Mainly because of Rashbehari’s efforts Japan formally accepted that India is for Indians and the Prime MinisterHideki Tojo made a public declaration on the same. In every South East Asian Nation the Indian prisoners of war were gathered and brought under the leadership of Mohan Singh. In every country like Burma, Thailand, Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Indo China, Shanghai, Korea, Manchuria organizations were established under the supreme leadership of Rashbehari. From Tokyo Radio he reached out to India and announced his plan of freeing India with help from Japanese help. He reached out to every Indian leader – Gandhiji, Nehru, Patel, Jinnah, Savarkar, AbulKalam Azad, Rajgopalachari, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan to appeal for creating a united front against British. He convened a conference in Tokyo in March 1942 to establish the Indian Independence League. He called for a second conference in June 1942 and a resolution was adopted to invite Subhas Chandra Bose to East Asia and hand over to him the responsibilities of leading the Indian Independence League. He requested India to reject Cripps Mission. Rashbehari was a superior organizer and planner as was evident in 1914. His Indian Independence league formed an army of Indian prisoners of war which later became known as Indian National Army. He formed the government departments, established his headquarters in Bangkok. Azad Hind was formed and Rashbehari formally handed over the flag to Netaji Subhas Bose on 4^th of July 1943 in an emotionally charged atmosphere in the Cathay Theater of Singapore. After that, he was a disinterested observer as recollected by Dr. Pabitra Mohan Roy in his book, “Netaji-r Secret Service.” Pabitra had joined the IIL and later worked as a secret service officer in INA.

The tireless worker of Indian independence did not covet any leadership. His only dream was to see India free. However that was not destined to be. He passed away suffering from tuberculosis in January 1945. The Japanese Government honoured him with the Order of the Rising Sun and the emperor sent his imperial coach to carry his dead body to be buried beside Toshiko.

And what did we do his legacy in India? Released a 

commemorative stamp! And historians have conveniently forgotten him or even went to the extent of pursuing their colonial masters’ line of terming him as a conspirator and a Japanese stooge.

According to the History of Freedom Movement volume 3 by Dr. R. C Majumdar, “The outbreak of war in the East in 1941 caused a great stirring among the Indians in these regions. Those living in territories freed from European domination organized themselves into associations with the main objects of contributing their quota to the liberation of India from the British yoke and serving the interests of the overseas Indians during the critical period of transition. Such associations were established in a large number of towns and villages and attained great popularity. Out of these associations was born the idea of an Indian Independence League of which they regarded themselves as branches. A definite shape was given to this idea by the great Indian revolutionary, Rashbehari Bose.”

A great tribute has been paid to Rasbehari Bose in the website boseofjapan.wordpress.com by Elizabeth Eston. She and Lexi Kawabe have put up a lot of effort to write in 6 volumes the book “Rasbehari Bose: The father of the Indian National Army”.

Silver – The spy who did the unspeakable

Silver – this was the name of BhagatramTalwar who helped Netaji cross Indian and Afghan border. Documents unclassified in the 90’s revealed that Bhagataram, an active member of the communist KirtiKishan Party, was a quintuple agent during the work, working closely with Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. He also worked as a Russian, German, and Italian agent but most likely his allegiance lied with Russia, the communist heaven, even at the cost of his country’s interest. Since Russia was an ally of the British, he and his party therefore actively helped the British by providing confidential information about Netaji Subhas Bose in Germany and other Indian revolutionaries and provided false information to Bose through German agents.

Why did Silver help Netaji cross the border? Reason was simple. At that time when Netaji crossed the border Russia was still an ally of Hitler. In fact Russia had attacked Poland and the Balkan countries and had shared the spoils with Germany, and Stalin had even greater ambitions. Russia buried Finland and Lapland destroying their faint resistance. The aim for both the power mongers were to get absolute control over the resources in the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Baltic Sea region – the oil and gas fields, the coal mines and other natural resources that were aplenty. When Hitler, perceiving danger attacked Russia, the allegiance of the Communist Party and its wing in the North West Frontier and Punjab, KirtiKishan Party changed. And Silver, despite the fact that his brother Harkishen was hanged by British, worked with them to betray his own countrymen, in order to help Russian alliance win the war.

Before Netaji left India there was a grand plan that he hatched with his chief supporters in Bengal, Hemchandra Ghosh’s Bengal Volunteers (BV), to wage a direct rebellion in the North West Frontiers and in Afghanistan with the help of the local tribal chiefs. He had submitted the plan as part of his memorandum to the German Foreign Office in April 1943. This plan was in sync with the German plan called Operation Tiger – of attacking British India through Afghanistan and helping local revolutionaries like Fakir of Ipi there to carry out sabotage.Bhagatram had considerable influence in the Pashtun speaking areas and enlisting his help, BV leaders tried to make the tribal chiefs prepare for a rebellion against British in the event German and Indian soldiers march to Afghanistan. However after Russia was attacked BV suddenly sensed a lull in their efforts. Bhagatram had sunk without a trace and one by one every leaders of BV of whom Bhagatram knew by now were compromised to the British. Thus Hemchandra Ghosh, Satya Gupta, Bhupendra Kishore Rakshit Roy, JyotishGuha and all other front line leaders were arrested, Satya Gupta and JyotishGuha were subjected to unimaginable torture by British military to reveal the plan of Subhas and Jyotish died in the process. Uttamchand, who had given shelter to Netaji in Kabul, was arrested and send to an Afghan prison and his thirty year old radio business was destroyed. All the information about the BV activities and their link to Subhas Bose were known to only one person – Bhagatram. But Bhagataram was at that time untraceable only to surface after the war. All throughout the war he was working as an undercover agent of the British under the direction of his party from the day Russia sided with Britain in the war. Nobody suspected Bhagatram until 1990 when the war information became classified by Britain. And the papers revealed his secret – how the so called aide of Netaji compromised India’s efforts for gain. James Bond creator Ian Flemming’s brother, as part of MI5, was closely associated with Silver.

The curious case of a misguided political party

Communist party had changed their allegiance and colour very fast right after Hitler declared war against Russia. In fact so fast was their change in strategy that there may be some suspicion in some quarters as to whether the ideological basis of their newfound love for Britain was fabricated and the real basis was probably more materialistic. This political party openly declared a “people’s war” and sided with British administration and Government in condemning the war efforts of Subhas Chandra Bose and also revolutionary activities that would undermine the people’s war against the “Fascists” in India. British Government repaid their debts. All the interned leaders of that party were freed and were given royal treatment. Point to be noted here is that Russia, a co-signee of the Atlantic Charter did not even press for Indian independence as part of the charter. Instead Russia had actively taken part in forcefully occupying several hapless smaller nations and at that time that political party did not have any problem with the Fascists, nor did they have any sympathy for the Nations that were swallowed by Russia.

Therefore the party thought and declared that to “Help Russia was our supreme objective” without any consideration of Indian independence. Is there any other instance of any such political part anywhere in the world who would forego their national interest just for supporting another country’s war efforts? Gandhiji pushed the resolution of Quit India Movement in Congress Working Committee on 14^th July 1942 and it was generally accepted despite opposition from few key leaders. The top leaders of Congress were arrested soon after and the movement, which was an uncoordinated set of activities led by second wrung leaders aided by socialist party, was crushed most ruthlessly. However the “people’s war” advocates completely opposed any movement to disturb the war effort and destabilizing the allies and therefore sided with the British Government. This particular political party was also ideologically opposed to Subhas Chandra Bose whom they supported during his early days of political career esp. during his president ship of Congress. They even went to the extent of calling him Quisling of India endorsing the official stand of the British.  Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha led by Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Veer Savarkar also opposed Quit India Movement for vested communal and other interests. To be fair to Syama Prasad he possibly wanted to protect the united Bengal province under FazlulHaq of whose Government his party was a stakeholder and he was naturally apprehensive of the designs of Muslim League to take over the Muslim majority areas of Bengal with tacit support from Congress and open support from British in the event of a revolution against the latter. But the same cannot be said of the communists. According to Communist Party’s official press release, “The groups which make up the fifth block are the Forward Block, the party of the traitor Bose,… must be treated by every honest Indian as the worst enemy of the nation and driven out of political life and exterminated.”  P.C Joshi pledged unconditional support to the Government of India and army to fight Subhash Chandra Bose and Azad Hind Fauz. Joshi’s letters also revealed that the communist party of India received financial assistance from British in return for the favour and also had a secret pact with Muslim League.

Today of course communism is almost irrelevant in India and the world and Russia is no longer held in awe and reverence by the surviving lot.

The clueless bunch of peaceniks

Between 1939 and 1942, after Subhas Chandra Bose was driven out of Congress president post and from the party in the worst possible way, Congress remained a bunch of indecisive, clueless body of peace lovers whose only pleasure in life was to indulge in the politics of prayers and petitions. Without exception almost all political leaders belonging to the pro Gandhi camp were guilty of ill treatment of Subhas Chandra Bose, including Gandhiji’s protégé Nehru whom Subhas respected and trusted for being a forward looking elite. Subhas was driven out of Congress as he had demanded that world war provided an opportunity to demand total independence. Peaceniks claimed that it was not morally right was British was fighting a war. What was Jawaharlal’s motive in denouncing Subhas was not clear, however he persisted in completely and staunchly opposing him in Tripuri Congress. The Gandhi brigade of Nehru, Sardar Patel, MaulanaAbulKalam Azad, Rajgopalachary, had at first taken a decision of supporting British in their war effort. They were still day dreaming that by being nice and friendly to British, we would get independence in return after the war. Gandhiji himself was much disturbed during battle of Britain. He said that he did not want independence by taking advantage of a demolished Britain. Noble gesture, but such policies are irrelevant in war time as Sri Krishna unequivocally told Arjuna. Gandhiji knew Gita by heart, only he did not understand Sri Krishna too well. Congress had forgotten the betrayal of British twenty years back when in return for the war time support what India got was the massacre in JallianwalaBagh and atrocities on its people. They also had underestimated the extent of Winston Churchill’s love for imperialism and his arrogant racism. But Gandhiji perhaps had a change in heart. He demanded that Congress go for a movement to oust British from India. At first, none of his coterie responded favourably. But Gandhiji persisted. At this juncture, under President Roosevelt’s pressure Churchill had to send Stafford Cripps for a peace mission, to ensure and enlist support of Indian political class. Jawaharlal Nehru was the only person who was positively disposed to the proposals of Cripps. Gandhiji rejected it and called it a Post Dated Cheque on a Crushing Bank. Gandhiji had learnt from his “Himalayan Blunders”. He understood now the British cunningness and duplicity. Although under persistence from Gandhiji’s Quit India resolution was adopted, Congress leaders were still ambivalent about the outcome. In any case they were interned and had no connection with masses until 1945.

Gandhiji’s initial position of opposition to Subhas’s decision to take advantage of world war was ideological. He thought that by trying to take advantage of British’s defeats during the war, India would be violating the principles of non-violence and would be joining the Axis forces by default. His stand was, India can be no party to such an imperialist war. While Nehru and other Congress leaders had heartily supported this stand they did not have any idea or vision as to how to get independence for India. Only Subhas had a concrete and a decisive plan and only he took action, at enormous personal cost and sacrifice.

Nehru had gone a step ahead and said that India should offer not only sympathy but unconditional support to Britain. He said, “We do not approach the problem with a view to take advantage of the British difficulties.” Like the Communists, he conveniently forgot his purpose and goal and the interests of India. He even went on saying in 1940 that “launching a civil disobedience campaign at a time when Britain is engaged in life and death struggle would be an act derogatory to India’s honor.” Seriously! When India is looking forward for independence, her undisputed leader and future prime minister is too concerned about her “honor” to claim her independence. However not everybody was in sync with him. AbulKalamAzad, surprisingly was candid enough to say that, “Indians have the right to take up sword if they have no alternative.” Even Rabindranath Tagore’s unstinted support for Subhas and his appeal on his behalf fell on deaf years as the Congress political leadership was in no mood to relent on this issue. In 1941 Gandhiji told C.F Andrews that “Subhas is behaving like a spoilt child.”Subhas wrote a frank letter to Nehru on March 28, 1939 that ran to twenty seven pages. He reproached Nehru severely. “When a crisis comes, you often do not succeed in making up your mind one way or the other.” Nehru’s doublespeak was thoroughly exposed in that letter. Subhas was disdainful about Nehru’s foreign policy. “Frothy sentiments and pious platitudes do not make foreign policy“, he said. He said that Patel and others would let Nehru talk and talk and in the end ask him to draft their resolution. Subhas had reasons to be peeved, Nehru had not only let him down, he deliberately betrayed him. Nehru replied about the misgivings of Subhas that “I plead guilty to them.” He also expressed his view that Gandhi should accept Subhas as the president. He was clearly riding two horses as Subhas had charged him to do.

Subhas had neither forgiven nor forgotten the duplicity of Jawaharlal. He continues in Indian Struggle, “In this internal crisis the man who was inconvenienced most was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Up till now, he had, with great skill and ingenuity, been able to ride two horses at the same time and had thereby been able to secure the support of the Gandhi Wing, while being a friend or patron of the Left. Challenged by the Forward Bloc, he had to make his choice and he began to move towards the Right — the Gandhi Wing. And as the relations between the Gandhi Wing and the Forward Bloc became strained, Nehru rallied more and more to the support of the Mahatma.”

While Nehru had denounced Subhas and even declared to fight him if he stepped into India with Japanese soldiers, Gandhiji had said, “If the Japanese ever come to India they would come not as our enemy but as the enemy of the British.” It’s surprising that Nehru and other Congress leaders did not realize this simple truth, or that they did not want to. Sardar Patel had a change of heart too. He supported heartily the resolution of Quit India, being disgusted with the inaction and long passivity. But Gandhiji paved the path for final struggle when he put forward his ultimatum to the Congress leadership. He declared, “I cannot wait any longer for India’s freedom…If I wait any longer God will punish me. This the last struggle of my life.” Congress had to accept the resolution,Gandhiji still was the undisputed leader, atleast until the so called failure of Quit India. Nehru however did not forgive him. He said in Discovery of India in the context of the decision to launch a struggle for freedom movement – “Gandhiji’s approach also seemed to ignore international considerations and appeared to be based on a narrow view of nationalism.”

In fact Nehru, the undisputed leader of Congress had summed up the attitude of the peaceniks – “The way Subhas Bose has chosen is naturally wrong, I cannot accept but must oppose”. This statement was widely broadcasted gleefully by the British in the All India Radio.

Dr. R.C Majumdar further went on stating in his magnum opus, “History of the Freedom Movement of India”, that Nehru seemed to live in an ideal world of his own creation which had no relation to actual facts.”

And yet, he became the prime minster and victors write the history in their favor. Heroes are only there to sacrifice everything and thus provide a strong foundation which the opportunists can leverage.

Quit India Movement could have been a failure but the masses rose in uprising in many places in India with a ferocity that was hitherto unknown to the British. Although with brute force they were able to finally subjugate the uprising but they knew one thing, that their days in India were numbered. So ideally Congress could claim no credit for whatever little was achieved during Quit India Movement. In fact the radio broadcasts of Subhas Chandra Bose and Rashbehari Bose, the active leadership of socialist party leaders and the general anger of the unorganized masses played a significant role in the movement. The local heroes largely remain unsung and unrecognized. Their names are not even mentioned in the history books, but they were the ones who had fought inch by inch and their determination and courage won the day in frightening the administration who had no option but to play the sinister game of divide and rule.

Louis Fischer, in the course of his conversations with Gandhi asked him about Subhas Chandra Bose. Gandhi described Bose as a “patriot of patriots”, but, “misguided”.

Gandhi had earlier dismissed an appeal by Rabindranath Tagore to reconsider the decision to ban Subhas for three years from Congress Working Committee. “Bans cannot be lifted without their apologizing for indiscipline”, was his exact quote. This was the treatment that he meted out to one, who not only called him the “Father of the Nation”, but also asked for his “blessing and good wishes”, “in this holy war for India’s liberation.” Mahatma had told Subhas just before the latter left the country, “With the fundamental differences between you and me, it is not possible till one of us is converted to the other’s view, we must sail in different boats, though their destination may appear, but only appear to be the same.”

A lot of pain was expressed by noted historian Dr. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar when he said in 1966 – “What I have not been able to forget to this day that the name of Subhas Chandra Bose was not mentioned even once. This I think was not accidental. It was sought to be conveyed that independence has been achieved through nonviolence and that Netaji and INA had not contributed anything at all to it.”

Reference:

• Boseofjapan.worpress.com, Rasbehari Bose: The father of the Indian National Army(6 volumes) – by Elizabeth Eston and Lexi Kawabe,

• www.netajisubhasbose.org

• Rashbehari Bose – Wikipedia

• “Ami Subhas Bolchi” – Bengali magnum opus on Netaji’s political and revolutionary life by Shailesh De

• https://www.thebetterindia.com/120357/silver-bhagat-ram-talwar-quintuple-indian-spy-world-war-two/

• History of Freedom Movement of India by Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar

• https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-red-blunders-the-communists-have-consistently-betrayed-national-interests/cid/1027877 – Rudrangshu Mukherjee, The Telegraph