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

Abstract

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