Politics, industrialization and technical education in colonial India: A case study of Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology, Kanpur

Abstract

How did the European industrialists influence the nature and form of the course in sugar chemistry and technology, as well as its standard and form of training at Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur? This course led to the Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology's establishment (renamed National Sugar Institute after independence) in 1937 at Kanpur. The overwhelming presence of Europeans in the sugar industry until the 1920s gave European industrialists an influential role in deciding policy for technical education in colonial India. Although the sugar industry became a prominent political arena for Indian industrialists after the tariff protection of 1932, technical education for industrialization was not a serious concern for industrialists. The paper examines the process of initiating advanced courses for sugar chemists and technologists at HBTI by the second decade of the twentieth century. Proceedings of the Department of Industries of the Government of India and the United Provinces and official reports are analyzed to understand the political and social underpinning of the process of setting up a sugar technology course at HBTI, which subsequently emerged as an independent institute for sugar technology named as Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology Kanpur.