Suvobrata Sarkar, Let There be Light: Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Electricity in Colonial Bengal, 1880-1945. Cambridge University Press, 2020, 308 pp., ₹850 (Hardback). ISBN 9781108835985.

Abstract

Kumaraapa also supported the Gandhian Notion of Education popularly known as Nayi Talim. Accodingly, Kumarappa sought to establish ‘work as a medium of education’. He said that every work has two aspects: first, the physical labour, and the second, pleasure of the outcome. Unlike the Western education which does not bridge the gap between the two aspects, Indian education must do it because physical labour is must for moral growth of an individual. The book besides education also deals with the caste questions which looks little bit out of place. The author could have dealt with it separately. This would have given a better insight of Gandhi on social questions through Kumarappa. Overall, the book is a must read for all those who are either critical of or passionately interested in Gandhian ideas.