November, 1910.] 



441 



Miscellaneous. 



THE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL 

 PROBLEM. 



(From Science Progress in the Twentieth 

 Century, No. 16. April, 1910.) 



By Alfred Chatterton. 

 Director of Industries, Madras. 



The Need of a System of Industrial 

 Training. 

 The publication in 1884 of the Report 

 of the Royal Commission on Technical 

 Education drew the attention of adminis- 

 trators in India to the fact that no ade- 

 quate provision had been made by the 

 Indian Educational Departments of sys- 

 tematic instruction in the scientific prin- 

 ciples underlying industrial processes. 

 The interest of the educated public was 

 languidly excited and vague notions be- 

 came current that the acknowledged 

 decay of Indian manufactures could be 

 arrested if arrangements were made to 

 remedy the defects in the existing educa- 

 tional machinery. Accordingly, in the 

 course of the next few years, each Pro- 

 vince took action in this direction and 

 sanction was accorded to such measuies 

 as the local governments considered to 

 be immediately necessary. One result of 

 the application of European ideas on the 

 subject of technical education was the 

 establishment of the Victoria Jubilee 

 Technical Institute in Bombay, where 

 the cotton spinning industry was already 

 firmly established ; as another result the 

 engineering school atSeebpore, near Cal- 

 cutta, was reorganised and expanded to 

 provide for the needs of Bengal, where 

 the manufacture of jute, coal mining and 

 mechanical engineering were local indus- 

 tries of eosiderable and growing impor- 

 tance. Both these institutions are now 

 valuable centres of recruitment for the 

 organised industries of their respective 

 Presidencies ; that they have not reached 

 the standard of excellence we are accus- 

 tomed to expect in similar institutions 

 in Europe and America is due to the fact 

 that Indians do not legard an industrial 

 career with any favour ; they only take 

 to it when they are convinced that they 

 have no prospect of success in more 

 congenial occupations. 



In other parts of India it was obvious 

 that modern industrial enterprise was too 

 feebly developed to support either specia- 

 lised technical schools like that devoted 

 to the cotton industry in Bombay or a 

 general engineering school like that at 

 Seebpore. In Madras, however, an origi- 

 nal attempt was made to create a demand 

 for technical education by providing 

 facilities for the examination of students 



56 



xn a great variety of technical and indus- 

 trial subjects. The scheme was modelled 

 on the lines of the examinations of the 

 Science and Art Department and of the 

 City and Guilds of London ; it has proved 

 of little value, though it has supplied 

 convenient tests of the training given to 

 pupils in trade and elementary engineer- 

 ing schools, 



The only practical outcome of these 

 early attempts was to strengthen the 

 staff and improve the equipment of the 

 existing engineeringcolleges atRoorkhee, 

 Poona and Madras, where Indians are 

 trained for the various branches of 

 service in the Public Works Department. 

 Unlike Seebpore, where most of the stu- 

 dents find employment in the industrial 

 undertakings of Bengal, these institu- 

 tions are intended to supply the very 

 considerable demands of the provincial 

 Governments, native states and districts, 

 for men to carry on the current engineer- 

 ing work of the country in connection 

 with railways, roads and bridges, irri- 

 gation, buildings and general municipal 

 work. Mechanical engineerirg is not 

 entirely neglected but it is regarded as 

 subordinate to civil engineering, hence, 

 probably, the limited degree of success 

 hitherto attained by Indian engineers 

 in the practice of a profession which 

 calls for an intimate acquaintance with 

 the materials and methods employed in 

 construction. For a long time these 

 colleges were not very popular, notwith- 

 standing the fact that a number of well 

 paid Government appointments were 

 guaranteed to the students who com- 

 pleted full courses of instruction ; of late 

 years there has been a great change, the 

 competition at the entrance examin- 

 ations being now very keen. Apart 

 from the too early specialisation in 

 favour of civil engineering, the work 

 done in these colleges suffers from the 

 defective previous training ot the 

 students ; but little improvement can 

 be expected so long as the general 

 education of the country is dominated 

 by the Universities. The reforms which 

 have been introduced, since the report 

 of the Universities Commission, have 

 done something to raise the general tone 

 of Indian education but they have done 

 little or nothing to render it of a practi- 

 cal character. It seems almost certain 

 that another educational system is re- 

 quired that will provide for the indus- 

 trial needs of the country, entirely 

 independent of the control of the 

 Universities. 



For the indigenous industries of the 

 country>. which are entirely in the hands 

 of the illiterate artisans, it was not 

 deemed possible to make any provision. 



