2008006. Sinha. 07_Chapter7. Proef 4. 13-5-2008:12.06, page 189.

chapter seven

CONCLUSIONS

When the World War came to an end in 1945 after the dropping of the atom bomb on Japan by America, the world scenario changed overnight. The Allies had won the war and the Axis Powers had lost it. The war which had been fought almost all over the world was decided in Japan in Asia. The time of the final defeat, its location and the ulti- mate weapon used for it are the three factors crucial for understanding the problems and issues concerned with the development of science in India and in fact in Asia as a whole. This was a period of national upsurge against foreign rule in most of the Western colonies in Asia, and thus against imperialism and Western capitalism—a high time for the West to tame the tide in their favour. The Indian subcontinent was in the last leg of its freedom struggle and many adjoining regions were undergoing similar movements; but it was the farthest Japan that posed the greatest danger for the Western Allies. Rooted in a typical cultural tradition of the East, Japan was seething with aggressive nationalism and ready to take on the forces of the West. To add to the problem, she was calling for the unity of Asia and emerging as harbinger of a cul- tural awakening in the East. A national stirring was already resonant in the Indian subcontinent. Thirty years before the Second World War began, Gandhi’s evocation in his Hind Swaraj had called for reviving the traditional values of the East and for following them for social progress; between the World Wars, Rabindranath Tagore refined the idea with a modern outlook.1 Scholars like B.K. Sarkar and Rahul Sankrityayan mined the intellectual resources which nourished the idea in different ways and in its indifferent ramifications.2 Meanwhile, Japan had found in Subhas Chandra Bose a partner to fight the Allies and was knocking at the doors of the British Empire in India. With the support of the Axis

1 Krishna Kripalani, Ta gore: A Life, 1961; New Delhi, 1997,pp.122–188. 2 For Sarkar, see Hiradas Mukherjee, Benoy Kumar Sarkar: A Study, Calcutta, 1953.For Sankrityayan, refer to Prabhakar Machwe, Rahul Sankrityayan, 1979; New Delhi, 1990 (in Hindi). Rahul’s role in this context and in the context of a scientific study of history and society is yet to be examined seriously. 2008006. Sinha. 07_Chapter7. Proef 4. 13-5-2008:12.06, page 190.

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Powers, especially Japan, Bose headed an Indian national government in exile in Japanese-occupied Singapore and with the Indian National Army in his command, he fought alongside the Japanese in Burma to liberate India.3 Obviously, Japan posed a great danger to the British and the Allies, which needed to be removed at the earliest, and the ulti- mate weapon of science—the atom bomb—was chosen to do the job. What followed next is history. Although the consequences of the war were horrific for all generally speaking, its impact was not uniform everywhere. The Allies were the winners and the gainers, but the Axis Powers were not the only losers. They were vanquished and hence lost in many ways; but many of those who were on the side of the Allies were also sidelined when it came to reap the gains of the war, especially in the fields of science and tech- nology. India was one of them. The war proved to be a mixed blessing for her scientific development. While the war marked the beginning of some positive changes, it was also a period of lost opportunities and elu- sive hopes. During this period, the colonial emphasis was not so much on the actual advance of science as on its organization and control. This was quite in line with the political approach of the Raj at the time. As the war accelerated the pace of liberation struggle and heralded the dawn of independence, it unleashed at the same time curious forces that affected the progress of science in the years to come. Before the war, the colonial attitude towards science was one of ad hocism and the approach was indirect and casual; and whatever was done in the field of science, was geared primarily to meet the various needs of the Empire. Thus, the imperial and colonial elements were dominant in almost every field of scientific endeavour in the country. The Second World War brought about a significant change in this position as it catalysed a process of transition from colonialism to nationalism and freedom, inaugurating a period of national reconstruction on modern lines.

India at the Crossroads

However, at the end of the war, India stood at the crossroads. Like the rest of the world, she was baffled and distressed by the destruction and dislocation, and quite apprehensive of what worse lay in store in the

3 Refer to Milan Hauner, India in Axis Strategy: Germany, Japan and Indian Nationalism into Second World War, Stuttgart, 1981.