Disease and the Practices of Settlement in a Plantation Economy
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Disease and the Practices of Settlement in a Plantation Economy: Medicine and Healthcare in Darjeeling and Duars, 1860-1947 Nandini Saradindu Bhattacharya University College London Dissertation submitted to University of London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2007 1 UMI Number: U5926B6 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592636 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 I, Nandini Saradindu Bhattacharya, confirm that the work presented in this thesis my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Abstract This dissertation explores the various contexts of curative and preventive health in a particular economic zone, the tea estates of northern Bengal (Darjeeling, Duars, and the Terai) in the colonial period. The sanatorium of Darjeeling was established in the mid-nineteenth century as a European retreat from the dusty and clamorous plains of Bengal. The white/European settlement in Darjeeling encouraged tea plantations in the surrounding lands, by clearing the forests and transplanting them with tea plants and encouraging immigrant labour, demarcating enclosures, thereby rapidly creating a distinct site of economic activity in the region. When the tea plantations extended to the virgin forests in the foothills of the Himalayas, the region known as the Terai and then to the in the newly annexed (from Bhutan) plains beyond in the western Duars, the plantation economy predominated the landscape where large tea estates were interspersed with pockets of newly ploughed jute and paddy fields cultivated by tenant-sharecroppers. The processes outlined above led to a complex set of colonial enclaves. Darjeeling was conceived as a European retreat, a site of recovery for the white race in the tropics- an enclave of one kind. The tea plantations were constructed as enclaves of a different kind; flanked by villages; these were ‘estates’ where the labourers, overseers and the management resided in the estates in accommodations that varied according to a strict hierarchical order. Through an analysis of various archival sources including municipal and medical papers, private papers of officials and planters, publications of the tea industry, as well as contemporary medical journals this dissertation attempts to examine diseases, medical practices, and the role of the state within the dual enclaves of the hill-station and the tea plantations. Table of Contents Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 List of Tables 5 List of Abbreviations 6 Acknowledgements 7 Chapter One: Introduction: Healthy Climates and Unhealthy Lands: 10 Enclaved Habitations in a Plantation Economy Chapter Two: The Sanatorium of Darjeeling: European health 33 in a tropical Enclave Chapter Three: Pioneering Years in Plantation and Medicine 96 Chapter Four: The Plantation System: Contending Visions of Healthcare 131 Chapter Five: The Plantation Enclave, the Colonial State and Healthcare 162 Chapter Six: Locating the Vector: Malaria in the Darjeeling Foothills 243 Chapter Seven: Habitation and Health in Enclaves: The Hill Station 307 and the Tea Plantations Conclusion 331 Appendix 339 Bibliography 341 4 List of Tables Table 3.1 Expansion of Tea Gardens in Darjeeling 105 Table 3.2 Expansion of Tea Gardens in the Duars 115 Table 3.3 List of ailments and their cure 118 Table 5.1 Comparison of Vital Statistics in the tea estates of Duars, 188 Jalpaiguri district, and Bengal As Printed In the Annual Reports On the Working o f the Jalpaiguri Labour Act Table 5.2 Number of gardens inspected by the Civil Surgeon of Jalpaiguri 200 as per the provisions of the Jalpaiguri Labour Act, 1914-1925 Table 6.1 Spleen index of tea estates in Mai tea district of Duars in 1926 284 Table 6.2 Spleen Index of tea estates in Nagrakata tea district of Duars 285 5 List of Abbreviations BMA- British Medical Association CSTM- Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine DP A- Dooars Planters’ Association ICS- Indian Civil Service IMS- Indian Medical Service IT A - Indian Tea Association ITPA- Indian Tea Planters’ Association JLA- Jalpaiguri Labour Act LMINA- Lady Minto Indian Nursing Association PLA- Plantation Labour Act Acknowledgements I wish to thfcnk my supervisor, Professor Anne Hardy, who directed this work with academic rigour, editorial clarity, and unfailing courtesy. I am also deeply indebted to her for demonstrating faith in me when I needed it most. I am particularly grateful to Professor Mark Harrison who took the trouble to read and comment on parts of this dissertation. I am also grateful to Professor Christopher Lawrence, Dr Andrew Wear, Professor Deepak Kumar, Dr Alex Mackay, Dr Apama Vaidik, Dr Claudia Stein, Dr. Abhijeet Mukherjee, Professor Roy Mcleod, and Dr Guy Attewell, for reading and commenting on parts of this dissertation at various stages. A few incisive comments from Professor David Arnold helped me in the last stages of this work. Professor Janet Browne, who was formerly the graduate tutor at the Wellcome Trust Centre, initiated me into the norms of British academia with kindness and great tolerance. Various scholars at the Wellcome Trust Centre at UCL have encouraged me in my writing days; I would like to thank particularly Dr Helga Satzinger, who is now the graduate tutor, Professor Roger Cooter, and Professor H.J.Cook for their support. This dissertation was possible due to the Roy Porter studentship awarded by the Wellcome Trust, which I thankfully acknowledge. I also wish to thank the staff at the British Library, particularly at the Asian, Pacific and African Collections Reading Room, and the staff at the Wellcome Library, London, the SOAS Library, London, the National Archive, Kew, the National Archives of India ( New Delhi), the West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta, the National Library, Calcutta, the Record 7 Room, Darjeeling, the ITA Library, Calcutta, the ITPA, Jalpaiguri, and the DBITA Library, ( Binnaguri), for their co-operation and help. In my field trips to north Bengal, I was hosted by my cousin, Dr Nivedita Chakraborty; scholarly discussions with her enriched my understanding of the region. I am grateful to her, my aunt Chinmoyee Devi and Tutun and Rana for their love and generosity. Dr Ashoke Ganguly was especially helpful with his wide knowledge the history of tea gardens in north Bengal. I am indebted to the various people who made my visits to the tea estates successful, including Dr S. Bol, Dr D.N.Chatterjee, Mr Krishan Aggarwal, Mr. U.B. Das, Mr Ishwar Aggarwal, Mr A.K.Chatterjee,, Mr. P.K. Bhattacharjee, Dr Krishna Dasgupta, Mr Satya Dasgupta, Ms Paromita Chakraborty and Ms Shoma Chakraborty, Mr Rathin Bose, Mr P. Dutta and Sr.Dr Regina for their help and particularly to the management and workers of Hasimara, Banarhat, and Pahargoomia tea estates for sharing their stories of life on the tea plantations. I am also grateful to Mr Augustine Lepcha for allowing me to use the District Magistrate’s Record Room in Darjeeling, and Mr Bikash Lepcha for help in locating documents there. I am especially thankful to Sujit Naskar, who accompanied me on my trips to the tea estates and was my guide, counsellor, and chivalrous companion. Here at the Wellcome Trust Centre the camaraderie and intellectual stimulation provided by my colleagues sustained me while this work was in progress. Candice Delisle, Stephen Casper, Akinobu Takabayashi challenged me intellectually and simultaneously indulged my emotional excesses. The companionship and discussions with fellow graduate Sanchari Dutta enlivened my time at the British Library. I also wish to thank my colleagues and friends, Leela Sami, Katrina Gatley, Jorge Varanda, Karen Buckle, Richard Barnett, Liew KK, Jane Seymour, and 8 Christos Papadopoulous at the Wellcome Trust Centre, for their support. At the Centre I also wish to thank Adam, Alan Yabsley and Vera for administrative and IT support, Joan and Alan Shiel for their acerbic wit which unsuccessfully concealed much goodwill, and Sally Bragg for kind enquiries about the state of my health and my work. I owe my engagement with history to my former teachers and my friends at Jawarharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and also at the M.S.University of Baroda, and take this opportunity to thank them. Samira Sheikh, R.Umamaheshwari, and Rinki Halakhandi, loyal friends for many years, have read or listened to my work with patience and provided unreserved encouragement for all my efforts. My friend Bhavana Krishnamoorthy had always been there for me. In Calcutta my parents -in- law and uncle and aunt, and cousins Chayan and Parama hosted me for many months, doubtless at some inconvenience to themselves. I am grateful for their indulgence, and also wish to acknowledge old friends Soumen Bhattacharya and Suranjana Roy whose generosity, companionship, and hospitality cheered me during the long field trips. My parents and brother have long awaited this dissertation and have always encouraged me in the process of writing it. I have had the privilege of sharing my life, work, and my passion for history with Pratik Chakrabarti. I am indebted to him for reminding me in my darkest moments why we need to write history. 9 Chapter 1. Introduction: Healthy Climates and Unhealthy Lands: Enclaved Habitations in a Plantation Economy 1.1. Introduction: The hill station and plantations in colonial north Bengal This dissertation is a social history of the settlement and medical practices in the tea planting districts of colonial north Bengal (1839-1947).