Reflection Of Colonial Interest Of Father Of Indian Railways

Abstract:

The railways serve as an important means of communication. It was introduced in India around the midnineteenth century. The primary purpose for the British to set up railways in India was to serve their own needspolitical, administrative, military and economic. An exhaustive “Minute” scripted by Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General of East India Company (1848-1856), popularly known as the Father of Indian Railways, on 20 April, 1853, made a detailed commentary on the colonial interests in railways. This paper attempts to analyze the colonial outlook of the British towards the building of the railway, taking the comprehensive Minute by Dalhousie as an illustration. The paper presents a detailed discussion of its contents with a view to highlight the imperialist designs for the building of the railways. Also it unfolds the colonial character of the railway (a technological method) that made India an economic appendage of England and another effective “colonial adjunct of the British metropolis.”