The Birth of an Indian Profession Engineers, Industry, and the State, 1900-47

Charting the development of the engineering profession in India from 1900 to 1947, The Birth of an Indian Profession is the first synoptic history of engineers in modern India. Through detailed case studies of public works, railways, and industrial engineers, this book argues that changes in the profession were both caused by and contributed to industrialization in the country. Previously dominated by British expatriate engineers, the profession expanded, became considerable Indianized, and also diversified to include industrial experts.

Turning the spotlight on practitioners of technology and their professional lives, Aparajith Ramnath explores several themes including the work culture of engineers, their conception of their own identity, their status in society, and their relationship with the evolving colonial state. In doing so, he provides a fresh perspective on the history of science and technology in twentieth-century India.

Aparajith Ramnath, Assistant Professor, Humanities and Liberal Arts in Management, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

Aparajith Ramnath is a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, India. He is a historian of science, technology, and industry in South Asia, and teaches courses on Indian society, business history, and the global history of industrializatio

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Engineers in India, 1900-47
1. The Context: Indianization and Industrialization in Indian History
2. Putting Down Roots: Professional Institutions and the Growth
of an Indian Identity among Engineers
3. Men of Character: Indianization and the Culture of Public Works Engineering
4. Keepers of the Peace: Efficiency, Loyalty, and the Limits of
Indianization on the Railways
5. Beyond Empire and Nation: The Technical Experts of the
Tata Steel Works
Conclusion

Bibliography
Index
About the Author