The existing literature coming from Science and Technology Studies (STS) on colonial India so far has paid insufficient attention to the agriculture sciences. Moreover, the existing studies on colonial India look as scientists not as practitioners of science, but rather as intellectuals and actors engaged in the task of building a modern nation. This article attempts to bridge this gap in the literature by analyzing the native agricultural scientists as science practitioners, as well as their evolving ideas of modern agriculture. It also tries to understand whether the “native scientists” and the colonial British scientists had varying ideas of modern agriculture.
With a handful of exceptions, the historiography from STS perspective of colonial India has primarily relied on English language colonial archival sources. This analysis makes use of both vernacular (Bengali would be used as one of the vernacular archival sources in this research) and English archival sources. This brings on board a broader and divergent perspective in understanding agricultural sciences from the point of view of both the colonizers and the colonized.
Preliminary analysis found that though the “native” Indian agricultural scientists were working under the British government in India, their ideas of modern agriculture for Indian soil varied from those of their British counterparts on many occasions. This is evident when we look at their engagement with various stakeholders both inside their workspace and outside such as their peers, within their laboratories, counterparts, colleagues, cultivators, and literati.
