Basanta Kumar De

Basanta Kumar De
Born 9 March 1897
Balasore, Orissa
Died 31 August 1975
Calcutta
Occupation Civilian, railway manager
Spouse Pramila De (nee Gupta)

Basanta Kumar De (Bengali: বসনত কুমার েদ) was a civilian and a railway manager.

Contents

Background and education

He was born in Balasore, Orissa. He was born in a Brahmo [1] family of Calcutta. He was the second son of Brajendranath De, Esq., ICS, a long serving Magistrate and Collector of Hooghly and Commissioner (offtg.) of Burdwan Division in Bengal and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). On his paternal grandmother's side of the family, he was a great grandnephew of Babu Peary Charan Sarkar, an eminent Bengal Renaissance personality. Also, on his father's side, he was a nephew of Sir Nripendra Nath Sircar, a retired Law Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council and Advocate General of Bengal. On his mother's side he was closely related to Kiran Chandra De, Esq., ICS, Commissioner, Chittagong Division in Bengal and his wife. Also, on his maternal grandmother's side, he was related to the Dutts of Hatkhola in Calcutta.

Much of his childhood was spent in the twin towns of Hooghly and Chinsura, where his father was posted as well as in his family's garden house in Bandel in Hooghly district. After being initially taught by Governesses and then studying in a number of district schools in Malda and Hooghly, he completed his schooling at Hare School, Calcutta. He then completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English at Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1919 he sailed to England on H.M.S. Troopship Dufferin [2] where he joined Trinity College, Cambridge to read English. He spent one year in Cambridge. His moral tutor at Trinity College was J.D. Anderson, esq., ICS, who was then a University Lecturer of Bengali at the University of Cambridge. He was also admitted to The Honourable Society of Middle Temple. Later, he also spent another year at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London. He remained in England from 1919 to 1921.[3] His local guardian in England was his father's friend, Lord Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha of Raipur, then an Under-Secretary of State in London.

Career

Early years

He was recruited in to the Bengal Nagpur Railways[4] in London in 1921 on the recommendation of B.N. Basu, then Under Secretary of State for India. His first posting was as Assistant Traffic Superintendent.[5] As Assistant Commercial Officer of the BNR he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri.[6] As a young officer posted in Kharagpore in 1927 he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there, led by V.V. Giri. In 1931 he carried out the survey which led to the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram to Sonepur-Bolangir railway line.

Through the 1930s he was posted as a District Commercial Officer in Kharagpore in Bengal, Nayanpore in the Central Provinces, as well as Adra in Bengal. He was posted in Adra twice, once between 1936-7 and then again from 1940-1. While he was in Adra for a second term, he was appointed as ex-officio officer in charge of the management of transportation of Congress leaders and members attending the Ramgarh Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi, in the Congress leader's camp in Ramgarh. The Mahatma told De that he should keep one whole third class compartment empty and clean for him and his co-workers to travel in.

War time

As part of the war effort in eastern India during the Second World War, especially after the start of Britain's Burma Campaign, the Indian government recruited railway officers in the Indian Armed Forces. From 1942-45, De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army. Also, from 1942-48 he was as the Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board, based at Royal Exchange Place, Calcutta, which was initially a wartime appointment.

After independence

Due to the growing Indianisation of senior posts of nationalised public services after India's independence in 1947, De was appointed as Traffic Superintendent General (TSG) in 1948 and was sent to the BNR's headquarter at Garden Reach in Calcutta. In 1950, he was appointed as the second Indian Commercial Traffic Manager (CTM)[7] of the BNR. During the last two years of his career he had to attend, in official capacity, meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. He retired in 1952.

Retirement and after

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined.[8] He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's memoir in the Calcutta Review, a journal of Asiatic Society, Calcutta on the latter's birth centenary in 1952. He was also an original Trustee of the Estate of Late Gurusaday Dutt, Esq., and had recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Art Museum at Bratacharigram, Calcutta.[9]

References

  1. ^ Brahmo Sammilan Samaj
  2. ^ In 1925 Dufferin became the training ship for Indian boys aspiring to join shipping firms. It was not mandatory for shipping lines to hire them, although in the years following the take over of the ship for training Scindia Line hired quite a few of these trainees.
  3. ^ Brajendranath De, Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service, (Calcutta, 1925-29), p. 416-17
  4. ^ The BNR Family
  5. ^ De, Reminiscences, p. 280
  6. ^ BNR Hotel, South Eastern Railway, Puri, India
  7. ^ This post has been redesignated more than once over the last one hundred years. At the beginning of the twentieth century the two top posts in the B.N. Railway Company were called Agent (the highest ranking officer) and Traffic Manager (the second in command). Later, towards the middle of the century, the three top posts were redesinated as Agent and General Manager, Commercial Traffic Manager and Chief Mechanical Engineer. By the end of the last century and at the turn of the present century, the post of General Manager has remained unchanged, while the Heads of the Commercial Traffic Department are now called Chief Operations Manager and Chief Commercial Manager, in the rank of Joint to Additional Secretary to the Government of India.
  8. ^ Railway Recruitment Control Board
  9. ^ At the time of his untimely death at the age of 59, G.S. Dutt had left behind a large collection of village handicrafts as well as sculptures of Hindu dieties and paintings which he had collected during the course of his career in the civil service in Bengal. These objects d'art were kept in an estate set up in his name after his demise, of which De was made a family member, being Dutt's wife second brother. The estate of G.S. Dutt remained dormant until the end of the 1950s, when along with Barrister Subimal Ray, who was also a Trustee of the Estate, De, recommended the closing down of the Estate and placing these objects in a new museum to be set up in Dutt's name. In this endeavour De and Ray were assisted by Dutt's son, and De's nephew, Birendrasaday Dutt, who was also one of the founders of the Gurusaday Folk Arts Museum. Later, when the museum was founded, on the recommendation of De, Ray and Dutt, Dutt's wife, and G.S. Dutt's daughter-in-law, Aroti Dutt, was made its first President.

External links

Government offices
Preceded by
S.N.Gupta, Esq.		 Commercial Traffic Manager of Bengal Nagpur Railway
1950–1952		 Succeeded by
J.N.Das