As we are in Amrit Kaal celebrating 75 years of our ‘Swatantrata’ or liberation from imperial rule it is very important that all of us and our future generations know about the areat saga of struggle of Swatantrata and how Science and Bharatiya Scientists have contributed to the freedom movement. These are hitherto unknown stories. As we celebrate AzadiKa
Amrit Mahotsav, this book attempts to bring forward the struggles and the fight put up by our areat scientists not only in supporting the science and improving it manoeuvring through the hostile British rule but also in developing the scientifictemper of the people. This is something
that went missing in the annals of documented history in the post-independence era.
Out of several foreign invasions that India has faced, the British invasion which was the last but is stilllasting in some way – was truly unique in its nature. A unique and exclusive characteristic of the British invasion was the use of ‘science’ to subjugate our people and the country. The beginning of the British rule in the late 18h Century itself coincided with 1st Industrial Revolution that began in Europe. The success of the Industrial Revolution in itself
became an extraordinary strength for the offensive of the British rule. In the garb of building infrastructure, industries and science-based approaches, the British penetrated and inflicted
harsh blows on the Indian people in every walk of life just because the evolving modern science was in their control. Just as the fitting response to the unjust and discriminatory British
rule emerged from political, cultural and economic quarters, it also emerged from the domain of modern science. Great Indian minds not only learnt and assimilated modern science but also contributed to putting up a briliant struggle while marching lndia on the path of scientific progression. Equipped with scientific know how they took on the biased and oppressive British hegemony.
Through the English Book titled “Struggle for swatantrata through Science”, the stories of some of our greatest scientists who remained unsungwarriors have been brought to the fore by the Science India Publishers. This is an attempt to capture and present the essence of these hitherto untold stories to the current and future generations to build asense of pride on our illustrious history. The book clearly narrates the great fights some of our great scientists, some of whom remained unnoticed in the annals of history. This book brings to the fore allthese.TheunknownstoriesofsupersedingofthegreatgeologistPNBoseandhanding over the Directorship of Geological Survey of India to a British Officer 10 years junior to him
or the Nobel laureate SirRonald Ross not acknowledging the great contributions of Kishori Mohan in the discovery of malarial parasite or not mainstreaming the story of Radhanadh Sikdar who measured the height of Mount Everest or denying entry of Prof JC Bose into Imperial Education Services or the anguish of sir CV Raman in receiving the Nobel prize as a citizen of the country that was under the shackles of colonial rule, all are documented in this
compilation. The book also looks closely at the evolution of Indian Scientific lnstitutions, laboratories and departments against all odds posed by the highhanded hostile British Rule.
The book was brought out in several Indian languages the one in telugu is titled “Swatantra Samaram lo sastra vignanam” is an important addition to the literature of the twin
telugustates. This book is being released in Telangana by Dr Tamilisai Sournadararajan, Hon’ble Governor of Telangana on 15h April 2023 at 11.00 am in a function jointly organised
by ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition and VignanaBharati Telangana.