Nalini Ranjan Sarkar

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Nalini Ranjan Sarkar Avenue named after him at IIT Kharagpur

Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (Bengali: নলিনী রঞ্জন সরকার; 1882–25 January 1953) was an Indian businessman, industrialist, economist, and public leader. He was greatly involved in the political and economic regeneration of Bengal. Sarkar was Finance Minister of West Bengal in 1948. The Sarkar Committee Report was instrumental in the subsequent establishment of the four Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) by the Government of India.[2]

Early life, education and joining politics

Nalini Ranjan Sarkar was born in a middle class

Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das who arranged for him a petty job in Hindustan Cooperative Insurance of which poet Rabindranath Tagore was the Founder Chairman and Surendranath Tagore the chief executive.[3]

Career

Sarker had close contacts with

Non-Cooperation Movement
in 1920.

In the early 1920s, when

Calcutta Municipal Corporation in 1932[citation needed] and became its mayor by 1934.[5] His cousin Dhirendra Nath Sarker
was also involved in his activities.

From 1935 to 1953

In 1936, he organised the

Chief Minister of West Bengal
for a few months in 1949. Post the independence of India, Sarkar chaired a 3-man expert committee to draft the financial sections of the Indian constitution.

Non-political life

In 1911, he entered the Hindusthan Cooperative Insurance Society and from a humble position rose to the high position of its general manager and ultimately became its president, a position he held till his death. At his instance, Hindustan Cooperative Insurance Society invested large amount in acquiring vast area of land in South-West of Kolkata for the purpose of setting up a modern satellite township for residential purpose. This area is today known as New Alipore.[6]

He was also the President of both the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in 1933 & the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry and member of Consultation Committee for revision of Company Law, Central Banking Enquiry Committee, Board of Income Tax Referees, Railway Retrenchment Committee, Separation Council and Board of Economic Enquiry, Research Utilisation Committee and Central Jute Committee. He was a delegate to the Indo-Japanese Trade Conference in 1923. He was also a Commissioner of the Calcutta port and a trustee of the Chittaranjan Seva Sadan.

He also acted as the vice-president of National Council of Education, Bengal, and contributed to the spread of education in India. He was made a Fellow of the

IIT's, along the lines of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)[8]

He died on 25 January 1953 of a heart attack at his home in Kolkata (then Calcutta), at the age of 70[9]

References

  1. ^ Reed, Sir Stanley, ed. (1947). The Indian Year Book.
  2. ^ "Dreaming up the IITs". Business Line. 19 December 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  3. ^ My Years with Dr BC Roy by Saroj Chakrabarty (page 123)
  4. ISBN 81-7755-393-3
    . Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  5. ^ "Calcutta Mayor's advice to our City Fathers". The Indian Express. 27 August 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  6. ^ My Years with Dr BC Roy by Saroj Chakrabarty (page 124)
  7. ISBN 978-81-7022-066-4
    .
  8. ^ History Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
  9. ^ "Nalini R. Sarker, 70, Economist in India". The New York Times. 26 January 1953. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
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