E-Paper
HT This Day: January 4, 1933 -- Transfer of capital to Delhi
In an interesting address on “The Place of Geology in the Life of a Nation,” Dr. L. L. Fermor, President of the twentieth session of the Indian Science Congress now being held at Patna, points out how great geological changes have affected the history of India.
In an interesting address on “The Place of Geology in the Life of a Nation,” Dr. L. L. Fermor, President of the twentieth session of the Indian Science Congress now being held at Patna, points out how great geological changes have affected the history of India.
He points out that there are sound geological reasons why Delhi should be the political capital of India and Calcutta its commercial capital, while the foundations of Bombay’s importance were laid so long as 75 million years ago.
Today the session of the Indian Science Congress was occupied with sectional meetings. Lt. Col, Stewart, Director, All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, addressed the Medical and Veterinary Research section, Dr. A. L. Narayan, the Mathematics and Physics section and Dr. 8 L. Ghose, Botanical section. The delegates later visited the Oriental Knudabux Library, the Manuk Art Collections, the Patna Museum and the Sinha Library.
A special feature of the congress is the exhibition of scientific instruments and chemical manufactures.
DELHI AS CAPITAL
Most Strategic Point in India
Dr. Fermor dwelt in his paper on Geological developments and their effects on history. He cited the example of India and mentioned the geological “ reasons for the evolution of Delhi into the capital of the country.
In the first place we may refer to the position of the capital. There is no doubt that the defence of any country is one of prime importance, and that, therefore, the position of greatest internal strategic importance may have claims for selection as the capital of the country. A glance at this map will show you that Delhi, by virtue of its position at the apes of the Peninsula, occupies the most strategic point in India, with reference to the internal peace of the country. For Delhi is at the point where the plains of the Indo-Gangetic alluvium that separate the Peninsula from the Himalaya become most Constricted, the point consequently at which it is easiest to defend the fertile plains of the Yamuna and the Ganges to threat against invasion of the west the direction from which most of the major external invasions of the past have come. It is not surprising therefore, that in the past history of India there have been three decisive battles at Panipat in the plains north of Delhi. It is this position at the apex of the Peninsula that caused Delhi to be the capital home of the Moghal Emperors and their predecessor, and which really caused the removal of the capital of India in recent times from Calcutta to Delhi.
Commercial Capital
But the welfare of a country does not depend only upon the delta of Bengal, by its connection with the Hinterland of the Gangetic valley and the high. lands of Assam, its sea connection to Burma and Southern India, and its proximity to the coal-fields of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, seems to be a natural site for a commercial and industrial capital; it is because of the existence of these underlying natural factors that Calcutta continues to be the commercial capital of India, in spite of the removal of the political capital to Delhi.
The ultimate factors that have caused the selection of Delhi a the political capital of the Indian Empire with the de facto retention of Calcutta as the commercial capital date back to the series of events that caused the break-up of Gondwanaland, followed by the elevation of the Himalayas and the deposit of the alluvium of the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra.
