From the Bottom Up
| Published date | 01 October 1978 |
| Date | 01 October 1978 |
| Author | A. Ramsay Tainsh |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787800600205 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
446
FROM
THE
BOTTOM
UP
A.
RAMSAY
TAINSH
&dquo;THE
Great
Pyramid
is
still
standing
and
thousands
flock
to
see
it
daily,&dquo;
was
the
greeting
an
Egyptian
gave
me
on
return
from
a
brief
holiday
after
an
absence
of 15
years.
Then,
after
a
pause,
he
added
&dquo;People
now
realize
it
was
built
from
the
bottom
up&dquo;.
The
Pharaohs
encouraged
agriculture
and
practised
a
sound
system
of
grain
storage.
Taxation
was
in
kind
and
the
administra-
tion
and
labour
were
paid
in
kind.
In
other
words,
temples,
pyra-
mids,
deep
wells
and
irrigation
works
could
all
be
carried
out
without
the
help
of
international
experts
or
foreign
loans.
In
about
1250
Yet
Seti
had
inscribed
on
a
temple
wall
the
wages
he
paid
his
labour.
Each
person
received
about
2
kg.
of
whole-
meal
bread,
one
bunch
of
fresh
vegetables
and
a
roast
of
meat
daily.
Twice
a
month
there
was
an
issue
of
linen.
Without
doubt
the
labour
force
was
eating
much
better
than
the
industrial
and
business
communities
of
North
America
and
Western
Europe
today.
There
are
still
many
people
who
believe
that
the
British
Raj
showed
no
interest
in
the
food
and
agricultural
problems
of
India
and
that
this
was
the
cause
of
the
so-called
Bengal
Famine.
The
honourable
East
India
Company,
for
all
its
faults
and
weaknesses,
did
realize
that
famines
were
bad
for
trade
and
took
active
steps
to
prevent
them.
For
instance,
in
1786
Captain
John
Garstin
built
a
single
cell
granary
with
a
capacity
of
137,000
tons
at
Patna
and
had
it
filled
with
grain
as
a
reserve
against
famine.
This
type
of
scheme
was
not
repeated
because
it
was
difficult
to
handle
such
large
quanti-
ties
of
grain
by
hand.
In
1805
the
East
India
Company
decided
that
steps
must
be
taken
to
repair
the
ancient
irrigation
works
of
South
India.
This
work
involved
the
training
of
rivers
and
repair
of
dams
built
across
the
the
sand-beds
of
rivers
many
miles
wide.
There
were
also
33,200
tanks
irrigating
on
the
average
100
acres,
and
a
million
or
more
wide
diameter
wells
20
to
60
feet
deep
in
Madras
Pro-
vince
alone.
Once
the
work
in
the
South
was
completed
work
began
in
North
and
Central
India.
In
1847
a
Civil
Engineering
College
was
established
at
Roorkee
to
train
British
and
Indian
447
engineers.
By
1939
the
irrigation
services
had
dug
8,000
miles
of
main
canal
with
a
total
flow
of
400,000
cusecs.
This
provided
water
to
irrigate
70
million
acres.
The
railway
system
was
laid
out
to
ensure
that
no
large
village
was
more
than
two
day’s
cart
distance
from
a
railway
station.
The
metre
gauge
system
of
the old
Bengal
and
North
Western
Railway
was
so
efficiently
operated
that
it
paid
its
shareholders
a
dividend
of
16
per
cent
from
the
time
it
was
inaugurated
until
it
was
nationalised
in
1937.
This
was
not
achieved
by
charging
passengers
high
fares:
a
third-class
passenger
could
travel
256
miles
for
one
Rupee.
India
also
built
up
the
world’s
largest
river
transport
system
which
operated
mainly
in
Bengal,
Assam
and
Burma.
Like
the
railways,
the
boats
transported
agricultural
produce
to
the
ports
and
factories
and
merchandise
and
urban
services
to
the
rural
areas.
Up
till
1939
India
was
exporting
high
quality
wheat
to
Europe
and
high
quality
rice
to
Persia
and
Arabia.
On
the
other
hand,
it
also
imported
parboiled
rice
from
Siam
and
Burma.
The
commun-
ication
system
worked
so
smoothly
that
merchants
could
follow
monsoon
reports
in
the
Press
and
decide
what
parts
of
the
country
would
have
a
deficit
of
grain
and
then
go
to
the
Imperial
Bank
and
place
an
order
for
a
given
tonnage
of
rice
to
be
delivered
at
some
remote
railway
station
by
paying
only
10
per
cent
of
the
total
cost
of
the delivered
rice.
The
balance
was
paid
in
stages
as
the
rice
was
gradually
sold
off.
In
1939
and
throughout
the
war
years
the
rains
were
good
in
India
and
there
was
an
overall
supply
of
about
400
tb
of
grain
per
head
per
annum,
or
about
180
kg.
If
we
assume
that
the
post-
harvest
losses
were
40
per
cent,
then
that
would
mean
there
was
108
kg.
per
capita
which
was
more
than
enough
and
better
than
has
been
achieved
since
Independence.
The
disaster
in
East
Bengal,
flooding,
hurricanes
and
crop
failures,
would
have
caused
little
hardship
if
the
food
in
other
parts
of
India
had
reached
the
deficit
areas
in
time.
However,
on
July
14,
1943
the
Damodar
River
overflowed
its
banks
yet
again,
flooding
the
paddy
lands
of
West
Bengal
and
at
the
same
time
cutting
the
rail
links
with
South
and
Western
India
along
which
food
was
belatedly
being
sent
to
East
Bengal.
Mr.
R.
G.
Casey,
Governor
of
Bengal,
hoped
to
end
this
peren-
nial
problem
caused
by
the
flooding
of
the
Damodar
River
and
decided
to
ask
for
American
help.
Mr.
William
Voorduin,
who
had
worked
with
the
Tennessee
Valley
Authority
was
flown
to
Bengal.
He
made
a
quick
tour
of
the
Damodar
Valley
and
then
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