Page 150 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

During famine years, he had suggested a simple solution of
recruiting at least one person per family in industrial units
thereby reducing the strain on the suffering families in famine.
In 1891, he successfully led the All-India Industrial Conference
in Pune. 125 years ago, he started the famous ‘Glass Factory’at
Talegoan near Pune – A dream project arising out of ‘Paisa
Fund’ initiative.
Agriculture was also an important area he paid attention
to. He was aware that India is primarily an agricultural driven
country. During famine days he translated the ‘Famine Code’
into Marathi which was originally in English language. He
did not stop there but educated the farmers about ‘Famine
Code’ by publishing around forty editorial articles in ‘Kesari’.
He was the first to identify that the Maharastra soil was more
adaptive to sugarcane production. He emphasized on research
in agricultural sector so that good quality and more quantity
could be produced. He however, opposed the import of sugar
from Mauritius (it was under British regime in those days) as
the sugarcane produced in Maharastra was of the same quality
as that produced in Mauritius, but we lacked the technology
to further process it to refined sugar. His idea was to gain
technological expertise from Mauritius for sugar production
instead of importing readymade sugar. He believed, in few years
time as we gain the expertise of production, we will prepare
sugar on our own.
His contribution to Literature was of immense importance.
He was a scholar of Sanskrit and Mathematics subjects with
Indian philosophy as his favorite subject. His first book, ‘The
Orion’ scientifically and methodically proved that the Vedas
were as old as 4500 years - much older than what the European
scholars had interpreted earlier. By proving this, we can sense
his valour towards Indian culture. His second book ten years
later, ‘The Arctic Home in the Vedas’ once again systematically
proved that the Aryans were indeed settled in North Arctic, and
they moved downwards as the years progressed. His ultimate
research-oriented work with deep study was ‘Geeta Rahasya’.
‘Geeta Rahasya’ gave a new perspective and ultimate dimension
towards Indian mythological views. The importance of Geeta

Swatantrata to Atmanirbharata 148