Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi

Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi (1833-1896) was an Indian social reformer and one of the founders of Fergusson College in Pune.[1]

A self-made man, Mahadev was from a humble family. He became an editor of two journals in 1870. Namjoshi recognized the significance of western education in India in order to reawaken the conscience and arouse the intellect of the student community.[2] With this in mind, he started new periodicals like Kiran, Deccan Star, Shilpa kalavidnyan and the Industrial review. His contribution to establishment of industrial conference and the industrial association in Pune was significant.[3] Namjoshi was part of the formation of New English school and was also an elected member of the Pune municipality. As an active fund-raiser he persuaded southern Maratha country to contribute towards the establishment of Ferguson college. However, his chief interest was promotion of Indian industry and for this he often sought quick action instead of long winded discussions. In 1888, Namjoshi approached the government for help to establish contact with various artisans, their functioning and imparting them knowledge in modern methods of manufacturing, tools, machine tools and hand machines and also work out who and how would goods be transported. He explored the possibility of active cooperation from the local municipal boards in this regard.[3] Namjoshi also spoke on behalf of specific industries. He stressed the need for protection of handloom workers who couldn't compete against the modern mechanized textile industry. He spoke about the brass metal industry especially about he ignorance and lack of usage of labour saving devices like lathers, hammers, cutters, planing and milling machines.

He was a close associate of Lokmanya Tilak since 1880s.[4] After the foundation of Indian national congress in 1885, Namjoshi complained about the lack of representative committee. Allan Hume, the founder of the Congress choose not to give it serious attention, instead treated him with ill concealed contempt.[5]

References
  1. Khan, Mohammad Shabbir (1992). Tilak and Gokhale: A Comparative Study of Their Socio-politico-economic Programmes of Reconstruction. APH Publishing. ISBN 9788170244783.
  2. Reporter, Science (October 2014). "India's first planetarium turns sixty" (PDF). Science Reporter: 3 – via pdf.
  3. "Modern economic thought" (PDF). Modern Economic Thought. Chapter 4. 1888.
  4. Cashman, Richard I. (1 January 1975). The Myth of the Lokamanya: Tilak and Mass Politics in Maharashtra. University of California Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780520024076. mahadev ballal namjoshi.
  5. McLane, John R. (8 March 2015). Indian Nationalism and the Early Congress. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400870233.


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