The HF 24 - Marut Fighter Aircraft

 The HF 24 - Marut Aircraft, the Battle of Longewala and Nehru Science Centre - An Interesting Connect. 

There was euphoria and hype all across the country when the first set of five Rafale fighter Aircraft’s landed in India from France. This was quite significant particularly in the context of the current stand off between the Indian and Chinese forces in Ladakh, post the Galway Valley incident in which our brave soldiers were martyred. Fighter aircraft’s play a pivotal role in the defence preparedness of any nation and India is no different and it is in this context that Indians rejoiced the induction of Rafale’s in to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The Indian air preparedness will further be strengthened with the induction of the indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) - Tejas, which is now in its advanced stage. 

A look back in history reveals that LCA - Tejas, is not the first fighter aircraft to have been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured in India. This credit goes to the forgotten HF 24 - Marut aircraft, which has now been confined to history. However, one of this historically significant HF24 aircraft is in the proud possession of our centre - Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. It is interesting to note that India was, perhaps, the first country, outside of Europe and the US, which has the distinction of designing and manufacturing its own fighter aircraft - the HF 24 Marut, Fighter Aircraft that was manufactured by Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL). Incidentally the Marut fighter aircraft created history by successfully participating in the famous battle of Longewala during the Bangladesh liberation war, which India successfully fought and won against Pakistan. 

The battle of Longewala - fought on that sandy desert out post in Rajasthan on our western boarder, is now a folklore story in India, which has been beautifully captured on celluloid in the Hindi film - Border. Longewala witnessed a historic and epic battle that exemplifies one of the most heralded bravery of the Indian armed forces.  The indefatigable spirit of Major Kuldip Chandpuri and his 120 valorous men of the Indian armed forces, with extraordinary support from their airforce brethren, flying Marut and Hawker aircraft’s, took on a massive Pakistani paltan that majorly outweighed the Indians many times in men and armed materials, to script that folklore epic victory for us in the 1971, Bangladesh liberation war.

The Pakistani paltan, which had orders to capture Jaisalmer and Jodhpur after bulldozing over Longewala, boasted of some 2000 plus heavily armed infantry that was supported by some 50 odd ‘Type 59 tanks (Chinese copies of the Soviet T-54/55) and other armed vehicles and ammunitions. Courtesy the valour of our 120 men led by Major Chandpuri, on the Longewala sand post, and their brethren  Indian Airforce pilots, aided by their HF 24 Marut and other fighter aircraft’s, the Pakistani received one of their bloodiest nose before their hasty and cowardly retreat - (दुम दबाके भागा). Scores of essays have been written on the bravery of our men in this historic battle at Longewala including the famous Bollywood film ‘Border’, which has highlighted the valour of our armed forces and their commandant Major Chandpuri. Therefore this post of mine will be confined mostly to the contributions of the IAF in general and HAL manufactured HF 24 Marut aircraft in particular. The role of Indian Airforce at the Battle of Longewala has been immortalised by Jackie Shroff in the film, Border. 

The HF 24 Marut Fighter, which participated in the battle of Longewala, is now history. However,  one of this aircraft was gifted by the IAF  to our centre in 1978. Ever since, the HF 24 aircraft is on display in our science park and has been seen by millions of visitors. The rusty climatic conditions of Mumbai has taken a heavy toll on this precious aircraft, which was very badly damaged and courtesy the CMD of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL) and Mr Muthalick Desai and staff from the HAL office in Nashik, this aircraft has been restored to its near pristine beauty of yesteryear’s. We have plans to create a new shed with proper ambience for the aircraft, which we hope to take up during the next financial year. We have effectively used the lockdown period to restore most of our precious artefacts that are displayed in our science park.

Courtesy J P Datta and Bollywood, the Battle of Longewala has been made into a war film ‘Border’, in which Sunny Deol plays the role of the protagonist- Major Kuldip Chandpuri, and is supported by equally popular  cine artistes including Jackie Shroff, who plays the role of an Indian Air Force Pilot. This film, which besides being a blockbuster hit movie, has captured the hearts and minds of the audience and this battle - fought in early December 1971, will remain  alive in all our collective memories. I am one of many who has seen this film multiple times. The image of the Pakistani forces making a hasty retreat and running for cover and so also the destruction of the Pakistani tanks and other ammunition’s by the Indian airforce pilots is so very fresh in my memory, which gets further refreshed whenever I see the HF 24 Marut Aircraft displayed in our science centre. 

The valour of our 120 Indian soldiers, led by Major Chandpuri,  who stood their ground against 2000 plus men from the Pakistani army and their 50 plus tanks and other arsenal, reminds me of that infamous Crimean war, which we had learnt during our school days.  The Crimean war and the valiant fight of 600 soldiers of the Light Brigade, who ‘rode in to the valley of death’ has been beautifully captured in the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The hair raising poem recounts an extraordinary assault by 600 soldiers (Brigade) of the British cavalry. The charge of light Brigade is regarded as one of the most heroic, yet futile assaults in British military history that took place at the Battle of Balaclava, during Britain’s war with Russia in Crimea in the mid 19th century. The Longewala battle and the bravery of our men, led by Major Chandpuri, has a parallel in the Crimean war.  120 Indian soldiers and their commanding officer  - Major Chandpuri stood their ground facing the enemy until scoring the most heralded victory against the enemy, who made a hasty retreat. The valour, grit and undying courage shown by our armed forces reminds me of that famous Lata Mangeshkar song, “ ये मेरेवतन पे लोगों .....” in which Lata Mangeshkar - nightingale queen of India, appeals to the nation to remember the valour and sacrifice of our armed forces. 

The story of the battle of Longewala is incomplete without the role played by HF 24 Marut aircraft and the Hunters of the Indian Airforce, which destroyed the enemy tanks in large numbers. The happenings in the eastern borders and the mistreatment of the Pakistani forces against the Bengali speaking citizens in the erstwhile East Pakistan had it’s expected impact of mass immigration of the Bengalis into the Indian side and thus leading to the unavoidable conflict between India and Pakistan. When the war on the eastern front was imminent, Pakistan hoped to capture territory along the West Pakistan border and planned for a preemptive strike - on December 3, 1971, to compensate for the weak position of its forces in East Pakistan. Their plan was a thrust, on the first day of the war, to aim and capture Jaisalmer and eventually Jodhpur. But then for achieving this they had to endeavour their first target -  the isolated border outpost of Longewala, located in the middle of the Thar desert. The Pakistani force ordered to achieve this mission constituted two infantry brigades and armored battalions totaling to more than two thousand infantry and 45 to 50 Type 59 tanks. The Post of Longewala was manned by  120 men of the company of the Twenty Third Battalion of the Punjab Regiment. This post was led by Major Chandpuri and it had in its arsenal only a single 106 millimetre recoilless antitank gun mounted on a jeep, a few mortars and a medium machine gun, and a camel riding squad of the border patrol - Suneil Shetty. The sheer mismatch of the strength of the two armies, when analysed from any normal tactical analysis, inferred that there was no way the Indian defenders should have held out for so long to defend their Longewala post. But then the Indian soldiers are made of a different mettle. They not only managed to hold on to the post but also, with support of their airforce brethren, caused an unspeakable miserly and destruction on their enemy, which has been so beautifully captured in the Border film. What is more creditworthy is that as against the melodramatic scenes in the film, where many soldiers are shown to have been martyred, in reality the Indians lost just two of their brave men in the process of giving a bloody nose to the enemy, who hastily retreated leaving behind a scene of massive destruction.

The Pakistani troops had begun to advance at half past midnight on 3rd December and head towards Longewala. Without the benefit of tactical reconnaissance, the tanks bogged down in the thick sand dunes around the Longewala outpost. Major Chandpuri and his men, who were defending this post, were strategically positioned on a rocky outcrop a hundred feet high, and were waiting until the struggling tanks had crept up to short range. The Indian soldiers then opened fire, destroying twelve of the enemy tanks with their lone recoilless gun and old World War II–era Projector Infantry Anti Tanks (PIAT). The Pakistani attack came to a halt since they encountered, what they believed to be a tank minefield behind a row of barbed wire, which hours later was discovered not to exist.

The Pakistani began a renewed offensive at the break of dawn, and it was now the turn of the Indian Marut jets of 10 Squadron, reinforced by four Hawker Hunters, who were waiting for the dawn to launch their assault. They descended on the battlefield, unleashing T-10 rockets and spitting thirty millimetre cannon shells at the bogged down armor in what was described as a “turkey shoot.” By the afternoon, the Indian Airforce planes had destroyed an additional twenty-two tanks and at least a hundred more vehicles forcing the enemy to a hasty retreat. This outcome is particularly remarkable as the Indian aircraft did not benefit from the specialized guided antitank missiles that give modern ground-attack planes high lethality against tanks. Indian ground forces counterattacked by noon, sending the Pakistani force into full retreat. 

The HF 24 Marut, remained in the thick of the action throughout the thirteen day war, strafing airfields, bombing ammunitions dumps, and hitting tanks and artillery on the frontlines—flying over two hundred sorties and suffering just three losses to ground fire. A fourth Marut was destroyed on the ground while taxiing on the runway at Uttarlai by a strafing Pakistani Air Force F-104 Starfighter. Nonetheless, the HF-24 boasted a high serviceability rate and proved quite tough and lethal, with several of the jets managing to return to base on just one engine even while their second engine was shot. 

The HF 24 - Marut, manufactured in India by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), has a unique distinction to be the first jet fighter, which was designed, developed and manufactured by any Asian country, other than Russia. HAL was established by an eminent Indian industrialist - Walchand Hirachand, with support from Sir M Visvesvaraya. Hirachand and Sir M Visvesvaraya succeeded in convincing the then Mysore government to establish an Aircraft Factory in Bangalore. The Government of Mysore made a generous offer in the form of 1000 acres of land, water and electricity facilities for the establishment of the aircraft factory, which later came to be known as HAL. The financial support for HAL project was provided by the Government of India, Government of Mysore and Hirachand and Company. By the early 1950s, HAL had managed to develop few propeller planes and gained experience in building British Vampire jets. In 1956, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had bigger plans for HAL. He conceived an idea that HAL should develop a jet fighter on its own. This was the time when Nehru was building what he called  ‘temples of modern India’ - mega public sector companies and infrastructure projects. He thus authorised HAL to develop a Mach 2 multirole jet fighter, with a range of five hundred miles (800 Kms)

Developing an indigenous jet fighter was an enormously ambitious project for HAL. To achieve this task an expert talent was necessary and accordingly the Government of India, identified and recruited one of the top notch designer, Mr. Kurt Tank, from Germany for guiding HAL in this endeavour. Tank was a Nazi engineer who had to his credit designing the legendary Focke-Wulf 190, which was the best German single-engine fighter of World War II. With Tank on board the HAL went full throttle to gear itself to the onus responsibility of designing and manufacturing the jet fighter. On the recommendations of Tank, HAL massively ramped up its design staff by nearly  twelvefold and also expanded its other facilities to accommodate a project of this magnitude. Kurt Tank, drawing from his German experience, successfully produced a full-scale X-241 glider mockup of the jet fighter plane in the year 1959. He followed it up with the development of a flying prototype of the fighter jet in 1961. Tank had prepared a design in which he envisaged using a swept-wing twin-engine for which he had to depend on an uprated Bristol BOr.12 Orpheus afterburning turbojet that could produce 8,150 pounds of thrust. The cost of this turbo engine was quite exorbitant and the Government was not prepared to invest an estimated 13 million pounds, which was necessary for Bristol to develop the engine. This reluctance by the government for investment in Bristol turbo engine meant that HAL had to look for an alternative for which they spent years fruitlessly shopping for an alternative to the Bristol turbo engine in the Soviet Union, Europe and the United States. This did not yield any fruitful result.

HAL was therefore forced to make do with an alternative engine - Orpheus 703 turbojets, in place of the original Bristol Turbo engine. Unfortunately the Orpheus turbojet could not generate the requisite thrust and could generate only 4,850 pounds, which was by far less than what the design of Tank envisaged. As a result, HAL which had an aim of developing a Mach 2 fighter, ended up in producing a jet fighter aircraft that could barely attain a speed of Mach 1, and that too at high altitudes. Most unfortunately all this resulted in the HF-24 Marut - Spirit of the Tempest, becoming an obsolete technology by the time it entered professional service in 1967. By then the the Indian Air Force had started acquiring the MIG - 21s from the Soviet Union and the indigenously produced HF 24 fighter aircraft’s were unable to match up with the MiG-21s or the F - 104 Star Fighter aircraft’s, which were used by Pakistan. The IAF was vastly disappointed with the sub par performance of the HF24 and therefore these aircraft’s were assigned to light attack duties. In all HAL could produce only 147, HF-24 aircraft’s including eighteen two-seat trainer variants. These aircrafts were used to equip the Indian Air Force’s No. 10 Flying Dagger, No. 31 Lions and No. 220 Desert Tigers squadron, which meant that there were unusually large surplus of redundant aircrafts. The irony was that it costed more to produce each HF 24/Marut, domestically than it did to buy better capable fighter aircraft’s from abroad. All this pointed out to a certain end for the HF 24 sooner than later. The HF 24, as a bomber, could carry up to four thousand pounds of unguided bombs and a hundred sixty eight milimeter rockets, in addition to the heavy firepower of its four thirty-millimeter cannons. Notwithstanding the drawback listed above, the HF 24 Marut had relatively precise controls and good low-speed handling capability.

With all the above limitations the HF 24 Marut fared exceptionally well during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war, including playing that pivotal role in the battle of Longewala. Post the Bangladesh liberation war the HAL submitted several proposals to improve the HF-24 by installing more-powerful engines (the Marut Mark 1R and 2). But the Indian Air Force had little interest in investing further in the Marut when it could acquire faster and heavier-lifting Su-7, MiG-23 and MiG-27 fighter-bombers from the Soviet Union. All this resulted in the HF-24 to be phased out of Indian squadrons in the 1980s, with the last aircraft being retired from 31 Squadron in 1990.  These HF 24 Marut aircrafts, that were phased out from the IAF, are now spread across the country and are seen as monuments on display in some of the public places and one such HF 24 Marut aircraft is displayed in our science park.

The HF 24 Marut fighter aircraft displayed at our centre was donated by the IAF in the year 1978-79. This aircraft, most unfortunately, over the past four decades developed very high corrosion and most parts of the aircraft’s were severely damaged. Mumbai sultry weather also played its role in the vast deterioration of our aircraft. The photographs show the severity of the deterioration that had crept into this aircraft. Moreover our centre is open to the public on 363 days in a year and therefore taking up the restoration was also a challenge. The Covid 19 pandemic provided us an opportunity to attempt a major restoration of this aircraft. But then we were also facing  severe fund crunch and there was no way that we would get the requisite funds to take up the major restoration of this aircraft. Therefore the only option left for us was to make an emotional appeal to the CMD of HAL and request him to please consider taking up,the major restoration of the aircraft free of cost or at a very cost. Fortunately for us our efforts to contact the CMD yielded positive results. The CMD of HAL very kindly passed on our request to the HAL office in Nashik. We contacted the HAL Nashik office and it so happened that the officer to whom the mail of CMD, HAL was marked turned out to be an engineer from Karnataka - Mr Muthalick Desai. During the course of our telephonic conversation Desai and I soon realised that we had many common friends and some of them were very close friends. Thus the professional relationship that Mr Desai and I had ended up as a close friendship that too when we have never met personally. Desai was very helpful and he deputed three of his team to survey the badly damaged HF 24 Marut aircraft displayed at our centre. We helped this team to make a thorough inspection of the damages caused to the aircraft. The team went back and reported the damage and what was necessary to try and carry out the best possible major restoration. Under the Covid situation we had some constraints. But then finally Mr Desai ji finally managed to get all approvals for taking up the major restoration of our aircraft and deputed a large contingent of his team - 9 people, for the restoration. The team reached our centre with all the required materials that they brought from HAL Nashik including the paint which too was sourced from USSR. The HAL, Nashik team deputed by Mr Desai stayed put inside our campus for nearly two weeks and worked extraordinarily hard in the restoration of the aircraft including its painting. The outcome is here for everyone to see in the accompanying photographs of the restored aircraft. Although the Marut aircraft has been restored its pristine elegance of yesteryears, unfortunately the garage or the shed under which this is displayed also needs a major makeover. Unfortunately due to the paucity of funds we are not in a position to take up the major make over of the shed this financial year. However we have made provisions to carry out the major make over of the shed next year and I am very certain that our restored Marut Aircraft will look more majestic once the shed receives a makeover. 

We have also taken up the major restoration of all our other outdoor locomotives which we hope to complete by January and we also have plans to do a major make over of the sheds of these locomotives, which we had acquired in 1979. Hopefully by middle of next year each of our outdoor precious locomotive artefacts will not only be completely restored but will also be housed in a better ambience and I am certain that these restored locomotives will turn out to be a major attraction for our centre.

Deepavali, Battle of Longewala, HF – 24 (Marut) Fighter Aircraft and Nehru Science Centre - An interesting connect.

Deepavali, Battle of Longewala,  HF – 24 (Marut) Fighter Aircraft and Nehru Science Centre : An interesting connect. Part 1

Images : courtesy  Commons and Internet 

This post is an outcome of my ‘accidentally’ sharing on my Facebook page a link to the news coverage of our PM, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, spending this Deepavali with our reverential armed forces at the Longewala desert post. It was one of those news that I thought would be viewed apolitically, but then the polarised Indian polity does not seem to come together, even on matters that have a bearing on our armed forces. I earnestly hope and pray that millions of lights that were lit across the globe to celebrate the Deepavali festival, particularly  in India, will help in vanquishing all evils of darkness, such as Covid and such other darkness that are plaguing mankind, and lead us to that kindly light.  

Interestingly ever since Mr Modi ji assumed the office of the PM of India - in 2014, every year he has made it a point to spend his Deepavali with our defence forces, a leader like gesture, which definitively is bound to lift the morale of our armed forces who defend us from the enemy on all terrains, including some of the worst of climatic conditions that any one can imagine. This year, the PM has chosen the Longewala desert post. The battle of Longewala - fought on that sandy desert out post on our western boarder, is now a folklore story in India. Longewala witnessed a historic and epic battle that exemplifies one of the most heralded bravery of the Indian armed forces. The indefatigable spirit of Major Kuldip Chandpuri and his 120 valorous men of the Indian armed forces, with extraordinary support from their airforce brethren, flying HF 24 Marut and Hawker aircraft’s, took on a massive Pakistani paltan that majorly outweighed the Indians many times in men and armed materials, to script that folklore epic victory for us in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war, which the Pakistanis had thrust on us. 

The Bangladesh liberation war was thrust on us due to the persecution and mistreatment of the Bengali speaking citizens in the erstwhile East Pakistan, by the Pakistani armed forces. The result was an unavoidable mass immigration of the Bengalis into the Indian side resulting in the conflict between India and Pakistan. When the clouds of war on the eastern front broke out and the war seemed imminent, Pakistan tried for a misadventure to capture Indian territory along our western border by planning for a preemptive strike - on December 3, 1971,  on the very first day of the war. This they hoped  would compensate for the weak position of its forces in East Pakistan. Their plan was to aim and capture Jaisalmer and eventually Jodhpur. But then for achieving this objective they had to endeavour their first target at the isolated border outpost of Longewala, located in the middle of the Thar desert. The Pakistani paltan, which had orders to capture Jaisalmer and Jodhpur after bulldozing over Longewala, boasted of some 2000 plus heavily armed infantry that was supported by some 50 odd ‘Type 59 tanks (Chinese copies of the Soviet T-54/55) and other armed vehicles and ammunitions. Courtesy the valour of our armed forces on the isolated Longewala sand post and their brethren  Indian Airforce fighters aided by their HF 24 Marut and other fighter aircraft’s, the Pakistani received one of their bloodiest nose right at the beginning of the war forcing them to hastily retreat to save their lives. One of the Indian fighter aircrafts which created ‘नाकमें दम’ for the Pakistani forces during the battle of Longewala was the HF24 - Marut aircraft, which was manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Nehru Science Centre is in proud possession of one of these HF 24 Marut aircraft’s from the Indian Airforce. 

The HF 24 Marut aircraft was gifted to our centre some time in 1978 and ever since millions of visitors have seen this aircraft in our centre. The rusty climatic conditions of Mumbai and the four plus decades of the age of aircraft and its display in the outdoor ambience of our centre had taken a heavy toll on this precious aircraft, which was severely damaged and needed an urgent restoration. The Covid lockdown provided us an opportunity to attempt for its restoration. Fortunately, courtesy the CMD of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Mr Muthalick Desai and his staff from HAL office Nashik, we have managed to restore this severely damaged aircraft, to its near pristine beauty of yesteryear’s. The newly restored HF 24 Marut aircraft is now awaiting for the visitors in its new restored avatar. 

Courtesy J P Datta, the Battle of Longewala, including the role played by the HF 24 Marut, has been eternally etched on celluloid film ‘Border’, in which Sunny Deol plays the role of the protagonist- Major Kuldip Chandpuri, and is supported by equally popular cine artistes. This film, besides being a blockbuster movie, has captured the hearts and minds of the audience and the battle of Longewala will remain alive in all our collective memories. I am one of many Indians who has seen this film multiple times, more so since this film is usually featured every year either on Independence Day or Republic Day. The image of the Pakistani forces making a hasty retreat and running for cover and the destruction of the Pakistani tanks and other ammunition’s by the Indian airforce pilots is so very fresh in my memory. This memory gets the accentuated vitality whenever I see the HF 24 marut Aircraft displayed in our science centre. The valour of our 120 Indian soldiers, led by Major Chandpuri,  who stood their ground against 2000 plus men from the Pakistani army and their 50 plus tanks and other arsenal, reminds me of that infamous Crimean war, which we had learnt during our school days. Our school teachers often narrated war stories of valiant soldiers to motivate us to join the armed forces (National Defence Academy). One such story etched in my memory is a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson. This poem describes the valiant fight of 600 soldiers of the Light Brigade, who ‘rode in to the valley of death’ defending their country. The hair raising poem recounts an extraordinary assault by 600 soldiers (Brigade) of the British cavalry aptly described as ‘The charge of light Brigade’. It is regarded as one of the most heroic yet futile assaults in British military history, which took place at the Battle of Balaclava, during Britain’s war with Russia in Crimea in the mid 19th century. The Longewala battle and the bravery of our men has a parallel in the Crimean war.  120 soldiers of Major Chandpuri who faced a massive Pakistani army of 2000 plus men, heavily supported by nearly 50 tanks, is paralleled by the 600 men of the light brigade. The Indian soldiers and their commanding officer stood their ground - true to the undying traditions of the Indian armed forces, until the enemy were made to hastily retreat facing unprecedented loss of lives and machinery and armament.

Border film has ensured that the battle of Longewala has now become legendary and is a house hold name in India. The valour of the Indian armed forces who defend our nation at any cost -  including to the very peril of their life, which they are always ready, in service of their motherland -  is beautifully reflected in  Lata Mangeshkar’s song, “ ये मेरे वतन पे लोगों .....” in which the nightingale queen of India, appeals to the nation to remember the valour and sacrifice of our armed forces who, while we are celebrating Deepavali, are risking with their lives to protect us from our enemy. It is in this context that I salute the PM for  spending every Deepavali with our soldiers on our borders, ever since he assumed the office of the PM of India. One may profess any of their own political ideologies, but then in my opinion there cannot be any differences when it comes to supporting our armed forces in any which way. 

The HF 24 Marut aircraft in itself has an interesting history which I shall write in my next post. Until then I join our billion plus countrymen in saluting our armed forces who while we are celebrating Deepavali are endearing the enemy - the worst of climate, terrorists, the compulsive nay sayer Pakistani and the expansionist mindset Chinese army across our vast border. 

To be continued in part 2.

Jai Hind and Jai Hind ki Sena.

Nehru Science Centre Turns 35

Nehru Science Centre Turns 35 : A Kaleidoscopic Visual Look back in History 

            Copy of the first visitor with entry ticket @ 50 Paisa, visiting Light and Sight Gallery - 15.10.1977

    

One of the first letter heads of the Centre  - Nehru Museum, 1976?

First Registrex ticket  1.5.1981

Letter head, which shows name changed from Nehru Museum to Nehru Science Centre 1977/78?

Glimpse of Science Park 1980 

Transporting precious locomotives to the Science Centre complex

Students at the first gallery - Light and Sight Gallery 1977/78

Barren land getting ready for development of Science Museum -1976/77

Opening of the Children Science Park - Dec, 22, 1979

    Entry ticket charged at Rs 2. 1985?

Tram Car

Construction of the main building 1984

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi welcomed with a rose by a young girl for the opening -11.11.1985

Rajiv Gandhi engrossed in the Planetary Motion exhibit - Dr Saroj Ghose and Late R M Chakraborty, founding Director of NSCM are seen in the picture

Rajiv Gandhi visiting the Vintage Car exhibition -11.11.1985

One of the most sought after school excursions in Mumbai is the Nehru Science Centre, which celebrated its 35^th anniversary, yesterday - 11^th November 2020. Although the facilities to the Nehru Science Centre, spread over an area of 11.2 acres, were opened in phased manner, the main centre and its majestic building, designed by Achyut Kanvinde, an eminent architect of India, in its current form, was dedicated to the nation by the then honorable Prime Minister of India, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi on 11th November 1985. Although I had plans to write about this momentous occasion yesterday, due to my preoccupation with making arrangements for befittingly commemorating this occasion with some innovative program, I could not complete this post yesterday, which I am now posting today. I am also honored to share some very rare archival photographs of the centre, from those early years including the first ever entry ticket and our early letter heads, which indicate that this centre was part of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - CSIR. The NSCM has an interesting history and it was during the development of this centre that the parent organization of our centre – The National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), was born and the Nehru Science Centre, which was earlier part of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), got detached from it and started functioning under a separate autonomous scientific institution – NCSM.

 The science museum movement in India owes its genesis to Bharat Ratna, Dr. B.C. Roy. Dr Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, was highly impressed with the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany and his visit had such great impact on him that on his return to India Dr Roy envisaged building a similar museum in West Bengal and Calcutta (Kolkatta now) was his obvious choice. Dr. Roy requested Ghanashyamdas Birla (GD Birla) - the benevolent industrialist with nationalistic approach, for donating a suitable building and a plot of land for establishing a Museum on the lines of the famous Deutsches Museum.  The Birla’s were known for their philanthropy, particularly in the field of education and therefore G.D. Birla willingly agreed to part with the 19 A Gurusaday Road plot of land and also their existing building in the premises,  to Dr. Roy for the establishment of the said museum. Dr. Roy requested Prime Minister, Pundit Nehru, and sought his help to support his initiative for starting a world class technology museum in Calcutta. The Prime Minister of India, who also happens to be the President of the premier scientific research institution – the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) society, assigned the task of developing the best possible ‘Technology Museum’ to the then Director General of CSIR, Prof M. S. Thacker. Dr. Thacker with support from Dr. Amalendu Bose, the first Museum Director, established the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), which was formally opened to the public on 2nd May 1959. Taking cue from this museum CSIR established the second museum in Bangalore, which was established as a tribute to Sir M Visvesvaraya in 1965 and was named the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technology Museum (VITM). The building for the development of this museum was also donated by the Visvesvaraya Trust. 

 

Bombay (Mumbai now), which had begun to become the economic hub of India, was not to be left behind. The Mafatlals, (Arvind Maftlal) in the the later part of 60s took up this initiative to support development of a similar science museum in Bombay for which they expressed their willingness to donate 45 acres of land in Worli and also to fund Rs. 70 Lacs for the Museum which was to be named  the Mafatlal Industrial and Technological Museum. Unfortunately, this initiative did not progress much and the Mafatlal's who had paid the money to CSIR, took back the money and their proposal. The progress of this project was very slow and when the project was heading nowhere, in the early 70s, Mr. Rajni Patel took initiative on this project. However, by this time the project was divided into two parts, the first part was the Nehru Science Centre and the other part was the Nehru Centre, which is on Dr. Annie Besant Road. By the time things were formalized by signing the required agreements we were allotted 11.6 acres of land and this land was a dumping ground which was used for disposal of waste material and the land was also not free from encumbrance. It is now learnt that services of the para military was availed to evict the unauthorized squatters from this location.  

By the time CSIR got the possession of this land - from BMC on 99 years lease -  for the development of the Museum, the project was already delayed.  There were questions asked for the delay and the founding members of this project - Nehru Science Centre, worked very hard to convert the dumping waste land into a lush green area. However, pressure was mounting from the top for commencement of the museum for public, since the project was getting delayed. This was the time when the country was also passing through some challenging times and Emergency was imposed in India. By the time The Emergency was revoked and fresh elections were announced, there was not 'enough' progress in the project. In 1977, the Morarji Desai government (Janata Party) came to power defeating the Congress. The new government decided to review the functioning of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), particularly reviewing if the museums should function under CSIR. A committee was therefore constituted to review the functioning of the museums under CSIR

It was during this stressful time that the founders of Nehru Science Centre project decided to start the project in phased manner so that some progress in the project can be show cased to the new government and part of the facility could be opened to the public. Accordingly it was decided that in the first phase a temporary workshop and shed be constructed with site office where an exhibition “Light & Sight” can be developed and thrown open to the public by the end of 1977. This exhibition was opened as scheduled and students came in good numbers to visit this exhibition. We managed to trace out the first ticket purchased by the visitor for visiting this gallery and this ticket is included in the images, which are appended with this post. The exhibition was opened in a temporary shed in October 1977 and the entry to this exhibition costed 50 paisa. It was during this time, when the committee to examine the functioning of Museums was doing its duty, an idea to start an open air science park got impregnated into the mind of Dr. Saroj Ghose, the founder Director General of NCSM. Thus, for the first time, not just in India but globally, the concept of open air Science Park was started and this was inaugurated on 22.12.1979. It was also during this time that several precious artefacts viz. Steam Lorry, Diesel and narrow gauge Steam Locomotive, Tram Car, Horse Drawn tram Car and Marut HF-24, Fighter Aircraft were collected from different sources and displayed in the Science Park. These precious artefacts and the Science Park provided a fresh impetus to detach the museums from CSIR, which had a different mandate and that Museums did not fit into this mandate. 

The task force which was constituted to examine the functioning of the museums under CSIR, submitted a report and recommended that Museums should be detached from CSIR and that a separate autonomous institution should be formed to govern all the science museums in India. The report of the task force was accepted by the Government and we were detached from CSIR and started functioning under a newly constituted autonomous scientific body, which was called the National Council of Science Museums. The founders of NCSM also decided to change their approach to making of science museums. By then a visionary in US - Frank Oppenheimer, the brother of Richard Oppenheimer of Manhattan project fame, had started an interesting project which he named the Exploratorium. This was an interesting concept which engaged the visitors hand on and they were able to perform engaging scientific observations in the working models which were displayed in the Exploratorium. This concept appealed to the Indian leadership in science center's namely - Dr Saroj Ghose. Thus it was decided that the Bombay Science Museum will be based on the new model of Exploratorium and will be renamed as Nehru Science Centre instead of Science Museum. Ever since all the subsequent science museums which have been developed by NCSM have been named Science Centers.  

The Science Park and so also the vintage locomotive artefacts, which were opened to the public, started attracting people from the neighboring areas. Even when the main building designed by leading architect, Achyut Prakash Kanvinde was getting constructed, visitors continued to visit the science park. The Science centre building was completed in 1984 and the centre had three major attractions viz. Light & Sight gallery, Sound and Hearing gallery and Science for Children gallery. In addition a Vintage Car exhibition was also on put on display. The centre with all these new facilities, named the Nehru Science Centre, was formally opened on 11.11.1985 by the then Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi on 11th November 1985 in the august presence of several distinguished guests. Dr. Saroj Ghose, the the DG of NCSM, during one of our interactions recalled that the PMO had informed that the Prime Minister will be there for the inauguration for just about 15 to 20 minutes. However, Shri Rajiv Gandhi was so overwhelmed with what he saw in the centre that he ended up spending 75 minutes and visiting all the exhibitions and so also the Vintage Car exhibition.  

Today, when the centre celebrates its 35 anniversary, it gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction to credit and owe our gratitude to all the founding members of this great institution primarily Shri R. M. Chakrabarti, Dr Saroj Ghose, Shri Amalendu Bose, Dr. Madhuriben Shah, Shri Rajni Patel, Dr. Varadrajan, Dr. A. P. Mitra, Dr Sreekanthan, and all the past officers and staff of Nehru Science Centre, who have worked tirelessly during those early years in building this great institution, which I am sure will continue to grow in strength in the years to come. Our thanks are also due to all the Chairpersons and members of the past and present Executive Committee - the Apex body of NCSM. We owe our gratitude to are CSIR, and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and so also to all the earlier Directors of our Centre and former and current DG, NCSM. A big thank you to you all and I am sure this Centre will grow from strength to strength and continue to uphold the high standards that the founding members of this Centre have set for us. 

It is  a matter of great pride for us that the metro station coming up just outside our centre has been befittingly named as "Science Museum", which we are sure will help us in attracting more and more visitors. 

  

Images - All images are courtesy - Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai Archives

 

Remembering T N Seshan on his first Punyatithi - 10th November 2020.

 Remembering T N Seshan on his first Punyatithi - 10th November 2020.

Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan, popularly known as T. N. Seshan, is remembered as an extraordinary architect of the modern day Election Commission of India and he will ever be remembered for brining in revolutionary changes to the electoral systems and for making the Election Commission of India one of the highly respected institutions of not just India but globally. It was on this date last year - 10th November 2019, that Seshan breathed his last in his Chennai home. Today -10th November 2020, is his first punyatithi and this day is also celebrated as the World Science Day and we are celebrating this day by opening our science centre to the public. Incidentally due to the global Covid pandemic our science centre and so also most other museums and science centres across India have remained closed to the public for nearly 8 months. It is therefore an honour for us that on the occasion of the first punyatithi of Seshan, we are opening our science centre to the public. 

One of the monumental foundations under which our cherished country was built is its democracy and Seshan has strengthened and cemented the foundation of the Indian democracy by empowering the Election Commission of India with those mandated powers, which are feared, respected and appreciated by the Indian electorates including the political parties. The Indian elections and the manner in which these elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India have now become an example for most democracies across the world and today we must remember the man who is primarily to be credited for this - Mr T N Seshan. Seshan’s contributions to the Election Commission can best be seen in the words of former Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishna Murthy, who in his book “Miracle of Democracy: India’s Amazing Journey,” has termed Seshan’s tenure a “turning point” in the history of Election Commission. He says “If the history of Election Commission is written, it has to be divided into two parts; pre Seshan era, where the Commission functioned as a department of the government,  and post-Seshan era, when the Commission became truly independent”. 

Images : Courtesy Wiki Commons

It is therefore no wonder that Seshan has come to be recognised and known as the father of electoral reforms in India. Seshan assumed the office of the Chief Election Commissioner (10th CEC to do so) of India on 12 December, 1990 and served till 11 December 1996. It is interesting to note that the office of the Chief of Election Commission of India, prior to Seshan assuming the charge, was considered as one of those less heralded posts in government offices, which none of the career minded Indian Administrative Service Officers - IAS, ever wanted to head. And it was no different for Seshan as well. Seshan became the 10th CEC of India, who served during the period 1990–96. When Seshan was appointed as the CEC, this post, as stated above, was considered as an ornamental position that most career officers, including Seshan, desisted. Seshan, who had occupied decorated positions like the Home and Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India prior to becoming the CEC, was not alt all happy with his new posting as the CEC. Like many of his peers - IAS colleagues, Seshan too was of the opinion that CEC was an insignificant posting for a decorated IAS officer and that this posting came with neither power nor financial benefits. 

Utterly disappointed with his new posting, Seshan, a highly pious and religious man who revered the Kanchi Seer -  who comes from the lineage of the famous Adi Shankarachaya the first of the Kanchi Seer - went to meet the Swami Paramacharya, the then Kanchi Seer, to seek his advice and blessings. The highly respected Kanchi Seer Paramacharya – who was 97 years of age then - immediately sensed the cause of Seshan’s disappointment and counselled him to treat the new posting as a God sent opportunity to serve the Indian electorate. He advised Seshan to visit the Uttiramerur temple (near Kanchi) and study the details of electoral regulations, which were prevalent in India, some 1000 years ago. The Seer informed  Seshan, that even if he were to implement a tenth of the electoral reforms that are enshrined with clarity and minute details in the Uthiramerur temple, he would be doing the greatest of service to the Indian democracy and to the electorates. The sermons of the Kanchi seer had a great impact on Seshan and the rest we all know is history. Before proceeding with Seshan and his remarkable contributions to reforming the office of the CEC and Election Commission of India, a brief write up on the history and significance of the Uttiramerur temple and its relationship with democracy is definitely warranted more so since the revered Kanchi Seer could influence TN Seshan about this temple and true to his reverence for the Seer, Seshan went and studied the temple, its history and its connect with democracy. 

The prestige of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, founded by Sri Adi Sankaracharya on the Vaisaka Sukla full moon day in 481 B.C, has been very high and the Kanchi Seers have always been respected because of the deeds of the sages who have adorned this Peetham as the Mathadhipatis. His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvathi Swamigal, also known as Swami Paramacharya, became the 68th Matadhipathi and he has been acknowledged by all as one of the most noblest and finest seers of all times. Ever since he became the Matadhipathi of Kanchi Kamakoti, in 1907, he continued to guide his followers and the community and so also aspiring souls from all over the world and one of those innumerable persons who came to seek his guidance was TN Seshan. The temple of democracy, which Swamy Paramacharya had advised Seshan to study is located in a nondescript place called Uttiramerur, which is situated some ninety kilometres from Chennai. There is nothing noteworthy at Uthiramerur except for the three famous temples: the Sundara Varadaraja Perumal Temple dedicated to Vishnu, Subramanya Temple (Murugan) and Kailasanatha Temple (Siva). About half a kilometre away is another temple called Vaikunta Perumal Koil. The sanctum sanctorum of this temple is a rectangular assembly hall (mandapa). On top of this assembly hall is the vimana, the traditional turret of temples in this region. On the walls of the assembly hall are inscriptions, in Granth and Tamil Brahmi scripts, which describe some tenets on elections: how to hold elections to village assemblies, constitution of committees, removal of errant office bearers etc. 

These inscriptions date back to the early 10th century (920AD) to the period when Parantaka Chola ruled over vast territories of South India. He defeated the Pandya kingdom and captured its capital, Madurai. The king took great interest in the administration of his dominions and was considered as a reformist of eminence. Legend has it that he was advised by his ministers to set up assemblies in villages and hand over local administration to them, which he readily agreed to do so. The rules for the local,administration were inscribed in the walls of the assembly hall in the temple complex. It is said that the temple was built, perhaps to give religious sanction to the institution of elected village assemblies. This temple - Vaikunta Perumal Koil has been declared as a national heritage site and is currently looked after by the Archeological Survey of India. One can see many inscriptions on the walls of the hall, which deal with administrative, judicial, commercial, agricultural, transportation and irrigation regulations. These regulations were meant to be administered by the then village assembly. Swami Paramacharya, knew about these inscriptions and therefore he had asked Seshan to study and understand the democratic system, which existed in India some 1000 years back and try and implement this in the Election Commission. True to the advise, blessings and sermons of Swami Paramacharya, who had informed Seshan that even if he were to implement a tenth of the electoral reforms that are enshrined with clarity and minute details in the Uthiramerur temple, he would be doing the greatest of service to the Indian democracy and to the electorates, Seshan went about reforming the Election Commission of India. Therefore while appreciating the reforms that Seshan brought out we must also credit the Kanchi Seer who motivated Seshan to do this and so also the Uttiramerur temple and the inscriptions found in this temple. 

Seshan assumed the office of CEC during a very crucial period in Indian history. During this period of Indian democracy, Seshan witnessed five Prime Ministers of India. Until Seshan became the CEC, the Election Commission (EC) was hardly known to few people and most of the elections in India remained largely under the shadow of political bigwigs. All this was to change -  and change for good and for ever - with the entry of T. N. Seshan. Every political party and their leaders, including the  high and mighty politicians, were compelled to accept the primacy and authority of the Election Commission - a constitutional body, which has a mandate for conducting free and fair elections in India. Seshan brought about revolutionary changes in the functioning of the EC and introduced many electoral reforms. He gave a slogan "Nobody dare violate the law,” to highlight the unbending powers of the EC and on several occasions he demonstrated that the EC is not a toothless tiger. His actions were desisted by many political parties and almost every one of them stood against what they called a “dictatorial attitude” of the CEC.  Seshan was also called as Al-Seshan - symbolising one famous breed of dog in India, by political leadership, but then Seshan remained undeterred in his determination to improve the  electoral system and the functioning of the EC.

Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan, popularly known as T. N. Seshan, was born on the 15th December, 1932 in Thirunellai, Palakkad District, Kerala. He belonged to the 1955 batch of IAS officers from Tamil Nadu cadre. He is an alumnus of the Madras Christian College, where he did his graduation in Physics. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard University from where he completed a course in management in the 1960s. Seshan began his civil service career from his home state, Tamil Nadu, which was largely uneventful. The only time he came to lime light was when he  very sternly handled the anti-Hindi agitation while he was the Madurai District Collector (1965-67). K. Govindan Kutty, in his book ‘Seshan: An Intimate Story (1994),’ talks about this incident and states that the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Bakthavatsalam, was flooded with complaints of suppression of civil rights by Seshan, while handling the agitation. Fortunately, Seshan did not face any trouble for his action, which had infuriated local people. 

Seshan, while serving the Tamil Nadu government, held positions such as Industries Secretary and Agriculture Secretary (1977-80). His differences with the political masters in Tamilnadu compelled him to opt for a Central posting. Mr. Seshan held several important senior positions in the Centre including the office of the Secretary of Environment and Forests Secretary and Defence Secretary. Seshan went on to occupy the pinnacle post of bureaucracy - the Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India, during Rajiv Gandhi’s time. Unfortunately when Rajiv Gandhi lost power in 1989, and VP Singh became the Prime Minister, Seshan was shunted out of the post of Cabinet Secretary and was given a side posting  as a Member in the Planning Commission.  But then the VP Singh government could not survive for long and gave way for Chandra Shekhar, who became the Prime Minister with the support of Rajiv Gandhi, with whom Seshan had cordial relations. This came as a blessing in disguise for Seshan, and he moved out from the Planning Commission and he was appointed as the CEC, in December 1990.  

Seshan Assumed the office of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the Election Commission - Nirvachan Bhavan – on 12.12.1990, a historic day, which must get etched into the annals of Indian electoral reforms. Incidentally this day also has a special relevance for me and my wife since it happens to be the very day when we got married. In a span of just six years of his tenure as the CEC, Seshan, completely transformed the Election Commission. Unfortunately, before the entry of Seshan into the picture, the Indian electioneering system was infamously known for a rapid criminalisation of politics, evils of booth capturing, rigging, poll violence etc. all of which had got embedded into the electioneering system in India, has compelled the electorates to curse the electoral system. Indian electorates were more or less getting used to the unfortunate corrupt practices of the system. Seshan realised that urgent and extraordinary corrective measures are to be taken to cleanse the system and to bring credibility to the Election Commission of India. He firmly believed that, as advised by the Kanchi Seer, it was a god sent opportunity for him to serve his people and cleanse the electoral system in India, where the democratic practices seem to have thrived some 1000 years before. 

Managing the Indian elections is a Himalayan task with monumental challenges. It involves, among other things, operating some 8,00,000 plus voting booths; some five million plus personnel - in addition to a large contingent of security force - who are necessary for conducting free and fair elections across our vast country. The Election Commission of India has been very successfully conducting election after elections with relatively lesser complaints and the credit for this must go to T N Seshan. India is now proud of being the largest democracy in the world, with its unique electioneering success that is demonstrated regularly during the periodical elections that are held in either the states or the national elections. This achievement, for which Seshan deserves major credit, is no mean a task when considered with some of the unfavourable circumstances that exists in India, which include far remote corners, the Naxalite problems, relatively lower literacy rate and so also vast economic disparities among its people.

Of the many reforms that Seshan brought about in the Indian electoral system, some of the prominent ones that are considered as Seshan’s commandments, include; no bribe or intimidation to the voters, no distribution of liquor, no usage of official machinery for campaigning, no appeal to the voters in the name of religion, caste or communal lines, not to use places of worship for the electoral campaigns, no usage of loud speakers without the explicit written permission, no defacing of public property for political hoardings and posters, limited money spending and many other extraordinary electoral reforms, which were unheard of in the electoral system in India prior to Seshan assuming the office of the CEC. All of us take these commandments for a given now, but then when Seshan became the CEC, things were completely different.  Seshan introduced a mechanism of temporarily deputing state employees to the Election Commission, during election time. He came down heavily on employees who took their duties lightly by arguing that once the officials were assigned to the Election Commission, they fell under his jurisdiction and it was within his power to deal with the erring officials. This resulted in the entire election machinery functioning without fear or favour and ensured that the personnel deployed for the election performed their duties honestly and efficiently. Many local bureaucrats, who were seen as the puppets of local politicians until Seshan’s entry, soon realised that they will face the wrath of the Election Commission, which could affect their long term career, turned a new leaf and started functioning with honesty and sincerity. Seshan ensured that the bureaucracy was not targeted by the political class, helping the EC to not only be fair but also seen to be fair. This aspect was absolutely essential to neutralise the influence of the powerful local politicians on the administrative mechanism of the EC. Seshan remained a tough task master and never alluded to any of the illegal demands of the political class, an evidence of which can be seen in his decision of cancelling the 1992 elections in Bihar and Punjab. It sent out a very strong message “no messing around with the Election Commission”. He ensured that the model code of conduct was implemented in letter and spirit by all the political parties and candidates.

Seshan’s no nonsense approach was despised by almost all politicians and all of them joined hands to try and cut him to size. This led to the formation of a multimember body for managing the EC, which was formed in October 1993, with the appointment of M.S. Gill and G.V.G. Krishnamurty as Election Commissioners. Seshan opposed the government’s move, but then the Supreme Court upheld the government’s decision to appoint two additional Election Commissioners. The appointment of additional ECs did not deter Seshan from implementing his vision for the EC, for which he is remembered even today and will be so for eternity. Seshan did not fade into oblivion, immediately after laying down the office of CEC in December 1996. In July 1997, he unsuccessfully contested the presidential election against K.R. Narayanan and lost. Two years later, Seshan contested the Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency against the then Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, as a Congress candidate and lost. 

Seshan was also associated closely with Department of Space, where he served as the Joint Secretary. It was during this period that he came to know Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. There is another anecdote of Seshan’s association with Dr Kalam, which was revealed by President Kalam himself in one of his books. The period goes back to the time when Dr Kalam was with the DRDO and they were given a go ahead to test the Agni Missile in May 1989. Dr Kalam says in his book “ that Seshan, who was then the Cabinet Secretary, called Dr Kalam from his hotline in the dead of the night at around 3 AM on 22nd May, 1989, and asked Kalam to defer the launch of the Agni missile. The decision had come from the top as a result of the tremendous pressure from US and NATO. It was a difficult instruction for Kalam to obey since it was too late to cancel the missile launch. In his book “Advantage India: From Challenge to Opportunity”, one of the last book written by Dr Kalam, President Kalam talks about this incident. Dr. Kalam writes that he informed Seshan “Sir, the missile is at a point of no return. We cannot turn back on the test now. It is too late”. Dr Kalam says that Seshan, with a deep breath and a pause, said ‘Go ahead’.  Three hours later, the Agni missile system was flawlessly test launched on May 22, 1989. 

The mortal remains of Seshan may have been confined to the holy fire last year, but then his monumental contributions to the Election Commission will ever remain in the hearts and minds of people for generations to come. Today while commemorating the first punyatithi of Seshan let us once again remember him for his contributions to the Indian democracy. 

Long live Seshan in the hearts and minds of people.