British Provinces: Before independence, India was divided into British Provinces and and a large number of princely states scattered all over the country. Princely states had treaty arrangements with the British Government and they had substantial freedom in the day to day administration of their states. Baluchistan, Sind, North West Frontier Province, Punjab, United Provinces, Assam, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Madras, Bombay and Central Provinces were British Provinces at that time. Government of India Act of 1935 had enabled the British Provinces to have popular ministries for which the first elections were held in 1937. After independence in 1947, Baluchistan, Sind, North West Frontier Province and western part of Punjab became part of West Pakistan and Eastern part of Bengal became East Pakistan. The remaining provinces viz., Eastern Punjab, United Provinces, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras, Bombay and Central Provinces formed part of India. In the pre-independence period the state of development in India was very limited. The total population of India at that time was of the order of thirty three crores out of which, about 1% could be considered as affluent. Roads, railways and other modes of communications were in a very primitive state. Business and industrial activity was tightly controlled by the British Government. India was a major supplier of raw materials for the British industry and was a captive market of Britain for almost all types of consumer and capital goods. There was a time when even minor items of common day to day consumption by the masses were not being manufactured in India and were imported from Britain and other European countries. This included pen, pencil, paper, books, crockery, cutlery, fine cloth of daily wear like suitings, shirtings, dhotis, saris and processed food like biscuits, butter and jams. Most of the items like, sewing machines, bi-cycles, motorcycles and cars, trucks and passenger busses, rail, road and communications equipment and all types of capital goods were being imported. Infrastructure development was almost stagnant.
During the colonial times, the sun did not set in the British Empire. Second world war changed the whole scenario. British troops were finding it difficult to contain the German advance in Europe and North Africa. German blitz had disrupted all communications by air, land and sea. Suez Canal was closed and the British Government in India, was finding it difficult to obtain even the essential supplies from Britain for meeting the barest needs of the administration and defence services. Naturally, the import of the common consumer items suffered drastically and the common man had to live with scarcity of almost everything during the war period. The whole economy of the colonies during the war was geared towards providing support to the allies in the European sector. Indian troops were deployed side by side with the British troops in Iraq and Egypt and other places in North Africa and Europe. There was a regular flow of prisoners of war of Germany and Italy to India, who were lodged in specially constructed prisoner of war camps in India. When Japan entered the war and occupied Burma, India was least prepared to face it, and the lack of development of basic industries and infrastructure exposed all the chinks in the security and defence fabric of the country. Since, rails were not being manufactured in India at that time, branch lines of a number of railway tracks were dismantled and and the salvaged rails were utilized for providing emergency tracks for movement of troops to the border.
U.P. Before independence, U.P. or United Provinces of Agra and Oudh was one of most progressive and best administered provinces of British India. UP is now known as Uttar Pradesh. It has snow-capped Himalayas in the north and a vast tract of fertile plains, fed by the rivers Ganga and Jamuna and their tributaries. The economy of UP was mostly agricultural. Western UP was comparatively more prosperous due to good alluvial soil, transported by the rivers and supplemented by an extensive irrigation network of Ganga and Jamuna canals. Eastern UP was less developed and economically backward. Development of infrastructure including roads, railways, telegraphs, telephones, power and industries was extremely limited. UP had universities of good standing at Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow, Allahabad and Banaras apart from some very good schools and colleges. But, the general spread of education was extremely sparse. UP was the only province, which had a Muslim university at Aligarh and a Hindu university at Banaras during the British period. Politically, UP was all along very active. UP had a prominent role during the war of independence in 1857 and again during the freedom struggle in thirties and forties. It had the unique distinction of providing the first three prime ministers for India- Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. UP also had the distinction of providing the first prime minister to Pakistan- Liyakat Ali Khan. UP was almost in ferment during the quit India movement in August 1942. Ballia was the only place in the country, which had declared independence during 1942.
Meerut: Meerut happens to have long links with legends and fables of pre-historic past. Sometimes, during the period of Ramayan, Meerut was the capital of Mayasur, the father of Mandodri, who was married to Rawan. Initially, the name of the place was Maya-rashtra, which perhaps became Meerut in course of time. Excavations have been going on at Hastinapur, which was the capital of Kauravs and Pandavs. The site is located about about 37 km from Meerut City, thereby, providing a direct link of Meerut with Mahabharat. There is also a legend about Shravan Kumar passing through Meerut when he was taking his parents for pilgrimage in a kavad ( baskets, hanging from a bamboo resting on his shoulder ). He is said to have rested at Meerut and went to a nearby stream for fetching water. King Dashrath mistook the sounds of water bubbling into the pot as sounds of a deer and shot an arrow in the direction of the sound, which killed Shravan Kumar. Excavations at Alamgirpur in Meerut district link Meerut with Harrapan settlements during the Indus Valley Civilization.
India was well known during the Hindu period for its wealth and prosperity, thereby, inviting a regular flow of invaders from the middle east. Meerut happened to be on one of the routes to Delhi and had to face depredations and ransacking caused by the incoming, as also the outgoing marauders. Mahmood Gaznavi, Mohammad Gouri and Taimur Lang were some of the prominent invadors who played havoc, during their encounters through Meerut. East India Company established a Cantonment at Meerut in 1803, which is one of the oldest in the country. Initial sparks of mutiny during 1957 had their beginnings from Meerut. When peace prevailed, Meerut developed as a prosperous hub of western districts of U.P. Located about 70 km north of Delhi, it is the biggest town in national capital region of Delhi and with all the advantages of proximity to the national capital, it happens to be one of the fastest growing towns of the country.
Our father moves to Meerut: Second world war was heating up and the whole country was involved in providing all possible goods and services for the war effort. Meerut was no exception. There was a tremendous shortage of all categories of trained manpower, goods and services needed for the war. Naturally, the whole town got directly or indirectly sucked in the activities related to war effort. That was the time, when after retirement from the services of Bundi State in 1940 our father moved to Meerut and got involved in a small business, related to construction of temporary buildings for the troops and supply of goods and services to the army. Initially, his area of operation was Meerut, but soon it extended north upto Dehradun and then to south upto Sagar in Madhya Pradesh.