Background: MBM Engineering College was the first government engineering college established at Jodhpur in 1951 by Principal Vinayak Govind Garde. Directorate of Technical Education of Rajasthan started functioning at Jodhpur in 1957, with Principal Garde as the ex-officio Director of Technical Education and Chairman of the Board of Technical Education. The services of Principal VG Garde, as principal of MBM Engineering College, were on contract with the state government, renewable after every three years. The arrangement continued upto 1962. With the establishment of the University of Jodhpur and the movement of Principal VG Garde to Jaipur as Principal of Malaviya Regional Engineering College Jaipur, the state government allowed Principal Garde to continue as ex-officio Director of Technical Education and Chairman of the Board of Technical Education on a fresh contract with him. VG Garde retired from the office of the Principal Malaviya Regional Engineering College Jaipur and ex-officio Director of Technical Education Rajasthan in 1967.
Suraj Prakash Datta had joined as Deputy Director of Technical Education in Rajasthan in February 1958. Subsequently, with the creation of the post of Joint Director of Technical Education, he was appointed to the post of Joint Director on an ad-hoc basis. After the retirement of Principal VG Garde in 1967, SP Datta was appointed to the post of Director of Technical Education of Rajasthan in 1967 on an ad-hoc basis. He resigned from the post in 1969 on personal grounds.
Bhanu Kumar Jain had joined as Principal of Udaipur Polytechnic in February 1958 and was subsequently, transferred to the post of Principal of Alwar Polytechnic. With the resignation of SP Datta, BK Jain was appointed as Director of Technical Education in 1969, on an ad-hoc basis and he continued as Director on an ad-hoc basis, till his retirement in December 1974.
Directorate of Technical Education of Rajasthan: Directorates of Technical Education were established in all states in the early fifties, to provide a boost to the training and development of much needed skilled manpower at all levels and for propelling the wheels of five year plans of the country. Directorate of Technical Education was established in Rajasthan in 1957 and was responsible for the establishment and administrative control of Polytechnics. Subsequently, Industrial Training Institutes of the state were also brought under the charge of Director of Technical Education. The arrangement continued smoothly upto 1969.
The resignation of SP Datta, who was holding the office of Director of Technical Education in an ad-hoc capacity from 1967 to 1969 and substantial economy cuts in government expenditure during that period, may have triggered the decision of the state government cabinet in 1969 to wind up the office of the Directorate of Technical Education, which was functioning with six polytechnics and fourteen Industrial Training Institutes. The intention was to transfer the polytechnics to the Directorate of College Education and Industrial Training Institutes to the Labour Department. However, the cabinet decision was not implemented and BK Jain continued as Director of Technical Education in Rajasthan in an ad-hoc capacity from 1969 to the date of his retirement in December 1974.
I had an opportunity to hold charge of the office of the Director of Technical Education Rajasthan for a month during October-November 1974 in the leave vacancy of BK Jain, who was availing encashment leave. When BKJain retired on 31 December 1974, Director of College Education was entrusted by the state government with the additional charge of the office of Director of Technical Education of Rajasthan. I took everything in the stride and promised full support to Dr RN Chowdhary, Director of College Education, in all matters connected with Technical Education.
Hostel incident of Bikaner Polytechnic in April 1975: Ganganagar, which was carved out of the erstwhile Bikaner State is a typical example of the transformation of sprawling desert lands into fertile agricultural lands and orchards due to the bounties of waters, drawn from river Beas and Sutluj through Gang Canal and Rajasthan Canal ( Indira Gandhi Canal), thereby, making Ganganagar the food bowl of Rajasthan. People of Ganganagar, with their rural and rustic background are by and large affluent and are always in the news due to their simple, straight and sturdy demeanour Bikaner Polytechnic always had a good sprinkling of students drawn from the affluent and rural backgrounds of Ganganagar.
Sometimes, in April 1975 some Ganganagar students living in the hostels of the polytechnic, went out to witness a local army carnival. There, they participated in the raffles and won some bottles of wine, which they consumed on their way back to the hostel. Before going to bed, there were some arguments, followed by some scuffles and ultimately ending with free for all, involving sticks and swords. Seven students were severely injured and had multiple fractures in the melee. There was a lot of commotion, followed by agitations and demonstrations, which ultimately led to general strike of students in the polytechnic and sit in of the students in the collectorate. Bhupendra Hooja Education Commissioner and Dr RN Chowdhary Director of College Education, who was holding additional charge of the office of Director of Technical Education, happened to be at Bikaner, during that period. When informed about the incident, they left Bikaner with the words, that, they will send the Director of Technical Education to Bikaner to look into the incident.
Next day, I was informed by Bhupendra Hooja, the Education Commissioner about the incident at Bikaner and was asked to go to Bikaner immediately and to submit a report about the whole incident. As Principal of Jodhpur Polytechnic, I had no intention to tread on the feet of VS Gangal, who was the Principal of Bikaner Polytechnic at that time. I talked to him and told him specifically, that, I was prepared to visit Bikaner, if my involvement is going to help him. VS Gangal was very worried, due to the general strike of students in the institution and with seven students in the hospital with serious injuries and multiple fractures and about thirty students staging a sit in, in the compound of the collectorate. He assured me that my visit to Bikaner shall be of considerable help to him and accordingly, I found myself at Bikaner next day in the morning.
My day at Bikaner: On reaching Bikaner, my first task was to meet the injured students lying in the hospital and their parents and attendants. Principal VS Gangal accompanied me during the visit. Due to the frequent conflicts and murders in Ganganagar, the general image of the people of Ganganagar is that of carefree and aggressive people. We met each and every student and their parents and attendants, individually. All injured students were close friends, known intimately to each other and were fully conscious about, what had happened. Nobody was blaming anybody, except for his own rash behaviour. They were like little kids, lying quietly on their beds and wondering all the time about the happenings. Instead of being aggressive, the parents and attendants were also apologetic and seemed to be worried about safe recovery and wellbeing of their wards. We assured them full help and support in whatever was needed and thereafter, proceeded to the Polytechnic, where the polytechnic students were on general strike.
The word had gone round that the Director of Technical Education had come from Jodhpur to look into the whole affair. As soon as we reached the Polytechnic, the students started shouting, that, they will talk to the Director of Technical Education alone, without the presence of any of the members of the staff. It was a very embarrassing situation. I could not tell the students, that, I was not the Director of Technical Education and that my role was extremely limited and at the same time, I had no intention of compromising the position of Principal VS Gangal by shutting him out, alongwith other members of the staff, during my talks with the students. However, Principal VS Gangal was quick to assure the students and directed them to move to the hall, where they could talk to me freely.
The students occupied their seats in the hall in an orderly manner. I stood before them on the floor and listened to the students, one by one for about an hour. All types of issues cropped up, but, directly and indirectly, every student was under stress due to the approaching annual examinations of the Board. With the unsettled conditions, they had a feeling that, they were not in a position to prepare for the examinations. When asked for their suggestions, I found that they had a feeling, that, if the dates of annual examinations of the Board, which were common for all polytechnics could be extended by about two weeks, they will be able to recover the lost ground and should be ready for the annual examinations. Technically, Director of Technical Education had nothing to do with the examinations, as examinations was a function of the Board of Technical Education, which was a separate body. However, incidentally, I happened to be the ex-officio Secretary of the Board of Technical Education, at that time. With that in mind, I assured the students that the dates of the annual examinations of the board shall be extended by two weeks. And all was over. The general strike of the students was called off and regular classes began from next day. The sit in demonstration at the collectorate, as also all charges and counter-charges were also withdrawn.
Visit to the collectorate: My next visit was to the collectorate with Principal VS Gangal accompanying me. Arun Kumar was the collector of Bikaner at that time. He ultimately rose to the rank of Chief Secretary of Rajasthan Government. He was expecting Director of Technical Education to meet him and was surprised, when I introduced myself as Principal Jodhpur Polytechnic. He was happy to see that everything had ended with the goodwill of all concerned. We were also able to meet Shantanu Kumar, the Superintendent of Police of Bikaner, who ultimately rose to the rank of Director General of Police of Rajasthan. He told us that the agitating students of Bikaner Polytechnic sitting in the collectorate were from Ganganagar and since, he was also from Ganganagar he had no problems in handling them. He further told us that the number of agitating students was only thirty and to counter them, he had placed a force of fifty persons in the collectorate. He felt happy that everything had ended peacefully.
Final report: Before leaving for Jodhpur, I dictated the findings and final report about the incident, in the presence of Principal VS Gangal and sent the copies of the report to the Education Commissioner Bhupendra Hooja and Director of College Education Dr RN Choudhary. When the education commissioner received the report, he sarcastically retorted, that, I had failed to do, what was intended to be done, obliquely indicating, that, I had failed to point out the acts of omission and commission of the principal and the staff, during the whole episode.
Foreign Assignment of Principal VS Gangal: VS Gangal had applied for and had received letters for contract assignment in an east African country and was due to leave on May 1, 1975. He had applied to the state government for relief from the office of Principal Bikaner Polytechnic in time and was awaiting state government orders. I had no role in the affair, but, with a view to save him from any embarrassment, I told him that pending government orders, he could handover charge of his office to the senior most person and leave as scheduled on May 1, 1975.
Assumption of charge of the office of Director of Technical Education: The days kept on rolling. The country was in turmoil. The state of internal emergency was proclaimed in the country on 25 June 1975. And, shortly afterwards, almost out of the blue, I received a telegram from the state government on 5 July 1975, directing me to assume charge of the office of the Director of Technical Education, thereby, ending the suspence, stalemate and uncertainties of the preceding six months and formal commencement of the last lap.