Envisioning Electricity in Colonial Orissa

Abstract

The article attempts to understand the transition that took place with the introduction of electricity in colonial Orissa. Contemporary scholarship concerning this coastal region has prompted social historians to examine diverse facets of disease, health and medicine. Certain scholars have analysed the political initiative of flood control in the Orissa delta under colonialism. Although they acknowledge the importance of technological intervention, most scholars studying science and modernity in colonial Orissa tend to overlook electricity. This article analyses the particularities of colonial technological interventions, such as electrification, especially within the health and education sectors, drawing on archives.