[Urban-Media] Depression & Wartime in Bombay

[Shekhar Krishnan]

Ashish:

With regard to last week's session, I ran across an essay by Y.D. Phadke which may be useful to you 
(and to Nikhil):

Y.D. Phadke, "Impact of the Great Depression and the Second World War on Agriculture and Industry in 
the Bombay Presidency, 1929-1945" in Meera Kosambi, ed. Intersections: Socio-Cultural Trends in 
Maharashtra, New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2000, pp.141-160.
http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar/urban-media/bombay/phadke_war_depression.pdf

You had also mentioned the Bombay Plan of 1944, the city industrialists' answer to the First Five 
Year Plan. Here is the full edition:

Purshottam Thakurdas, J.R.D. Tata, G.D. Birla, Ardeshir Dalal, Shri Ram, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, A.D. 
Shroff and John Matthai, A Brief Memorandum Outlining a Plan of Economic Development for India, 
London: Penguin Books, 1944.
http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar/urban-media/bombay/bombay_plan.pdf

And a critique of it from a left perspective by two prominent city economists:

P.A. Wadia and K.T. Merchant, The Bombay Plan: A Criticism, Bombay: Popular Book Depot, 1946.
http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar/urban-media/bombay/wadia_merchant_plan_criticism.pdf

Finally, there are two short studies by the Bombay School economists on the changing consumption 
habits of the urban middle classes, and the problems of price control and economic planning in 
Bombay during the Second World War:

J.J. Anjaria, D.T. Lakdawala and S.A. Pandit, War and the Middle Class: An Inquriy into the Effects 
of Wartime Inflation on Middle Class Families in Bombay City, Bombay: Padma Publications, 1946
http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar/urban-media/bombay/anjaria_war_middle_class.pdf

C.N. Vakil, J.J. Anjaria and D.T. Lakdawala, Price Control and Food Supply with Special Reference to 
Bombay City, Bombay: N.M. Tripathi & Company, 1943
http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar/urban-media/bombay/vakil_price_control.pdf


Best,


S.K.
-- 

Shekhar Krishnan
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143, Albany Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
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