Gaze at Contemporary Print Media in the 20th Century: A Case Study of Sarabhai's and Lalbhai's of Ahmedabad

Abstract

The medieval city of Ahmedabad came under British rule in 1817 and underwent positive transformations while continuing to maintain its traditions. Ahmedabad successfully adapted to the new industrial age, carrying over commercial and industrial skills and patterns of traditional social organization.

The social reform movements, the growth of female education, British colonial policy and the industrialisation of the city were some of the major factors which affected the social and economic growth of people. The business tycoons like Mangaldas Girdhardas, Ambalal Sarabhai, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, Amrutlal Hargovandas and others pioneered to build an 'Industrialised, Westernized, Prosperous World-class Company Town'. The focus of the current study is the selected sources on two business houses - Sarabhai's and Lalbhai's - who contributed immensely to the society in terms of business, economy, education, and culture by creating and funding various institutes that catered to the needs of the society for present and future.

I had the opportunity through the ISRO-RESPOND Project "Situating Scientific Environment: Vikram Sarabhai and His Times" with Principal Investigator Prof. Adhya B. Saxena to access the primary sources collected under the project which includes the correspondences, interviews, contemporary newspapers, autobiographies, biographies, field visits, among other archival material(s) as I assisted in cataloguing the digital archives.