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copyright Rahul I Sircar Minakshi Sircar, Ipsita Sircar & Indrojit Sircar & family.

Information may not be shared without permission of the Sircar family. NILRATAN SIRCAR ( Sir Dr)

Dr Sir Nilratan Sircar, an eminent doctor, educationist, philanthropist and swadeshi entrepreneur, was born on 1 October 1861 in Netra, near Diamond Harbour in the district of 24 Parganas in Bengal.

His father Nandalal Sircar hailed from Joynagar and his maternal family belonged to Netra. However, as his mother often suffered from ill health, Dr Sircar and his siblings spent much of their growing years with their maternal family in Netra and subsequently moved there. Sadly, his mother passed away while he was still a young lad from what was later believed to be cancer. Dr Sircar was reported to have shared with grandchildren that it was this early loss of his mother to an unknown disease that led him to study medicine, as he wanted to know the cause of her death.

Despite the family’s modest means, Dr Sircar moved to Calcutta city to pursue his career in medicine. A hardworking and meritorious student, he lived on a frugal diet of bangal gram or “chola” and studied under the gaslights on the street. His efforts caught the attention of an Englishman who sponsored his study at the Campbell Medical School in the formative years. Later, he went on to win a scholarship and obtain both the MA and MD degrees from the Calcutta University.

In 1888, Dr Sircar married Lady Nirmala, daughter of Girishchandra Mazumdar, a Bramho missionary and became Bramho. The couple went on to have six children, five daughters and a son, Arun Prakash Sircar, who was my great grandfather.

Dr Sircar soon obtained a large practice and was for many years, a leading Indian consulting physician, travelling far and wide to treat some of his patients, who included the ruling heads of neighbouring countries.

Aside from his contribution to the field of medicine, Dr Sircar also contributed greatly to the cause of education, commerce and politics during his lifetime.

He was one of the founders of the Calcutta Medical School and College of Physicians and Surgeons of West Bengal during World War I. which in 1916 became the Carmichael Medical College (now known as RG Kar Medical College) and was granted recognition as a University in 1917. This was the first the first medical college in Bengal, started with material help from the Government of Bengal when Lord Carmichael was Governor, staffed and controlled entirely by Indians and which educated up to the university standard as opposed to the shorter medical course for a diploma at the Campbell Medical School, whose teaching staff was filled by Indian graduates in the service of the Bengal Government. In 1949, the College celebrated its Silver Jubilee and the foundation stone of the Silver Jubilee Hall was laid by Dr Nilratan Sircar. That same year, the Sir Nilratan Sircar Research Institute was established there.

Dr Sircar served as the President of the Calcutta Medical Club and was for many years, the Editor-In-Chief of its Journal. He was one of the founders of the Physiological Society of India established in 1934 and the President of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science from 1939 to 1941. He was also closely associated with the Jadavpur Tuberculosis Hospital and the Chittarajan Hospital and Seva Sadan.

Dr Sircar’s keen interests in academia saw him being closely associated with the Calcutta University. He was elected Fellow in 1893 and was responsible for the expansion of post graduate science teaching facilities and research in medical education as well as the introduction of students’ health examination and welfare work. He was one of the founding fathers of the Science College of Calcutta University and founder member of the Governing body of the Bose Institute. He served as the President of the Calcutta University’s Council for Post Graduate Teaching Arts from 1924 to 1927/29, the President of the Post Graduate teaching in Science from 1924 to 1942/43 and the Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University from 1919 to 1921. In 1920 he travelled to England to represent the Calcutta University at the Empire Universities Conference in London and was awarded the honorary DCL and LLD degrees by the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh respectively. In 1940, the Calcutta University conferred on him the D.Sc degree.

As we know, this was also a time of great enormous political turmoil in the Indian subcontinent. The Independence movement was slowly but surely gaining momentum and here too, Dr Sircar was at the helm of affairs. He was closely associated with several leading luminaries of that time, including Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Jagdish Chandra Bose, Motilal Nehru, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.A member of the Indian National Congress between 1890 and 1919, Dr Sircar also served as a member of the Bengal Legislative Congress under the reform scheme. His enthusiastic support for the Swadeshi movement saw him set up the National Soap Factory and the National Tannery at Beliaghata in 1905. He was the Director of the Boot and Equipment Factory for period of time and encouraged his manager B.M.Das to organise the Bengal Tanning Institute.

During the anti- partition movement in Bengal, Dr Sircar became involved in establishing the National Council for Education. In 1906, Taraknath Pandit and Dr Sircar launched the Society for the Promotion of Technical Education which established the Bengal Technical Institute. Seeing this, a rival faction within the National Council of Education formed the Bengal National College to further the cause of advanced scientific and literary studies. In later years, these led to the establishment of the College of Engineering and Technology at Jadavpur and the University College of Science at Calcutta University.

In 1918, Dr Sircar received a knighthood for his contribution to medical education. Later, his alma mater, the Campbell Medical College was renamed Nilratan Medical College and Hospital after his death. In 1931, the Calcutta Municipal Corporation felicitated him as “an eminent physician of this great city (who) has taken active part in the public life of the country for over half a century and has rendered invaluable service in various spheres of public activity.”

Despite his busy schedule and social prominence, Dr Sircar was essentially a man of simple tastes, who enjoyed the company of his large family and numerous friends. He lived in a large house on Harisson Road and moved to 7 Short Street around the turn of the century. Most evenings saw him conferencing and debating various issues with a close group of contemporaries, which included Dr B.C Roy, Dr U.N. Bramhachari among others.

He died in Giridh on 18 May 1943 aged 81.

An obituary published in the British Medical Journal on June 5, 1943 stated, “The death in Calcutta of Sir Nilratan Sircar, at the great age for a Bengali of 81, has removed a leading member of the medical profession in India.”

copyright Rahul I Sircar Minakshi Sircar, Ipsita Sircar & Indrojit Sircar & family.

A statement published by Thomas Parran, Surgeon General U.S. Public Health Service described him as “one of India’s foremost physicians”. Dr B.C. Roy said, “ his respect for fellow human beings developed him a moral standard of values which helped him to raise the entire code of medical ethics of the profession in India.”