Madhusudan_Das

VI
TRIBUTES AND
REMINISCENCE OF BRITISHERS
(i)
TRIBUTES TO A PERSONAL FRIEND
MAURICE G. HALLET
1. On the inauguration of the Constitution of 1919 Mr.
Madhusudan Das was appointed Minister of Self-Government in the
province of Bihar and Orissa. It was a heavy portfolio, especially
during the early years of the new Constitution, for the Minister, apart
from being responsible for the public health and medical relief
throughout the province, was faced with the duty of amending the
Municipal and Local Self-Government Acts so as to make them more
consistent with democratic principles. It was a task of which many
younger men might have fought shy, but Mr. Das, though well
advanced in years, threw himself into the work with zeal, vigour and
enthusiasm. I was Secretary to the Government of Bihar and Orissa
during this period and having in this position to work directly under
Mr. Das I can claim to have intimate knowledge of his work. He never
spared himself, and dealt with the greatest care with the problems
which came before him. He was, I think, particularly interested in
problems of medical relief and public health, for he had studied
medicine in his younger days. I will quote one instance. Plague was a
disease from which Mr. Das's native land of Orissa has fortunately been
free ; he realised, however, it was still a menace in Bihar, though not
to the same extent as 10 or 15 years earlier, and he set himself to
become personally acquainted with the problem of how to deal with
that disease which was still prevalent, in particular, in parts of Gaya
district. In the middle of the hot weather he visited plague-stricken
villages in that district and thereby got first-hand knowledge of that
epidemic and also of the step which were being taken to deal with it.
2. The members of the new Legislative Council showed
themselves keenly interested in medical relief and public health ; they
recognised the necessity of providing more hospitals in rural areas