Parbati Sankar Roy Choudhury

Parbati Sankar Roy Choudhury, zamindar of Teota (now in Manikganj District, Bangladesh), was a well-known philanthropic landholder and an eminent personality of his times. He was born in the early 1850s, and was the elder son of Joy Sankar Choudhuri of Teota, and a younger cousin of Raja Shyama Sankar Chowdhury.

Parbati Sankar was an active member of the British Indian Association, the Indian Association, the Indian National Congress, and the Dacca district board. He was also one of the founders of the Indian Industrial Association, which was set up to promote the material and economic development of the region. As part of the economic reconstruction programme, Parbati Sankar made some attempts at exploiting the material raw resources available within the Teota zamindari (in Goalondo, Faridpur and elsewhere). His name is also associated with the formulation of a concrete and detailed plan (1890s) of extension of the railways to Manikganj, and thus linking it up with the town of Dacca on the east and the river port of Goalando on the west.

Parbatisankar is best remembered, however, for pioneering the 'dharmagola' system of co-operative grain banking, the fundamental idea behind it being to avoid famine and scarcity. 'Dharmagolas' or grain banks were established at various places within the Teota Estate (like Joyganj and elsewhere in Dinajpur, Goalundo in Faridpur, Nathpur and Shaitghar in Dacca, etc), and the system worked really well. These grain banks were subsequently officially registered as formal co-operative societies in the second decade of the 20th century. Parbati Sankar wrote a number of articles in which he not only outlined the basic features of the 'dharmagola' system, but also clearly brought out its many virtues and advantages. He spoke on the "Indebtedness of the Bengal peasantry" at an annual session of the Congress (INC) in the early 1900s.

Parbati Sankar Rai was honoured with the Kaiser-i-Hind in 1912. He died in Calcutta in 1918.

ee also

*Teota Estate
*Manikganj District