Call to mark bicentenary of Thomas Munro’s death

The Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC) has appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to mark the 200th death anniversary of British governor Sir Thomas Munro.

Venugopal Dharmalingam, honorary director of the NDC, said that Munro had “...from 1820 to 1827 laid the foundations of administration, police and education for modern Tamil Nadu. The Ryotwari system of land administration that he introduced made the State develop with social justice. The envious record of the present State owes partly to his foresight.”

“Munro also advocated a federal structure for India. He said ‘direct rule over all of India should be eschewed even if it were possible to attain’. He wanted the States to be self-governing. He believed, ‘Competing, independent States’ in India would produce a more efficient and enduring general political order than the total dominance of any single regime,” said Dharmalingam in a letter to the Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin.

He added that this year also marked the bicentenary of Munro’s visit to The Nilgiris in September of 1826. “Munro wanted to personally make sure of John Sullivan’s persistent efforts to make The Nilgiris a health resort for the British. Munro recommended to the government to make The Nilgiris a Hill Station on May 28, 1827. The recommendation was accepted on July 7, 1827, the day he passed away due to cholera,” he said.