2025/03/04 by M. Roy · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Social and Economic Development in India #Water Governance and Infrastructure
paper · doi:10.1080/03086534.2025.2482614
openalex publication_date 2025/03/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
The primary focus of the paper is on the Union Boards’ roles and restraints with regard to providing rural healthcare in colonial Bengal. By the Bengal Village Self-Government Act of 1919, Union Boards, a self-governing local body, were given primary responsibility at ground level for public health and sanitation in rural Bengal. Based on official reports alongside selected contemporary print media, this study attempts to assess the roles and responsibilities of Union Boards in rural health. At the outset, the article contains contextual background about the rural healthcare system of colonial Bengal and the enactment of the establishment of Union Boards, along with an overview of literary discourses on colonial public health. In order to better understand the Union's duties and functions, three key contents of rural health are discussed from the annual health and administrative reports, comprising curative action against epidemics, preventative measures and sanitation, and drinking water supply. In this article, a significant emphasis is laid on analysing the financial management of rural health under Union Boards. Towards the conclusion, the limitations of the Union's functions have been reviewed, along with the obstacles that led to those self-governing bodies’ failure to considerably improve colonial rural health. The article embeds the postulation that, notwithstanding the self-governing network, the Unions were able to make little headway in rural health owing to the inconsistencies among responsibility, resources, and capability.