Sir Daniel O Goshabar Akhyan by Soumen Dutta [Hardcover]

Sir Daniel Hamilton was one of the pioneers of the cooperative movement in India. This Scottish visionary lacked neither power, fame, nor wealth—yet, at the dawn of the 20th century, he dreamed of building a cooperative-based society on three islands in the Sundarbans.

He introduced an education system aimed at making villagers self-reliant, ensuring they never lacked food or clothing. Over four decades, he established moneylender-free villages, one-rupee paper currency, cooperative banks, model farms, and grain storage systems (Dharmagola)—setting remarkable precedents for modern India.

He even involved revolutionaries in his mission and found support from two towering figures of India's cooperative movement—Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi.

Though largely forgotten outside the Sundarbans, this friend of India deserves recognition. On the 150th anniversary of his birth, this is the first in-depth exploration of his extraordinary contributions.