Tarini Prasad Sinha

              late 1930's

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TARINI PRASAD SINHA
It gives me very great pleasure, indeed, to write these lines of introduction to American audiences for my Indian friend, Tarini Prasad Sinha, whom I have known for nearly fifteen years and for whom I have come to entertain warm sentiments of affection.  He is a pupil and a devoted personal friend of C. F. Andrews.

For nearly twenty years he has been a disciple and a personal friend of Mahatma Gandhi with whom he has lived for several years at his Ashram at Ahmedabad, India, and with whom he has actively participated in several Indian campaigns.

He is a personal friend of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, at whose Ashram, at Santiniketan, he has lived and taught with C. F. Andrews.

He was a personal friend of Mrs. Annie Besant, with whom he lived as a boy when he was attending the Central Hindu Collegiate School and also later as a young man when he was a student at the Central Hindu College (now the Hindu University), Benares, India, on the Executive of which Mrs. Besant occupied a distinguished place.


He was a personal friend of C. P. Scott, the great Liberal Editor of the Manchester Guardian, with whom he worked for two years on the subeditorial staff of that paper at Manchester, England.

He was one of the field lecturers of the British Independent Labor Party in England; he was also the Secretary, did a deal of research work and drew up the official reports of the Indian Advisory and Empire Policy Committees of the Party.

He was the Secretary of the Indian National Congress organization in London, England; he represented the Congress at several International conferences and on its behalf made several lecture tours through England, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria.

He has been the Indian Representative to International Temperance Conferences, and on his last visit to this country, spoke on a coast-to-coast lecture tour.

He was for several years the Secretary, in London, England, of the Society for the Suppression of Traffic in Opium and in that capacity visited Geneva, Switzerland, and attended the meetings of the Opium Committees of the League of Nations, where he actively cooperated and eventually came to form personal friendships with both the Honorable Stephen G. Porter and Bishop Brent of our American Delegation to the League of Nations Opium Conferences.

He was later invited to join in a temporary capacity the Secretariat of the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, which he did for the specific purpose of preparing and arranging documentary materials for the guidance of the International Conference on Opium that met in Geneva under the auspices of the League of Nations.  The Conference proved to be the first Opium Conference of the League of Nations to have achieved positive results.  His knowledge of the world situation with regard to Opium and other Dangerous Drugs is as thorough as it is authentic.

His early education was at the Hindu University, Benares, India.  Later he studied at the University of London, England.  He has done postgraduate work at the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva, Switzerland, has taken Master's degree in Economics from our own University of Michigan and is now engaged there in the preparation for his doctor's degree.

He is a thoroughly good exponent of Indian thought and culture.  His interpretation of the present-day Indian political situation is vivid, and his exposition of the Gandhi Movement illuminating.  He is a fluent speaker and has a poise which is peculiarly Indian.  I should very much like American Organizations interested in any phase of Indian life and activities to avail themselves of Mr. Sinha's services to make clear to them the many intricacies of Indian life and problems.

(Bishop) FREDERICK B. FISHER



LECTURE SUBJECTS

1.
Mr. Gandhi As I Know Him.
2.
The Non-Violent Method of Mr. Gandhi.
3.
India's Response to Russian Communism.
4.
The Goal of Indian Nationalism.
5.
A Hindu View of Life and Religion.
6.
India Re-thinks Missions.
7.
The Opium and The Drug Problem in the World.
8.
The League of Nations: an inside view.



A FEW OPINIONS
I have known Mr. Tarini P. Sinha for many years now and entertain the very highest opinion, indeed, with regard to the quality of his mind.  He is a good exponent of Indian thought and culture … has poise … and is a fluent and illuminating speaker.

(Sir) S. RADHAKRISHNAN
Professor of Philosophy, Calcutta University, and Vice-Chancellor, Andhra University.

I am very happy to tell you how highly I think of Mr. Tarini P. Sinha's character and judgment.  I have had repeated conferences with him and have always been struck by the wealth and variety of his knowledge of human affairs as well as by the moderation and understanding of contrary opinions which is rare everywhere and perhaps particularly so in oriental students.  I am sure that you will enjoy having Mr. Sinha with you as much as we did and I wish him every success in his new surroundings.

WILLIAM RAPPARD, Director
Institute Universitaire d'Hautes Etudes Internationales, Geneva, Switzerland.

I would gladly recommend my friend Mr. Tarini P. Sinha, whom I have known for many years now, to my colleagues in the American Y. M. C. A. as a person who would be very helpful in interpreting Indian problems of most every variety.  Mr. Sinha is a man of ability and understanding.

S. K. DATTA, Joint Secretary
World Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations.  (Now President, Foreman Christian College, Lahore, India).

There are few more timely, interesting or vital questions now before the world than those upon which Mr. Sinha speaks.  His large knowledge, fine scholarship and recognized ability should cause him to be heard widely.  I heartily commend him to Lecture Committees, Rotary and men's other Clubs, women's Clubs, Literary Societies, Political Associations, Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, Schools and Churches.

J. T. SUNDERLAND
Author of India and World Brotherhood,  India in Bondage, Rising Japan, etc. etc.


Mr. Tarini P. Sinha's work in the Secretariat has been exceedingly satisfactory and I had hoped it would be possible for me to offer him a post in our new office in India.

(Sir) ERIC DRUMMOND, Secretary-General, The League of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr. Tarini P. Sinha has been one of my temporary Collaborators in the Opium Section and I take this opportunity of thanking him very warmly for the service which he has rendered in connection with the preparation for the Conference on the Limitation of the Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs held during the year 1931.  He worked very hard and made very valuable contribution to the preparatory documents of the Conference.  In his work he always showed a devotion and a spirit of collaboration which is worthy of the highest praise.  I wish him all success in his future labors.

ERIC EINAR EKSTRAND
Director of the Opium Traffic and Social Questions Sections of the Secretariat of the League of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

I have known Mr. Tarini P. Sinha for several years.  He was employed in the Geneva Secretariat of The League of Nations as a temporary Member of the Section and worked with me in connection with the preparation of documents for the Conference on the Limitation of Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs held by the League of Nations in May-July, 1931.  He was appointed to this position in the Secretariat partly on account of the knowledge of the opium question which he had already gained as a student of and lecturer on this question over a period of years.  His experience in the Secretariat, particularly in connection with the preparation of documents for this very important conference has given him inside knowledge of the Opium and Drug question from the international point of view.  I should think that as a result of this experience and of his previous experience he should be well qualified to give an account of the Opium and Drug problem in its various aspects.  In addition to this knowledge of the question he is able to express himself fluently and can, I feel sure, be relied upon to express with knowledge and impartiality the work which is being done by the League of Nations in this field.

H. DUNCAN HALL
Chief of the Opium Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

This is to introduce Tarini P. Sinha, one of my closest personal friends.  He is a member of the Independent Labor Party in Great Britain, has done good work not only on the Indian question but in all the Socialist activities of the Party.  He did the detail research for the I. L. P. report on India.  He served on our International Committee.  He has spoken at hundreds of our meetings and is one of our best liked lecturers.  He can be of great service to the cause of India and of Socialism wherever he goes.  I would particularly ask my friends in America to make him feel at home, as they did me.  They will soon learn his value.

A. FENNER BROCKWAY
Chairman, British Independent Labor Party, London, England.

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