Thread by @adityanag2002

2 decades after the formation of Orissa we were world news for all the right reasons. Harnessing nature’s renewable hydro-energy firing up the boilers of industrial revolution in India & the sub-continent, also protect the vital farmlands of coastal Orissa from flooding. 1/N

At 4.8 km it was the longest dam in the world, being built right here in Orissa. A behemoth of renewable energy which can stave off India’s ever growing needs till the dawn of nuclear power. 2/N

For a brief moment there was no dam in the world that could match the scale of the Hirakud dam, creating the then largest manmade lake in Asia. The current badge of honour belongs to this uber Russian reservoir called Bratsk on the Angara river. 3/N

In just 10 years Modern India gained massive knowledge in dam building creating its own cohort of engineers match that of any the West or the Soviet Union could field. With a leading member of NAM India was proving a point to the powers which won World War Two 4/N

One such engineer an Oriya -Shibasankar Behera visits the state of Montana in 1955 to learn from & compare dams of the USA. Modern India led by Nehru at just 8 years old along with this engineer, were taking part in her greatest construction feat. 5/N

Building the #HirakudDam over the #Mahanadi taming this great river to unlock limitless electricity. Here’s Shibasankar Behera's story as told in this local newspaper in Montana called the Hungry Horse News back in 1955 two years prior to the inauguration of the Hirakud Dam. 6/N

"Our guest Tuesday afternoon on a drive up Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun highway to the foot of the Garden Wall was Shibashankar Behera, engineer at the Hirakud Dam on the Mahanadi river in India’s state of Orissa. 7/N

Behera, a fine man, is one of about 50 foreigners seeing American dams and irrigation projects under the International Cooperation Administration program He came here to see Hungry Horse Dam and Wednesday and Thursday will be at Tiber Dam near Chester. 8/N

Hungry Horse, the US’s 3rd highest, 4th largest built of concrete, had a peak employment of about 2,550. Hirakud Dam in India will employ about 20,000. Incidentally it is considered the world’s longest dam, being three miles of earth 9/N

& concrete up to 220 feet high with 13 miles of dykes. 10/N

As we drove Into Glacier we developed the thought that a main difference between the United States and India was the economic status of the individual man. 11/N

Strings of cars went by. License plates were: Washington, California, Iowa and New Jersey. A paunchy bear was holding up another string. There were South Dakota, New York, Montana, Wisconsin and Illinois. 12/N

America comes to Glacier, and these Americans are carpenters, machine operators, mechanics, clerks and lawyers. 13/N

In India where it requires 20,000 men compared to 2,000 here to build a dam, home for the machine operator and carpenter is apt to be a mud plastered cottage of two rooms, minus plumbing. 14/N

We take our automobiles, refrigerators, paid vacations and fact that our youngsters can go on to college if they desire, for granted. The struggle in India and in many other parts of the world is the problem of getting enough to eat. 15/N

Here it is to meet payments on the new car, bought every two or three years. The United States has poverty, but it is the least of any land. 16/N

One could literally see Behera’s warm, dark eyes absorb the beauty of Glacier. He commented: “We have Kashmir, but it is inaccessible.” 17/N

The modern industrial age is just coming to India. Construction wage is under $1 a day. The $1 in terms of about five rupees is able to keep a roof over a family and buy simple food. 18/N

In America men in comparative jobs have refrigerators, automobiles and paid vacations that often times bring them to such places as Glacier. We were seeing them Tuesday. 19/N

Some of us talk about $2 an hour wages as too high, and others think in terms of “automaton” eliminating jobs and there’s also featherbedding to keep men on payrolls even though they don’t produce. 20/N

We tend to overlook that if there weren’t $2 and $2.50 an hour wages on one hand and development of American technical knowhow—“automaton”—on the other, our people would be living more like they do in India. 21/N

We were thinking in these terms. Mr. Behera was not. He referred to success of his country in bolstering agriculture production. A few years ago to prevent mass starvation there was importation of about 5,000,000 tons of food. 22/N

Now India apparently can feed itself. This is progress. The nation has about 150 dams and irrigation projects under construction and is building aluminium and steel plants. 23/N

The Beheras have four children, and they have milk. They lack a refrigerator but keep a cow. Mrs. Behera does not have the electrified home, & she has six servants to help with household chores. Behera sees the day that this will be three. 24/N

We remarked that in Columbia Falls we did not at this time know of a single housewife with a full-time employee assisting her. 25/N

Behera comes of an old civilization but a new country. His independence day is back in 1947. He appreciated that most of America could come to Glacier. In his own country, planning & effort is apparently licking starvation, & ahead is a long row. America has come a long way. 26/N