Dinshaw Wacha

A GREAT PACIFIST, Dinshaw Wacha was born in Bombay on August 2, 1844 into a middle-class family. He studied at Ayrton School, after which he joined college. But he left soon after to assist his father in business.
One of the early political stalwarts, Wacha came into contact with other great minds of the time- Dadabhai Naoroji and Pherozeshah Mehta- with whom he worked closely for peaceful evolution of India. He believed in spreading education and bringing about social reforms by political participation in politics.
Moreover, Wacha was a founder member of the Congress and its President in 1901. He scaled tremendous political heights as a member of the Bombay Legislative Council and the Imperial Legislative Council. He was ranked with Pherozeshah Mehta as the founder of the Bombay Municipal Corporation and with Gokhale as the custodian of India’s finances. A keen observer of the country’s financial policies, he was a strident
Critic of the UK Government’s financial policies and condemned the Morley-Minto reforms.
A founder of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Wacha was a prolific writer and published his works in the Indian Spectator, Advocate and Indian Review. He took keen interest in the Bombay Municipal Corporation and was its member for 40 years. Early in life he revealed a poignant grasp of public finance and economic issues. Moderate as he was, Wacha embarrassed the Government by his strident criticism of it’s his strident criticism of its economic and financial policies. In 1897 he gave a “correct and adequate expression” to the national view before the Welby Commission in London. He pointed out that the financial embarrassment of the Government of India was caused not by the falling rupee exchange by the reckless increase in military and civil expenditure.
Wacha held many positions in his political career and was knighted in 1917. He was a committed writer and no economic lapse escaped his eagly eye. He condemned the “homeopathic dose” of Indian participation in legislation provided by the Morley-Minto and Montford Reforms. A farsighted rationalist and financial wizard, he died in 1936.