In continuation of the reaction to the attempts of both Orientalists and missionaries, the Bhadralok had established the Mahabidyalaya (better known as the Hindu College) in Calcutta in 1816. The purpose was to cultivate “European literature and European science” without any assistance from the Government. The original curriculum comprised not only reading, but also instruction in history, geography, chronology, astronomy, chemistry and other sciences. The College was managed exclusively by the Calcutta Bhadralok . It was open only to sons of Hindu families. There lies a sense of caste discrimination and gender bias. Despite this, its enrolment figures had touched 400 by 1828. And, within two decades of the opening of Hindu College, the demand for English education had led to the creation of a respectable number of English schools “originating with the natives and deriving resources exclusively from them”.

Thus, the Hindu College was set up and run by the Bhadralok as a scientific institution that would not only introduce the application of modern science and technology to the Indians but also show them new horizons of life, as a whole, thus extending the opportunities to pursue science education and career in science.

But, the British were not interested to introduce science education into the Indian soil as a part of democratisation. They opened a Sanskrit College in Calcutta in 1824 to teach Sanskrit, rhetoric, sacred literature, law and grammar to Bengali children. However, this was not what encouraged the new elite. In this regard, the name of Raja Rammohun Roy figures first. It is clear that the colonial government was not inclined to introduce science education and inculcate a scientific temper among the natives whereas the attempts on the part of the native intelligentsia were to promote precisely the activities, which the colonial government was not interested in.

No account of India's development to modern times would be complete without a mention of Raja Rammohun Roy, an aristocrat from Bengal, whose social reforms in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries contributed towards narrowing the gap in attitude towards science and technology among the Indians. A term that is current these days but which was not used during Rammohun's era, though he advocated it in many of his speeches and works, is scientific temper. Scientific temper teaches us to sift the available evidence objectively and base our actions on a rational approach. Rammohun was a rationalist in his advocacy of reason and freedom of thought. His criticism of the existing religion and its rigid practices and caste barriers was inspired by his desire to make religion consistent with the changing world of his times. That attitude is even more relevant today, as the influence of science and technology on our lives is increasing rapidly.