STRUGGLING INDIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 289, 7 December 1931, Page 3

STRUGGLING INDIA.

"A MASS OF PEOPLES." MOSLEM AGAINST HINDU. BRITAIN'S STRENGTH ESSENTIAL. One of the most lucid .and unbiased appreciations of the difficulties of the India Round Table Conference given within recent months was published recently by Sir Harcourt Butler, former Governor of the United Provinces and of Burma, and chairman of the India States Committee, in the " Evening Standard." The writer calls attention to the fact that 'before ever he left India, Gandhi, the Nationalist leader, declared he would return home empty-handed. He continues: "India is the most conservative and least united country in the world. Of her 350,000,000—speaking 12 different languages and 220 distinct dialects—more than 300,000,000 are altogether illiterate. In each 1000 males only 16 can read or write English, while in each 1000 females only two can do so.

"There can be no real representation of the Indian peoples, the great mass of whom take ho interest in politics, but are deeply and bitterly divided by religious differences. The orthodox or caste Hindus number some 170 millions; the Moslems some 80 millions. The Hindus are split up into over 2000 castes or sub-castes, quite isolated from one another. Between Moslems and Hindus there is a long-standing fanatical religious hatred which breaks out constantly, as recently at Cawnpore, in rioting and savage atrocities.

"The Hindus look on the Moslems as intruders who have no place under an Indian sun. The Moslems ruled India for some centuries; and hope that, if the British ever relinquish their rule, they will, with the help of their coreligionists outside, re-establish their former dominion. Unfit for Federation? "Again, there are some 70 millions of depressed classes and aborigines, often classified as Hindus, but degraded and down-trodden by the orthodox for some thousands of years. In fact, India consists of a mass of peoples who have been kept in peace and led to progress only by British rule. "The first Round Table Conference, held December, 1930-January, 1931, settled nothing. It separated witli a pious expression of opinion that British India and the Indian States should be federated in some way, and that responsibilty with safeguards should be introduced in the Federal Government. "In all modern federations, in the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, and South Africa, well .established self-governing units joined together and surrendered some of their independence for a greater unity. In India it is proposed to have a federation before the units have learned to govern themselves, and before the princes have been able to federate themselves. "Again, it became evident that any grant of responsibility in the central or federal government at this stage must enthrone the orthodox Hindus in a permanent and predominant majority. No compensating balance can be found in the Indian States; indeed, their inclusion will increase the Hindu strength, because the number of Moslem princes is very few. Attitude of British Rulers. "True., the different minorities in British India, slightly exceed the orthodox Hindus in number, but they are very diverse and completely lack cohesion. At present the Central Government in its responsibility is impartial to the British Parliament. So long as this remains untouched the provinces can be given responsible governments with necessary safeguards, as recommended by the Simon Commission; and the Moslems by an adjustment of provincial boundaries can have their fair share of power by having a majority in a few provincial legislatures. The Hindus and Moslems at present seem further away from agreement than ever they were, and the princes are torn in two on vital questions of principle. To-day one party of the princes says —let us federate among ourselves before we federate with British India. The other party is ready to reverse the process with apparently little appreciation of the implications of federation. These difficulties may, of course, be removed. At present this does not seem probable. India's Vital Needs. "The need of caution in advance becomes more and more insistent. Certain definite arrangements must in any case be made under any system ultimately devised. "(1) Law and order must be secured. "(2) The rights of the Moslems, depressed classes, and other minorities

which have grown up under British rule must be protected to their satisfaction. "(3) The rights of the more than 300 millions who take no interest in politics and have never heard of* the Round Table Conference must be conserved. "(4) The princes must come into the federation in sufficient numbers to make it real. "(5) The public credit of India and the public debt must be made safe, and fair treatment must be insisted on for British traders and other nationals. "Let there be no misunderstanding or under-valuing of this hatred of things Western in quarters which may well get control of the government for a time. If power is given prematurely to inexperienced hands, the hands of the clock will be put back very swiftly, and the work that British rule has slowly accomplished for all peoples and communities in India will be rapidly undone."