RUSSIANISED OFFICIALISM IN INDIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 126, 30 May 1893, Page 4

RUSSIANISED OFFICIALISM IN INDIA.

oSir William iWi:i>i>i:i:L;qiN, in the Asiatic Quarterly Review. To use the phrase of l.)r Max Midler, " the political unit or the social cell in India has always been, and, in spite of repeated foreign conquests, is still the village community." And the late Sir James Caird, in his Famine report, calls thevillnge organisation " the sheet anchor of Ind ion Statecraft ;" and regards the " disruption of the mutually helpful bond of village society" as the most fatal misadventure that can befall the people in their struggle for life. From Sir Henry Maine and other writers j the constitution of these village communities, self-contained and self-gov-erning little republics, is pretty generally known. The village is the property of the resident cultivators or " ryots/ who form the village Council, and are careful that the crop-*; are raised and distributed, and the village affairs administered, according to the ancient local usage, which is the fruit of immemorial experience. From the crop is paid as a first charge a certain Bhare, under the name of Land Revenue, to the '•' Hrkar" or government of the country. And smaller shares go to the village oflicc-rs, including the Headman or Patel, and the village Accountant ; to the village servants, such as the watchmen and messengers ; and to the hereditary village artisans, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the potter, the barber, and the rest, who work for rycts during the year, and receive their dues in kind at harvest time. And in the same way the village organisations carries out the other branches of village administration :— the settlement of disputes by arbitration, the detection and prevention of crime, the trial and punishment of petty offences, the repair of the village walls, the temple, and other public buildings, the entertainment of strangers and care ofthe poor, the removal of dead animals and other sanitary work, the management of the communal forests and pastures, the distribution of water from the irrigation tanks :— all these and other similar matters have always been managed with marvellous precision and skill by the village officers, the whole body of villagers jealously watching and checking any deviation from the ancient custom, which for them is the unwritten law. Under the native governments to which we succeeded, these villages were grouped together for administrative purposes, perhaps 3,000 or -1,000 ol them being included in a zillah or district, which was the unit of the central imperial administration, having its local headquarters at some notable town, like Ahmsdabad, Surat, or Poona. The tehsildar, or chief officer of the district, was responsible for the villages under his control. But under the easy-going methods of native rule the village communities were littlo interfered with. And this was what best suited them. In order to be happy and prosperous all that they asked was to be protected from external violence, to be taxed moderately and iv accordance with custom, and to be let alone in the management of their internal affairs. And under the best native rulers not only were these conditions fulfilled, but active steps were taken to improve the general condition of the district. Thus under the good Emperors, like the great Akbar, provincial governorsnvere expected to promote agriculture by works of irrigation and reclamation, to open np communications, and provide generally for the welfare and progress of tbo people. The results of this policy arc exemplified in the noble reservoirs and water works which still remain, a monument of the skill and wisdom of our predecessors. This beneficent tradition dates back from the earliest times of which we have record. For we see from Jtdie ancient rock inscriptions that, even before the Christian era, King Asoka appointed a Minister of Justice and lieligion, and maintained officers to promote education, among tho women as well as among the youth ; he caused wells to be dug and trees planted along all the high roads, while a system of medical aid was established throughout the ' kingdom for man and beast. The above was, roughly speaking, the sort of system we inherited from our predecessors ; and in the earlier period of our rule the same system was continued. The collector with his English assistants represented the '■ ISirkar " or central authoritj- in all departments, and exercised a paternal despotism in each district, dealing with the village communities through their Headmen and Elders, but interfering little in their internal affairs. And this patriarchal method gave satisfaction on the whole, the Pa.r Britannica, and the improved purity of the administration making up for the defects arising from imperfect knowledge of the language and usages of the people. Put it was quite evident that this was only a . transition stage. For it was not in the nature of things that such a system should long continue under a government inspired by Western official ideas. And soon our present purely bureaucratic system began to take shape, the change being marked by the decay of personal iniluenee and authority, and the rise of the great centralised departments which have now usurped practically the "whole authority in the administration : and transformed the old easygoing personal government into a rigid official despotism of the liussian type. As to the methods and spirit of these centralised departments. 1 would ask the verdict of j the rank and iile of the Indian Civil Service, that is, all outside the charmed circle of the headquarters cliques .* and I think they will confirm me when I say that thes-.* dorartments have all tho narrowness of the specialist, and that their working is secret, impersonal, unsympathetic, and harsh. Each caring only lor its own interests, feels little responsibility lor the ryot, who fulls crushed under their combined oppression?. '1 his is the ', system" regarding which Mr .Naoroji ;u : d his friends niakc so earnest a complaint; a, eyetem which by its workiug eliminates from our administration ud its besl elements, whether Puropcau or unlive ; and renders all redress impossible because thu depart ments huve absorbed into the-nisehcs all the ultimato sources of power. I wiil frankly state that this j !Xe\v ilussianiscd Officialism is an abomination to me in every way. Where development was wanted it has brought revolution and de-tiuction, anei reduced the noble activities ot the Indian Civil ISeivice to a dreary waste.