INDIA TO-DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23106, 4 February 1937, Page 2

INDIA TO-DAY

MOVE TOWARDS SELFGOVERNMENT CHANGING SOCIAL CONDITIONS PROBLEM OF THE OUTCASTE That the time is slowly but surely approaching when India will become self-governing, was the conviction expressed yesterday to a Daily Times reporter by Miss Joan M'Gregor, a member of the Ramabai Mukti Mission, Kedgdon, India, who is at present on a visit to Dunedin. A residence of 36 years in India has qualified Miss M'Gregor to speak with some authority on present-day conditions in that country, and while, as she observed, she has not made a close study of the political situation, she was able to give some interesting sidelights on the tremendous social changes which have taken place in the past 20 years. THE NEW CONSTITUTION

It was expected, Miss M'Gregor said, that the new constitution, which would put more power in the hands of the Indians, would come into operation in about a year's time, and, at the moment, intense interest was centring in the general elections, which were to take place next month. It was significant, in this latter respect, that approximately 17 per cent, of the population of British India —men and womenwould exercise their franchise, whereas at previous elections the proportion was from 3 to 5 per cent. The qualifications for male voters were that they must be revenue payers, payers of income tax, or educated to matriculation standard, and the women must be literate; but this system had its disadvantages in that it sometimes brought about an anomalous position by which a woman could vote while her husband could not. More and more, in the various provinces, Indians were working towards self-government; moreover, the Indianising of the services—civil and military—was going on rapidly. THE BARRIER OF CASTE

Commenting on social conditions, Miss M'Gregor said that a tremendous social and religious movement was at present taking place among the outcaste section of the community. These " Untouchables," who numbered some 60,000,000, were, in the minds of the majority of the high-caste Indians, of relatively little importancp but there had risen among them Dr Ambedgar, himself an outcaste, but a highly cultured man, who had done, and was doing, much to alleviate their lot and inculcate in them a sense of higher citizenship. Dr Ambedkar was the head of the law school in Bombay, and his work among his fellows was not only helping to break down the great barrier of caste, but had had a more valuable effect in that, as a result of the movement he led, the outcastes were beginning to give up many of their degrading rites, as, for instance, the eating of carrion. Unfortunately, the progress of the movement was hampered in large measure by the fact that many of those it was designed to help were too busily occupied in getting sufficient to eat, for at certain seasons famine was still rife in many of the country districts. The educational system was also of great assistance, although considerable difficulty was sometimes experienced in getting people to send their children to school. GANDHI, THE IDEALIST "I consider Gandhi to be a very true and very sincere man, but he is too much of an idealist," Miss M'Gregor said, when asked her opinion of this interesting personality. So far as Gandhi's influence was concerned, his sun was setting, as, through many of his more spectacular moves, a large number of his followers had become sadly disillusioned. His boycotting of the Government schools, which resulted in a generation of the youth among his adherents losing their education, was an instance of this. While Gandhi had talked freely, and had undoubtedly done much for the outcastes, his work had not been nearly so effective as that of Dr Ambedkar, who had suffered through bitter experience, and was more fully alive to their troubles. Ghandi was not an outcaste —he belonged to the weaver cast —and therefore could never understand the trials of the Untouchables as Dr Ambedkar could. UNREST QUIESCENT

Commenting on the feeling of the people towards the British, Miss M'Gregor said that the wave of hatred which swept India in 1921 and 1922 had now passed, and the unrest which was so evident a few years ago was at present more or less quiescent. Among the more intelligent section of the Indians a good deal of the bitter feeling had disappeared, and at the head of the National Party which was working for India's independence, there were some very sane and rational men. There was a Red party which, of course, was " anti-everything." but fortunately it was very small. " It is a matter for rqgret." Miss M'Gregor said in conclusion, " that so many opposing factions militate against India's progress; but I am convinced that eventually the country will become self-governing under the British rule. It may be a long time, but it will come to pass. I and other European missionaries have worked harmoniously under the direction of an Indian —the great Pandita Ramabai —and I fail to see why the Indians should not be capable of governing themselves."