CONSTITUTION. OF INDIA

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1930, Page 11

CONSTITUTION. OF INDIA

SIMON COMMISSION’S REPORT COUNTRY’S PROBLEMS REVIEWED GREAT BRITAIN’S POLICY DISCUSSED Wireless. Rugby, June 9. After an inquiry lasting 2| years the Indian Statutory Commission on which all three political parties are represented and Tver which Sir John Simon presides, has submitted its unanimous report, of which the first volume, covering the difficulties of the Indian situation, is published to-day. The commission was appointed to inquire into and report upon the working of the system of government, the growth of education and the development of representative institutions m British India. Two visits were paid to India. The commissioners trave led about 7000 miles on the preliminary visit and about, 14,000 miles on the second visit. They received numerous deputations and collected from provincial Governments and other sources a vast amount ot memoranda and material which are being published m supplementary volumes. Eight of the nine provincial legislatures appointed committees to collaborate with the commission, and the Viceroy (Lord Irwin) appointed an Indian Central Committee, composed o. members of the Council of State and Legislative Assembly, for the same purpose. In the Governor’s province all evidence was taken by a joint conference of the Statutory Commission, the Indian Central Committee and the Provincial Committee.

The report is in two volumes. Volume I ®ne, now issued, occupies over 400 pagesi, and discusses conditions of the problem, the existing constitutional structure, the ■working of the reformed constitution, the administrative and judicial systems, public finance, and the growth of education in British India. The second yolume, dealing with future developments, will present the commission’s conclusions and recommendations. It will be published on June 24. This method of issuing' their report • was chosen by the commissioners to permit a survey of the problems to. be digested before their recommendations were judged. The conference of representatives of British India and the Indian States called on Sir John Simon’s suggestion after the publication of the report, will take place in London on Oc- ' idber 20. In a discussion on the prescribed goal of British Indian policy, the commissioners state: “On one hand the progressive realisation of responsible government in British India as an integial part of the British Empire is a fixed object to the attanment of which, in co- : operation with the Indian peoples them- i selves, British policy stands pledged, < and the obstacles .in- the way cannot . he treated as defeating that object, oi as affording a discharge from its pursuit. They are of so formidable a char- : actor that no opinion as to what should now be done is worth anything at all until they are duly appreciated, but whatever the obstacles, the object stands as the declared goal o*f the British Indian policy. PROGRESS ONLY BY STAGES. “On the other hand it is equally part and parcel of the pronouncements of 1917 and 1919 that progress, in the attainment of this avowed object can be achieved only by successive stages, that the time and the manner of each advance can be determined only by Parliament, upon which the responsibility lies for the welfare and advancement of the . Indian peoples, and that, in- the development of the purpose, the decision as to the immediate future must largely depend upon a just estimate of the results and consequences of the steps already taken. .. “Our own task is not to decide but to report to the King-Emperor and to Parliament. In the steps that will follow before the. decision .is reached there will be full opportunity for the contribution of views of every, section of responsible and representative opinion in India.” e Dealing with the conditions of the .problem”the commissioners survey. India’s vast size and varied populations, its conglomeration of races and religions, its social divisions, its economic circumstances and its growing political consciousness and the position of the armv in India.

‘•ln spite of the eagerness with which political India is embracing modern ideas of government, the ancient social system of Hinduism, .which has evolved rigid complications of innumerable classes from the Brahmin at the top ,to the pariah at the bottom, continues to control the lives and thoughts of more than 200.000,000 of the 320,000,000 of the population with a persistence and authority undreamed of in the western world. A sense of unity is growing, but it is largely the outcome of the most recent stage of India’s history during which the influence and the authority of British rule over the whole area have made it possible to speak of India as a single entity. This tends to obscure to the casual observer the variegated assemblage of races and creeds which make up the whole.

■ NATIONALISM AND SPEECH. “Two other influences making for unification are the prevalence of the English tongue as a general means of communication among educated men in India and the growth of a passionate determination among politically-minded classes of all Indian races and religion to asert and uphold the claim of India, ns a whole, to its due place in the world. It would be a profound error to allow geographical dimensions, statistics of population or complexities of religion and caste and language to belittle the significance of what is called the Indian Nationalist movement.

True it is that it directly affects ihe hopes of a very small fraction of the teeming peoples of India; true it may bo that its leaders do not reflect the Active sentiments of the masses of men and women in India who know next to nothing of politicians, and are absorbed in pursuing the traditional Bourse of their daily lives, but none the Jess, however, .'limited in numbers as

compared, with the whole public, these men of India claim to be the spokesmen for the whole, and in India the Nationalist movement has the essential characteristic of all such manifestations in concentrating all forces which are roused by the appeal to national dignity and national self-consciousness. “In 1921 British India had a population of 247,000,600 and the Indian States of 72,000,000. As to the complication of language, no single vernacular tongue has so wide a range as English, but only 2,500,000 are literate in. the English language. With the widest currency among the general population is Hindustani, but it is far from being generally understood all over India, where there are altogether 222 vernaculars.”

The commissioners emphasise the predominately rural character of the population, and say: “Any quickening of the general political judgment, any widening of rural horizons beyond the traditional and engrossing interest of weather and. water and crops and cattle, with the round of festivals and fairs and family ceremonies, and the dread of famine and food, is bound to come very slowly indeed. Only 10.2 pci’ cent, of the population, as compared with 79 per cent, in England, live in the urban areas, and here those who give their attention to politics are mainly found. In the towns are barristers and journalists, who predominate among the leaders of Indian political opinion, and from whose ranks, are drawn the propagandists, candidates and public representatives of all the political parties and communities.

IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION. “India is described as a land of al most infinite diversity in its religious aspect. Hinduism is a religion which touches the ordinary acts, of daily life at nearly every point and its philosophy of existence, which provides an outlook fundamentally different that of creeds of the west, is dispersed among 210,090,000 Hindus. There are nearly 70,000,000 Mohammedans representative of a widely different type of culture.

“Differences of race, a different system of law, and the absence of intermarriage constitute an effective barrier which is the basic opposition, manifesting itself at every turn, in the social custom and economic competition, as well as in the mutual religious antipathy. To-day in spite of much, neighbourly kindness in ordinary affairs and notwithstanding all the efforts made bv men of goodwill in both communities to promote Hindu-Moslem concord the rivalry and dissension between these two forces are one of the chief stumbling blocks in the way of smoother and more rapid progress. “The distribution of population as between Hindus and- Mohammedans provides one of the most serious complications for Indian statesmanship andrecurs in different forms and degrees in almost, every part of India. On Indian soil the opposition of these two faiths is sharply intensified by religious j practices winch are only too likely to provoke mutual ill-feeling. The devout Hindu regards the cow as an object of great veneration white the ceremonial sacrifice of cows and other animals is a feature of the annual Mohammedan festival. Hindu music, being played through the streets on the occasion, of n procession of an idol, or in connection with a marriage celebration, may take place at a time when Mohammedans are at worship in an adjoining mosque and hence arises an outbreak of resentment. The immediate cause of communal disorder is nearly always the religious issue.”

CASTE AND DEPRESSED CLASSES.

In the chapter on caste and the depressed classes the report points out that every Hindu necessarily belongs to the caste of his parents; nothing can alter that. A systematic classification had revealed 2300 castes and there are gradations of castes even among the outcasts. Some 30 per cent, of the Hindu population are “Untouchables” and to all other Hindus they cause pollution by touch and defile food and water. A considerable effort has been made in recent years by social reformers and the Government to ameliorate the state (d the depressed classes but progress has been, and is likely to remain, slow although a real improvement is beginning in some areas. In the whole civil administration of British India the European element is about 12,000 of ft total approaching 1/iOO,OOO. The total British element in the superior grades of the civil services is about 3500, The services recruited

by the provincial Governments are almost entirely manned, by Indians. According to the 1921 census the European population in British India numbered 150,000, of whom 45,000 were women. “Small as these numbers are, the part played by British enterprise in the commercial life and organisation of India is incalculably great. It is British organisation and leadership which have promoted the modern industrial development of India just as it has been the adoption of political conceptions derived from Britain which has chiefly affected the recent course of Indian politics.” The report refers to the growth of women’s movements in India during recent years and the gathering force of the movement against child marriages, and expresses the view that India cannot reach the position in the world to which it aspires until its women play their due part as educated citizens. Much space is devoted to the important question of the army of 60,000 British troops and 150,000 Indians and its duties of internal defence and internal security. The commissioners will return to this subject in the second volume but they say Britain cannot treat the present military organisation of India as sacrosanct but must actively search for an adjustment. Indian statesmen can help to modify the existing arrangement in the direction of self-gov-ernment only if they too will co-oper-ate by facing hard facts and remembering that those who set them up for further consideration are not gloating over the obstacles but are offering their help as friends to Indian aspirations. ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM. Regarding the administrative system the report refers to the extent to which the “Indianisation” of the civil service is proceeding. The report brings out the fact that there is a very small proportion of British officials (3500) to the total civil service of India. For example, in the police services as a whole there are 600 European officers and nearly 800 European police sergeants of. a total of approximately 187,000. In the civil medical departments there are 200 Europeans in a total of nearly 7000 fully oi’ partly qualified medical men, and hr the education services there are 200 Europeans out of a total of 1500 officers in the higher grades. Special reference is made to the influence in their areas of the district officers, embodiments of effective authority to whom the countryside turns in lime of difficulty or crisis. The chapter on the North-West Frontier Province emphasises that this frontier has long presented both an international and local problem of enormous complexity. Here in tortuous valleys arc bodies of fanatical tribesmen, well armed and fearless, .unable to extract more than the barest pittance from the stony ground where they live and quarrel, but having before their eyes the tempting prospect of booty from passing caravans or from raids "into set tled districts. While the Test of India Jias advanced towards self-government, in this province there has been no cliange.

The commissioners say they will, In the second volume, propose a mode of treatment which, while recognising the special position of the area and its vital connection with the defence of India, will make such provision as is possible for the inhabitants to have a voice in framing the laws under ■which they live. Regarding education the commissioners consider the supply of teachers and organisation need great improvement, whlie the reform of educational finance and the better concentration of educational effort are required to prevent expansion being unfruitful.

INDIAN PUBLIC OPINION. Dealing with Indian public opinion, the commissioners say it is in the large towns that the active political forces may be looked for. The political sentiment most widespread among educated Indians is the demand for equality with Europeans and resentment against any suspicion of differential treatment. “While experienced Indian members of the services will admit the benefits of the British Raj and realise the difficulties in the way of complete, self-o-overnment, while members of the minority community, putting the safety of the community first, will stipulate for safeguards, and while the moderate may look askance at extremist methods, which he will not openly denounce,” savs the report, “all alike are in sympathy with the demand for equal status with the European, and proclaim their belief in self-determination for India.” The volume concludes with the following paragraph: “British people, so long accustomed to self-government, are bound to sympathise with this movement even though they may deplore some of its manifestations. We are pledged to help India and a constructive effort is needed. In our view the most formidable of the evils from which India is suffering have their roots in social and economic customs of long standing which can be remedied only by the action of the Indian people themselves.- They are much less likely to be remedied if the blame for their continuance can be put, however unreasonably, on others. We desire to see the forces of public opinion which exist in India concentrated and strengthened for the practical work of reform. It is only when .difficulties of constructive policy are really faced that the inadequacy of general phrases begins to bo realised.” ' A " ; •