PROBLEMS OF INDIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 287, 3 December 1929, Page 8

PROBLEMS OF INDIA

A BRIEF SUMMARY MOHAMEDAN AND HINDU INFLUENCES. The problems of India formed the subject for an address to the Wanganui Rotary Club yesterday by Mr H. G. Jenkins, the speaker visualising that country from an historical standpoint and reconciling the past with the present. At thc outset, he gav e as ais reason for choosing such a subject that there existed a misunderstanding with regard to the elementary problems of India, That country stood alone. When the tests of national growth and individual freedom wc j applied it was found that India had not responded to them. There was no national development a s compared with European countries. There was no individual freedom, which was the pride of other parts of the British Empire. There was tremendous diversity among the peoples, enormous diversity in religion, and none of that cohesion vh.ch existed in countries outside. The peoples were mixed like bcan s and pea., which meant that there was a conglomerate whole, but no co-ordinatoon as might be expected from peoples in the one area. If an historical view was taken of India, a better idea of the present political problems would be obtained. The First Peoples. Mr Jenkins went right back to the days of the first peopLs to inh bit India, the Dravidian, who zero described as occupying an intermediate position between the Carcassian and thc negroes. They wer e people a low degree of mentality and were - eak physically. India, by reason of its geographical situation, possessed a barrier. In the northern portion,- flowing to the east, was the river Ganges, and flowing to the west the Indus. Below that area wa s the great Indian dtsert On either side were mountains and forest which threw a belt right across India, Thc primitive peoples, under thc pressure, went to the south and penetrated this belt. The first peoples to come through the Kyber Pass wer e the Aryans. Aryan meant noble, and these peoples were superior. While they would permit their men to marry women of the Dravidians they would not permit Dravidian men to marry Ayran women. Thi s developed the caste system, whic was haimed at racial purity. The highest caste was deemed to be the soldier, the next the priest, the third the husbandman, and the rest did not matter.

The population of India, the speaker went on, was 320,000,000, two-thirds of which wag under British India and the remainder under Native India. There were 624 individual native States. Proceeding, Mr Jenkins referred to the penetration of India by Asiatic, peoples of Persian descent. They eventually established their headquarters at Delhi. He traced also the Mohamedan influence and their suppression of the Hindus. Hindu and Mohamedan religions represented the important classes of people. The Mohamedan creed was democratic. A man might be a slave, but if he wa s a Mohamedan he was truly a brother. If not of the faith he was to be persecuted. The Hindus’ is an aristocratic religion, and the two were not compatible. Conditions To-day. Hindus still maintained supremacy in numbers in India to-day, representing 68 per cent, of the population. Mohamedans had 21 per cent, and Buddhists 3.6 per cent., the remaining 7 per cent, being made up of Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Parsees and A,nimists. The greatest problem facing the country was that of religion, particularly the Hindu and Mohamedan creeds. The 68 per cent, of Hindus stressed their superiority in numbers and used it to ask for an improved national standing. Th e Mohamedan pointed to the 50,000,000 outcasts who had asked their coreligionists for better treatment and had never got it. The Mohamedans in the north had been able to maintain themselves on account of prowess in war. The Hindu was not so good a fighter, and had to submit to treatment of the more virile race. The 68 per cent, of Hindus were split up amongst themselves, and India was broken into castes, the 1921 census returns totalling them to 2300 minor castes. Language Difficulties. Difficulty in uniting India on the score that there were S o many dialects, was referred to by the speaker. There wer 222 different vernacular languages, the chief of which were the Western Hindi, spoken by 96 million; Bengali, 49 million; Tegulu, 23 millono; Morath, 18 million; Punjabi, 16 million; and Raajasthuni, 12 million. The 1921 census revealed that of th e people using these many languages, only 139 males and 21 females in each 1000 could write a letter and read the reply thereto.

Right up until the close of the Indian Mutiny the warlike Mohamedan had had plenty to do. When peace was enforced by Britain, however, he took things easy. Then came the time when Lord Morley had introduced a greater proportion of civil service from among the native races. These were recruited from the better educated Braham class, but did not take in the Mohamedans. When the higher posts in the service became open, however, it often occurred that the Mohamedan found himself a position of inferiority to the Braham. That caused trouble, which simmered, and there was a great feeling of indignation in India when the province of Bengal was separated. The Bengali saw a grievance in this and the result led to an intense agitation. Then differences between Lord Curzon and Lofd Kitchener arose. Kitchener won. Lord Curzon was sent Home and the Bengali thought they had had a win also.

Self Government Mooted. There was considerable agitation in India in 1916. War did not affect the agriculturalists, but it did the city population. In the war years the country did well, and there was a growth of feeling in favour of self government. Oh this there were three trains of thought. The official view was that it could not be done. It was applying western principles to an eastern country —‘‘East was East and West was West, and never the twain would meet. ’ ’ There was the moderate, or Liberal view, one shared in British India, by the missionaries and by the educated Hindus, that a general evolutionary system of government would have a uniting effect and would weld the country into a national whole. The

third view was held by those looking for self-glorification. They pushed for self government, spurred on with the thought of creating openings for themselves. The speaker’s opinion was that the moderate view was the best one to follow. The high caste Hindus, with their long line of descent and the elevated position they held, felt keenly their inferiority against the white man. Turning to the present Government of India, Mr Jenkins said that in 1918 ther e was passed thc British India Act which created a central Indian Government and eight provincial councils. In conclusion, he mentioned the recent investigation of Indian problems by the Sir John Simon Commissin, and asked that any judgment on thc country be suspended until their report had been presented. On the motion of Rotarian F. Symes, Mr Jenkns was accorded a vote of thanks, the mover suggesting that at some future date thc lecturer be afforded an opportunity to address them on the commercial aspect of India. He had given them food for thought, and had crammed into half an hour’s address facts which would take twice as long to deal with fully.