INDIAN DEPRESSES CLASSES

Evening Star, Issue 19661, 14 September 1927, Page 12

INDIAN DEPRESSES CLASSES

HEED FOR REFORM It is usually forgotten (states a writer in ‘ Tho Times ’) how very small a fraction of tho immense population of India has the franchise, nor is it realised that there are nearly fifty millions of tho depressed classes who are practically unrepresented. Tho assumption that tho Swarajists, who claim complete and immediate autonomy for India, and the Rcsponsivists, who' ask that the Ministers he given '■really increased powers, adequately represent Indian opinion is very far from tho truth. There is a vast body of opinion, .scarcely articulate to find expression, winch would probably not support either demand. The “depressed classes” ’a the poitmantcau term which is now usually employed to cover all the non-caste Hindus and most of the hill tribes swid other aboriginal inhabitants ol India. For various reasons they have no elected representative in the Indian Parliament. They have for spokesmen ill tho Provincial Councils two or three nominated members and occasionally a Government olncial, but this mJnect representation bears no relation wiiatcver to tbeir numbers. From the opinions exorcsscd by such nominated members it would appear that Hie communities which they represent view with tlio liveliest concern any prospect of further powers being given to their Hindu lords and masters alter LLo. r ihc last ton years have seen an extraordinary growth in class-consoious-noss amongst the depressed classes. Undoubtedly two of the main lactnrs have been the educational worlt oi the various missions and the return jioni abroad of emigrants will) money and experience gained in the colonies. A third factor is Hud some of the I ro\ineiiil Governments 'have at, last recognised it as their duty to rescue the depressed classes Irom the state of economic servitude in wliic'i most of them have been sunk for a thousand years. CASTE AND NON-CASTE. V'c-loii"' custom lias fixed a great ..■HIT between the easte and, non-caste population. In North India this gull is not so wide as in the south, lor in the north Alnhomodan rule lasted longest; Hindus, whether caste or outcaste, wore treated alike as children 0 [ Shaitan, whoso only salvation layin the acceptance of Islam. In the south no such welding force has ciei operated, and caste and non-easte Hindus show no more signs ol mixing than do oil and water. It is in the ALulras Presidency, thcrclore, where tho Alogul Emperors held but a nominal suzerainty, that the problem of the depressed classes is most acute. Tho ont-castes, or Paiiehamas as they are called in the south, live m unsavory little hamlets apart from Hie main "village, the houses of wlneii they ran never'enter. Their touch m considered pollution liy a caste llim.ii; even, their shadow passing over his food makes it uneatable. In Brahmin villages and in so no belonging lo other castes thev mav not walk along the public streets, for their presence brings defilement; in con sequence tney have to go by circuitous paths through_the fields to' and from tbeir homes AA hen the hot 110:111101' dries up the pools from which they drink they are dependent on charitv for water; lor nom but a caste man or woman may draw from the village well. In sonic parts of Soul.li India the only burial grounds these poor people have are by the side of 1 lie Government highways, lor the dead bodv of an ont-caslo may not be carried across the fields of caste people. In a, i country of .small holdings scarcely one family iu a thousand (outside tho hill tracts) owned any lam.; the great majority of them were, as many still are, serfs globm ascripU. Their masters usually owned their houses or huts and could enfoicc the lowest living wage, for no other caste man would, lot or sell them a dwelling. Government did provide a low schools in the towns for their children, but these uere of little service, for the teacher, usually a caste Hindu, preferred caste children as pupils, ami as a rule filled his classroom with them, leavino the few Paiiehamas who attended to pick up wlmt > crumbs ol learning they could outside on the verandah. Is it any wonder the fiepressed classes were sunk to Mteii.al as well as physical degiad.ition i Tiie tyranny of the. high-caste landlords—no milder word will express the facts—led the authorities shortly before the war to aid Hie ranehamas by the acquisition of houses and house sites for them in t!ic irrigated tracts wlieir conditions wore particularly iniquitous. Li spite of much opposition the Almiras Government, which was the pioneer in tins direction, carried through large acquisition schemes in the and towards tho end of the war appointed a special officer to look after rue in forests of the depressed classes. oradually an important department has been built up whoso duty it to iniestigate their wants, and, as' far as funds permit, to provide whore they arc most needed house sites, schools, wells and paths or roads from the. out-caste, hamlet to the nearest public highway, In evorv district lists of lands at I lie* disposal of the Government have been drawn up and a portion of these lias been earmarked for grant to the depressed. Payment of land revenue fill such land may ho deferred for a period of years till‘the cultivators arc in a. position to pay, and co-operative societies are formed to provide the capital without which they cannot work their holdings. OPPOSITION TO REFORM.

In all those attempts to improve their status there is a great, weight of silent hut strenuous opposition to bo overcome. The village officers arc unwilling ho disclose, either to their own superiors or to the ont-casics, what land is available lor grant, in response to any particular application, for each new holding means one family the loss of low-paid laborers and greater independence of attitude among the others The possibility of obtaining land is, however, such an enormous attraction to the landless that they will journey hundreds of miles on loot to headquarters, where they think they will get more accurate intormation than lhey”can in their own parts. .At the annual settlement of the land revenue in the Madras districts they collect in crowds at cadi camp to press on the higher officials their requests for land, wells, house sites, schools, and roads. The anxiety to secure some small capital to work a holding or to purchase land where none at the disposal of Government is available swells the tide of emigrants to Ceylon and Malaya. Each returning emigrant, with the experience gained hy travel and the confidence acquired hy living among those who have no contempt for, his origin, but regard him merely on Ids merits as a laborer, helps to raise the moral of liis community. It is to feared that much of the opposition to emigration which finds voice among the landowning classes in the council’ is based, not so much on anxiety for the welfare of the emigrants, as on, dislike to, the rise in wages which emigration brings in its train. The general attitude ot the vest or the population towards the depressed classes is scarcely more liberal or friendly It is true that Mr Gandhi lias held out the right hand of fellowship to the untouchables, but his, example, important and valuable as it, is in this respect, has not been copied by the majority of his followers, and many Hindus are actively opposed to it and have withdrawn their support from him in consequence. , This attitude is not merely a prejudice confined to the ignorant, hut a feeling so deeply ingrained in the social fabric that an Indian High Court Judge of otherwise liberal views lias been heard to say that ho believed it useless to do educational work, for Panehamas,

who were, in bis opinion, incapable ol being educated. Even the Ministers in the velormed Governments have been 100 much occupied with their political adjustments to show any zeal for raising the status of tho millions of their fellow-country-men among whom voters are. conspicuous by their absence. Tho Labor Department is still on a fempornry basis and liable to have its beneficent activities drastically curtailed at any moment when -stringency of funds gives an apparent excuse, it is not to he wondered at, therefore, that tho few leaders whom the depressed classes have produced aro not to be counted among tlio adherciits. of any of the political parties in India, and that limy view the future with anxious eyes. As one of them has phrased it, they led that in promoting self-government we are running away from mu- responsibilities ami deserting them, just when wo have given them a glimpse of a life worth living. Awakened from the slumber of centuries their community sees the social status and economic freedom which another twenty years of the. present Government policy would assure to them being placed in jeopardy'. ithout fai greater representation than they have at present,’both in the Councils and Assembly, they are powerless to aid themselves, and’ it rests with the Statutory Commission to see that, whatever measure of increased self-government is recommended, their interests are safeguarded. However difficult and complex the problem may be, it must not ho: merely set aside as it was in 1919.