Chapter XXXVII. Future Trends

Volume V: Part II pp. 1658–1711

Chapter XXXVII. Future Trends

After the battle of Plassey in 1757 the civil government of the three large provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa came under British rule from 1765. From 1818 when the last Peshwa Bajirao II was defeated and became a pensioner, the British were in control over the whole of India except Punjab, which was subdued in 1845. The British left India in 1947. There- fore, they were rulers over a large part of India for 180 years, over the whole of it except Punjab for about 130 years and over Punjab just about 100 yearṣ The impact of British occupation during these periods on Hindu society was tremendous in all spheres, physical, mental and moral. The changes effected during these years of British rule were of such magnitude that they far exceeded the changes that occurred in hundreds of years before the coming of the British. With the advent of British rule came a new system of Government on an all India basis, establishment of courts of justice on Western patterns, laws that applied to all Indians without distinction, modern indivi- dualistic liberty, Western pattern of living at least in towns and cities, an educational system placing all Indians on the same level, newspapers, better means of transport, study of modern science, English literature and arts &c.

The present author has no intention of writing anything on the all round changes that have taken place in India under British rule. All that he proposes to do in this chapter is to indicate briefly the effects that are likely to be produced on Hindu society, its ancient ideals and values in the near future, on account of science and modern ideas, the Constitution framed for Indian democracy, the idea of a secular State, socialistic pattern of society, economical planning, legislation, growth of population and means to check it.

But before he deals with the above subjects, it is necessary to give a rapid review of the state of things before Independence was achieveḍ Lord Ripon as Viceroy of India in 1882 started a scheme of local self-government by means of municipal corporations in the cities and district and local Boards in the rural areaṣ Thus after about 120 years from 1765 when British rule was first established in a large part of India, the British thought fit to associate the conquered people in managing some of their own (unimportant and petty) affairṣ Colonialism on the part of the British had reached its peak by that time. The British imported raw materials like cotton from India, processed them in Manchester and exported the manufactured products back to India's immense market. At the instance of British manufacturers laws were passed in Britain forbidding the import of Indian silk and cotton goodṣ India was drained of wealth by that policy for over a hundred years and India became one of the poorest countries in the worlḍ Dadabhai Naoroji in his 'Poverty and un-British rule in India' (London, 1901, 675 pages) demonstrated this very ably. The main elements of the colonial rule of Britain were these; complete political subjection existed; the main economic activity was in the hands of foreigners, it was foreign capital that was employed in India and substantial dividends or interest on the capital were guaranteed in some cases like the Railways by the British rulers of India payable from the taxes imposed on Indian people, the control of large enterprises was in foreign hands and directed towards securing foreign interests, the land and people were used as instruments of the purposes of Britaiṇ India got peace and political unity at the cost of enormous poverty and distress and many of the economic problems that beset present day India have to be traced back to the disastrous colonial policies of Britaiṇ

The army of the Government of India was for over a century entirely officered by the British. There were in the 20th century about 7000 officers (lieutenants, captains, majors, colonels) among whom not one Indian held the King's commission till after the first world war. Then a few were sent every year for training to Englanḍ The examination for entry in the Indian civil¹ Service (the ‘Steel frame’ of the Indian administration, as one great British Prime Minister was pleased to call it) was held in England ( in spite of a Resolution of the House of Commons that the examination for appointment to the Indian Civil Services in 1893 should be held simultaneously in India and England ). Only a few Indians in the last quarter of the 19th century could go to England and qualify for entry in that heaven-born service. District officers such as Collectors, District Judges, Police Superintendents, Medical officers ( of the Indian Medical Service ) were almost all British. Almost all Professors in colleges and the head masters of even some secondary schools were Englishmeṇ All the books to be used in schools were prescribed by the Head of the Department of Public Instruction in the several provinces, all of whom were Westernerṣ Even primary education was being given only to a small fraction of the children of school-going age, even in 1947 when the British left. The elements of colonial rule by Britain and the policies pursued by the British rulers are emphasized here solely as warnings to present warring elements in our country that if they pursue their quarrels to bitter ends the nation may again be plunged into a miserable state by invasions from powerful and hostile neighbourṣ

Morley ( who was Secretary of State for India and who was believed by many Indians to be a man of liberal or even radical views ) introduced separate communal electorates for Moslems in the reforms of 1909 and he was firmly of opinion that a Parliamentary system in India should not be established in the foreseeable² future. It is unnecessary to refer in detail to Montagu's famous speech in 1917, characterizing the Indian Government as too wooden, too antediluvian for modern times, to his statement ( the reverse of Morley's views ) that ‘the policy of the British Government is the gradual development of self- governing institutions with a view to the progressive realiza- tion of responsible Government in India as an integral part of the British Empire,' the failure of Dyarchy introduced by Montagu, the Rowlatt Acts, unrest in Punjab, General Dyer's proclamation declaring any assembly of four or more persons as unlawful, his shooting of men, women and children assembled in Jallianwallah Bagh for a meeting in defiance of the proclamation, when, even according to Government statistics, 300 people were killed and 1200 injured, Dyer's compulsory retirement and the presentation of a purse of thirty thousand pounds to him by his British admirers for saving the British Empire ( as they then thought ).

The introduction of education through English was espoused by Lord Macaulay in his 'Minute on Indian Education'. Why he insisted on the education of Indians through English is stated in the Minute as follows: 'We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and intellect'.³ English education caused great wastage of effort in learning all subjects ( including even Sanskrit ) through English and led to a disproportionate pursuit of literary studies and neglect of scientific and technological subjects and created a wide gulf between the educated and the uneducated masses; it glorified Western culture and did not help Indians to study and appreciate their own culture. Educated Indians, particularly in the earlier period of English education in India, came to entertain an exaggerated respect for Western institutions and unduly disparaged their own social and religious systemṣ

The British Government's interest in Indian education ( particularly higher education ) was lukewarṃ Three Universities ( of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras ) were first established in 1857 for the whole of India, but they were merely examining bodieṣ In the whole of the Bombay Presidency there was no Science Institute entirely maintained by Government till about 1920. An Indian could pass the M. A. examination in Philosophy without knowing anything about ancient Indian philosophy till only a few years ago. However, English education by Government and missionaries produced a result exactly opposite of what was expected by theṃ The missionaries miserably failed in securing the Indians ( except a few among the lower castes and ādivāsis ) for Christ and Government found that reading the classics of English literature and works of men like Burke, Spencer, Mill and others created among the educated emotions of nationalism and discontent with their own abject political statuṣ Political agitation daily increaseḍ Lokamanya Tilak was called 'the father of Indian unrest' by an English writer. He passed away in 1920. But his mantle fell on Mahatma Gandhi, who while agitating for political power and eventual freedom, adopted the technique of satyāgraha.

It is not necessary to go into the freedom struggle from 1919 to 1947 which culminated in the British leaving India but after dividing it into Pakistan and the present India. The partition of India into two parts based on merely communal considerations let loose the most hideous conflicts, massacres and flights of millions of refugees which India had ever witness-ed during its long history. The giving up of a large empire with mutual consent and without war or bloodshed is a unique and unparalleled event in the whole history of the worlḍ The message of the King of Great Britain read by Lord Mountbatten as Viceroy to the members of the Constituent Assembly was nobly and graciously worded " With this transfer of power by consent comes the fulfilment of a great democratic ideal to which the British and Indian people alike are firmly dedicateḍ' Dr. Rajendra Prasad's reply to the message of the King was couched in equally noble and just language ' While our achieve-ment is in no small measure due to our sufferings and sacrifices, it is also the result of world forces and events, and last, though not least, it is the consummation and fulfilment of the historic traditions and democratic ideals of the British race " ( vide ' Transfer of power in India ' by Shri V. P. Menon, published by Orient Longmans, 1957, p. 415 ).

The Indian Independence Act^2637A was passed by the British Parliament and Royal assent was given on 18th July 1947. A Constituent Assembly had been set up by the cabinet mission (of three cabinet ministers, Pethick Lawrence, Secretary of State for India, Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander) and it held its first meeting in December 1946. It re-assembled in August 1947 as a sovereign body to frame a constitution for free India. Its work went on for over two years and the constitution consisting of 395 Articles and nine Schedules came into force on 26th January 1950 (except 15 Articles that came into force at once) ; vide Art. 394.

The Preamble to the Constitution of India declares that India is a sovereign democratic Republic. The extent of the Indian Republic even at present is vast. It was hardly ever under one Government, except possibly under Aśoka. In ancient times India had some gaṇarājyas or saṅgharājyas (oligarchic states, or republics as Jayaswal and some others prefer to call them). This question of the existence of oligarchies (or republics) in ancient India has been discussed at some length by the present author in Vol. III pp. 87-96 of the H. of Dh. He still adheres to the views there expresseḍ The Buddhist monks had a procedure for regulating the meetings of their saṅgha (as set out in the Mahāvagga IX. 3 in SBE Vol. XVII p. 264 ff and in Cullavagga IV. 9, SBE Vol. XX pp. 24-27 and pp. 53 ff) and Jayaswal conjectures that the same procedure was followed in oligarchies (or republics).

There are substantial achievements to the credit of present India and its leaders during the last 14 years after Independence. Some of them may be very succinctly stated here : (1) The production of a comprehensive democratic constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech and worship, freedom of the Press, protection of the rights of minorities, equality of all before the law, equality of status to women, independent judiciary; (2) Abolition of untouchability (Art. 17); (3) political integration of India without any violence, as the five hundred and odd States (except only three), that comprised nearly 1/3rd of the total land area of India and 1/4th of the population, patriotically accepted a merger of the States in the Indian Republic (Shri. V. P. Menon's 'Story of the Integration of States'); (4) Reorganization of India into 15 States and six Union Territories based mostly on linguistic unity and administrative convenience; (5) holding two elections on the basis of adult suffrage, viz. every person ³ (male or female) who is a citizen of India, is twenty-one years of age and not disqualified under the constitution or any other law, has a right to be registered as a voter at elections to the House of the people and to the Legislative Assemblies of States (Art. 326); (6) Socialistic pattern of society as the goal (Art. 38, 39); (7) Two five year plans have been carried out and a third Five Year Plan has been set on foot (under Schedule VII, list III, item 20). The creation of a democratic republic was something that India had not been acquainted with for at least twelve centuries (even if ganarājyas were held to be republics and not merely obligarchies). From Ṛgvedic times there was a hereditary monarchical form of rule. Vide Ṛg. VII. 33.3 and 5, VII. 83. 7–8, where the battle of ten kings ( daśa rājanāh ) with king Sudās is mentioned; vide also the story of Devāpi and Śantanu in Ṛg. X. 98 expanded in Nirukta II. 10–12.

Some criticism may be offered against the Constitutioṇ In the first place, it is extremely bulky and goes into too many details and is a hotchpotch of provisions from several sourceṣ Some provisions are derived from England, the directive principles of State policy are derived from the constitutions of Ireland and other countries of Europe, some are borrowed from the Government of India Act of 1935. Several of these need not have been put in a Constitution but should have been left to ordinary legislatioṇ In spite of such a lengthy constitution there are many omissionṣ Nothing is expressly said about political parties, about industrial corporations, about relation of religions and the State. The Constitution makes a complete break with our traditional ideaṣ Dharmaśūtras and Smṛtis begin with the dharmas ( duties ) of the people ( varṇas and āśramas ). Prime Minister Pandit Nehru himself says in his Azad Memorial Lectures on ‘India to-day and to-morrow ‘ ( 1959 ) p. 45 ‘All of us now talk of and demand rights and privileges, but the teaching of the old dharma was about duties and obligationṣ Rights follow duties dischargeḍ’ Unfortunately this thought finds no place in the Constitutioṇ

One fact of the greatest importance in the life of India is the accession of the masses to power, not only political, but also social, economical, intellectual and moral. The Constitution engenders a feeling among common people that they have rights and no obligations whatever and that the masses have the right to impose their will and to give the force of law and justice to their own ideas and norms formed in their own cottages and tea shopṣ

The Constitution of India has no chapter on the duties of the people to the country or to the people as a whole. Art. 19 confers the right to seven freedoms, one of which (c) is to form associations or unions and sub-article (4) enables the State to make laws imposing, in the interest of public order or morality, reasonable restrictionṣ The framers of the Constitution forgot to include what Britain had provided long before in 17 and 18 Geo. 5, Chapter 22, Article 1, part of which runs 'any strike is illegal if it is designed or calculated to coerce the Government directly or by inflicting hardship on the community'. The eyes of some of the framers of this constitution were opened by the strike of Government servants in the Railways, Posts and Telegraphs by which, if it had continued for even a fortnight, crores of people would have had to submit to incalculable hard-ships and the action of the strikers in essential services would have been like a rebellion by some lakhs of people against over forty crores of people. The right to strike by workers tacitly given in the constitution is in imitation of similar rights enjoyed in industrial countries like Britain only for the last few decades and the framers should have restricted the right to strikes between private employers and employees as an experiment in the first instance.

Another criticism is that there are too many amendmentṣ From 1950 there have been ten amendments, while in the U. S. A. there have been only 22 amendments during a period of about 170 yearṣ The very first amendment was made within less than a year and a half from the day the Constitution came into force. It affected about a dozen Articles, among which there were three Articles dealing with fundamental rights viz. 15, 19, 31. One fails to understand the meaning of the words 'fundamental rights' in a constitution which took over two years of deliberations, if they could be changed within a year and a half. The amendment made in Article 31 prohibits a person from challenging in a court of justice a law about the compensation to be paid to a person for compulsory acquisition of his property. This is a serious inroad on rights to private property and smacks of spoliation and arbitrarinesṣ In the House of the People the quorum is only 50 and if 50 persons are present and a majority of them (say 26) decide that a certain amount of compensation should be paid for compulsory acquisition of several properties of a person and the compensation is felt to be ridiculously low he has no remedy in a court of law at all. Besides, the Welfare State is, if at all, foreshadowed in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Art. 38, 39 etc.), but these principles are not enforceable in a court of law and, therefore, they are inferior to fundamental rights, the breach of which can be examined by the High Court or Supreme Court, which is invested with the power of issuing writṣ Parliament (Loksabha) has over 500 members and the quorum is 50 and yet this small number is not often present and the Speaker has several times to reprimand the House of the People on this score.

Another criticism my be offered as to the inclusion of Universities in list II (of schedule 7, State List, No. 11) and not in the concurrent list. Vocational and technical training of labour is in the concurrent list (Item 25). Is not University education throughout India of as much importance as the training of labour ? Only items 63–66 (of list I, Union list) are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Central Government.⁵ There is hardly any weighty reason (except chance) why the Benares Hindu University, the Aligarh Muslim University, the Delhi University and Santiniketan should be treated as the exclusive concern of the Central Government and the other Universities be not placed even in the concurrent list.

The Constitution in its 8th Schedule recognizes fourteen languages as the national languages of India, while Article 343 (1) makes Hindi the official language of the Union, but sub-article 2 (of Article 343) provides that English will continue to be used for all official purposes for fifteen years and sub-article 3 provides that Parliament may continue even after 1965 the use of English for purposes specified by Parliament. Even such a small country as Switzerland has three official languageṣ The Constitution should have provided at least two Official languages for north India and two for South India, when even In 1950 the population of India was about 36 croreṣ This sweeping decision to make Hindi the only official language instead of helping emotional integration of Indians produced great strife. An official language is not the only means of emotional integration, nor even the chief one. The Govt. should begin with the children in the schools, should instil into their minds the fundamental cultural Unity of India, and that India has been looked upon as one by all foreign invaders, steps should be taken to make every Indian feel that he is the inheritor of the vast ancient wisdom and spiritual culture of India, that he must contribute to the conservation of that culture, and must add to its greatness in the future, and free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14 should have been achieved in ten years as foreshadowed in Art. 45.

A plan and programme to instil among all grown-up citizens the ideal of national integration must be prepared, insisting on our common past, common interests, common future and on elements like the wisdom and thought embodied in Sanskrit and the regional languages, the tolerance shown by our people through the ageṣ

The Constitution has also committed several mistakes in the allotment of subjects in the 7th Schedule as Union list, State List and Concurrent list. For example, the production, manufacture, possession, transport, purchase and sale of intoxicating liquors are put in the State List ( item 8 in List II, State List ) This has led to prohibition in some States, but also its absence in other Stateṣ

The above discussion is enough to show that the Constitution framed after more than two years’ cogitation is unsatisfactory in several wayṣ

Ours is a democratic Republic. The most famous definition of democracy is Lincoln's viz. 'Government of the people by the people for the people'. All three must exist in a proper democracy. In the Greek city States such as Athens all adult citizens ( except slaves that outnumbered citizens ) could assemble and could directly participate in discussion and the framing of laws and regulationṣ But this is impossible when crores of people spread over a vast country are voterṣ Therefore, one part of Lincoln's definition becomes watered dowṇ Crores of people cannot govern themselves, which is a physical impossibility. All they can do is to choose some men as their rulerṣ In former ages when monarchy was the prevailing form the ruler came to be so by succession or by conquest i. e. by breaking headṣ Now, under democracy, the ruler or rulers are chosen by the mere counting of headṣ As observed by Dr. Radhakrishnan in 'Kalkin or the future of civilization' (4th eḍ of 1956) 'Democracy in actual working rarely permits a country to be governed by its ablest. The opinions of the mass prevail over those of the thinking few. We must strive for some better way for conducting human affairs than the lottery of the ballot-box' (pp. 20-22). René Guenon in 'Crisis of the modern world' (translated by Arthur Osborne, London, 1932) remarks 'the law is supposed to be made by the opinion of the majority, but what is overlooked is that this opinion is something that can very easily be guided or modified i. e. opinion can be manufactureḍ The majority on whatever question it may be called on to give its opinion is always composed of the incompetent, whose number is vastly greater than that of the men who can give an opinion based on a full knowledge of the subject' (p. 108).

These words of René Guenon refer to conditions in European countries in most of which there has been almost cent per cent literacy for some decadeṣ Parliamentary democracy assumes that voters understand the policies and programmes of different parties and cast their votes accordingly. It presupposes some education, intelligence, respect for the rule of law, tolerance, a sense of brotherhood for at least one's countrymen, and a more or less homogeneous society. But when, as in India at present, the vast majority of voters are illiterate, the state of things becomes far worse. We can and must tolerate democracy in India as a first step towards better days, though at present it is a mere shell and is ridiculed by some unsympathetic foreignerṣ⁶ The census of 1961 discloses that literacy which was only 16.6 percent in 1951 is 23.7 percent in 1961. Dean Inge in 'Christian Ethics' (1930) remarks about politics in England where almost all voters are literate 'our politics are so corrupt that many would welcome a dictatorship.' (p. 385). About the U. S. A., a recent work 'Corruption in Washington' by Blair Bolles (Gollancz, London, 1960), which makes rather dismal reading, indicates the terrible moral predicament of the honest man in power caught between public responsibility and loyalty. to his friends and associateṣ In our country also ministers and officials must be in a similar predicament, particularly when there exist numerous rules and regulations about permits and licenses galore.

The Directive Principles of state policy are contained in Articles 37 to 51 and it is provided in Article 37 that they shall not be enforceable by any court, but that they are fundamental in the governance of the country. Article 45 enacts that the State shall endeavour to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of this constitution for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen yearṣ It is more than twelve years since the commencement of the Constitutioṇ In spite of the fact that about 7000 crores of rupees were to be spent on grandiose schemes in the two Five Year Plans, this fundamental provision was not implementeḍ Even free and compulsory primary education of all children up to the age of eleven years ( instead of 14 as envisaged in Article 45 ) is not accomplished and it is promised that in the Third Five Year Plan ( which envisages an expenditure of over ten thousand crores of rupees ) this may be accomplisheḍ But, if the huge sums for the third plan be not forthcoming, the first casualty will be educatioṇ The education of the masses who are to be voters and indirectly rulers of the nation continues to be sadly neglected even after Independence.

It is remarkable that the directive principles of state policy mostly contain provisions on the economic system for raising people's standard of living ( Art. 43, 47 &c.), i. e. it lays emphasis only on the material things for the people. It seems to be assumed that if material prosperity or benefits are assured for all, then there is nothing more to be done by the State. The present author feels that the Directive Principles should also have put equal or greater emphasis on moral and spiritual values and should have called upon the State to promote among the people high moral standards, self-discipline, co-operation, sense of responsibility, kindliness, high endeavour. Man is a many-sided being. The satisfaction of mere physical needs is not enough. Man has intellectual, spiritual, cultural and social aspirations also. The socioeconomic pattern for the future must be based on the foundation of the best part of our traditions, the rule of dharma, the duties common to all as declared by Manu X, 63 and Yaj. I, 122. A secular state should not and does not mean a godless state or a state that has nothing to do with moral and spiritual valueṣ Prime Minister Nehru himself emphasizes this, when he says 'whether religion is necessary or not, a certain faith in a worth-while ideal is essential to give substance to our lives and to hold us together. We have to have a sense of purpose beyond the material and physical demands of our daily lives' (in 'Today and tomorrow' p. 8). It may be stated that for most common men and women it is religion that sets worth-while idealṣ The third item in Lincoln's definition is 'for the people'. That is, the Government must look to the good of the people as a whole and not to that of any class or a community in the country. Modern democracy has come to mean parties and it has to work on decisions of the majority. It often happens that, there being several parties, no one party has an absolute majority over all other parties put together. It may often happen that one party secures 40% of the votes actually cast and the other parties (that differ in ideologies) secure, say 25, 20, 15, percent of the votes, then the first party with only 40 percent of the total votes cast rules, though it does not represent the majority of the whole country. The party system generally leads to a struggle for power and lowers the moral standards of the whole people, particularly when hardly one-fifth of the voters (both male and female) can read and write their own regional language. The present author does not hold that illiteracy necessarily means absence of intelligence. But, unless a man can read for himself and ponder over what he reads, he can hardly be a good judge of the pros and cons in relation to a measure or policy placed before the voterṣ Besides, the emphasis laid on standards of living without any direct reference to moral and spiritual values has already led to this result that in India the desire for material comforts and positions of power dominates almost every one and there is no corresponding urge or even idea to do one's best for producing goodṣ The laws are drafted in the English language. Most of the speakers in Parliament use English (a few only speak in Hindi) and complicated laws are said to have been passed by a majority or unanimously as the case may be. That country may be said to be the best governed which is least governeḍ There is a spate of legislation in the House of the People. In the seven years from 1950 to 56 nearly 450 laws were passed by the central legislature alone. Some of these laws vitally affect Hindus in their family relations and in other respectṣ A few examples only can be cited here. The Hindu Adoption Act went far beyond the ancient Hindu principles, which were two viz. that only a male could be adopted for purposes of spiritual benefit to the adopter and the person to be adopted should be in age and other matters like a soṇ Women could not adopt to themselves but a widow could adopt a son for the spiritual benefit of her husbanḍ These principles have been thrown to the winds as will be seen from the criticisms of the present author above on pp. 1337-1333. But one thing must be mentioneḍ In some enactments affecting Hindu Law, customs have been abrogated: vide Hindu Marriage Act 25 of 1955, Section 4, Hindu Succession Act 30 of 1956, Section 4 (1). The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (78 of 1956) prescribes that the person to be adopted must not be more than 15 years of age (section 10 item IV) and that there should be a difference of 21 years between a male adopter and a female adopted and between a female adopter and a male adopted (sec. 11 items iii and iv). But the provision in Sec. 10 is made subject to a custom to the contrary. It passes one's understanding why custom was allowed to prevail over the law in this case. The Hindu Marriage Act, 25 of 1955, has made sweeping changes of which the vast majority of Hindus are blissfully ignorant. Before the Act a Hindu could in theory (and rarely in practice) have two or more wives living at the same time and even an anuloma marriage (i. e. the marriage of a male of a higher varṇa with a woman born in a lower varṇa) was held to be invalid by some High Courts in India such as those of Allahabad and Madraṣ Now under the present Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 the marriage is a monogamous marriage (section 5) and a person belonging to any caste may marry a woman of any caste how highsoever or lowsoever she may be by caste; and further marriages between spouses belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist or Jaina religions are now declared valiḍ It was suggested, while the marriage Bill was in the Committee stage, that the provision as to monogamous marriages should become compulsory when a similar provision would be made applicable to Muslims (who under the Koranic law can have four wives at the same time). But this was brushed aside through fear of antagonizing Muslimṣ Other provisions about Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs being Hindus for the purposes of the Marriage Act, being a sweeping one at one stroke, is likely to be resented by almost all illiterate Hindus and likely to lead to tension and bitterness in many rural families and to break-up of the family as a central and compact unit in Hindu society. The orthodox people do not like such mixed marriageṣ It is not unlikely that the orthodox sections in the country may join hands with the ignorant masses and set back the hands of the clock, when some years hence the ranks of the towering personalities of the Gandhi era whom people want to humour have become thiṇ⁷

One of the outstanding characteristics of Hindu society for several millennia has been the joint family system of the Mitākṣarā type which prevails in the whole of India (except in Bengal which is under the Dāyabhāga system). Its peculiarity is that all male members in the family form a coparcenary, that if any male of the family dies his interest devolves by survivor-ship on the remaining male members including his own male issue, if any, that females have no rights in the family property except marriage expenses and maintenance and no member of the joint family could transfer any part of the family property by will (not even the father) or by sale or mortgage except for certain recognised family necessitieṣ This joint family system and the caste system were the bulwarks that kept together Hindu Society for centuries, inspite of foreign invasions and misrule. The Hindu Succession Act (30 of 1956) makes two sweeping changes in the Mitākṣarā joint family systeṃ The explanation to Section 30 of the Act provides that any male Hindu may dispose of by will his interest in the coparcenary property. This is one drastic change. A similar drastic change was made by section 6, its proviso and explanation read together. Briefly it comes to thiṣ If a Hindu coparcener of the Mitākṣarā system dies after the Succession Act comes into force, leaving him surviving no son, but a daughter or the daughter of a predeceased son or the son of a pre-deceased daughter or daughter of a predeceased daughter, his interest in the coparcenary property will not pass by survivor-ship to the other surviving male members of the coparcenary but to the above mentioned descendants of his and the interest that would pass to these descendants would be the share in the coparcenary property that would have been allotted to him if partition of the coparcenary property had taken place immediately before his death. Before this Act, the daughter or the other heirs mentioned above would have got nothing in the coparcenary property when any male member of the family died sonlesṣ These two changes make of the joint family of the Mitākṣarā type a mere shell. It was suggested when the Bill was before Parliament that Parliament should provide that the joint family system of the Mitākṣarā type has been abrogated and that all members of the joint family after the passing of the Act would be only tenants-in-commoṇ But this was not done. Why the Minister in charge or the members of Parliament felt squeamish about ending the coparcenary system of the Mitākṣarā is not clear to the present author. It looks like straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel. These and other changes in the old Hindu Law are possibly motivated by the desire to do justice to the rights of womeṇ But in some cases this is done with a vengeance. For reasons of space only one example of this type is citeḍ Under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act and the Schedule of heirs in class I and class II, if a man dies possessed of property leaving only his mother and father (and no sons or wife or other persons) the mother will take the whole estate of her son absolutely to the entire exclusion of the father, since the mother is placed among heirs of class I, while the father is placed in class II and the rule in Sec. 8 (a and b) is that heirs put in class II succeed only if there is no heir in class I. Under Yaj. II. 135 the order of heirs to a man dying without male issue is first the widow, then daughter, then daughter's son or sons, then parents (pitarau, the dual is used). Some commentators held that the mother is to be preferred as heir to the father, others held that the father is to be preferred to the mother, while still others held that both parents should succeed together. In the Council of States (Rājyasabhā) the father was put in class I along with the mother, but in the House of the People the mother was put in class I and the father was put as heir in class II. Article 15 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex, religion, race &c. What difference can be made between the mother and the father of a man as heirs except on the ground of sex? Probably, the legislators wanted, in however small a way, to compensate women for past injustices to theṃ The Hindu Law of Succession of 1956 goes even beyond Muslim Law in that it recognizes twelve categories of persons (in class I of Schedule) as entitled to succeed simultaneously and take the property of the deceaseḍ In a few cases it is possible that the heirs of class I taking the estate of a deceased person may be twenty or even more, if the latter leaves five sons and five daughters, besides some children of predeceased sons and daughterṣ There is probably no country in the world where so many persons are entitled to succeed simultaneously to H. D. 210 a deceased person's estate. The result would be that there would be great fragmentation of property and constant wrangles and litigatioṇ This amounts to distribution of poverty. Under the Hindu Law before 1956 women as heirs to males took as a general rule a limited estate ( i. e. a life estate ). For example, if a man died leaving his wife and a brother or a brother's son ( but no children ) his widow would take a limited estate i. e. on the widow's death, the estate would go to the brother ( if alive ) or to the latter's sons &c. Now ( after 1956 ) the widow would take an absolute estate and she would be able to dispose of it as she pleased ( by sale, gift or will ). Vide Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. Not only this, that section has retrospectively conferred an absolute estate on the widows who succeeded as limited owners before 1956. Suppose a person died in 1950, leaving a widow and a brother. The widow would take only a limited estate and she could not sell it or will it away ; if she died before 1956 the husband's brother would have succeeded to the estate. But suppose she is alive and in possession of her husband's estate when the Act of 1956 was passeḍ Her estate is at once enlargeḍ She can donate it to any one or leave it by her will to her own brother and entirely destroy the expectancy of the husband's brother to succeed to her husband's estate. This is equality of women with a vengeance. The mass of people know nothing about this at present. But when many cases come before the courts and the common people come to know the present law whereby the expectancies of male members of her husband's family are set at naught by the widow transferring the property to persons that are strangers there is bound to be great trouble. Of all the revolutionary changes in India none will have more pervading influence and meaning than the drastic changes in the legal status of women made by the laws affecting Hindus passed from 1954 to 1956, which enforce monogamy, make polygamy punishable, which provide the minimum ages for the marriage of women and men at 15 and 18 respectively, which allow divorce to both sexes on the same basic rules, which confer rights of inheritance and absolute ownership on a daughter and her children, that allow the husband or the widow of a person, if the deceased had not already adopted a son and a daughter before his death, to adopt a son and a daughter.

Several States ( e. g. Bombay by Act LXVII of 1948, sec. 5 ) have passed laws putting ceilings on the extent of the holding of lands up to 48 acres or 24 acres according as the land is ordinary or bagait (irrigated). This is felt by common people as a great injustice, when there is no ceiling on the wealth of big merchants and the like. It may be argued that these very rich people pay income-tax and other taxeṣ The agriculturists also say that they pay taxes and that inflation has made the price of bare necessities go up.

Before leaving the subject of legislation vitally affecting Hindu society, some remarks will have to be made about the mentality of several Congressmen who appear to have great faith in making men moral by legislatioṇ Article 47 provides that it is among the primary duties of the State to raise the level of nutrition, the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health and that, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health. The Bombay State and a few other States in India embarked on a policy of total prohibition of intoxicating drinkṣ If there was to be a total prohibition of intoxicating drinks, it should have been an all India measure. Several States refused to have the prohibition law because there is loss of revenue in two ways, viz. the income from excise duties on liquors is lost and large sums of money have to be spent on establishments for preventing people from manufacturing illicit liquor. Art. 45 about free and compulsory education of children of school-going age (up to 14 years) was not strenuously observed by the Bombay State but it wanted to enforce Art. 47 at all costṣ Besides, there being no prohibition on an all India basis, what is an offence under law in the Bombay State is not an offence in Delhi and some other States at all. That takes away the moral basis from the measure. Besides, prohibitionists forget human psychology. When something is prohibited or becomes rare, many feel a fascination in breaking the law or trying to possess what is rare. Illicit liquor produced and kept under the most unhygienic conditions is being sold on a large scale and persons knowing this dare not inform the police for fear of being stabbed or killed by distillers of illicit liquor.⁸ A Minister's cook was found engaged in manufacturing illicit liquor. In the present author's opinion prohibition has turned out to be a dismal failure, it tends to corrupt the police, it reduces revenue much needed for development purposes, illicit distillation has become a cottage industry and bootleggers have acquired a vested interest in prohibitioṇ Why horse-racing and betting are not prohibited by law is inexplicable, except on the supposition that many people entertain that Government is afraid of displeasing rich people who indulge in it. Wine and gambling have been besetting sins from the times of the Ṛgveda. Vasiṣṭha pleads for forgiveness of sins from Varuṇa in Ṛgveda VII. 86.6 saying that 'it is not one's own power that leads one to commit sin, it is fate, wine, anger, dice ( gambling ) and thoughtlessness'. In Ṛg. X. 34 a gambler laments over his own frailty. Therefore, all that can be reasonably attempted is temperance and reducing the spread of the drinking habit; otherwise new and greater evils not contemplated in the ardour for suppression emerge. Vide p. 1338 above for the warning given against startling changes based on Mr. Aldous Huxley's wordṣ Another faddist attempt at improving morals by legislation is the recent Act prohibiting dowries, which came into force on first July 1961. The giving or taking or abetting the giving or taking of dowry or demanding a dowry directly or indirectly from the parents or guardians of a bride or bridegroom is punishable with imprisonment extending to six months or with fine extending to five thousand rupees or with both. The definition of dowry punishable⁹ under the Act is rendered practically nugatory by the explanation that presents made at the time of a marriage to either party to the marriage in the form of cash, ornaments, clothes or other articles, shall not be deemed to be dowry within the meaning of the section, unless they are made as consideration for the marriage of the said partieṣ This, instead of relieving the parents of marriageable girls from the payment of a dowry, would give rise to blackmail on the part of busy bodies in the town or the village of the partieṣ If this latter does not happen the Act will ordinarily remain a dead letter. Article 40 of the Constitution calls upon the State to organize village Panchayats and to endow them with the powers and authority necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government. In ancient and medieval times, village Panchayats played an important part. Under the British this system (which trained people in democratic functions on a small scale) was practically done away with. Now after about two hundred years the present Government wants to revive Panchayatṣ In the different States of India village Panchayat Acts have been passeḍ Until a large percentage of villagers become educated, self-reliant and men of character, the village Panchayats cannot function as the foundations of real democracy. It is very likely that either the dominant castes or the leading families or the bullies (gundas) in the village will capture the village Panchayats and use them for their own benefit. A recent book ‘Panchayt-i-raj’ by Shri S. A. Dey (published by Asia Publishing House, 1961) paints a very roseate picture of Panchayats functioning in the 550 thousand villages of India. It all depends on disinterested workers of high character; other-wise this project will meet the same fate that overtook Brayne’s work in Gurgaon after Brayne left.

Some people took it into their heads to decide that agricultural land should belong to him who tilled it. Therefore, in Bombay and some other States legislation was enacted, first holding that he who tilled another's land for six years was to be regarded as a ‘protected tenant’ (i. e. practically a permanent tenant); later on the owner was prohibited from selling the land to a non-agriculturist and ultimately( by Bombay Act. LXVII of 1948, sec. 32 ) the tenant was made the owner, being liable to pay to the original owner the price fixed by the Revenue authorities spread over twelve yearly instalmentṣ Whatever may be the case in Zamindaris, in the Deccan and some South Indian States the Ryotwari system prevails and persons belonging to the lower middle class purchased lands at high prices (not getting more than three or four percent as rent on the money invested) as land was deemed a stable investment. The present author, having been a practising lawyer for forty-five years, knows personally thousands of village people. In many cases although four or five years have passed away, the Revenue authorities have not yet decided the prices of the lands over which ownership of erstwhile tenants has been declareḍ Most of the erstwhile tenants (now become owners) have not paid a pie for four yearṣ and the real owners have been robbed of the benefit to be derived from the price, if paiḍ Supposing Government was solicitous of increasing production by making tenants owners there is no reason why Government should not have recovered the price or instalments as a revenue demanḍ There is no judicial probe in the ordinary courts of law, the appeal lies only to the Govt. ( that means to the Collector ), no owner is entitled to engage a pleader ( sec. 80 A ) and very complicated provisions are made if the former tenant fails to pay each instalment. But the present state of things is sheer spoliation and looks like robbing Peter to pay Paul and is a sample of what democracy might mean to people of the lower middle clasṣ There is no evidence that by these measures production of food grains has greatly increaseḍ But Congressmen are complacent because they know that in the elections the vast majority of illiterate agriculturists who are to benefit by such legislation will cast their votes in favour of ' oxen ' adopted as symbol by the Congress party. Many States have introduced by legislation ceilings in land holdings, viz. no man or family is to hold more than 48 acres of dry land and no more than 24 acres of irrigated lanḍ Even agriculturists have now begun to grumble and to ask why no ceilings are placed on the accumulation of wealth, when they see rich people flaunting their wealth in cars eighteen or twenty feet in length, obstructing narrow roads and causing serious casualtieṣ²⁶¹² Most people complain that the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer under the policies of the present Government. Government is not able to hold the price line and agriculturists, workers in industries and the lower middle class are dissatisfied and there is great danger of communistic ideas spreading among the majority of the inhabitants of this ancient land, that once honoured sageṣ Prime Minister Nehru said on the Congress manifesto for the elections of 1962.²⁶¹³ 'If the great majority of people in India for some reason or other become communists in the sense of thinking that way, it may be good or bad, I do not know, but I am quite convinced it would not be India, then it would be something else. I do not want that to happen, even though I want India to take up modern scientific techniques, scientific theories, economic theories, economic organizationṣ I accept all that to the extent it is good for India. It is for us to choose. I do not rule out any-thing but I rule out being uprooted from India'.

What is ordinarily meant by 'Socialism' is collective farming, the abolition of the private ownership of the means of production and State Industrializatioṇ Merely saying that the land should go to the tiller and carrying out that by legislation is simply robbing one person to benefit another. It is a long way off from that to socialist farming which would make the tiller a landless worker on the collective farṃ

It is often said that ours is a 'Welfare State' and that what is aimed at is 'a socialistic pattern of society'. The Constitution does not employ these very wordṣ But Art. 38 appears in substance to mean that India would be a Welfare State, as it provides 'The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic, political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.' In the report of the Planning Commission on the 2nd Five Year Plan (which was accepted by the Government) the meaning of 'socialistic pattern of society' is set out as follows :¹²

The task before an underdeveloped country is not merely to get better results within the existing framework of economic and social institutions, but to mould and refashion these so that they contribute effectively to the realisation of wider and deeper social valueṣ These values or basic objectives have recently been summed up in the phrase 'socialist pattern of society'. Essentially this means 'that the basic criterion for determining the lines of advance must not be private profit, but social gain and that the pattern of development and the structure of socioeconomic relation should be so planned that they result not only in appreciable increase of national income and employment but also in greater equality in incomes and wealth.'' Major decisions regarding production, distribution, consumption and investment must be made by agencies informed by social purpose. The benefits of economic development must accrue more and more to the relatively less privileged classes of society and there should be progressive reduction of the concentration of incomes, wealth and economic power. The problem is to create a milieu in which the small man who has so far had little opportunity of perceiving and participating in the immense possibilities of growth through organized effort is enabled to put in his best in the interest of a higher standard of life for himself and increased prosperity for the country'. It appears from this and from what follows that ‘socialist pattern of society’ is not to be regarded as some rigid or fixed patterṇ It is not rooted in any doctrine or dogma.

A booklet published by Sriman Narayan for the All India Congress Committee ( 2nd eḍ of 1956, New Delhi ) embodies the notable speeches of the Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. He starts by saying that private enterprise is useful so far as our country is concerned, that we wish to encourage it, but the dominance which private enterprise had throughout the world during a certain period is no more and that for a planner it has now a secondary place. Later on ( p. 2 ) he states that he uses the word ‘socialistic picture of society’ as meaning largely that the means of production should be socially owned or controlled for the benefit of society as a whole. On p. 12 he says ( at Avadi Session ) ‘we have laid down that certain basic industries must necessarily be state-owned and there are other industries we should try to encourage the State to start. The plan is an integrated whole and in that integrated whole the public and private sector must also be integrateḍ They are not rival showṣ’ On p. 19 he says ‘The national aim is a welfare state and a socialistic economy.’ ‘Finance is important, but not so much as people think.’ ‘What is important is trained personnel. The only thing we have to guard against is inflatioṇ Inflation is avoided if there is production corresponding to the money thrown in’. ( p. 20 ). ‘Everyone in the country should have the primary things of life like food, clothing, housing, education, sanitation, medical help, employment, work’ ( p. 27 ). ‘The objectives of India’s Planning should be socialistic pattern of society. It cannot be achieved by mere legislation; but it is all a question of planning’ ( pp. 30-31 ). ‘Both Congress and Parliament have said that we want a socialistic pattern of society. Why have we used this vague language? We have done so deliberately because we do not want to commit ourselves to any rigid formula¹⁹ (p. 55). ‘India wants a social revolution by peaceful means, peaceful methods, by a mutual agreement, by working together. Hard work is the only way to progresṣ’ Russia had to use force to do in 20 or 25 years what England did in 100 years (pp. 60–66).

These quotations taken from the speeches of the Prime Minister clearly establish that he does not want a totalitarian communism in India. He appears to favour a democratic socialistic patterṇ But he himself admits that vague language about socialistic pattern has been deliberately used and that his idea is to build up in India by trial and error a sort of democratic socialisṃ But there is great danger in thiṣ The present author is not aware of any large country in the world where a democratic socialistic pattern purposely clothed in vague language has been tried and succeedeḍ The language being vague and no definite procedure being chalked out, a socialistic pattern would mean all things to all men and the socialistic pattern of society is vague enough to allow diverse interpretationṣ

Russia and China have been and are under totalitarian socialisṃ In Soviet Russia under Lenin and Stalin peasants, working men and intellectuals became statesmen and military commanders, the old economic principle of supply and demand was replaced by central control of all commercial relations, of all production and distribution among the large populations of Russia spread over vast areas, individualistic agriculture gave place to huge co-operative farms managed under the directives of the State, aristocracy and democracy were abolished and dictatorship of a party that monopolized all power emergeḍ Our leaders appear to have borrowed the ideas of co-operative farming and the State control of production and distribution of several commodities from the Russian example, but the present writer is afraid that without the coercive methods employed by dictators like Stalin, our experiments will not in a measurable period of time lead to the results desired and expected by our leaderṣ

Those interested in democratic socialism may profitably read Shri Ashok Mehta’s work on it (published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1959). H. D. 211 What appears to the present author is that our country is to have a mixed economy, in which private and public enterprise are supposed to work together to narrow the disparity or gulf between a small minority of haves and a vast multitude of have-notṣ For example, Atomic energy, Railways, iron and steel, aircraft, ship-building are among Government industries, while the private sector is to be concerned with the manufacture of textiles, cement, alluminium, machine tools, chemicals and pharmaceuticals &c.

The present writer does not think that he is competent enough to criticize the means and methods that are being adopted by the leaders of the country and to say whether they are enough to meet the high promises made and the hopes raised by certain Articles in the Constitution such as 39 ( part a of which declares that the citizens have the right to an adequate means of livelihood ), 41 ( providing for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of un-employ-ment, old age, sickness and disablement ), 43 ( the State shall endeavour to secure to all workers, agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work, a living wage, decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities ); vide Articles 45 and 47 already quoted above (on pp. 1669, 1675)

But he will say a few wordṣ The mass of people cannot be kept at a high level of self-sacrifice, great ideals and hard work for long. A dynamic and revered leader like Buddha may succeed for a time in securing thiṣ But, when he passes away, there is gradually a relapse into conditions worse than what they were before. For the vast majority of people anywhere private gain is the chief motive for hard work and not mere requests or sermonṣ If that motive is abolished, then the majority will not work hard at all, though a few individuals of high ideals and moral character may work as hard as before. Or there will have to be a dictatorship, coercion and fear of being liquidateḍ In the absence of these, production will be enormously reduced and there will be no improvement in standards of living. Russia and China are not under a Parlia-mentary democracy and they can therefore make people work without trammels, but in countries like U. K., U. S. A., even Japan the appeal of the motive of private gain is the chief factor. Even in Russia incentives have to be held out for extra work and it is admitted that even after forty years of totalitarian rule, there are great inequalities of income, since the wages of an Academician and an average worker are in the ratio of 62:1, and (apart from academicians) the wages of high-placed executives and common men are in the ratio of 20:1 and there are no ceilings on income.¹³ Shri Vinoba Bhave placed his target about Bhūmidāna at fifty million acres but he got only about five million acres, half of which are not arable. Now the emphasis has shifted to ‘Sarvodaya’. Shri Jayaprakash Narayan, who was first a Marxist out and out, then joined the P. S. Party, is now advocating the principles of ‘Sarvodaya’ in¹⁴ ‘Towards a new society’ published by Mr. Prabhakar Padhye for the Congress for cultural freedom (New Delhi, 1958). Sarvodaya planning seems to be based on the assumption that a radical change in human behaviour and attitude to work and property will take place on a large scale without coercioṇ There is hardly any basis for any such assumption at present. The Prime Minister himself admits (vide p. 240 of Prof. V. K. R. V. Rao’s paper in ‘Changing India’) that adequate motives and inducements have to be provideḍ The Indian Government more than any other purely democratic country in the world has extended the scope of public administration to embark on the production and distribution of economic goods while keeping at the same time full Parliamentary democracy. Gandhiji also called upon the millionaires to hold their vast fortunes in trusteeship. One should like to know the names of even a dozen millionaires in India that dealt with their wealth like trustees even in Gandhiji’s lifetime.

Let us now turn to the third Five Year Plan¹⁵ The vital objectives of the planners are stated on L. J. ‘Rapid economic growth and expansion of employment, reduction of disparities in income and wealth, prevention of the concentration of economic power, and creation of the values and attitudes of a free and equal society. Where the bulk of the people live so close to the margin of poverty, the claims of social justice, the right to work, of equal opportunity and of a minimum level of living have great urgency’. On p. 48 the principal aims are further elaborated and it is stated on p. 49 that the first priority belongs to agriculture and therefore the total outlay provided is 1718 crores of rupees as against 950 crores in the Second Plan and fertilizers to the extent of 800,000 tons are provided for as against 110,000 tons in the 2nd Plaṇ

Our country’s great handicap is population and food productioṇ Statistics for the growth of population ¹⁶ are ‘ (in millions) : 1901 (235.5), 1911 (249 ), 1921 ( 248.1 ), 1931 (275.5), 1941 (314.8), 1951 (356.9 ), 1961 (438 ). This indicates that by about 1966–1967 the population of our country may be about 480 millionṣ Article 39a ( referred to on p. 1666 ) requires the State to direct its policy towards securing that every citizen has the right to an adequate means of livelihooḍ Our country has been an agricultural country from time immemorial, yet we have to import millions of tons of wheat and other grain for feeding our large populatioṇ The finance minister in his speech on the Budget for 1961–62 states ( p. 79 para 36 ) that in May 1961 an agreement under P. L. 480 was signed by India’s minister with the U. S. A. for the import in four years of 18 million tons of wheat, one million tons of rice and also certain quantities of maize, cotton, tobacco and soma bean oil. This is the biggest agricultural commodities agreement ever signed between two countrieṣ There were four previous agreements commencing from August 1956 but they were all on a lesser scale. The fifth agreement of May 1960 was for agricultural commodities worth 1369.8 million dollars ( = 655.8 crores of rupees ). The average intake of food in India is below the nutritional standards laid down by scientistṣ Ours is one of the poorest countries in the world as the following table ¹⁷ for national income per capita for 1957 will show : | Country | Rupees | Country | Rupees | | :---------- | :----- | :---------- | :----- | | India | 289 | Italy | 1922 | | Australia | 5114 | Japan | 1200 | | Burma | 222 | U. K. | 4561 | | Canada | 4946 | U. S. A. | 10124 | | Ceylon | 553 | W. Germany | 3530 |

These figures show that in Ceylon the per capita income is double that of India, in Japan it is four times as much and in Germany over twelve times that of India. Both Germany and Japan were devastated by the 2nd World War and yet the people of both countries have in less than 15 years improved so much in production that both are giving substantial assistance to India. Our people and leaders should deeply ponder over this state of things and should strain every nerve in an all out effort to improve the country’s lot instead of talking and mutual bickeringṣ

While these pages were passing through the Press, the author got a copy of ‘India’s Food Crisis and steps to meet it’ which is a report (of 254 pages) made in 1959 by a Ford Foundation Team of thirteen American Technicians and agriculturist specialists at the invitation of two Indian Ministers of Food and Agriculture and Community Development and co-operatioṇ It is a very important document, discusses seventy aspects of the problem and deserves close study by all Indians interested in India’s welfare. It is issued by the Govt. of India. One or two striking matters can alone be referred to here. The report points out that the total population of India will be about 480 millions at the end of the Third Five Plan in 1966, that the target of 110 million tons of food grains by 1965-66 is reasonable and is necessary to provide food enough for the added millions and to provide for some dietary improvement and a safety margin for poor crops and other emergencieṣ The report recognises that India is making steady progress in food production, but the rate of production must be tripled to meet the Third Plan target. It gives the warning that if India’s food production increases no faster than at present rates, the gap between supplies and target will be 28 million tons by 1965-66; this would be 25 per cent shortfall in terms of need and that no conceivable programme of imports or rationing would meet a crisis of this magnitude (pp. 3–4). The report suggests several emergency measures and measures to be carried on over a long period, which cannot be set out here. It stresses the need for research in agricultural economicṣ It recommends (p. 11) that the entire nation must be made aware of the impending food crisis and steps must be taken to meet it and warns that adequate supplies of food are essential to the survival of democracy. Two short-comings of the report may be pointed out. It does not tell us what funds would be required for research and for implementing the numerous other suggestions it makeṣ Besides, it says nothing about the birth rate in India and measures to curb the phenomenal rise in populatioṇ

According to U. N. Demographic Year book (August 1960) there are about 2900 million people in the worlḍ More than half of the world's inhabitants live in four countries viz. China ( 669 millions ), India ( 438 millions), Soviet Union ( 209 millions ), U. S. A. ( 178 millions). Population growth depends upon the birth rate and the death rate. Owing to scientific discoveries, epidemics or such diseases as malaria, typhoid, cholera, influenza are either eliminated or brought under control and therefore the death rate tends to be lower and lower. It is the birth rate that has to be controlleḍ The following table ¹⁸ for comparative birth rate and death rate in 1957 for eight countries is interesting:

| Country | Birth Rate per thousanḍ | Death rate per thousanḍ | | :-------- | :----------------------- | :----------------------- | | India | 24 | 12 | | Australia | 23 | 9 | | Canada | 28 | 8 | | Ceylon | 37 | 10 | | France | 19 | 12 | | Sweden | 15 | 10 | | U. K. | 17 | 12 | | U. S. A. | 25 | 10 |

some kindly soul took compassion on women and made the blessing to be ‘ of eight sons’. The Mahābhārata said that a sonless man does not reach blessed worlds ( heaven &c). By the birth of a son the father was deemed to have discharged his debt to his ancestors and the water and pindas ( balls of cooked rice ) offered by the son to his deceased father and other deceased ancestors were supposed to be of great efficacy for the peace of the departed soulṣ Vide H. of Dh. Vol. II pp. 560-61, 799 and above p. 1626 This importance of a son or sons is believed to this day by almost all illiterate or educated people in India except a few men and women of advanced viewṣ Educated brides sometimes request that the old mode of blessing for eight sons should not be followeḍ Therefore, in such cases the formula has to be changed to ‘may you have as many sons as you desire’. The Smṛtis lay down that the husband has to cohabit with the wife after the first few days of her monthly illness and that he incurred the sin of embryo murder if he refused to do so without good cause. Vide H. of Dh. Vol. II pp. 570-71 and note 1327. The Mārkaṇdeya Purāṇa ( Chap. 14. 5-6 ) goes a little further and gives a story in which the husband who neglected this owing to his partiality for another charming wife had to undergo torments of hell. The present high prices of the necessaries of life induce many people to limit families by various deviceṣ The Planning Commission is going to try various measures such as intensive education, provision of facilities and advice on the largest scale possible, providing family planning services at 1864 rural and 330 urban medical and health centres, numbers of sterilization centres, opening 6100 clinics in rural areas and 2100 in urban areas ( In 2nd Plan only 549 urban and 1100 rural clinics ), distribution of simple contraceptives, research programme for more effective contraceptives etc. The 3rd Plan reports that in the 2nd Plan period 125000 sterilization operations were carried out ( p. 678 of Third Plan ). The present author is not an expert in these matters and so will content himself by pointing out that sterilization and, particularly contraceptives, are double-edged weaponṣ Sterilization for males is easy and may become popular among well-to-do men for selfish reasons ( such as not wanting children and not undertaking the task of bringing them up ). Therefore, a rule would have to be made and rigorously enforced that no sterilization will be done unless the man has three children or more. Vide a very thoughtful work ‘Fertility and Survival’ by Alfred Sauvy tr. from French by Christine Brooke-Rose ( 1961 ). Birth control is practised in West Europe, North America, Japan exclusively by the well-to-do type of people. The same might happen in India. The most serious objection against contraceptives is that they will lead to immorality and encourage promiscuity in both sexeṣ Gandhiji in his ‘Self-restraint versus self-indulgence’ (3rḍ eḍ, 1928) stated that so far as India is concerned there is no case for contraceptives (p. 3) and advised self-restraint. But he might have changed his opinion if he had been alive today. To advise poor people to practise self restraint, when most of them live in hovels of one room or two rooms, who are uneducated and have no ambitions and pass life in abject poverty, sounds to them as a huge joke. The well-to-do have many interests in life and several outlets for their energy but for the poor there are very few. It is interesting to note that the Prime Minister in his ‘Autobiography’ (1936) strongly criticizes Gandhiji’s praise of poverty, suffering and ascetic life as utterly wrong, harmful and impossible of achievement (p. 510) and regards Gandhiji’s attitude to sex as extraordinary (p. 512 ).

Dr. Radhakrishnan in ‘Religion and Society’ (published in 1947) concedes (p. 189) that the use of contraceptives cannot be altogether forbidden, quotes Dawson to the effect that birth control by abstention is either ineffective or, if effective, pernicious (p. 90 ), that objections to birth control by contraceptives are due to their abuse and that in the present conditions facilities for birth control must be available, especially to poorer classes (p. 191 ). Contraceptives would have to be harmless to use, cheap, easy to use and absolutely reliable. The author is not sure if there are contraceptives of this type. Japan, a small country of islands, was compelled by the rapid growth of population to legalise abortionṣ Vide ‘Aggression and Population’ by F. James Dawson (London, 1946) for a thoughtful book on how to check worldwide growth of populatioṇ A thoughtful and exhaustive work is ‘Population and planned parenthood in India’ by S. Chandrasekhar, Director of Indian Institute for population studies, Madras (revised Edition of 1961 ).

The total investment programme for the Third Plan comes to Rṣ 10400 crores (p. 109), Rṣ 6100 crores in the public sector and Rṣ 4300 crores in the private sector. The public sector has to find Rṣ 7500 crores in all ( that is Rṣ 6300 for investment plus 1200 crores for current outlays in personnel &c (p. 91 ). Resources for the Third Plan (p. 100)

TABLE 3.

| | CENTRE | STATES | TOTAL | |---|---|---|---| | 1. Balance from current revenue | 410 | 140 | 550 | | 2. Contribution of Railways | 100 | ... | 100 | | 3. Surpluses of other public enterprises | 300 | 150 | 450 | | 4. Loans from the public | 475 | 325 | 800 | | 5. Small Savings | 213 | 387 | 600 | | 6. Provident funds | 183 | 82 | 265 | | 7. Steel Equalisation Fund | 105 | ... | 105 | | 8. Balance of miscellaneous capital receiptṣ | 428 | 258 | 170 | | 9. Total of 1 to 8 | 2214 | 826 | 3040 | | 10. Additional Taxation | 1100 | 610 | 1710 | | 11. External Assistance | 2200 | ... | 2200 | | 12. Deficit financing | 524 | 26 | 550 | | Total ... | 6038 | 1462 | 7500 |

Besides the States have resources for 3rd Plan amounting to 1416 croreṣ

The two five year plans have given our leaders a certain mastery over the situation and some confidence about the future. But Mr. Nanda has to admit that the productivity and level of efficiency are very low. Foreign aid raises difficult questions as to how to match it with an adequate mobilization of domestic resourceṣ The mass of people are poverty-stricken, have a low standard of living and therefore can save little. High prices, which is a concomitant of development plans in all countries, are making common people discontenteḍ

Foreign assistance runs into thousands of crores of rupees, nearly half of which comes from U. S. A. The United States Information Service has prepared a detailed statement of assistance to India for ten years from June 1951 to 4th August 1961 and circulated it to many Indians from which some striking figures are quoted here. A statement brought up only to June 30 of 1961 gives slightly smaller numbers as compared with the statement given below which brings up the figures up to 4th August 1961. U. S. Government aid consists of grants and loanṣ Grants are gifts and do not involve any repayment. The grants in ten years total 1128.5 million dollars (537.4 crores of rupees). Loans involve repayment, some in dollars and some in rupees or dollars at the option of the Indian Government. Repayment in rupees does not involve the utilization of India's foreign exchange earnings or the export of goods from India. Eighty percent of U. S. loans to India up to Aug. 4, 1961 (2192.1 million dollars) are repayable in rupees i. e. that portion of the loans is not so inconvenient as the loans repayable in dollars are.

On p. 110 of Third Five Year Plan the foreign exchange requirements are put down at 2030 crores of Rṣ for plan projectṣ But there are other general needs of the economy by way of raw materials, components, replacement machinery to be provided for. It is estimated that Rṣ 3800 crores over the five years would be not too high. On p. 114 it is stated that the total assistance for the Third Plan assured by foreign countries is 2286 million dollars ( Rṣ 1089 crores ) out of which the USA has agreed to provide 1045 million dollars (just under half of the total foreign assistance), West Germany 425 million dollars, U. K. 250 million dollars, Japan 80 million dollars, and small sums by Canada, France &c.

U. S. Aid from the Inception of the Aid Programme to India in June 1951, through August 4, 1961.

| | DOLLARS (Millions) | RUPEES (Crores) | | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------ | :---------------- | | Aid under Indo-American technical co-operative programme | 496.4 | 236.4 | | Public Law 480, Title I | 2337.3 | 1113.0 | | Famine Relief grants to Indian Government | 10.4 | 5.0 | | Agricultural commodities distributed through voluntary agencies (Public Law 480, Title III) | 116.8 | 53.6 | | Development Loan Fund | 513.4 | 244.5 | | Export-Import Bank | 246.9 | 117.6 | | Wheat Loan of 1951 | 189.7 | 90.3 | | Total ... | 3910.9 | 1862.6 | BREAKDOWN Grants to Indian Government for economic development (not repayable) 1128.5 537.4 Famine relief grants to Indian Government (not repayable) 10.4 5.3 Agricultural commodities distri- buted through voluntary agencies (PL. 480, title III) (not repayable) 116.8 55.6 Loans repayable in dollars 436.6 307.9 Loans repayable in rupees or dollars 1755.6 836.0 Cooley fund for loans to private enterpriseṣ 162.3 77.3 Amounts under PL-480 Title I reserved for US Govt. use. 300.8 143.1 Total ... 3910.9 1862.6

The preceding table shows that in the last ten years, India has become indebted to the USA in the huge sum of 2655 million dollars ( some payable in dollars alone and the rest in rupees if India chose that way ). In the Third Plan USA has agreed to provide India up to 1045 million dollars i. e. at the end of the 15 years from 1951 India may owe to U.S.A. 3700 million dollars, that is roughly about 1756 crores of rupees (at Rṣ 4½ per dollar ). India will probably owe a larger amount to all the other lending countries taken together. The most serious question is how and in how many years India will repay the debts that run into astronomical figureṣ The explanatory memorandum accompanying the Central Budget for 1961-62 shows that India's public debt stood at Rṣ 949 crores on 31st March 1939. On the 31st March 1962 it will reach the huge figure of 5554 croreṣ Adding the liability of Govt. to repay various deposits placed with Govt. under the Post Office Savings Bank, National Plan Savings, Provident Funds, Saving Deposit Certificates etc. which account for Rṣ 1868 crores, India's obligations would really come to 7422 crores of Rṣ (5554+1868), at the end of March 1962. Our interest yielding assets are only Rṣ 5725 croreṣ If we add to this huge sum the debts our Govt. will owe to U. S. A. and other countries as shown in the above table, at the end of the third plan India would be indebted in the colossal figure of about Rṣ 11000 croreṣ

While these pages were passing through the Press, the author received a statement from the USA Information Service in Bombay, which brings the figures up to 12th March 1962. It states that the American Economic assistance to India from June 1951 to 12th March 1962 totals 4118 million dollars ( = 1960.9 crores of Rupees) as shown in the table below :

| | DOLLARS (Million) | RUPEES (Crores) | PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL | |:------------------------------------|:------------------|:----------------|:--------------------| | 1. Grant ( not repayable ) | 1,291.2 | 614.8 | 31.3 | | 2. Loans repayable in dollarṣ | 608.2 | 289.6 | 14.8 | | 3. Local Currency repaymentṣ | 2,218 | 1,056.5 | 53.9 | | Total | 4,118.0 | 1,960.9 | 100.0 |

It is not necessary to go into other detailṣ The loans are repayable at different dates, some being repayable in forty years and some carrying a very low rate of interest. It may, however, be noted that out of about 4000 million dollars aid to India since Independence over half has been in the form of P. L. 480 food for commoditieṣ The Food Minister of India, Mr. S. K. Patil, assures us, however, that India would become completely self- sufficient in food by the end of the Third Five Year Plan and points out that during the last decade, foodgrain production in India rose from 50 to 80 million tons a year, an increase of 60 per cent. But it should not be forgotten that the population of India in the same ten years increased by about 22 per cent over the population in 1951.

The Welfare State theoretically aims at (Sarvodaya ) prosperity for all (at least for the vast majority ). Up to recent times, the main obligations of the State towards its people were the administration of the country, the defence of the country and its coast against aggression or invasion, maintenance of law and order, primary and higher educatioṇ The ambition of the framers of the Indian Constitution and our leaders is to create a welfare state, and to reconstruct the present social and economic pattern by subjecting the country to a planned economy. Several vital industries are now reserved . for the State and Government has assumed power to regulate production, to control distribution and to fix even the prices of some commodities absolutely necessary to all men in daily life. It has also established the State Trading Corporatioṇ Taxation has become an ever-increasing instrument of economic policy for carrying out the plan projectṣ Apart from the Income-Tax Act ( XI of 1922 recently consolidated by Act 43 of 1961 ) our democratic Government passed one after another four Acts, viz. the Estate Duty Act ( XXXIV of 1953 ), the Wealth Tax ( XXVI of 1957 ), the Expenditure Tax ( XXIX of 1957 ) and the Gift Tax ( XVIII of 1958 ). There is no other country in the world that has all the above five taxeṣ Is India the only welfare country in the world ? There is a sense of uncertainty and fright in the middle classes and tax dodging in the rich or influential sections of the community. Reasons of space prevent the citing of illustrations of the arbitrary character of the recent four Actṣ In all these Acts the opinions of the Govt. officers ( viz. Gift Tax officer, expenditure tax officer, and wealth tax officer and higher officers ) in an executive ladder under the same Acts on questions of fact ( such as the value of a property ) are final and cannot be questioned in any court of justice ( i. e. in a subordinate judge's court or district judge's court or High Court ). If a creditor releases a debtor from his debts ( wholly or partly ) the creditor will have to pay gift tax on the debt released if the gift tax officer is of opinion that he could have recovered the debt by means of legal stepṣ No man can make a gift of more than 100 rupees at one time to a private person or even a near relative ( except to his wife ) and if he makes several gifts to the same person in one year exceeding five hundred rupees he will have to pay gift tax. In all cases of questions of fact one appeal should have been allowed to a district court or where the amount concerned was more than ten thousand rupees to the High Court. It should be recognized by policy-makers that our people have great faith in the integrity of the High Courts and the district judges who are selected by the High Courts and whose promotion does not depend on the Executive. They have not much faith in the fairness and integrity of Appellate Commissioners and Tribunals that are appointed by the Ministers, when the dispute is between private persons and taxing authorities on behalf of Government. Writers on the constitutions of countries have for many years emphasized two leading features viz. the sovereignty of Parliament and the rule of law. Parliaments are cajoled into passing legislation whereby courts of justice are evaded or passed by and the will or caprice of executive officers becomes unfettered and supreme. This is what is called the 'New Despotism' by Lord Chief Justice Hewart of Great Britaiṇ²⁶ In the name of the Welfare State it seems that all power is being centralized in bureaucracy by our leaderṣ

Most common people in India have a very vague notion of what socialism meanṣ They believe that socialism is based on Marxisṃ²⁶⁵² Marx holds that revolution is the weapon or means by which the workers are to seize power, that his theory is scientific and based on a study of factṣ He himself declared that he was no 'Marxist' (vide 'Naked God' p. 3 by Howard Fast, New York, 1957 and 'New Class' by Milovan Djilas p. 4 London, 5th Impression, 1958). These words of his are explained by Dr. Radhakrishnan as meaning that he was not pledged to the acceptance of a doctrine, final, complete and oppressive (vide 'Religion and Society,' 1947, p. 25). This is not the place to discuss the premises and predictions of Marx. But a few words may be said here. Marx had predicted that communism would prevail first in the most developed and industrialized nationṣ What happened is quite the opposite of thiṣ Communism occurred in countries like Russia and China that were relatively very much less developed and industrializeḍ Another of his predictions was that the system of private ownership would make the rich richer and the poor poorer, would breed ruinous depressions and in the end the angry proletariat would revolt, would overthrow the exploiting classes and establish a communist society. This second prophecy has not materialized in almost all highly industrialized nationṣ On the contrary, several democratic States have provided security against unemployment, sickness and old age and in some countries employers have admitted representatives of workers into the management of industrieṣ The 'Communist Manifesto' is the official Bible in the U. S. S. R. A recent work 'The Anatomy of the Soviet man' by Claus Mehnert, translated from German by Maurice Rosenbaum (1961), appears to the present author to contain a balanced and fair estimate of the working of Communism in U. S. S. R. He points out that the desire to rise socially and amass wealth and power is as common to the Soviet Union as to the rest of the world (p. 84), that the New Class does not constitute a bourgeoisie, all members work for the State and are dependent on it (p. 73), that social distinctions are greater in U. S. S. R. than in U. S. A. (p. 109), that the greatest disproportion prevails between the incomes of Academicians, artists and writers on the one hand and ordinary men and workers on the other. It appears to the present author that Communism has so far been the best means for the exploitation of the proletariat.

No great Indian leader of the present day has offered a lucid and considered statement of what the philosophical foundations of Indian socialism are or should be, nor has any leader placed before the people a clear and full picture of the Indian socialistic pattern of the future in all its aspectṣ In the Plan structures welfare seems to be identified with broad, physical and material comfortṣ Marx denied God and advocated the forcible liquidation of the exploiting classeṣ Our Constitution does not mention God (except in schedule III about oaths and affirmations of Ministers and M. P.'s) nor does it emphasize moral and spiritual values, though the founding fathers of the U. S. A. prescribe (in the Declaration of American Independence) "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Of course it is wrong and unscientific to say that all men are created equal if literally construed (as even children of the same parents are not equal in height, strength and mental equipment). All that is meant is that all men are equal in the eye of the law or have the same rights before the law. Truth No emphasis on truth and non-violence are not mentioned in our Constitution, though these were the basic principles from Upaniṣad and Smṛti times ( as in Chāndogya III. 17,4, Manu X. 63, Yāj. I. 122 ) and for Gandhiliji by whom all Congressmen and their leaders swear. Lands of thousands of men of the middle class of small means were taken away from them by changing the fundamental right to property bestowed by Art. 31 ( as originally enacted ), by preventing recourse to law courts and by giving illusory hopes of some compensation not yet even determined after several yearṣ This may not be liquidation of opponents, yet it is a cruel thing all the same in the name of democracy and Welfare State.²⁰ Borrowing in the country itself and from foreign countries has been resorted to on an increasing scale. Table 3 above ( p.1689–90 ) will convey some idea of the vast amounts of debts our country owes and will owe to U. S. A. and other countrieṣ How and in how many years the nation will be able to pay back these debts with interest is to ordinary men a source of grave anxiety and an insoluble probleṃ Among the sources for the plan are included Provident Funds, Post Office savings bank accounts, National Plan Certificates &c. These are really debts, though not demandable on any one date or year. Deficit financing which did not form part of the central budget in past years has now become a regular iteṃ The budget of the central Govt. for 1961–62 exceeds 1023 croreṣ For 1962–63 the revenues are estimated at 1329.87 crores of rupees and the expenditure at 1381.65 crores of rupees and it is announced that a total deficit of about 150 crores would have to be met partly by additional taxation of 60 crores and 80 lakhs of rupeeṣ It must be remembered that most of these taxes are indirect and the major part of the income from such taxes is due to levies on articles of everyday necessity to common people who are already groaning under high prices of absolutely necessary commoditieṣ The Bombay Government's Budget for 1962-63 intended to tax the poor man's bidis and gur (jaggery). About 7000 crores were put in the State sector in the 1st and 2nd plan projects and 7500 crores are proposed to be spent in the Public sector in the 3rd plan perioḍ Thus at the end of the 3rd Plan (in 1965-66) Government will have spent about 15000 crores of rupeeṣ Tremendous power will be concentrated in the hands of ministers and the official bureaucracy. It is not generally known how Government has dealt with or will deal with this vast amount, what projects have been undertaken, which of them are completed, the cost of the completed projects, yearly yield from the projects that are completed, steps that are being taken to repay debts and to what extent. There are fervent appeals made by leaders to common people to co-operate with Govt. but the Govt. does not seem to be anxious to take people into confidence by widely circulating through newspapers, press-notes or otherwise information on the above mentioned matterṣ The vast sums spent on projects have caused inflatioṇ Besides, during the two five year Plans population increased by 77 millionṣ This accentuated the problem of unemployment and on p. 47 of the book above referred to it is admitted that at the end of 10 years the backlog of unemployment is estimated at nine millionṣ

Sir W. Beveridge in 'Pillars of Security' (1944) names five giants with which humanity has to struggle viz. want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idlenesṣ (p. 43) The last, that is, unemployment, should be the first point of attack. Art. 41 of our Constitution confers the right to work, to education and to public assistance in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and in certain other caseṣ It is not easy to give full employ-ment for all. The State must try to limit numbers and provide not merely for literary education but also for vocational and technical training on a very extensive scale. Industrialization is necessary but it is not an unmixed blessing. Discussion of these matters would require far more space than can be afforded in this chapter. One last word before taking leave of the subjects of Democracy, Welfare State, Socialistic pattern, legislation, planning for social and economic reconstructioṇ In the new set-up public administrators have become the brains behind the production of economic goodṣ They have, however, to do in the new sphere work which is entirely different from their traditional work in the Government of former timeṣ Production activity in modern days demands bringing together and coordinating various skills and complex tasks to which administrators in Govt. offices are often strangerṣ How far they will be able to accomplish the new tasks undertaken by them is a matter which admits of no certain answer. But the most perplexing and baffling question is: Can all-comprehensive national plans under which the State either owns or controls most aspects of economic activities in Agriculture, Industry and Trade be implemented democratically by Parliamentary control? The present author is very much afraid that the combination of economic and political power in the hands of a few ministers, high ranking officials and politicians would be so overpowering as to reduce the present Parliament (based on universal adult suffrage, only 23 percent of the population being literate) to a mere shadow and may in some respects at least narrow the liberties of men almost as much as the totalitarian State doeṣ

Let us now turn to the reform and reorganization of Hindu Society and religioṇ The Portuguese came to India towards the end of the 15th century and acquired some territory on the Western coast of India. But owing to religious intolerance and persecution by them not much impression was made by them on Hindu society. But the case was different with the British, who did not imitate the Portuguese in the matter of religion, but wanted trade, wealth and power. On account of the British rule established over a large part of India from 1765 A. D. Indians came in contact with modern English literature and modern science. The earliest Indian reformer in modern times was a Bengali, Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833). He founded the Brāhmo Samāja in 1838. Some of the great names in the effort to reorganize and reform Hindu society and religion are those of Devendranath Tagore (1817–1905), Keshab Chandra Sen (1838–1884), Ishvarachandra Vidyasagar, Dayanand (1824–1883) who founded the Āryasamāja in 1877 and who regarded only the Vedas as authoritative, Rāmakrishna Paramahamsa (1834–1886) and his great disciple Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), who founded the Ramkrishna Mission for propagating Vedānta and doing charity work among the poor and the needy, M. G. Ranade (1842–1901) who was closely connected with the Prārthanāsamāja of Bombay, Agarkar, Phule, Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Gandhiji (1869– 1948), Dr. Karve ( who founded the Women’s University in 1916 ). Those interested may usefully read ‘A Century of Social Reform ’ by S. Natarajan ( Asia Publishing House, Bombay), G. N. Farquhar’s ‘Modern religious movements in India ’ (Macmillan, 1917), W. T. de Bary’s ‘Sources of Indian Tradition ’, New York, 1958 ( pp. 604–659 ).

There is a great ferment of ideas in India at present. Many of our countrymen, whether young or old, do not derive any inspiration from their religioṇ It is not the fault of religion, but the fault lies with us and our predecessors who did not and do not exhibit to us the core of our culture and religion, do not sift the essentials and separate them from the unessential accretions due to superstitions and wrong emphasiṣ Ordinary men of to-day feel bewildered by the disagreements between scientific knowledge and the traditional beliefṣ The result is that traditional values and codes of conduct are disintegrating and various views are being bandied about. There are now several distinct thought-forms on matters religious or spiritual. One class calls itself sanātanis whose view is that the traditional codes of conduct and beliefs were established by the all-wise sages of old and therefore modern half-baked reformers have no right at all to introduce changes in theṃ There is another class ( allied to these ) of those who have studied such modern sciences as eugenics and biology, who oppose change on the ground that our traditions embodied in the caste system and the restrictive rules about marriage are most scientific and no change should be made in them and if made disaster will follow. There is another class of people who say ‘why do you quarrel with us ? Time will bring about all necessary changes’. There are other people who go to the other extreme and deny the existence of any divine or spiritual realities and values in the worlḍ Some believe in the efficacy of laws to introduce desired changeṣ There are people who say ‘ take the essential values of Indian culture as foundation and build thereon a structure in keeping with the needs of the times’. Hinduism has always been growing and changing traditions ( vide for examples above pp. 1267–72 and 1471 ). The changes, however, were not brought about by legislation but were the work of commentators and digest-writers, the result being a bewildering variety of laws, customs and usages, religious and spiritual views in different parts of India. India, being always divided into many kingdoms before the advent of the British, there did not exist any legislative authority that could pass laws for the whole of India. Ancient and medieval Dharmaśāstra writers held the view that the king had no authority to interfere with Śastric rules governing varṇas and casteṣ Vide H. of Dh. vol. III pp. 98–101 for the proposition that there was almost total absence of legislative power in the king according to Dharmaśāstra writerṣ Changes in practices and beliefs, however, did take place, but it was learned commentators that by various devices tried to support changes that had already taken place (vide pp. 1267–1272 above). There are really three well-marked classes of people, viz. Sanātanis or no-changers, the iconoclasts and those who want a synthesis of the old and the new.

The question is what should be conserved or discarded from the old practices and what new ideals or values should be added and assimilateḍ Reasons of space forbid saying much about values here. Values are largely moulded by environment. Only a century or two ago, slavery or racial inequality and pride, sweating children of tender age in factories were accepted in Christian countries as morally neutral or at least not disreputable. But at present some of these, if not all, are generally condemned as immoral. In India also values have changed from time to time. At one time animal sacrifices were quite reputable and of high other-worldly value. Later in the Upaniṣad times Ahimsa came to the fore. But there are certain values of our culture that have endured for three thousand years, viz. the consciousness that the whole world is the manifestation of the Eternal Essence, restraint of senses, charity and kindnesṣ Now we are in an age of democracy and the important values of democracy are justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. But unfortunately many of those who sing paeans of democracy in India hanker after power and are in the grip of selfishness and hatreḍ Lord Acton wrote “All power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Kauṭilya said more than two thou-sand years ago that power warps (intoxicates) the minḍ Vide H. of Dh. vol. III p. 114 and ṇ 151 for quotationṣ

Many young men have in these days hardly anything which they believe as worth striving for whatever the cost may be, and hence they have nothing to practise as an ideal. We have to preserve a religious spirit among common men and women, while getting rid of superstitions and beliefs opposed to all science and common sense. It is not the age-old principles of Hindu religion that are at fault, it is modern Hindu society that has to be reorganized, particularly when ours is now a democratic republic; and our leaders must make supreme efforts for many years to preserve equality in the midst of very great economic inequality, liberty which is likely to be overwhelmed by mighty parties and social groups and democracy against demagogues on the one hand and plutocrats on the other.

We must not shut our eyes to the peculiar and formidable difficulties of our country.²⁶⁵¹ Even the present India (i. e. Bhārat ) is a vast country. There are in present India adherents of eight great religious systems ( Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Moslem, Parsi, Christianity and Judaism ), besides some tribes following none of these, but their own primitive systems; there are different States based on 14 different languages ( mentioned in the 8th schedule to the Constitution of India ), besides six Union territories and about 200 recognized dialectṣ These are likely to produce movements towards complete provincial autonomy and cultural separatioṇ There are great contrasts among the inhabitants, at one end the primitive tribes and the people who were untouchables and at the other end highly educated men and, in between the two, groups of illiterate people numbering at present about 77 per cent of the whole populatioṇ After centuries of conquests by alien people our country has gained independence. This opens for us a new vista of creative thinking and work. We need not give up the basic principles of Hinduism, but should reorientate them to meet new and more complex conditions and work out a changed social order. Everybody says that what is wanted is an emotional integration of Indians and some have suggested that the caste system should be destroyeḍ If the caste system were a tangible thing it could have been easily and quickly destroyeḍ But it is not tangible. Legislation cannot destroy it. Only a change of heart with appropriate remedies and vast efforts persistently made over a long period may accomplish this Herculean task and not glib talk by people that hardly ever practise in their lives what they preach. In the present author's opinion States purely on linguistic basis should not have been created at all, but once it was resolved to create them, that should have been strictly adhered to and clear definite principles should have been laid down by the Central Government about assigning border villages to one State or another. The Central Government leadership has been most vacillating in this respect. For example, there were at least five different proposals put forward on Bombay City alone viz. a bilingual state ( in which Bombay City was merged ), a city State for Bombay alone with separate states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, central administration for five years, a return to the bilingual formula, and lastly separate Maharashtra ( inclu- ding Bombay City, Berar and Marathwada ) and a separate State of Gujarat, with about 200 villages taken over from the Khandesh and Thana districts that had been part of Maharashtra for over one hundred yearṣ

The caste system, the joint family system and the laws of succession and inheritance that are peculiar to Hindus are really social matters and not religious matters at all. Our Constitution and recent legislation deal with all the three, holding that these are social matterṣ As shown above, the Constitution abolished untouchability, the Hindu Marriage Act has done away with all prohibitions against marriages between persons of different castes and a Hindu can have marriage relations with any Hindu ( including Buddhist, Jain and Sikh ) and can take any Hindu woman as spouse subject only to the rules of sapinda relationship and prohibited degrees for marriage. The Hindu Succession Act has practically done away with the joint family system as shown above, though it has not been expressly abrogateḍ What is wanted is not mere declamations against the caste system and fervent appeals for emotional integration of all Indians but a comprehensive code or scheme of beliefs and day to day conduct. The present writer cannot enter here into a detailed code or scheme which might require a volume by itself but some concrete proposals if set out here may induce more competent writers to give better and more exhaustive patternṣ Let there be churning of thoughtṣ It is possible that in the beginning one may meet with formidable and fearful difficulties as in the mythological churning of the ocean, but let us hope that, even after the emergence of frightful things, the final result would be blissful, as in the churning of the ocean poison emerged but the whole effort was crowned with the appearance of amṛta at the enḍ

We must not despair of solving our difficult problemṣ Despair means destruction and death. We must not lose courage by the condition of our country for the last few centurieṣ We should rather look to our achievements during about three thousand years and take to heart the following advice of ancient sages of the Dharmaśāstras such as that of Manu. Manu says (IV.137.)²² 'one should not despise previous failures; one should seek (make efforts for securing) prosperity till one's death and should not regard prosperity as unattainable.' To the same effect is Yaj. when he says 'One should never despise a learned brāhmaṇa, a serpent, a kṣatriya (a king) or oneself; one should desire to secure prosperity till one's death and should not touch (i. e. make public) another's weak points (misdeeds &c.).' We are over 43 crores of people, we are proud of the achievements of our forefatherṣ If we work hard in a concerted and intelligent effort for years with the sole object of bringing about the highest development of the country and without ambitions of securing individual profit or fame there is no reason why our country should not outstrip or at least equal other countries in the worlḍ The Īśopaniṣad 2 (Vaj. S. 40.2.) ordains for all common men 'one should wish to live for a hundred years, always doing here (in this world) actions (prescribed by the śāstra).' The Ait. Br. (chap. 33.3.), in the story of Śunaḥśepa insists on men being always active and emphasizes that prosperity does not come to him who does not work hard (nānaśrāntāya śrīrastīti). So early as the Ṛgveda (IV. 33.11) it is emphasized that Gods do not befriend anyone who has not become tired by hard work (na ṛte śrāntasya sakhyāya devāḥ).

In 1934 some persons under the guidance of Swāmī Kevalānanda Sarasvati of Wai (Satara District) started a society which later came to be named 'Dharmanirṇaya-maṇḍala'²³ (society for arriving at definite conclusions on matters of Dharma). The Swāmī was a very learned man and a Sannyāsin, did not know English, but he held very modern viewṣ There were fourteen original founder members of whom the present author is one. From 1934 to 1959 eleven sessions attended by hundreds of people were held at Thana, Poona (twice), Lonavla (thrice), Ahmednagar, Badlapur (Dist. Thana), Vardhā (in Berar), Akolā (in Berar), Wai and Bombay. At the different sessions resolutions were passed (in all 82) on several social and religious matters and a committee was appointed to prepare model prayogas (procedures) for Sandhyā, congregational (Sāmudāyika) prayer, upanayana, marriage, antyeṣṭi (funeral rites), śrāddha, remarriage (of widows), re-conversion to Hinduism &c. That Committee prepared under the guidance of Swāmī Kevalānanda such prayogas short of unnecessary details and with translations in Marathi which can be had from Mr. Kokaje of Lonavla. Among the resolutions the following deserve special mention: usages have been changed from time to time by former learned men (śiṣṭas) and the learned men of the present day have the authority to introduce changes in usages as the present circumstances may require; that the untouchability of the people of certain castes be abolished (Art. 17 of the Constitution of India subsequently did this); that those sub-castes that have similar usages, saṃskāras and rules about food should merge and such merger is not against Dharmaśāstra; there is no objection to any Hindu sitting in the same row with other persons of different varṇas provided vegetarians are served vegetarian eatables; that Hindus including untouchables are entitled to study the Veda and have upanayana performed with Vedic mantras and priests conversant with the upanayana procedure should be ready to do so, if invited; if any one takes to another religion owing to force or fraud or of his free will and wants to revert to the Hindu fold he should be allowed to come in after proper expiation and after undergoing a simple vidhi²⁴; marriages of spouses of the same gotra and pravara should be allowed provided there is no bar on the ground of sapinda relationship (vide Hindu Marriage Act, 25 of 1955, sec. 5 items 4 and 5); that divorce be allowed among the castes in which it is not allowed at present on the ground of conversion to another religion of one of the spouses &c. (almost the same grounds as in sec. 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955); a Hindu widow succeeding as heir to her husband takes an absolute estate except when any of the following relatives of the husband are alive, viz. daughter, daughter's son, mother, father, brother, brother's son, paternal grand-parents, paternal first cousin (vide Hindu Succession Act, 30 of 1956 sec. 14 which goes further by omitting the near relatives specified above). Most of the decisions mentioned above were proclaimed from ten to twenty years before our Constitution came into operatioṇ

Among the standing complaints against brāhmaṇas one has been that they debarred millions of people called 'Śūdras' from Vedic studieṣ Therefore, the Maṇḍala announced that all Hindus (including the so called untouchables) should observe the worship of the sun, repetition of the Gāyatrī-mantra (Ṛg. III. 62.10, Tai. S. I. 5. 6. 4, Vāj. S. III. 35) and reading or recital of the Bhagavadgītā (whole or part) every day, since these common observances would help in creating the sentiment of The procedure of morning and evening (sandhyā) worship is brief and is quoted below.²⁵ In order to cultivate a sense of unity among all Hindus (including the so-called untouchables), the Maṇḍala prepared a congregational prayer (to be recited by all Hindus in a con gregation once in a month) consisting of the following eleven passages culled from the Vedic literature, viz. Atharvaveda X. 8.1, Rg. X. 82.3, I. 164.16, Vaj. S. 25.21, Rg. X. 121. 10, Tai. Ār. 4.42.5, the Gāyatrīmantra, Br. Up. I. 3.28 (asato mā sad-gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir-gamaya, mr̥tyor māmṛtam gamaya), Rg. X. 191.2–4. In many villages some people tried to introduce this congregational prayer, but after some time most people complained that they found it difficult to commit to memory and recite the Vedic passages and requested that similar con gregational prayers be prepared in Hindi and therefore the Maṇḍala prepared a brief prayer of five verses in Hindi.

The above lines would only briefly illustrate how we would have to proceed if we want an emotional integration of all our countrymen, particularly on the social and religious plane. But we must not forget what the foundation of our culture and civilization has been throughout the past ageṣ Ancient sages laid the foundation by insisting upon this that there is and must be harmony between man’s spirit and the spirit of the world and man’s endeavour should be to realize in his actions and in his life this harmony and unity.²⁶ The Upaniṣads teach that man gains by giving up (by renunciation) and exhorts man not to covet another’s wealth (Īṣopaniṣad I ‘tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gr̥dhah kasya said dhanam’). The Bhagavadgītā emphasized doing one's duty without hankering for the rewards thereof. Science cannot answer such fundamental questions as occur to every thoughtful person viz., what is the ultimate cause, is it brahman, what is our origin, by what are we sustained, what is our destiny (goal), being influenced by what do we persist in paths leading to pain and misery (Śv. Up. I. I.). They are answered by the ancient²⁷ Upaniṣads, but not by science so far.

The chief aim of Indian culture and civilization was not to attain military and political power over other countries and peoples; it neglected to organize Indians for offensive and defensive purposes, nor encouraged the starting of immense corporations for the acquisition of wealth. But in these days of keen competition between nations and peoples we must not only keep a vigilant eye on the eternal principles of our culture but also on the worldly happiness of our countrymen in the midst of the warring elements in the worlḍ Our people often took and take to premature vairāgya (renunciation), while Western nations and men have been laying for the last few centuries great store by extreme activity. Now that our leaders are thinking of remodelling our society and spiritual life they must cultivate qualities whereby they at least will be sthitaprajñā i. e. fully developed or ideal souls (Bhagavadgītā II, 55-68 ) or men of God (Gītā XIII, 13-18). Social reforms and politics have to be preached through our age-old religion and philosophy.²⁸ If a large majority of our people and the leaders throw away or neglect religion and spirituality altogether, the probability is that we shall lose both spiritual life and social betterment. This is not the place to say more on this point. Vide pp. 1478–79 above for the sound moral preparation required before one realizes the pervasion of everything by brahman and pp. 1623 ff. for the proposition that the One Principle is variously named by sages, which taken together lead to universal brotherhood, kindliness and tolerance. From time immemorial all religious cults in India (except Buddhism and Jainism) recognized that there was One Principle ('or Deity of some kind') and in the immortality of the soul. The tremendous march of science and mastery over some of the forces of nature has gone to the heads of many modern men and made them conceiteḍ Science can disclose to us at the most secondary causes; but it has to be silent as to the ultimate cause and the ultimate destiny of maṇ It cannot tell us what the purpose of life is, it cannot tell us anything about moral valueṣ The present and the following generations have to be trained in an environment where spiritual life, love of truth, sense of and belief in the brotherhood of man or at least of our own country- men, love of peace and sympathy for the oppressed would be held to be supreme virtues to be attempted by all people.

It is most difficult to suggest in a brief space a code of conduct for all the millions of India. But for men of limited education and busy life a few suggestions by way of illustra- tions may be set out. The idea of pollution by the touch of men belonging to certain castes must be given up and much more therefore the idea of pollution by the mere shadow of certain people.²⁹ Swami Vivekananda (Works Vol. V. p. 152) was so angered as to say “The religion of India is at present done touchism ”. Reason and science must be resorted to for check- ing or abandoning dogmas based on ancient authority. The myths and legends of the purāṇas on the origin of the universe, about eclipses and so forth that are not credible in the light of science should not be included in the religious creeds of these days and should be treated as mere myths and legendṣ Many Christians even in these days (and most Hindus and Moslems) believe in a heaven above and a hell or hells below. But Śabara³¹ ( in the first centuries of the Christian era ) holds that heaven is not a place ( vide pp. 1211–1215 above ). Therefore, heaven and hell as described in ancient Sanskrit works cannot be made an article of faith for modern meṇ It is often said that myths may be represented as facts to simple people for the sake of beneficial results ( e. g. for inducing them to perform sacrifices or to observe rules of morality &c. ). But this is not proper as there are dangers in thiṣ In these days of growing popular education, when the myth becomes exposed, the men who once believed it not only give up that myth but also might give up everything contained in ancient works as unbelievable. Space does not permit any elaborate cataloguing of what should be given up and what striven for in these dayṣ Values, aims and institutions that were accepted by almost all people only a few decades ago are now challenged and new patterns are in process of being mouldeḍ The chief catalytic agencies are modern science and Western thought and literature. The old structure of beliefs is tottering and laxity in morals has made great headway. But whatever happens, we must so regulate society that the family as a social unit³² is preserved and safeguarded, every child of whatever class or race must have equal opportunities of education, man's daily work must be held to be divine work and worship, great inequalities of wealth and possessions must be eliminateḍ

Swami Vivekananda uttered the following exhortation long ago "The ignorant Indian, the poor and destitute Indian, the Brahman Indian, the Pariah Indian is my brother.” “Repeat and pray day and night ‘O Lord of Gauri! make me a man’ ” quoted in “Sources of Indian Tradition” by W. T. de Bary and others (New York, 1958) p. 659. Vide Atharvaveda XII. 1.45 for universal brotherhood of all men whose mother is the Earth. This volume (the last in the History of Dharmaśāstra) may be brought to a close with a quotation from the Kathopaniṣad³³ and another from Rabindranath Tagore's Gītāñjali : 'Get up, awake and having secured highly gifted (teachers) understand (the Truth); the sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say that the path (to Realization) of Self) is hard' ( Kathopaniṣad); Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depths of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action— Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.