THE SITUATION IN INDIA [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sts,—When Mr. T. S. Ramanujam wrote about ." the policy of emasculaticin pursued by vested . interests " being at the root of the. present lot. of .Indian peasants, I ventured to enquire what . those " vested interests " were and whether there was any evidence that the peasantry was more virile at any previous time in history. I got no answer, but ".J. D. J." from.Poona, quoting certain figures of mortality in Bengal, now wishes to throw on me the onus of proving that India's children were at any period less virile than they are to-day. Seeing that `..` T. S. R.'s " use of the word `.` emascu- lation " and my query obviously had reference to the. moral fibre of the peasants, I feel no obligation to answer.".J... D. J.'s " question as to their physical condition and power of resisting disease.
'These are' surely matters for Medical and Sanitary authori- ties and for Child Welfare Societies. I have no access to statistics past or present, but .I do know from history that. before the English took over. the government of the .country, the effect of unalleviated famines was often to depopulate wide areas of country in.India. From my- ersonal experience as a Famine officer in the famine of 1896-97 I also know that deaths from actual starvation in time of famine are very rare nowadays. If, as some hold, deterioration of physique is due to-the custom of too early .marriages the .British Government is not to blame for it.
When " a Hindu " described Hindustani as. the " standard vernacular " and Mr. T. S. Ramanujam said it was spoken by nearly 60 per cent. of the people, I pointed out that it was almost useless as a medium of conversation in the Tamil and Telugu country, and could not therefore lay claim to be the universal language of India. Seeing'-that he admits my facts and- I do- not quarrel with, " T. S. R.'s " statement that Hindi is more widely spoken than any other Indian vernacular, I see no reason for his attempt to refute what I wrote. The fact remains that. the people of India, like those of Europe, have no common language.—I am, Sir, &c., CHARLES G. SPENCER.
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