" A PICTURE OF INDIA "
SIR,—In your issue of June 23rd, the reviewer of Lady Hartog's book India in Outline states: " In Travancore, half the men and a third of the women are literate." These figures offer a striking contrast to those for the whole of India, according to which (approximately) 20 per curt.
the men and 3 per cent. of the -women are classed as literate.
The explanation of these remarkable differences lies in the fact that
n Travancore 38 per cent. of the population are Christians. The educa- onal advance of the State dates from the coming of the Church Mis- ionary Society and the London Missionary Society to work there over hundred years ago. Under their leadership Christian agencies have one great work in the field of education, and even today at least half e education in the State is under Christian auspices. Four of the iversity colleges are Christian institutions, and the Government college the State capital was started by a missionary of the London Missionary ociety many years ago, at the request of the Hindu Maharaja. The hristian Church in India today leads in the struggle against ignorance, hich lies at the root of India's poverty.—Yours faithfully,
Previous page
