INDIA AND ENGLAND
By A. E. FOOT, Headmaster of the Doon School, Debra Dun.
THERE are three hurdles to be crossed before people in England can achieve any satisfactory understanding of Indian affairs under present circumstances. The first is an active realisation that it is their business ; that the ultimate responsibility for the govern- ment and the social and economic conditions of the 400 millions of people living in India still rests with the British Government in Whitehall, the Parliament of Britain and ultimately the electorate of Britain ; that a disaster in India is as much the concern of the people of Britain as a disaster in Liverpool or Nigeria, and very much more their concern than a disaster in Canada or Greece. The second hurdle, in this as in any other problem, is to ask the right questions about it. The ,third hurdle—to get the right answers— can never even be approached until the first two are passed.
I have returned to England on four months' leave after ten years in charge of an Indian Public School that was founded in 1935. The plan for starting such a school was originally made by the late Mr. S. R. Das, an eminent Indian lawyer, who aroused wide interest in the project and collected in India the funds with which the school has been financed, though he died in 1928. It was not a Government school, and received no financial assistance, though in their private capacity eminent Government servants, from the Viceroy down- ward, have done everything in their power to smooth the path and give all possible help and encouragement. I give this biographical note in order to explain how my outlook on Indian affairs is bound to be based on the fact that the major part of my social contacts and friendships for the last ten years has been with Indians of the educated classes.
Perhaps the first hurdle may before long be removed by the establishment of an independent government in India. Then the successes and failures of government in India will no longer be the responsibility of the British electorate. But, unless the final change is brought about in angry passion, it is unlikely that the cultural and economic links between India and England will be less strong than in the past. And the nature of the recent discussions at Simla indicates that in spite of past misunderstandings there is a deep-seated desire on all sides that the conclusion of the 150 years of political dependence should takt . place with a goodwill that has not been apparent as long as the discussions were not believed on the Indian. side to be final ones. But it will still be necessary, if the contact between India and England is to be fruitful and happy, that English- men should be able to ask the right questions about India. These are some of the wrong ones that are asked at present. They fall into three types.
Type i is, I believe, considerably influenced by missionary litera- ture, and takes the form "Don't you have very great problems with all the different religions and castes?" oc, (more facetious), "Do you
allow the boys to bring their wives with them to school?," or "I suppose it is very difficult to deal with boys with such a different social and religious background?" Type 2 is from people who may have liberal tendencies, and who have followed the Indian news
reported in the English papers: "What can be done when you have the unbridgable gulf between Hindus and Moslems?" Type 3 is from high-minded people who, possibly, have retired from a life- time of devoted service in India, "Surely you don't suggest that we could cut all our responsibilities and quit India?"
Type x always is based on the idea that Indians are very peculiar, and that their country is pervaded with mystery and glamour. Actually, ordinary life in the upper middle-class in India is no more different from life in the same class in England than, say, life in a French family is different from that in England. Admittedly this may only apply to a small proportion of people in India, as the general standard of living is so low ; but even if it applies to one per thousand, that means the 400,000 people who are most influential in the life of the country. Of course, there are some things which are relatively unimportant—such as dress, style of cooking and serving food, and the way of taking a bath—and it is unfortunate that the absence of social contact between British and Indians in the past has made these things into a barrier, although many of the 400,000 conform to western ways even in eating and bathing. Actually Indian dress and feeding in Indian style with the fingers would never have become invested with the disapproval of orthodox Englishmen if these had not themselves lacked any desire to make social contact with Indians. In many hotels, clubs, officer-training establishments, sea-cadet schools, as well as in public schools, there are no separate arrangements for members of different castes or religions, though often vegetarian food may be chosen, and beef or pork will not be on the menu.
Type 2 question—a most sincere and reasonable one when know- ledge of India is based chiefly on English newspapers—gives a completely wrong idea of the importance of communal discord. There is no doubt about a political gulf between those leaders whose distinction in the life of India depends on their political leadership of one group or the other ; and that the rift appears lower down also owing to the rules about communal proportions in Government posts. But the anger of, say, a well-qualified scientist on losing an appointment to a less qualified competitor who happens to be of the religion in which there is a vacancy is easily intelligible, but it has nothing to do with any thought of the way in which the competitor worships ; possibly neither ever goes near a mosque or a temple. And the rift will spread right down to the level of students, who may be refused admission to a medical or engineering college on account of the Government rules about communal propor- tions. But, apart from these economic troubles, people are never con- cerned about the religious antecedents of their companions. If there were enough scope for able technicians to use their ability, the proportions from different communities in Government service would not produce a handicap. And if there were enough medical and engineering colleges all those who could profit by the training would be able to get places. In my time in India, although I have had to deal with many human problems, not a single one of them has been based on the difference of religion among the disputants.
Finally, Type 3 question is based on an entirely wrong interpre- tation of Indian nationalism. Indian nationalism only demands that India shall be ruled by people responsible to India, and not to the British Parliament. Indian independence may be achieved in an atmosphere of hostility, in which case an Englishman will be as unwelcome in India as a Nazi German would be in England—how- ever expert a technician he may be. Or Indian independence may grow in an atmosphere of goodwill, when competent Englishmen who are prepared to serve the Indian Government will be as welcome as _an English engineer in the Argentine or the U.S.S.R. Indian nationalists, although they often make serious accusations against the motives inspiring British rule in the past, and even in the present—some of which an independent tribunal would accept and some of which would be dismissed—do not really mean to say that all Englishmen and their works in India have been bad. But they say that, though peace, law and order have been established, vast areas have been irrigated, and an efficient system of railways constructed, often with vast difficulties, yet in spite of British rule for 150 years their country is poor, in low health, undeveloped agriculturally and industrially, and that it is due to the Imperialist system ; that, even with the best will in the world, one country cannot satisfactorily develop a country six thousand miles away. It can only be developed by its own people. The questions to ask are: Why are the peasants so poor? Why are their crops so thin? How can industries be developed? How can education, roads, public health, scientific research and all the other ramifications of government be effectively established so that India can fill the place in the world that she should occupy?
Lord Wavell's government has embarked on an enterprise which no government in India has ever embarked on before. It has been at work preparing the blue-prints of a national plan. It appears to be pre- pared to hand them over to Indian leaders to provide the inspiration and driving force to enlist a nation-wide effort for the welfare and advancement of her people. And English people of goodwill should ask, "How can we help? If you don't want us, we have plenty to do in our own country and the Colonies, but if you do want us we will earn in loyalty to you the salaries you pay us. Our interests as well as yours are involved in the standard of life of your people." , In fact, in future, as far as England is concerned, the first two hurdles, which are so difficult to cross, will no longer be there. Indian affairs will be India's business, and not that of the uninformed British electorate ; the questions will be asked by those who live in the country and who love it as their mother-land ; Englishmen must be willing, to the advantage of India and England, to help where they can in answering the questions. But they are not political or religious questions. They are concerned with the development of the life of a fifth of the population of the world, in all the ways that modern science has made possible.
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