BLACKWELL FAMILY
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL                 SUBJECT FILE

India: Printed MatterGandhi Shelves Demand 
For Indian Independence
   BOMBAY, India, April 29 (AP)-
Mohandas K. Gandhi declared 
April 26 that his All India Congress 
(Nationalist Party) has dropped 
temporarily its demand for the independence 
of India and wants 
only "freedom of the speech and 
the pen."
  In a reply to the speech before 
the House of Commons April 22 by 
L. S. Amery, Secretary for India, 
Mr. Gandhi said "Amery has insulted 
Indian intelligence by reiterating 
ad nauseum that Indian 
political parties will have to agree 
among themselves and Great Britain 
will register the will of a united 
India."
  He admitted there was "an unbridgeable 
gulf" between his Congress 
and the Moslem League but 
inquired, "Why don't British 
statesmen admit it is a domestic 
quarrel?"
  But he reiterated that the Nationalists 
must abide by a policy 
of nonviolence whatever the odds.[*Nov 13th 1940*]

Letters to 

A View of India's Situation

Exception is Taken to Some Statements
in The Times Editorial 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES:
   This is the birthday of Jawaharlal 
Nehru, regarded by some of us who 
know him as one of the noblest and 
wisest of men.  It is the seventh birthday
that this Indian patriot has spent 
in prison for his devotion to the cause 
of his country's freedom.  Because we 
feel that in your editorial of Nov. 10 on 
"India and the War" you were not as 
fair to Nehru and The Indian National 
Congress as you desire to be, we would 
call to your attention the following 
facts: 
   The distinction you draw between the 
continued restraint of "the astute and 
saintly Mahatma Gandhi" and the action
of the "impetuous" Nehru is seen 
to be quite untenable in the light of the 
fact that it was under Gandhi's express
orders that Nehru acted. What was his
offense? He was not permitted to do
in his own country what he could have
done in England–exercise the democratic
right of free speech, with no incitement
to violence. For such an
"offense" this great and good man has
been sentenced to four years at hard
labor, at the age of 51.
   In our American struggle for independence 
we did not hesitate to take 
advantage of Britain's involvement with 
France. but who can say that nationalist 
India has taken advantage of 
Britain's plight, notwithstanding the 
gravest provocation? The Indian National 
Congress had repeatedly shown 
its abhorrence of totalitarian aggression. 
But it must by the same token 
resist imperialist domination, and for 
several years prior to September, 1939, 
had been warning the Imperial Government 
not to presume in any future contingency 
to declare India at war without 
her consent.

        Declared Belligerent 
   In spite of all this the British Viceroy 
declared her a belligerent in a war 
five thousand miles away without the 
slightest consultation with Indian leaders. 
This high-handed procedure showed 
India how far she was from real self-
government in the eyes of her over-[?]
[? ? ? ?] before

[** one or more lines missing here **]

resistance to what our forefathers did 
not hesitate to call "tyranny." At last 
she became convinced that her patience 
was being taken for weakness and her 
long suffering was being exploited, as 
were her resources, in the interest of an 
imperialism which would not willingly 
relax its grip even when fighting for its
life. Gandhi and his compatriots therefore 
saw that, for the sake of both Indian 
and British democracy, they must 
maintain a moral protest in the form of 
strictly limited civil resistance. 
   Far from intending "deliberately to 
hamstring the war effort of a Government 
fighting for its life," as the editorial 
has it, the civil disobedience 
campaign was deliberately confined to 
one man at a time in a country of 370,000,000 
with the express purpose, as 
stated by Gandhi, of avoiding any embarrassment 
to the British Government. 
To have done less would have been to 
betray the cause of democracy and to 
have surrendered at last to that imperialist 
hypocrisy and exploitation 
against which India's patriots have 
struggled for more than twenty years.

        The Minorities Argument
   As for the old minorities argument,
not "half," as an editorial slip has it,
but fewer than a quarter of the Indian
people are Moslems, and of them only
a fraction belong to the Moslem League.
Like the princes, the league represents
the reactionary vested interests, natural
bedfellows of imperialism, and not the
Moslem masses. The "All-India Moslem
Conference for Independence," held at
Lucknow in July, represented large sections
of the Moslems of India who side
with the National Congress. The North
West Frontier Province, 95 per cent
Moslem, is overwhelmingly Congress.
Only one-third of the Indian troops are
Moslems.
   That the minorities bogy has not a
leg to stand on is shown by the fact
that the Indian National Congress has
absolutely guaranteed that any future
Constitution such safeguards will be assured
to India's minorities as are not
enjoyed by minorities in even Britain
or the United States.
   The India issue remains the touchstone
of British democracy. It is not a
domestic but a world concern, directly
involving one-fifth of the human race.
He is a true friend of England who
joins with India's patriots and England's
democrats in encouraging Britain
to live up to her noblest traditions of
freedom and democracy in this hour
of her terrible testing.
JOHN HAYNES HOLMES,
Chairman, Board of Directors, Amer-
[** one or more lines missing here **]

UNREST SUBSIDES
ON INDIAN BORDER
British Methods Are Slowly
Transforming the Fierce
Northwest Tribes
Special Correspondence, THE NEW YORK TIMES
   SIMLA, India–By a combination
of persuasion, instruction and force,
the turbulence on the border of the
Northwest frontier of India is being
slowly transformed into nation-
building activities and creative and
peaceful living.
   The peace of the Northwest frontier
of India requires that the hills
fringing the settled districts of
Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu
and Dera Ismail Khan and the protected
areas of Malakand, Kurram
and North Waziristan Agencies,
shall provide neither a base for
raids nor a safe harborage for fugitives
from justice. International
obligations to Afghanistan imply
the same protection to Afghanistan
from these hills which India seeks
to extend to her own settled districts
and protected areas.
   In the settled districts India looks
for protection from border raids by
tribesmen to the Frontier Constabulary;
in the Kurram Agency to
the Kurram Militia, and in the 
State of Chitral to the Chitral 
Scouts. To these may be added
village pursuit parties, to some extent
armed with government rifles.

        Varied Degrees of Control
   The Frontier Constabulary function
along the border between settled
districts and tribal territory.
Between them and the external border
of India are the tribes and
States in the Northwest frontier
hills. With each of these India has
a different degree of contact or control.
   The tribal areas are divided geographically
between various tribes
or clans claiming descent from a
common ancestor and having common
interests and a common history.
The more important tribes include
Afridis, Bhittanis, Mohamands
and Waziris. The five political agencies
and the transborder responsibilities
of deputy commissioners are
arranged to correspond as nearly as
possible with the geographical limits
of one or more tribes.
   The tribal organization determines
in each case the channels by which
the political officer concerned must
conduct affairs with the tribe.
Generally speaking, the tribal organization
is for defense, external 
affairs and, when the tribe feels
strong enough, for offense. The
majority of the men are armed.
Each household lives in a fortified
homestead; homesteads cluster together
to form fortified villages;
and fortified villages house the
garrison which protects the tribal
lands and grazing grounds. There
is, with few exceptions, no internal
organization, no collection of taxes,

[** one or more lines missing here **]

"jirga" has influence, but little
power, and to become effective its
influence has to be strengthened
the government, either by putting in
its hands favors to distribute or by
making clear, through one form or
another of hostile actions the consequences
which befall a tribe if 
it elects to be a bad neighbor to the 
government.
   The tribal territory of Hazara,
where jirgas are almost nonexistent,
is aptly described as "the
stamping ground of rival chieftains."
Next to them are the States
of Amb, Dhir, Swat and Chitral,
where there are individual rulers.
Elsewhere the organization varies
from democratic to anarchic–and
it is in the latter cases, where
every man considers himself a
member of the tribal jirga and
where the political officer's task is
not completed until he has convinced
the last man of a jirga
numbering anything up to 3,000,
that the task of inducing neighborly
relations becomes most difficult.

        Kurram Valley Protected
   The Kurram Valley is the only
part of the Northwest frontier of
India in which administration is
carried on up to the Durand Line.
This is because most of the tribesmen
belong to the Shia sect of the 
Muslim religion who asked for protection
against the surrounding
tribes. They were taken over at
their own invitation in 1892. A light
revenue is collected from the valley
and it is administered not according
to British Indian but to tribal
law. The locally enlisted Kurram
Militia serves to protect rather than
control the valley. There is a system
of village defense parties,
by the enlistment of numbers of
their tribesmen to an irregular police
force, whose duty is primarily 
to ensure the safety of the roads in
the tribe's area and secondarily to
act as a stabilizing element in the
tribe itself.
   The other half of this method of
encouraging "self-control" comprises
nation-building activities. 
The reasons for tribal unrest include
poverty, ignorance, boredom
and malice and hatred based thereon.
Hospitals, schools, employment,
improvements in communications
and agricultural methods–all
these are provided, as far as funds
allow, as being not only good in
themselves, but also a constructive
contribution toward the diminution
of unrest.
   In mountainous tracts wherein almost
the only occupations for centuries 
have been raids and blood
feuds, it cannot be expected that
this program of constructive work
will go forward everywhere and all
the time without friction. Such
temporary set-backs are apt also to
endanger the peace of the settled
districts near by, and it is to prevent
such friction, as far as possible
by constant patrolling and to deal 
with it when it occurs, that the
Scouts exist.
   These methods are purely civil. In 
the background are heavier weapons,
the Indian Army and the Royal
Air Force–the ultimate threat to
the tribes–to whom recourse has
to be had when other lines of defense
break down.

  Italy Promises Moslems
     To Spare Pilgrims' Ships
By Telephone to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
   ROME, Nov. 25–In keeping
with its policy of propitiation of
the Moslem world, the Italian
Government today let it be known
that "the Axis has pledged itself
not to hamper the navigation of
ships of any flag carrying pilgrims
to Mohammedan holy
places."
   This announcement, according 
to a communiqué that appeared
this evening in the Giornale
d'Italia, has been made to all
Moslem countries to foil the
"propaganda of enemy radio stations."
   "The Moslem countries," the
communiqué continues, "invites
the steamship companies to inform
the Axis powers of the route 
to be followed by each ship with
pilgrims aboard, as well as the
date of departure and the eventual
halts en route."
   The steamship companies, in
turn, must pledge to limit their
activities to the transport of pilgrims.THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, February 23, 1941.

Nehru and Cause of Indian Nationalism

(Continued from Page 5)

desire to see them win. If India 
could be convinced that this war 
is being fought for a new world 
order, for real freedom, then 
India would throw all her weight 
and strength into it. But, 
he writes, "imperialism and we are 
old acquaintances, very old, with 
many generations of contact. We 
know each other, suspect each 
other, and dislike each other thoroughly 
* * * We hear a great 
deal about authoritarianism and 
dictators, and England's chiefs 
condemn both in resonant and 
forceful language. Yet in India 
today there is a full-blooded dictatorship 
and authoritarianism."
All of which represents a tragic 
situation for both England and 
India. But at least it indicates 
the fatal timeliness of this amazing 
Autobiography. And what 
stimulus, information-even inspiration-
await the readers of 
Nehru's volume! One can at 
least understand with what pathos, 
no longer patient, he records:

I am sorry, for in spite of 
my hostility to British imperialism 
and all imperialisms, I 
have loved much that was England, 
and I should have liked 
to keep the silken bonds of the 
spirit between India and England. 
Those bonds can exist 
only in freedom. I wanted freedom 
for India's sake, of course, 
but I also wanted it for England's 
sake. That hope is shattered, 
and fate seems to have 
fashioned a different future for us. 

Further, he charges that the 
function of the British Government 
has been, and is today 

to coerce the Indian people as a 
whole, every group, in order to 
maintain their own hold and 
special position. It is to suppress 
Indian industry in favor 
of British industry in India. 
* * * Whatever happens, these 
interests remain. And so, whatever 
happens, the British financial 
and industrial structure 
dominates India.

He refuses dominion status now
-and until, in freedom, they can 
decide for themselves that dominion 
status is their free choice. 
He undertakes to indicate, in 
prophetic radicalism, what India's 
real choice is:

The mighty revolution that is 
going on in the world today 
points the way to world federation 
based on national freedom 
and a juster economic system. 
Privilege and vested interest 
will have to go. That is the goal 
of India-a united, free, democratic 
country closely associated 
in a world federation, 
with other free nations. We 
want independence, but not the 
old type of narrow, exclusive 
independence. We believe that 
the day of separate warring national 
States is over. 

Active revolution is precluded 
under Gandhi's doctrine of non-
violence. Chapter XIV presents 
the whole unbelievably exalted 
ideal under the caption, "Nonviolence 
and the Doctrine of the 
Sword."

Nonviolence in its dynamic 
condition means conscious suffering. 
It does not mean meek 
submission to the will of the 
evildoer, but it means the putting 
of one's whole soul against 
the will of the tyrant. Working 
under this law of our being, it 
is possible for a single individual 
to defy the whole might of 
an unjust empire to save his 
honor, his religion, his soul and 
lay the foundation for that empire's 
fall-or regeneration. 
And so I am not pleading for 
India to practice nonviolence 
because it is weak. I want her 
to practice nonviolence being 
conscious of her strength and 
power. * * * I want India to 
recognize that she has a soul 
that cannot parish, and that 
can rise triumphant above any 
physical weakness and defy the 
physical combination of a 
whole world. * * * If India 
takes up the doctrine of the 
sword, she may gain momentary 
victory. Then India will 
cease to be the pride of my 
heart. I am wedded to India 
because I owe my all to her. I 
believe absolutely that she has 
a mission for the world. 

Thus speaks Gandhi through 
Nehru: India has a mission and 
a message for the world! It may 
be ages before the world will hear 
and understand and heed. It is the 
same teaching as the doctrine of 
Jesus, "Resist not evil." It is the 
Buddha doctrine of peace and 
love, taught and lived 2,500 years 
ago!
Out of the East comes Light. 
As Nehru cites Gandhi:

Nonviolence is the law of our 
species, as violence is the law 
of the brute. The spirit lies dormant 
in the brute, and he 
knows no law but that of physical 
might. The dignity of man 
requires obedience to a higher 
law-to the strength of the 
spirit. 

May the light from the East 
shine into the hearts of the whole 
world!6     THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, February 23, 1941.
American Youth and the Depression
Booth Tarkington Chooses That Theme For His New Novel, "The Heritage of 
        Hatcher Ide"

THE HERITAGE OF HATCHER
  IDE. By Booth Tarkington. 310 
  pp. New York: Doubleday, 
  Doran & Co. $2
By LOUISE MAUNSELL FIELD
THE theme of Mr. Tarkington's 
new and very characteristic 
novel is American 
Youth vs. The Depression. 
In Hatcher Ide's particular case 
there are further complications 
which result from his falling in 
love with an enchanting lady a 
good deal older than himself, and 
one whose relations with his own 
father seem not merely mysterious 
but even suspicious to the 
bewildered Hatcher. But putting 
Sarah Florian aside, Hatcher's 
experiences are to a very great 
extent typical of those of thousands 
of young men belonging to 
families which used to be well-
to-do.
   Hatcher comes home after six 
years at school and college taking 
it for granted that a place will 
readily be found for him in the 
firm of Ide & Aldrich, founded by 
his grandfather, of which his
father is now the senior partner. 
He knows that the firm, whose 
business is with real estate, trusts 
and investments, has suffered under 
what his uncle, Victor Linley, 
calls "a doctoring which systematically 
kicks the patient in 
his vitals," but at first he has no 
idea how bad things really are. 
To give him a semblance at least 
of something to do, his father
makes him rent collector, on
commission, for a number of old
houses whose rents are uncollectible.
Worst of these is the old
Linley house, which still belongs
to his Uncle Victor. Before the
clouds of brown-black smoke
that "pulsated from skyscrapers,
apartment houses, factories and 
freight yards" drove former residents
away from the once wealthy
and fashionable Sheridan Avenue,
the Linley house had been among
its largest and handsomest. Now
it was a cheap, dirty, slovenly
rooming house. But Hatcher Ide
had an idea. An idea which seems
so obvious that ignoring of its
possibilities might appear absurd
to any one who does not know
from experience with a similar
situation how plausible and how
probable is the one Mr. Tarkington
presents.
   But Hatcher Ide had more than
just an idea; he had a heritage. A 
heritage from generations of the
"best people"–men and women
who were upright in their dealings
with their fellows; stalwart, 
independent, with plenty of backbone;
not only willing but desiring 
to stand erect and unpropped
upon their own two feet. "That
heritage made some things impossible,"
for Hatcher. And though
he had come home "to be bewildered
by a city in Depression and
a half-dead business that had no
place for him," he presently made
one for himself "out of nothing,"
and one for his friend as well. In
him and his kind is much of the 
same spirit that animates the
R. A. F. They are "the best
we've got, and our best have always
been equal to anything."
Mr. Tarkington does not sentimentalize
the issues.
   Other factors besides his heritage
affect Hatcher's fortunes,
and taken all together they produce
a picture very far from
rose-colored. Tragedy comes, and
suffering, and an unavoidable
misunderstanding that gives an
ugly look of possible chicanery
to what is in truth self-sacrifice.
Hatcher is appalled by the waste,
the futility and purposelessness
of much that he sees happen, and
even helps to happen. "He'd
taken for granted a kind of
symmetry in life, something suggestive
of Design and Law and
Order," and now such a conception
seems fantastic. There are,
too, times when, as he later realizes
to his own shame and confusion,
he behaves like a besotted
young ass. He is not a fool, but
he is very, very young; younger 
than his years, like so many
American boys of his kind and 
class; totally unable to perceive
motives, inarticulate, as troublesome,
as well-meaning and blundering
as any overgrown and undertrained
puppy. To the reader,
as to those around him, he is
often funny, sometimes pathetic,
frequently trying. But all the
while there is that heritage of his,
the good stuff that went into his
making, to be reckoned with, and
little by little he begins to learn
and to understand.
   He is a real person, and so too
are his friends and relations,
from jovial, lovable Harry Aldrich
and thoughtful, generous
Victor Linley, evidently the author's
mouthpiece, to embittered
Aunt Ada, amusing, 10-year-old
talkative Frances, and Locksie,
the golden-haired spaniel. They
are presented against the background
of one of those Middle
Western cities Mr. Tarkington
knows so well, a city with a past
which the author sketches briefly,
a past which explains its present
and enables him to express certain
of his convictions; convictions
which, if still unpopular in
many quarters, seem to typify to
some extent at least those toward
which the tide is now turning.

Booth
Tarkington.  [*image*]

Associated Press
Photo.

"Swamp Water" and Some Other New Works of Fiction
SWAMP WATER. By Vereen
  Bell. 263 pp. Boston: Little, 
  Brown & Co. $2.

IN Georgia the great Okefenokee
Swamp fans out for untracked 
miles–a sinister and 
primeval wilderness. Black
waters flow sluggishly through it,
their banks lined by cypress and
by impenetrable thickets. Panthers
and gators, deer and coons and
otters and treacherous deadly
snakes make the swamp both a
paradise for hunters and a menace
to them. With its sloughs and
marshes, moreover, and its manifold
islets, it offers dangerous
footing to those who do not know
its ways. This, then, is Okefenokee–
the setting which Vereen
Bell has chosen for his unusual
first novel and which he pictures
with a lyricism which never degenerates
into lushness. A brief
tale but a vivid and a violent one,
"Swamp Water" is above all a
triumph of atmospheric writing.
Even when the scene shifts elsewhere
one is conscious always of
the swamp, brooding mysteriously
in the background.
   According to Mr. Bell, the
backwoods people who live on the
fringe of Okefenokee have a
healthy respect for its dangers
and keep aloof from them. Young
Ben Ragan would never have
thought of penetrating the swamp
if his cherished hound dog,
Trouble, had not vanished in that
direction. Despite the angry admonitions 
of Thursday, his father,
and the pleas of coy Mabel McKenzie,
with whom he thought he
was in love, Ben was determined
to find his lost dog. Hardily, he
started paddling up the little
Suwanee River which led into the
swamp and soon was engulfed in
its dark wild, tangled reaches.
[T?? ? ? ?] Trouble.

[**one or more lines missing**]

ing climax. Thanks to the fact
that Ben's secret is ferreted out
and betrayed by the wretched
Mabel, the safety both of himself
and of Trouble [? ?]

[**one or more lines missing**]

own very laudable kind of integrity.
EDITH H. WALTON.

The [Al??????] Four

[**one or more lines missing**]

shield him from physical discomfort,
and give him a little drink
every twenty minutes or so when
the work of the day or week is
done, and you can't do much more
for Stevie.
   Stevie's Ruggles-of-Red-Gap is
Agnes, his wife, who longs for
higher things and uses a phony
English accent whenever a house
or a waiter impresses her. Joe,
teller of these tales, is a slightly
less aggressive Stevie, and his
wife, Grace, seems to be the precise
double of Agnes. The war between
the sexes is unending, and
though the cracks that the men
and women take at one another
are rarely very funny, they are
realistic enough.
   A number of the episodes are
believable. The worst one, an old
comic strip favorite, opens with
the quartet on a vacation cruise
in Southern waters; they have
been slighted by the other passengers.
Stevie has a few quick
ones and determines to capture
for his wife the prize she wants
most-the acquaintance of a remote
Englishman who walks
alone and has been nicknamed
"the Duke." Stevie brings the
Englishman back to his table at
the bar and shocks his wife and
Grace by giving his guest the hot-
foot. To this the Englishman responds
just as he would to Jiggs
of Jiggs and Maggie–he is delighted.
   Mr. Thielen is at his most unpleasant
when he writes of a
mail-order bride whom the boys
deliver to her husband-to-be,"NEWS FROM INDIA"
        With the compliments of 
   ALL INDIA CONGRESS COMMITTEE
        [FOREIGN DEPARTMENT]
     SWARAJ BHAWAN - ALLAHABAD

February 1, 1940.   NEW SERIES   Number One

Dear Friend:

     After a long period of silence we are once again able 
to communicate with you.  The situation created by the War and 
the Censor in India made it impossible for us to bring out our 
News-letter during the last four months.  These months, have been 
memorable.  At the end of August last the international situation 
had become critical.  In a resolution passed by the Working 
Committee, the Indian National Congress had enunciated its "War 
policy".  The Congress had repeatedly condemned the Nazi and 
Fascist aggressions and methods.  It had, in many ways, expressed 
its sympathies with the people who stand for freedom and democracy.  
It had also made it clear that in case of war in Europe the 
Congress was determined to oppose all attempts to impose a war 
on India.

     However, disregarding the Congress warning, the 
British Government declared India as a belligerent country as 
soon as war was declared against Germany.  An extra-ordinary 
issue of the Government of India Gazzette announced the enforcement 
of the Defence of India Ordinance and "Special powers" for 
the Central Government.  At the same time, the Viceroy thought it 
proper to invite Mahatma Gandhi to discuss with him the international 
situation.  This visit, as Gandhi subsequently explained 
in Harijan, was not for "any negotiations or understanding".  "Nor 
had he (the Viceroy) sent for me to negotiate" wrote Gandhi.  
"I have returned from the Viceregal lodge empty-handed and without 
any understanding, open or secret.  If there is to be any, it 
would be between the Congress and the Government."  He however 
was greatly moved by the war situation and expressed concern for 
all concerned.  He made no secret of his sympathy for the allies 
as against the Nazis.

WORKING COMMITTEE'S RESOLUTION:

     The Working Committee met soon after. A number of prominent 
Congress leaders including Gandhiji, Shris Jawaharlal 
Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, M. S. Aney, Narendra Deo and Jaiprakash 
Narain were invited to this meeting.  Mr. Jinnah the president of 
the Muslim League too was invited.  But he expressed his inability 
to be present owing to his previous engagements.  The Committee 
issued a statement, enunciating the attitude of the Congress 
towards the War.  It declared "It has condemned the aggression in 
which they (the Fascists and the Nazis) have repeatedly indulged 
and their sweeping away of well-established principles and recognised 
standards of civilised behavior.  It has seen in Fascism 
and Nazism the intensification of the principle of Imperialism 
against which the Indian people have struggled for many years.  
The Working Committee must therefore unhesitatingly condemn the 
latest aggression of the Nazi Government in Germany against Poland 
and sympathise with those who resist it ......"  "The Committee 


-2-

are aware that the Governments of Great Britain and France have 
declared that they are fighting for democracy and freedom and to 
put an end to aggression.  But the history of the recent past is 
full of examples showing the constant divergence between the spoken 
word, the ideals proclaimed, and the real motives and objectives 
......" "If the war is to defend the status quo, imperialist 
possessions, colonies, vested interests and privileges, then India 
can have nothing to do with it.  If, however, the issue is democracy 
and a world order based on democracy, then India is intensely 
interested in it.  The Committee are convinced that the interests 
of Indian democracy do not conflict with the interests of British 
democracy or of world democracy.  But there is an inherent and 
ineradicable conflict between democracy for India or elsewhere 
and imperialism and fascism.  If Great Britain fights for the 
maintenance and extension of democracy, then she must necessarily 
end imperialism in her own possessions, establish full democracy 
in India, and the Indian people must have the right of self-determination 
by framing their own constitution through a Constituent 
Assembly without external interference, and must guide her 
own policy ...  ...
...  ...
... ... The Working Committee therefore invite the 
British Government to declare in unequivocal terms what their 
war aims are in regard to democracy and imperialism and the new 
order that is envisaged, in particular, how these aims are going 
to apply to India and to be given effect to in the present ...... 
...... A clear declaration about the future, pledging the 
Government to the ending of Imperialism and Fascism alike will 
be welcomed by the people of all countries, but it is far more 
important to give immediate effect to it, to the largest possible 
extent, for only this will convince the people that the declaration 
is meant to be honoured.  The real test of any declaration 
is its application in the present, for it is the present that will 
govern action today and give shape to the future... ..."  
The All India Congress Committee in its session of 9th and 10th 
October fully approved the Working Committee's statement and made 
it clear that it did not wish to take any final decision precipitately 
and without giving every opportunity for the war and peace 
aims of the British government to be clarified.
     Commenting on this statement Gandhi wrote "All that 
is required is a mental revolution on the part of British statesmen.  
To put it still more plainly, all that is required is honest 
action to implement the declaration of faith in democracy made on 
the eve of the war, and still being repeated from British platforms.  
Will Great Britain have an unwilling India dragged into the war 
or a willing ally cooperating with her in the prosecution of a 
defence of true democracy?  The Congress support will mean the 
greatest moral asset in favour of England and France.  For the 
Congress has no soldiers to offer.  The Congress fights not with 
violent but with nonviolent means, however imperfect, however crude 
the non-violence may be."  To help the British Government to 
frame a suitable reply to the questions raised by the Working Committee, 
the Viceroy had recourse to interviews not only with 
Gandhi, the Congress President, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mr. Jinnah, 
president of the Muslim League, but in all with 52 other gentlemen, 
most of whom represented nobody but themselves.

THE GOVERNMENT STATEMENT:

     Fortified by these conflicting opinions, on the 17th 
December, the Viceroy issued a lengthy statement on behalf of 
the British Government.  It was couched in the usual stiff official 
style and showed a complete lack of understanding.  For its 
goal, India was referred to an out of date declaration made in 
1917.  Britain could offer nothing better.  As for its war aims 
India was referred to a speech of the British Premier which had -3-
reference only to Europe and none to India.

The declaration met with a chorus of disapproval even 
from non-Congress circles. In the meantime the India Secretary 
and Sir Samuel Hoare had spoken in the Houses of Parliament. 
They employed sweeter language but in effect said the same thing, 
that had been badly said by the Viceroy. As a result of these 
statements, the Viceroy called Gandhiji, the Congress President 
and Mr. Jinnah for interviews. He told the visitors that he was 
prepared to modify his previous statement to the extent that 
instead of an advisory Committee for the conduct of the war, 
his government was prepared to expand the executive council of 
the Viceroy and find in it place for some popular leaders, on 
condition that the Congress would come to an agreement with Mr. 
Jinnah not only about the proposed changes in the Central executive 
but also about the government in the provinces. Babu 
Rejendra Prasad, on behalf of the Congress, made it clear that 
it was not possible for Congress to cooperate unless the policy 
of the British Government was made clear on the lines suggested 
by the Congress. He added "It has pained us to find the communal 
question dragged in this connection. It has clouded the issue. 
It has been repeatedly said on behalf of the Congress that 
it is our earnest desire to settle the points of communal controversy 
by agreement and we propose to continue our efforts to this 
end. But I would point out that this question does not in any 
respect come in the way of a declaration of Indian freedom as 
suggested above."

THE REPLY OF THE CONGRESS:
 
The meeting of the Congress Working Committee on 
October 22 in its resolution declared the statement to be wholly 
unsatisfactory. In its opinion  the declaration of war aims was 
necessary not only for the good of the people of India but of 
all the exploited nations of the world. The Committee condemned 
the Viceroy's statement as unfortunate and found it impossible 
to cooperate with Great Britain as it would be an endorsement 
of the Imperialist policy which the Congress has always sought 
to end. As a first step in this direction the Committee called 
upon the Congress ministries to tender their resignations.

As a consequence the Congress ministries in eight 
provinces resigned. Before the resignation, in all the assemblies 
of the 8 provinces, war resolutions were carried with overwhelming 
majorities. The resolutions regretted that the Government had 
declared India as a participant in the war without the consent 
of the people and recommended it to the Government that in order 
to secure the cooperation of the Indian people, it is essential 
that the principle of democracy, with effective safeguards for 
Muslim and other minorities, be applied to India and her policy 
guided by her people. The resolution declared that the government 
cannot associate itself with British policy. The constitution 
was suspended in the various provinces and the Governors 
themselves assumed the charge of administration. 

The resolution passed at the meeting of the Working 
Committee held on November 19-23, 1939, condemned this attempt 
to create misunderstanding and befog the main and moral issue. 
It says, "In justification of this refusal to make a declaration 
in terms of the Working Committee's resolution, communal please 
have been advanced and the rights of minorities and of the 
Princes pleaded as a barrier to India's freedom. The Committee 
wish to declare with all emphasis that no communal considerations 
arise in meeting of the demand of the Congress, and the minorities, 
whatever their other differences might be, do not oppose India's 

-4-

right to freedom and independence. The Princes are represented 
by, and are the emblems of, the Paramount Power in India. In 
the end it will be the people of the Indian States who will 
determine what part they will take in a free India, though 
the British Government has consistently ignored their wishes 
in a matter which vitally affects them. In any event the wishes 
of those who may oppose India's independence are, and must be, 
irrelevant to the declaration of the British Government's 
intentions. The Committee can only interpret this attempt to 
avoid a statement of war aims and Indian freedom, by taking 
shelter under irrelevant issues, as a desire to maintain imperialist 
domination in India in alliance with reactionary 
elements in the country........."

The situation today is thus clarified. The Congress 
has sent forth word to the country that as the demand for a 
declaration of war aims and the framing by the Indians of their 
own constitution through a constituent assembly chose on adult 
suffrage is not satisfied, it must prepare for a hard struggle 
to wrest power from the unwilling hands of the Imperialist 
Government. The Congress by its creed is pledged to non-violence. 
It's demands are reasonable and just. But it will not hesitate 
to accept the challenge of violent might. If Britain refuses to 
allow India to mould her own destiny it must be understood that 
she is not out to make the world safe for democracy but to make 
it safe for herself and her imperialist allies. 

Yours sincerely,
Palkrishna Keskar, 
Secretary,
Foreign Department.

K.B.Boston Sunday Globe Editorial and 
SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 1941

Gandhi Hopes Visit to Hitler 
Would Win Him to Nonviolence

APOSTLE OF NONVIOLENCE

In this remarkable article, the world-famous apostle 
of non-violence, affirms his conviction that his creed 
would be effective even against Hitlerism. He believes 
that the Czechs, the Poles, the French, the English, 
should have opposed Hitler's invading forces with non-
violence. Not only that, he declares that if opportunity 
is afforded him he will try to convert to his creed even 
Hitler. 

Gandhi's article was brought forth by a letter from 
a Dutch friend who, impressed by "the spiritual narrowness 
and heartlessness" of young German soldiers 
observed as prisoners of war in England, declared himself 
convinced that "non-violence could not be applied 
with any success against such robots."

By MAHATMA K. GANDHI

Nonviolent action, if it is adequate, must influence 
Hitler and easily the duped Germans. No man can be 
turned into a permanent machine. Immediately the dead 
weight of authority is lifted from his head, he begins to 
function normally. The British Government can take no 
risks, can make no experiments in which they have not 
even a workable faith. But if ever an opportunity should 
be given me, in spite of my physical limitations, I should 
not hesitate to try what would appear to be impossible. For 
in "ahimsa" it is not the votary who acts in his own strength. 
Strength comes from God. 

If therefore the way is opened for me to go, He will 
give me the physical endurance and clothe my words with 
the needed power. Anyway, all through my life I have 
acted in that faith. Never have I attributed any independent 
strength to myself. This may be considered by 
men who do not believe in a higher Power than themselves 
as a drawback and a helpless state. 

Hitlerism is a Ruthless Force

Whatever Hitler may ultimately 
prove to be, we know what 
Hitlerism has come to mean. It 
means naked ruthless force reduced 
to an exact science and 
worked with a scientific precision. 
In its effect it becomes almost irresistible. 

In the early days of "sayagraha," 
when it was still known as passive 
resistance, the Star of Johannesburg, 
stirred by the sight of a 
handful of Indians, wholly unarmed 
and uncapable of organized 
violence even if they wished 
it, pitting themselves against an 
overwhelming armed government, 
had a cartoon, in which the 
latter was depicted as an elephant, 
unmoved and comfortably planting 
himself in his seat. This was 
marked "immovable force." The 
cartoonist had a true insight into 
the duel between the irresistable 
and the immovable forces. It was 
then a stalemate. The sequel we 
know. What was depicted and 
appeared to be irresistable was 
successfully resisted by the immovable 
force of "satvagraha" - 
call it "suffering without realiation". 

What has been true then can be 
equally true now. Hitlerism will 
never be defeated by counter-Hitlerism. 
It can only breed superior 
Hitlerism, raised to the nth degree. 
What is going on before our eyes 
is a demonstration of the futility 
of violences as also of Hitlerism. 

Failure of Hitlerism

Let me explain what I mean by 
failure of Hitlerism. It has robbed 
the small nations of their liberty. 
But will Hitler do with his 
victories? Can he digest so much 
power? Personally, he will go 
as empty-handed as his not very 
remote predecessor, Alexander. 
For the Germans, he will have left 
not the pleasure of owning a 
mighty Empire, but the burden of 
sustaining its crushing weight. 
For they will not be able to hold 
all the conquered nations in perpetual 
subjection. 

And I doubt if the Germans of 
future generations will entertain 
unadulterated pride in the deeds 
for which Hitlerism will be responsible. 
They will honor Herr 
Hitler as a genius, as a brave man, 
a matchless organizer and much 
more. But I should hope that the 
Germans of the future will have 
learned the art of discrimination 
even about their heroes. Anyway, 
I think it will be allowed that 
all the blood that has been spilled 
by Hitler has added not a millionth 
part of an inch to the 
world's moral stature. 

Don't Resist With Guns

As against this, imagine the 
state of Europe today if the 
Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, 
the French, the Greeks and the 
English had all said to Herr Hitler: 
"You need not make your 
scientific preparations for destruction. 
We will meet your violence 
with nonviolence." The history of 
Europe would then have been 
written differently. Possession 
might (but only might) have been 
taken under nonviolent resistance, 
as it has been taken now, after 
perpetuation of untold barbarities. 

Under nonviolence, only those 
would have been killed who had 
trained themselves to be killed, 
if need be, but without killing anyone 
and without bearing malice 
toward anybody. I dare say that 
in this case Europe would have 
added several inches to its moral 
stature. And in the end, I expect, 
it is the moral worth that will 
count. All else is dross. 

I have written these lines for 
the European powers. But they 
are meant for ourselves. If my 
argument has gone home, is it not 
time for us to declare our changeless 
faith in nonviolence of the 
strong and say we do not seek to 
defend our liberties with the force 
of arms, but we will defend it with 
the force of nonviolence?[*Christian Aug 7th 41*]
SCIENCE MONITOR,
Tagore Held 
High Place In
India's Culture
Written for The Christian Science Monitor
Rabindranath Tagore, who
passed on in Calcutta today, was
regarded as India's greatest man
of letters in modern times. It was
not only on his beautiful lyrics
and philosophic essays that his
extraordinary prestige rested,
however, for the spiritual qualities
that invariably seemed to pervade
his presence found expression
in other fields besides letters,
such as painting, education and
social reform.
His ambition had been to harmonize
the spiritual resources of
the East with the natural science 
of the West in a wide brotherhood
of mankind that should remove the 
worst blemishes from the civilization
of each. To that end he traveled
far and wide, visiting London
first in 1877 and making his first
acquaintance with the United
States in 1916.
While there was much in the
habits of the West that he approved,
the spectacle of the jostling
multitudes in the great cities
troubled him.
Looking out on London's busy
streets he once said: "You people
over here seem to me to be all in
a state of continual strife. It is all
struggling, hard striving to live.
There is no place for rest, or peace
of mind, or that meditative relief
which in our country we feel to be
needed for the health of our 
spirits."
This poet and philosopher, writer
of 3,000 songs and 30 volume of
poetry, suddenly became known
to the western world when in 1913
his writings obtained for  him the
Nobel Prize -- partly due to the 
efforts of William Butler Yeats,
the Irish poet. Two years later he
was knighted, an honor which he
renounced in 1919 owing to his
indignation over the mass killings
of Indians by British troops at
Amritsar.
His main interest in India, apart
from his literary work, was his
famous school, founded on original
lines in 1901, about 100 miles from
Calcutta -- an institution erected on
co-educational lines, which combined 
the attributes of a college
of fine arts and culture generally
with the practical work of a manual 
training and agricultural experiment
station.
While Tagore was sympathetic
to the political work of Mohandas
K. Gandhi, his interests were primarily
cultural. He believed that
politics should be subservient to
culture. All-important to him was
the introduction of beauty into
the daily life and an increasing
perception of the divine element
in humanity.
Tagore was known to the west
as a picturesque figure, always
impressive in his flowing robes
and his long snow-white beard
and long white hair surmounted
by a black skull-cap, while his
lectures were delivered in a mellow,
musical voice that in his own
country never failed to attract
overflowing crowds.

JULY 28, 1941  
Greater War Effort by India Expected
LONDON, (BPS) -- The new
measures taken by the Viceroy of
India to associate the pubic
opinion of that country more intimately
with the conduct of the 
war, as outlined in a White Paper 
just presented to Parliament, are
expected here to provide fresh energy
for India's war effort.
Although the present constitutional
framework within which the
central government of India is carried
on by the Viceroy and his
Executive Council has not been
altered, the enlargement of the
Executive Council by the addition
of seven distinguished Indians will
give India for the first time what
is, in effect, a war cabinet with
a marked majority of Indians.
The new appointees to the Executive
Council, which is a body
roughly analogous to a cabinet but
is not responsible to the Legislature,
include:
Member for Supply, Sir Hormusji
Peroshaw Moody, member of 
the Legislative Assembly;
Member for information, Sir
Akbar Hydari, president of the 
Hyderabad State Executive Council;
Member for Civil Defense, Mr. E.
Raghavendra Rao;
Member for Labor, Malik Sir
Firoz Khan Noon, who recently
toured the United States;
Member for Indians Overseas,
Madhao Shrihari Aney, member of
the Legislative Assembly;
Law Member, Sir Syed Sultan
Ahmed;
Member for Education, Health
and Lands, Nalini Ranjan Sarkar,
member of the Legislative Assembly.
Interim Solution
There is no question in informed
circles here but that the Government
will be greatly strengthened
by the inclusion in the Executive
Council of these men of outstanding
ability and experience, although
their appointment is only
an interim solution of the problem
raised by the refusal of the Indian
National Congress and the Moslem
League to co-operate with the Administration
in all matters connected
with the war effort.

London News Agency
Sir Firozkhan Noon (upper)
High Commissioner for India
Sir Akbar Hydari (lower)
Finance Minister of Hyderabad

Another step announced in the
White Paper provides for the forming
of a National Defense Council
composed of representatives of all
influential sections of the community
in British India as well as
in the Indian States. One of the
main functions of this council, set
up under the chairmanship of the
Viceroy with 22 representatives
from British India and nine from
the Indian States, will be to serve
as a liaison between the Provincial
war effort and that of the central
government.
The establishment of the New
National Defense Council is viewed
in London as additional evidence
of the desire of the British Government
to prevail upon political
leaders in India to adopt more
than a parochial outlook on the
world-wide struggle.
The National Defense Council,
which will meet in camera to receive
full statements on the war
and questions relating to supply, is
scheduled to hold its first session
next month. The membership,
which constitutes a representative
cross-section of India, will include
nine members from the Indian
States to be named later and the
following from British India:
British India Members
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, member of
the Legislative Council; Sayid Sir
Muhammad Saadulla, Chief Minister
of Assam; A. K. Fazlul Huq,
Chief Minister of Bengal; Sir
Muhammad Ahmad Said Khan,
Nawab of Chhatari; Sir Muthia
Chettiar, hereditary rajah of
Chettinad; the Maharajadhiraja of
Darbhanga and Ramrao Madhavrao
Deshmukh, member of the Legislative
Assembly;
Lieut. Col. Sir Henry Gidney,
member of the Legislative Assembly;
Sir Cowasjee Jahangir,
member of the Legislative Assembly;
Raja Bahadur of Khallikote,
member of the Legislative
Assembly; Malik Khuda Bakhsh
Khan, member of the Legislative
Assembly; M. Mehta, member of
the Legislative Assembly; G. B.
Morton; Biron Mukerjee; Lieutenant
Sardar Nau Nihalsingh Mann,
member of the Legislative Assembly;
Begum Shah Newaz, member of
the Legislative Assembly; Khan
Bahadur Major Sirdar Sir Sikander
Hyat Khan, Premier of the Punjab;
Rao Bahadur M C. Rajah,
member of the Legislative Assembly;
Prof. E. Ahmad Shah; Khan
Bahadur Allah Bakhsh Muhammad
Soomro, Chief Minister of Sind;
Sir Jwala Prasad Srivastava, member 
of the Legislative Assembly
and Khan Bahadur Sir [Muha]Presidential Address
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
Fifty-Third Session
Ramgarh, March 1940

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FROM THE ORIGINAL HINDUSTANI 

ABUL KALAM AZADNationalist India
Vol. I, No. 2
May, 1940

Issued monthly by the INDIA COUNCIL, 
an information and speakers service 
bringing to you the truth about India's 
Fight for Freedom under the leadership 
of Gandhi, Nehru and the India 
National Congress!

A STATEMENT BY 
JAWAHARAL NEHRU!*

The position and status of India 
abroad will be determined ultimately 
by the position and status of India.  
Therefore the vital problem 
for all Indians, wherever they might 
be, is the freedom of India.  In the 
difficult days before us I trust that 
Indians living in distant countries 
will realize this and give their support 
in every way to the mother 
country.  Thus they will support 
and strengthen themselves.  In regard 
to their own position and demands 
they must always maintain 
the dignity of India and never agree 
to anything that impairs that dignity 
or discriminates against them in 
an unfair way."

*"Indian Opinion," Nov. 3, 1939.

THE ONLY WEAPON
"So far as I can see, there is no independence 
for India except through 
the strictest adherence to truth and nonviolence.  
My generalship is of no use 
whatsoever, if I have an army which 
doubts the efficacy of the weapons with 
which I arm them.  I am as determined 
a foe of the exploitation of my country 
as anyone can be.  I am as impatient as 
the hottest Congressman for the complete 
deliverance of the country from 
the foreign yoke.  But I have no hate 
for a single Englishman and for that 
matter for anybody on earth.  If I may 
not help the Allies, I do not wish disaster 
to them.  Though the British Government 
have grievously disappointed the 
Congress hope, my hope, I do not seek 
any gain from their embarrassment.  My 
attempt and my prayer are and will be 
for an honourable peace between the 
belligerent nations in the least possible 
time.  I had nursed the hope that there 
would be an honourable peace and partnership 
between Britain and India and 
that I might be able to play an humble 
part in finding a way out of the awful 
carnage that is disgracing humanity and 
making life itself a burden.  But God 
has willed it otherwise."
-- GANDHIJI.

RAMGARH March 1940

The Indian National Congress met in 
Annual Session the other day.  It was a 
session held in the shadow of War -- a 
war unsought by the Indian people.  It 
was a session where momentous issues 
confronted the delegates from all of India, 
and, especially -- was this the time 
to start Civil Disobedience?

The Congress has for the past years 
declared its unyielding opposition to India's 
participation in Britain's wars; 
India's resources, economic strength and 
manpower may not be used to maintain 
the status quo.  Since the outbreak of the 
(Continued on page 4)

CONTENTS:
Page 
1. NEHRU:  Message to Indians Abroad
GANDHI:  The Only Weapon
2. Bombay Assembly Resolution on War
3. India's Women.  India Demands a Constitutional 
Convention.
4. Ramgahr.INDIA IS AN ANCHOR 
   OF BRITISH EMPIRE
[*N. Y. Times Aug 19 - 40*]
Is Largest Market for England's 
Industrial Exports
Britain's appeal to India for present 
cooperation, with future "free 
partnership" as a reward, has reminded 
the world of India's importance 
to embattled England.
The 352,000,000 people of India 
constitute 71 per cent of the manpower 
of the entire British Empire, 
a bulletin of the National 
Geographic Society points out, for, 
next to China, India is the most 
populous nation in the world.
"Moreover, the titanic cone-shaped 
land of Asia that makes the 
King of England an Emperor is 
also the largest market for England's 
industrial exports," the bulletin 
says. "In return, India sends 
England's mills much of their cotton,
standing second only to the 
United States in production of that 
strategic fiber, and yields an annual 
430,000,000 pounds of tea for 
England's 4 o'clock cup. 
"Manganese and iron for steel, 
tungsten and mica for electrical apparatus, 
petroleum, copper and 
bauxite for aluminum, are the minerals 
which make modern India a 
treasure house as in the days when 
the diamond mines of Golconda 
produced the Koh-i-noor. The output 
of gold and silver, diamonds, 
garnets and sapphires yearly augments 
'riches of India' that awed 
Sindbad the Sailor and Marco 
Polo."

Another Gandhi 
Follower Arrested
   WARDHA, India, Nov. 7 (AP) - 
Brahmadutt Rai Nirmal, who started 
an anti-war hike as a novel form 
of passive resistance to British authority 
in India, was arrested today.
   Nirmal is considered the third 
nominee of Mohandas K. Gandhi to 
defy the British in a civil disobedience 
campaign. Vinova Bhave, the 
first, was sentenced Oct. 21 to three 
months' imprisonment. Pandit Jawaharlal 
Nehru, former president of the 
All-India Congress (nationalist) 
party), was sentenced Nov. 5 to four 
years' "rigorous imprisonment."HOW CHRISTMAS IS CELEBRATED IN INDIA.

[*12th*] November, 1937
3A, North Petty Staff Lines,
Poona, India.

Dear Friend,

Joyful Christmas 
Greetings from Poona, India!

It hardly seems possible 
that we have been out in 
India for nearly a year in 
this our fourth term of missionary 
service for Christ.

In the Bombay Area 
during the year, there have 
been more than five thousand 
baptisms and work has been 
opened up in many new villages.  
This is not the result 
of our personal efforts 
alone, but we have had a 
small share in the work and 
we rejoice that so many have 
found salvation through 
Jesus Christ.  More Church 
bells will be ringing in 
India this Christmas than 
ever before; more Christmas 
songs and carols will be 
sung by our village people 
than ever before.  Thousands 
of men and women who last 
year were worshipping idols, 
this year will be bringing 
their gifts to Jesus.

Perhaps you would be interested to learn how Christmas 
is celebrated in India.  Our Indian workers and evangelists in 
all the villages for weeks before Christmas teach our Indian boys 
and girls Christmas songs and bhajans (songs with Indian tunes).  
Very early on Christmas morning there will be carol singing.  Our 
Indian boys and girls with their evangelists will go before day 
break into the various mohallas, or the different neighbourhoods, 
of the villages and will awaken the Hindus, Mohammedans, as well 
as the Christians, by singing in their Indian language Christmas 
songs.

"Joy to the world the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
and Heaven and nature sing."2

And then the third verse of this hymn has a special appeal to our
people here in India. Thorns from the hedges are to be found on
the roads and lanes and there is danger of getting them into the
feet as most of the folks do not wear shoes of any kind. Then
there is so much sin and sorrow everywhere. The people will
listen in amazement as our Christian boys and girls sing:-

"No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found."

And then comes the last stanza.

"He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love."

And our young folks will then begin to sing an Indian tune telling
the wonderful story in their own colorful way of the Angels and
the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, somewhat similar to our beautiful
hymn "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing."

After the carol singing the children are usually invited
to the Indian evangelist's home where they are given a few Indian
sweetmeats and in some villages they greet one another by saying
"Lord Jesus is born to-day." Then follows the early morning
Christmas service. This service is generally held at 8 o'clock
and the children again sing their Christmas carols and songs.
There are recitations and a message by the evangelist. The Hindus
and Mohammedans are invited to the service and they are amazed at
the wonder of the Glad Tidings. The homes of the Christians are
generally decorated with colored papers and this is one test
whether or not a family has come out openly for Christ. Do they
dare put a star, the sign of the Christian, over the door of their
home? Sometimes this is done with a great deal of ceremony as it
signifies that the entire family have given themselves to the Lord
Jesus and have become Christians. Sometimes the placing of the
star is the signal for bitter persecution, so it takes a good deal
of fortitude to affix the star over the threshold.

In most of our villages in this morning service they bring
white gifts for the King. They may bring a pound or two of rice
done up in newspaper or they may bring Indian chillies or spices.
Sometimes a piece of home spun cloth for a jacket is given and
it is not unusual for some one to bring a white chicken with its
feet tied so it can't run off and this often causes considerable
amusement. A kabare (one of our stewards) is likely to bring
a gift of a white goat and one Christmas a white cow has presented
as the white gift of a family for the Lord. They had been persecuted
but the Lord had delivered them and this was their thank-
offering. Praise the Lord! The gifts are distributed at the close
of the service to the very poor in the neighbourhood in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A gift, such as a goat or cow, of course,
would be sold and the proceeds used for the poor. At noon the
Christians generally eat together, each family contributing rice

3

and spices and this is all cooked together. There is great joy
as the Christians of the village meet in this way for their
Christmas meal. The plates from which they eat are made of leaves
and so there is no need to wash dishes after the meal is over!
The leaves are simply gathered up and are either burnt or thrown
into the village refuse heap. In the evening, there is generally
a very stirring evangelistic service and testimonies by the
Christians of the village. This meeting sometimes lasts until
long after midnight. "How wonderful is the Lord Jesus. We once
were living in the darkness of despair. Why only a year ago we had
no hope in this life and no hope for the life to come. Through
Lord Jesus life has been transformed. We are new creatures in Him.
We have the forgiveness of our sins, the burden has rolled away.
We have new hope because of Jesus. We have fellowship with God as
life everlasting all because of our wonderful Jesus. O happy
Christmas Day! O the glory of our wonderful Saviour! To think
this wonderful way. How can we ever thank those who sacrificed
in order that the missionary might come to our village to tell us
the Story? Lord Jesus, bless those who have sent us this wonderful
News of Salvation. Lord, help us to bring to our village brothers
and sisters our wonderful Jesus that they may have the same joy
in their lives as we have in ours."

So Christmas means a great deal out here in India. We pray
that Christmas may mean a great deal at home too. That it may not
mean simply a day of exchanging gifts and of feasting but that it
may be a day of real thanksgiving and reconsecration. How dark
life would be if we knew nothing of Jesus. We might be living in
a mud hut in a heathen-village surrounded by dirt and filth and
know nothing about wonderful Jesus. We might be living in fear
and be worshipping idols of wood and stone. We have had no
choice in regard to the land of our birth any more than these
dear people have had. We often recall the words of our daughter
Pearl. As we were leaving a village she said "But Daddy suppose
I lived in that village and was learning all the evils of 
idolatry. Wouldn't you want someone to come to our village to
teach your little daughter how to live the Jesus way?" Shall we
not show our gratitude to our Heavenly Father by making it possible
for those living in darkness to hear of the Christ? Perhaps
it is for such a day as this that God is calling you. Calling you
to a deeper consecration, for more fervent prayers, for greater
sacrificial giving.

May Christmas be a day of great joy to each of you. May
this Christmas Tide find Jesus receiving the sincere adoration of
each one of our hearts.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas,

Yours in His joyful service,

[*R. D. Bisbee*]
Rev. R. D. BISBEE,
Poona, India.        INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS
Published Monthly.
INDIA BULLETIN
     ORGAN OF THE FRIENDS OF INDIA.
     President: Laurence Housman.
Vol. 2. No. 2.  MARCH-APRIL, 1933.  One Penny

     INDEX.
             Page
Can England Afford to Lose India?  ... 1
Independence Day Celebrations  ... 2
Collective Fines at Chittagong  ... 3
Police Atrocities in Midnapore  ... 3
Bazaar Postponement  ... 3
Reflections on the Round Table Conference  ... 4
Wanted a Final Settlement  ... 4
House of Commons Debate "Reforms in India"  ... 5
Picketting and Processions Continue  ... 5
The Rajahmundry Hunger Strike  ... 6 & 8
Treatment of Political Prisoners  ... 7
Criticism of British Rule in India  ... 7
News and Notes  ... 8
Women's Council  ... 8
The Untouchability Campaign  ... 8
Return to Simple Life  ... 8
Forthcoming Meetings  ... 8

CAN ENGLAND AFFORD TO LOSE INDIA?
        By John Clemence.
   We suggest below some cogent reasons why British
financiers and capitalists are so loth to see India pass
from British control. Is it surprising that such
strenuous efforts should be made to retain dominion
over India and that the Imperialists should be prepared
to adopt such brutal methods in the fight to
suppress Congress demands when these golden opportunities
exist for our "invested wealth in the Indian
Empire, estimated at from £700,000,000 to
£1,000,000,000"? (Sir Henry Page Croft in House
of Commons, Feb. 22nd, 1933).
        Heavy Dividends.
   During the last nine years, dividends paid by
British banks in India have been:–
   National Bank of India, 20 per cent. per annum;
     Hong Kong and Shanghai, 64 per cent. per
     annum up to 1928, 56 per cent. for 1929 and
     1930, and 48 per cent. for 1932 and 1932;
     Chartered Bank of India, 20 1/4 per cent., except
     for 1931 and 1932 when 14 per cent. was paid;
     Lloyds Bank and Mercantile Bank have both
     paid 16 per cent. except for two years.
        - ("Capital," Jan. 26th, 1932).
   The Coal Companies have paid terrific dividends.
Every firm in a list of 72 given in an Investors'
Guide ("Capital ," Jan. 26th, 1932), is managed or
controlled by a British Agent and in practically every
case the board of directors is preponderantly English.
   In 1923 one firm paid 150 per cent. per annum;
     two firms paid 85 per cent. per annum.
   In 1931 one firm paid 57 1/2 per cent.; one paid
     80 per cent.; three paid over 30 per cent. and
     under 50 per cent.; twelve paid over 10 per
     cent. and under 30 per cent. per annum.
   As against these dividends it is interesting to compare
the wages and conditions of the employees:–
   The average daily earnings of workers (in English
equivalents) in seven coalfields in British India
were- Overmen and Sirdahs, 2/1; miners, 1/ 4 1/2
(Note: this amount appears to represent the joint
earnings of a miner and his carrier who is sometimes
his wife!): loaders, 1/ 1 1/2; skilled labourers, 1/4; unskilled,
10d.; females, 8d. (many women earn only
4 1/2d. per day).
   It must be remembered that workpeople are engaged,
as a rule for only five days per week. (Annual report
of Chief Inspector of Mines, Dec. 31st, 1932).
   Hours of labour are more than is allowed for in
law. Miners are obliged to wait for trucks which are
often delayed and insufficient in number. At times
they remain underground for 20 and even 36 hours
on end, but usually it is for 10 or 12 hours at a time.
They are obliged to wait for the trucks, or else, being
unable to send out the coal, they are unable to earn
payment of their labours. Fines are imposed arbitrarily.
If loaders fail to fill the tubs properly they
lose one-third, one-half or even the whole amount
of their pay for that load. This system leads to consistent
overloading, to the benefit of anyone but the
workers.
   The living conditions are vile. Accommodation is
usually rent free for the workers in houses provided
by the company. Houses are built back to back in
a compound, with only one wall between each house.
One room is usually allotted to each family, although
cases are known of two families working alternate
shifts and sharing the same room. A family usually
consists of four members, but six or more live together
at times. There is no provision for lighting,
and cooking is done over a kerosene stove. The open
fields are used for calls of nature, and only one or
two taps are available to each group of houses.
   The morning meal is usually taken at 8 a.m. and
consists of rice and salt and nothing else. The evening
meal, when they come out of the mine, "if not too
late," consists of rice only. Dal (lentils) or vegetables
are eaten at times- if they can be afforded. (Report
of Royal Commission on Labour, Vol. IV.)
   Infantile mortality is heavy. In Dhanbad Sub-
Division (where Jharia Colliery referred to above is
situated) the infantile mortality is 156 per 1,000. The
coal area returns shows deaths of 213 per 1,000.
(Board of Health Returns, 1924).
   Some companies have acquired Zemindari rights
(i.e., landlord rights) to command a regular supply
of labour, according to evidence offered to the Royal
commission on Labour. The following were named:–
   The Bengal Coal Co. (directors include, J. Simes,
chairman of Indian Jute Mills Association) and H.
Brikmeyer.
   The East India Coal Co. (directors include Sir
Thomas H. Troubridge, Bt., Sir Percy Newson, Bt.,
Sir Harcourt Butler, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., one-time
Governor of U.P. and Burma).
   The Equitable Coal Co. and Martin Coal Co. are
companies specified as owning Zemindari rights and
using such rights for "encouraging" the recruitment
of labour for their mines (vide Royal Commission on
Labour in India, Vol. IV.). It is noteworthy that
these firms have paid some of the most handsome
dividends on our list.
   Mr. James Simes, President of the Indian Jute Mills
Association, said at the annual general meeting of 
the above Association that "the industry is just holding
its own, and that is the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth." ("Capital," Jan. 26th,
1932.) "Capital" gives a list of 51 firms, with dividends
paid, etc., during the last 10 years.
   In 1924 two firms paid over 160 per cent., 11
     firms paid over 100 per cent., 18 firms paid
     between 50 per cent. and 100 per cent.
   In 1928, nine firms paid over 100 per cent. (the
     highest dividend 130 per cent.), 22 firms paid
     between 10 per cent. and 50 per cent.
   In 1931, two firms paid 40 per cent., 22 firms paid
     over 20 per cent., 12 firms paid between 10
     per cent. and 20 per cent.
   "The Investors' Year Book" gives the names of
British directors on the boards of all these firms.
   "In the last 11 years (1918 to 1931) wages have
increased approximately 60 per cent." (Owners' statement).2 INDIA BULLETIN MARCH-APRIL, 1933.

Jute Workers' Wages.
They are now (in English money) per 4-day week:
Foreman: Batching dept., 16s. 6d.; Sacking spinning,
11s. 3d. 
Ordinary Workers: Batching, 4s. 2d.; Sacking
weaving, 3s. 10d.; Hessian winding, 6s. 9d.
     The average wage of foreman is about 9 Rs. or
13s. 6d. per week; of workers, 3 Rs. or 4s. 6d. per
week.
      For these wages, workers in a single shift mill "are
paid on the basis of 60 hours per week." (Owners'
statement.)
     The official hours worked vary from 8 1/2 or 9 1/2 to
11 hours per day.
     As in the coal industry, housing conditions appear
very bad. "A room 10 ft. by 8 ft. would be welcomed
and considered satisfactory for one or two
workers." (Employees' Representatives.) Over-crowding
is rife and sanitation neglected. 
     We could go on giving details and citing cases, but
seriously recommend anyone desiring information to
go to the "Report of the Royal Commission on Labour
in India." There is no need to comment on
these figures and extracts - they speak for themselves
and for the interests which oppose the granting of
freedom to India. But we will quote again. 

Philanthropy- or Profits?
     Brigadier General Sir Henry Page Croft, in moving
his resolution in the Commons on February 22nd,
1933, said, "Nor do I wish to belittle our invested 
wealth in the Indian Empire . . . Our record
in India is one of the finest pictures in the whole
history of the march of civilisation . . . The
wonderful story of our race's accomplishment in
India . . . I claim that too little attention has
been paid to these matters by our Constitution
builders, but above all else, I want the House to
consider the 270,000,000 of our fellow subjects in
India and also the 80,000,000 who live in the Indian
States whose welfare we are bound to watch with the
greatest care. I think it will be agreed that we have
imposed upon us the most solemn trust that has ever
been imposed in history upon any country which
under Providence has had to control the fate of vast
masses of humanity." 
     Is this the way we vindicate "the most solemn and
sacred trust"? Are we blind or knaves, hyprocrites
or merely fools, that we allow ourselves to be deluded
by high sounding phrases and catchwords into
thinking that we are conferring a benefit on the
Indians with our illustrious presence in their Motherland?
Sir Henry speaks of the "white man's burden,"
but he seems unaware of the brown man's crushing
load of oppression. This frightful exploitation of 
cheap labor is directly concerned with the wages of

 "INDEPENDENCE DAY" CELEBRATIONS
JANUARY 26th, 1933.
     How often are we informed by high officials that
"the Congress is crushed and tranquility is restored
in India"? Yet the Indian daily and weekly papers
continue to report arrests, imprisonments, beatings,
lathi charges, picketting of cloth and toddy shops,
and everything incidental to an unabated determination
on the part of the Indian people to win freedom
by Satyagraha. Non-violence has come to stay in
spite of the most provocative and outrageous methods
of the police, who represent, under their British
officers, our "highest traditions in India."
     Lack of space compels us to condense the matter,
but we print a brief summary of what transpired on
January 26th. 
     Calcutta celebrated "Independence Day" in a befitting
manner. 250 persons were arrested. National
flags were hoisted in five different parks. In the 
evening a big procession of 116 volunteers, including
53 ladies, went by the wide of the Government House
shouting national slogans, and were only obstructed
when they reached the centre of the city. Being
obstructed by the mounted sergeant, all the volunteers
squatted and Sprimati Sinha, who alone was standing,
began to read the Independence Pledge. Then a 
severe lathi charge was made upon the male volunteers
by the foot and mounted sergeants. Gurkhas 
used the butt end of their rifles. Three were removed
to the hospital. Most of the volunteers were more or
less injured, but non left his post. Unable to stand 
the sight, four ladies rushed in and held the reins of
horses of mounted sergeants. 114 volunteers were
then arrested. The members of another procession
consisting of 45 volunteers, including 25 ladies, were
also arrested. There were four other processions in 
the city. 
     At Japaiguri (Bengal) 30 arrests were made (Free
Press). Lathi charges were made at Calicut and 41
arrests were made. At Patna, 109 people were
arrested and sentences ranging from four months' to
15 months' rigorous imprisonment were imposed on
men and women. 88 were arrested in Madras and
140 at Ahmedabad. Hartal (all shops closed) was
observed in Benares. Large crowds assembled to perform
flag hoisting ceremony in Allahabad. Nine 
people were injured in a lathi charge on Congress
demonstrators at Bombay. 
      "Associated" and "Free Press" news agencies report
processions, lathi charges and arrests at Delhi,
Lahore, Nagpur, Karachi and Ajmer. At the latter
place a professor and five others were each sentenced
to six months' rigorous (hard labour) imprisonment. 


MARCH-APRIL , 1933 INDIA BULLETIN 3

COLLECTIVE FINES IN CHITTAGONG.
By John Clemence. 
     The police of Chittagong, in Midnapore, have been
unable to arrest the anarchists concerned in a series
of armed raids in and around that area. His Excellency,
Sir John Anderson, Governor of Bengal, has 
solved the problem in an ingenious way. Sir John
has imposed a collective fine on all Hindu residents
in various localities and hopes by this means to serve
the ends of justice. Briefly, the facts are these:-
     Following an armed raid in the Pahartali district
on September, 1932, a collective fine of Rs.80,000
(£6,000) was imposed on all Hindu residents of the
municipality, Pahartali railway colony, and in addition,
villages around about were likewise fined. A
curfew order was made effective against the Hindu
community only. An extention was granted, making
the fine payable on Dec. 19th, 20th and 21st and
at the same time a refund was promised to anyone
who would give information within three months,
which would lead to the arrest of the absconders.
Additional fines have been, and are continuing to be
imposed, on villages in Chittagong for "being concerned
in the commission of offences and other acts
prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order and
for harbouring persons concerned in the comission 
of such offences and acts." Fines inflicted range
from Rs. 530 (£40) to Rs. 2,000 (£150). These
figures are misleading in their apparent leniency. It
must be remembered that Indian villages have small
populations and that the average income of the
peasant is as low as 2 1/2 d. or 3.d per day.
His Excellency justifies the fines on the following
grounds. For some time prior to April, 1930, Bengal
had been clear of outrages. In view of this, the
authorities released detenus from Chittagong detention
camp but on April 18th, 1930, the armoury raid
was carried out. It was seen that bodies of young
men had been engaged in physical culture and drill
and it was known that the armoury raid had been
organized in Chittagong, though not by Chittagong
people. These raiders were later arrested in other
parts of Bengal and it is the Government view that
they were so arrested because information was given
by the inhabitants of those districts.
Last year, a Mussalman Inspector of Police named
Ahnsanullah, was murdered by terrorists who escaped,
and in this case the authorities were satisfied that
a house in Dhalgatt (Chittagong) was used for the
planning of the murder. It was believed that the
murderers had escaped to the jungle and that therefore,
some Chittagong people were assisting them
with food, etc., since no one could live unaided under
such conditions. Furthermore, there had been an
outbreak of leaflet posting in the town!! The Gover-

The whole conception of this collective fine outrages
every sense of fair play. Only Hindus have
been fined (another example of British policy-
"divide and rule") but this discrimination is condemned
by prominent Moslem officials and leaders.
Of what avail is the curfew order against Hindus?-
terrorists may just as easily wear Moslem costumes.
Why limit fines to Hindu communities in marked 
areas? If Government believe that terrorists use
these parts, why not find them? We hardly think
that wanted persons are going to risk visiting suspected
areas, but if they did, then all communities
are equally likely to harbour them. There is no
justification for any collective fine, but if the police
suspect some Hindu people, let them be arrested,-
if their names are unknown, then the authorities are
merely guessing and have no grounds for discriminating
against Hindus. In any case, either Moslems
(who are in the majority) would soon discover a
Hindu offering shelter to a wanted person, or else
they are equally in the alleged "conspiracy."
One fact is clear. Neither Police nor informers
(and India is a spy ridden country) have secured any
clues. It seems that none are to be had. A refund
of their portion of the fine is promised to whoever
others information but only those who know something
and are therefore possibly implicated, can earn remission,
while the most completely innocent and
ignorant are penalised. What a travesty of Justice
when the innocent are punished and the guilty are
forgiven!!
Hindu and Mussalman, townsman or villagers, what
difference does it make? It is the duty of the
authorities and the police to prosecute enquiries and
effect an arrest. A town which suffers from terrorists
while the police do nothing, is worthy of compensation
and not an imposition to make an extra contribution
to the Provincial exchequer.

POLICE ATROCITIES IN MIDNAPORE. 
In December last, Pathan forces, in order to collect
outstanding taxes, carried on a fierce attack upon
defaulting villages, perpetuating shocking atrocities
on men and women alike. These representatives of
law and order left no desires of theirs unfulfilled.
They completely demolished 48 houses (burning two),
chopped down fruit trees, destroyed vegetables,
damaged granaries with paddy (rice), burnt household
furniture, wooden posts, doors and windows tore
to pieces valuable documents and account books,
burnt bedding and broke ploughs and agricultural
instruments. Temples and family images were
defiled and desecrated. Cash, valuables and
ornaments were looted. Seventeen cows of Kedar
Ghosh were attached for non-payment of punitive
tax of Rs.9 only. Three hundred  families fled4 INDIA BULLETIN MARCH-APRIL, 1933.

INDIA BULLETIN
(Organ of the Friends of India)
46, Lancaster Gate (Room 22), London, W.2.
Telephone: Paddington 6956
President: LAURENCE HOUSMAN.
Editorial Board:
Will Hayes; Atma S. Kamlani
Issued Monthly Price 1d.
Vol. 2 No. 2 March-April, 1933

REFLECTIONS ON THE ROUND-TABLE
CONFERENCE.

Lord Sankey has stated that "the Conference established
the most important principle of responsibility
at the Centre and that principle was nailed to
the mast." It will be realised at once how misleading
to the public the implications may be which can
be drawn from such a statement. The words "responsibility
at the centre," technically correct, are
being freely used in regard to the new forms, and
it has to be realised that it is possible to give responsibility
at the centre and at the same time withhold
everything approaching absolute control. Henceforth
no one wishing to express the idea of real self-government
should again loosely use the term. The steward
of a landed estate may possess enormous responsibility,
but he lacks ownership, and in the relative
positions of Great Britain and India the new reforms
leave no doubt as to ownership! Let us place beside
Lord Sankey's statement the words of Mr. Brailsford
in regard to the results of the Round-Table Conference:-
"The scheme sets no predictable limit to the period
of tutelage and during the vague transition there is
no field in the whole range of government over which
the All-India Parliament will be effectively sovereign."
This is the description of the actual state of the
case for practical purposes. If the "principle of responsibility
has been nailed to the mast," and we
hope it has, the hope of its fruitfulness exists largely
in the fact that the period following the establishment
of the Reforms is acknowledged to be transitional,
that is, moving towards further responsibility.
That this is the case is probably proved by the
fact that Mr. Churchill is so violently opposed to the
whole scheme, but from the national point of view
the position in regard to the transition period leaves
one most hopeless because neither the length of the
period nor the proposed methods of progress have
so much as been discussed by the Conference.
Furthermore, to nail something to a mast presupposes
the existence of a mast, and it is not at all clear
whether the proposed responsibility at the centre is
not contingent on the Federation with the States,
and the latter is apparently dependent upon the illusory
factor of the wills of the Princes! One is constrained
to ask, is British India to have even this
amount of central responsibility should the Princes
remain aloof?
Let us consider what is the nature of the responsibility
conferred. The proposed Reforms will give
to India no control over the vast army which is maintained
there, nor any assurance as to when the Indian
Legislature will begin to share control. There is no
guarantee that the Indianisation of the Army is to be
speeded up, nor any indication as to when the withdrawal
of British troops is likely to be considered.
In regard to financial control, it would appear that
no step can be taken towards national control without
the establishment of a Reserve Bank, and as this is
found to be impossible in the present state of world-
depression, this vital sphere must also be excluded
indefinitely from central responsibility
If we regard the Reforms, not as intended to meet
the national demands, but simply as reforms, they
are still open to very grave criticism. In the first
place, they lack entirely any great unifying principle
such as is essential to all reform purporting to lead
to self-government. If the Hindus, Moslems, the
women and the Christians, and all other sections, do
not succeed in modifying the present proposals, the
effect of the Reforms will be actually against, not only
national, but cultural unity!
Then is must be noted that the franchise is still
narrow and largely on a property-basis, and that in
the event of Federation with the States the Princes
are all autocrats, not constitutional sovereigns in the
Western sense, nor susceptible to the will of their
subjects. Indeed, the effect of the States linked on
politically to British India must be doubtful (however
desirable from some points of view) and in some cases
tend to be reactionary and apt to supply a channel
for continued British domination. In the Legislatures,
the voice of Labour will have some slight
separate representation, but it is feared that this will
be lacking entirely in the Upper Chamber. As a
matter of fact, the Reformed Constitution makes little
provision for the needs of the vast masses of peasants
and the thousands of sweated industrial workers.
There is no indication that the national expenditure
on the Army and Civil Service will be drastically reduced,
so that there will be still be no revenue for nation-
building services. If peasants and industrial workers
who form the main bulk of the population of India
are given such a small chance of making their voice
heard, it is no wonder that the so-called aboriginal
people and the Hill tribes are merely treated as if
they did not exist. In one Province, where they constitute
one-fifth of the population, they are given one
seat out of 112. Such is our enlightened attitude to
the people who should have priority in their claim
on their own soil!
Looking at the scheme from the standpoint of the
Government, considering it as embracing safe educative
progressive reforms, it does not even allow that
measure of democratic method and responsibility
necessary in order to develop a people's civic sense.
Looking at the Reforms from the point of view of
the national demands, they must be deemed utterly
inadequate. The scheme does not give real responsibility
now, nor give any pledge that this will be
given at a future date in any definite sense. It is
even doubtful whether the new constitution is so
framed that it will tend to develop in a desirable way
the national, cultural and economic life of India, even
supposing there were no overwhelming national demands 
to be reckoned with.
Everyone who has the cause of India at heart is
longing to see Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress
leaders released and at liberty to take part in the 
national life again, but it is only commonsense for us
to try and realise what is the true nature of the
scheme which is being offered to their countrymen.
If they are released we do not know what they will
say, but we do know for ourselves that having been
asked for bread we are offering India a stone!

WANTED FINAL SETTLEMENT.
BABU JAGAT NARAIN LAL'S STATEMENT.
PATNA, Jan. 17th.
Babu Jagat Narain Lal, M.A., LL.B., General
Secretary All-India Hindu Mahasabha, who came out
of the jail recently, being interviewed by the "Free
Press" representative on the present political situation
in the country, said:-
"Having just come out of the prison, I can represent
somewhat confidently the mind of those only who are
behind the prison bars. They feel that a temporary
truce or patch work is no more desirable and are at
one with the Government in their repudiation of even
an idea of it. What is wanted is a settlement, final
and complete. The release, or otherwise, of the political
prisoners is absolutely a secondary matter, and
rests entirely upon the settlement itself. Without a
satisfactory settlement, release of political prisoners
has absolutely no meaning whatever. With a satisfactory
settlement it will follow as a matter of course.
The main question that remains, therefore, is whether
such a settlement is really forthcoming. To this, it
is difficult to make an answer. It is the British
statesmen who have to make up their minds. Whether
they have done so as a result of the last Round-Table
Conference it is hazardous to guess. It is rather
better to wait and see.

MARCH-APRIL, 1933. INDIA BULLETIN 5

GLEANINGS FROM THE DEBATE IN THE
HOUSE OF COMMONS ON "REFORMS IN
INDIA."
22nd February, 1933
It is to be regretted that the criticism of the Government
policy at the Round-Table Conference came
entirely from the most Conservative wing in the
House, thereby causing the proposed reforms by contrast
to stand out as models of progress and enlightenment.
The Debate as a whole was illuminating, not
in relation to the general problem of India, but as
regards the mentality of the House. The speeches of
this ultra-Conservative group as being "thirty years
out of date." They did indeed repeat the old, old
story that "our record in India is one of the finest
pictures in the whole history of the march of civilisation,"
but in the very next sentence there was a distinctly
modern touch: "We ought to consider our
vested interests in India," which he had previously
stated to be "estimated at £700,000,000 to
£1,000,000,000." Again, in heroic tones, he continued:
"I think it will be agreed that we have imposed
upon us probably the most solemn trust that
has ever been imposed in history upon any country
which under Providence has had to control the fate
of vast masses of humanity." Apparently the speaker
knows nothing concerning the fate of those masses
to-day, or at least he would leave out the name of
Providence. It would appear, however, from his final
sentences that in reality he considers that we ourselves
are Providence, for he continued: "Is there a right
hon. gentleman sitting on that bench who in his heart
of hearts believes that the Indian ryot will be rescued
from the extortion of the moneylender, the children
from the practices of the temple, the windows from
suttee, Moslem and Hindu from internecine bloodshed
and the untouchables from the tyranny of the Brahmin
if the British abdicate in India? Everyone knows that
if you go out, it will not be progression, but reaction."
Sir H. Croft was followed by his supporter, Comdr.
Marsden, who, after assuring his hearers that "no
man from the West ever knows the Eastern mind,"
proceeded to assert that "we are giving up a lot, but 
generosity in the East has to be well-timed. Generosity
in the East has to be well-timed. Generosity
from a victor or a man in a strong position is
correct, appreciated and recognised. Generosity from
the vanquished or one in a weak position is not looked
upon as generosity; it is looked upon as weakness.
One way never to rule in the East is by weakness."
One wonders has the speaker never heard of Mahatma
Gandhi's non-violent movement, nor the meaning of
Satyagraha? But the conclusion of his arguments is
summed up as follows; "That the instructive feeling
of everybody is that, whatever we do is for two purposes-
to look after British interests and British prestige
and to do our best for the 350,000,000 people who
live in India." Everybody will certainly agree that
this speaker has a capacity for putting first things
first!
One other gem from Lord Eustace Percy, who supported
the Government, must be noted. In describing
our rule, he said: "British administration in India
has been like a vast pacifying pool of oil in an agitated
country, restoring order and administrating equal
justice, but never able by its very nature to deal with,
and unwilling and precluded by the very pledges that
you gave to India, from dealing with those tremendous
underlying economic problems." The meaning
of this statement is by no means clear, but in regard
to the oil, in these latter days it must surely have
caught on fire!
Major Attlee, in support of the Government, made
by far the most constructive speech, and many of his
utterances are extremely important. He first drew
attention to the definite pledges given by the British
Government in regard to the bestowal of responsible
Government. He referred to the declaration by the
Duke of Connaught on behalf of His Majesty the King
and quoted it as reiterated by the Lord President of
the Council.
After stressing the necessity for gaining the support
of public opinion and feeling in India for the working
of any reforms, Major Attlee made this significant remark.
"The logic really of the Right Hon. Baronet's
position was that you must either give no self-government
to India or you must give it complete self-
government and clear out altogether . . . and I
confess that I always experienced very great
difficulty in finding a logical halting place . . . 
Frankly, I have always considered that, while there
is no logical halting place, a halting place is only
possible provided that both parties have the will to
make it work, and I wish particularly to say to the
Government to-day that whatever form of government
is made, the essential question is. Is it going to work
with good-will?"
I think we are entitled to infer from that statement
that the Congress Party are extremely logical!
Later in the speech, Major Attlee emphasised the
fact that national feeling in India was all-pervading.
He said "that through the whole educated Indian
population, with varying degrees of intensity, there
runs this national idea. To imagine that the Congress
Party are the only people who believe in Indian self-
government is quite absurd. All the parties do as
well, so do many Indians are in the Army."
Major Attlee's testimony as to the depth and wideness
of national feeling should carry a weight which is not
always given to those who support the Congress.
Sir Samuel Hoare, in answering the speeches, made
some very debatable assertions. He said that "law
and order have been substantially restored, boycotting
has been effectively crushed, two-thirds of the civil
disobedience prisoners have been released, and no
serious results have ensued, and perhaps most notable
of all have been the evidences of a better state of feeling
in India . . . affairs in India have been
steadily improving."
As one reads the Indian newspapers and sees the
unending lists of people arrested, one is oppressed by
the fact that "Law and Order" may mean merely a
desert and that the prisons are fast being filled up
again. The first-hand evidence of all those who have
recently been in India, people representing every point
of view, agree in stating that the general feeling is
deplorable, that resentment and hatred are growing
along all sections of the people.
Throughout the Debate not one voice was heard
speaking for the real, living, suffering and determined
India! It closed by passing a resolution which entirely
satisfied the House, that it was securely committed
to nothing which really mattered!

PICKETTING AND PROCESSIONS CONTINUE.
Picketting. Two Hindu ladies, Mrs. Shamrau
Purandhar and Mrs. Shantabai Baburao Parker and
four other volunteers were arrested while picketting
the cotton market at Sheikh Menon Street, Bombay,
on Jan. 21st and 24th. They were each sentenced
to six months rigorous and find Rs. 40, or in default,
extra six weeks.
One Narayan received three months rigorous for
arranging picketting and Ramlal Ramnath also received
three months for writing, "Bhoi Patrika" 
(writing news on the pavement) on the road at
Kabadevi.
Congress Meetings. Lucknow. The city magistrate
sentenced D. Murvalal, described as Provincial
Congress Dictator, to 18 months imprisonment; 37
others, including two women, who were arrested with
him on Jan. 15th, while holding a Dictators' Conference,
were sentenced to one year's imprisonment
each.
Six ladies, arrested at the same time as Mrs. Gandhi
in January, were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment
in "C" class (nominally reserved for criminals
of the lowest class).
Arrests were also made in connection with the
observance of Dictators' Day at Delhi, Chapra, Jalgaon,
Ahmedabad (100 youths arrested at a Youth
Conference), Calcutta (44 ladies forming a procession),
Lahore and Bombay. 28 Congressmen were
arrested at Dundhakuva Village, Kaira District, while
observing Dictators' Day and sentenced to two years
rigorous (hard labour) imprisonment and Rs. 300
(£25) fine.6  INDIA BULLETIN  MARCH-APRIL, 1933.

THE RAJAHMUNDRY HUNGER STRIKE.

For the last fifty odd days a grim struggle has been 
going on in one of the jails in the Madras Presidency. 
The newspapers barely mention what is happening, 
and it has none of the glamour of Mahatma Gandhi's 
September Fast, nor of the Lahore Hunger Strike, 
but any study of the details must leave one with the 
feeling that British justice is being as strongly assailed
in this instance as in either of the two previous cases. 

There are in all three prisoners on hunger strike in 
the Rajahmundry Central Jail, all the three are "C 
Class," and the object of the strike is to get themselves 
transferred into "B Class." When one adds that all 
three are serving life sentences in connection with the 
First Lahore Conspiracy Case, possibly one feels that 
this is yet another case of purely political propaganda, 
but nothing could be further from the truth. 
Since it is difficult to realise what is the meaning 
of this hunger strike unless one knows something of 
the conditions and previous history of the three concerned, 
it would be best to give a short account, first 
of their individual histories, and also of the case. One 
of the three, Bijoy Kumar Sinha of Cawnpore, U.P., 
is the most outstanding. He is an old student of 
Christ Church College, Cawnpore, and read up to the 
Intermediate, but owing to family difficulties he was 
never able to appear in the examination. He, however, 
managed to become Press correspondent of the 
Associated Press, Free Press, Statesmen, Leader, 
Pioneer, and many other papers, and was earning 
about 500 rupees a month. Jai Deo Kapoor, and 
Shiv Verma, both of Hardoi, passed the B.A. examination 
from the D.A.V. College, Cawnpore, and 
shortly afterwards were arrested at Saharanpur, and 
tried in the First Lahore Conspiracy Case. Bijoy 
Kumar Sinha was also arrested in 1929, and appeared 
with the others in the Lahore Case.
What is known as the First Lahore Conspiracy 
Case began with the murder of Mr. Saunders, the 
Assistant Superintendent of Police of Lahore, who was 
shot on December 17th, 1928. Among many Indians 
Mr. Saunders was supposed to have been responsible 
for causing the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, a very well-
known politician and social worker. No arrests were 
made, but shortly after, Bhagat Singh and B. K. Dutt 
threw a bomb in the Assembly during the Budget Session, 
and were arrested and sentenced. The discovery 
in April of a bomb factory in the Kashmir Buildings, 
Lahore, and the statements made by certain of those 
arrested led to a series of arrests all over the Punjab, 
and U.P., and in Calcutta (May 2nd, 1929). About 
35 persons were arrested in all, but only 18 of these 
were put on trial, but before the trial could get under 
weigh the accused resorted to the weapon of hunger 
strike on the ground that political prisoners must be 
given different treatment to the ordinary criminal. 
On account of the hunger strike the case could not 
proceed, since the prisoners could not come to court

Court being unable to agree, the Tribunal dispensed 
with the services of the accused, and as the accused 
refused to take part in the proceedings unless their 
demands were satisfied, the Tribunal pronounced sentence. 
Three of the accused were hanged, and others, 
including Bijoy Kumar Sinha, Jai Deo Kapoor, and 
Shiv Verma were sentenced to transportation for life. 
Formerly they would have been sent to the Andaman 
Islands, but the Jail Rules now allow the Government 
to keep them in any Central Jail in any part of 
India. These three, after being kept in different jails 
in the Punjab, were sent to the Madras Presidency. 
All three are categoried as "C Class" prisoners, and 
it is against this that they are at present fighting. 

The following is the ordinary jail routine for the 
"C Class" prisoners: They sleep in barracks -cells 
being given only as a punishment- and get up about 
5 o'clock. At 6, if the convict warders who are inside 
the barracks, report that all the prisoners are 
safely present, the doors are unlocked, and they are 
given "chanas" (a form of roasted oats, good for 
horses, but difficult to digest), and then work from 
seven to eleven. At eleven they get six rotis (a form 
of unleavened bread about the size of a tea plate, and 
the thickness of an ordinary slice of bread and butter) 
and dhal (a sort of pea soup). They work again until 
4.30, when they are given six rotis and katia (boiled 
cabbage leaves) and salt. Between 5.30 and 6 they 
are locked in their barracks. The clothes include football 
shorts, shirts with sleeves to the elbows, a suspensory 
bandage, and in winter a sort of frieze coat, 
and also they are compelled to wear a sort of small 
"Gandhi cap." The "C Class" prisoners may have an 
interview once in three months, and may send and 
receive letters at the same intervals. No books are 
allowed them except on Sundays, when they may get 
copies of the Bible, Gita, or Koran from the jail 
library. They are forced to have their heads shaved, 
and even the length of the Moslem beards is regulated 
as is also the case with the Hindu chutias. In summer 
they are given a blanket and a straw mat for 
the night, and in winter two blankets. The beds are 
6 feet by 2 feet and made of concrete, a foot above 
the floor level. No pillow is provided.

The "B Class" prisoners are in every way better 
off. They can have their hair cut as they like, they 
can have vegetarian or non-vegetarian food, they are 
provided with two pairs of cotton trousers, two shirts 
and two jackets, and the work is much lighter. They 
may receive interviews once a month, and letters in 
the same time. The system of classification is incidentally 
that there are two categories of prisoners 
under trial: the superior and the ordinary. All the 
Lahore Case were put in the special class, and were 
allowed to do very much what they liked in jail, such 
as playing games like hockey, tennis, etc. After a 
prisoner has been convicted he may be put in either 
"A, B or C class" as the convicting officer may direct. 
This has to be confirmed by the Home Member of 

MARCH-APRIL, 1933.  INDIA BULLETIN 7

TREATMENT OF POLITICAL PRISONERS.

There are continuous and increasingly serious reports 
in all the Indian papers, that prisoners in detention 
camps and prisons are going on hunger-strike. 
News is almost impossible to obtain, but from the 
statements of released prisoners, conditions are appalling 
and steadily growing worse.
"Trouble is reported in Bijnor Jail. . . It appears 
that jail authorities awarded corporal punishment 
to some of the political prisoners, who subsequently 
had to be removed to hospital for treatment. Thereupon, 
other politicals went on hunger-strike as a 
protest." ("Hindusthan Times," Delhi, Jan. 18th, 
1933.)
Some civil disobedience prisoners were released from 
Cannanore Jail on January 14th. "They stated that 
the condition of political prisoners was steadily growing 
worse. On January 12th, P. V. Gupta, of Bezwada, 
P. K. Nair and N. Padmanabhan, of Guntur 
District, were flogged in the second backyard at about 
6.30 p.m. after lock-up. Politicals were not provided 
with water sufficient even to clean their hands and 
plates. The state of lady prisoners in this matter 
was worse." ("The Hindu," Madras, January 16th, 
1932.)
Mr K. M. Nair, Advocate of Madras, has issued a 
public statement in which he says: "Mr. P. K. Nair, 
one of the sincerest Congress workers, known as a 
staunch advocate and observer of jail rules, began a 
hunger strike with some others on December 11th, by 
way of protest of the treatment of political prisoners 
in the jail, especially beating. His hunger strike 
continued until December 20th, when an assurance 
was given him that the diet would be improved and 
such treatment of prisoners refrained from. A 
prisoner was punished for refusing to undergo the 
ordeal of a clean shave and hair cut. The quantity of 
noon meal was reduced from 9 ozs. to 7 ozs. Mr. 
Kesavan Nair resumed his fast on January 4th. His 
condition is very critical."
Woman Prisoners' Night Journeys. - The Welfare of 
India League has drawn official attention to the inconvenience 
felt by women political prisoners compelled 
to undertake night journeys on transfer from one jail 
to another in company with male warders drawn from 
the lowest classes, who insist on travelling in the 
same compartments, leaving no privacy for them. It 
is well known that these men are not given to the 
use of polite language, and it is suggested that at 
least one wardress should accompany each transfer 
party. 
A Law for Whipping. - Bombay Government are to 
introduce a Bill, called the Bombay Whipping Act of 
1933. This is ostensibly for the purpose of enabling 
the authorities to deal with persons guilty of rioting. 
Peaceful picketers of cloth and toddy shops may be 
charged with rioting. This new law may, therefore, 
be used against them. Corporal punishment sears the 
[?????] on the body, but

BRITISH RULE IN INDIA CRITICISED

MISS E. WILKINSON ASKS FOR AGREEMENT 
WITH GANDHI.

FLOGGING AS A PUNISHMENT FOR 
RIOTING.

Miss Ellen Wilkinson, in an address on her visit 
to India, at a meeting under the auspices of the Birmingham 
and District Council for Indian Freedom 
at Digbeth Institute recently, declared that the 
attitude of will-disposed people in England who were 
inclined to look on the people of India and their 
wrongs as though those people were children was 
almost more dangerous than that of the Anglo-Indian 
colonel. When she remembered men of the courage 
and moral intellectual standard that modern India was 
producing she felt she ought to send them an apology. 
Congress she described as the biggest propaganda 
machine in the world outside Russia, and as a tremendous 
cultural effort which had drawn into unity 
people of different creeds and language by the ideal 
of India as a nation. The big difference Congress had 
made had been to make the Indians realise they could 
stand up to the British and that if they stood together 
they could run their own country. India was a land 
of villages; what was needed above all was village 
work and leadership, and she declared that the 
"drive" against reconstructive work in the villages 
was more dreadful than putting into prison Congress 
volunteers. Miss Wilkinson said she managed to get 
into eight gaols. Some she found were good and 
some were just hell. The Meerut prisoners were in 
gaol largely because they did not think it right coolies 
should work for two or four annas a day, and tried 
to organise them into a trade union. Neither Indian 
nor British capitalists were going to have a trade 
union in India if they could help it. Of Gandhi she 
said the thing to remember was that he represented 
to hundreds of millions of poor people in India someone 
who understood and was fighting for them. "We 
know something about dress-shirt leadership in this 
country," she said. "Well, it is loin-cloth leadership 
in India."

A resolution was adopted demanding the release of 
all political prisoners in India and the quashing of the 
"monstrous sentences passed on the Meerut and other 
prisoners, and also demanding that steps should be 
taken to establish full self-government in India on a 
democratic basis." - From the Birmingham Post, Feb. 
13th, 1933.

'THE NEW WORLD'8 INDIA BULLETIN MARCH-APRIL, 1933

NEWS AND NOTES.

Loyalty Competition.
Government have banned politics for students in
India, yet Delhi Government is using a novel form
of political propaganda in the shape of a "Loyalty
Competition" essay, arguing that "Civil Disobedience
is detrimental to the best interests of the country."
Equality of Treatmnt!
The letter postage from England to India is at the
rate of 1 1/2d. for the first oz., but from India to England,
the minimum of 2 1/2d.!!
More Traditions.
The cost of the British Army in India is charged
to the Indian nation. Not content with this, the pay
of every soldier is reckoned in rupees at the rate of
1 rupee (equals 1s. 4d.), instead of the rate standardised
by the British Government, viz., 1 rupee=1/6.
This is a gain to the soldier of 1 1/2d. in every shilling,
and costs the Indian people an extra £4,500,000 per
year.
In reply to a question in the Assembly it was
officially stated that this is done to maintain the
tradition that the British soldier in India shall receive
an anna for each penny of his pay.
India in World Economy.
Mr. C. S. Rangaswami, editor of "Indian Finance,"
made the following statement at the Institute of Indian
Economics: "If the Indian people wore two 
yards more cloth per head per year, or consumed one
more teaspoonful of sugar per head every day, there
would be an end of economic depression, not only in
India but all over the world. "If" is a big word. If
Indian people had the money, they would consume
far more food than one extra spoonful of sugar per
day without growing over-weight.
The Indian people are not starving voluntarily.

FRIENDS OF INDIA WOMEN'S COUNCIL.
The FRIENDS OF INDIA have recently formed a
Women's Council. Speakers attending meetings of
Women's Co-operative Guilds and Women's Sections
of the Labour Party have met with much sympathy 
and intelligent interest, and it has long been felt that
we were not using this potential help as we might do.
There appear to be many women who are really interested
in the problem of India who are not always
able to attend big central meetings, but who might
have much influence in their own localities. Friends
can become members of this Council either as individuals
or as delegates representing some society.
Two meetings have already been held in Lambeth,
and two more are now being arranged. By the kind
invitations of the Brixton Women's Co-operative Guild
we are to hold a meeting in Brixton on May 4th. Miss
Monica Whately has kindly consented to speak on
this occasion. Miss Whately was one of the Delegation
sent out just recently by the India League to
investigate the state of affairs in India. Miss Whately
will therefore speak from first-hand knowledge and
as an eye-witness of the existing conditions in India.
This should prove an instructive as well as a most interesting
meeting, offering a unique opportunity for
people who are not able to attend central meetings.
Our second meeting will be held on May 31st by the
kind invitation of the Women's Section of the Finsbury
Labour Party, and it will be addressed by an
Indian lady, Miss David. Full particulars will be in
the May BULLETIN. At all our meetings we try to
have a very informal and friendly discussion, and
answer all questions and give to the public the real
Indian point of view. All women are welcome, and
we should be grateful if sympathisers would do their
best to make those meetings known.

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS.
May 4th, at 2.45 p.m., at Brixton Co-operative
Guild Meeting, held at (above) Brixton Co-operative
Stores, Acre Lane (next Town Hall). Speaker: Miss
Monica Whately.
May 31st, at 2.45. Finsbury Labour Party
Women's Section. Meeting held at "Peel," 65, St.
John Street, Smithfield. Speaker: Miss David.

THE ANTI-UNTOUCHABILITY CAMPAIGN.

My Soul's Agony, by Mahatma Gandhi. Price
1s., including postage.
Harijan, Annual Subscription 8s.
The Impending Fast, by C. Rajagopalachari. Price
2d., including postage.
All three published by "The Servants of the Untouchable 
Society."

Three important publications have just come from
India dealing with the anti-untouchable movement.
One is in the nature of a weekly newspaper called the
Harijan, issued under the auspices of "The Servants
of the Untouchables Society," which deals with day-
to-day activities of this intensive campaign. Two issues
are to hand, both containing besides many interesting
details of the Movement, illuminating articles by the
Mahatma. The other publications are booklets, one
entitled The Impending Fast, and the other My Soul's 
Agony. This latter is a compilation of all the
Mahatma's letters issued from jail dealing with every
aspect of the Movement and every criticism. All who
would understand the difficult nature of the work or
who are still in doubt as to the meaning of the letters herein
have appeared in the Indian Press, but the overwhelming
mass of conflicting views in the newspapers
leave the ordinary Western reader completely confused,
but here in their proper sequence they assume
their true aspect of an ordered and careful treatment
of all criticism and opposing views. The subjects
which are dealt with range from the mystic devotion
of the saint to the practical and scientific methods of
scavenging. Within these booklets are the answers
very simply stated to the criticism of the Fast which
centres round the words "Coercion" and "Suicide."

Space does not permit, at the moment, the detailed
treatment which the subject requires, but all those
who are interested and wish to understand this great
Movement should make a point of reading these pamphlets
for themselves.

One cannot mention this subject without referring
to the fact that this great moral revolution - this
spiritual upheaval of masses of people should be in
process of development in India and pass almost unheeded
here. It cannot be that religious bodies here
have no sympathy or no concern in the great movements
which are making history in our own time!

The Mahatma emphasises in one paragraph the fact
that his campaign "is one against untouchability as
it is practised to-day in Hinduism and not untouchability
which is in some shape or form common to
mankind," and yet he will not surprised if looking
through Western eyes from his diagnosis of the disease
in Hinduism to the diseased core in the disintegrating
civilisation here, we are struck by a terrible resemblance
and by our own blindness to the same! E. H.

RETURN TO SIMPLE LIFE.

Mahatma Gandhi's policy, which Sir Alfred Watson
believes would spell retrogression of the worst
kind, has found support from an unexpected quarter.
The "Daily Gazette," an Anglo-Indian paper, writes:
"On this side of India- the life of the villages and the
fields- than are those who live an imitation European
life in the imitation European city of Calcutta. . .
Indeed, we think that much of Mr. Gandhi's policy
is very sound for present-day India. . . A return
to the simple life, even an excessively simple life, is
no evil when life has become so complicated that
one cannot obtain sufficient food to eat nor clothes
to wear. And how the doing so would result in a
rapid reduction of the population by one-half by
starvation and pestilence, as Sir Alfred Watson says
Mr. Gandhi's policy would do, we have no idea. We
do know, on the contrary, that his policy has resuscitated
many village industries in Sind and has saved
thousands from starvation."

Published by Friends of India, (Room 22), 46, Lancaster Gate, London, W.2., and printed by Printicity Ltd. (T.U.)
43, Kirby Street, Hatton Garden, E.C.1.


INTERNAL INDIA AGREEMENT
Published Monthly.
INDIA BULLETIN
ORGAN OF THE FRIENDS OF INDIA.
President: Laurence Housman.
Vol. 1. No. 12. JANUARY, 1933. One Penny

INDEX.
    Page
Treatment of Political Prisoners in the Masik Jail  1
Ordinance Rule in the Surat District 2
Punitive Tax on Hindus 2
A Campaign in North Wales. By Haidri Bhuttacharji 3
A "Gandhian Meeting" in Berlin 3
Hindu-Moslem Unity. By Atma S. Kamlani 4
Summary of the Agreement arrived at by the Committee
of the Unity Conference 5
Indian Labour 6
Temple Entry Legislation 6
The Lawless Regime 7
The Dynamic Force of Congress 7
Provincial Support for India 8
Friends of India Notes 8
Book Reviews 8

TREATMENT OF POLITICAL
PRISONERS IN THE NASIK JAIL.

[On previous occasions we have referred to the cruel treatment
of political prisoners in Indian jails. Below we publish
an account which is as well authenticated as a document of
this nature can be. Usually the culprit officials go scot free
because it is difficult to bring evidence against them. In this
case the scandal has caused a Government inquiry. The
"Bombay Chronicle" of November 22nd reports that Mr.
Testreatfield, Assistant Collector, Surat District, has been
placed on special duty by the Bombay Government to record
the evidence in connection with the alleged assault on a
political prisoner by the jailer, deputy jailer and superintendent
of Nasik jail. ED. IND. BUL.]
Some of the specific instances of the treatment of
"C" class prisoners in the Nasik Jail given below
tell their own tale. These instances have been narrated
as they have happened in jail, with exact dates,
names of the persons involved, and actual terms of
punishments awarded to different prisoners.
The first victims were 200 prisoners who were
transferred from Sabarmati Jail and brought to Nasik
on June 28th. They were ushered into their respective
barracks at the point of the warders' batons. Some
prisoners were beaten on the on the slightest of mistakes, in
walking, in step at the time of parade or standing in
order. When some of these protested against the
treatment and expressed their intention to place their
grievances before the superintendent, they were more
severely punished and were charged for misbehaviour
and put into separate cells.
Mr. Raghuram, Mr. Chandulal, Mr. Purshottam
and three others were assaulted by warders, and all
of them remonstrated against beating of these three.
Raghuram fell down, being pushed, and as a protest
refused to move to a separate cell, but was dragged
forcibly and placed in a separate cell. No appeal was
heard and they were given cross fetters and separate
confinement for a month. One Mr. Purshottam, a
prisoner aged 50 years, suffered so severely from the
beating that he had to be removed to the hospital
where he was detained for about twenty-two days.
July 3rd was a Sunday which is a non-working day,
but some of the prisoners were ordered to go on work
on that day, and on their refusal to do so, seven of
them were picked out and assaulted. They were also
given panel diet and separate cell for four days.
Mr. Kakubhai and Mr. Zanubhai, who wanted to
complain to the Superintendent, were sentenced to
undergo imprisonment for one month and three
months respectively with iron fetters.
Similarly, Mr. Chotalal Purani, a well-known
worker of Broach and an M.A. of the Bombay University,
who was looking on when an assault was
made on one Amratlal, a "C" class prisoner, for a
flimsy cause on the water tap, was also, on the pretext 
of intervention, victimised and put in a separate cell
and Amratlal punished with cross fetters, for a
month.
Immediately the news spread among other "C"
class prisoners, and about 100 prisoners decided to go
on hunger strike on this occasion.
On another occasion, the Deputy Jailer, Mr. Jaywant,
ordered some prisoners to work in the blazing
heat of the summer sun, and instructed the warders
not to give them water. This was done.
On July 29th one Ramji Lowji, a "C" class
prisoner, took some time to wash his face, and for this
offence he was given handcuffs for four days.
Likewise one Mr. Amritlal could not get up in
time because his feet were creased in cross fetters
and he was further punished with standing handcuffs
for six hours. (This torture consists of making a
prisoner stand erect against a wall, while the hands
are taken as far above the head as possible and held
in wrist cuffs which are fastened to a ring in the
wall. The legs are similarly encased in straight bar
fetters while the feet are kept stretched apart by
means of cross-bars.)
On August 8th there came a new batch of "C"
class prisoners from Thana Jail, among whom was
Swami Anand, personal secretary of Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel. He kept his eyeglasses with him, whereupon
he was slapped by the warder, but the most
humiliating and perhaps the most shameful treatment
accorded to these prisoners was their medical examination,
when the prisoners have to strip naked, protests
proving altogether unavailing.
When the woes of the prisoners became altogether
too unbearable, one Mr. Choskey represented the
prisoners' case before the Jailer and requested him to
set things right, but the Jailer arrogantly replied,
"You have come here to suffer, now why do you complain?
Don't you see? The only  way to prevent you
people from filling the jails is to harass you more and
more. In what respect are you better than ordinary
criminals? They are also 'C' class prisoners. You
need not plead for others but plead for yourself
alone!"
The Deputy Jailer once sentenced a prisoner,
Dahibhate, to a dark cell until his release, which
meant a period of eight months, although he has no
authority to award such punishment. The order was
shown to the Superintendent the following Monday.
He said: "Oh, Mr. Jaywant has made a mistake,"
and changed the order to "until further notice" at the
time of signing it.
Deputy Jailer Mr. Jaywant sometimes actually incited
the warders to be brutal towards political
prisoners, saying that they should not be afraid; the
Congress was crushed, the Councils were not going
to hear the prisoners' complaints, and the Inspector-
General had even sanctioned the use of flogging.
The situation became so unbearable that about 225
"C" class prisoners declared a hunger strike on
August 31st. The Deputy Jailer came for inquiry
and gave instructions: "Never mind, take work from2 INDIA BULLETIN JANUARY

them strictly." The Jailer came in the noon and
picked out about 20 prisoners and sent them to closed
cells.
Mrs. Margaret E. Cousins made the following statement
on the condition of political prisoners in
November last:
"Mrs. Cousins then related her impressions of the
life led by some of the Indian political leaders inside
the jails. She had visited the prisons in Karachi,
Yerrawada and Belgaum, and she said she was 
convinced as a result that the policy of the Government
in regard to the Civil Disobedience Movement had
not been limited to justice and the true ethics of law
and order, but was one of downright suppression of
all political aspirations.
"The unbelievable hardships inflicted on men and
women of a good standard of living and high intelligence
by 'C' class treatment and even 'B' class treatment
are calculated to break their morale, their
health and their spirit. She said that when she saw
Mrs. Kamaladevi Chatopadyaya in the Belgaum Jail
the latter was but a shadow of her former self. She
had lost 33 lbs. in weight and looked pale and frail.
From the very beginning her system had refused to
digest the type of food which alone was available to
'B' class prisoners, of whom she was one. it was only
by a special order of the surgeon that she was being
allowed some fruits. The diet allowed to the 'B' and
'C' class prisoners was not consistent with psychological,
human or even hygienic principles of treatment.
That this same kind of food should be forced
on thousands of men and women of utterly different
calibre and accustomed to varying standards of life
was not justifiable. The dietary had to be revised,
and while both quality and quantity must improve,
some fruits and buttermilk were necessities which
must be included therein."
The Hindu, November 29th, 1932.

ORDINANCE RULE IN THE SURAT
DISTRICT.
The following reports received by us will service to
convey an idea of how the Surat District is being
"kept quiet" under the Ordinance regimé:

(I.)

Nagindas Tamakuwala had a photo of Gandhiji on
his shop board. The police came and ordered him to
remove the photo. He wired the Home Member complaining
that the police were harassing him for keeping
Mahatmaji's photo and invoking help. In the
meantime he was arrested under the Ordinance and
released on parole after 15 days. He decided to obey
the parole order. Defeated in their purpose, the
police after some time charged him under Section
17-2 and for preaching Swadeshi (Buy Indian) in his
shop. So he was sentenced to two years and a fine
of Rs. 500. He appealed for bail. The bail was refused.
In the appeal he was acquitted and the fine
was refunded. As soon as he came home he was again
called by the police at Furza. He ran away and took
refuge for a month in an Indian State territory. On
his return he was again arrested under the Ordinance
and released on parole. To-day he fulfills parole.
- November 26th, 1932.

(II.)
FACTORY REGULATION BY ORDINANCES.
The managers of the Surat Swadeshi Mills Co. and
Surat Cotton Mills Co., Ltd., were called at Furja
on September 19th, 1932, by Mr. Antia, Deputy
Superintendent of Police. They were asked whether
their mills would work on the 20th or not. They replied
that the mills would be closed on the 20th and
notices to that effect have been given. The 20th
September was to be observed as a day of fasting and
prayer all over India to mark the opening of Gandhiji's
"Fast unto death." Mr. Antia said, "If you
close the mills on 20th you will be hauled up under
the Ordinance." So the manager of the Swadeshi
mills agreed to work the mills, but Maganlal, the
manager of the Surat Cotton Mills said that as he had
received an order from his millowner that the mill
was to be closed on the 20th he could not work the
mills on that day. Mr. Antia thereupon told him
that he could take away the mill to Ahmedabad if
he liked but so long as the mill was there he would
have to act according to the orders. But Mr. Maganlal
remained firm. So the following order was served
on him on the night of the 19th through the Sub-
Inspector of Police.
"Order under Section 4 (1) of Ordinance of 1932:
"To Maganlal Jethabhai,
"Manager of the Surat Cotton Mills, Begampara,
Surat.
"Whereas I, T. T. Kothawala, Esq., M.A., District
Magistrate, Surat, am satisfied that there are
reasonable grounds for believing that you, Maganlal
Jethabhai, have acted and are about to act in a
manner prejudicial to the public safety and peace
and in furtherance of a movement prejudicial to
the public safety and peace.
"Now therefore in exercise of the powers conferred
on me under Section 22 (1) of the ordinance
10 of 1932, I do hereby direct:
"1. That you shall refrain from closing the Surat
Cotton Mills on September 9th, 1932, and to inform
the workmen in the mills that it will be kept
open on the day.
"2. That you shall refrain from issuing any
orders regarding the closing of the mill and shall
rescind any order already issued by you as to the
closing of the mill on the 20th.
"3. That you shall inform the workers that any
deliberate absentee will have their names and address
given to the Police."
(Signed) T. T. KOTHAWALA,
District Magistrate.
Surat,
19th September, 1932.

PUNITIVE TAX ON HINDUS.
The Government of Bengal, having quartered additional
police in Midnapore, have levied a punitive
tax on Hindus only, within the municipality,
exempting those classes or persons in the community
in regard to whom "it was prima facie reasonable to
assume that they had done what they could to
counteract the disturbing influence that had been prevalent."
The disturbed and dangerous state is a reference
to the terrorist activities. Hindus have been
selected because "it was generally members of that
community who had been concerned in these
activities." The method of adding police forces for
military battalions, which also the Government have
added to Bengal, does not seem to us a proper way
of attacking the terrorist evil. This would be appropriate
where the place concerned is in a state of
open rebellion requiring the use of force. Very few
of the Hindus who will be penalised now may be said
to know more about the conspirators than the non-
Hindus who have been exempted from the tax. It is
in human nature that it is difficult to convince even
the guilty party of his guilt. To hold innocent
people, as most of the Hindus must be presumed to
be, responsible for the guilt of some, is to create a
sense of injustice which cannot be easily forgotten,
especially in pursuit of a method which cannot be
regarded as well calculated to bring the culprits to
light. What makes it more unwise is that discrimination 
of this sort should be resorted to when communal
tension is at its height. - The Guardian, Madras.


JANUARY INDIA BULLETIN 3

A CAMPAIGN IN NORTH WALES.
By HAIDRI BHUTTACHARJI.

From the 21st to 26th of last November, meetings
were arranged for me to speak on India by Mrs.
Elizabeth Andrews, Organiser for the Women's
Labour Sections of Wales. In September I visited
South Wales for a similar purpose. Many were
public meetings.
There was not only interest in the Indian situation
but also a deep understanding which I attributed
largely to the effect of the wide unemployment which
exists in Wales, especially in South Wales, formerly
the largest coal exporting area of the world.
The fact that Indian women have for many years
been employed in underground work in the coal
mines caused a good deal of surprise. From July 1st,
1929, to July 1st, 1939, women employed will be
reduced 3 per cent. and 4 per cent. each year in coal
and salt mines respectively.
Boys of five years of age were employed in many
areas for 10 to 12 hours a day without rest days from
two annas (2d.) a day.
I gave at most meetings a survey of the Indian
Movement and explained how the urge of poverty
was its chief force according to my observations when
in India.
There are thousands of Indian villages where
people live on only one meal a day and where for
the greater part of the year they were unemployed.
The British had destroyed the old system of committees and
managed their own concerns, even choosing their
own policemen. Their arts and crafts, which had
been carried on for centuries, had been shattered. In
order to exist there had been an exodus to the towns
where factories had been set up under sweated labour
conditions. Being illiterate country peasants, they
were easy victims to conditions of bribery and corruption
in the crowded industrial areas of the big
towns.
In urban districts whole families lived in a single
small room without windows, the only ventilation
being a doorway which afforded no privacy.
The houses were situated in narrow lanes, with
decayed vegetables, refuses and pools of sewage.
Disease and high mortality resulted from such a
vitiated atmosphere.
In Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and other towns 97
per cent. live under such conditions with six to nine
people in one room.
Questions were asked about the high rate of interest
charged by moneylenders. The workers have no 
security to offer, so the moneylender can make his
own terms and interest of from 75 to over 150 per
cent. was charged. Many people get into the clutches
of moneylenders for years by contracting their labour.
Drinking of intoxicating liquor is against Indian
religious belief, and so the responsibility of this evil
is due to Imperialism and Capitalism working hand
in hand. As large revenues are gained from the sales
of drugs and intoxicating liquors one could not expect
those who have exploited the illiterate masses
to exert themselves on behalf of these helpless people.
One could just as well expect a publican to stand
outside his shop and shout total prohibition.
The people of India must be educated so that they
may be able to compare their conditions with the
progress of the masses of other nations. It could be
done rapidly by means of the cinematograph.
In Baroda, an Indian State where education has
long been far in advance of British India, twenty
years ago there were library schools travelling by
bullock wagons to the widely separated villages,
proving that where there is a will there is a way.
Education is advanced and highly valued in Wales.
The cuts in education will affect the Welsh
people. As early as 1760 there were "circular charity 
schools" visiting remote villages where within a short
period a third of the population learned to read in
their own language. Before the exodus and the
densely populated towns many industries were
carried on in the Welsh villages which supplemented
the earnings from agriculture. There is now practically
no alternative occupation when the mines are 
closed.
In these days the gulf which formerly separated
nations no longer exists. The world economic crisis
can only be solved when it is realised that sweated
labour in the East spells unemployment in the West.

A "GHANDHIAN MEETING" IN BERLIN.

An interesting meeting, arranged by the Berlin
Branch of the "Women's League for Peace and Freedom,"
was held in Berlin on December 12th. The
meeting was addressed by Mr. Hector Walter Mann,
an English Liberal Catholic Priest, and Mr. Acharya,
after which the meeting was left open for discussion
of the points made by the speakers.
Mr. Mann, in a stimulating talk, outlined the work
of the Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj and Vivekananda,
beside the valuable efforts of Dr. Annie Besant for the
spiritual and educational uplift of India. In conclusion,
he touched on Anglo-Indian relationships
and left the question open for discussion.
Mr. Acharya stressed the importance for Europe of
the struggle between Pacifism and Violence. European
conceptions of Pacifism are remote from the
actual truth- anyone in Europe may make his arguments
for Pacifism by the use of arms, but Gandhi
insisted that non-violent means and the use of love
are the only real methods of gaining true peace. He
gave official quotations showing that there are over
2,000 women and 2,000 children in prison, and that
although 80,000 persons had been sentenced, at least
ten times that number had been arrested. Even
children were beaten and caned, but repressive measures
such as these were not sufficient to deter the
people in their patient fight, since an endless stream
of fresh volunteers came forward for duties which
were almost certain to lead to imprisonment and ill-
treatment at the hands of the police.
The movement is essentially a social reformation
movement, and is not directed solely against England
although there is a danger that the Indian people
may be driven to become anti-English by continued
persecution. Gandhi started the Non-Violent Movement
with 64 men, to direct the energies of Nationalist
workers into constructive peaceful channels.
Law-breaking has become a fashion and almost a
religion, although the people break the laws in a
cheerful manner, calling their friends together and
proceeding with music and dancing to graze their
cattle and cut wood without paying Government for
permission, or to openly read prohibited Congress
news in the streets while the police look on until
orders are given for arrests to be made. Even young
children repeatedly go about in the early morning
singing National songs which are prohibited as
"revolutionary," though they are often beaten or
even sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
The sergeant who was ordered to arrest Gandhi
confessed that he was at a loss to know what to do
with "these harmless, innocent and unarmed people"!
Gandhi, by abolishing the use of arms, has made
every man of his own general. If this movement
succeeds, we may be sure that these men and women
will make every violent form of Government impossible,
and in this connection it was interesting to
see that an American writer described it as a substitute
for war.
Many interesting questions were asked, and in conclusion
the Chairman said that it was an important
evening for the League, especially as there was for
the first time for a long while, no row between Communists
and non-Communists!4 INDIA BULLETIN JANUARY

INDIA BULLETIN
(Organ of the Friends of India)
46, Lancaster Gate (Room 22), London, W.2.
Telephone: Paddington 6956.
President: LAURENCE HOUSMAN.
Editorial Board:
Will Hayes; Atma S. Kamlani
Issued Monthly Price 1d.
Vol. 1 No. 12 January, 1933

HINDU-MOSLEM UNITY.
By ATMA S. KAMLANI.

The Unity Conference which met at Allahabad last
November has brought forth an agreement which is
very promising as a basis of communal settlement.
On another page we have summarised the main conclusions 
of the Conference. A larger section of Moslems,
Hindus, Sikhs, and a number of Indian Christians
have agreed to this settlement. An All-Parties
Conference will consider these decisions, and it is
hoped that an agreed solution of the Communal question
will be reached.
The only notice which the British Press has given
to this Conference is in trying to belittle its achievement.
These reports do not make one feel that
Britishers are anxious for Communal unity to be
reached in India. The newspaper correspondents
happily cannot undo the great events of history, and
the solid achievement of the Conference will
gradually become better known in this country.
A certain influential section of the British Press has
always given a melodramatic touch to the Indian
Communal question. Hindus and Moslems are made
out to be two warring sections longing to get at each
other's throats, but kept apart by the benevolent
Britisher. This picture is far removed from the
realities. The mild character of the Indian, in fact,
has enabled this country to impose its rule for 150
years. The non-violent movement to throw off that
yoke gives an insight into Indian ideals which do not
incline to the blood-thirsty type witnessed during the
War.
The actual differences of the Communities are on
the constitutional issue. The minorities want
sufficient number of seats in various Legislatures to
protect their rights. Attempts have been made to
reach an agreed solution but they have been frustrated
in the past by British interference. The
Imperialists sponsored the idea of separate electorates
which divide the communities politically in watertight 
compartments. The Nationalist Moslems and
Hindus have never considered this division satisfactory
and have always pressed for joint electorates.
At the first Round Table Conference an agreement on
the allocation of seats in different Legislatures was
nearly reached on the basis of separate electorates.
In eight Provinces out of nine the division of seats
was agreed upon. In the Punjab the Sikhs held out 
for one more seat, and final agreement was postponed
to give a chance to Congress to participate in
the solution because no agreement could be final
until Congress had endorsed it.
A different stage was set for the second Round
Table Conference. British Imperialists wanted to
show to the world that Indians could not agree, and
Britain held the balance even. Various influences
were brought to bear upon the unrepresentative delegates,
culminating in the Minorities Pact, which was
based upon the principle of each minority community
taking what it wanted at the cost of Hindus. With
profuse apologies, the Prime Minister's Award was
brought in later to settle the conflicting claims. Those
who have studied the mind of Imperialists know that
this was the one thing being aimed at since the
second Round Table Conference began, and British
statesmen achieved their hearts' desire in settling
India's problems.
The Prime Minister's Award, however, satisfied
neither Hindus nor Sikhs, nor indeed Nationalist
Moslems and was half-heartedly accepted by the
Communalists among them as being the best
bargain they could get. The strong opposition
which the Award has aroused has already foredoomed
it to failure as a lasting settlement. Various attempts
were started to come to an agreed solution making
the Award unnecessary. Mahatma Gandhi's fast and
an agreed solution over the Depressed Class representation
stimulated the efforts for general unity, and
a Moslem Conference at Lucknow last October defining
the minimum demands of that community led
to the Unity Conference at Allahabad in November,
where Moslem demands were practically accepted.
Briefly, Hindus have accepted all the demands of
Moslems regarding reservation of seats and representation
of the community in the various Legislatures.
Moslems have agreed to a formula of joint electorates
which will accord with the national aspirations of
India. We hope that Friends of India in this country
and in other lands will receive the Agreement sympathetically.
We are aware that there is a large body
of men of good-will who will rejoice at the prospect
of a United India. Unfortunately these are badly
served by their newspapers. The Press propaganda
against the Allahabad Unity Conference has confirmed
our belief that an influential section of people
in this country is trying its best to thwart communal
unity in India.

AN APPRECIATION.

To the Editor,
INDIA BULLETIN.
May I thank you for the help your journal has
given me towards understanding the true state of
affairs in India? I notice in your pages many expressions
of admiration for Mahatma Gandhi's efforts,
sent by religious correspondents. Perhaps you may
be willing to add to them (as showing how widespread
is the respect for his work) a word of sympathy
from one who is a rationalist and Freethinker,
and whose only religion is the humanitarian faith in
gentleness and the sense of kinship as the one possible
salvation for the world.
I had the honour last year of meeting Mr. Gandhi
on a vegetarian platform in London, and I was much
impressed by the wisdom and sound sense of all that
was said by him. If his English critics had half his
practical kindness, I believe that life, in the West as
well as the East, would soon be far happier than it
now is.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) HENRY S. SALT.
[Mr. Henry S. Salt is the octogenarian vegetarian
whose book, Plea for Vegetarianism, first made
Mahatma Gandhi "vegetarian by choice" in his early
student days in London.-ED., Ind. Bul.]

(Continued from page 5, col. 2.)
on the basis of merit alone; 40 per cent. being reserved
for redressing communal inequalities. There
shall be joint electorates for local and other statutory
bodies.

13. North-West Frontier Province.
The North-West Frontier Province shall have the
same form of government and administration as the
other Provinces.

14. Baluchistan.
The Conference is of opinion that the benefits of a
regular constitutional system of administration should
be extended to Baluchistan and the method of
achieving the object would be considered hereafter.

15. All Parts Interdependent.
It is agreed that the various parts of this settlement
are interconnected, and the entire settlement
shall be regarded as one indivisible entity and shall
be given effect to as a whole.

JANUARY INDIA BULLETIN 5

SUMMARY OF THE AGREEMENT ARRIVED AT BY THE COMMITTEE
OF THE UNITY CONFERENCE.

ALLAHABAD, November, 18th, 1932.

1. National Government.
This conference is emphatically of opinion that a
Government at the Centre fully responsible to the
people and possessing the full rights of a National
Government will alone satisfy the needs of India and
ensure the welfare of her people.
The Conference therefore demands that control
over the Government of India should be transferred
to the Indian people, with only such safeguards, for
a short period fixed by statute, as may be shown to
be demonstrably necessary in the interests of India.

2. Protection of Religion, Culture and Personal
Laws.
(i.) The articles in the constitution relating to Fundamental
Rights shall include a guarantee to the
communities concerned of the protection of their culture,
language, scripts, education, profession and
practice of religion and religious endowments.
(ii.) Personal laws shall be protected by specific
provisions to be embodied in the Constitution.
(iii.) The personal laws of a community shall not
be modified except through its representatives in the
legislature or otherwise and with the support of the
public opinion of the community concerned.
(iv.) No change shall be made in the personal laws
of the Mussalmans as it is in force in British India
except in accordance with Islamic principles.
(v.) If a bill is passed by the Legislature to which
two-thirds of the members of a community object that
it contravenes their religion or social practice based
on religion, power is given to the Governor-General
or the Governor to suspend the measure for a year
and on further consideration by the Legislature to
withhold or give his assent, further the validity of the
bill may be challenged in the Supreme Court.

3. Army and the Judiciary.
It is agreed that the Army and the Judiciary all
over India shall be open to all sections of the Indian
people, recruitments to both shall be made on the
basis of merit alone and they shall be kept free from
all communalism, provincialism and party politics.

4. Cabinets.
(i.) In the formation of the Cabinet of the Central
Government, so far as possible members belonging
to the Mussalman, Sikh and other minority communities
of considerable numbers forming the Indian
nation shall be included by convention.
Further, during the first ten years in the formation
of the Central Government a seat shall be offered to
a member of the Sikh community.
(ii.) In the formation of Provincial Governments
the claims of important Indian minorities of the Provinces
for inclusion of their members in the Cabinet
shall be recognised by convention.

5. Services.
 (i.) Appointments shall be made by a non-party
Public service Commission which shall prescribe the
qualifications and which shall have due regard to the
efficiency of Public Service as well as to the principle
of equal opportunity to all communities for a
fair share in the Public Services of the country.

6. Residuary Powers.
The powers exercised by the Provincial Governments
being scheduled exhaustively, the powers so 
scheduled shall not be withdrawn from the Provincial
Governments by the Indian Government. Any subject
not specially mentioned shall belong to the Indian
or the Provincial Government according to the
relevancy and closeness of connection with the subjects
scheduled. The final decision regarding doubts
about subjects not scheduled shall vest in the
Supreme Court.

7. Central Legislature.
It is agreed that in the Central Legislature,
out of the total elected seats allotted to British India
32 per cent. shall be reserved for Muslims and 4 2/3
per cent. or 14 seats out of 300 for Sikhs.

8. Joint Electorates.
It is agreed that all elections shall take place
through Joint Electorates. But for the next ten years
the following method of election, being a modified
form of Maulana Mohammad Ali's formula, shall be 
in force:
Out of the candidates who have secured at least
30 per cent. of the votes polled of their own community,
the candidate who secures the highest number 
of votes polled on the joint electoral roll shall be
declared elected.
In case there is no candidate who has secured 30
per cent. of votes polled of his own community, then
out of the two candidates who secure the highest
number of votes of their own community that candidate
shall be declared elected who secures the
highest number of the total votes polled.
At the end of ten years this rule of 30 per cent.
shall cease automatically. It will be open, however,
to any community in any province to give up this
system in favour of joint electorates pure and simple 
earlier.

9. Weightage for Muslims.
It is agreed that the weightage enjoyed by Muslim
minorities previous to the British Cabinet's decision
shall be maintained for the next ten years.

10. Bengal.
Regarding Bengal, Muslims will get 51 per cent.
of the seats, and Hindus and others included in
general electorate will get 44.7 per cent. including,
in both cases, seats for special constituencies. All reservation
of seats and special constituencies will cease
after ten years. When reservation of seats ceases
there should be adult suffrage.

11. The Punjab.
As regards the Punjab, the following arrangement
shall be in force for ten years only. The Ministry of
the Province shall include at least one Sikh and one
Hindu member. The Ministry shall be jointly responsible
to the Legislature. Any legislative measure
or administrative policy undertaken by the Ministry,
to which objection is taken in the Council by more
than three-fourths of the members belonging to all
the minority communities, shall, if the Ministry accepts
the objection, be withdrawn. If the Ministry does
not, reference shall be made by the Ministry to a
special tribunal appointed by the Central Government,
consisting of three Indian Judges, no two of
whom shall belong to the same community, and one
shall belong to the aggrieved community; their
opinion, which shall be given within a month of reference,
shall decide the question. In case the
Ministry refuses to abide by it, it shall resign. Any
legislative measure of the same character initiated by
non-official members, if objected to as above, shall be
subject to the same procedure.
The safeguard mentioned above shall apply also to
the U.P., Bihar and Orissa, and Bombay.
The seats in the Punjab Legislative Council shall
be reserved as follows: Muslims 51 per cent., Sikhs
20 per cent., Hindus 27 per cent., Indian Christians,
Anglo-Indians and Europeans 2 per cent.

 12. Sind.
As regards Sind, it is to be constituted into a
separate Province. The Ministry will be jointly responsible
to the Legislature and shall include at least
one Hindu member. Measures of the character described
with reference to the Punjab shall be subject
to the procedure outlined there. The Hindus are to
have 37 per cent. of the total seats in the Legislature;
after ten years, if they so desire, reservation
will be on a population basis with a right to contest
further seats. There shall be a Chief Court or High
Court in Sind. In recruitment to the Services, 60
per cent. of the posts shall be filled by competition
(Continued foot page 4, col. 2.)6 INDIA BULLETIN JANUARY

INDIAN LABOUR.
The following is from a speech of Mr. B. Shiva
Rao on "The Future of Indian Labour," delivered
at Madras on December 1st. Mr. Shiva Rao is th
President of the Madras Labour Union and he was one
of the two Trade Union delegates nominated by the
Viceroy at the Second Round Table Conference:
Mr. Shiva Rao next dealt with the political position
of labour in India at the present day which, he said,
was bound up with the future Constitution now under
discussion. The Lothian Committee had recommended
an expansion of the franchise and giving to industrial
labour the same amount of representation as to
capitalists. On the question of joint versus separate
electorates, he personally felt that labour had nothing
to gain from the separate electorates. He believed
that the moment the political problem was solved,
they could settle down to an era when economic questions
could be considered when, according to him,
there was bound to be a grouping of political forces
on an economic basis. He was as keen as anybody
else that India should have the amplest measure of
political liberty but that by itself was not going to
achieve a miracle in the position of working classes.
No matter what the constitution or the franchise was,
the capitalists were bound to win in elections and the
working classes would do well to place their faith
in the strength of their own organisations rather than
in believing that they could achieve any big thing by
obtaining a few seats in the Legislatures for themselves.
Concluding, Mr. Shiva Rao said that there were in
India at the present day, two elements necessary for
a first-class revolution, namely, chronic poverty and
illiteracy. But the great masses of the Indian population,
with all their limitations and illiteracy, possessed
a wonderful sense of discipline, an extraordinary
spirit of self-sacrifice, grit and determination;
and it was because of those qualities that they
had been able to build up even such a movement as
there was at the present day.
At the conclusion of the lecture, Mr. Shiva Rao
answered a few questions put to him. Asked as to
whether it was not possible to organise agricultural
labour in which the majority of the people in India
were engaged, the lecturer said that it was rather a
difficult business inasmuch as agricultural labour was
distributed in a large area and conditions of work
and rates of wages also differed from one place to
another. Even in a small country like England, the
problem of organising agricultural labour, he added,
was found difficult to solve. To another question as
to whether the invention of machinery and consequently
quick methods of production did not produce
unemployment and what remedy was suggested
therefor, the lecturer stated that the only way of preventing
unemployment which would thereby be
created was to introduce shorter hours of work,
longer leave for employees and a scheme of profit-
sharing between the employees and employers.

TEMPLE ENTRY LEGISLATION.
Dr. P. Subbaroyan's Bill for the removal of disabilities
imposed by custom and usage on Depressed
Classes in respect of their entry into Hindu temples
is now under scrutiny by the local Government and
it is understood that without any avoidable delay it
would be forwarded to the Government of India, with
an expression of their opinion for the previous sanction
of H.E. the Governor-General.
The Bill seeks to set at rest doubts entertained as
to whether trustees and others in charge of the
management of such temples have power to any innovation
contrary to established custom of usage of
the temples; to legalise the action of the trustees in
allowing into temples any class of Hindus who might
have been excluded therefrom, if the Hindu community
in the locality is generally minded to allow
such entry; and also to provide local machinery for
the ascertaining of the opinion of the Hindu community
in regard to such entry.

EX-INDIAN ARMY COLONEL'S OPINION.
The following letter was sent by Senator Maurice
Moore to the meeting in support of India, held at
Mansion House, Dublin, last October.
The speeches were splendid and eloquent, and much
appreciated by the audience. Senator Maurice Moore,
an ex-officer (Colonel) of the Indian Army, sent a
message, which is reproduced below:-
To the Chairman, Mansion House Meeting.
Sir,- I regret I am not able to attend the meeting
in the Mansion House which has been called to give
sympathy and help to the Indian people in their
struggle for liberty. It is right that these two peoples,
the Irish and the Indians, who have suffered so much
from the same unjustifiable aggression, and the same
cruel tyranny, should stand together at a moment
when both are assailed, and help each other to effect 
liberation.
If I may be permitted to give advice, gathered
from my Irish and Indian experiences, I would say
to the Indian leaders: Place no trust whatsoever in
promises and soft words. In each country there has
been no promise and no treaty made by English
Ministers in adversity, that has not been broken when
opposition has been withdrawn and a new dominance
secured.
India was the seat of the oldest civilization in
the world. Throughout the ages the people were renowned
as the wealthiest of all those who lived on
earth. When the British crept in two hundred years
ago, as traders asking Indian Kings and Princes for
permission, protection was granted to their trading
stations. No sooner had they established themselves
than they began to intrigue, setting one against another,
and when both were weakened, European military
organisation enabled them to crush both. That
great Irishman, Edmund Burke, described these 
methods:-
"I am prepared to prove that from the Himalayas
to Cape Comorin (that is from North to South)
there was not a single prince, state or potentate,
great or small, who had come in contact with the
English who had not been sold- I say sold, though
sometimes they have not been able to deliver according
to their bargain.
"Not a single treaty which they had made that
they had not broken.
"Not a single Prince or State that had ever put
any trust in them who is not utterly ruined, and
that none are in any degree secure or flourishing,
but in exact proportion to their settled distrust and
irreconcilable enmity to the British Nation."
It is calculated that during the twenty years of
Clive and Warren Hastings a thousand million
pounds, equal to four times that amount now, was
plundered and sent to England. Ever since, India
has changed from being the richest country to the
poorest. A few years ago an Indian worker was paid
six shillings a month, to support himself, wife and 
family. I wonder what an English working man has
to say to that?
Let not the Indian leaders of the present time
imagine that the characters of their rulers have
changed. They will bend and yield and use soft
words and promises when they find the opposition
strong and united, the moment it breaks up through
intrigues and bribery and Round Table Conferences,
the sword will be drawn again, prison and death will
be the lot of the ring-leaders.
Until British soldiers are withdrawn, and your
own Indian Army is trained to defend your liberties,
you are in daily and hourly danger of military
action. That is what we have always found in
Ireland. In 1800 when the Volunteers were disbanded
we lost our liberty, not to be regained till the
Irish Volunteers were re-established in 1914-1921.
A year ago, under the pressure of the Dominions,
an Act called the "Act of Westminster" was passed,
pledging Britain not to interfere in the affairs of any
of them, yet within a year a tariff war has been declared
against the Free State to force a political line
of action on the Irish people. The meeting has our
sympathy.- Yours
(Signed) MAURICE MOORE (Senator).


JANUARY INDIA BULLETIN 7

THE LAWLESS REGIME
A reliable correspondent has sent us the following
estimate of the political situation, dated 5th December,
1932:
"The general situation in the country continues to
be as grim as ever. The anti-untouchability issue is
overshadowing the political fight and claiming a considerable
part of national energy and attention. But
the political struggle is proceeding, nevertheless, and
is likely to go on, maybe with occasional set-backs
and varying fortune, until Gandhiji is satisfied.
Thank God, the lamp of his idealism to-day is keeping
away the dark passions from millions
of anguished hearts, in hundreds of thousands of darkened
hamlets and homes all over the country. But
should that lamp go out, should anything happen to
Gandhiji in jail, the field would be left clear for the
legions of darkness. On the surface the situation
here may all be made to look trim and spruce, but
look a little under the surface. A moderate of
moderates like Mr. J. B. Petit denounces the Ordinance
Bill in the Bombay Legislative Council as 'one
of the most dismal pages in the history of this house,'
and yet it is steam-rolled with a huge majority
secured under the shadow of the Ordinance regime,
after gagging the Press and smothering public
opinion, with the votes of legislators who themselves
cowering for their safety, hardly dared to speak out.
In the Legislative Assembly responsible members are
told that they cannot be permitted to ascertain the
truth about grave happenings reported to have taken
place in a certain jail. In Bengal whole areas and
whole communities are put under conditions which
are worse than martial law. The resulting condition
may be described to a believing public as 'all quiet.'
But that would not alter the fact that England has
not got in India to-day any friends worth the name,
and that the masses here are being kept down only
by the weight of an extraordinary legislation that has
no parallel in the annals of any civilised peace-time
administration. On the physical side Congress is subject
to all the limitations that a physical corporation
is subject to. To check the physical activities of a
people who have adopted non-violence as their creed
is not an impossible task. That is what the Congress
has been prepared for from the very beginning. But
the question is whether the flower of the nation, nay
even the vast bulk of the masses, has been reconciled
to the new regime? And whether the new regime
can hope to go on with all seething discontent and
dissatisfaction underneath, ready to burst forth into
active resistance at the first opportunity?
"Even as I write these lines news has come of 
mass arrests in Ahmedabad, to prepare the way for
the visit of the Governor. After this you will no
doubt be told that the Governor had a 'quiet' reception.
On the 7th the Governor is going to hold a
Darbar in Bardoli. The same story will be repeated
there. Already the whole Taluka is being dragooned
by the police to secure sufficient attendance at that
forthcoming Darbar. The alternative to refusal to
attend is, of course, jail and worse. Later we may
expect to be told that the peasantry of Bardoli is
overflowing with sentiments of loyalty towards the
Governor."
[As anticipated by our correspondent the correspondent of
The Times cabled a eulogistic account of the visit of the Governor
of Bombay in Bardoli, published in The Times of December
8th, 1932. ED. IND. BULL.]

THE DYNAMIC FORCE OF CONGRESS.
FUTILITY OF REPRESSION.

The following is taken from a statement in the
Press, by Chaudhri Chhoturam, Leader of the Council
Rural Unionist Party (having a member of 33 
Moslems and 4 non-Moslems) in the Punjab Legislative
Council:-
"Even before Mr. Gandhi had set his foot on the
soil of India, on his return from England, there were
rumours afloat that the landslide in favour of Conservatives
at the general election would be followed
by a reversal of the policy of conciliation in India.
These forebodings came out to be true, and the
pendulum swung to the other extreme with amazing
swiftness. Mr. Gandhi, who had had, so to speak,
a triumphal march wherever he went and had received
marked honour in every circle, official or non-official
in England, was refused the courtesy of an interview
with His Excellency the Viceroy, and was clapped into
jail, as immediately on the heels of this refusal, the
Congress under the leadership of the Mahatma, made
a declaration in favour of Civil Disobedience.
"The declaration in favour of Civil Disobedience
by the Congress was followed by the promulgation
of a succession of ordinances, each more stringent
than its predecessor. The unexpected swiftness and
thoroughness with which the bureaucracy, made
wiser by its experience of 1930, set the steam-roller
of repression into motion against the brain of the
Congress, seemed to paralyse the movement entirely
for a time. But when the first effects of the stunning
blow were over, the recovery became visible enough,
and though seriously weakened and enfeebled by the
onslaught, the Congress decided to give battle to the
Government on a fairly wide front. The battle came,
and has been raging with varying degrees of fury in
the various provinces of the country, all these months.
How long it will last, and what results it will produce,
it is difficult to envisage. But those who think
that the movement is dead seem to have too much of
that quality in their composition which is called optimism.
The movement is by no means dead. It is
only dormant in some parts. and very much "alive
and kicking" in other parts of the country.
"Earl Winterton is reported to have said, in a
recent speech, on the basis of what he considers
authentic information, that the Congress has been
crushed and its prestige shattered. This is very far
from the truth. The dynamic force which the Congress
can still muster forth is tremendous, and the
prestige which it enjoys among the people is far
greater than its complacent critics are disposed to
concede. Let not the Tories in England lay the
flattering unction to their souls that the Congress has
lost its hold on the populace. The hold is there tight
and strong, though the outward and visible signs of
this hold are, for the time being, unable to manifest
themselves with vigour and clearness as before.
"If anything, the unprecedented repression and
the rigour to which the Congress movement has been
subjected have enhanced the respect in which sincere
Congressmen are held, and deepened the sympathy 
which their devoted service, however misguided, has
always evoked except among those who are capable
of taking a purely cold intellectual view of their grim
struggle."

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SHEFFIELD AND DISTRICT INDIA
SOCIETY.

The Secretary of the above Society, which is affiliated
to Friends of India, sends us the following
report:
The monthly meeting of the above Society was held
on November 29th, at 65a, Norwood Rd., Sheffield.
An excellent report of the India League Conference,
which was held in London on November 26th
for the members of the Commission who have just
returned from India, was given by Mr. M. A. Khan,
one of the S.D.I.S. members.
With regard to the functions of the Society, the
Rev. A. M. Barr is doing excellent propaganda work
by addressing meetings of trades unions, co-operative
guilds, etc., and from the writer's experience by
attendance at these meetings, the belief is that the
British public are awakening to the facts of what is
really happening in India to-day.
The Society also have a study circle for members
who are interested in Indian problems. This group
is capably controlled by Miss Amy Moore, and is
meeting with success.
The Society intends to hold a public meeting 
towards the end of January, and it is hoped that Miss
Ellen Wilkinson, who has recently returned from
India, will address the meeting.
There will be no meeting of the Society in December,
and the next monthly meeting takes place on
January 27th.  A. L.
* * *
BIRMINGHAM AND DISTRICT INDIA
COUNCIL.
The Secretary of the Council, also affiliated to
Friends of India, sends the following report:
The need for the adoption of a policy to bring this
country into closer relationship with India was urged
by Miss Monica Whateley, who has recently returned
from a tour of India to make investigations on behalf
of the India League, in the course of an address to a
conference of the Birmingham and District Council
for Indian Freedom, in Birmingham on Saturday.
The conference, presided over by Mr. H. Alexander,
passed a resolution urging the Government to
release Mr. Gandhi and all other political prisoners
and to accept their demand "which has the unquestioning
backing of the overwhelming majority of
Indian opinion" as the basis for a settlement which
would guarantee complete freedom for the Indian
people.
Miss Whateley said she was impressed by the way
castes were coming together to the extent of sitting
down to dinner with one another.
That, she said, showed the increasing unity which
was being engendered due undoubtedly to the influence
of Gandhi, whose death during the period of 
fasting would have been a tragedy so far as the aspirations
of India were concerned.
Proceeding, Miss Whateley urged that the Government's
policy towards India was not only cruel, but
driving people into the ranks of the "terrorists" and
destroying trade with this country.
India was still willing to hold out the hand of
friendship, and, she asked: "In a world full of distrust,
hatred and fear, dare we refuse the friendship
of 350,000,000 people?"
"Unless we want India to become another Ireland,"
she added, "we must make it possible for
friendly relations to exist before it is too late."

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FRIENDS OF INDIA NOTES.

GANDHI FAST FUND.
Friends of India had called for a fast on October
2nd, 1932, Gandhiji's birthday, in sympathy with his
great fast. An appeal was made to send money saved
from food to a fund to be put at Gandhiji's disposal.
The fast on October 2nd was called off as Gandhiji's
fast came to an end before that date. Many friends,
however, observed the fast and sent contributions
towards the fund. Up to the end of November
£42 0s. 3d. was received in the fund, and following
Gandhiji's directions this money was sent to All India
Anti-Untouchability League. About half the sum
received was from persons in this country, the other
half coming from the Continent.

OUR LIBRARY
We have a Library of Books on India. Members
and friends are invited to borrow books and bet more
light on this question.
A charge of 2d. per volume will be made for a fortnight.
Gifts and loan of books to the Library will
be gratefully received. For further information write
to the Librarian, Room 22, 46, Lancaster Gate, London,
W.2.

OUR BOOKSTALL.
Various books and pamphlets on India can be
ordered from our Bookstall. An endeavor will be
made to obtain Indian publications from India when
they are not available in this country.
A list of books on cultural and political topics will
be supplied on application.

BOOK REVIEWS.
In The Heart of Hindusthan (Natesan, Madras,
Re. 1), Professor Radhakrishnan has collected together
articles on Indian Religion which have
appeared in various periodicals, including the
"Hibbert Journal," the "Spectator," and the
"Indian Review." Printed together, these articles
make a connected whole, covering a wide field, as the
chapter heads will show:
(1) The Heart of Hinduism. (2) The Hindu
Dharma. (3) The Hindu Idea of God. (4) Islam 
and Indian Thought. (5) Hindu Thought and Christian
Doctrines. (6) Buddhism. (7) Indian Philosophy.
The author makes it clear that his purpose is to
describe Hinduism rather than to defend it. Hinduism
needs no defence, for it is really a Universalism.
"A Hindu who knows anything of his faith is ready
to offer homage and reverence to all helpers of
humanity."
* * *
Shakespeare Through Eastern Eyes, by Dr. Ranjee
G. Shahani. With an Introduction by J. Middleton
Murray and an Appreciation by Emile Legonis.
Herbert Joseph. 6s.
The cult of Shakespeare has for a long time been
forced on India, and bad methods of teaching have
given the Indian student a distaste for the English
poet. 
These facts should be borne in mind when reading
Dr. Shahani's book- the first study of Shakespeare
by a competent Eastern scholar.
Dr. Shahani finds the English dramatist exclusively
concerned with the world of the moment, entirely
earthly. This may suit the genius of his own country
and even the genius of Europe, but our author points
out that "neither Great Britain nor the whole of
Europe exhausts the compass of the human spirit.
There are other manifestations of the mind of man."
The Indian fails to find in Shakespeare any sustenance
for his deep-seated idealism.
The literature of India is essentially religious and
spiritual. But the Indian finds no mysticism and no
religion in Shakespeare. Compared with Kalidasa,
India's own classical dramatist, Shakespeare is coarse
and lacking in vision.
This book will be criticised and no doubt answered.
But it cannot be ignored. WILL HAYES.

Published by Friends of India, (Room 22), 46, Lancaster Gate, London, W.2., and printed by Printicity Ltd. (T.U.)
43, Kirby Street, Hatton Garden, E.C.1.

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EDITOR: R. V. SASTRI
Under the auspices of The Servants of Untouchables Society

VOL. I] POONA-SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1933 [No. 17

WEEK TO WEEK

Temples Opened
The famous Annapurna temple of Baghbazar (Calcutta),
belonged to Shrimati Tulsimani Devi, was
opened to the Harijans on the 24th of May.
The temple at Bahadurpur Jatt (Hardwar) was
opened to the Harijans on the 18th May.
The temples of Shri Kashivisheshwar and Shri
Vithoba at Kankavali (Ratnagiri) were thrown open to
Harijans.
The temple of Murlidhar at Malwan (Ratnagiri).
Four temples in French Chandernagore.
The famous Badriswar temple at Almora.
The Prasannavenkateswaraswamy temple at Gudur
thrown open to Harijans on 18th May.
The Narasimhaswamy temple at Tadepallegudam.
One bhajan mandir constructed in the same place.
Two temples- one belonging to Seth Radhakrishna
Chamria and the other to Raja Raghunandan Prasad
Sinha of Monghyr- have been opened to the Harijans
from the 22nd May.
The temple of Swayambhu Linga Bisweswar in the
village of Masat (Hooghly) has been opened to the
Harijans.
Two temples in Pachala Tadiparru (Guntur) have
been thrown open to Harijans.
One Rama mandiram in Attivaram (Nellore).
Harijans were allowed to offer puja in the temple of
Ekteswar (Bankura).
The temple of Mrs. Vidyavati Rathor of Parva
(U. P.) was opened by the owner to Harijans on 21st
May. 
The Kali temple at Brahmanbaria has been thrown
open to Harijans by the decision of the executive
Committee of the Kalibari, in spite of strong opposition
from the orthodox group of members.
The Rokaria Hanuman temple and the Sitla Mata
temple at Karachi.

Educational facilities
A contribution of Rs. 30/- was given by the Andhra
Board, S. U. S., to the free boarding school for Harijans
maintained by the Ramasramam of Tallapallam
Two night schools for Harijans were opened in
Tinnevelly on the 30th April.
One night school for Harijans at Mannargudi.
One day and one night school at Veppangudi. (It
may be noted that. this school is in the area of the
Nattar-Harijan trouble. But the nattar headman of
the village gave every co-operation and has promised
to help the school).

One school for Harijans at Amaravatipudur
(Devakottah.)
One school for Harijans in Tanjore town.
One school for Harijans at Vellore.
Under the auspices of the Dist. Seva Sangh, Lahore,
a night school for Harijans was opened on the 25th
May in the sweepers' quarters of the Mayo Hospital,
Lahore.
A reading Library for the use of Harijans was
opened on 24th May in Cossipore bustee area, in front
of the Cossipore Gun Factory (Calcutta.)
A school for Harijans under the tutorship of Pt.
Devi Datt Lahani, a brahmin, has been started in
the Harijan mohalla in Almora.
The school at Tadepallegudem and the Library
there have been thrown open to Harijans through the
efforts of the local Harijan Seva Sangh workers, and
15 Harijan students have been admitted into the
Middle school.
A grant of Rs. 10/- p. m. has been sanctioned for a
Harijan night school at Saraspur (Ahmedabad).
A day school for Harijans has been opened in
Atmapur taluq (Nellore) and the local Hindu Seva
Sangham is making a monthly grant of Rs. 6/- to
the school.
A night school has been started at Patur (Nellore)
and is receiving a grant of Rs. 5/- p.m.
Two night schools for Harijans have been opened
at Gudur (Nellore).
The Davangere town municipality sanctioned
Rs. 300/- for a year to the Adi-Karnataka free hostel
to be started shortly by the Adi-Karnataka Sahaya
Sangha, Davangere (Mysore).
Arrangements are complete for a Harijan hostel,
providing free boarding and lodging to 25 Harijan
students, at Narasapur. The house for the same has
been supplied rent-free. The Guntur Municipality
has sanctioned Rs. 100/- for the building and an
annual grant of Rs. 500/- for the hostel.
One night school for Harijans has been started at
Bhimavaram and a grant of Rs. 50/- has been made
for the same.
A Hindi school for Harijans has been started in
Nellore.
Two Harijan students, appearing for the Vidya
Vidwan examination, were paid half their examination
fees by the Guntur District Committee, S. U. S.
The authorities of the Taylor High School, Narasapur
(West Godavary), have decided to give free education
to all Harijan students in their school.
(Continued on page 8)2 HARIJAN [JUNE 3, 1933

HALF-YEARLY REPORT
(16-10-32 to 15-4-33)
OF
THE ANDHRA PROVINCIAL BOARD. S. U. S-
[The half-yearly report of the work in Andhradesh
is, as observed in our last number, a record of
steady work, carried out by a band of enthusiastic and
energetic workers with determination, courage and
speed. The preliminary organisation, the necessary
propaganda and the actual details of work done
during the period under report can naturally be given
only in the barest outline. Nor can these mere facts
and figures give an adequate idea of the change of
outlook brought about in the people, the tendencies
for reform set afoot and the heavy momentum already
given to the cause in Andhradesh. But even as it is,the
report is impressive, inasmuch as the volume of work
done in the short space of six months and in such a 
difficult field is considerable, and the Andhra Board
is to be congratulated on its achievement. Important
portions of the report are extracted below. EDITOR.]

PROPAGANDA
WRITTEN WORD, POSTERS, HANDBILLS
AND NEWSPAPER PROPAGANDA :-Opinions of
eminent Sanskrit scholars, leaders of public opinion and
principals of Sanskrit Colleges were secured and published
in the vernacular papers. The vernacular Press, Andhra
Patrika, Krishna Patrika, Janma Bhumi, gave wide
publicity to the Harijan cause.  Pamphlets and hand-bills
about G. O. 2660, enforcing equal rights to Harijans
in wells, schools, roads etc., and appeals signed by District
Board Presidents, M. L. C's and Mahatmaji's message,
totalling about 80,000, were distributed. 10,000 wall-
posters were exhibited throughout the districts. 90,000
copies of special pamphlets for pilgrims were printed and
circulated at various places of pilgrimage.

DEMONSTRATION AND MAGIC LANTERN 
LECTURES :-In West Godavary, East Godavary and
Guntur, Seva Dals under the leadership of Messrs. T. N.
Sarma, V. Satyanarayan of Rajahmundry and Prof.
Ranga, respectively, visited villages, singing songs, holding
demonstrations, carrying placards, holding meetings,
exhorting the people to root out untouchability. Magic
lantern lectures were delivered at Nellore, Ellore and
Berhampur. Twenty four sets of placards (each containing
14 placards) printed on Khadi, containing anti-untouchability
mottos and messages, were prepared and 
distributed to the districts.

WORK DONE
(1) RELIGIOUS MATTERS:-
21 Ramamandirams and temples were opened to the
Harijans. 147 Bhajan parties were jointly conducted by
Harijans and Caste Hindus. Two new temples were built
for Harijans.
(2) EDUCATIONAL:-
(a) SCHOLARSHIPS:- The Provincial Board and
the District Committees offered 22 scholarships worth
about Rs. 400. Rao Saheb Polisetti Ranganayakulu Naidu,
retired Executive Engineer or Rajahmundry, offered a
munificent donation of Rs. 6,000, the interest on which
should go to the education of Harijan girls, especially
college girls.
(b) EXEMPTION OF SCHOOL FEES SECURED:-
6 out of 12 District Boards exempted Harijans studying
in their educational institutions from paying school fees
and game fees. Other Boards will soon follow. Hindi
Pracharak Sabha has also exempted them from paying
examination fees and offered their publications to Harijans
at half rates.
The Andhra University has already exempted poor
Harijan students from paying school fees.
ADMISSION INTO SCHOOLS :-District Boards,
Taluk Boards and Municipalities were approached for
free admission of Harijans and amalgamation of the
separate Harijan schools with caste-schools. Many
municipalities and local bodies have replied favourably.
NIGHT SCHOOLS :-Seven new night Schools were
started to carry on adult education work among the
Harijans. Four day schools were opened for the Harijan
boys.
* * *
LIBRARIES, BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS:-6650
books and 52 newspapers were distributed. The General
Secretary collected 4804 Library Books from 57 different
individuals and institutions, distributed 91 sets to
different Harijan libraries all over Andhra Desa, each set
comprising a collection of 150 to 300 books. Ten more
sets are now ready to be similarly distributed. The well-
known educational publishing houses of Messrs. Venkatram
& Co. and rama & Co. have kindly presented our
Society with 1700 Readers and Text-books for the use of
boys. These are divided into 16 sets, and 14 sub-sets have
already been distributed to the night schools. Eight new
Harijan Libraries were started.
Mr. Nageswararao, President, offered to supply free of
charge for six months 30 copies of the Andhra Patrika,
daily edition, and 40 Weeklies and a few monthly magazines
to the Harijan Libraries and workers. So far, 34 daily
papers, nine weeklies, three monthlies have been distributed.
Dr. Kesari offered Gruhalakshimi, his Telugu monthly 
magazine for ladies, to six Harijan ladies.
* * *
HOSTEL FACILITIES :-Harijan students are provided
with Hostel facilities in four of the Hostels attached to
the six colleges in regard to which information has been
received. The question of admittance into hostels at other
places did not arise as there have been no applications
until now.
MUNICIPALITIES AND HARIJAN EDUCATION:-
There are 30 municipalities in the Andhra districts.
Information was received from only 12 of them.
(1) There are 479 schools under these 12 municipalities,
including those for boys and girls. 73 of the
schools are maintained specially for Harijans, and 
Harijans are admitted into 375 schools. They are not
allowed in 21 schools. (15 in Tenali and 6 in Bellary)
(2) The total number of pupils studying in the above
schools is 30,766, of whom only 3244 are Harijans.
(3) The total number of teachers employed in the
above schools is 1113, of whom 56 are Harijans. Harijan 
teachers are employed in 45 schools, of which nine are
Savarna schools. Savarna teachers are employed in 29
schools maintained for Harijans.

ECONOMIC
33 persons employed Harijans as domestic servants.
Three Harijans are employed at Khadi Bhandar at Kurnool.
The Zamindar of Gollapalli employed one Harijan as
surveyor in his estate. Harijans are employed as propagandists 
in various districts.
SEPARATE SHOPS:- In Nellore, Kurnool and Guntur
districts, money has been advanced to Harijans for
starting vegetable and grocery shops. In East Godavary,
a sum of Rs. 100 was donated for building huts for
Harijans. Harijans were fed in different districts.
SANITATION:- 'Sanitary rounds' were taken out at
six places. Streets were swept, and ditches were filled at
two places. In Guntur and Anantapur districts, bathing
materials were supplied.
MEDICAL AID:-Three new dispensaries were started
in Nellore.


JUNE 3, 1933] HARIJAN 3
ABSTINENCE:- At all the meetings, Harijans are
exhorted to abstain from drinking and carrion-eating.
13 Harijan Sanghams were started and pledges were
taken from the members to the above effect. Magic lantern
lectures were delievered in this connection.

CIVIC, SOCIAL AND GENERAL
STATISTICS :-Special survey-forms, containing
questions on education, sanitation, economic condition
and special needs, are given to the propagandists in Kistna
and Guntur districts, who fill and submit them to the
District Committees.
WELLS OPENED :-73 wells were thrown open to
Harijans-Guntur 40, Kistna 25, East Godavary 7 and West
Godavary 1.
DHARMASHALAS:-Ellore 1, Rajahmundry 2, Chebrole
1, Tenali 1, in all five were thrown open.
UNTOUCHABILITY AND UNCOMMON CUSTOMS:-
In Berhampur and Parlakimdi, Jutka (cab)
drivers are all untouchables. The fruit and vegetable
vendors in Ganjam, Vizag and East Godavary districts
come from the scavenger community. In the first two
districts, they hold the monopoly of the fruit trade.
In West Godavary district, in a village by name Uppulur,
the priests of the temple are Harijans! In Kadari Temple
of Anantapur district, Harijans are freely admitted once
a year.

INSTITUTIONS WORKING FOR
HARIJAN UPLIFT
The following institutions are now working for Harijan
uplift:-
(1) Harijan Girls' Boarding House at Bezwada. There
are 20 girls from eight to twelve years of age in this
institution, which is run by public charity.
(2) Sree Rama Asram, Tallapalem (Guntur District).
There are 28 boys and two girls. In the Day School
attached to it, there are 100 boys and girls who attend
daily.
(3) Harijan Hostel at Guntur, with six students.
(4) Harijan Hostel at Nellore with ten students.
(5) Seva Asram, Uppada (East Godavari District). It
was started by Mr. P. Satyanarayana for Harijan uplift.
His parents gave a donation of Rs. 2,000, 12 acres of land
and one double-storeyed building. A Night School and an
Industrial School are run under its auspices.
(6) Harijan Asramam, Ponnamanda (East Godavary),
which was started by Harijans for Harijan uplift.
(7) Government Hostel at Masulipatam. To 55 College
and High School students coming from different districts,
free lodging and boarding are given.
(8) Poor Boys' Home, Pattikonda (Kunool District),
was started by a philanthropic Reddy lady, Srimati
Lakshmamma. There are 34 students, out of whom 14 are
untouchables.
(9) The Maharaja Saheb of Pithapur has started
a Boarding School for boys and girls at Pithapur.
The Educational institutions started by the estate
(1 College and 2 High Schools) are giving free education.
(10) The Veeresalingham High School at Rajahmundry
has been the pioneer in the matter of Harijan education.
(11) West Godavary Adi-Andhra Association, Ellore.
This was started 15 years ago and has a Library,
Hospital, Co-operative Society, Volunteer Organisation,
Suddhi Sangham and Bhajana Party.
DONATIONS:-The President's Donation:-Had it not
been for the timely donation of Rs. 1,116 by the President,
Mr. K. Nageswararao Pantulu Garu, the work that has 
been done so far would have been impossible. Besides
bearing his own T. A. in the tours, he contributed to the
libraries books, newspapers and magazines. He has kindly
promised to supply medicines also. Thanks are also due
to Sir S. Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra
University for his donation of Rs. 100, the Ganjam Central
Bank for Rs. 100, contribution, to Vizianagaram Central
Bank for Rs. 20, Mr. Kosiah Bolar for freely printing
the Khadi Placards and to the general public in the
districts who have been helping and co-operating with
district Branches. The Maharajah Saheb of Pithapuram
gave a princely donation of Rs. 5,000. to the Central
Committee at Delhi.
ECONOMY:-The economy that is observed by this
society can be seen from the fact that the office consists
of two clerk on Rs. 20/-, and Rs. 10/- per mensem
respectively. The rent paid is only Rs. 10/-

CONCLUSION
This, in short, is the work that has been done in the
Andhra Desa. It is true much remains to be done. The
first phase of the movement has been primarily confined to
propaganda for creating the right atmosphere and now
the activities are being directed to and concentrated on
uplift work, i. e., especially to the matter of education,
sanitation and economic regeneration of the Harijans.
This means money and a band of willing and earnest
workers.

APPEAL
We appeal to the educated and the philanthropic
countrymen of ours and the youth in the country to come
forward with money and services and contribute to
the sacred cause for which Mahatmaji has staked his
precious life.
K. NAGESWARA ROW,
President.
M. BAPINEEDU,
Hon. General Secretary,
S. U. S. Andhra Board,
Ellore, W. G. Dt.
1-5-33. }

N. DEVENDRUDU,
V. KURMAIAH, }
Joint Secretaries

WHAT S. U. S., SIND, HAS BEEn DOING
1. In Karachi it already runs four night schools in four
defferent quarters educating 150 Harijans. Out of 8
teachers employed therein, 6 are Harijans.
2. The Society has trained up four Harijans as motor
drivers and also got them licences.
3. The Society has been training six Harijan students
in tailoring who will be finishing up their course by the
end of this month, each student costing Rs. 45/-.
4. The Society has been providing fees to ten Harijan
students studying in different Secondary Schools and in
some cases providing books also. The estimated expenditure
is Rs. 500/-.
5. The Society has given a loan of Rs. 300/- to a
Harijan for starting a grain and grocery shop for
Harijans.
6. The Society is also training apprentices in Engineering
and Carpentry work.
7. The Society has been managing the offices in
Sukkur and Nawabshah districts, where schools are
being conducted and other very useful work is being done.
8. The Society has sanctioned Rs. 600/- for scholarships
to Harijan students in Tharparkar district.
9. The Society has provided Rs. 2,000/- for starting a
Leather Factory in Tharparkar District.
10. The Society has provided Rs. 1,200/- for a Nursery
(to look after the children during day time, when their
mothers go to work.)

BOOKS ON UNTOUCHABILITY
THE EPIC FAST BY PYARELAL
An account of Gandhiji's fast in September 1932, and
events leading upto the Yeravda Pact, with all relevant documents.
Price Rs. 1-4-0.
PLIGHTED WORD BY C. RAJAGOPALACHARI
Being an account of the history and objects of the
Untouchability Abolition Bill and the Temple Entry Disabilities
Removal Bill with answers to objections raised. Price
Annas 2/-
MY SOUL'S AGONY
Containing Gandhiji's statements on untouchability and
important interviews on the subject, carefully revised and
compiled up-to-date. Price Annas 8/-
Available at all Principal Khadi Bhandars and also at
Navajivan Karyalaya, Princess Street, Bombay.4 HARIJAN [JUNE 3, 1933

HARIJAN

SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1933

SPARKS FROM THE SACRED FIRE
IV
[??????]
Manusmriti.
"And your sorrow shall be turned into joy and
Your joy no man taketh from you."
St. John.

APPROACHING THE FULFILMENT
I was not privileged to be in 'Parnakuti' during
the greater part of the fast and could not, therefore,
share in the flesh the terrible anxieties of the ordeal.
In truth, however, though I was away from the spot,
my torment was no less than those who were near
the Sacred Fire.
During the second week of the fast, Devadas, who
was watching the gradual melting away of the flesh
on Gandhiji's face, suggested to him a shave, thinking 
that it might make the face look less haggard.
"Let it be," answered Gandhiji, "I am trying to
forget the body entirely. I am only thinking of Ram
Nam now. Let the shave come in the third week, or
even on the last day. During the same week, when
Sardar Vallabhbhai sent him a message not to worry
about the Ashram or, for the matter of that, anything
else, he said: "I am worrying about nothing, but I
cannot help thinking of the Ashram, which is my
body, even as I cannot entirely cease to think of this
physical body of mine, if only for the fulfilment of
its daily functions." And yet as I returned from the
Ashram to Poona on the 26th, I waited in fear
and trembling for his summons. The summons
came as soon as he learnt that I had returned. But I
found that the fear was quite unjustified. The very
fact that I had been to the Ashram and that all of us
there had made an earnest endeavour to understand
the fast seemed to him to be enough. He asked one
or two questions about the ailing members and then
did not think of me until the morning of the 28th.
Before beginning his weekly silence at 11-30 a. m.,
he summoned me. I could notice an indescribable
joy on his face. He seemed, almost inspite of himself, to

by 12 o'clock when you will break your fast." "No.
The prayers cannot begin until 12 o'clock, for the fast
was actually taken at that hour and I cannot break it
until after thanksgiving," he said in a voice which
was getting clearer. Srimati Kasturba kindly put in:
"But that will delay the breaking of the fast."  In fact,
she had been asking me since morning when actually
he had had his last sip of fruit juice; and as that was
at 11-30 on the 8th of May, she was wondering if the
prayers could not be finished by that hour. "No,"
said Ganhiji, "nothing until after the prayers which
should begin at 12, when the vow was taken." "It does
not matter, Ba," I said to Srimati Kasturba, "it will
be a fast of an hour and twenty-one days. It shall be
as Bapu wishes." Srimati Kasturba smiled, and he
nodded approval. I disappeared in order not to make
him talk more, but I was summoned again at 5 o'clock
in the evening to decipher a few more instructions he
had given for the 29th: "Mahadev had suggested
Ishopamshat for tomorrow. No. I think the verse in
our hymn-book containing the words 'Siddho tha
buddho tha va' should be sung to-day. Then the Poet's 
song should be sung either by the Poet's secretary or
by Mahadev." He had thus made up his mind that
God had been merciful and that He had decided to
give him back the trust for further use.

THE MIRACLE
The 29th of May proved to the world that the age of
miracles is not gone. Simply because the Miracle-
Worker has been there with us in the past, now and
always, if we would but believe in Him. It is in His
name and in the fullest belief of His working that
the fast was taken, and it is He who gave Gandhiji
the confidence that he would have the strength to go
through it. It was not lightly that he said to the
Harijan boy that he should come with an orange
on the noon of the 29th to help him break the
fast. The words of a man of God are never uttered
lightly, never in vain; his jokes have serious meaning
hidden in them, his casual remark has the import and
purpose of deliberation. That is the meaning of self-
surrender to God, and he who has achieved it might
well say with the abandon of a care-free man: "God
will keep me, because I want to live yet to serve
Him." It is because of that unswerving faith, which
is the direct result of self-surrender, that he wrote on
the 7th to a friend in Europe: "I shall be more than
half through by the time this reaches you, if such is
His will. If He has willed otherwise, it is also 
equally well. This body will then cease to
It is because of that

JUNE 3, 1933] HARIJAN 5

as well as life. Centuries ago Kabir had sung with
the same self-abandon: "I have staked my all in this
life-and-death gamble with the Lord. If I lose, I
belong to the Lord, if I win, the Lord belongs to me."

THE DAY
So the Day arrived for which hundreds and thousands
had prayed for. The scenes were as solemn as
on the 8th May. Men and women of all faiths were
represented there by those who were present on the
occasion in response to the invitation of the door-keeper
Srimati Sarojini Naidu, who for once in her life had
forsaken her extravagant generosity and become
niggardly in the interest of the patient, for whom
she had kept tireless vigil. On any other occasion
of rejoicing, she might have invited the whole city
of Poona, but not that day. I had been expecting the
Harijan boy who had entered into that contract with
Gandhiji on the 8th of May to appear punctually
on the noon of the 29th. I had entreated the door-
keeper
to find him out and allow him in. Unfortunately,
I did not know his address; otherwise I should
have fetched him myself. He did not turn up, and the
orange juice was supplied not by him but by the kind
hostess, Lady Thackersey, who perhaps felt the luckiest
woman that day, as Dr. Ansari the proudest man. The
Harijan boy was not there, but the door-keeper had
flung the doors open to all Harijans, and the first and
only garland offered to Gandhiji before the break of
the fast was that of a Harijan girl, who then sat in
the midst of her sisters of rank and station. In the
centre and with Sjt. Amritlal Thakkar and Seth
Jamnalal Bajaj, sat the Harijans among whom there
were some who had come from far off Ahmedabad.
With the name of Ram on our lips we began the
function, which was inaugurated by Dr. Ansari with
texts from the Koran on the spiritual meaning of
fasting, during which the aspirant after grace had to
feast himself on good and fast from all evil. Brothers
from the Christa Seva Sangha sang Gandhiji's
favourite: "When I survey the Wondrous Cross."
Prof. Wadia sang the Parsi prayer which, as he said,
could be the universal prayer; and Kaka Saheb sang
the verse in which the devotee offers his prayers to
the embodiment of all good, of all freedom from
passion and hatred, of all love and compassion,
whatever be the name by which men call Him. Then
came the Poet's song wherein he invokes the Almighty
to come with a torrent of mercy when the springs of
life dry up and with nectared music when all the
sweetness is missing. The Poet could not be there, as
at the break of the September Fast, to sing it and so I
sang it in his name. Last came the hymn of 'the

the profound affection out of which it was uttered. I
must reproduce it in full:
"Within a minute or two I am going to break the
fast. In His name and with faith in Him was it
taken, in His name it terminates. My faith is not less
to-day, but more.
You will not expect me to make a speech on this
occasion. It is an occasion for taking the name and
singing the glory of God. But I may not forget the
doctors and other friends who have poured their affection
on me during these days of privilege and grace.
I cannot help referring to their service because it is
part of God's mercy. I have nothing but thanks to
give them. God alone can give them a fitting reward.
I am glad that Harijans are here with us to-day. I
do not know exactly what work God expects from me
now. But whatever it may be, I know that He will
give me the strength for it."
And need I name those whose services and prayers
have helped during the hour of our sore trial? Drs.
Ansari and Bidhan Roy, who for days laid aside
their busy practice and trusted their distinguished
patients to the care of other doctors; the naturopath
and fasting-cure expert, Dr. Dinshaw Mehta,
who placed himself and his whole establishment
at the service of Gandhiji for all the twenty-
four hours of the days of the fast and after; the
eminent Bombay doctors and the Poona doctors,
who ran to the 'Parnakuti' at a moment's notice;
the young men who nursed Bapu sleeplessly and
who want to be nameless; the countless friends
who here and abroad offered daily prayers; those who
fasted and prayed in silence. All these helped and
sustained him through the ordeal. I am sure that the
disinterested prayers and services of these pure souls
outweighed the sins and shortcomings of those of us
who had failed him and helped in the victory of the
spirit over the flesh. Kind telegrams have been pouring
in from all parts of the world. Heaps of letters and
telegrams came during the fast. Let no one expect
even an acknowledgment of them. I will assure them
they were all received gratefully: they are there
on our files, carefully and chronologically arranged
by Sjt. Mathurdas Tricumji, whose iron discipline
helped him to carry out to the letter the doctors'
instructions about correspondence. Little tit-bits of
interest have, however, been carried to Gandhiji's ears
and I cannot help mentioning just one of them out
of a gratful heart for the kind thought that prompted
the gift. A Mussalman friend from Bombay, who
gives his name but deliberately does not give his
address, sent on the 29th a pair of chudis (ivory bangles)6 HARIJAN [JUNE 3, 1933

not death, acclaim not life; but await the unseen as
the servant awaited the command of the master."
Lover of the truest teachings of our scriptures,
Gandhiji has tried to live up to them, and it is as His
bond slave that he has taken up every task that has
come to him, and it is as His bond slave that he will
await and take up the next. Within a few minutes of
the break of the fast, he asked for a pen and paper and
wrote down with his own shaking hands the words
which are to-day the proud possession of the devoted
daughter, who deserves it. That little letter to Miraben
was the only thing that he wrote on Monday
and Tuesday. Ordinarily I should not bare such a
sacred thing to the public gaze. But I reproduce it,
if only to reveal the thought that was uppermost in
Gandhiji as soon as the ordeal had been finished. "I
have just broken the fast. The next task commences.
He will find the ways and means."
With a consciousness of duty done and in the
perfect faith of self-surrender, Gandhiji awaits the
next task. What shall we do? How shall we face it?
Will it find us prepared? Shall we shed our
impurities and pettinesses, our occupation with the
things of the earth and the flesh? When shall we
deserve him? As Kasturba truly said:
"While I rejoice to-day, it will be a greater joy
if the Harijans are soon restored to a fuller life
in the Hindu family."
Let us remember that Gandhiji will have no rest or
joy or peace until untouchability goes. And not
until we have made ourselves fit instruments for the
fulfilment of his mission can we expect the benediction:
"And your sorrow shall be turned into joy and
your joy no man taketh from you."
MAHADEV DESAI

A HOPEFUL SIGN
READERS have doubtless noted from the daily
press how the severe ordeal undertaken by
Gandhiji on the 8th and triumphantly ended on the
29th of May has quickened the conscience of the whole
country. From associations and individuals, reports
have poured in to us, showing beyond possibility of
doubt that a wave of emotion has submerged the
land and contributed the driving force for an intensive
campaign of work. We are afraid, however, that
a great part of this emotion is meretricious and
evanescent and will burn itself out. We are advised
by a correspondent.

"Being touched with the epic fast of Mahatmaji,
Pandit * * * *, a Sanatani brahmin and a resident
of Pilkhuwa (U. P.), cleared the latrines of a
Government primary school before a great crowd of
people from Pilkhuwa on 18th May 1933, in order to
remove untouchability from his circle. This act of
his has produced a great agitation in Pilkhuwa.

So far so good. But steady progress in a difficult
cause like the Harijan cause can be achieved only by
unremitting attention to details of work and not by
sporadic bursts of emotion. The spectacular phase
of the activities all over the country do not,
therefor necessarily give us any [???] of

the continuance of the good work for the betterment
of the lot of the Harijans. There is one
feature, however, that does give us hope, and
that is the fact that among the agencies that have
been galvanized into fruitful action are a number of
municipalities. A great deal of responsibility, and,
therefore, of the privilege of service, rests with
municipal bodies, who have it in their hands to
improve the lot of the Harijans substantially or leave
them in their present deplorable, we have almost said
inhuman, conditions of living and working. It is a
hopeful sign, therefore, that municipal bodies have
realised their part in the scheme of work and are
coming forward to take it up. We are told, for 
instance, that the Muttra Municipal Board have
supplied or propose to supply the following to their
Harijan employees:-

"Ten permanent street lanterns have been sanctioned
for the sweepers' quarters in addition to
many already existing.
One cast iron tank of 2,000 gallons capacity has
been sanctioned to be constructed in the chief mohalla
of the sweepers with four taps, costing about Rs. 550,
which shall specially be open to them in the noon,
when the general supply remains closed, so that both
sexes may wash and bathe separately after their
morning work.
There being no customary sweepers in the mohallas
of sweepers, five extra sweepers at an annual cost
of Rs. 360 have been employed to do sweeping
in their mohalla and now no dirt is seen there.
Twenty hand-carts, in addition to 24 purchased
last year, have been sanctioned for the sweepers at a
cost of Rs. 500 to carry street rubbish and refuse in
them, instead of on their heads. More will be sanctioned
next year.
Two hundred and fifty baskets have been sanctioned
to cover head-loads of refuse carried in private
baskets.
Two public latrines have been sanctioned this year
at a cost of Rs. 1,000 in the mohallas of Harijans, in
addition to two such public latrines constructed last
year. 
In the most thickly populated mohalla of the
sweepers, which was hitherto the plague spot of 
Muttra, a brick pavement with drains on either side
has been sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 500 and the 
construction work has already begun. Improvement
in other mohallas will also be taken in hand next
year.
Two new schools for sweepers have specially been
sanctioned, to be opened from July next in the
quarters of sweepers, in addition to one municipal
sweepers' school. On recognised school for Harijans
is maintained by the Mission and the other by the
Arya Samaj. About 600 Harijans also receive
education in other municipal schools, in the compnay
of about 3,000 caste-Hindus.
In Muttra Municipality, primary education is compulsary
for Harijans as well."

If by a stroke of the pen, as it were, a municipality
can attend to so many matters which make for the
convenience and comfort of its Harijan employees,
there is no need to labour the point that it is
only want of thought, more than want of heart,
that stands in the way of municipal bodies doing
their duty towards the Harijans; and they have this
inestimable advantage that they are not like private
agencies- here to-day and nowhere to-morrow- and
that the work can go on continuously. What is necessary
evidently is only the realisation that these Harijans,
carrying out the most difficult part of the social
division of labour, are our own kith and kin and
that they have at least as much right to expect decent
conditions of living as any one else in society.

JUNE 3, 1933] HARIJAN 7

THE RIGHT WAY
The two points in Harijan welfare work that
require urgent attention are the dissemination
among the Harijans of ideas of personal and residential
cleanliness and the spread of primary education.
Steady and sincere work along these two lines will
lay the foundation for Harijan emancipation 'well
and truly.' But, for the efforts of the workers in
these directions to be successful, the first essential is
the winning of the confidence of the Harijans. How
this is being done will be found from a special report
appended below. In forwarding it for publication, the
Secretary of the Tamilnad Board of the S. U. S. has
addressed to Sjt. Devadas Gandhi a touching and
characteristic letter, which we are glad to share with
our readers.

"My Dear Devadas Bhai,
I am enclosing herewith a fortnightly report
of work done by the Gandhi Harijan Service Corps
which we inaugurated from 3-5-33. Kindly show
it to Rajaji and then pass it on to the Editor,
Harijan. This is a special report of work done by the
Service Corps only and should not at all be taken as
a report of the several other items of work going on
throughout the Province. This Harijan child welfare
work is growing on me daily and the beauty and
joy of it is something unutterable. In the course of
our work everyday, we have to wash Harijan children
covered with sores and itch, and often full of
pus and dirt, but I have only to remember Mahatmaji
and our vow of service, and the touch of these poor
neglected sore-covered children gives what I can
only describe as joy unutterable. In several Harijan
villages, Harijan mothers gave me certificates, with
their eyes filled with wonder and love, that even they
could not have washed their little ones better than
I did. 
But I have no heart to write a single word other
than regarding what work we are able to do in the
Harijan cause. For many years I have tried to learn
to be dumb. Bapuji's present penance has stricken
me dumb completely. Forgive me for not writing
anything else.
With love,
Yours Affectionately,
G. RAMACHANDRAN"

THE REPORT
The Provincial Office of the Tamil Nad Servants of the
Untouchables Society inaugurated the Gandhi-Harijan
Service Corps on 3-5-33. The object was to undertake
direct personal service to Harijans in the cheries, including
Harijan child-welfare and sanitation. Harijan
child-welfare means that the members of the Corps give oil
and soap bath with their own hands to Harijan children.
Sanitation means that the members would personally
clean cheries. The Trichinopoly Dist. Committee showed
the way by immediately enrolling 20 members, including
young men from some orthodox families, for their Gandhi-
Harijan Service Corps. From 3-5-33 to 21-5-33, the Corps
visited 18 cheries at the rate of one cheri per day and did
intense and systematic work in each one of them. They
have now established 6 permanent Harijan child-welfare
centres in 6 different places and hav already paid 3
weekly visits to each one of these 6 permanent centres


all the boys and girls who are given the oil bath from
week to week are entered in the registers. Regular
attendance for 3 months, it has been announced, will
secure suitable prizes. Up to date, 834 children have been
given oil and soap bath in Trichinopoly. In all cases, the
members of the Corps have personally given the wash.
Harijan mothers are now enthusiastically co-operating
in the work. After bath, refreshments are served to the
children. Cheri-sanitation was also undertaken in all
these places. The effect of such work from week to 
week has been to remove all suspicions from the minds of
Harijans and to secure more and more assistance from
even orthodox critics. Tremendous good-will has been
created alround.

We have received reports from Madura, Karaikudi,
South Arcot, North Arcot, Salem and Dindigul districts
that similar work is going on in all these districts with remarkable
success. It is no exaggeration to say that Tamil
Nad has in the last two weeks specialised in Harijan child-
welfare work. Permanent centres are being established
in urban and rural areas. Voluntary medical assistance
is also forthcoming in most places. Bodily sanitation is
needed even more than cheri-sanitation, since a large
percentage of Harijan children suffer from skin diseases.
Harijan child-welfare work, therefore, is a most important
item of work in Harijan uplift. What we have done is as yet
very little, but we have started in the right direction. In the
first week, there was some obstruction from caste-Hindu
villagers. But as the work proceeded from day to day, even
they were won over by the inherent humanity of the work.
Our experience so far gained is that there is no swifter
and more direct road to the hearts of Harijans than
Harijan child-welfare work, wherein the so-called high-
caste volunteers go to their cheries and serve their little
children, who are most often covered with dirt and itch.
Some thousands of Harijan boys and girls all over Tamil
Nad are thus being trained in habits of cleanliness and
given some hours of intense gladness from week to week.
And what is more, such work cuts at the very root of
untouchability.
G. RAMACHANDRAN.

Our readers will be interested to know that workers
in this field elsewhere also have had the same
experience. Because, there is nothing that can resist
the power of unselfish Love, and love towards children
is inborn in humanity. How natural and how similar
is the emotion induced by this Harijan child-welfare
work and how almost identical is the conclusion that
it has led to- that this is the right way of starting the
work of removal of untouchability- will be apparent
from the following note from the Secretary, Arya
Yuwak Samaj, Karachi:-

"The scene is worth seeing at Narayanpur (a
Harijan quarter) when an enthusiastic batch of
volunteers at the Arya-Yuwak Samaj and Vyayamshala
under the Secretary Moh: Virbhan give bathing
to about one hundred Harijan children, with their
own hands daily from 7 to 8.30 A. M. The moment
the children see the volunteers, they feel a glow of joy
and hurry up to take their bath. The poor children,
who seem to have enjoyed very few occasions for
bath during their life-time, take so much delight in
it that they can be hardly persuaded to leave off.
This has proved to be the right way of eradicating
the evil of untouchability, as the mixing of the 
volunteers with the Harijan children and their parents
in this work has much enlightened the Harijan
residents of the locality. This service has been started
8 HARIJAN [JUNE 3, 1933

WEEK TO WEEK
(Continued from page 1)
One night school at Addada (East Kistna).
One night school at Tuni (East Godavary).
Two night schools at Berhampur (Ganjam).
Two night schools at Tadepallegudem (West Godavary).
One night school at Alamuru (East Godavary).
One day school was established at Kottur (Bellary)
and it may be mentioned that a local Dramatic troupe
gave it a benefit performance, which yielded Rs. 200/-
for the school.
A school for Harijans has been opened at Gulbarga,
(Hyderabad, Daccan) and is now being run by
Sjt. Naik, a Jagirdar of Gulbarga.
Arrangements have been made by the Dist. Committee,
S. U. S., East Godavary, to give free boarding,
lodging and school or college fees for one year to
ten poor Harijan girls in Cocanada.

Wells
A well for Harijans was dug in a hamlet near
Uppada (East Godavary) and a survey of the conditions
of water-supply has been made by the Sevasramam
workers. It has been resolved to dig wells in
places where the survey shows the existence of acute
difficulty for water.
All the wells at Bahadurpur Jatt (Hardwar) were
thrown open to the Harijans.
Four new wells for Harijans were constructed at
Tadepallegudam (Andhra) and one old well has been
thrown open to them.
Five wells in Allur (Nellore) have been opened to
Harijans and a bathing tank, hitherto exclusively used
by caste-Hindus, was thrown open to the Harijans
also on the 8th May.
Two wells have been dug in Tenali for Harijans.
Two wells and one tank have been thrown open to
Harijans in Nellore.
A well is being constructed for Harijans in Addada
(East Kistna) from subscriptions collected locally.
One well in Repalli.
One well in Sunnampadu.
Three wells have been thrown open for the use of
Harijans in Muzaffargunj (Monghyr).
Five wells were opened to Harijans at Dhulia on
the 10th May.
Through the efforts of Messrs. K. Lakshmayya
Choudhari, K. Madhusudana Rao, V. V. Rao,
P. Bappayya A. Anjayya and others, 4 wells in Patmata
and Lank villages and all the wells (nearly 30)
in Edupugallu, 2 in Gandigunta and all the wells
in Kummamuru, have been thrown open to Harijans.
All the wells situated in the fields in village Parna
(U. P.) have been declared to be available for the use
of the Harijans also.
Two private wells in Gollapalem (East Godavary)
have been made available for the use of Harijans also.

Medical Aid
Arrangements have been made to give free medical
relief to Harijans at Rajahmundry and in the village
and neighbourhood of Vuppada.

General
The Masulipatam board of the S. U. S. gave a donation
of Rs. 50/- to the Harijans whose houses were
destroyed by fire recently.
As a result of inquiries made by workers in Uppada
(East Godavary), it was found that the Harijans of
a hamlet had no latrine and no place which could be
used as such. A piece of waste land adjacent to the
hamlet was taken on lease for one year at a rental of
of Rs. 5/-. Each family contributed quarter of an
anna, making up a total of Re. 1/-. The balance of
Rs. 4/- was paid by the Dist. Committee, S. U.S.
The Viramgaum (Ahmedabād) Municipality has
sanctioned Rs. 500/- for providing their sweepers and
scavengers special working suits of clothes,
Necessary help was given to Harijans to construct
roads in their peta in Chilauar.
One gymnasium and one dharmshala were opened
to Harijans at Dhulia on the 10th May.
The Guntur Dist. Committee, S. U. S., decided, as an
experiment, that a Harijan, who had freed himself
from the evils of drink and carrion-eating, would be
supplied with a buffalo to enable him to earn his
living by selling milk etc. and that the cost of the
buffalo was to be recovered from him in easy
instalments.
One gentleman in Narsapur has offered to bear the
expenses of one paid pracharak for propaganda work
in the taluq.
One gentleman in Nellore has undertaken to pay
the expenses of a pracharak in the Dist.
A Co-operative Society- the Delhi Harijans Industrial 
Co-operative Thrift and Credit Society Ltd.-
has been registered by the Delhi S. U. S, to lend funds
to its members, to purchase raw materials and
implements of the crafts for supply to Harijans
and the purchase and sale of the finished goods of
Harijans and to provide educational assistance to its
members.
As a practical expression of their sympathy and
love for Harijans, respectable caste-Hindus of
Kurnool carried tho corpse of a mala woman to the
accompaniment of Govind Sankirtan. The Harijans of
the town were deeply touched by this act of voluntary
service.

CONTENTS
                                                                                                                   Page
WEEK TO WEEK  ...            ...             ...              ...            ...                   1 & 8
HALF-YEARLY REPORT-FOR ANDHRADESH    ...            ...                     2-3
SPARKS FROM THE SACRED FIRE- Mahadev Desai       ...                    4-5
A HOPEFUL SIGN  ...           ...             ...              ...            ...                      7
THE RIGHT WAY    ...           ...             ...              ...            ...                      7

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House No. 936/3 Bhamburda Peth, Poona City.