Concluding the topic ”Educational Landscape of Kashmir” in the previous write up it will be quite relevant and appropriate to glance over three sub-titles i.e. services, income and literacy.
The 17th session of All India Educational Conference was held in Srinagar on 25th-29th Sep 1941 under the Presidentship of Amar Nath Jha, a highly respected academician. The education exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Zakir Hussain. This unexpected event arranged by Ghulam Saiyidain assumed tremendous importance because the conference was inaugurated by Maharaja Hari Singh. A number of topics were discussed in the conference which included higher education, moral and religious education and mechanism of examination. The event was quite successful as all sections of the society participated except Kashmiri Pandits. Gh. Saiyidain was director of Education and Kashmiri Pandits under the banner of Sanatan Dharam Yovak Sabha did everything possible to discredit him. Some newspapers were also used to give vent to their feelings and sentiments. Newspaper ”Martand”, official organ of the community, accused Director Education as being anti-Hindu. On the other side Saiyidain was profusely praised and warmly complimented by speaker after speaker including Sir Gopalaswami Ayyengar. For years ”Martand” carried the following verse of Iqbal on its front page:
نہیں منّت کش تاب شنیدن داستان میری
خاموشی گفتگو ھے, بےزبانی ھے زبان میری
Translation:
𝘔𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.𝘔𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴.
Suddenly and unexpectedly Pandit youth fell in love with Allama Iqbal who was otherwise not owned by the community. The argument advanced by Pandits was that how could such a policy be pursued in a State where administration from top to bottom was in the hands of Hindus. There was, however, hardly anything substantial to show that Saiyidain had communal bent of the mind and was favorable to Muslims in the matters of services, scholarships, foreign trainings and expansion of educational facilities, that would make Pandits unhappy.
The last fact-sheet circulated by the Dogra govt. regarding the period between April 1944 – April 1945 is given as hereunder:
𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱: 150 (Muslims) – 325 (Hindus) – 21 (Sikhs) – 11 (Others)
𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱: 4269 (Muslims) – 6875 (Hindus) – 566 (Sikhs) – 128 (Others)
𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝗩: 3568 (Muslims) – 3546 (Hindus) – 635 (Sikhs) – 217 (Others)
𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀: 𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘵. 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴
The States’s income was Rs. 3,13,85000. The main items of revenue were Forests (Rs 83,64,000), Customs (Rs. 67,30,000), Land Revenue (Rs. 55,69,000) and Silk Department (Rs. 41,91,000). These figures were released in the Administrative Report of 1942-43.
Changes all over the world situation particularly due to the Second World War had put up a serious threat to the global geography and sovereignty of various countries. By the middle of 1943, Italy and Germany had been put on the defensive. It looked certain that the Allies were going to emerge victorious. The British Sarkar was wise enough to pick up indicators of the fast approaching change. A ’refurbished’ constitution of the State had been earlier issued by the Maharaja on 7th Sep 1939. There was no provision in the constitution which could dilute the despotic character of the Maharaja. Big changes were rightly expected in the sub-continent. The Maharaja in his wisdom decided to take a step towards democratization of this government. He, therefore, announced formation of ”The Royal Commission”.
The Royal commission came into existence on 14th July, 1943. The commission was headed by Chief Justice Ganga Nath. It had twenty members which included six Muslim members. The National conference was represented by Mirza Afzal Beg and G.M. Sadiq. Ceding, independence and such like demands were not permitted to be framed and submitted by Muslims to the Commission. The list of demands are given below.
- Ammendment to the Arms Act
- Propriety rights of the land be given to tenants all over the State
- Cow slaughter offence (reduction of punishment from ten to two years) etc
- Status of Hindi and Urdu, as it existed, be maintained
- Forfeiture of property on conversion from Hinduism should be maintained
The National Conference and Muslim Conference, for a change, boycotted together as both challenged the composition of the commission. However Bakhshi and Sadiq immediately after returning from Lahore resigned from the membership.
These were the days when M.A. Jinnah was in correspondence with Lord A.P. Wavell regarding Kashmir. The commission recorded statements of about 200 stake-holders which included some Muslim scholars and advocates. Representatives of other communities i.e. Hindus. Sikhs, Christians and Jains also appeared before the commission.
Figures picked up from the census of 1941 were also presented to the commission regarding daily wages, standard of living, employment situation so on and so forth. Likewise rate of literacy (1941 census) was as under:
Jammu dist – 5.58 %
Kathua – 5.77 %
Udhampur – 5.56%
Reasi – 4.2 %
Mirpus – 7.5 %
Baramula – 4.3%
Srinagar – 3.95%
Pulwama – 3.88%
Anantnad – 5.6%
Kulgam – 5.6%
Askardu – 1.27%
Srinagar City – 21.91%
Jammu City – 35.26%
The chairman of the commission convened a meeting of full commission on 27th October 1944 and asked all the members to append their signatures on the report. The members refused to sign till each and every para of the report was not discussed. Chairman didn’t concede, provoking a walk-out of the members. Ganga Nath Chief Justice (Chairman) had a reputation of being a rabid communal Judge. The report, therefore, was not adopted and simultaneously Sir Ganga Nath attained retirement.
𝘼𝙘𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨:
1. 𝘒𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘺 𝘔.𝘠.𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘧 (𝘗𝘗 574)
2. 𝘑&𝘒 𝘒𝘪 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘨-𝘪-𝘈𝘻𝘢𝘥𝘪 𝘣𝘺 𝘔.𝘚.𝘛𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘲
3. 𝘈𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 1942-43
4. 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘵/𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘵. 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 1944 – 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 1945
Kashmir Tidbits 