REVOLTS IN INDIA? WHY?
Hardiker, Dr. N. S.
Revolts In India? Why? System of Government Has Brought Intense Suffering Upon the People; Life's Ordinary Comforts Lacking By DR. N. S. HARDIKER (Secretary India Home Rule Leasue) WHILE the...
...Agriculture, industries, natural and human resources are all undeveloped and the markets are controlled by foreign merchants...
...A telegram from Simla (India) Dated April 14 states that the revolutionists in Amrit-sar suffered a loss of 200 and an equal number of casualties at Ammedabad and that the revolt is spreading...
...C. Exploitation without Consideration...
...Our readers are familiar with the revolutions in Ireland, Egypt, Korea and other countries, but as it seems that they know very little about the conditions in India which have led the people to revolt, we take this opportunity of writing a few explanatory notes on the situation...
...This, the people say, will establish a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and will rid the country of everything that is curbing the development...
...People Want Results ADD to these the recent developments brought about by the damnable repressive policy pursued by the alien military government of that land...
...India demands in the name of justice nothing more than that the principle of self-determination for which the world war was fought, be applied to her as well...
...Moreover, sanitation has been neglected on the plea that the government has no money...
...As a result, more than half of the total population goes to bed with an empty stomach every night...
...People have time ana again asked for free and compulsory education, but the Government refused to give it to them on the ground that there is no money...
...not to speak of two or three hearty meals...
...The ordinary comforts of life are out of the question...
...This system of Government has brought intense suffering upon the people...
...Of the 315 million people, 295 million can neither read nor write...
...Wonderful record indeed...
...but they are nevertheless, subjected to a tax of $1.60, leaving a balance of $7.90...
...While claiming that they have no money for education and sanitation—that autocratic government has proposed in their budget for 1919-1920 to spend nearly one-half of the total revenue on military and navy alone, and further under the name of justice and peace, they have recently passed a law which is so drafted that any one, whose writing or speaking is disliked by the officials (who are recruited in England and appointed by the Government) may be arraigned and tried by special processes, which in effect abolish all ordinary law...
...But without :.ny regard to this opposition of the people, the bill was passed and was immediately put into effect...
...If these conditions are permitted to continue, the entire nation may be wiped out...
...The people and their leaders have determined to get what they want by resisting all undesirable law...
...The result therefor, is: A. Administration without Consultation...
...The British Government, after a rule of 162 years, has been able to educate only six out of every one hundred people...
...Their average per capita income, according to government estimates, is $9.50 (in reality it is much less) a year...
...This is not enough to supply even one complete meal a day...
...The result is just what it ought to be...
...b) Deadly diseases like the plague, cholera, influenza, malaria and others...
...How are they able to resist germs then...
...This then leads to: Waste of Humanity 1. Waste of humanity, brought about by (a) Terrible famines...
...N. S. HARDIKER (Secretary India Home Rule Leasue) WHILE the Paris Peace Conference is busy moulding the destinies of the world, revolts are occurring in countries which are controlled by some of the members of the Allies...
...It is a rule of one people by another...
...India where 315 million human beings have their homes, has been ruled by England for the last 162 years...
...The people and their leaders warned the government not to take this dangerous step, as it would be injurious to the administration...
...Riots and revolts will not subside by repressive measures but they will automatically cease to exist when genuine democracy and real justice are made safe for all...
...It has ended in strikes, in riots and in revolt throughout the country, and as a means to put them down, the Government has made use of machine guns and bombs from air-planes and armoured cars in the st-eets...
...The bondage and deaths combined are causing deterioration of the population...
...The education today is neither free nor compulsory...
...What do the people want...
...New York City...
...They have been ground down to dust and left in abject poverty...
...Food and proper nourishment alone give power to resist such diseases, but these the people lack...
...Meetings of protest throughout the country were held and every one of the so-called educated members of the Imperial Legislative Council voted against the bill...
...B. Taxation without Representation...
...2. Bondage, brought about by (a) Indebtedness of the working class, which constitutes 92 per cent of the total population...
...Passive resistance is declared...
...Being always in debt, the working man is constantly in a state of despair, often on the verge of suicide—never happy...
...b) Illiteracy of the people at large...
...These have now become chronic and are continuously taking a heavy toll of human lives...
...While their alien rulers are equally determined to crush their efforts by the usual means...
...Famines arc not caused by lack of rain, or lack of fertility of the soil or over population, but because the people of the country are exploited of their subsistence and deprived of their opportunities for the benefit of those who, through greed and vanity have become devoid of human sympathy...
Vol. 11 • May 1919 • No. 5
