THE DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLE IN INDIA

...He was referring to Communists, but there is little doubt that the rights of others would be trampled along with the Communists' if such a view should prevail...

...China's bellicose behavior toward India during the past year may be motivated as much by a desire to see India's democratic image destroyed as by sheer expansionism...

...The problem of unemployment in India is uniquely complex and baffling because in addition to a huge surplus population which cannot at once be absorbed into even an expanding economy, there are psychological and cultural problems of considerable magnitude...

...Parents generally consider only persons from the same caste as suitable marriage partners for their children...

...One of my Indian acquaintances had been out of work for two years but he refused to take a job in a jute mill: he wants to be a "peon," delivering messages, running errands, and doing odd jobs—a respectable occupation, in his eyes, as it involves work in an office...

...One of the most remarkable aspects of the Indian experiment and perhaps its source of greatest strength is the constant concern of the government to secure popular consent for its policies...

...The Praja Socialist Party (PSP) and other Socialist groups have pockets of popularity here and there, but no nationwide appeal...

...She saw her husband for the first time later in the evening during the last part ot the wedding ceremony...

...Jawaharlal Nehru, who has been India's only prime minister since it became independent, has favored a blend of socialism and democracy and, thus far, has been able to carry with him a majority of the Congress Party and the approval of the masses...

...But it is weakened by the lack of a genuine opposition party...

...High school graduates who are unsuccessful in finding office jobs with only a high school diploma think that a college degree will help them make the grade professionally...

...They want to keep all their holidays—and India has more than any country in the world...

...Last winter one of my brightest students, the daughter of a professor, invited me to her wedding...

...Several government agencies are working hard at bringing about improvements in the educational system and already there are some universities which are pioneering in new directions...

...Never before has a major nation attempted to do all these things in so brief a span of time...

...On the questidn of languages, for RUTH WIDMAYER, political scientist at Portland State College, Portland, Oregon, is currently completing a two-year teaching assignment in India...

...There are some hopeful signs...

...In Calcutta an advertisement for a dispatcher drew over five thousand applications, many of them from holders of master's degrees...

...Fishermen, tanners, leather-workers, and shoemakers are untouchables because they work with animal products...

...The disappointed job seeker does not ordinarily accept work as a factory hand—though he may take a job as a bus or taxi driver...

...The Socialist leader who had greatest national stature and respect, Jayapra-kash Narayan, abandoned politics to join Vinoba Bhave, the saintly, non-political leader of the voluntary movement to give land to the peasants...

...Although it is mainly the upper classes which are availing themselves of these devices, knowledge of birth control is beginning to trickle down to other layers of the population...

...In Kerala they were the governing party until recently, and actually gained popular support in a recent election...

...Anxiety toward other powers might lead not only to the curtailment of economic development but also to the undermining of political freedoms...

...he won't take just any job...

...Though the government has made the practice of untouchability a criminal offense, there are still instances where Harijans are treated with contempt and cruelty in the villages...

...This is one of the chief reasons for the gradualness of many of the changes occurring in Indian society...

...Led by the former governor general of India, C. Rajagopalachari, a man of considerable fame and distinction, the Swatantra (Independent) Party already has won over a number of dissident members of the Congress Party who have long resented the Leftist bias of the party under Nehru's tutelage...

...Should it fail, the aspirations of the economically underdeveloped peoples everywhere for technological progress along with the preservation of human dignity will receive a shattering blow...

...One's skin color does not make much difference educationally or professionally, but it is of the utmost consequence with respect to marriage, especially for girls...

...Their aspiration is a government job, which has the highest prestige in India, or a white-collar job in an office...

...Nehru has criticized it as an exponent of the Nineteenth Century brand of liberalism and for being out of step with the times...

...Thus, the building of new factories and the establishment of new industries will not necessarily solve the problem of unemployment, especially among the group which reacts most explosively to enforced idleness —the rebellious intellectuals...

...Those with more education are even fussier about the work they will accept...

...During the past year student rowdyism has been so extreme that three large universities were forced to close down temporarily...

...Conservative in its orientation —it favors much greater scope for private enterprise—the movement has attracted many businessmen and industrialists and is thus in a position to finance its campaigns more generously than the other parties...

...if the college administration adopts a policy the students don't like, they go on strike themselves...

...In areas where there are a large number of Harijans, double-member constituencies are set up—one seat open to any candidate, the other only to a Harijan...

...Even among liberal, Westernized Indians, arranged marriages still continue, with few exceptions...

...Though still in its infancy, it may soon emerge as a major factor in Indian politics...

...The disruption of the economy which would be caused by a massive defense program in an underdeveloped country and the frustrations produced by the muzzling of a volatile people accustomed to mass protest movements might lead the people in desperation to give the Communists a chance...

...On a number of occasions when students at Calcutta University objected to their examinations they angrily tore them up and stalked out of the room, smashing chairs and desks as they went...

...If he fails in this attempt, he falls back on his family—as indeed he may have to do even if he secures an M.A...

...The vast majority of the population—the peasants—has only the faintest notion of what the transformation of the country is all about...

...They are lacking in forceful leadership and meaningful alternatives to the Congress Party's program...

...To endow manual labor with dignity and respect is a difficult task among a people who have traditionally regarded such activity with disdain...

...Demoralization among students has led to a serious breakdown of discipline in the universities...

...The entire caste system is perpetuated through marriage...

...a short working day...

...The joint family is still the prevailing system, where not only the husband, wife, and their children, but the husband's parents, brothers, unmarried sisters, and sometimes aunts and cousins all live together...

...Universities also reserve places for Harijans and they are admitted with poorer academic records than those of higher caste students...

...the right to strike, not only against management but against government policies, without losing any pay...

...But upon securing their bachelor's degrees, they once again find themselves academically outclassed...

...In a recent emotion-packed address on the question of India's defense, a speaker said: "The time has come when whoever is not with us is against us...

...They become easy prey to extreme political ideologies...

...Whether either of these developments is the actual goal of the Chinese Communists or would merely be the unintended consequence of Chinese actions makes no real difference as far as the ultimate impact is concerned...

...If a Rightist government created mass dissatisfaction by producing resentment among those silenced and deprived of their previous liberties, it might be overthrown by a coalition of Leftist forces, led by the Communists...

...Sometimes untouchables have changed their names, as surnames indicate caste, but now the tendency is to go back to the old Harijan name to take advantage of the many special privileges which Harijans receive...

...Despite India's challenging goal of an industrialized and modernized welfare state run by a politically democratic system, there are no elan-inspiring movements, leaders, or ideologies...

...Even in the more likely event that a Rightist regime could maintain itself in power, the Chinese have little to lose, since such a regime would deprive India of her unique appeal in Asia as the foremost exponent of political democracy plus economic progress and social reform...

...India has undertaken the unprecedented task of striving to develop genuinely democratic institutions while simultaneously attempting large scale industrialization and broad social welfare programs...

...there was scarcely any technical education because England was not concerned with industrialization in India...

...Instead of being expelled, they were given examinations more to their liking...

...India's ability to withstand pressures from either the Right or the Left depends in any event on the strength and viability of her social, political, and economic institutions...

...The ranks of the unemployed are filled with college graduates who refuse to take jobs involving manual labor...

...But democracy in India remains a tender shoot...

...She taught international affairs for a year at Jadav-pur University, Calcutta, and for a year at Osmania University, Hyderabad...

...Under these conditions, unemployment is not quite so great a catastrophe as it is in societies where every individual must fend for himself...

...In the state of West Bengal the Communists are the chief opposition...

...But in a sense these weaknesses are also a kind of strength—there are no attempts to force support of government policies, no regimentation, no phony campaigns to enlist popular passions, no exaggerated claims that today's privations will bring tomorrow's paradise...

...One means of insuring a setback— if not total disaster—to India's economic and social development programs would be to create among the Indian people and their leaders such fear of foreign aggression that huge military appropriations would supplant expenditures for education, industry, and village improvements...

...he tries to get admission to a university for a master's degree...

...But counterbalancing these forces are the concepts of liberalism, equalitari-anism, and individualism which inspired the leaders of the independence movement, and which they, and their successors, have been trying to implement in the post-independence period...

...As many as 70,000 men in this state have undergone sterilization operations in government clinics...

...Indian society still retains aspects of its authoritarian past—a hierarchal caste system, and submergence of the individual in the patriarchal family...

...To encourage inter-caste marriages, several of the state governments give special bounties to an untouchable man who marries a higher caste girl or supplies the equivalent of a dowry for an untouchable girl marrying a man from another caste...

...To achieve a democratic way of life in India means eliminating the age-old barriers of the caste system in which one's position in life is determined not by his abilities but by his birth...

...A whole block in downtown Calcutta has virtually nothing but shops advertising "Supplies for Family Planning" and contraceptives are sold openly by street vendors along with candy and cigarettes...

...She sat huddled in one room, surrounded by the women-folk, while the groom held forth in another part of the house...

...Sweepers, garbage haulers, and washermen are Harijans because they perform work which involves unclean objects...

...and Nehru is less the leader of a majority party with mass appeal than an idolized charismatic father figure...

...It is nourished by parliamentary government, popular elections, and a free press...

...The early Hindu conquerors were acutely conscious of their fair complexions in contrast with the dark skin of the people they ruled, and over the years high status came to be connected with light skin color...

...Students who are expelled sometimes resort to hunger strikes until the administration relents and readmits them...

...and the privilege of accepting only those jobs which appeal to them...

...Students not only often support workers' strikes and political demonstrations...

...The more youth who become educated, the more acute this problem becomes—and each year the colleges and universities become more crowded...

...If one or two members of the family are unemployed, the rest have that much less of what the other members earn...

...The Communists' following is greatest in precisely those areas where the educated unemployed are found in largest numbers...

...Though conservative in its economic program, the Swatantra Party is dedicated to the principles of old-fashioned liberalism and is in no sense a Fascist type of organization...

...if the Chinese threats continue the strain will simply be that much greater...

...This boy has had about six years of education and knows a little English...

...It offered a classical and literary curriculum...

...Now a large number of engineering and technical institutes and colleges are being established and more practical subjects are being introduced into the curricula of the existing institutions...

...After I had met the groom and had rejoined her, she asked me, plaintively, "Is he good looking...

...The Indian government is acutely aware of the awesome population problem facing the country...

...But if the Indian experiment were to end in failure, it would be a crushing blow to the hope for the development of free institutions in much of Asia...

...Moreover, Indians are likely to defend the major democratic reforms from encroachments by either conservative economic interests or ultra-radical political movements since they have been the beneficiaries of these reforms and have, through their own elected representatives, brought the changes into being...

...If India should succeed in this ambitious venture, her influence in Asia would far exceed China's, with her atheism, forced commune-ization, and terrorist methods...

...One of the biggest threats to Indian political democracy is widespread, massive unemployment, especially among the educated element of the population...

...No crusading spirit, no sense of dedication animates the people...

...While it is true there is no genuine opposition political party in India as a whole, there are opposition groups at the state and local levels, some with considerable strength...

...The Swatantra Party may find favor among the fairly large number of people who are fed up with the corruption and lack of dynamism so often found in the Congress Party and who do not see any suitable alternative among the other parties...

...There are ominous divisive trends in the country...

...Under the second Five-Year Plan unemployment increased rather than declined, despite the development of many new industries...

...But in the other twelve states Communist influence is slight...

...Except for Nehru, there are few political figures who command allegiance in all parts of the country...

...India inherited the British system which was intended to train a relatively few superior students for jobs in the administration...

...To cope more effectively with the problem of raising Harijans to the status of first-class citizens, the government provides many positive benefits for them...

...This would amply vindicate the Chinese for their present strategy...

...The southern Indians nourish other grievances, too, among them a belief that the national government, dominated by representatives of the northern states, does not provide the south proportional advantages in economic development...

...The lowliest are the untouchables, known both as Harijans—the term used by Gandhi, meaning Children of God—and as members of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, because their names were entered on lists, or schedules, by the British government...

...During the past year a new political movement was launched...

...Once the people of the Orient saw the possibility of economic and social improvement without the ruthless measures of Communist China, they would be only too happy to follow the Indian example rather than the Chinese...

...Because the government has carried the people along by voluntary consent and has not forced social change at a pace which would have been resented and resisted, the people are loyal and will defend the state against external attack if the need arises...

...In addition to internal pressures, India's nascent democracy faces a new threat from across her borders...

...example, the large states of northern India favor the adoption of Hindi as the official language, while in the south, where Hindi is not spoken, this is rigorously opposed...

...The educated city workers and professionals who do understand are not eager to make any sacrifices for the sake of achieving the goals of the Five-Year Plans...

...It is perhaps the only government in the world which officially sponsors a gigantic program of family planning, allotting millions of dollars annually for this purpose...

...In addition to caste distinctions, there is also a deep-seated color prejudice in India...

...We must exterminate the internal danger...

...The basis of untouchability is partly occupational and partly religious...

...In some cases the higher castes are fair and the lower castes are dark...

...The only real chance for Communism to succeed in India would be under conditions of chaos and despair...

...Each state has at least one Harijan minister and Harijan legislators in proportion to the percentage of untouchables in the population...

...Many newspapers carry matrimonial advertisements, which often read like this: "Light complexion bride with at least intermediate [high school] education, for graduate officer...

...There has been no attempt to stamp out the caste system by fiat, but the government is doing a great deal to improve conditions for the untouchables...

...Government offices and enterprises provide a certain number of jobs only lor Harijans and the qualifications for them are lower than for other applicants...

...A young country which feels itself threatened by powerful external forces often feels it cannot afford the luxury of criticism of the government's policies, strikes by workers in essential industries, or opposition political parties...

...Students who face slim prospects of securing satisfying work after they receive their degrees do not throw themselves wholeheartedly into their studies...

...All this is giving untouchables greater economic independence and making it possible for them to choose alternatives to their traditional occupations, which, in turn, will eventually lead to the withering away of untouchability...

...This prejudice is beginning to break down, but it is still a serious hindrance to economic development...

...The national parliament and the state legislatures set aside a certain number of reserved seats for representatives of Scheduled Castes and Tribes...

...But it is questionable if a conservative party can secure a genuine mass following in a country of hungry peasants and discontented workers who look with envy and suspicion at those who wield great economic power...

...In Calcutta, there is a shortage of skilled artisans and a great over-supply of both unskilled and educated workers...

...In the state of Madras alone there are fourteen urban and eighty-four rural family planning centers...