……he that laboureth right for
love of Me
Shall finally attain! But, if in
this
Thy faint heart fails, bring Me
thy failure!
THE SONG CELESTIAL
‘THE
TRIPLE STREAM’ 1
By K. Ramakotiswara Rau
The Andhra State
The
heroic self-immolation of Sri Potti Sriramulu is a landmark
in recent Indian history. For a parallel we have to turn to the fast unto death
of Mayor MacSwiney during the Irish struggle for freedom, or
to the tragic end of young Jatin Das. As a Satyagrahi and a devoted disciple of
Gandhiji, Sriramulu decided to make this supreme sacrifice to achieve a union
of hearts among the Andhra leaders, and vindicate the justness of the Andhra
claim to a State of their own as a homogeneous unit of the Republic of India.
An Andhra State was bound to be formed sooner or later, but Sriramulu’s death
undoubtedly hastened its formation. What the memory of Gandhiji is to
all-India, the memory of Sriramulu is to Andhra. But the pity of it all is that
such an extreme step should have been deemed necessary to effect an administrative
change.
Soon
after the announcement of the Prime Minister in Parliament, Justice Wanchoo
enquired into the “financial and other implications” of the formation of the
new State. But the complete exclusion of the City of Madras from Andhra and the
unwillingness of the Centre to commit itself to a definite view about the
eventual constitution of the City into a “Part C” State, raised problems which
led to acrimonious controversies between two great peoples of the South–the
Tamils and the Andhras. After the separation of Andhra, Madras will necessarily
remain as the Capital of the residuary State. The Andhra contention is that, if
not immediately, at least when the Kerala and Karnataka States are formed, the
city of Madras should be centrally administered and function as multi-lingual
city with a cosmopolitan atmosphere, which it has always been. But quite apart
from this contention, the Andhras desire to
locate their temporary Capital in the City, without claiming to exercise any
jurisdiction over it.
The Wanchoo Report is being examined by the Central Government, and, within a week or two, a final decision will be arrived at. If Madras is to become the temporary Capital of Andhra, a formula must be evolved which will, on the one hand, safeguard the dignity of the new Andhra Government during its residence as a ‘guest’, and, on the other, allay the misgivings of the Tamils about possible conflicts between the Governments of the two States. But more than any formula which the wit of seasoned, statesmen can devise, what is needed is a spirit of friendliness between two neighbouring peoples who are common citizens of the Indian Union, and not rival nations owing allegiance to two independent sovereign States like India and Pakistan. The non-financial, and the non-material implications are therefore vastly more important than the financial ones, and the promotion of affection and tenderness on either side must be the prime care of the cultural leaders of South India–the poets, the artists, and the idealists, who will fashion the future and efface the memory of ugly words and ugly deeds.
The
ranks of our elder statesmen are being depleted rapidly, at a time when their
wise counsel and ripe experience are needed in the task of building a new
India. The career of Sri N. Gopalaswami Iyengar–who started life as a Deputy
Collector in the Madras Provincial Service and rose to be the Defence Minister
of Independent India–illustrates the change-over from other-rule to
self-rule. Till the Montagu dispensation, even the most distinguished of Indian
administrators could not occupy positions higher than that of Secretaries to
Government in the Provinces of what was known as ‘British’ India. In ‘Indian’
India–the India under the Ruling Princes–they could become Dewans or Prime
Ministers and employ their talents to advantage. The history of leading Indian
States like Baroda, Mysore, Travancore and Cochin, is a brilliant record of the
achievements of Indian statesmen. Of earlier generation. Sri Gopalaswami
Iyengar became Prime Minister of Kashmir at a critical period in the
history of that State, even as his eminent uncle, the late Srinivasa Raghava
Iyengar, held the reins of power in the State of Baroda. It is
interesting to recall that it was a brother of Srinivasa Raghava Iyengar–Sri
Kasturi Ranga Iyengar–that raised “The Hindu” of Madras to its great position
in Indian Journalism. In the generation it was given to S. Rangaswami and A.
Rangaswami Iyengar, brother of Gopalaswami Iyengar; to
serve “The Hindu” and maintain its high traditions.
To
intellectual gifts of a high order Sri Gopalaswami Iyengar joined the rarer
qualities of exemplary conscientiousness in the discharge of his duties and
equanimity of spirit even in trying circumstances. He was always a friend of
the poor and strove to improve the conditions of the agriculturist whom he
considered to be the backbone of our rural economy. Finally, in the discussion
of public questions in Parliament and in the day-to-day administration of great
Departments of State, he displayed that balance and detachment
which make for a high level of efficiency. His intimate knowledge of the
Kashmir problem proved invaluable when he represented
India at Lake success.
India
mourns the loss of a high-souled patriot and servant of the
Nation.
At the Cross-Roads
Not
a week passes without important pronouncements on the reorganisation of our
educational system. Governors of States, Vice-Chancellors of Universities and
Ministers of Education, besides other individuals eminent in public life or the
profession of teaching, express widely differing views. A Commission appointed
by the Government of India to report on Secondary Education is touring the
country and collecting evidence. There is obvious difficulty in shaping
Secondary Education so as to serve the two-fold purpose of providing a useful
occupation by the end of the school course, and preparing the students for
higher studies at the Universities. A bifurcation of studies has been attempted
in some States with indifferent success: neither the students nor their parents
are able to make up their minds when the time for a choice
between divergent courses comes towards the middle of the school period of six
years. The desire for a ‘literary’ education persists.
Even
if it is eventually decided to keep occupational schools quite apart from those
that lead up to University courses, the latter must continue to face the
problems arising from the change over from the Indian language medium to that
of English at the Intermediate stage. While the Education Department of the Government
of India is keen on replacing English by an Indian language as the medium of
instruction in all Indian Universities, the Vice-Chancellors,
as a body, are apprehensive that such a step would lead to a further lowering
of standards. Even the students do not seem to be
enthusiastic about employing an Indian language for the purpose of answering
their examination papers. At the Nagpur University, an overwhelming majority of
the students sought and obtained exemption, so that they
could answer in English instead of Hindi or Marathi. When, at
some future date, English ceases to be the medium of instruction at our
Universities and is only taught as a foreign language, it is doubtful if the
Universities in the non-Hindi areas will agree to adopt Hindi in preference to
their regional languages. They would like to see those languages developed to
the highest degree as effective instruments for the dissemination of culture,
and not relegated to an inferior position as being good enough only for the
Secondary stage. Even the Radhakrishnan Commission expressed the view that the
place of English as the medium of instruction at the Universities could be
taken either by Hindi or the regional language, the choice being left to the
University in each case. A conference of Ministers of Education and
Vice-Chancellors will meet at Delhi shortly to debate this and allied questions
like the maintenance of uniform standards.
Meanwhile
a scholar like Prof. Siddhanta has declared himself in favour of the
continuance of English as the medium of instruction for an indefinite period.
He has no illusions about the efficacy of Hindi or the other Indian languages.
Sri K. M. Munshi goes a step further and thinks it a ‘crime’ to teach through
any of the Indian languages!
In
this welter of conflicting opinions, the students suffer. Something has to be
done immediately to give them a sense of freedom from perpetual
experimentation. At least for the transitional period of ten to fifteen years,
an agreement can be reached on the following basis:
(1) No
attempt should be made to give up the English medium at the. Universities for a
minimum period of ten years.
(2) It
should be open to each University, at the end of that period. to adopt either Hindi
or the regional language.
(3) So
long as English is the medium of instruction at the University level, it
should be taught as a compulsory language right through the six years of the
Secondary stage, even if the medium of instruction is the regional language.
In
addition to all this, a determined effort must be made to improve Hindi and
other Indian languages, to enable them to be efficient media of instruction at
our Universities.
1
March 2.