"The Registrar of Co-operative Societies, realising that litigation was a curse in the province and a source of great economic loss as well as the frequent origin of serious crimes, formed arbitration societies designed to organise public opinion in favour of the settlement of disputes by arbitration without the intervention of court. These societies met for a time with a remarkable measure of success. In 1922, there were 148 societies with 16,628 members. Many of the cases decided by the society related to cattle trespass and boundary disputes, trivial matters which, however, often lead to riots and expensive civil suits. The moneylender and trader also took advantage of these societies to have their claims amicably and inexpensively settled in the village, instead of undergoing all the trouble and expense of getting a decree in the regular court and executing it. Moreover, the claims when decided by the society were usually settled promptly, for the award had the public on its side. But the organisation of these societies has apparently now been stopped since the new Panchayat Act was passed."

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These arbitration societies were closed down some years ago, but, with change of policy on the part of the Punjab Government, they have now been re-started and are reported to number 27 and to have over 3,000 members. A point in favour of arbitration societies is that they can, by agreement between the parties, deal with cases beyond the money jurisdiction of panchayats.

Any measure that promises to bring about a reduction of litigation deserves support and we are of opinion that the case for facilitating the settlement of village disputes by local arbitration calls for careful consideration by all local governments.

We regret to observe that the Civil Justice Committee comment on the small measure of support the reform has received in the Bombay Presidency; we, therefore, commend it particularly to the attention of the voluntary workers in the co-operative movement to that province. 432. We hold it to be no part of our duty, wide as are the terms of our enquiry, to examine in detail the position and prospects of the depressed classes. But their mere numbers give them an importance in the life of the country, which requires that the problems with which they have become associated shall not be passed over in silence.

THE CLASSES.

DEPRESSED

(i) GENERAL.

The Census Report for 1921 gave the figure of 52,680,000, or one-sixth of the entire population of India, as a rough estimate of the minimum numbers which may be considered to form the "depressed classes" of the Hindu community. The disabilities under which these people labour differ according to the degree of their ceremonial impurity. This "varies in different tracts and is most conspicuous in southern India where, perhaps owing to more settled conditions, orthodox Hindu sentiment has been able to develop an intensity of social differentiation which the more complex conditions in northern India would tend to modify" (Census Report of 1921). That one-fifth of the total population are, in varying degree, denied the common intercourse of life, refused permission to obtain water from the village well, refused even the meagre facilities available for the education of their children, are

facts which every impartial student of social life in India cannot but admit and, admitting, must deplore. But the Hindu community of to-day cannot be justly criticised for results the causes of which lie far back in the social history of an ancient country and are themselves very imperfectly known. An increasing number of the Hindu community are striving with all the resources at their command to remove the stigma of social inferiority from these classes. Although, in some cases, removal from their surroundings and colonisation of areas newly won for cultivation, on the lines of the labour colonies started by the Madras Government, may be a beneficial step, the vastness of the population affected makes it clear that the problem, as a whole, cannot be solved by such special measures. The influence which education has in raising their status is remarkable. The Namasudras of the Bengal Presidency have shown a remarkable desire for, and success in obtaining, education with the result that large sections of the caste who have become educated are now no longer regarded as depressed. We, therefore, affirm our belief in education as the only completely satisfactory solution.

CONFRONTING THE

SOCIAL REFORMER.

433. But here it must be recognised that the social reformer is (ii) DIFFICULTIES confronted with the serious difficulty that the depressed classes as a whole do not desire education for their children. They require, in many cases, the earnings of their children to supplement their own. Nevertheless, progress in education is being made throughout the country. It is impossible to obtain accurate statistics regarding that progress, as no satisfactory definition of what constitutes a "depressed class" can be made. "From the point of view of the educationist, a child may be said to belong to a depressed class if his or her presence in the common school is resented by respectable parents.*" Much encouragement can legitimately be drawn from the fact that this resentment is not an unchanging factor. All social students whom we have met in the course of our enquiry are agreed that, in the past quarter of a century, there has been a general decline in its degree and extent. We agree with the educational authorities that it is important from every point of view that special schools should not be established, but that wherever practicable, the admission of the children of these classes to the ordinary schools should be insisted on. In certain parts of the country, the introduction of the compulsory system may intensify the problem of common education, but we trust that it will be squarely met by all members of the community and not shirked by a resort to special schools or to segregation within the common school. It is scarcely necessary for us to point out that, in no field of work in the villages, have private organisations a greater opportunity for usefulness than in the raising of the depressed element of the community into full membership of the common life.

434. In bringing to a close this brief notice of a very important (i) POLICY TO BE problem, we would emphasise the importance of all such work being educative rather than charitable in

PURSUED.

* Progress of Education in India, 1917-1922 (page 206).

spirit. We are convinced that the best way to help the depressed classes is to get them to help themselves. To instil in them a desire for education and for a removal of their disabilities, is to win far more than half the battle of their emancipation.

AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS 435. The conclusions and recommendations in this chapter may be summarised as follows: (1) The isolation and the self-subsistent economy of village life are tending to break down (paragraph 394).

(2) In the administrative sphere, satisfactory provision already exists to enable the villages to maintain and develop self-government and, at the same time, to participate in the wider life of the province (paragraph 395).

(3) The interaction of agriculture and public health is close and important (paragraph 397).

(4) The working of the Madras district health scheme shows how public interest in health matters can be developed under official guidance (paragraph 401).

(5) The Indian Research Fund Association is an admirable example of that combination of private and official effort on the extension of which rural development of all kinds must depend (paragraph 402).

(6) The principles embodied in the Bombay village medical aid scheme are commended (paragraph 403).

(7) Schemes for subsidising medical practitioners to settle in small towns and villages are also commended (paragraph 404).

(8) An improved water supply is so important that all measures possible to secure this should be undertaken by the local authorities and the State (paragraph 406).

(9) Substantial progress in the campaign against malaria can only be achieved by concerted action by the people themselves assisted by guidance and, within limits, by finance, from Government (paragraph 411).

(10) A much wider distribution of quinine is necessary and to this end the development of cinchona cultivation, the manufacture of quinine, and the control of distribution so far as price within India is concerned should be made a responsibility of the central Government (paragraph 411).

(11) In view of the great importance of extending cinchona cultivation and cheapening quinine, much more scientific investigation is called for than has been undertaken in the past (paragraph 412).

(12) The efforts of the medical and public health departments and of non-official agencies in their fight against disease and insanitary conditions are of the first importance to the prosperity of the country. These efforts should, therefore, be supported by the. central and the provincial governments with all the resources, financial and otherwise, at their command (paragraph 413):

(13) Research into problems of human nutrition is of special importance in Indian conditions and the agricultural departments can do much to assist in the solution these problems (paragraph 414).

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(14) The addition of fish to the diet of the cultivator seems to be the most promising way of securing that improvement in his nutrition which is so much needed and all measures practicable to this end should be taken (paragraph 415).

(15) The problems of human and animal nutrition are closely linked but work on them need not be carried on in the same institute (paragraph 417).

(16) A committee of workers on human and animal nutrition should be formed and should meet at regular intervals (paragraph 417).

(17) The establishment of a Central Institute of Human Nutrition is recommended (paragraph 417).

(18) Local governments should consider the desirability of undertaking research in problems of human nutrition either in provincial institutes or through individual officers. In both cases, the research should be conducted in collaboration with the Central Institute (paragraph 417).

(19) Work in India on human nutrition should be linked up with similar work in other parts of the Empire (paragraph 417).

(20) Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the importance, for rural welfare generally, of improving communications of all kinds (paragraph 418).

(21) No lasting improvement in the standard of living of the great mass of the population can possibly be attained if every enhancement in the purchasing power of the cultivator is to be followed by a proportionate increase in the population (paragraph 420).

(22) Villagers have ample time at their disposal for improving the amenities of their village by co-operative action. Specific directions in which assistance may be given them are, the extension of village sites where these are congested and facilities for providing schools with adequate playing fields (paragraph 421).

(23) For these and other purposes, villagers are much in need of leadership. Instruction of village headmen and subordinate revenue officials in the ideals of village improvement might, in some cases, be productive of good results. In other cases, a "guide" for a group of villages trained on the lines adopted in the Gurgaon district of the Punjab would seem to offer the best solution (paragraphs 422 and 423).

(24) Valuable lessons are to be drawn from the Gurgaon uplift campaign (paragraph 424).

(25) It is important that village and town life should be linked by the efforts of social workers, preferably organised into societies (paragraph 425).

(26) Universities have at once an obligation and a great opportunity to assist in the work of rural development on both its economic and educative sides (paragraph 426).

(27) The establishment of a Bureau of Rural Economic Research in each of the provinces on lines similar to those on which the Board of Economic Inquiry in the Punjab has been established would prove of value (paragraph 427).

(28) The rural community movement in the Punjab combines the advantages of both the official and the private type of organisation (paragraph 429).

(29) The rural community movement will gain in power for good if it develops a women's side to its activities (paragraph 429).

(30) In particular, the establishment of a women's institute in a village would supply a centre for educational and co-operative activities and might remove the obstacles to the employment of women teachers in village schools (paragraph 429).

(31) The possibility of facilitating the settlement of village disputes by local arbitrators calls for careful consideration (paragraph 431).

(32) In no field of rural work have private organisations a greater opportunity for usefulness than in the raising of the members of the depressed classes in the village into full membership of the common life (paragraph 433).

(33) The best means of effecting this are education and the inculcation of self-help (paragraph 434).