February 13, 1954 On the assumption that the Kash­ latest Consembly decision, Kash­ are now known, and that, therefore, mir Constituent Assembly mirrors mir's accession can be said to be there is no need for a plebiscite? the wishes of the people, it would complete. It is true that the Basic It would be wrong to jump to any be legitimate to conclude that the Principles Committee recommends such conclusion, despite Bakshi people of Jammu and Kashmir en­ that the Kashmir Constitution Ghulam Mohammed's claim that dorse the latest decision of the Con­ should accept " all the obligations Kashmir's accession to India is final sembly to accede to India. " While that flow from the fact of accession and irrevocable, and that no power preserving the internal autonomy of . . ." But it is equally true that on earth, not even the Security the State," the Basic Principles the processes relating to the inte­ Council, can change the relation Committee recommends, " all the gration of the other former princely now established between India and obligations which flow from the fact States into India have yet to be Kashmir. At the time of the forma­ of accession and also its elaboration completed as regards Kashmir. tion of the Kashmir Consembly, as contained in the There is, besides, the fact that the Pandit Nehru assured the Security should find an appropriate place in Kashmir problem remains on the Council that its formation, or its the Constitution ". Under the re­ agenda of the United Nations. It decisions, will not prejudice the commendations of this Committee, would, therefore, be safer to say holding of a plebiscite. India is the Kashmir Constitution will in­ that Kashmir's accession, even after committed to this pledge. Even corporate all the basic provisions of the Consembly decision, relates to those who deplore New Delhi's the Constitution of India. It will defence, foreign affairs and com­ action in referring Kashmir to the include such provisions as will en­ munications. Even so, it will be con­ United Nations, and especially the able New Delhi to discharge its ceded that the Consembly decision circumstances under which it was obligations and responsibilities re­ takes the problem many steps made, will admit that a plebiscite lating to the State of Jammu and nearer solution, as it includes the is still necessary. There arc still Kashmir. Supreme Court's authority over the many constitutional irregularities in Kashmir High Court, certain finan­ the relations between India and There are two separate issues in­ cial arrangements and the relation Kashmir. But those in Kashmir, volved in the accession of the State of fundamental rights to Kashmir's and within India, who argue that of Jammu and Kashmir to the In­ land reform plans. the Consembly decision has made dian Union. In 1947, the then the plebiscite redundant ignore that Maharaja of Kashmir signed an Pandit Nehru has repeatedly asserted that India will abide by it is undiplomatic and unwise for Instrument of Accession. It was conscientious and peaceful nations legally and validly executed by the the wishes of the people of Kash­ mir. Docs the Consembly decision to disown, or to bypass, interna­ last Maharaja of Kashmir under the tional obligations and pledges. authority of the last British Gover­ mean that the wishes of the people nor-General of India. Mr Zafrullah Khan, Pakistani Foreign Minister, is a clever lawyer. He is aware of the legality of the procedure relating to Eastern Kashmir's accession to India in 1947. That is why, he, as an able defence lawyer, has always pleaded I K E Congress in India, the Pakistan, it is reflected in the before the Security Council that L rules in internecine strife between the Pun­ the accession was an act of fraud Pakistan as the majority party. jabi and the non-Punjabi elements committed by the Hindu Maharaja This is what the Muslim League in Western Pakistan, and in East­ of Kashmir in collusion with the claims, though the argument lacks ern Pakistan's fears about domina­ Hindu rulers of India. constitutional basis. Pakistan has tion by Western Pakistan. Both yet to hold a general election. In Karachi and New Delhi are suspi­ As with the other princely States, the Centre, and in some of the cious of these political cross-cur­ Kashmir's original accession related provinces, the Muslim League is rents. New Delhi is trying to assu­ to defence, foreign affairs and com­ still functioning as a provisional age irredentist elements by conced­ munications. With the legal inte­ government. Here the dissimilarity ing the need for re-drawing the gration of the other princely States, ends, and the similarity between map of India. Karachi relies some of them were merged with the Congress and the Muslim League mainly on the personal equation to neighbouring Indian units; some begins. Even as Congress remains reconcile these conflicts, although it others were formed into Unions of in power in India because of lack has been astute in permitting elec­ States; most of them continued to of alternate leadership, the Muslim tions in those problem provinces function later as Part ' B ' States. League rules in Pakistan in the where these tendencies are most In Kashmir, these latter processes absence of any strong, determined acute. could not be completed because of opposition. Just as Congress warns Even as Congress confronts a continued fighting, and of reference, the people that it alone can ensure formidable challenge in Travan- by India, of the Kashmir problem the Republic's political and terri­ corc-Cochin, the Muslim League is to the United Nations. With the torial integrity, the Muslim League experiencing the most determined acceptance by the Kashmir Con- tries to consolidate its position by opposition yet faced by it in East­ sembly of the recommendations of emphasising that it alone has the ern Pakistan. In Travancore- the Basic Principles Committee and organisation to maintain an Islamic Cochin, Congress is fighting the of the Fundamental Rights and State in Pakistan. elections against a United Left. In Citizenship Committee for complete In both countries, there is grow­ Eastern Pakistan, the non-Muslim accession, the decision taken in ing opposition to the political League Muslim political parties are 1947 has been doubly legalised. domination by the Centre. In contesting the Muslim League as a Two questions now remain. It is India, this manifests itself in the United Front. In both Travan- debatable whether, even with the campaign for linguistic States. In eore-Cochin and Eastern Pakistan, 184 February 13, 1954 the election campaign has been, opposition strength has been under­ Indeed, one of the election slogans and continues to be, intense. As mined because of the division be­ of the Muslim League is that if prominent .Communist and PSP tween Hindus and the Scheduled the United Front (Muslim) wins leaders are taking an active part Castes. It is significant that though the elections it will form a coali­ in the election campaign of Tra- the United Front (Muslim) is tion cabinet which will include vancore-Cochin, the three non-Mus­ making a determined bid for power, Hindu Ministers. To this Mr Faz­ lim League political stalwarts—Mr it is debarred, under the system in lul Huq replies that, if the Front H S Suhrawardy, Mr Fazlul Huq which the elections are being wins, it will be only following the and Maulana Bhashani—are united fought, from entering into any Quaid-e-Azam and Mr Nurul in making a combined bid for electoral coalition with the Hindus Amin, the present Chief Minister power in Eastern Pakistan. and the minorities. of Eastern Pakistan, in including Faced by a similar challenge, both Congress and the Muslim League are adopting identical tac­ tics. Even as Pandit Nehru went to Travancore-Cochin to bolster the Congress morale in that State, Mr Mohammed Ali, the Pakis­ tani Prime Minister, had been to Eastern Pakistan in connec­ tion with the election campaign, to lend his prestige and authority to the Muslim League. Though the election was due by the middle of this month, it has been post­ poned to March 8, in order to give " sufficient time to candidates and the electorate to do justice to the task". Muslim League's rivals complain that the date for the poll has been extended to suit its inte- restSj and that it may lead to con­ stitutional irregularities. In Eastern Pakistan, 309 seats for the Assembly are being con­ tested on the basis of separate elec­ torates. In 237 constituencies, the United Front is fighting the Muslim League. In the new Assembly, the East Bengal minorities have been allotted seventy-two seats. Caste Hindus have thirty-one seats which are being contested by 101 candi­ dates. 154 candidates are contest­ ing the seats set apart for the Scheduled Castes, The Pakistani National Congress and the Minority United Front are the rivals in the Hindu constituencies. Three par­ ties are fighting the elections from the Scheduled Caste constituencies. The Rasraj Mandal group, which supports joint electorates, has the tacit support of the Minority United Front. The Barori group, led by Mr D N Barori, the Sche­ duled Caste Minister for Co-opera­ tion in the present Cabinet, has the support of the Muslim League. The third group among the Sche­ duled Castes is a splinter party formed recently as a result of dis­ sensions within the Barori group. From this composition of the political parties contesting the elec­ tions, it is apparent that the Mus­ lim League is fighting the battle with an advantage. Under the system of separate electorates, the 185 February 13, 1954 Hindus in the Cabinet, ed in his recent election speeches - League emphases that it along Irrespective of the chances of the need for encouraging Eastern can maintain political cohesion in the United Front (Muslim) and of Bengal's deep-rooted social and the new State, although it is blunt the Muslim League in the elections, cultural traditions. in its insistence on the religious the issues on which the East Pakis­ basis of the State of Pakistan. tan elections are being fought arc If the United Front (Muslim) is There is some similarity in the by now clean Mr Fazlul Huq and relying on the provincial instincts political aspect of the election cam­ his associates know their strong and inclinations of East Bengal, paigns in Travancore-Cochin and [joints. The United Front (Mus­ the Muslim League is raising the Eastern Pakistan. But the compa­ lim) is fighting the elections on bogey of Islam in danger. Mr rative progress to democracy since the slogan, " Eastern Bengal for Nurul Amin, the Chief Minister, is independence in both countries is Eastern ". Adoption of warning the people that " the com­ reflected in the economic aspect of Bengali as one of the State lan­ ing general election would be a the election campaign. Failure of guages is the other major election sort of referendum to decide if the economic policy of Congress is slogan of-the Front. Both these would remain a part a major issue in the Travancore- slogans have popular appeal. This of Pakistan, or join Bharat ". This Cochin elections. Economic prob­ explains why Mr Mohammed Ali, is a subtle warning against the lems are not the main issues on the Pakistani Prime Minister, has alleged fifth-columnist inclinations which the East Pakistan elections repeatedly affirmed his support to of the East Bengal minorities, as are being fought, although econo­ the demand that Bengali must be well as against the non-Islamic mic recession and acute shortage of adopted as one of the State lan­ characteristics of the United Front the necessities of life continue to guages. It is also significant that (Muslim). threaten East Bengal's political and he has, over and over again, stress­ Like Congress, the Muslim economic stability. Weekly Notes

Guinea-pigs of Free India try. Freedom has meant thought­ prices. As the economic determi­ less licence in the field of educa­ nants undergo a major shift with R C P RAMASWAMI tion; and anyone who by the .acci­ the march of time, such replace­ A I Y A R , Vice-Ghancellor of D dent of politics comes to have ments are most necessary lest we the Annamalai University, is one of something to do with education is wallow in meaningless nostalgia. the few public men in this country only too prone to indulge in experi­ A complete history of index to display sustained concern over mentation at the cost of the help­ numbers is yet to be written. The the growing sense of frustration less student. earliest index number was publish­ among students. Participating in a The young have indeed become ed by Dutot in 1738 regarding the symposium on " World University so many guinea-pigs for the testing prices in the times of Louis XII Service, Universities and Human of educational fancies and whims, and of Louis XIV. Since that time Society" at Delhi University this which, though well-intentioned in there has been almost a continuous week, he attributed this frustration certain cases, spell nothing but process of constructing and recon­ to the fact that the young in India disaster to the progress of educa­ structing index numbers all over had to face grim problems " too tion and the sound growth of young the world. early in life and too continuously ". minds. If the educational system In our country the earliest index The report of the speech in the needs to be changed, let it be number of wholesale prices was local papers does not indicate whe­ changed at one stroke and on a compiled from 37 articles of which ther he specified these " grim prob­ national basis, instead of in a piece­ 14 were of the food crop, 17 of raw lems " or not. Anyway, apart from meal manner and on a territorial produce group and 6 of manufac­ the obvious problems that face the basis, State by State or area by tured group. The base year was young in this over-populated and area. In any case, let the student 1871 and was later on shifted to economically backward country, know now at least—after six years 1873. This index was too crude harried by the difficulties and anxie­ of freedom—where exactly he and its base too old to serve as a ties of a state of transition, there stands in regard to his educational General Index number of wholesale is at least one source of bewilder­ future and the prospects of a rea­ prices over recent decades and the ment which might well have been sonable livelihood. If that is done, series was discontinued in 1941. avoided but which actually is not. half his present frustration is bound And just now that perhaps consti­ to disappear and he may at last Assisting the Small Man tutes the grimmest of problems to feel that he is something more than HRI A D SHROFF per­ the student population. a creature of experiment. The frequent changes in educa­ S formed a valuable service to tional policy, the reckless altera­ The New Price Index small-scale industries in the coun­ tions of curricula, the muddle over try when, in his address to the the issue of the medium of instruc­ T is gratifying to note that the Mysore Chamber of Commerce tion and the tendency to upset the I Government of India is prepar­ recently, he spoke of the " inordi­ very basis of education every now ing a new index of wholesale prices nate and in some cases even un­ and then add up to an evil which with 1948-49 as the base year conscionable delay in payment of is the worst that has ever assailed which will replace the current index their bills by Government depart- the student population in this coun- of wholesale prices based on 1939 ments. . . ." Given their lack of 186