Social And Cultural Policy Of British

We have seen how British authorities reorganised and regulated India's economy to benefit British trade and industry, as well as establishing a modern administrative system to ensure order and security. They also followed a policy of non-interference in the country's religious, social, and cultural life until 1813, when they began taking active steps to change Indian society and culture. This occurred in Britain during the nineteenth century, as new interests and ideas arose.

 

•    The Industrial Revolution, which began in the middle of the eighteenth century and resulted in the rise of industrial capitalism, was transforming all aspects of British society at a rapid pace. Rising industrial interests wanted India to become a major market for their products. This could not be achieved simply by adhering to a policy of peacekeeping; it required a partial transformation and modernisation of Indian society.

 

•    As a result, as historians Thompson and Garratt put it, “the old brigandage mood and methods were changing into those of modern industrialism and capitalism.” Science and technology have also opened up new avenues for human advancement. 

 

•    In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Britain and Europe experienced a great ferment of new ideas, which influenced the British attitude toward Indian problems. “New attitudes of mind, manners, and morals” were appearing all over Europe. With its message of liberty, equality, and fraternity, the great French Revolution of 1789 sparked powerful democratic sentiments and unleashed the force of modern nationalism.

 

•    Bacon, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, Adam Smith, and Bentham represented the new trend in thought, while Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Charles Dickens represented the new trend in literature. 

 

•    The impact of new thought resulting from the eighteenth-century intellectual revolution, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution was naturally felt in India, and it influenced official government notions to some extent.

 

•    Rationalism, or faith in reason and science, humanism, or love of man, and confidence in man's ability to progress were the three defining characteristics of the new thought. Only that which was true in accordance with human reason and capable of being tested in practise was true, according to the rational and scientific attitude. 

 

•    The tremendous powers of production unleashed by the application of science to industry in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries were visible proofs of the power of human reason.

 

•    Humanism was founded on the idea that every human being is an end in themselves, and that they should be respected and valued as such. No one had the right to regard another person as merely a conduit for his own happiness. Individualism, liberalism, and socialism all arose from the humanistic perspective. 

 

•    All societies, according to the progress doctrine, must change over time: nothing was or could be static. In addition, man possessed the ability to reshape nature and society along rational and just lines.

 

•    The new currents of thought in Europe clashed with the old outlook, resulting in a split in attitudes among those in charge of Indian policy and administration. The old mind-set in India, known as the conservative or traditional mind-set, was to make as few changes as possible. 

 

•    Warren Hastings and Edmund Burke, the famous writer and parliamentarian, were the forerunners of this attitude, as were the famous officials Munro, Malcolm, Elphinstone, and Metcalfe. Conservatives argued that Indian civilisation was distinct from, but not necessarily inferior to, European civilisation. Many of them admired and respected Indian culture and philosophy. Recognizing that some Western ideas and practises might be required, they proposed introducing them gradually and cautiously.

 

•    They opposed any programme of rapid change because they valued social stability above all else. They believed that sweeping or hasty innovations would result in a violent reaction in the country. Up until the end of British rule, the conservative viewpoint was influential in both England and India.

 

•    In fact, the vast majority of British officials in India were staunch conservatives. By 1800, the conservative attitude had given way to a new attitude that was harshly critical of Indian culture and society. Indian civilisation was derided as being static, and it was regarded with contempt. Indian customs were thought to be barbaric, Indian institutions to be corrupt and decadent, and Indian thought to be narrow and non-scientific. 

 

•    Most British officials, writers, and statesmen used this critical approach to justify India's political and economic enslavement and proclaim that it was incapable of improvement and must thus remain permanently under British tutelage.

 

•    However, a small group of Englishmen known as Radicals went beyond this narrow criticism and imperialistic outlook, applying the West's advanced humanistic and rational thought to the situation in India as they saw it.

 

•    They were persuaded by the doctrine of reason that India did not have to be a fallen country forever, and that all societies could improve by following the dictates of reason and science. They were motivated by the doctrine of humanism to improve the lives of Indians.

 

•    They were persuaded by the progress doctrine that Indians would inevitably improve. As a result, the Radicals wished to integrate India into the modern progressive world of science and humanism, despite the fact that they were few in number and represented the better elements of British society.

 

•    To them, the solution to India's problems appeared to be the introduction of modern Western sciences, philosophy, and literature, in other words, a complete and rapid transformation along modern lines. 

 

•    The Radical outlook appears to have had a strong influence on officials who arrived in India in the 1820s and after. However, it should be stressed at this point that such honest and philanthropic Englishmen were few, and their influence over the British administration of India was never decisive. The British-Indian administration's ruling elements remained imperialistic and exploitative.

 

•    They would only accept new ideas and reformist measures if and to the extent that they did not conflict with commercial interests and profit motives, allowing for economic penetration of India and the consolidation of British rule. India's modernisation had to take place within the broad constraints imposed by the need for easier and more thorough resource exploitation.

 

•    Many English officials, businessmen, and statesmen accepted India's modernisation because it was expected to make Indians better customers for British goods and reconcile them to the alien rule. 

 

•    In fact, when it came to Indian policy, many of the Radicals were no longer true to their own beliefs. Instead of working for a democratic government, as they did in the United Kingdom, they demanded a more authoritarian, paternalistic regime.

 

•    In this regard, they were in lockstep with conservatives, who were also ardent supporters of paternalism, which would treat Indians as children and keep them out of government.

 

•    The basic dilemma confronting British administrators in India was that, while some modernisation was required to serve British interests in India, complete modernisation would generate forces that would work against their interests and, in the long run, jeopardise British supremacy in the country.

 

•    As a result, they had to pursue a delicately balanced policy of partial modernisation, in which they introduced modernisation in some areas while blocking and preventing it in others. In other words, India's modernization was to be colonial modernization, carried out within the confines of colonialism and with the goal of promoting colonialism. 

 

•    Christian missionaries and religious leaders such as William Wilberforce and Charles Grant, Chairman of the East India Company's Court of Directors, who wanted to spread Christianity in India, supported the policy of modernising Indian society and culture.

 

•    They, too, took a critical view of Indian society, but for religious reasons. They were adamant that Christianity was the only true religion and that all other faiths were false. They backed a Westernisation programme in the hopes that it would lead to the country's conversion to Christianity. 

 

•    They believed that the light of Western knowledge would shatter people's faith in their own religions, leading them to accept and embrace Christianity. As a result, they established modern schools, colleges, and hospitals throughout the country.

 

•    The missionaries, on the other hand, were frequently the most reluctant allies of the rationalist Radicals, whose scientific approach undermined not only Hindu or Muslim mythology, but also Christian mythology.

 

•    As Professor H.H. Dodwell has pointed out: “Taught to question the validity of their own gods, they [the Westernised Indians] questioned also the validity of the Bible and the truth of its narrative.”

 

•    The missionaries backed the paternalistic imperialist policies because they saw law and order, as well as British supremacy, as necessary for their religious propaganda work. They also enlisted the help of British merchants and manufacturers, claiming that Christian converts would make better customers for their wares.

 

•    Raja Rammohun Roy and other like-minded Indians backed the Radicals, who were aware of the low state to which their country and society had descended, who were sick of caste prejudices and other social ills, and who believed that science and humanism would save India. 

 

•    Another reason why the Indian government pursued a cautious and gradual approach to innovation rather than a full-fledged modernization strategy was the continued prevalence of a conservative mind-set among British officials in India, as well as the fear that interfering with their religious beliefs and social customs would result in a revolution among the Indian people.

 

•    Even the most ardent Radicals heeded this warning because, like the rest of the British ruling class, they, too, wished for the safety and continuation of British rule in India. Every other consideration was a distant second. 

 

•    In fact, after 1858, the policy of hesitant and weak modernization was gradually abandoned as Indians proved to be excellent students, shifted quickly toward modernisation of their society and assertion of their culture, and demanded to be ruled according to modern principles of liberty, equality, and nationality. 

 

•    However, over time, the British gradually withdrew their support for the reformers, siding instead with the socially conservative and orthodox elements of society. They also promoted communalism and casteism.

 

•    Official British efforts to rid Indian society of its ills were, on the whole, ineffective and yielded little fruit. The outlawing of Sati in 1829, when William Bentinck declared it illegal to associate in any way with the burning of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre, was their crowning achievement. 

 

•    Previously, the British rulers were apathetic and afraid of inciting the orthodox Indians' wrath. The Government agreed to take this humanitarian step only after Rammohun Roy and other enlightened Indians and missionaries agitated for the abolition of this monstrous custom. 

 

•    Many Indian rulers in the past, such as Akbar and Aurangzeb, the Peshwas, and Jai Singh of Jaipur, attempted but failed to put an end to this evil practise. In any case, Bentinck deserves credit for acting resolutely in outlawing a practise that claimed 800 lives in Bengal alone between 1815 and 1818, and for refusing to give in to the orthodox supporters of Sati. 

 

•    Female infanticide, or the practise of killing female children at the time of their birth, had prevailed among some Rajput clans and he deserves credit for refusing to give in to the opposition of the orthodox supporters of Sati. Regulations prohibiting infanticide were passed in 1795 and 1802, but only Bentinck and Hardinge strictly enforced them.

 

•    Charles Wood Hardinge also outlawed the practise of making human sacrifices, which had been practised by the primitive Gond tribe. The Government of India passed an Act in 1856 that allowed Hindu widows to remarry. 

 

•    After Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and other reformers staged a long-running agitation in support of the bill, the government acted.

 

•    The Act's immediate consequences were insignificant. All of these official reforms had a minor impact on the Indian social system and had no bearing on the lives of the vast majority of the population. A foreign government may not have been able to do more.

 

•    Warren Hastings founded the Calcutta Madrasah in 1781 to study and teach Islamic law and related subjects. Jonathan Duncan established a Sanskrit College for the study of Hindu Law and Philosophy in Varanasi, where he was the Resident, in 1791. 

 

•    Missionaries and their supporters, as well as a large number of humanists, quickly put pressure on the Company to encourage and promote modern secular westernised education in India. 

 

•    In a famous minute, Lord Macaulay, the Law Member of the Governor-Council, General's argued that Indian languages were not developed enough to serve the purpose, and that "Oriental learning was completely inferior to European learning."

 

•    Raja Ram Mohan Roy fervently advocated the study of Western knowledge, which was seen by them as “the Key to the treasures of scientific and democratic thought of the modern West.” The upper classes were supposed to filter or radiate education and modern ideas down to the lower classes. Another important step in the development of education in India was the State's Educational Dispatch of 1854 (by Charles Wood).

 

•    The Dispatch demanded that India's government take responsibility for the masses' education. Finally, on paper, it refuted the "downward filtration" theory. 

 

•    Departments of Education were established in all provinces as a result of the Dispatch's directives, and affiliating Universities were established in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras in 1857.

•    Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, a well-known Bengali novelist, was one of Calcutta University's first two graduates in 1858. Because it glorified the British conquerors of India and their administration, Western education was expected to reconcile the people of India to British rule.

 

•    As a result, the British sought to strengthen the foundation of their political authority in the country through modern education. The traditional Indian educational system withered over time due to a lack of official support and, more importantly, the official announcement in 1844 that applicants for government employment must be able to communicate in English.

•    As a result of this declaration, English-medium schools became extremely popular, forcing an increasing number of students to abandon traditional schools.

 

1.    A major flaw in the educational system was the neglect of mass education, which resulted in India's mass literacy being no better in 1921 than it was in 1821.

 

2.    In 1911, 94 percent of Indians were illiterate, while 92 percent were in 1921.

 

3.    The emphasis on English rather than the Indian language as the medium of instruction also hampered the spread of education to the masses. Because of its high cost, higher education has tended to be a monopoly of the upper classes and city dwellers.

 

4.    A major flaw in early educational policy was the near-total neglect of girls' education, which received no funding. It was because, in the eyes of foreign officials, female education was not immediately useful (because women could not be employed as clerks in the Government offices). 

 

5.    Scientific and technical education were also neglected by the company's administration. 

 

6.    By 1857, the country had only three medical colleges: Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.

 

7.    At Roorkee, there was only one good Engineering College that offered higher technical education, and it was only open to Europeans and Eurasians.