Gyanshri

Essays on 19th Century India

Gyanshri

Essays on 19th Century India

Foreword by

Hugh Purcell (Former Managing Editor BBC, Author and Film Maker)

Compiled by Rajesh Rampal

Gyanshri

First Edition October 2012

Copyright: Individual Authors for the Essays as described before each Essay unless the Copyright has expired

ISBN 81-902060-0-1

All rights reserved.

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise ) without the permission of the copy right owner.

BISAC Subject Headings HIS017000 History/Asia/India and South Asia HIS049000 History/Essays HIS 027150 History/Military/Naval HIS 027060 History/19th Century HIS 037060 History/Military/ Strategy To order: rampalrajesh@hotmail.com

Typeset and Printed in India through Bharat Law House, Delhi - 110083

Published by Rajesh Rampal, Vaishali, Pitampura, Delhi - 110034

"No nation can move forward, unless it squarely faces its past. The courage to remember helps us not to repeat the same mistakes and to build a better future for our children"

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Founder of the Art of Living)

Contents

Maps and Illustrations ix Foreword xi Acknowledgements xiii A Note on Transliteration and Pronunciation xvi Preface xvii

1. Pindari Society and the Establishment of British Paramountcy in India 1 Philip F. McEldowney

2. Organised Crime in the garb of Religion in 19th Century India –

Thuggee 53 Rajesh Rampal

3. Indian Police –Its Defects –and their causes and Remedy 81 Sir W. H. Sleeman.

4. Wolves- Children preserved by them in their dens, and nurtured 97 Sir W. H. Sleeman

5. The Rising 1857-58 107

5.1 The Captain who rode a donkey to Delhi (Later Field Marshall Sir Donald Stewart) 109 Field Marshall F. S. Roberts VC

5.2 Events inside Delhi during the month of May 1857 Narratives of Mainudin Hassan Khan and Munshi Jeewan Lall 115

Translated by Charles Theophilus Metcalfe C.S.I.

5.3 The Assault on Delhi-September 1857-Management Lessons from Battlefield 167 Rajesh Rampal 5.4 Lucknow 1857-58 Role of HMS Shannon in Second Relief and Capture of Lucknow 203 Rajesh Rampal

viii Contents

 

 

5.5 Are the embers of 1857 still smouldering in India? A firsthand account of British tourists visiting India in 2007 to commemorate the Rising. 251 Hugh Purcell

6. Famines of Colonial India 1860-1900 259

Rajesh Rampal Index 297 Glossary 303

Maps and Illustrations

British and Pindari Positions for October 1816 36

Map India -1836 57

Thugs in captivity. Photo by Felice Beato (1855) 65

Theme map drawn by Department of Thuggee in 1836 75

Sleeman's List showing status of each Gang member. 76

Plan of Attack on Delhi 171

Kashmir Gate 1858 175

Bugler Robert Hawthorne VC of the 52nd 177

Captain Sir William Peel VC 204

Map India- Showing route of the Shannon Brigade 217

Attacks on Lucknow 225

(September, November 1857 and March 1858)

Kanpur – Engagement 6th December, 1857 231

Kali Nadi and Khudagunj-Engagement- 2nd January 1858 233

Commemorative Stamp/FDC of Canada Post- William Hall VC 248

Gross Revenue collected by the EIC during the Bengal famine 261

Food Exports from India 1872-1879 269

Exports from India to all Countries 1878-1900 270

Railway Mileages open for Traffic 1861-1901 276

Estimates of Famine Mortality 1876-1879 and 1896-1902 277

Maps- Spread of Railroads-1871/1881/1891/1901 279 & 280

Memorial-Officers of Central Provinces at Jabalpur 282

Percentage Increase in Taxation 1856-57 & 1870-71 294

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Foreword

In early November, 2010 I heard Rajesh Rampal give a lecture to a British military audience at the Gurkha Museum in Winchester. Its title was 'The Siege and Assault of Delhi, 1857: a case study for any army that wants to punch beyond its weight' – it is reproduced in this collection of essays. This was a bold lecture to give in front of professionals, particularly by a civilian resident of Delhi who was a Chartered Accountant without any training either as historian or soldier. He is also, of course, Indian and although that seemed to pass without notice, a lot less than a century ago the very notion of this lecture would have been inconceivable. Yet Rajesh's knowledge, charm and confidence as a public speaker held the attention of all of us.

These essays are typical of Rajesh's unique status. No academic historian would compile such an eclectic anthology and this is a compliment! It covers contemporary writing such as Sir William Sleeman's observations of 'Wolf Children' (a fascinating essay) and the diary of Munshi Jeewan Lal, who provided the British with information about the rebel forces from inside Delhi during the siege; this did not stop the avenging army from looting his house. Then there are new findings of today, such as Dr McEldowney's essay on the Pindari horse-riding bandits who terrorised the Maratha states until suppressed by Lord Hastings in 1819, and my own disturbing experiences in India a hundred years after the 'Great Mutiny' ('Are embers of 1857 still smouldering in India').

Rajesh's own essays are crammed with fact and prone to diversions that are the prerogative of the enthusiast, and none the worse for that. No one can accuse him of bias. While his admiration for the British army that recaptured and laid waste his city may be remarkable in 'The Assault on Delhi, September 1857', his 'Famines of Colonial India 1860 – 1900' is an outspoken criticism of the British Indian Government's indifference and its ignorant policies. I did not know that in 1876 when the British held a grand durbar to proclaim Queen Victoria as Empress of India, 100,000 Indians were dying of famine in the south of the country. Incidentally, the statistical tables and bar charts in this essay give away Rajesh's past as an accountant! Rajesh's essay on Thuggee 'Organised crime in the garb of religion' is very well informed because he has already written a book on the subject, 'The Divine Stranglers'. Always, his writing is entertaining and individual however much he relies on secondary as well as primary sources.

What holds these essays together is the authors sense that the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in India, when the East India Company was but the most prominent of rulers, were times of awful anarchy and turbulence. He quotes from the

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epic love story Heer Ranja, by the Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 – 1798) in his earlier book, The Divine Stranglers:

Great confusion has fallen on the country There is a sword in everyman's hand. The veil of shame and modesty has been lifted, And the entire world goes naked in the open bazaar. Thieves have become leaders, Harlots have become mistresses of the households. The company of devils has magnified exceedingly, The state of the multitude is pitiable. Men without character flourish and the devil is in great prosperity, Fools have become masters of our country. This is the background to these stirring essays that I recommend to all lovers of British Indian history, and those who wish to draw lessons from the past.

Hugh Purcell 10/7/2012

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Hugh Purcell for giving me the idea for this book and for his kind permission for his most illuminating firsthand account of what transpired during his visit to India in September, 2007 leading a group of British tourists to mark the 150th commemoration of the Rising. I acknowledge Dr. Phillip F. McEldowney, who very graciously gave me permission for his article on Pindaris. I have picked up several gems from the 19th century written by Sir W. H. Sleeman, Field Marshall F. S. Roberts VC and a Translation by Charles T. Metcalfe C.S.I. These essays have not been tampered or edited with the sole objective of retaining the flavour of those times. Sir W. H. Sleeman's articles have been edited by Vincent Arthur Smith I. C. S. but the main text remains untouched.

I am grateful to Colonel Dr John C. Richardson (Professor of Medicine and formerly of the RAMC) and his wife Susi who have always encouraged me and have contributed so much to my endeavors. I am grateful to Gerald Davies, Curator of the Gurkha Museum in Winchester and Philip Geddes (Chairman - Consilia plc) for their time and encouragement at all times. Phillip has very kindly given the permission to use his film 'The Devils' Wind' as part of this book. The film has interviews with the ever popular Author, William Dalrymple and also General Sir Richard Shirreff. The Geddes family has always considered me a 'Gordon' a Scottish clan famous for their hospitality and the adage –My house is your house. General Sir Richard Shirreff, Deputy Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe has been a constant source of encouragement and I thank him profusely.

I express my thanks to Graeme Cooper, the founder of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides for his inputs on the concept of – Is Business a Battle? From this concept I developed 'Management Lessons from Battlefield'. I must express my deep gratitude and thanks for the several Pictures and maps in this book from Gurkha and Royal Green Jackets Museum and also from Lt General Sir Christopher Wallace's book 'Rifles and Kukris- Delhi 1857'. General Sir Christopher Wallace, former Commandant of the Royal College of Defense Studies went through articles on Delhi and Lucknow 1857 and in his most methodical best corrected me and offered suggestions.

I am also grateful to the following for their trust and faith in me and many others whom I cannot acknowledge due to lack of space.

Captain Martin Howard, formerly of the Royal Navy, Late Roy T. Eve, Brigadier Clive Elderton, Group Captain Ian Draper, Sir Gerald Warner, Michael Shaw,

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Colonel George Verdon of the Royal Corps of Signals, Colonel Johnny Rogers and his charming wife Nicky. In depth discussions with Colonel Gerald Napier (formerly of the Royal Engineers) and his wife Marjorie helped me learn a lot about the role of 'Sappers' in any army.

I am grateful to Colonel John Baber, Regimental Secretary of the Royal Military Police (RMP) and the ever smiling Curator of the RMP Museum, Richard Callaghan and to William Sleeman a direct descendant of Sir W.H. Sleeman for their help and enthusiasm in showing me around their precious collections. Peter Duckers of the Shropshire Regiment Museum has been extremely helpful in sharing his immense knowledge.

To William Dalrymple for his encouraging email stating- Dear Rajesh-- writing is like battling through a sandstorm: there is no alternative to keeping faith and carrying on placing one foot in front of another! Good luck and keep going! Will.

I am ever grateful to Dr. Bipin Chandra, India's famous Historian, for his guidance and our next door neighbor for ten years in the Delhi University Staff Houses. My father and he studied in the Foreman Christian College, Lahore. To Prof. Nand Dhameja for his suggestions based on his years of experience in the Indian Institute of Public Administration. I am indebted to Ms Subha Rajan of CII who inspired me with her story about her struggles in life and her almost blind faith in my abilities. I am ever so grateful to Neena Bhatia and Mr. Anil Kumar of FICCI for their support at all times. Dr. V.S. Madan, Sh. Madhusudan Prasad, Sh. Amitabh Kant and Sh. Samir Mathur from the Indian Administrative service too encouraged me. Anil Mehra, Dr Vivek Rajpal, Dr Cyrus Shroff and Rukhshana Shroff, Dr. Atul Kumar, Milind Arge, Alka Saxena and Nivedita Sengupta, Peter Baptista and Marise, Mr. Darshan Lal and Anoopa Lal, Wilfred and Cynthia Preston, Late Roy Flello and Veronica always encouraged me and egged me on when I felt low in spirits.

I am indebted to Sh. Udyan Singh, Dr. K. B. Nangia and Sh. Pratap Vaish for making me decide to take upon myself the complete work relating to this book.

I am indebted to Dr Arvind Virmani, Dr. Rajiv Kumar and Dr. Isher Ahluwalia who were at the helm of affairs at ICRIER and are great Economists. The article on famines of Colonial India could never have been possible but for my stay at ICRIER in the company of several other renowned Economists from around the world and India namely, Dr. Nisha Taneja, Dr. Arpita Mukherjee, Dr. Surabhi Mittal, Dr Amita Batra of JNU and Dr. Badrinaryanan, Purdue University. Prof ShankarAcharya of ICRIER made Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy so simple to laymen like me.

I am indebted to Dr Ravindra Pant, Vice chancellor of Nav Nalanda Mahavihar who has always had utmost faith in me. At last I must mention my wife Renu who stood

Acknowledgements xv by me all these years and my daughters Priya and Shreya. Priya is doing her doctorate in Economics from India's prestigious IGIDR and her fellow students were always a great source of inspiration namely Somnath Sharma, Shreya Biswas, Ashish Anand, Kartik, Sanchit Arora and many others.

And finally like Albert Einstein I am thankful to all those who said NO because of them I did it myself. I am sure I must have left mentioning many others. From them I beg to be forgiven. Kapil Malhotra of Vision Books has been my most ardent critic and was always there whenever I asked for guidance or help.

I dedicate all my essays to the loving memory of my father Late Gian Chand Rampal.

Rajesh Rampal August 2012

A Note on Transliteration and Pronunciation

English has become a very rich language after absorbing so many words from various languages. These words have been anglicized in form or have come into usage as English Words. Most of the places in the text are mentioned in their current transliterated forms and without diacritics. If the diacritics have been retained then the following will come in handy to the reader.

The vowels of most Indian languages are pronounced as ones of Latin or French with some exceptions as under

a is pronounced as u as in the English word tub.

ā is pronounced like a as in Father.

Indian languages are phonetic and the system of consonants is quite complex and the English reader can use following guidelines for best results

c is pronounced as ch in cherry

h after a consonant e.g. p indicates aspiration i.e. with a puff of air as in English hip-hop.

ś and ş are pronounced roughly like sh in shade.

Preface The 19th century (1801–1900) was a period of great turmoil and saw the fall and rise of many empires. It was also a period when great advances were made in science and exploration. Railways provided a revolution in Land transportation across many places. Undiscovered vast expanses of interior Africa and Asia were discovered during this period. Slavery was greatly reduced around the world.

Events in earlier periods had set a race for supremacy in the world amongst the European Nations. Spain and Portugal being Catholic had the world carved by the Pope for them but the others the Dutch, the Danes, the French and the English had the whole world to themselves. The spice trade was controlled by the Dutch and to break their monopoly over it was the East India Company formed. During the 1500's, Europeans began vying with Arab merchants for India's sea routes. The Portuguese, Vasco-da-gama, was the first to reach India by sea from Europe in 1498. Nearly a hundred years later, it was the Dutch who controlled the spice trade in Europe. They raised the price of one pound of pepper by five shillings. Incensed at this, twenty-four merchants of London met in Leadenhall Street in September, 1599 to found a trading firm with an initial capital of 72,000 pounds subscribed to by 125 shareholders. The British East India Company was formed under a Charter from H.M. on 31st December, 1599. The Company had taken permission to trade in India from Jahangir, the Mughal Emperor. Taking advantage of the lack of central power in India during the 1700's, the British East India Company manipulated conflicts between local rulers and acquired large areas where it became the supreme power. England emerged superior amongst the European Powers because of its Navy. Some of the credit for this goes to Edmund Hailey, who in 1686 created theme maps illustrating wind patterns and directions of prevailing winds that could not be understood by any verbal descriptions.

This marked the beginning of a relationship between England and India. Their history is quite common for nearly 200 years. The two civilisations inter acted deeply and India learnt more during this interaction and even put it to much better use later in 20th and 21st centuries.

The book opens with an article by Dr. Phillip McEldowney on Pindaris whose real history is still quite not known.

The second article is on Thuggee. This Essay links up Sleeman's novel methods of criminal investigation and detection to Modern methods adopted by NY police in 1990's of the Compstat system to detect patterns in crime and to deploy force intelligently.

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These articles are followed by two articles from Sir W. H. Sleeman, who served for 46 years in India. He had a keen eye for everything around him. One is on the Indian Police and the second is on boys who had been brought up by wolves. Mowglee, the wolf boy in the story 'Jungle Book' (1894) by Rudyard Kipling is actually inspired from an article written by Sir W. H. Sleeman. Pench tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh in Central India lays claim to the 'Jungle Book'.

The Uprising of 1857 is an extremely well documented period in India's history from the British side but the Indian versions are not very many. We come to know about events inside the city of Delhi from 11th May till 31st May 1857 through two native residents of the city – the city police Chief Mainodin Hassan Khan and a Diarist Munshi Jeewan Lall. Their work was translated into English by Charles Metcalfe.

Sir Donald Stewart's act of riding a donkey may seem to be in lighter vein.

The assault on Delhi 1857 in broad daylight by British forces on 14th September 1857 broke all conventions of Military tactics. The article brings out the importance of strategy and leadership not only for the Army but for all persons. The concept of 'Management Lessons from Battlefield' is based on the premise 'Is Business a Battle?' If YES what better place to learn it than a Battlefield.

Lucknow 1857 depicts the innovative methods followed to win a losing and a hopeless situation. The British were woefully short of Artillery up country. HMS Shannon's guns were dismantled at Calcutta and brought to Allahabad on flats pulled by Steamers on the Ganges. These guns were then taken to Lucknow and the Royal Navy won 5 Victoria Crosses in Lucknow, miles away from the sea! A unique story, required to be retold lest it is forgotten.

The last story in this section 'Are the Embers of 1857 still smouldering in India' brings out firsthand, the experiences and trauma of a British tourist group to northern India in 2007 to mark the 150th anniversary of what the British still refer to as the Mutiny.

Events across continents affected the world at large. The potato blight and the subsequent famine in Ireland in 1843 changed the face of the world. As a consequence many Irish joined the British Army. The Irishman's penchant for willingness to fight and reluctance in getting married showed in India in 1857 when born and bred Irishmen won 45% of the VC's awarded in the Delhi region for 1857. The story is not very different for the 182 VC's awarded for the uprising in India.

The last Essay is on famines in India during the colonial period which does raise some very pertinent questions on the future of malnutrition and hunger issues in the world.

How the idea of this book germinated is an interesting anecdote. I gave a talk in India International Centre in New Delhi in April 2011 on 'Organised Crime in the garb of

Preface xix religion in 19th century India-Thuggee'. I mentioned the fact that the British used the same type of entrenchment tool to dig trenches in the First World War as the one used by thugs to dig bels or graves as it made little sound or noise while digging. I shared this with my dear friend Hugh Purcell and he immediately suggested I write a series of articles on 19th century India. The two topics that came to his mind were the Rising of 1857 and Thuggee. Lessons from the past

A. Pindaris

When the Marathas stopped monitoring the Pindaris closely, the Pindaris turned marauders. There was no Central or paramount government in India at that time. The Pindaris' folly in looting the East India Company dominions, invited the wrath of the Company. The John Company retaliated and wiped them out by a military operation under the Marquis of Hastings. Any armed organised movement against the British or inside their dominion invited their wrath. They dealt with it harshly and promptly.

In Modern India there are several movements going on which hold the country to ransom. The fellows disrupt Rail movements across trunk routes and destroy public property. The Government remains a mute spectator adding to the woes of the common man. All employees, political parties and castes need to give an undertaking not to disrupt air, rail or road traffic ever.

Modern day Governments must also know the exact quantum of force to be used under different circumstances on their own people. There are many pockets in India where the law of the land does not apply and quite often even the state perpetuates terror on its own citizens. The law relating to sedition is a pointer in this direction.

Because of our Geographical location we are prone to terror attacks. Demographic and environmental Stress creates an atmosphere ready for internal conflicts. India suffers from a youth bulge as 54% of our population is below 24 years of age per the 2001 census. When economic activity is low and employment opportunities are scant youth are prone to joining armed groups. Colin Kahl has shown that demographic and environmental stress, rapid population growth, environmental degradation and unequal distribution of renewable resources leads to violent state failure or violence. Societies divided along ethnic, religious, or class lines and societies where large parts of the population have little influence on the government are especially prone to such situations.1

                                                            1 Colin H. Kahl, States Scarcity and Civil Strife in the Developing World. (Princeton University

Press 2006)

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The N.E. States and J & K are near to International borders, there is influx of non-ethnic people, there is no strategy for growth and no proper dialogue with insurgents and a drifting Government adds to the problems. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 is also a form of state tyranny and terrorism as it confers special powers upon armed forces in N.E states. Jammu and Kashmir as usual has its own version The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990.

The act has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a "tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination".

The Act violates the spirit of several Articles of the Indian constitution. Section 6 of the AFSPA provides Armed forces with absolute immunity for all atrocities committed under the AFSPA. A person wishing to file a suit against a member of the armed forces for abuses under the AFSPA must first seek the permission of the Central Government!

The 2008 Hindi film 'Shaurya' produced by Moser Baer and Directed by Samar Khan has a plot that depicts how human rights are violated. An officer kills his commanding officer. The accused is mysteriously silent and not willing to talk about the incident. Later on it is revealed that the murdered officer had violated human rights by killing a boy and when he was about to kill a girl his subordinate shot him down. B. Thugs

Late K.F. Rustomji writes: - More than a hundred Thug gangs prowled India's highways and annually killed about 40,000 travellers in the early 19th century. The gangs were knit together by a strange and bizarre regimen of life that destroyed their victims with a combination of guile and cruelty almost unparalleled in the history of crime anywhere in the world.

These ubiquitous killers still abound in India. These Modern days 'Thugs' are involved in female foeticide/infanticide or any form of crime against women.

Ratio of Female to Male Population India Census- 2011/2001

State Ratio 2011 Ratio 2001 Punjab –N 0.8930 0.8737 Haryana –N 0.8773 0.8612 Uttar Pradesh –N 0.9081 0.8985 Andhra Pradesh –S 0.9917 0.9779 Kerala –S 1.0839 1.0583 Tamil Nadu –S 0.9950 0.9864 INDIA Total 0.9403 0.9331

Preface xxi States marked N for North and S for South.

Ratios calculated from data of Census 2001 and 2011.2 In 1992 Amartya Sen calculated that 37 million women were 'missing' in India.3.

This bias in the North Indian society towards the male child manifests in neglect of girls and women resulting in their early death. Female infanticide has existed in India since centuries.

The tenth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh has condemned female infanticide yet it is practiced in the Punjab where he is still revered.

With the slayers of daughters Whoever has intercourse, him do I curse and again Whosoever takes food from the slayers of daughters Shall die unabsolved 4 Gobind, Rhat Nama (Extra to the Granth)

Antenatal sex determination and female feticide exist in India. The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PNDT) Act that made antenatal sex determination and sex selective abortion illegal, was passed in 1994. As usual it is easy to enact laws, than to implement them in India.

Women have not got their fair share in India's economic progress. Exterminating the female child before it is even born is a hideous crime. Crimes perpetuated on women in India tantamount to crimes against the future of India. Perpetuators of such crimes deserve the harshest and most immediate sentence. C. 1857-The Sepoy Mutiny or The first War of Independence

Despite the limitations and shortcomings of the Nationalists, their effort was laudable as a patriotic and a progressive step towards attainment of the final objective of Independence from foreign rule. This failed effort was in a way India's greatest victory, as it was a source of inspiration for national liberation, which was finally achieved

                                                            2 Census of India 2001 Provisional population totals http://www.censusindia.net and http://

indiafacts.in/india-census-2011/census-2011-population-percentage-of-states/ 3 Sen A. 'Missing Women'. British Medical Journal. 7th March, 1992; 304. Also 'The Argumentative

Indian' by Amartya Sen Penguin. 2005. Page 226. 4 J.D. Cunningham, A History of the Sikhs. Original 1849. Reprinted 1994. Low Price Publications.

Page 335.

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through non-violent means, under the auspices of a great son and leader of India, Mahatma Gandhi. The additional ninety years of inter-action under the British prepared India on a path to be a world leader of the 21st century.

One big question?

We say 1857 was the first war of independence. Were any of our leaders of that time fighting a war? Anybody who has rudimentary knowledge of the 1857 rising knows that our leaders fought their own battles and never a war for the nation.

On the contrary, the British fought the war, under one Commander in Chief first George Anson and when he died General Sir Patrick Grant and then General Colin Campbell. The Indians never ever saw the big picture, they started a Rising but had no plan or strategy or a leader to lead them to final victory. It was the dearth of leadership that doomed the Rising.

We learn a lot from the innovative actions of the British, who fought 1857 with their backs to the walls and managed to win. British victory was due to leadership, strategy and innovative ideas put into practice at the right time and place.

Arthur Moffat Lang, Bengal Engineers describes in his diary records:

Nicholsons's arrival marked a turning point in the strategy of the Delhi field Force, from a concentration on defence towards urgent planning for assault. It also had a profound impact on morale. The British forces recovered their self confidence and the Sepoys began to lose their belief in eventual victory.

Despite their vast superiority in numbers, the strength of their defences, the power of their guns and the skill with which they handled them and the great bravery and even fanaticism with which many of them fought the mutineer morale had never been as high as it should have been. The fault lay in their leadership –they had no leaders used to high command and few who could lead even companies effectively.5

Many of our present leaders lack vision and foresight and indulge in irresponsible manner after taking an oath to serve the nation. A Minister of State for Railways (Now Minister for Railways) refused to go to an accident site on the orders of the Prime Minister of India! Instead of being thrown out of the cabinet in the reshuffle he was appointed Minister for Shipping! Our foreign Minister who is always ah….ooh…umming in interviews on the Television loves staying in star hotels. He read the Portuguese Ministers written speech in the UN meet in New York. Our MP's passed a bill for raising their remuneration in minutes but they keep discussing a                                                             5 David Blomfeld (Edited by) Lahore to Lucknow-The Indian Mutiny Journal of Arthur Moffat Lang

London: Leo Cooper 1992 Page 67.

Preface xxiii Lokpal bill for more than 40 years, Women's bill for …... The Prime Minister of India announced a cabinet reshuffle and a Minister (former Chief Minister Maharashtra who had to resign for ineptness in dealing with after effects of a terror attack in Mumbai in November 2008) was transferred to the Ministry of Science and Technology on 12th July 2011. Minister did not take charge till July 18 as he was busy fighting Mumbai cricket Association elections.6

India's Power Minister was clueless as to why the Grid failed twice in 24 hours and was promptly promoted to the more important Home Ministry. Several members of the 15th Lok Sabha have criminal cases pending against them.

India is a classic case, where a woman won elections as a Member Parliament despite her violent past and the fact that she faced several criminal cases, including 22 murder charges-Phoolan Devi.

Our leaders need to have stricter norms for qualification and if we need to change our Constitution then let us do it. How? Will these same Member Parliaments ever move such a law? Let us hope pressure groups become more active.

D. Famines

Hunger stands in the way of every other development goal: malnourished children can't learn, and starving adults can't work.

Jeffrey Sachs: Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet

Millions died of starvation during the British regime but malnutrition in India is killing millions these days. My elder daughter Priya Rampal states in her Research proposal on Malnutrition

• Child development is seen as an investment, which would yield economic returns in the future (Alderman 2005, FOCUS, 2006)

• Various studies (Gragnolati et al., 2005; Smith and Haddad, 2000; UNICEF 2011) find malnutrition in early childhood can be related to serious long-term consequences

• India ranked 96 out of 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) developed by IFPRI in 2006, in child malnutrition; it ranked 117 among 119 countries

                                                            6 Abantike Ghosh. Timers of India July 18, 2011. Page 11. Days after Cabinet rejig, Vilasrao yet to

take charge of new Ministry.

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• Economic growth translates into improved nutrition at a modest rate (Haddad et al 2003, Alderman, 2005, Deaton and Dreze, 2008)

According to the UNICEF Malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India. In India, around 46 per cent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 per cent are underweight and at least 16 per cent are wasted.

Malnutrition in early childhood has serious, long-term consequences because it impedes motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development. Malnourished children are less likely to perform well in school and more likely to grow into malnourished adults, at greater risk of disease and early death. Around one-third of all adult women are underweight.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies also affect children's survival and development. Anaemia affects 74 per cent of children under the age of three, more than 90 per cent of adolescent girls and 50 per cent of women. Iodine deficiency, which reduces learning capacity by up to 13 per cent, is widespread because fewer than half of all households use iodised salt. Vitamin A deficiency, which causes blindness and increases morbidity and mortality among pre-schoolers, also remains a public-health problem.

The World Bank Report August 2005: India's Undernourished Children has equally disturbing points to make. The consequences of child under nutrition for morbidity and mortality are enormous – and there is, in addition, an appreciable impact of under nutrition on productivity. A failure to invest in combating nutrition reduces potential economic growth.

Under nutrition, both protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, directly affects many aspects of children's development. Most growth retardation occurs by the age of two, and is largely irreversible.

National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3 for 2005-06) results are extremely important eye openers for our country's policy makers.

• Estimates for India reveal that 20 to 30 per cent of babies weigh less than 2,500 grams at birth. This suggests the onset of malnutrition in the womb itself and reflects an inter-generational transfer of malnutrition from the mother to the child.

• The second factor has to do with the limited reach of public health services and messages. In 2005-06, for instance, only 44 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months were fully immunised. Barely two-thirds (64 per cent) of children suffering from acute respiratory infection or fever were taken to a health facility.

Preface xxv

• The third factor lies in the care of the child. Despite the importance of breastfeeding and appropriate feeding for preventing malnutrition, only 23 per cent of children under the age of three were breastfed within one hour of birth and less than half the babies (46 per cent) up to five months old were exclusively breastfed. And only 56 per cent of children aged six to nine months received solid or semi-solid food and breast milk. A child typically becomes malnourished between six and 18 months of age, and remains so thereafter. In most cases, nutritional rehabilitation is difficult.

• And the fourth factor is found in the limited opportunities available to women. Access to education, for instance, makes a big difference. According to NFHS-3, malnutrition among Indian children below the age of three born to illiterate mothers (55 per cent) is more than twice the levels (26 per cent) reported among mothers who have completed more than 10 years of schooling.

Syeda Hameed, member of the Planning Commission rightly remarked in a Television panel discussion, 'We must reap the dividends of our demographic composition than let it turn into a demographic nightmare'. She also made a very profound statement that all districts in India should be coloured in varying red colour to show the intensity of malnutrition and this needs to be viewed regularly. Vinita Bali of Britannia Nutrition Foundation, Professor Hadad and Prasoon Joshi made very significant observations which can be summarised as

• There is a need for serious awareness of the malnutrition problem in India.

• A mass movement is necessary. If Anna's hunger strike mobilises millions then civil society must also take part in the awareness of malnutrition.

• Mind shift in position and status of women in India.

• Malnutrition should be an electoral issue.

• 2012-2017 shall be health focus years.

Actually the most vulnerable age is 0-2 for children and we must target that first and the age group 2-6 as well. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is India's primary social welfare scheme to tackle malnutrition and health problems in children below 6 years of age and their mothers. The main beneficiaries of the programme were aimed to be the girl child up to her adolescence, all children below 6 years of age, pregnant and lactating mothers. The gender promotion of the girl child by trying to bring her at par with the male child is a key component of the scheme.

'Anganwadi' is a government sponsored child-care and mother-care centre. It caters to children in the 0-6 age group. Anganwadi needs a big impetus for things to improve.

xxvi Preface

 

 

Co-relation of child malnutrition with women's health and well-being are strong. Reducing child malnutrition requires enhancing women's freedoms and promoting gender equality.

To put it in simple terms the future of India can be secured only if women are healthy and educated. We need to redesign our policies both social and economic very fast in pace with the radical changes in society for a brighter future.

Pollution, water shortage, flora and fauna destruction, decline of arable soil, Natural resources depletion, severe poverty, Rising food prices, melting of the Himalayan glaciers due to global warming, Governments and real estate dealers acquiring fertile farmland for building urban cities and expressways, changes in rainfall and temperatures, Corruption and tax evasion, disparities in income and resource distribution are some of the many other issues affecting India.

I beg forgiveness for mentioning in the foot notes at times the Chapter No. instead of page numbers. This is when the reference was to an online version of the book that was not in pdf format.

Rajesh Rampal Delhi 18th September 2012