Some Interesting Snippets of History of Colonialism & India Empire Building Strategies As part of making sense of India of today,

it should be a profitable exercise to try to understand the empire building strategies employed by the British for their hegemony of a large part of the world for a considerable period of time.. It is indeed a highly remarkable achievement that a tiny island nation of Britain was ruling a large chunk of the world for so long, Sun never Sets on the British mpire!, was a true popular phrase. It is said that the presence of the British people over the two centuries that they ruled over us, never exceeded one lac "one hundred thousand# in number. $herefore, it should be an interesting exercise to probe the highly innovative strategies deployed by them for the purpose. And who better than a well known British historian to tell us the story. Public Private Partnership It should never be forgotten that this was how the British empire began% in a maelstrom of seaborne violence and theft. In &ec '(() a *elshman called +enry ,organ sailed -.. miles across the /arribean to mount a spectacular raid on a Spanish outpost 0ranada1. to find and steal Spanish gold1. $hey plundered for '( hours, discharged the prisoners, sunk all the boats and came away1. 2iewed from 3ondon, buccaneering was a low budget way of waging war against ngland!s principal uropean foe% Spain. In effect the /rown licensed the pirates as 4rivateers! , legali5ing their operation in return for a share of the proceeds. Around '(6.. +enry ,organ the pirate, now Sir +enry, 1 was 2ice Admiral , commandant of the port royal regiment and acting 0overnor of 7amaica. ,organ!s career perfectly illustrates the way the change the world for ever. mpire building process worked. It was a transition from piracy to political power that would

8'- 8

$he British ast India company 1... could with utmost difficulty control its own staff, when it took them half a year 9ust to reach their place of work1.. And since the salaries they were paid were relatively modest "a clerk got a basic of pounds a year, not much more than a domestic servant back in
ngland# ,

most company

employees did not hesitate to conduct business on the side1.. $he supreme interloper was $homas 4itt. :n reaching India, 4itt simply absconded and began buying goods from Indian merchants , shipping these back to ngland on his own1.. In '(;< despite their previous misgivings , the company decided to send none other than the interloper $homas 4itt to ,adras as 0overnor of =ort St 0eorge1.. A fine specimen of a poacher turned gamekeeper, who could still do a bit of poaching on the side > Plantation =resh in mind are the conflict in ?orthern Ireland , the terms I@A!
@epublican Army#, "Irish "-#

SI?? = I?

" a hard8line political party#

as well as the announcement in

A..- by I@A of the end of its armed campaign. Before we learn about the uniBue strategy of 4lantation used by the British for empire building, a brief look back on Irish history would make sense. At the end of Irish *ar of Independence, ';'; to ';A' , Anglo8Irish treaty was signed creating Irish =ree State , a self governing dominion under /ommonwealth of ?ations, which in ';C; declared itself a @epublic and left British /ommon wealth . Six counties had opted out and chose to stay within the Dnited Eingdom F designated as ?orthern Ireland.
people! as declared by the ' st 4rime ,inister F 7ames /raig # " a protestant state for the protestant

. +owever, discrimination against

the minority nationalist community in 9obs, housing, and their total exclusion from political power led to the emergence of ?orthern Ireland /ivil @ights Association, in late ';(.!s inspired by ,artin 3uther Eing!s civil rights movement in America, but which gradually turned violent in response to violent suppression of their peaceful protests.

8'(8 ?ow let us see as to how was Ireland coloni5ed by Britain. In the early '(..s, a group of intrepid pioneers sailed across the seas to settle and they hoped to civili5e a primitive country inhabited by F as they saw it F a barbarous people% Ireland. $heir term for coloni5ation was 4lantation!. In the words of Sir 7ohn &avies, the settlers were good corn and the natives were , weeds1. In reality plantation meant what today is called, ethnic cleansing!. $he1 printed book!, published in '('. , spelt out in detail how plantation would work. $he land would be reallocated in neat parcels ranging from '... to )... acres. $he biggest plots would go to the ominously named, undertakers!, whose 9ob it was to build protestant churches and fortifications1.. /atholics had to live outside the walls1. In :ctober AA '(C' the Dlster /atholics rose up against the new comers 1.. a fearful tempest of blood , around A... protestants were killed1.. Get by this time the plantation had taken hold. ven before '(C' rising, there were more than '),... nglish men and women established in the six counties of 7acobean plantation, and more than C.,... Scots throughout northern Ireland111.. So Ireland was the experimental laboratory of British coloni5ation and Dlster was the prototype plantation.
"-#

*hat it seemed to show was that empire could be built not only by commerce and conBuest but by migration and settlement. ?ow the challenge was to export the model further afield F not 9ust across the Irish seas, but across the Atlantic. As in Dlster. So in the new world plantation meant planting F not 9ust people but also crops. And planting crops meant tilling the land. $he Buestion was whose land was itH.... As Sir =rancis *yatt, 0overnor of 2irginia put it% our first worke is expulsion of the savages to gain the free range of the country for

8'68 encrease of cattle, swine I c which will more than restore us , for it is infinitely better to have no heathen among us!. In order to 9ustify expropriation of indigenous populations, the British colonists came up with the distinctive rationali5ation, the convenient idea of terra nullis! nobody!s land. J

Religious Intervention It is interesting to see how even religion could not keep aloof from the exciting game of empire building.
1.. /hristopher /olumbus had laid the foundation of Spain!s American empire .. In

1493 Pope had issued a bull allocating trade in the A ericas to !pain and trade in Asia to Portugal

$he economics of British America was precariousK and by economics alone British America could not have been built. Something more was needed F an additional inducement to cross the Atlantic, over and above the profit motive. "hat so ething turned out to be religious #unda entalis ngland finally settled on a moderately 4rotestant middle way! at the accession of Lueen li5abeth I. =or people who came to be called as puritans, stablishment was a fudge. *hen it became clear that however, the Anglican

7ames I intended to uphold the li5abethan order, a group of self8styled pilgrims! from Scrooby in ?ottinghamshire decided it was time to leave11 $hen they heard about America and precisely what put other people off F the fact that it was a wilderness F struck them as ideal. *here better to found a truly 0odly society than amid a vast and empty chaos. :n ;th ?ovember '(A., nearly eight weeks after leaving Southampton , the pilgrims landed in cape cod. .>
"-#

-18The Three East India Companies I never knew that there were three '. ast India /ompanies. &id youH

&utch merchants had been trading with India since '-;- via cape of

good hope. "he $utch %ast India &o pan' was founded in '(.A. ver since they had thrown off the Spanish rule in '-6;, the &utch had been at the cutting edge of uropean capitalism. 1. $hey were able to send out nearly five times as many ships to Asia as the 4ortuguese and twice as many as the nglish1. $hey had established bases in ,asulipatnam on the east coast of India, at Surat in the north west and at 7affna in /eylon. But by the '(<.!s, it was the textiles from Bengal that accounted for the bulk of its shipments home. /hinsura, seemed well on its way to become the future capital of &utch India. 1 By the time it was wound up in '6;(, &utch ast India company had paid on an average an annual return of '<M on the original capital subscribed, an impressive performance over such a long period. A. A group o# (ondon based
"';C yrs#.

erchants had !ubscribed 3),))) pounds , to

set #or the v'age to the east Indies and other ilandes provided the' could secure a ro'al onopol'* that in !ep 1+)) %li,abeth I dul' gave. ast India company 9oint stock of 1. $he predictable effect of Anglo8&utch competition was to drive down prices. $hose who contributed to the second '.- mln pounds '(6C the
"between '('6 I '()A#

ended up losing money1.. Between '(-A I

nglish fought three wars against the &utch1.. Seldom have wars nglish aristocrats1, backed by the

been fought for such nakedly commercial reasons. In '(<< a powerful oligarchy of merchants of city of 3ondon, staged a coup against1 7ames II. $hey invited the &utch stockholder *illiam of :range to invade ngland, and in almost bloodless operation 7ames was ousted1. It had the character of Anglo8&utch business merger1 A deal was done which effectively gave Indonesia and the spice trade to the &utch , leaving the nglish to develop the newer Indian textiles trade.

8';8 ). And in '((C the -rench had set up their own %ast India co pan' F the $he danger that =rance would win a struggle for global mastery against Britain was a real one for the better part of a century1. In '6C( the =rench governor at 4ondicherry resolved to strike a blow against the nglish presence in India. :n A(th =eb ,'6C6 the =rench hurled themselves against ,adras1.., captured the fort, planted their flag at the ramparts , took possession of the whole city1 &ismayed, the nglish ast India company feared that it would be utterly destroyed by its =rench rival1.. +owever, 0overnor &upleix of 4ondicherry had mistimed his move. $he ending of war of Austrian succession with the peace treaty in '6C< , forced him to relinBuish ,adras. J ivide and Rule :ne cannot really blame the British for using the strategy of divide and rule so effectively. Any ruler would do the same. $he real issue for serious introspection is as to why did we decide to get divided N why did we let them divide usH And of serious concern is as to why have we even today not given up those tendencies. $ake for example the difficulties being faced in setting up an effective one agency for the whole country to gather intelligence and investigate terrorist attacks. Immediate short term concerns take precedence over a broader vision for the benefit of the country as a whole. An age old narrow Silo mentality.
J And the Indians themselves. $he answer is that they allowed themselves to be divided and ultimately ruled. ven before the seven years war "between the British I the =rench# the British and the =rench were meddling in Indian politics, trying to determine the successors to the Subahdar of &eccan and the nawab of /arnatic. 1. 1.. *hen the seven years war broke out , the ?awab of Bengal, Sira98ud8daula, attacked the British settlement of /alcutta1 Sira9 had =rench backing. But his rivals, the 7agat Seth banking family, subsidi5ed the British counter attack. And /live was able to persuade the supporters of a rival ?awab, ,ir 7afar, to defect from Sira9!s side on AA nd 7une '6-6, at the battle of 4lassey. +aving won the battle and secured the
"-#

/ompagnie des Indes :rientales, with its base at 4ondicherry.

8A.8 governorship of Bengal, /live deposed ,ir 7afar, appointing his son8in8law ,ir EasimK when the latter proved insufficiently malleable , he in turn was expelled and ,ir 7afar

restored. 1. ,ore than two thirds of A;.. troops of /live at 4lassey were Indians11 /live wrote to his directors in 3ondon, 1 the Indians are indolent, lu.urious, ignorant and cowards be'ond all conception .. the' atte pt ever' thing b' treacher' , rather than #orce &ric/eting #ans should find this bit of history of interest %
A proto8cricket8tournament had been initiated by +arris in '<;), with teams assembled along racial and community lines. Initially the 4arsi team had haughtily declined to play the +indus% only uropean opponents were eBual to their dignity. But by ';.6 the rift between +indus and 4arsis was healed and the first Bombay triangular between +indus, 4arsis and uropeans was held. In ';'A a ,uslim team 9oined and thus the Buadrangural began. 111 By mid8thirties the Buestion of how the minor! minorities should be incorporated into the game arose. In cricketing terms the Buestion was how the smaller communities of Indian /atholics, 4rotestants, Syrian /hristians, urasians, Sinhalese, Buddhists, 3uso84ortuguese Indians and 7ews might participate in the game. $he solution came in ';)6 with the formation of the fifth team called the @est!, and the first Bombay 4entangular was born.!
"-# "-#

+ere is a peep into our divisive tendencies even in the sports field.

!verall Strateg" #or India (ord 0acaula'1s address to the 2ritish parlia ent, 3 -ebruar',1435 I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conBuer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and nglish is

8A'8 good and greater than their own, they will lose their self8esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.!

It should be worthwhile to have a brief look at the conditions prevailing in India prior to the arrival o# the 2ritish, as part of out 9ourney of India on the move. In the '6th century, 1 there was only one outlet , the discerning workmanship and technology were in a league of their own. *hen nglish nglish

shopper would buy her clothes from. =or sheer Luality , Indian fabrics , designs, merchants began to buy Indian silks and calicoes and bring them back home , the result was nothing less than a national makeover1 an appetite that had 1 swept aside a whole genre of legislation % the sumptuary laws that had traditionally regulated what nglishmen and women could wear according to their social rank. 1 In '((C over a Buarter million pieces of calico were imported into ngland1'6th century nglish merchants had little they could offer Indians that Indians did not make themselves. $herefore, they paid for their purchases in cash, the bullion they had earned from trade elsewhere. India!s share of the total world output at that time had been estimated at AC MK Britain!s share was merely ) M. $he idea that Britain might one day rule India would have struck a visitor to &elhi in late '6 th century as simply preposterous.!
J mpire J by ?iall =ergusaon F published A..A. "-#

*ith regard to agricultural production and the wages in Agriculture, according to the 9ournal %dinburgh 6eview 7A$ 14)38)49, the wages of Indian agricultural labourer in the Allahabad82aranasi region around '<.. were in real terms substantially higher than the wages of his British counterpart1.!
"(#

ven in a moderately fertile area like that of /hengalpattu "$amilnadu# ,

our paddy production in a substantial area of its lands around '6(.86. amounted

to some -8( tons per hectare , which eBuals the production of paddy per hectare in present day 7apan F the current world high.! 8AA8 An estimate of IndiaOs pre8colonial economy puts the annual revenue of mperor AkbarOs treasury in '(.. at P'6.- million Qin contrast to the entire treasury of
0reat Britain two
" 6#

hundred years later in 1800, which totaled 16 million. ) The gross economy, the second largest in the world.

domestic product of Mughal India in 1600 was estimated at a out !".#$ the world By this time the ,ughal mpire had expanded to include almost ;. per mperor Aurang5eb reported an annual ast India

cent of South Asia, and enforced a uniform customs and tax8administration system. In '6.. the excheBuer of the revenue of more than P'.. million11111. After gaining the right to collect revenue in Bengal in '6(-, the /ompany largely ceased importing gold and silver, which it had hitherto used to pay for goods shipped back to Britain. In addition, as under ,ughal rule, land revenue collected in the Bengal 4residency helped finance the /ompanyOs wars in other part of India. /onseBuently, in the period '6(.F'<.., BengalOs money supply was greatly diminishedK furthermore, the closing of some local mints and close supervision of the rest, the fixing of exchange rates, and the standardi5ation of coinage, paradoxically, added to the economic downturn. &uring the period, '6<.F'<(., India changed from being an exporter of processed goods for which it received payment in bullion, to being an exporter of raw materials and a buyer of manufactured goods. , which chiefly consisted of raw cotton, opium, and indigo, accounted for most of IndiaOs exports. Also, from the late '<th century British cotton mill industry began to lobby the government to both tax Indian imports and allow them access to markets in India. Starting in the '<).s, British textiles began to appear in 8 and soon to inundate 8 the Indian markets, with the value of the textile imports growing from P-.A million '<-. to P'<.C million in '<;(. J
Source % Internet

8A)8 Indian Science and Technolog" in the Eighteenth Centur" *e owe ,r &harampal, a 0andhian high gratitude for opening our eyes to this sub9ect. So if one wanted to have knowledge in any detail of the society and life of India before British dominance, the obvious thing was to carefully peruse these British generated archives. $his now &haram 4al did. +e did not have much of an income. $here was also a family to support. But not withstanding all this , he became a regular visitor to the India office and the British ,useum. 4hotocopying reBuired money. :ftentimes old manuscripts could not be photocopied. So he copied them in long hand ,page after page, millions of words, day after day. $hereafter he would have the copied notes typed. +e thus retrieved and accumulated thousands of pages of information from the archival record. *hen he returned to India, his most pri5ed possession was these notes, which filled several large trunks and suit cases111 $his picture that emerged from the total archival record was nothing short of stunning. /ontrary to what millions of us were taught in school text books, it indicated the existence of a functioning society, extremely competent in the arts and sciences of its day. Its interactive grasp over its immediate natural environment was undisputed% in fact, it demanded praise. $his was reflected in both agricultural and industrial production. $he most impressive feature of the set up was the elaborate fiscal arrangements made for its upkeep in perpetuity. =rom the gross produce, amounts were allocated by tradition for the upkeep of the system, from the engineers who looked after the irrigation tanks and channels, to the police and the school teachers.
$wo examples of such lack of comprehension pertain to the
"6#

practice of

inoculation against small pox and the use of drill plough. $ill '6Ao, when the wife of the then British ambassador in $urkey, having got her children successfully inoculated

,began to advocate its introduction into Britain, the practice of inoculation was unknown to the British medical and scientific world. 8AC8 Similarly, about the drill plough. $he drill plough is said to have been first used in urope by one 7oseph 3ocatelli of /arithia "Austria# in '((A. Its introduction in ngland dates to '6).. But it took perhaps another -. years before it was used on any scale. It was used in India from time immemorial111.. $he interest in the Indian manufacture of ice, in the making of ,adras mortar, in the process of Indian iron and steel manufacture or the observatory of 2aranasi " treated as one of the five celebrated observatories of the world by the ncyclopedia Britannica in its editions till '<A).# or for material for the water proofing of the bottom of the ships, arose out of rapidly multiplying but specific uropean needs. . 111. 4rof 7ohn 4layfair, professor of mathematics at

the university of

dinburgh, an academician of distinction, after a detailed

examination , arrived at the conclusion that the Indian astronomical observations pertaining to the period of )'.A years before /hrist appeared to be correct by every conceivable test. Such correctness of observation was possible either through complex astronomical calculations by the Indians or by direct observation in the year )'.A B/. +e chooses the latter explanation11. It became intellectually easier for him to concede this astronomy!s antiBuity rather than its sophistication and the scientific capacities of its underlying theories. But the substance which seems to have evoked most scientific and technical interest in Britain of the '6;.!s was the sample of woot, steel sent by &r Scott to Sir 7 Banks, the president of the British @oyal Society. $he sample went through examination and analysis by several experts. It was found in general to match the best steel then available in Britain1. And it began to be much in demand% and some '< years later the afore Buoted user of steel stated, I have at this time liberal supply of woot, and I intend to use it for many purposes. If a better steel is offered to me, I will gladly attend to it% but the steel of India is decidedly the best I have yet met with ! ";# As he recorded all this, &haram pal also saw how it was all being undermined , how the British in fact went about pulveri5ing the Indian economy

and society1.. +e found that the British successfully initiated an intricate system of widespread control and extortion, taking away as tax 8A-8 was often done at the point of the bayonet111 According to &haram 4al, the British purpose in India, perhaps after long deliberation during the '6 th century was, never to attempt on any scale the settlement of the people of Britain in India. It was felt that in most regions of India, because of its climate, temperature range, gifted, industrious and dense population, the settling of the people of urope would serve little purpose.
$herefore the purpose was defined as bringing to Britain and was to transfer as much as possible of the wealth of India to urope.! "6# urope , surplus products of the varied industry of the people of India and the taxes imposed on this industry. 1. $he aim

most of what land

produced , as well as the products of manufacture. +e found it horrifying that it

In this chapter we have been witness to the naked ambitions and raw passions of the early colonialists , arrogating to themselves the right to look down on others as inferior beings , to dispossess them of their habitat, to aim to destroy their civili5ation and industry and an assumed divine right to rule over them. $urning our attention now away from the past to the present, to our own affairs in India F chiefly on the health of our conomy and &emocracy today. *e, therefore, now proceed to examine increasing numbers of people in the country, our slowing economy, our education system, our corruption problem, our power supply problems and the like. And to examine if the current high level of cynicism among some of the elite is 9ustified or is rather misplaced. 4ast can only be a guide to learn about the mistakes made and to develop a focus on how to avoid the same mistakes again. And for those who choose not to learn from the past, the saying, +istory repeats itself! is perfectly valid. So an important

theme of the reader should be to assess as to how much of a learning nation are we. And what steps are needed at this stage.

8A(8 !ur Population :ver the last few decades we have been concerned about our burgeoning population. Ges, it is a problem, but then the expanding numbers are only one aspect of the issue. 3et us take a scan of some relevant data and see some other emerging perspectives. And to what extent do these impact the phenomenon of India on the ,ove.! G A@ 4:4D3A$I:? I?/@ AS ';.' '' ';A' ';)' ';C' ';-' ';(' ';6' ';<' ';;' A..' A.'' "cr# A).< A-.A A-.' A6.; )'.< )(.' C).; -C.< (<.) <C.( '.A.< 'A'.. "cr# R'.C 8 ..' RA.< R).; RC.) R6.< R'..; R').R'(.) R'<.A R'<.A I?/@ AS "M# -.;M 8 ..CM ''.AM ').;M ').-M A'.(M (+)8, (+)-, (*)8, (1)&, 1.)1,
/ourtesy % internet, census commission data

@ ,A@ES

Increase

over

-.

year

span8

1$%1 to 1$&1 ' 1()* cr 7 53 : 9

Increase over

-. year span 8

1$&1 to 1$$1 ' --). cr 7 145 : 9

Interesting S is!nt it H

8A68 ,ore than five times growth in population Q ((.6 crores T in the half century after independence as compared to the half century before independence Q 'A.) crores T. *hether a growing population is desirable or not, is a separate sub9ect
" ).)- times the population of ';-' # .

@ight now, we would like to examine as to why did

this phenomenon happen. In DSA the a good chunk of new population that arrived after the A nd world war are termed as the bab' booo ers. And this phenomenon occurred , we can imagine, due to a new feeling of freedom and well8being as well as the opportunity after enforced separation of couples over longish periods. *as a similar feeling of freedom I well8 being also a factor in our caseH *as it also due to some improvement in longevityH *e would be right in denouncing the current deficient levels of health care for a large mass of our society. $hat is fine. =rom personal experience of our 9oint family living in a village of +imachal 4radesh, it can be stated that even today in a government dispensary located about ) kms away, there is no Bualified doctor and in an emergency the patient has to be ferried to a hospital about )- kms away. +owever, right now we are focusing on a comparative analysis of two pre I post independence half centuries and noting that the change in population was not marginal but substantial. health care and nutrition levels leading to better

8A<8 3et us look at some data on 3:?0 2I$G 4A@A, $ @ of our people. ,ale ';.' ';)' ';C' ';-' ';(' ';6' ';<' ';;' A..'8.A..A8.( commission A..< (C.( (6.6 A).( A(.; )A.' )A.C'.; C(.C -C.' -<.' (A.) (A.; =emale AC.. A(.( )'.C )'.6 C..( CC.6 -C.6 -<.( ().. (C.6 Q source % internet, planning QAverage 3ife xpectancy in years T

/verage 0i#e E1pectanc" in India

<.

6.

(.

-. ,ale 2ears C. =emale ).

A.

'.

. ';.' ';)' ';C' ';-' ';(' ';6' ';<' ';;' A..'8.A..A8.( A..<

Is!nt it shocking that only a century ago, average life span of our ancestors was only AC yearsH Is!nt it gratifying that our average life span today has doubled as compared to ';-', a period soon after independenceH Such a change does no happen by accident. $here is always a cause and effect relationship. But in our informal discourse as well as in the media, do we come across these facts being emphasi5ed. Is!nt this something to be proud about, even though there are huge improvements that are called for today in our health care systems across the length I breadth of the countryH It is also worth noting that we have caught up with the world wide trend of females living longer than men. +owever, there is still Buite a gap between our longevity of around (( years and around <) that of 7apan F the world number one.

8).8 3et us now look at the A0 I?0 4@:B3 , developing in some countries and where does India stand on that score. &avid called this effect the de ographic dividend. 1. *hen demographers looked at previous periods of sustained economic growth from urope to Dnited States to Asia, they found that they coincided time and again with similar patterns of large numbers of young people and fewer dependants. 1.. India!s fertility rate fell slowly from (.- in ';(.!s to A.6 in A..(, brought down with rising literacy, improved health indicators and economic growth111 *e have started to experience a demographic dividend since ';<. and it will take until A.)- to peak. By this time India will have added A6. million people to the working population. urope is vanishing 1. :ur countries will be empty the =rench 4resident 7acBues /hirac had said 8 the continent was becoming a place of old people , living in old houses, ruminating about old ideas.! :ver the next two decades India!s middle class will swell over to -<. million people. At the same time , the lack of dependants will enable a new phase of guilt free consumption. It is these multiple forces that are expected to drive a growth rate of - M for India until ';-. F a trend, if it happens , that will be uniBue and unprecedented in economic history111 +owever, the strength of a large pool of young workers can Buickly turn into a weakness, if India fails to implement effective policies 1> "'.# In this context, it would be worthwhile briefly mentioning some steps being taken.
0ovt is aware of this need and has setup ?ational /ouncil for Skill &evelopment "?/S&# in A..< with a mandate of developing -. crore youth by A.AA. :f this ).M i.e '- crore is expected to be done with help of private participation . $owards that end ?ational Skill &evelopment corporation has been set up I per news letter of :ct A.'A, the score so far is A.< lacs. +owever, in ,ay A.') certain changes have been made in the above set up by replacing the ?/S& with ?ational Skill &evelopment Agency , the ?ational Skill

8)'8 &evelopment /oordination board and the office of the Adviser o the 4, on skill development.
:ther than the government, some private initiatives are in place. *orth mention is the one called @D&S $I F @ural development I Self mployment $raining Institute, pioneered by &r & 2 +eggade from Earnataka, in collaboration with Syndicate Bank and /anara Bank. $hey have set up A( institutes all over the country and claim to have so far trained around '(,... young boys and girls, of whom '',(.. have settled down in self employment. $he 0urgaon branch that we visited was headed by some one on deputation from the /anara bank for - years , who was apparently en9oying this 9ob did not look too keen to go back to the routine bank 9ob.

Another oft repeated concern among some friends seems to be the allegedly fast increasing population among the 0usli co unit', which is likely to surpass the +indus in a few years and is held as a firm belief without bothering to check facts available. =or this purpose, let us take the help of Sachar /ommittee report. Communit" based brea3up o# population
G A@ S/+ &D3 & /AS$ S I S/+ &D3 & $@IB S :$+ @ BA/E*A@& /AS$ S @ S$ +I?&DS := ,DS3I,S :$+ @S

';( '

?A

?A

?A

C.6crores "'..6M#

?A

A.. '

A-.; crores "A-.AM#

)'.( crores ")..6M#

A-.A crores -M#

').6 crores "AC. "').CM#

(.) crores "(.AM

A.' '

"A-.AM# )..- crores

?A

?A

?A

?A

Source % Sachar /ommittee @eport, A.'' fig for S/ I S$ from Indian xpress of ,ay .',A.')

8)A8 So we see that the ,uslim population has increased by A.6M over a period of C. years. Sachar /ommittee also indicates that the fertility rate among them has been high, but is coming down and adds, Among all communities, decision to have children are individually that of couples depending on individual factors and is not motivated by the notion to increase the population Mage of the community.! $he committee pro9ection is that ,uslim population by the end of the century is likely to be around '<8';M. So, how about the adage, #acts are stranger than #iction.