NATIONAL INTEGRATION CONFERENCE-STATEMENT SEPTEMBER, 1961
The National Integration Conference, convened by the Prime Minister, met at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi for days from the 28th September to 1st October. Invitations bad been issued to 153 persons; 130 were able to attend the Conference. Among these invited were Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of States, leaders of various parties in Parliament, Vice Chancellors and other Educationists, Scientists, Industrialists and a number of leading personalities from all over India. A list of those invited and those who attended is attached to this statement.
2. The Conference was inaugurated by the Vice President, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, on the 28 September 1961.
He referred to the long, unbroken tradition of Indian civilization which had survived many seemngly impossible historical predicaments through which India had passed. What was the strange staying power of our country? There are many factors. Among them the first was geographical, the other historical and the third was the pursuit of certain definite objectives. Geographically, India was described long ago as the country which is enclosed by the Himalayas in the north and the seas in the sourth. "tam varsam bharatam nama bharati yatra Samtatih." Those who dwell within these areas, whatever may be their creed or colour, whatever may be their religion, all belong to this one country. Even in early times, there was this sense of unity in the country. if you look into the Mahabharath, you will find there that almost all the representatives from the north and the extreme south are said to have been present at the Kurukshetra war.
When you look at the historical side, at all times it was a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious society, and there was never any question of saying that this group is the biggest or that is not the biggest. The idea was to accommodate all, and not to obliterate any faith but to harmonise all faiths. Even a very conservative legislator like Manu tells us that all the people should learn their own particular traditions. We every believed in our being the chosen race or the custodians of a chosen religion or a chosen tribe. The historical traditions of each race, of each community, of each tribe, were preserved and taught to them. It was this attitude of acknowledging every path, rejecting none, trying to find something of value in each tribe and in each community, that has been the tradition which governed the history of our country. It is a nattitude born of spiritual preception and intellectual generosity. You find something similar in the Koran. There is said : "O, Mankind, we created you from a single pair of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other, not that you may despise each other." So, it was a question of what may be regarded as "Sarvamata (dharma)-samanvaya"-integration of all religions or faiths.
In the greatest periods of our history, when we were able to make a marks, we adopted this attitude of toleration and good-will. Ashoka sent missionaries to far countries. He cut out his great principle in rock ; "Samavaya eva Sadbuh"-concord alone is meritorious. In the next great empire of the country, the Golden Age of the Guptas, Fa Hien, a Chinese traveller who spent ten years in India, was impressed by the toleration of the people. He testifies that he was allowed to go and do whatever he wanted, for the obvious reasons that they never believed in the superiority of their own particular religion. Harsha Vardhana also adopted the religion of freedom.
About the great Akbar, it is said : "He established principles of the widest toleration of opinion of justice to all, irrespective of caste and creed; of alleviating the burdens of the children of the soil; of welding together the interests of all classes of the community-of the Rajput princes, of the Uzbek and Moghul nobles, of the settlers of Afghan origin, of the indigenous inhabitants."
But whenever we surrendered these principles and resorted to rigid, fanatical attitudes, out country suffered and declined. if the misfortunes of our country tell us anything, it Is this, the greatest need which we have is of developing qualities of good will and toleration among the people whom we have in this country.
We may adopt secularism, but religion is there, rooted in the nature of man. Man's impulse is to grow upward, to surpass himself, to know more and to love more, to create beauty. But we never said that it is only one particular religion that could help us to reach this conclusion.
Today, when our country extends from Kashmir to Kanyakumari from Kutch to Assam we are again adopting the same principles of toleration. Every religion Is at liberty to practise its tenets, to follow its own principles, so long as those principles do not outrage the moral conscience of man or endanger the security of the country. We do not want religious principles and political beliefs to be mixed up. This has caused ruin to the country times without number and we are anxious to avoid this as much as possible. The code of conduct of the unity of the human race and that all men are brethren, was embodied in what is called the Gode of Dharma. What is Dharma? Dharma is that which holds society together. Whatever divides society, disintegrates society, creates sects and coteries that is adharma.
National Integration cannot be built by brick and morter, by chisal and hammer. It has to grow silently In the minds and hearts of men. The only access Is the process of education. This may be a slow process, but It is a steady and permanent one.
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We never had linguistic jealousies in the past, nor did we have any prejudice against foreigners or foreign languages.
We are entering into one of the most important transitional periods of history. Barriers are breaking down everywhere and we are trying to develop a kind of international world community. Whenever we want to change, there is always tremendous resistance. All periods of transition are periods of tragedy, tragedy because we have to give up something which we hold dear. But that paid has to be faced by us and we have to get over that in order to make this country into a truly civilised and democratic State.
History is the interplay of great leadership, of historical circumstances and opportunities and if we have all these, there is no reason why we should not become a greater nation than we were ever before. With the consciousness of having worked together for achieving great things, including the freedom of India, and the will to work together for achieving still greater things in the future, we shall succeed.
3. The Prime Minister thanked the Vice-President and welcomes the invitees. He explained how the Conference had been convened and pointed oat the evils of communalism, casteism regionalism, linguism and narrowmindedness. It had to arrive at certain definite conclusions in order to give a lead to the country. A steering Committee consisting of sixteen persons was appointed.
4. After a general discussion, the Conference considered the report of the National Integration Committee and, more especially, the decisions of the meetings of the Chief Ministers held on May 31, June and August 10, 11 and 12, 1961. These as well as the recommendations of the Seminar or National Integration organised by the University Grants Commission 1958, were considered and discussed at length. Certain economic aspects of integration were also considered and a code of conduct of political parties was discussed. There was broad agreement with the proposals put forward by the Steering Committee in regard to these matters.
5. India's unity in the midst of diversity was stressed. In the course of a long history people of different races, religious and languages made their own contribution to the building up of India. But in spite of this diversity, India had always bad a basic unity and a peculiar and distinctive identity. Even though the achievement of political unity and freedom have confirmed this unity, various fissiparous and disruptive tendencies, such as communalism, casteism, regionalism and linguism, tend to disrupt the solidarity of the people. These disruptive tendencies have to be controlled and countered. While certain group loyalities on a religious, regional or linguistic basis may continue, these should be subordinated to the na- tional interest. The conference took note of certain fears and apprehensions of some minority groups and the need for taking steps to remove all legitimate grievances,
6. National integration is a psychological and educational process involving the development of a feeling of unity, solidarity and cohesion In the hearts of the people, a sense of common citizenship and a feeling of loyality to the nation. The Conference welcomed the suggestion made by the Sarva Seva Sangh for launching a mass campaign for a pledge to be signed by every adult Indian to affirm his faith in the universal principle of civilized society to settle disputes by peaceful means and to abstain from resorting to physical violence In disputes with fellow citizens of India. The following pledge was suggested for the purpose:-
"I, as a citizen of India, affirm my faith in the universal principle of civilised society, namely, that every dispute between citizens, or groups, institutions or organisations of citizens should be settled by peaceful means; and, in view of the growing danger to the integrity and unity of the country. I hereby pledge myself never to resort physical violence in the case of any dispute, whether in my neighbourhood or in any other part of India."
Education 7. Education provides the most important means of bringing abouts national integration. Since the problems of national integration or of national unity essentially involves the attitudes of groups or large sections of the community, and, since education has in its broadest sense been recognised as a powerful Instrument for influencing or modifying these attitudes, the Conference regards the process of education and its reorientation, where necessary as of primary importance.
8. Education has been considered in many aspects both by the Chief Ministers' Conference as well as by the Seminar Convened by the University Grants Commission. There is agreement in regard to many of these aspects, such as that the linguistic minorities are entitled to have instruction in their mother tongue at the primary stage of education. This has been reaffirmed on many occasions, and the Conference is of the view that effective steps should be taken to implement this principle not only in the letter but also in the spirit.
9. In the case of secondary education, the Conference agreed with the Chief Ministers that the mother tongue formula could not be fully applied for use as the medium of instruction in the secondary stage of education. It is expected that instruction will be generally given in the regional language or, when certain circumstances prevail in any other language mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, or in English. Special arrangements may, however, be made in the case of certain, bill districts and certain Adivasi areas.
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10. The view was generally accepted that text-books should be written on a national rather than State or regional level, and when they are written in any regional language, arrangements could easily be made for their translation or adaptation into the other languages. The recommendations made by the University Grants Commission in this regard, namely, that a national Advisory Board consisting of eminent scholars and University teachers from different States be set up to advise on the writing of the interprovincial text-books or for reviewing text-books prescribed in different States, making recommendations for revision and improvement, wherever necessary, was also accepted. It was suggested, however, that such a board might includes some eminent writers. The work of producing such text-books should be entrusted to some Central agency.
11. The Conferance recognised that Hindi must develop ultimately as the link for inter-State communication. As, however, It would take some time for the language to evolve sufficiently to express all modern concepts, English will continue to serve the purpose till Hindi is adequately developed.
12. The Conference accepted the proposition that the study of English is important from the point of view of international communication and the growth of modern knowledge generally and more especially in science, industry and technology. This would be necessary at all stages of higher education particularly so at the level of post-graduate study and advanced research.
13. The three language formula, as set out in paragraph 9 of the Chief Ministers' recommendations was generally accepted. It was urged that early steps should be taken in the Hindi speaking areas to teach another modern Indian language, preferably of the South Indian group. In order to implement the three language formula. It was also agreed that the study of Hindi and English should be commenced at an early stage. It was felt in this connection that the distances between the different Indian languages would diminish as the stock of modern new words for new concepts grow, as it was bound to, with the advancement of learning.
14. It was agreed that where schools and colleges using minority languages could riot be affiliated to universities or boards within the State, they might be affiliated to Universities or Boards outside the State. Existing affiliations may Continue.
15. As regards the medium for University education, while a plea was made for the use of Hindi as the medium on an all-India basis, the general view was that the regional languages are bound to replace English as the medium of instruction as soon as the necessary preparations for the changeover could be made acceptable to the academic world. But it was agreed that in Such an arrangement, there would be the necessity of a link in the shape of a language understood all over India. It was felt that this link must ultimately be Hindi, but since Hindi, like any other regional language, will take some time for its full development. English will continue to be taught as a second language as in the secondary stage of education, where necessary. and it also implied that English apart from continuing as a transitional link, will remain as a language of international importance for the enrichment of our languages in regard to science and technology.
16. The Chief Ministers had expressed the view that phasing of this change-over from English to Hindi or a regional language according to subjects would be necessary but if, as recommended by them-selves and the University Grants Commission, all technical and scientific common words including well known international terms, are included in the technical terminology based on international usage and are common to most of the Indian languages, then such phasing may not be necessary.
17. Views were expressed strongly that in the interest of greater uniformity and cohesion of policy, education should be made a concurrent subject, or at least for administrative purposes, an All India Educational Service, should be constituted.
18. The Conference was of opinion that in order to promote better understanding and mutual good will and a sense of solidarity, universities and College in all States should encourage deserving students from other States to study in them. For this purpose special facilities in regard to admission and scholar ships may be provided.
19. it was urged that in order to promote national integration, a reorientation and reorganisation of education, was necessary as also for an Improvement in quality of education and the development of a sense of discipline, of tolerance and of responsibility. Education should foster national feeling, a sense of belonging, so that our youth develop as good citizens. There should moreover be a synthesis of professional and academic education to the same end. Stress should be laid on the inculcation of a sense of Indianness through the proper teaching of history, in particular bringing out the richness of our composite culture, explaining the present and projecting the vision of a glorious future. Education should develop in the young a sense of mission, repugnance towards dominating over others, and a civilised pattern of social behaviour it should aim at creating Integrated Individuals. The transition of India from a partially modernised to a fully modernised society poses especially difficult problems for Indian youth and all the resources of the Indian educational system must be so deployed as to strengthen national unity and to make the road to adult responsibility smooth and, interesting. Teachers and students should be encouraged to play an important part in promoting rationality, objectivity and a scientific attitude, and in fighting obscuranism, superstition and tolerance.
20. The Conference strongly urged that in all schools in India, the days work should begin with the community singing of the Nationa- Anthem.
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Code of Conduct 21. The Conference was of opinion that in order to foster and develop national integration it was necessary to have a code of conduct in respect of political parties, the press, students and the general public. The Conference was also of opinion that in view of the impending general elections, a special code, of conduct should be drawn up for the guidance of political parties during the election campaign.
22. It was not possible to formulate comprehensive codes on all these matters without further consultation with the interests involved. There was, however, general agreement among those present at the Conference to the following code for immediate adoption by political parties :
(i) No party should indulge in any activity which would aggrevate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities religious or linguistic.
(ii) Every political party in any agitation it may launch in respect of any matter should ensure that there is no incitement to violence and that no acts of violence are resorted to. If in spite of its best efforts, there is any outbreak of violence it should be forthwith condemned.
(iii) Political Parties should not resort to a agitation for seeking redress against any grievances relating to communal, caste, regional or linguistic issues, which is likely to disturb pace or to create bitterness or increase tension between the different section of the public, before exhausting all methods of conciliation and meditation.
(iv) Political Parties should desist from creating obstructions in or breaking up meetings, processions etc. organised by other Parties.
(v) The Government, while taking measures to maintain law and order, should take care not to impose undue restrictions on civil liberties and should not employ such measures as would interfere with the normal functioning of Political Parties.