Indepndence Day!

On this day, when I'm typing this post, the first thing that comes to my mind is one of my earlier posts, titled "Have we got Independence".

But what now I feel is that we brood a lot. We brood a lot saying "India lacks ....", "India does not have ......" and what not! But I have also been saying that we need to join hands and fight against these factors. But Indians, today is a day to celebrate THE Independence we got on August 15 1947 - THE Independence we got from the British.

On this day, let's recollect how much they had tortured us, how much they had exploited us etc.?
No - today is a day of joy. We can't say that by the entry of British, everything they did was bad for us? There were also people like Lord William Bentinck. Let's see, from http://www.indianetzone.com/23/william_bentinck.htm , what he has done for the Indian society.

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None of Bentinck`s predecessors handled the problems of social evil in India as Bentinck did. He tried to reform the Hindu society by abolition of the cruel rite of Sati and the suppression of the infanticide. The cult of Sati was prevalent in Bengal in the 19th century. According to that cult a devoted wife burnt herself with the dead body of her husband. The cult and ritual of Sati was contemplated as a holy rite to live an uninterrupted and perpetual conjugal union. In India its popularity was due to a false sense of conjugal duty sanctioned by the society.

However some Indian princes and the foreigners even had adopted several steps to abolish the cult of Sati. The East India Company had however adhered to its declared policy of non-interference in the social and the religious customs of the people of India. Whatever steps were adopted so long had been proved inadequate and unsuccessful.

William Bentinck as the governor General of India looked down the sati cult and declared sati illegal. In his a solemn aim to reform India, He got the assistance of the enlightened Indians like Raja Ram Mohan Roy. While Ram Mohan Roy published a number of pamphlets condemning the practice of Sati, Lord William Bentinck provided necessary legislative corrective. None of his predecessors provided any legislative assistance to stop the social evils like Sati practiced in India. Bentinck undertook the social reform as one of his administrative duties. Bentinck, before taking any steps collected relevant facts and figures about Sati cases, obtained the views of the army officers, of the judges of the Nizamat Adalat, of the Superintendent of Police of the respective provinces. Later by the Regulation No XVII of December1829 he declared the practice of Sati illegal. In the Regulation he also declared in the clear terms that the practice of sati by any means was illegal and punishable by the criminal courts. The Regulation of 1829 by William Bentinck was applicable initially for the Bengal Presidency. But right from 1830 the jurisdiction of the Regulation was extended in different forms to Madras and the Bombay Presidencies. With this step of William Bentinck though no public disorder followed, yet a few orthodox Bengalis vainly made an appeal to the Privy Council against the Government`s interference in their religious customs. But the practice of sati was completely abolished from the contemporary society with the assistance of William Bentinck.

During that time the killing of the infant girls were highly in practice. However the killing of the infant girls was most popular among the Rajputs. A girl child was considered as an evil and she mother was cursed if she gave the birth of a girl child. Many dubious methods were used to destroy the female children. Infanticide was popular in the region of Beneras Gujrat. The tribes like Jharija Rajputs, Jats and Mewatis performed this evil practice. In spite of the adequate legal measures, infanticide was still continuing in its full form. Bentinck reorganized the Bengal Regulation XXI of 1795 and Regulation III of 1804, thereby adopted vigorous steps to suppress the immoral and inhuman practice. Moreover Bentinck also stopped the child sacrifices at special occasion in the Saugar islands in Bengal. Bentinck issued prompt orders to stop this evil practice.

William Bentinck was a genuine social reformer in spite of the British Governor General. The thugs or the cheats were concentrated in plenty in the contemporary society. These thugs were a sect of hereditary assassins and robbers who lived by preying upon innocent travelers. Due to the devastated administrative machinery after the downfall of the Mughal, the thugs emerged in plenty in the society. Petty officials of small states were unable to deal with the thugs and gave them protection in return for a share in the spoils. William Bentinck took vigorous step to stop the growth of the thugs and the evil practices. He issued legislative measures declaring the punishment for those who provided protection to the thugs. While the general public opinion was moved against the Government measure during the abolition of Sati, the public opinion solidly supported the suppression of thugs in 1830. After the law was passed, Colonel Smith arrested about 1500 thugs and subjected them to death. Due to the continuous legislative actions adopted by Bentinck the thugs on an organizing scale ceased to exist after 1837.
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Today, what we need to be proud of is, India is free from the evil practices, more or less, and she is free from British rule (of course, am not referring to the dress sense and life style ...but we're free from their torture!)

So let's celebrate this day by ......? This time let's do something different ....let's design the Indian flag on MS Paint, as simple as we can ...but inclusive of all details (no other software).

I will be posting it soon ....let's make India proud by doing this simple thing.

PS: Do this with a whole lot of patriotism.

Jaihind