Date to refute the propaganda that perpetuates the myth that Kashmiri Pandits were elite exploitative class of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
People whose primary means of income was cultivation:
Male: 4376
Female: 731
People who worked as Agents/Managers/Forest officers, their clerks, rent collectors:
Male: 294
Field Labourers/Woodcutters:
Male: 2
Herders/Milkmen/Livestock:
Male: 4
Artisan and other workmen:
Male: 272
Female: 339
Transport Owner/Manager:
Male: 10
Labourer/boatmen/palki carrier:
Male: 2070
Female: 12
People whose Principal means of income was State Service:
Male: 3844
Female: 31
People who had State job as a means of additional income:
Male: 481
Female: 1
People who had some other means of income on top of State job:
Male: 208
Female:5
People holding Religious Posts:
Male: 74
Lawyer/Doctor/Teacher:
Male: 129
Female: 1
Living on their incomes from the funds:
Male: 98
Female: 4
Employed in Domestic service:
Male: 1742
Female: 46
Contractors/Clerks/ Cashiers:
Male: 51
Labourers:
Male: 47
Female: 4
Beggars/Criminals/in jail
Male: 80
Female: 3
People who earned from Land:
Male: 1025
Female: 214
Commissioned Gazetted Officer in Public Force:
Male: 1
Gazetted Officer in Public Administration:Male: 6
Other Public Administration:
Male: 2970
Female: 3
Literacy rates
Total KP population: 55055
Total Literate: 14,740
of them 14456 Male and 284 Female
Total Illiterate: 40,303
of them 16, 479 Male and Female 23824.
Literate in English: 5,154.
of them 5104 Male and 50 Female
That means 73.21 % of KPs were illiterate (53% of Males were illiterate). That should puncture the myth (that even KPs like to boast): KPs were highly educated class.
However, the edge was only with the 9.36% English literate KPs among 55055 and 34.97 % among the KP literates. No other community had more number in this category.
To compare: There were only 5231 educated KMs in the state with their population of 796392. Of them only 340 knew English and among them only 5 woman knew English.
Things were to change from KPs and KMs in the next decade.
Year 1931
In 1931, Kashmiri Pandit population increased by 14.6 percent. Though it might sound high. The total increase in number was only 8056. From 55055 it moved to 63088. Number of educated people among KPs increased by 31.9 percent.
It is claimed in myths that KMs were deliberately kept uneducated by the Maharaja (and some even claim by KPs), however, the reason for illiteracy among Muslims is explained in the 1931 report:
“The backwardness of Muslims is the result of their concentration on the soils which does not permit the agriculturist to devote sufficient time and energy for his personal education or the education of his children.”
Yet, efforts were made to get them educated. In the State, the number of schools doubled from 670 in 1921 to 1246 in 1931. [Shri Pratap College, Srinagar gave Rs 1500 scholarship for Muslims and Prince of Wales College, Jammu gave Rs 3000.]
The census report says on the progress among KMs.
“The community that has evinced the keenest interest in augmenting its ranks of literates in beyond doubt the Kashmiri Muslim. In population they have added only 70 persons to 100 of their strength but in literacy they have more than quadrupled the number. “
Their population increased by 69.7 % (this drastic increase partly because “Hajjams” started entering Kashmiri Muslim as their caste) to 1352822 from 796392. The number of literate increased by 313.4 percent.
According to the report:
“When we look to absolute figures only without reference to the population of each caste the Kashmiri Muslims show the highest number of literates viz. 21,639, followed by Kashmiri Pandits with 18,915“
In 1921 there were only 5231 literate KMs while in 1931 the number grew to 18,915, the biggest absolute number in the state,
In 1921 there were only 5 English literate KMs per 10000 of their population. In 1931, the number became 25. That’s an increase of 20%.
Yet, in case of Srinagar city (whose population increased by 22.5 % from 1921 to 1931) we read:
“The total number of literates in the city of Srinagar is 17,575 out of which 16,480 are males and 1,095 females. The proportion of literates per mille [1000] of the total population of the city is 101 being 174 for males and 14 for females. If we exclude population below 5 the proportions would rise to 117 for persons, 198 for males and 16 for females. Amongst Hindus, the proportion of literates works out to 344 while amongst Muslims it dwindles down to 39. The obvious reason is that the Hindus in the city are mostly Kashmiri Pandits or outsiders attracted by the prospects of trade to whom literacy is the one thing needful for conducting their business. The Kashmiri Pandits as already stated have a very high degree of literacy because of the traditions amongst them of following Government service as their calling in life. The Muslims on the other hand are devoted to indigenous arts and crafts which though more paying do not demand literacy as a pre-requisite.”
The KPs still had the advantage in English in the entire state. For KPs there was an increase of 50 percent. From 1045 per 10000 in 1921 it grew to 1588 in 1931.
The report records: “The Kashmiri Pandits hold an enviable position in the State in the matter of English literacy having 1588 literates per 10000 of the population. Their males have a much higher proportion viz 2, 789. The Kashmiri Pandit is by tradition a Government servant for which the requisite equipment is a knowledge of the English language to which he has turned in a greater measure than any other caste.”
Still, for every 1000 KP men 635 were literates and 365 illiterates. Over all the number stood at 369 per 1000. Other communities were of course worse than KPs, but Khatris (386/1000) were better than KPs in literary. Even in the field of female literacy they were better place. They had 178 literate females per thousand compared to (24 for KPs, 22 for Sheikhs , 21 for Brahmins, 1 for Kashmiri Muslims)
Now, let’s see what did this “tradition of Government service ” for KPs meant in numbers.
In 1931, there were 13133 total people in Public Administration and 12265 in State service
According to census, for every 1000 employees in State Service, about 305.9 were KP men and for every 100 woman employees in State Service, only 1 Female was KP woman. Overall, we can say 70% of State service comprised of other communities.
This is the complete breakdown for KPs.
For every 1000 people employed in these fields, following were KPs:
State Service:
305.9
Exploitation of animals and vegetation :
287.9
Industry:
18.6
Transport
4.8
Trade
149.9
Public Force
19.0
Public Administration
1.5
Arts and Professions
73.2
Persons living on their income
20.1
Domestic service
98.7
Insufficiently described occupations
27.7
Beggars, criminals and inmates of Jails
2.7
The report noticed, “The Kashmiri Pandits are gradually relinquishing their ideal of Government service and turning to trade and even manual labour in increasing numbers.”
Then there is the question of unemployment. If KPs were spending so much effort getting education. was it rewarding?
“The unemployed who possess a higher qualification than that of a matric are 289 only exclusive of 73 unemployed who are below 20 years of age. Of these 226 are Brahmans and 26 other Hindus. The Muslims number 37 only. It is very much in the fitness of things that the Brahman who inherits traditions of learning from the past should be most exposed to the uncertainty of employment. The Muslims and others who have a stake in the land naturally do not take to education keenly especially when the education provided in schools and colleges is of a purely literary nature and does not enable the bookish student to pursue any calling except that of a clerk in Government service without further training.”
This provides the backdrop form Roti agitation that city KPs launched in 1932 in response to Glancy commission that among other things sought to lower the requirement for Government jobs. This would have mean all the decade that KPs spent preparing for government job would have been wasted. KMs who by number were already most populous literate group with 21,639 would have been rightly seen as a threat by18,915 literate Kashmiri Pandits. It must have dawned on KPs that their future is at stake. 21,639 was a negligible number given the total population of KMs who were still into land and trade but for 18,915 KPs out of total 55055, the math looked fearful enough . How much of these fears were triggered by census itself is not hard to guess. Just like today Census becomes a political game, back then also in Kashmir, Census data was a political tool.
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Overall, if KPs were the exploitative class, there are probably the only exploitative class in the world in which majority of the people belonging to this class were not working in privileged positions. And KPs would be the only exploitative class whose population showed no drastic increase in population dues to all the “exploitation” they were doing.
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Reference:
1. Census of India 1921 vol.22 Kashmir [Link] under by Chaudhari Khushi Muhammad, Governor of Kashmir.
2. Census of India 1931, Volume 14. Jammu & Kashmir State [Link] under Pandit Anant Ram Dogra, Census Commissioner and Director of Land Records and Pandit Hira Nand Raina, Assistan Census Commissioner.
3. Census of India 1941, Jammu And Kashmir Parts I And II [Link] under Captain R.G. Wreford, Census Commissioner for the state
In 1941 census, the practice of giving data specific to KPs was put to an end. However, in the report we read, there were 76,868 Kashmiri Pandits in the state in 1941. And:
“Most of the Kashmiri Pandits are residents of Srinagar; over 62,000 live in the Anantnag District in which Srinagar City is situated. Another 11,000 were recorded in Baramulla District. The figures do not exceed a thousand in any other district except Jammu which has 1,367.”
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A COMPREHENSIVE DATA WRT KPs OF J&K HAS BEEN COMPILES. IT WOULD GIVE A COMPLETE PICTURE, IF THE DATA OF LAND HOLDINGS WAS ALSO GIVEN WHICH IS NOT THERE.
A VERY INFORMATIVE ARTICLE.