Why in the News?
Prime Minister urges 10-Year national pledge to shed Colonial Mindset rooted in British MP Thomas Babington Macaulay's Legacy and his major campaign of to uproot India from its cultural foundations.
Macaulay's Contribution to Indian Administration
- Education Policy: As President of the Committee of Public Instruction, Macaulay broke the deadlock between Orientalists (favoring Indian languages) and Anglicists (favoring English education).
- His Minute on Education (1835) established English as the medium of instruction and prioritized Western literature and science over traditional Indian learning.
- Aimed to create "Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect" as an intermediary class.
- Downward Filtration Theory: Focused on establishing elite English institutions rather than promoting mass elementary education, expecting knowledge to filter down from the educated elite.
- Legal Reforms: Appointed first Law Member of the Governor-General's Council (1834-1838) under the Charter Act of 1833.
- Removed privileges of British settlers who could appeal to Calcutta's Supreme Court.
- As Chairman of the First Law Commission (1835), codified Indian criminal law, leading to the Civil Procedure Code (1859), Indian Penal Code (1860), and Criminal Procedure Code (1861).
- Civil Service: The Macaulay Committee (1854) introduced merit-based competitive examinations, replacing the patronage system.
- Emphasized general academic education, preferring university graduates from Oxford or Cambridge.
- Social Reforms: Championed press freedom, abolition of slavery, free trade, free movement of people, and women's property rights.
Key aspects of Colonial Mindset in India
- Instilling Inferiority: Macaulay's policy broke India's self-confidence and instilled a "sense of inferiority" by discarding thousands of years of India's indigenous science, art, philosophy.
- Language: Use of English in courts and universities is seen as aspirational, sometimes hindering access for non-English speakers.
- E.g., Former CJI D.Y. Chandrachud stated that "English language in its 'legal avatar' is not comprehensible to 99.9% of the citizens".
- Culture: Colonial rule imposed Western cultural elements including western dress, food, art forms, manners, and values, often projecting Indian knowledge systems as inferior.
- E.g., Western dress codes are tied to professionalism, especially in corporate sector.
- Laws & Institutions: Many colonial laws, such as the IPC (Indian Penal Code), Forest Laws, Sedition etc. and criminal procedures, are rooted in establishing control rather than service.
- Economic System: Imported economic models and emphasis on private capital led to impoverishment of a large section of population.
- Knowledge Systems: Indigenous knowledge systems forgotten due to large emphasis on imported models of research and innovation.
- Ayurveda and Siddha were labeled "unscientific," while While Western medicine accorded the status of official medicine.
Impact of colonial Mindset on India
- Bureaucratic Overreach: A pervasive, license‑permit style state, intrusive policing, and a command‑and‑control bureaucracy reflect continuity with colonial governance focused on control rather than facilitation.
- Seeking foreign validation: In various fields such as in academia, corporate standards, policy design etc.
- Colorism: A deep-seated preference for lighter skin tones persists in Indian society, directly linked to colonial-era racial hierarchies that favored fair-skinned Indians for social recognition.
- Social differences: E.g., Caste stereotypes were hardened through colonial census as it constructed Indian social identities using categories of convenience.
Cultural movements to tackle Colonial Mindset
- Arya Samaj (1875): Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded this movement with slogan "Back to the Vedas, aimed to purify Hinduism, rejected western influences.
- Ramakrishna Mission: Established by Swami Vivekananda in 1897, it emphasized the universal spirit of all religions and promoted Indian spiritual traditions in the West.
- Swadeshi Movement (1905–1908): It focused rejecting Western goods and cultural consumption encouraged indigenous textiles, music, art, theatre etc.
- Mahatma Gandhi visualized swadeshi as an important tool for India's economic development.
- The Bengal School of Art: Spearheaded by Abanindranath Tagore, it focused on rejecting Western academic realism, reviving traditional Indian artistic styles and sought inspiration from Mughal, Pahari art.
- Nationalist historiography: Nationalist historians are scholars who, influenced by nationalism, write history with a focus on national pride, including M.G. Ranade, Radha Kumud Mukherjee, and R. C. Majumdar etc.
Initiatives taken to Remove Colonial Vestiges
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Way Forward
- Following panchpran presented by India's PM: It includes a resolve of developed India; removing any trace of colonial mindset; taking pride in our legacy; India's strength of unity ;and fulfilling the duties of citizens with honesty.
- Cognitive Decolonisation: Through Policy Measures such as promoting Indian languages in the National Education Policy, reviving indigenous knowledge systems etc.
- Behavioural and economic Shift: Support a shift towards self‑reliant innovation, sustainable lifestyles and community‑centred development.
- E.g., promotion of traditional sustainable practices in Mission LIFE.
- Cultural Revival: Revitalization of indigenous festivals and crafts, e.g., International Yoga Day.
- Promoting pluriversal forms of liberatory thinking: Creating form of 'epistemic de-linking' and 'epistemic reconstruction' which challenges the dominance of Western knowledge systems by accepting plural thinking.
- Restoring Pride and Heritage with responsibility: in line with constitutional values, scientific temper and social justice.
