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Sindh Provincial Conferences
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Thursday, Feb 18, 2010
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Sindh Provincial Conferences
An excellent job has been done on political history of British Sindh. It consists of books on Biographies, Memoirs and political parties. The Sindh Provincial Coferences provide valuable information on Hindu-Muslim Unity and their common political vision & wisdom. Due to non-availability of the source material on the subject, majority of researchers have not even touched the topic. We fell honoured that Gul Hayat, due to its humble efforts has collected handsome material / information on the subject.
The first ever Provincial Conference held in Sindh was "9th The Bombay Provicial Conference", it was held in May 1896 at Karachi.
Details of other Coferences are as under:
1. 1st Sindh Provincial Conference held in 1908 @ Sukkur.
2. 2nd ----------------do-------------- held in 1909 @ Hyderabad.
3 3rd -----------------do------------- held in 1916 @ Larkano.
4 4th -----------------do-------------- held in 1917 @ Shikarpur.
5 Special Sindh Provincial Conf. held in 1917 @ Hyderabad
6 5th Sindh Provincial Conference held in 1918 @ Karachi.
7 2nd Special Sindh Prov. Conf. held in 1918 @ Hyderabad.
8 6th Sindh Provincial Conference held in 1919 @ Jacoabad.
9 7th ------------------do------------- held in 1920 @ Sukkur.
10 3rd Special Sindh Prov.Conf. held in 1920 @ Hyderabad.
The addresses delivered on the occasion consist of (approx.) 100 pages each. Resolutions passed in these Conferences throw light on the burning issues of Sindh relating to politics, law & order situation, economy, education etc.
1st Ever Conference held in Sindh
(9th Bombay Provincial conference at Karachi - 1896)
The 9th Bombay Provincial Conference met here at the Burns Garden on Saturday 2nd May, 1896 last at 3 P.M. and its deliberations were concluded last evening 4th May, 1896.
About 150 delegates, it is stated, attended the Conference, besides a large number of visitors each day, especially yesterday, when there were no restrictions regarding admission, which was accorded free to everyone. The number of delegation from the Presidency proper was not by any means as large as was expected but the deficiency was made up by the fairly large number of delegates from the Province itself. One remarkable feature of the conference was that all the communities, Hindus, Parsis and Mahomedans joined in the movement, Mr. Hart Davies, the Sessions Judge, Mr. Gloster, the Joint Judge, Mr. Melver, the District Superintendent of Police, and Mr. Strachan, the Municipal Secretary, being among those present on the first day as visitors. The first day was taken up by the welcome address to the delegates by the Chairman of the Reception Committee, the Hon. Mir Allahbuksh Khan, and the President's opening address which lasted for nearly two hours. The President in his address pointed out the necessity of holding Provincial Conferences, remarking that they were not only a utility but an indispensable necessity as much as he said it is by meeting once a year in this manner, on the one hand subjecting the measures of Government to healthy criticism, and on the other hand taking stock of the annual, gains or loses to the community that we can best realize our fresh responsibilities and help the march of administrative as well as popular progress. He also placed before the audience in his address some of the more important topics and the more noticeable features of the provincial administration of the last twelve months, and he said "our object in assembling today is not for the purpose of embarrassing the administration and subjecting it to criticism from any selfish and / or unworthy motive, but to help the administration as far as we can do what lies in our power to bring the light of provincial public opinion to bear on the policy and principle of provincial administration". In concluding he remarked that the aim and mission of the conference is "attachment to the throne, reverence for the law, and a strong and united empire" - an empire broadbased on the growing confidence and affection of all the classes and creeds that compose it.
Among the resolutions passed at the Conference on subjects relating to Sindh may be mentioned the one on the reform of Judicial administration in Sindh by the conversion of the Sadar Court into a Chief Court with three Judges, or turning it into a Division of the Bombay High Court sitting in Sindh. This was moved by Mr. Doulatram Jethmal, who gave the history of the Sindh Courts from the time of their establishment down, to the present day, and dealt at length on the imperfection and inefficiency of the Judicial administration in Sindh. The resolution was seconded by Mr. P. B. Kitwal, and supported by Diwan Thawardas, Pleader, Hyderabad. Another resolution was on the subject of the provincial service rules, and protest against the injustice done to Sindh by limiting the Sindhis to judicial appointments of Rs. 400 and to revenue appointments of Rs. 700 as the maximum salaries, whereas for the Presidency proper the highest salary for these two branches of the service is fixed at Rs. 1600 per month. This resolution was moved in an eloquent speech by Professor Gokhale of Poona, who made a good impression on the audience by the fluency with which he spoke. The proposition was seconded by Mr. Harchandrai Vishindas, Pleader, and having been supported by three others was dully passed. The next resolution demanded representation of other interests in the Council in addition to those of the Sindh Jagirdars and Zamindars and protested against the total exclusion of the native mercantile community from representation in the Council and lastly it was urged that the Government should appoint a mixed committee composed of officials and non officials to device effectual means to remedy the mischief caused by the Rasai system which is peculiar to Sindh. Want of time and space prevents our entering into further details, beyond reproducing the following welcome address to the delegates which was read by Mr. Bulchand Dayaram, Principal of the Hiranand Academy, Hyderabad, at the request of the Hon'ble Mir Allahbuksh, Chairman of the Reception Committee:-
GENTLEMEN - On behalf of the Reception Committee and the people of this province, I tender you a most hearty welcome to this city, and thank you sincerely for the great honour you have done us by coming here. To some of you our province is an unknown far off land, distinguished for nothing except its very scanty rainfall, its great heat, and its general backwardness, and reached by means of a sea journey which is not always pleasant, and it speaks, therefore, volumes for your public spirit and your earnest desire to make this distant and backward part of the Bombay presidency march in line with the political activities of the day; to have come here at so much sacrifice of time and personal comfort. Considering that this is the first time that a Session of the Provincial Conference is held here, it would have been a source of much greater gratification and encouragement to the people of the Province if the delegates from the Presidency proper had mustered in larger numbers. But we are nevertheless thankful that small though the number is, it is a select band of public spirited men, several of whom have made their mark in the Presidency as patriotic and enlightened citizens. If the smallness of the number of delegates from the Presidency has been a matter of some disappointment to us, we have been more than compensated for it by the large number of local delegates and visitors. What is a still more gratifying feature, is that all classes and communities have joined in the whole movement heartily. Passing now to matters that directly concern this Province, some of which will be discussed in this Conference, the one great fact that strikes as most as the cause of all our political and general backwardness is, the extremely isolated position of Sindh. Unconnected with Bombay by rail save by a very long and circuitous route, we seem to live in a world of our own under an administration in nearly all matters almost independent of the Bombay Government, though nominally under it, and the effects of this isolation are felt and seen by the people in their daily life. We find ourselves cut off from the powerful sympathy and support of Bombay in all that affects our welfare and totally deprived of the many and great blessings which the more advanced system of administration in the Presidency proper affords. This is, however, not the occasion for me to linger on this subject, I shall therefore only briefly touch on one part of it to illustrate my observations. We suffer by this isolation in various ways, and in various matters. For instance we are denied the benefits of the superior machinery for dispensing justice which exists in Bombay. In the matter of employment in the public service also the people of Sindh have not the same prospects as the people of the Presidency. The status, pay and powers of our Subordinate Civil Judges are much lower than those of Subordinate Judges in the Presidency, though their duties and responsibilities are the same. Not a single native of the Province, Hindu or Mahomedan, occupies a position higher than that of an inspector in the Police Services of Sindh and in all other Departments, too, the sons of soil are excluded from nearly all the higher appointments. The latest instance of the extremely unfavorable results of this isolation, as affecting the employment of Sindhis in the Public Services, is to be found in the new Provincial Service Rules, according to which the highest judicial posts to which a native of Sindh can aspire is that of a Sub Judge on a salary of Rs. 400 per mensem, and the highest revenue appointment to which he can aspire that of a first grade Deputy Collector on a salary of Rs. 700 per mensem, while an inhabitant of the Presidency Proper entering the Provincial Service can become a District Judge or District Magistrate on a salary of Rs. 1600 per mensem. It is needles to multiply instances of this sort showing the disadvantages that Sindh suffers owing to its isolation. They will readily occur to any one who gives the least thought to the subject. If Sindh were closely united to the Presidency, so closely as for instance Gujarat or the Deccan, our advancement all along the line would be much greater, while now cribbed, cabined and confined within our narrow limits, and living under an administration which is not much influenced by the march of events and Public opinion in the Presidency. We move too slowly for the times, and our social, material and moral progress is impeded. The local press is in its infancy, and it is not easy for us to get the influential Bombay press to take strong interest in the affairs of our Province to the extent it may be desired. The result of all this is, that the amount of annoyance, hardship and oppression borne by the people at the hands of small officials and others is much greater than that endured by people in other parts of the Presidency. Such are some of the many disadvantages and disabilities from which Sindh has been suffering in spite of the general progress which the presidency proper has made. Let me however, hope that better times for Sindh are coming and that this Conference will help in drawing the sympathy of Bombay towards us. If it succeeds in doing this and in inducing the press and the Government of Bombay to take a more lively interest in our affairs, it will have accomplished a great deal, and its memory will be greatly cherished by the people of Sindh. While referring to these matters, I must not omit to say that we owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Government for the many blessing conferred on the Province during the last fifty years. We have had the good fortune to have a succession of able and earnest men as Commissioners in Sindh who were endowed with great personal energy and resourcefulness and some of whom were possessed of a rare sympathy and affection for the people of this Province and I cannot allow this occasion to pass without publicly expressing the immense debt of gratitude which the Sindhis owe to them. Gentlemen, I shall not take up more of your valuable time, but before concluding, I may be permitted to ask you to excuse us for any shortcomings that you may have noticed in our arrangements and for any inconvenience that you might have been put to on that account. I beg leave to assure you that such shortcoming will be found to be solely due to our inexperience in such matters, and not to any absence of solicitude on our part for your comfort. On behalf of the Reception Committee and the people again bid you once more a most cordial welcome, and thank you sincerely for having accepted our invitation and for having attended this Conference at such personal inconvenience. (THE SIND GAZETTE, DATED 5TH MAY, 1896 PAGE NO. 6)
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