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CHAPTER X
SOCIAL STAGNATION
I
The social evils which characterize the Hindu Society, have been well known. The publication of Mother India by Miss Mayo gave these evils the widest publicity. But while Mother India served the purpose of exposing the evils and calling their authors at the bar of the world to answer for their sins, it created the unfortunate impression throughout the world that while the Hindus were grovelling in the mud of these social evils and were conservative, the Muslims in India were free from them, and as compared to the Hindus, were a progressive people. That, such an impression should prevail, is surprising to those who know the Muslim Society in India at close quarters.
One may well ask if there is any social evil which is found among the Hindus and is not found among the Muslims ?
Take child-marriage. The Secretary of the Anti-Childmarriage Committee, constituted by the All-India Women’s Conference, published a bulletin which gives the extent of the evil of child-marriage in the different communities in the country. The figures which were taken from the Census Report of 1931 are as follows:—
TABLE
MARRIED FEMALES AGED 0-15 PER 1000 FEMALES OF THAT AGE.
Hindus Muslims Jains Sikhs Christians
1881 .. 208 153 189 170 33
1891 .. 193 141 172 143 37
1901 .. 186 131 164 101 38
1911 .. 184 123 130 88 39
1921 .. 170 111 117 72 32
1931 .. 199 186 125 80 43
Vol-VIII-8