Hasting’s tenure as governor-general the attitude and policies of the Indian Government slowly and hesitatingly, but progressively moved in the direction of cautiously intervening in Indian social institutions.

Orientalism which was the characteristic feature of Hastings period now came to be criticized by a variety of ideological streams which shared the belief that Indian society needed urgent modernisation and westernisation.

These contending ideologies provided the ideological determinants of policy formulations. Pragmatic considerations of not provoking wide scale resentment and revolt acted as severe constraint in the wholesale application of Western ideals on India.

Practice of Infanticide:

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The first traditional social custom which was suppressed by the British Indian government was the practice of infanticide. Female infanticide was prevalent many parts of India. The difficulty and expenses incurred in marrying girls amongst the Rajputs, the Jats, the Mewatis and the Rajput Rajkumars of Benares gave rise to the practice of killing female infants by starvation or poisoning. Duncan, the Resident of Benares was the first official who tried to curb this social evil.

Instead of unilaterally abolishing infanticide by legislation Duncan met the local Rajkumars and convinced them that the killing of female infants went against the tenets of Hindu scriptures. Duncan knew that in the prevailing social system female children were an economic liability to their families and he promised monetary compensation by the Government if the Rajkumars abandoned this practice.

William Carey, a missionary in the College of Fort William vehemently argued for abolishing these customs. A member of the Governor General’s Council who was sympathetic to the Serampore Missionaries pointed out these social evils to Wellesley.

Carey after consulting Hindu pundits submitted a petition to the government for immediately suppressing these practices. Around the same time the Calcutta magistrates sent a letter to the Vice-President-in-Council stating that infanticide had never enjoyed sanction under the Mughal or the British governments. They also mentioned that no public opposition was encountered when the police prevented infanticide,

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The abolition of infanticide which appears to have been effective in Bengal did not result in any significant opposition by the public. Probably its limited practice in Bengal and the absence of religious sanction allowed the British to stamp it out easily.

The banning of infanticide in other parts of Indian does not appear to have been effective, as this practice continued even after its prohibition. In the case of suppression of infanticide the initiative for change came for local level officials and missionaries. The Governor General gave his assent only after ascertaining the views of the Hindu pundits and the unlikely possibility of such a measure causing public hostility.

Sati:

Indian social life was the suppression of widow burning or Sati. This practice was widespread in all the three Presidencies at the beginning of the 19th century with the larger number of reported incidents being in the lower districts of Bengal.

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Widow burning was practiced not only by the Brahmans, but also other castes. For example during the 1835 cholera epidemic when more than 25,000 people died, the total number of widow burnings amounted to only 63 in Bakaraganj district of Bengal.

Though Sati had been a vogue form very ancient times in India, a number of Indian rulers including Akbar, Jahangir, Guru Amardas, the Maratha chief Ahalyabai, the Peshwas, the King of Tanjore and the Portuguese in Goa tired to discourage this practice.

In 1805 Wellesley asked the Judges of the Nizamat Adalat to find out to what extent the practice of Sati was based on Hindu religion. The Pundits of the court declared that forcible burning of widows was not permitted. The court also noted that Sati being widely practiced and popular among Hindus, any measure to abolish it would result in considerable dissatisfaction among them.

Meanwhile the Christian missionaries attracted English public attention to the evils of Sati and the urgent need or its prohibition by the government, in Britain. The Parliament instructed the Indian government to publish all the available information on Sati.

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The abolition of widow-burning by the government did not result in any visible disaffection or resentment among the Indians.

As in the case of infanticide, the initiative for banning widow burning came mainly from the Western educated Indian intelligentsia, Christian missionaries and individual administrators. The marked procrastination by the Company’s government in abolishing it was mainly due to its extreme fear of inciting a violent Indian reaction.

Slavery:

Slavery was another institution which came under attack in British India. Slavery as a system of labour exploitation was prevalent in India till its abolition in 1843. The extent and economic significance of the salve labour in general economic terms. However, varied greatly from region to region in Bombay and Calcutta slaves constituted an article of trade

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Arab traders brought salves from Arabia and Africa for sale. In order to survive famines, such as the one in 1803, a large number of poor offered themselves in the slave market. In 1839 the Law Commission submitted a Draft Act whereby inflicting corporal punishment on slaves was made a penal offence.

Before taking any action on the Draft Act the Commissioners discussed the possibility of such a measure exciting public disaffection.

Regulation X of 1811 (prohibition of import of slaves by land), Regulation IV of 1832 (prohibition of inter provincial movement of slaves) and the practical abolition of slavery in Delhi were reviewed and seen to have had no hostile repercussions. Several members of the commission were against immediate passing of the Act and letters were sent to ascertain the views of the Bombay and Madras government on the issue.

The Bombay government did not feel the need for any special law and the Madras administration also doubted the expediency of such an Act. The impact of the Act suppressing slavery was however very limited.

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The “lost crucial provision in the Act merely stated that no the labour of a slave was to be recognised in a British court of law and that a government official could no longer force a slave to return to his master. The more important factor in the decline of slavery was the generation of sources of alternate employment in the later 19th century in plantation and Public works.