The “Bania” Spirit in Education

THE arguments of those who oppose educational progress in India are becoming dry as dust. At a recent discussion in the Bombay Corporation to adopt free primary education for its masses it was opposed by certain members on the usual ground of "no money." A Bombay contemporary points out that this attitude was characterised as the Bania spirit by another member. We are afraid that the Banias of India would protest against their name being unjustly named in this connection, because that ancient caste has been of late more forward in promoting education and has been ready to loosen its purse strings for the benefits of education. It is not, therefore, a Bania-spirit and there is no other word to correctly describe the sense. The only way to express the nature of the opposition is to call it the Anglo-Indian or the Bureaucratic spirit.