Military college for India

THE amended resolution passed by the Legislative Assembly on the subject of a military college for India was on the face of it a compromise. While the original resolution sought the actual establishment of such a college, the amended one only asked for the appointment of “a committee, including Indian members of the Legislature, to investigate and report what steps should be taken to establish a military college in India to train Indian officers for commissioned ranks of the Army.” As the composition of the committee is left to the discretion of the Governor-General, except for the fact that it is to include Indian members of the Assembly, it is by no means beyond the range of possibility that the findings of this committee would not lead to the immediate establishment of a military college in India on the lines of Sandhurst and Woolwich, which, after all, is what India wants. The amended resolution, moreover, was only an amendment of the official proposal that “a committee should be appointed to investigate and report whether it is not practicable to establish a military college in India.” The fact that the government refused even to accept this slight modification of its own proposal can mean that its real object in putting it forward was to shelve this important matter. This is not to say that the government does not want to do anything in this matter. We do not think that’s the government’s position, and we can appreciate the energetic protest by the Commander-in-Chief against any such idea. But there is the greatest possible difference between what the government is doing and proposes to do and what Indian opinion wants it should do.