Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he was aware that the population of the northern parts of Ganjam, which is entirely Uriya-speaking, suffered hardship owing to the appointment of police officers and constables who had either no knowledge or a very imperfect knowledge of Uriya and also owing to the fact that though all complaints, reports, etc., were tendered to the police in Uriya all the vernacular records of the police were maintained in Telegu only; whether the Government would provide better facilities for the training of Uriya-speaking people as policemen; and whether it would issue instructions that when the parties in a case were Uriya-speaking the record should be kept in the Uriya language?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Montagu)I believe that the Madras Government are considering the representations on these points made by the Uriya-speaking people of the Ganjam district, and I will make inquiries.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Government of Madras had considered the proposal made by the Uriya Samaj Ganjam, which waited upon Sir Arthur Lawley in 1909, to redistribute the boundaries of the districts of Ganjam and Jeypore Agency and form two Uriya-speaking districts, excluding Chicacole and Narasanpet Talugs, thus removing their linguistic difficulties; whether the Government of Madras had taken any steps in the matter; and whether he recognised the desirability of doing something to remove the present disabilities of the Uriya-speaking peoples in Madras?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI find that the Madras Government, after the reception of a deputation in 1909, issued renewed orders on the subject of giving due recognition to Uriya as the language of the greater number of inhabitants of the Ganjam district. But the judges of the High Court considered it impracticable to make Uriya the 1050 only court language in any part of the district, and the Government accordingly ordered that both Telugu and Uriya should be regarded as the court languages in every criminal and civil court within the district. I may add that the Secretary of State is confident that the Madras Government fully recognises the desirability of removing any genuine grievances from which the Uriya-speaking people under its control may be found to suffer.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he was aware of the educational disabilities under which the Uriya-speaking people of the Ganjam district of the Presidency of Madras laboured; whether the Government was unable to establish an English high school in the Gumsur division owing to the difficulty of obtaining qualified Uriya teachers; and whether the Government, could accede to the requests of the inhabitants of the Gumsur division for an English high school by obtaining teachers from Orissa, where the educational facilities were more highly developed?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI understand that this matter is under consideration by the Government of Madras.