The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c10.s4.37

c10.s4.37

You will, I think, remember that when you were in England for the Round Table Conference, now more than seven years ago, we had a friendly discussion on the subject of literacy in India, which arose out of a statement made by yourself at the Royal Institute of International Affairs to the effect that literacy had diminished in British India in the last fifty or hundred years. You will perhaps also remember that I had an interview with you on the subject at your rooms in Knightsbridge in December 1931, and that you willingly undertook publicly to retract your statement if you were convinced that there was no basis for it in fact; and that you very kindly wrote to me about it later when you were in Yervada Gaol. The file of correspondence of which I enclose a copy will show you exactly how the matter rested after your last letter of 15 February 1932 and my reply of 9 March following.