The name is absent

By 1928, the Secretary of State advised the Anglo-Indian
community that they should be prepared to

... open out for themselves a wider range of
employment and depend less completely on
government service ...

and to improve their standards of education,

. . . which will enable the community to face
with confidence the increased competition
which must confront it. (58)

Competition for securing employment and improving
educational standards were the messages to the community in
1928. These were ignored, because the Anglo-Indians felt
that being a minority community, the reservation of jobs
and educational institutions were unassailable rights.

In 1933, Anglo-Indians had representatives in the
Legislative Assemblies and the Provincial Councils. Sir
Gidney⁷S address at a discussion meeting of members of the
East India Association in October, 1933 expressed his
concern about the future of the Anglo-Indians and its
economic extinction.

He represented Anglo-Indian interests at the Round-Table
Conferences in 1931 and 1932, recommended special
recognition for the employment and education of
Anglo-Indians. He received the support of Sir Mohammad
Iqbal, M.R. Jayakar, a leading liberal Indian politician
and ex-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bombay and Lord
Irwin, former Viceroy of India and Minister of the Board of
Education in England. (59)

Anticipating this, in 1927, the Indian Statutory
Commission⁷S President, Sir John Simon, was finalising
plans for responsible government. The Viceroy, Lord Irwin,

136

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