THE statement by the Commander-in-Chief in the Legislative Assembly on January 24 on Indianisation of the commissioned ranks of the Indian army was on the same footing as the two announcements made on behalf of His Majesty’s Government during the same week. All three are parts of the same scheme, a scheme of which the underlying idea is to defer the day of Indian self-government to a distant future, and are calculated to produce the same impression on the public mind of India. The question of Indian self-government resolves itself on analysis into three issues: the transformation of the Indian Legislature into a real Parliament representative of and responsible to the people and having complete mastery over the Government; the Indianisation of the superior executive agency by which the work of the civil administration is carried on; and the Indianisation of the forces of defence. In respect of the first two of these all-important matters, the Secretary of State has told the Indian public that its aspirations are premature and that whatever a future British Government or British Parliament may do, he is not prepared to take any step at present. The Commander-in-Chief says the same thing in effect as regards the last. What lends significance to the action of His Excellency is the fact that the proposal before the House, in connection with which he made his statement, was by no means radical. It said nothing about the Indianisation of the forces of defence as a whole or even of the entire army. “Indianisation”, he said, “is in no way connected with the British units serving in India or with the question of reducing their number. The question arises in regard to a portion of the army, and the object in view is the replacement of British officers by Indian officers holding King’s commissions.”