Social Reform, Education and Modernisation under the Dogras
Education
- Muslims, especially in the countryside, had very low literacy in the early Dogra years. Missionaries such as Rev. Tyndale-Biscoe ran schools in Srinagar from the 1890s, and these were influential.
- Sri Pratap College (1905) was Kashmir's first big college.
- Compulsory primary education was introduced by Hari Singh (1930).
- A college at Jammu opened in the early 1900s. The University of Jammu and Kashmir was founded in 1948.
Social reform
- Hari Singh passed laws against child marriage, and in 1932 he opened temples to Dalits.
- A Women's movement was weak, but schools for girls opened in the Valley and Jammu.
Press and ideas
- A small Urdu and English press arose in the 1920s and 1930s. Newspapers like Hamdard (1935) took up political reform.
- Reading rooms such as the Fateh Kadal Reading Room Party became forums for the educated Muslim youth.
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from standard sources, official publications and the Census. Figures and recent developments change, so check official sources before relying on them. Found a mistake? Tell us.