Chapter III: GIRL GUIDING IN -INDIA 65

Scoutmaster, a Cubmaster and a Commissioner positions which he had simultaneously, while helping Sir Alfred Pickford in organising Scouting in Calcutta in 1917, writes, “Together we had been struggling for the admission of Indian boys into Boy Scouts Association. There was a Government of India Order against it, in which it was bluntly stated, ‘’Scouting might turn them to become revolutionaries’(See page 19, ‘Scouting Round the World’) Similarly, we learnt from our veteran leader Sardar Har Dial Singh that when he was helping Rev. R. H. Ferger in 1918 as his Assistant Scoutmaster in running a troop at Dehradun, they drew similar suspicion from the authorities for their revolutionary activities.

The establishment of three Indian Universities in the second half of the last century and the adoption of the western educational system, as against the traditional system, brought in an on rush of new ideas in every sphere of life in India. The newly educated classes in Indian society were clamouring for reforms and the acceptance of new thoughts and ideas in every field. It was no wonder that in the area of youth welfare also the demand for the adoption of Scouting for Indian boys became increasingly persistent.

Against this background, Indian Scouting made its debut spontaneously in different parts of the country- in the towns and cities wherever enthusiastic and competent leadership was available. It is worth noting that in this effort both Indians and non-Indians took an effective lead. In writing the early history of Indian Scouting one cannot, therefore, give strictly chronological account of the growth of the movement. It must necessarily be a chain of stories connected with the rise and growth of disciplined troops under dynamic and localised leadership in several parts of the country.

This state of affairs continued till the visit to India of the Founder and the Chief Guide in 1921. Several small organisations, on state or area basis, sprang up and carried on their work without much co-ordination with one another. During his first visit in 1921 B.P. tried his best to give a lead to the formation of an All India Organisation. He succeeded in bringing in a large section of Indian Scouting into the fold of the official Boy Scouts Association but failed to bring about an agreement with another important section. Thus the history of Indian Scouting started with two major camps. Even within these camps, the leaders of the movement could not establish authoritative centres on an all India basis. The Seva Samiti