GRIEVANCES OF THE SCHEDULED CASTES

INTRODUCTION

This Memorandum sets out the grievances of the Scheduled Castes in British India and suggests the measures that are necessary for redressing them. In listing the grievances I have taken note of such grievances only as the Central Government alone can remedy.

The grievances listed in this memorandum are divided into three categories (1) Political, (2) Educational and (3) Other Grievances, and are discussed separately. Part I deals with Political grievances. Part II with Educational grievances, and Part III with Other grievances. To this I have added Part IV in which I have ventured to speak of the duty which every Government must assume towards those who are living in a life of perpetual distress, in the hope that the Government of India will recognise it and do what they are bound to do to the Scheduled Castes.

I have thought it advisable to give below a table divided into Parts. This table, it will be seen serves two purposes. It gives at the start the contents of this memorandum, and secondly it helps to convey at the outset a general idea of what these grievances are.

Part 1. Political Grievances

1.  Inadequate Representation in the Central Legislature.

2. Inadequate Representation in the Central Executive.

3. Absence of Representation in the Public Services.

4. Absence of Representation on the Federal Public Services Commission.

Part II. Educational Grievances

5. Want of Aid for University and for Advanced Education.

6. Want of Facilities for Technical Training.

Part III. Other Grievances

7. Untouchables and Government Publicity

8. Untouchables and Government Contracts.

 

Part IV. Duly of Government towards Distressed people.

PART I POLITICAL GRIEVANCES

1. Inadequate Representation in the Central Legislature

1. As at present constituted the Central Assembly consists of 141 members. Of these 102 are elected and 39 nominated. Of the nominated members 19 are non-Officials and 20 are Officials. Of this total of 141 there are two who belong to the Scheduled Castes. Consider as against this the population of the Scheduled Castes. The census in India has become a political affair; and the Hindus, Muslims and the Sikhs have been attempting to cook up the census so as to show a rise in their numbers. This is done mostly at the cost of the untouchables. It is therefore difficult to get a correct figure of their population. Whatever estimate the census gives, it is bound to be an underestimate. However, taking the figure of 40 millions which is the figure given in the census of 1940 there can be no doubt that the representation of the Scheduled Castes in the central Legislature is ridiculously low.

2. To make the position clear, I give below two tables, which have a bearing on this question:

 

TABLE No. I

Population in British India

Communities

Total  of each community in 1941

Order of importance in terms of population

%  to total  population ill

1

2

3

4

Total

295,808,722

 

 

Hindus                  

150,890,146

1

50.0

Muslims                

79,398,503

2

23.6

Scheduled Castes

39,920,807

3

13.5

Tribal

16,713,256

4

5.7

Sikhs                    

4,165,097

5

1.3

Indian

3,245,706

6

1.0

Europeans               

122,788

7

 

Anglo-Indians

113,936

8

 

Parsis

101.968

9

 

 

Note.—In this table only the population of those communities whose position is relevant to the purpose of this Memorandum is given.

TABLE No. 2 Communal Composition of the Central Assembly

Community

Elected Members

Nominated

Nominated

Total including

Total excluding     

 

 

 

Non-Official Members

Official Members

Official Members

Official Members

 

No.

Per cent

No.

Per cent

No.

Per cent

No.

Per cent

No.

Per cent

1

2

3

4

5

6

Hindus

56

54.9

4

21

8

 

68

60

60

49.5

Muslims

34

33.5

7

37

3

 

44

41

41

33.8

Sikhs

2

 

2

10.5

 

 

4

4

4

3.3

Parsis

1

 

2

10.5

1

 

4

3

3

2.4

Europeans

8

7.8

1

 

7

 

16

9

9

7.4

Indian Christians

 

 

1

 

 

 

1

1

1

 

Anglo-Indians

 

 

1

 

 

 

1

1

1

 

Scheduled Castes

 

 

1

 

1

 

2

1

1

 

Vacant

1

 

 

 

 

 

1

1

1

 

Total

102

 

19

 

20

 

141                        

 

121

 

 

3. This table throws a flood of light on extent of representation, which the different communities in the Central Legislature have at present. Figures in column 5 give the total representation each community has, with the percentage ratio for some of them. I do not, however, wish to lay stress on them. They include figure for Nominated Officials. They are intended primarily to represent Government and not the communities to whom they belong. Secondly, the communal composition of the Nominated Official Block is variable and not fixed. But I do wish to invite attention to figures in other columns. I will begin with column 6. It gives the total extent of the representation which different communities have secured through election as well as nomination. More striking are the figures given in column 3. It shows that the Hindus have been allowed 54.9% by election. In addition they are given 21% out of the quota reserved for nomination. The Muslims have got 33.5% by election. This is great deal in excess of what they are entitled to on the basis of their population. In addition they are allowed the benefit of 37% out of the quota reserved for nomination. The same is the case with the Sikhs and the Parsis. Both of them have representation through election much beyond what their numbers would justify. Yet each is allowed to have the benefit of 10.5% out of the quota for nomination. As against this, there is the naked fact that the Scheduled Castes who number 40 millions and who form the third largest community in India have no seat by election, and only one by nomination.

4. Given these facts two comments become quite in order. In the first place, the Legislature is quite an unbalanced body. It suffers from both the evils from over-representation of some communities and under-representation of other communities. The evil exists in its most aggravated form. For the over-representation is of communities which are strong and powerful, and the under-representation is of communities, which are weak and poor. The second comment relates to the wrong use of the power of nomination. The power of nomination was reserved under the Constitution to rectify the inequalities of representation. To put it in different language, it was intended to give these communities, which did not secure enough representation, by election, sufficient representation through nomination.

There is no principle, which seems to govern either the election or the nomination in so far as they relate to the composition of the central Legislature. If at all there is any principle, it is to give Peter more than Paul and then to rob Paul who has almost nothing to enrich Peter who has almost everything.

5. There is no justification for so grave a wrong done to the Scheduled Castes in the matter of representation. In a legislature in which the Muslims and the Hindus are waging a war against each other for rights and privileges and in which both are careful not to lose anything to a third party like the Scheduled Castes what support can a single representative of the Scheduled Caste in a House of 141 get in his right for the rights of the Scheduled Castes ? It was the view of the Southborough Committee, on the recommendations of which the present structure of the Central Legislature is reared, that the nominated officials may be expected to bear in mind the interests of the Scheduled Castes. It is a matter of some considerable interest that the then Government of India refused to accept this view. In their Dispatch on the Report of the Southborough Committee, the Government of India said :—

" But that arrangement is not, in our opinion, what the (Montague-Chelmsford) Report on Reforms aims at. The authors slated that the Depressed Classes should also learn the lesson of self-protection. It is surely fanciful to hope that this result can be expected from including a single member of the community in an assembly where there are 60 to 90 Caste Hindus. To make good the principles of paras 151, 152 and 155 of the Report we must treat the outcastes more generously......"

Unfortunately no generosity was shown by the Government of India to the Scheduled Castes in making its proposal for the composition of the Central Legislative Assembly. They gave them one seat by nomination, and it has continued to be one since 1921.

6. The result of this  meagre representation has been quite deplorable. A single representative of the scheduled castes in an Assembly of 141 cannot but feel the utter helplessness of his position. He has to contend against a vast volume of anti-Scheduled Caste prejudices arising from the Hindu side of the House. He cannot depend upon the support either of the Muslim block who are fighting their battle to advance their interests. Nor can he depend upon the Official Block, which has been more careful to preserve its good relations with the major Hindu and Muslim blocks than to support the just interests of the Scheduled Castes. It is not even possible for the single and solitary representative of the Scheduled Castes in the assembly to ventilate the grievances of the Scheduled Castes. I am informed that under the rules made by the President of the Legislative Assembly, the President gives the first chance to speak to those Hon'ble members who belong to a recognised party. I also understand that the President does not recognise a party unless it has the minimum strength of ten members. This means that ordinarily the representative of the Scheduled Castes has no chance of speaking in the House unless he chooses to join a party. For a representative of the Scheduled Castes to be faced with this kind of situation is not a very happy tiling. To join a party means for him to subordinate the interests of the Scheduled Castes to that of a party, the principles and interests of which may be quite inconsistent with the principles and interests of the Scheduled Castes. On the other hand, not to join a party means to lose altogether the right to speak. If one may refer to what happened in the Assembly session (September 1942) in the debate that took place on the present political situation in India, the Hon'ble Rao Baliadur N. Sivaraj, the representative of the Scheduled Castes in the Central Assembly, found it difficult to obtain a chance to speak on behalf of the Scheduled Castes, although 5 or 6 Muslim members could easily speak for the Muslims.

7. It is, therefore, greatly necessary that the representation of the Scheduled Castes in the Assembly should be augmented. Of course this can be done only when vacancies occur in nominated non-official seals. When they do occur, justice requires that such vacancies should go to increase the representation of the Scheduled Castes in the Assembly.

II. Inadequate representation in the Central Executive

8. The Government of India has been very tardy in recognising the right of the Scheduled Castes for representation in the Central Executive. This has been a very sure point with the Scheduled Castes. For thy hold that whatever may have been their political status in the past, since the Round Table Conference their political status had become equal to the status of that of the Muslims, and if the Muslims have a right to representation in the Central Executive, so have the Scheduled Castes. There is no doubt that their contention is well founded. At the Round Table Conference it was the demand of the Scheduled Castes, and not merely of the Muslims, that provision for the adequate representation of the Scheduled Castes should be made by law. The Hindu point of view was not opposed to this demand. All that the Hindus said was that it should be left to convention. Ultimately a compromise was arrived at and it was agreed that the instrument of Instructions to the Governors of the Provinces and the Governor-General of India should contain a specific clause imposing upon them the obligation to endeavour to include representatives of important minority communities. Although the communities were not specified, there could be no doubt that the phrase " important minorities " was intended to include the Scheduled Castes. At long last the Government of India has recognised this obligation to give representation to the Scheduled Castes in the Cabinet.

9. It must, however, be said that this delay in the recognition of their right has lost much of its virtue by reason of the delay and has not removed this grievance. For the Scheduled Castes feel that their representation in the cabinet is very inadequate. In a Cabinet of 15, there is only 1 Member of the Scheduled Castes while the Muslims have 3 Members. The grievances arise by reason of the great contrast between the representation granted to the various communities and their needs and their numbers. If population alone was the criterion there is no doubt that the Scheduled Castes are very near to the Muslims in the matter of population. It is therefore only fair to say that if the Muslims have three, the Scheduled Castes should at least have two in a Cabinet of fifteen. As it is, the communal formation of the Cabinet seems to be governed by no principle. The Sikhs who number only millions and the Untouchables who number 40 millions are placed on the same fooling.

10. The position of the Scheduled Castes in Indian politics needs a great deal of stabilisation, and there can be no doubt that the only effective remedy of stabilising their position in Indian politics is to give them representation in the Cabinet which is demanded by their numbers and their needs. I am sure I am not disclosing any secrets when I say that in the course of the interview that I had with Sir Stafford Cripps when he came to India he told me that one of the principal objects of His Majesty's Government was to stabilise the position of the Scheduled Castes by their inclusion in the Central Executive which was to be formed during the interim period, so that the Constituent Assembly which under his proposals was to meet to draft the new constitution will find their positions established beyond challenge. I request that this policy should be given effect to when the next step in the direction of the Indianisation of the Executive Council takes place.

III. Absence of representation in the Public Services '

11. No greater injustice has been done to the Scheduled Castes than in the matter of their employment in Public Services. Having regard to the scope of this Memorandum I can deal only with those Services with which the Central Government is particularly concerned. They fall into two classes :— (a) The I. C. S. (b) The Central Services— (i) Those recruited on an all-India basis, and (ii) those recruited locally.

12. Any one who examines the communal composition of these services can have no manner of doubt that the Scheduled Castes have been rigorously excluded from both these Services. To give an idea of the rigorous exclusion of the Scheduled Castes from these Services, I like to present the following facts. I will first lake the position as it stands in the Indian Civil Service. The communal composition of the I.C.S. as it stands at present (1942) is as follows:—

Communal Composition of the I.C.S.

  

Community                                  

Number in the I.C.S.

1. Europeans

488

2. Hindus                                             

363

3. Muslims                                          

109

4. Indian Christians                               

23

5. Anglo-Indians                                      

9

6. Parsis                                                 

9

7. Sikhs                                                 

11

8. Scheduled Castes                              

1

9. Others                                               

43

Total

1056

 

Out of 1,056 men in the I.C.S. there is only I from the Scheduled Castes. Such is the slate of affairs so far as the I.C.S. is concerned. In the matter of their recruitment to the central services the condition of the Scheduled Castes is equally bad. I do not propose to quote any figures. It is quite unnecessary to overburden this Memorandum with facts. For there is a clear admission on the part of the Home Department of the Government of India relating to this question. In one of their Office Memoranda relating to the recruitment of the different communities the Home Department say :—

"This Department are much concerned at the almost total lack of progress in the recruitment of the members of the Depressed Classes as revealed by the information available. "

The Memorandum from which the above statement is quoted is No. 4/5/38 Ests (s) and is dated 1st June 1939 and records a state of affairs as it existed on that date.

13. How is it that other communities have found a place in the services controlled by the Government of India ? What are the reasons for the exclusion of the Scheduled Castes ? As will be seen the reasons are to be found in the difference in the principles and methods for securing communal representation which the Government of India has adopted towards the Scheduled Castes and the other minority communities in India.                                            

14. The principle of communal representation in the services centrally controlled came into operation in 1925 when the Government of India accepted a Resolution of Mr. Nair on the need of Communal Representation in Public Services moved in the Central Assembly on 10th March 1923 in which he complained that the Public Service was entirely monopolised by the Hindus, and particularly by the Brahmins, and that the other communities had found it extremely difficult  to secure a footing. In pursuance of this Resolution the method adopted by the Government of India was to reserve one-third of all permanent vacancies for direct recruitment for the redress' 'of 'communal inequalities.

15. This method of giving effect to the policy of Communal Representation in Public Services did not satisfy the non-Hindu communities. The matter was taken up at the Round Table Conference and a demand was made for devising a more effective method of gaining the object. This demand was accepted by the Secretary of State and by the Government of India and given effect to in Home Department Resolution No. F. 14-17-8-33 of 4th July 1934.

16. It is this resolution which is now in operation and constitutes the Magna Charta securing justice to all communities in the Public Services of the country. A reference to the provisions of this Resolution is very necessary. It will show why the other minority communities have been so well represented in the Public Services and why the Scheduled Castes have not been represented at all. The Resolution has two fundamental provisions and which, as compared with the old resolution of 1923, are quite new :—

(1) It declares what communities are to be treated as minorities for the purposes of recruitment to Public Services .

(2) It defines a fixed proportion of annual vacancies, which are

to be allotted to the communities declared as minorities. 17. These are the provisions laid down by the Resolution of 1934 for securing representation to the various communities. Coming to particulars the Resolution in the first place defines the following communities as minorities :—

(1) Muslims, (2) Anglo-Indians, (3) Indian Christians, (4) Sikhs, (5) Parsis.

In the second place, the Resolution fixes the following proportion of annual vacancies to be filled by members belonging to the above mentioned minorities. Proportions Fixed by the Resolution of 4th July 1934

 

Minorities

I.C.S. Central and Subordinate services Recruited on All India Basis.

Railways and Customs

Posts and Telegraphs

Appraising Department and preventive services

Muslims

25%

25%

25%

This service is

 

 

 

 

excluded from

Anglo-Indians

 

8%

5%

the operation of

 

 

 

 

the Resolution,

Indian Christians

*8 1/3%

6%

3 1/2%

apparently to re-

 

 

 

 

serve recruitment

Sikhs

 

 

 

for Anglo-

 

 

 

 

Indians only on

Parsis

 

 

 

the ground that

 

 

 

 

the Service re-

 

 

 

 

quires special

 

 

 

 

qualifications.

*Note.—Para 7 (iii) of the said Resolution says—If communities obtain less than their reserved percentage and duly qualified candidates are not available, the residue of 8 1/2% will be available for Muslims.

18. What is the provision, which this resolution makes to safeguard the position of the Scheduled Castes ? I give below the two relevant provisions of the Resolution. In paragraph 3 the Resolution states that:—

" No useful purpose will be served by reserving for them (Depressed Classes) a definite percentage of vacancies out of the number available for Hindus as a whole, but they hope to ensure that duly qualified candidates from the Depressed Classes are not deprived of fair opportunities of appointment.

The way in which Government hoped to ensure to the Scheduled Castes a fair share of representation in the Public Services is specified in para 7 (1) (vi) of the Resolution, which reads as follows :—

" In order to secure fair representation for the Depressed Classes duly qualified members of these classes may be nominated to a Public Service even though recruitment to that service is being made by competition ". A perusal of these proposals brings out two facts :—

(i) The Resolution does not declare the Scheduled Castes to be a minority.

(ii) The Resolution does not allot to the Scheduled Castes any fixed proportion of the annual vacancies. It goes without saying that there is a striking contrast between the provisions made by the Government of India for securing the recruitment of the Scheduled Castes and for the other minor communities to the Public Services. This contrast can be expressed in one sentence. The recruitment of the other communities is owing to the Resolution, not left to be a matter of discretion. It has been made a matter of obligation. The recruiting authority must fill in vacancy by recruiting a person, belonging to the community for which the vacancy is reserved. The recruitment of the Scheduled Castes on the other hand has been made a mere matter of discretion. The recruiting authority may fill an unreserved vacancy by appointing a person from the Scheduled Castes.

19. It is owing to this difference between must and may that the Muslims and other communities have been so well represented in the Public Services and the Scheduled castes so completely excluded. No better result is possible so long as the Government of India leaves the matter of recruitment of the Scheduled Castes in public services to the discretion and goodwill of the appointing officers. These officers are either Europeans, Hindus or Muslims. The European is blissfully ignorant of the Scheduled Castes, and he has never made the protection of the interests of the Scheduled Castes his special concern. So long as his general authority is maintained he is prepared to follow the advice of his Hindu or Muslim subordinates. The Muslims are naturally striving to strengthen their own position. They are concerned to sec that as many vacancies as possible should go to the Muslims : at any rate all those, which are reserved, to them. The Hindus who had so far the monopoly in the public service and who never know how to share the good things of life with others want to keep the balance to themselves. With their self-interest combined with their age-old prejudices against the Scheduled Castes the Hindus will never be fair to them. It is a sheer delusion to leave to the discretion of such officers the question of the recruitment of the Scheduled Castes and to hope that the Scheduled Castes will as a result of it secure a fair share of representation.

20. The question of entry into the Public Service is an important question for all minority communities. But to the Scheduled Castes it is a vital question, a question of life and death. There are many reasons why this must be so. In the first place, it is a question of opening up a career for young men from the Scheduled Castes. This is an aspect of the question which the Scheduled Castes, and even the Government of India, cannot ignore. Trade and Industry, as openings for a career, are all blocked to young men of the Scheduled Castes. It is only in Government service that they can find a career. While this is an important aspect, it is not the only aspect, which makes this question so vital. For there is another aspect which is calculated to invest it with such importance. That aspect relates to the effect which the bestowal of Government patronage has in encouraging the spread of education in a community. The case of the Hindu community is quite in point. The rapid progress, which the Hindu community has made, is of course very striking. But it is very seldom realised that the reason why education has taken such deep root in the Hindu society is entirely due to the assurance that education opens up a career by entry in Government service. Such assurance of career is absolutely necessary in the case of the Scheduled Castes who are so backward in education. There is a third argument far more weighty that the two which have been referred to above. It relates to the interest of the general population of the Scheduled Caste people as distinguished from the interests of the educated classes from the Scheduled Castes. This will be clear if it is realised how important public administration is from the point of view of public welfare. In the first place, power of administration now a days includes the power to legislate. No Statute in modem days is complete and exhaustive. Most allow the administration the statutory power to make rules to carry into effect the purposes of the Act. Secondly, whether the law is beneficial or not depends upon how efficaciously and how justly it is carried out. Good administration is therefore far more important than good laws. Good laws may prove of no avail if the administration is bad. Administration is therefore a vital question for the Scheduled Castes who are more interested in good administration than in good laws. Is the present administration good administration ? What do the Scheduled Castes think of the present day administration ? There can be no doubt that the view universally held is that the whole administration is hostile, unjust, and perverse in its attitude towards the Scheduled Castes all over India. Indeed much of the suffering and harassment of the Scheduled Caste population arises from the fact that the discretion vested in public servants is in almost all cases exercised against the interests of the Scheduled Castes and with the object of keeping them down. This is as it must be given the mentality of the Hindu and Muslim officers, towards the Scheduled Castes. This will continue to be so as long as the personnel of the administration is drawn from classes who have been opposed to the Scheduled Castes and who believe in their suppression. There cannot be a more powerful argument than that of the advantage and welfare of the general population of the Scheduled Castes to show that the entry of the Scheduled Castes in the Public Service must be regarded as a most vital consideration.

21. Certain facts are beyond doubt. The source of mischief is evident. How vital is the service interest of the Scheduled Castes is also clear. How serious is the mischief done to this vital interest by the discrimination, which Government has in its resolution of 4th July, 1934 made against the Scheduled Castes as compared with the other communities nobody can dispute.

How disastrous have been the consequences to the Scheduled Castes will be apparent from the figures given in the following table relating to the communal composition to the I.C.S. —

TABLE III

Communal Proportion in the I.C.S. in 1942

Community

Total

Percentage of Total of 1056 including Europeans

Percentage of Total of 568 excluding Europeans

1.      Europeans  

2.      Hindus

488

363

42.4

34.4

 

63.2

3. Muslims

109

10.3

19.2

4. Indian Christians

23

2.2

4.0

5. Anglo-Indians

9

.9

1.5

6. Parsis

9

.9

1.5

7. Sikhs

11

1.0

2.0

8. Scheduled Castes

1

Nil

Nil

9. Others

43

3.9

8.0
Total

1,056

 

 

 

 

Table IV

I.C.S. through Competition and Nomination

 

Community

Through Competition

Through Nomination

Total

1. Europeans

336

152

488

2. Hindus

332

31

363

3. Muslims

35

74

109

4. Indian Christians

19

4

23

5. Anglo Indians

8

1

9

6. Parsis

8

1

9

7. Sikhs

5

6

11

8. Scheduled Castes

 

1

1

9. Others

28

15

43

 

TABLE V

Population Ratio as Compared with Ratio in the I.C.S.

Community

Actual Ratio in the I.C.S. excluding Europeans

Population Ratio

Excess + Deficiency — of Service Ratio as compared With Population Ratio

1. Hindus

63.2

50.0

+ 13.2

2. Muslims

19.2

23.6

—4.4

3.Indian Christians

4.0

1.0

+3.0

4. Anglo-Indians

1.5

.03

+ 1.47

5. Parsis

1.5

0.3

+ 1.47

6. Sikhs

2.0

1.3

+ 0.7

7.Scheduled Castes

 

13.5

-13.5

8. Others

8.0

 

 

 

22. From these tables the following conclusions stand out as incontrovertible facts:—

(1) All communities have made a fair degree of progress towards getting their apportioned share of representation in the I.C.S. The only exception is the unfortunate community of the Scheduled Castes who have made no progress at all.

(2) Some communities have secured a degree of representation in the I.C.S. much in excess of their population ratio. This is noticeable in the case of the Hindus. Excluding the share of the Europeans which is 50% and which must be excluded for comparing the relative position of the Indians the Hindus have got 63% of the I.C.S. appointments when the ratio of their population to the total population is only 50%. They are enjoying an excess of 13%.

(3) Nomination was intended only to correct the inequities of competition. Yet some communities have been given the benefit of nomination although it has been able to secure a very large of the I.C.S. appointments by competition and who do not need and cannot claim the benefit of nomination. This is undoubtedly the case with the Hindus. Between 1920-1942 the Hindus were able to secure 332 out of 435 that were filled by Indians by competition, and yet they were given 31 seats by nomination. The Muslims got only 35 appointments to the I.C.S. by competition between 1920-1942. But they were given 74 by nomination. The Sikhs have got only 5 by competition. But they got 6 by nomination. The Scheduled Castes who got none by competition get only one by nomination. All this shows how the position of the Scheduled Castes has remained deplorable and how Government which is striving to be considerate to other communities by not even trying to be correct towards the Scheduled Castes, is responsible for this result. 23. The condition of the Scheduled Castes is not only deplorable, but it is also intolerable. This is the result of the present policy of the Government of India under which the quantum of recruitment of the Scheduled Castes in the Public Services instead of fixed by rule as is done in the case of the other minorities is left to the discretion "Of the appointing authorities, The appointing authorities are mostly caste Hindus and it is not possible to expect them to give the benefit of this discretion to the Scheduled Castes. I have no doubt that the interests of the Scheduled Castes will continue to be neglected and sacrificed to serve the interests of other communities so long as the present system continues. The Government of India should without further delay equalise the position of the Scheduled Castes and—

(1) declare that they are a minority for the purpose of services like the other communities.

(2) fix 13  1/2% as the proportion of annual vacancies in the I.C.S. and both in the Central Services that are recruited on an all India basis and that are recruited locally as the share to which they are entitled and which in equity and justice should be reserved for them. Unless this is done the Scheduled Castes will never get their due share in Public Services.

24. The difficulty lies in the Scheduled Castes not being declared a minority. It is essential that this obstacle in their way be removed. The reason is that under the resolution of 4th July 1934 it is only when a community is declared to be a minority that it becomes entitled to the benefit of reservation in the Public Services. A community as such does not get any such benefit. It is difficult to see what objection there can be to a declaration that the Scheduled Castes are a minority. The term minority is a political term and whatever may be its de jure definition its de facto definition can never be in doubt. The matter is settled by the terms of Communal Award so that any community, which is covered by the Communal Award of His Majesty’s Government, must be held to be a minority. Indeed that is the basis on which the Government of India could declare that the Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, and Anglo-Indians are minorities. If these communities are minorities and they are minorities because they are covered by the Communal Award—then it is difficult to see how the claim of the Scheduled Castes to be declared a Minority be denied. For they too are covered by the same Award. Secondly, if Government is bound to declare them a minority then it follows as a natural consequence that Government is bound to define their share in the services and make it available by the same means and methods by which the share of other communities has been secured to them. Nor can anybody oppose the quantum of share to which they are entitled as the legitimate share of the Scheduled Castes. It has been shown that their population in British India is 13.6% and nothing more than a share of 13.6% in the services is claimed for them. This cannot injure the Hindus, for their population is 50% and they are getting 63% which is 13% more than is their due.

25. The opposition to this claim of the Scheduled Castes comes from very strange and unexpected quarters. It should come from the Hindus. But it cannot. The mutual rights of the Scheduled Castes and the Hindus are defined by the Poona Pact, which was made in 1932. It Is an agreement by which the Hindus have accepted that the Scheduled Castes are a minority and that they are entitled to adequate share in the Public services of the Country. It is true that the term ' adequate ' was not given a quantitative expression. That is because it was done in a hurry to save Mr. Gandhi from the hands of death. But there can be no doubt that ' adequate ' was never intended to be anything less than the population ratio. The Hindus therefore cannot oppose the claim of the Scheduled Castes and, as a matter of fact, they do not. The party opposing the claim of the Scheduled Castes is the Government of India and nobody else. In the debate on the question that took place in the Central Legislative Assembly on March 1942 on a cut motion by Rao Bahadur N. Sivaraj, M.L.A. the claim of the Scheduled Castes for being declared a minority and for defining their share in services which was the subject matter of the Motion was supported by the Muslims, by the Europeans, Anglo-Indians and Sikhs. Except for one solitary individual, the Hindus did not oppose it. It was, however, opposed by the spokesmen of the Government of India. This is the most tragic part of the story. The Government of India has said that they were trustees for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes. As trustees, they should be more ready to safeguard the rights of the Scheduled Castes than to safeguard the rights of the other minorities. There would have been some excuse for the Government of India hesitating to allot to the Scheduled Castes their rights in the matter of recruitment to the Public Services if there was any obstacle placed in their way by the Hindus. But there is no such excuse. Would it be wrong if it was said that the enemies of the Scheduled Castes are not the Hindus and that their real enemy is the Government of India ?

        26. What is the reason, which the Government of India gives for
 opposing the claim of the Scheduled Castes ? So far as the speech
 of the Hon'ble the Home Member made on the motion moved by the
 Hon'ble Rao Bahadur N. Sivaraj M.L.A., is an indication, the reason
 is that there are not enough educated men among the Scheduled Castes.
 It must be said that this is by no means a convincing reason. In the
 first place, this is the old reason given in 1934 in paragraph 3 of the
 Resolution. It takes no account of the progress that has been made
 during the last 8 years. In the second place, the statement was not true even for 1934. For 1942 it will be gross misstatement. As a matter
 of fact a census of college students of the Scheduled Castes was taken
 privately in about 1939-40, and the total number of graduates among
 the Scheduled Castes were found to number about 400 to 500. In the
third place, this fact even if it were true cannot be a bar against declaring
the Scheduled Castes a minority and against fixing their proportion.
For if the Scheduled Castes candidates with minimum qualification
fall short in any one year of the annual proportion of vacancies reserved
for them no body will be hurt because the unused vacancies will go
to the Hindus. The difficulty anticipated by the Home Member cannot
be said to arise only in the case of the Scheduled Castes. The condition
of other minorities is not free from giving rise to the same difficulty.
In fact when the government issued the resolution in 1934 they felt
that such a difficulty might arise in their case also. But this did not
stop Government from declaring them to be minorities and fixing their proportion. Government did declare them to be minorities and also fixed their proportion, and for the difficulty that duly qualified candidates may in any given year be less than the vacancies reserved, Government provided by paragraph 7(1) (iii) of the resolution that the residue of the vacancies will be available for the Muslims.

27. Surely the difficulties which can be overcome successfully in the case of the other minorities cannot be followed to stand in the way of the Scheduled Castes. If Government does that, it will be guilty of unjustly-defeating the just claims of the Scheduled Castes. It will be accused of using grounds which are not reasons but which are only excuses for sustaining its opposition to the claims of the Scheduled Castes.

28. Besides the two remedies suggested, namely (1) declaring them a minority and (2) fixing their proportion in the annual vacancies, it will be necessary to sanction other remedies to the Scheduled Castes for securing to them their fair share in the services. They are :

(1) Raising the Age bar,                                   

(2) Reduction in examination fees, and                     

(3) Appointment of a Scheduled Caste officer to sec that the provisions made in the interests of the Scheduled Castes in this behalf are carried by all Departments concerned.

(1) Raising the Age Bar

29. Under the present rules for the I. C. S. and the Central Services the maximum age limit is 24. Generally this maximum age limit hits the Scheduled Castes very hard. For owing to their extreme poverty it is not possible for the Scheduled Caste boy to reach that level of education, which will enable him to compete with students from higher and well-to-do classes within the age limit. The children of the former have to suffer many breaks in their educational career and have no facilities at home either for tuition or even for study. The latter have all the facilities for rapid and continuous progress. Consequently the children of the Scheduled Castes by the time they reach the final stage of their education and are in a position to compete they become ineligible on account of age for recruitment in the Public Service. It is therefore, necessary to raise the age limit by at least 3 years. There is nothing very unreasonable in this demand and there will be nothing extraordinary if it was conceded by Government of India. In almost all Provincial Governments where a proportion in the services has been reserved this concession has been made and the age limit for the Scheduled Castes has been fixed at a pitch higher than what is fixed for others. In some Provinces the difference is of 2 and in some provinces it is of 3 years. In granting this concession the Government of India will be following a well-established principle.

(2) Reduction in Examination Fees

30. The I.C.S. Examination fee is Rs. 100/-, the Examination fee for the Indian Audit and Accounts Service is Rs. 82/8/-, and for other Ministerial services Examination (Assistant's Grade) the fee is Rs. 30/-. These fees are too heavy for the Scheduled Castes. They are really and truly a great handicap. Many a Scheduled Caste student after having spent time and energy in qualifying for an examination finds it difficult to appear at it because the fees for the examination are beyond the means of their parents. This handicap needs to be removed. It is urged that the Scheduled Caste candidates should not be charged more than one-fourth of the fees chargeable for these examinations. (3) Scheduled Caste Officer

31. These two concessions if allowed will go a long way to assist the community of Scheduled Castes to compete on more equal terms with its competitors. But the assistance rendered by these steps will not be adequate. Something further must be done. That is, to appoint a Scheduled Caste Officer in the Government of India either in the Home Department or Labour Department whose duty it will be to see that effect is given to the claims of the Scheduled Castes in the matter of their entry in the Public Services. It is understood that such officers were at one time appointed by the Government of India in order to see that the rules framed by Government in the matter of communal representation in services were strictly followed. But even if that be not the case the necessity and urgency of appointing a Scheduled Castes Officer for protecting the service claims of the Scheduled Castes is beyond question. There is a great danger of such rules being set at naught as a result of the prejudices prevailing against the Scheduled  Castes unless there was an officer charged with the duty of dealing  with such cases. The only remedy is to have an independent officer  charged with the duty to see that the rules are earned out.

 

IV. Absence of representation of the Federal Public Service Commission

32. There are four members who at present constitute the Federal Public Service Commission. Of these, two are Europeans, one is a Hindu and one is a Mohammedan. The Scheduled Castes have been left out in framing the composition of the Federal Public Service Commission. There is no ground why they should be denied representation on the Federal Public Service Commission. There are three main sections of the people in India. Of these the Scheduled Wastes form the third main section. The population of this section is measured in millions. Their interest in the service question is quite as important as those of the other two main sections of the populations. The danger to their interests is no less real than to the interests of the other two sections. And the necessity of warding off that danger is much greater than it is in the case of the other two. Judged by any test it is difficult to justify the refusal to give representation to the Scheduled Castes from the Federal Public Service Commission. The Federal Public Service Commission has definitely been given communal character. There can be only two conceivable reasons for doing this. In the first place it may be because it is desirable to have representatives of large sections of the people on the Commission. The second reason one can conceive of for giving communal composition to the Commission is to set off the communal bias of one community by the communal bias of the other community. Whichever way one looks at it, the omission to give representation to the Scheduled Castes on the Federal Public Service Commission is sheer injustice. The Scheduled Castes cannot have any confidence in a Public Service Commission which is infected by the point of view of the Hindus and the Muslims who with all their quarrels can very easily unite to distribute the loaves and fishes among themselves and to keep out the Scheduled Castes from getting their due share. It is difficult to prove that the Commission has been unjust to the Scheduled Castes though the fact remains that not a single Scheduled Caste candidate has so  far been certified by the Commission to be fit.  For no Commission can be convicted of partiality. It is open to every Commission to take shelter under that most elusive term " unsuitable ". That term far from giving an explanation is intended to cover a multitude of sins. Justice requires that the Scheduled castes should get representation on the Federal Public Service Commission, which is their due.

 

PART II

EDUCATIONAL GRIEVANCES

V. Want of Assistance for Advanced Education

33. Looking at the growth of Advanced Education among the Scheduled Caste boys, the following conclusions are deducible:—

(1) That education in Arts and Law is progressing satisfactorily.

(2) That education in Science and Engineering has made no progress.

(3) That Advanced Education in foreign Universities is a very far cry.

34. This sad situation needs to be properly appreciated. As was said in discussing the question of the entry of the Scheduled Castes in the public services the welfare of the Scheduled Castes depends entirely upon a sympathetic public service and that the public service if it is to be sympathetic must be representative of the different elements in the national life of the country, and particularly of the Scheduled Castes. To this it must be added that the representation of the Scheduled Castes if it is confined to ministerial posts will be of no consequence no matter how numerous are the posts they are permitted to occupy. This may be good from the standpoint of providing a career for educated young men. It cannot affect the condition of the Scheduled Castes. The status and condition of the Scheduled Castes will be improved only when the representatives of the Scheduled Castes come to occupy executive posts as distinguished from ministerial posts. Executive posts are strategic posts, posts from which a new direction can be given to the affairs of the State. The attainment of executive post it is obvious requires a high degree of education. Such posts will not be open except to those who have acquired advanced education.

35. Education in Arts and Law cannot be of much value to the Scheduled Castes either to the graduates themselves or to the people. It has not been of very high value even to Hindus. What will help the Scheduled Castes is education of an advanced type in Science and Technology. But it is obvious that education in Science and Technology is beyond the means of the Scheduled Castes and this is why so many of them send their children to take up courses in Arts and Law. Without Government assistance, the field of Advanced Education in Science and Technology will never become open to the Scheduled Castes, and it is only just and proper that the Central Government should come forward to aid them in this connection.

36. This problem will be solved if the following proposals are accepted by the Government of India:—

(1) An annual grant of Rs. 2 lakhs for scholarships for Scheduled Caste students taking science and Technology courses tenable at the Universities or other Scientific and Technical Training Institutions in India.

(2) An annual grant of one lakh of rupees to be spent on scholarships for the education of Scheduled Caste students for Science and Technology in foreign Universities in England, the Dominions, in Europe and in America.

37. There is nothing to prevent the Government of India from undertaking this responsibility. Education it is true is not a Central subject for legislative purposes. Still, section 150 (2) of the Government of India Act says that the Central Government may make grants for any purpose, notwithstanding that the purpose is not one with respect to which the Central Legislature may make laws. This power has been used by the Government of India to support Educational Institutions. Below is given a list of Educational Institutions outside the centrally Administered Areas, which receive grants-in-aid from the central revenues.

 

I. Educational Institutions

Amount per annum

1

Indian Women's University Bombay

Two non-recurring grants of Rs.50000 were made to this Institution in 1937-38 and 1941-42

 

 

Rs.

2

Visva-Bharti Santiniketan

25000

3

Inter-University Board India

1000

4

Inter-Provincial Board for Anglo-Indian and European Education

3600

 

 

 

II. Scientific Societies

 

1

Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science,  Calcutta.

18000

2

Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta

2500

3

Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta

37000

4

National Institute of Science of India, Calcutta

6000

5

Vishvesharanand Vedic Research Institute, Simla

2500

6

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

150000

7

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona

4000

8

Bose Research Institute, Calcutta

45000

 

 

 

III. Miscellaneous

 

1

Indian Olympic Association

2000

2

Girl Guides Association, India

2500

 

Total of annual Recurring Grants

299100

 

38. This does not include the annual subvention which the Government of India gives of Rs. 3 lakhs per annum to the Muslim University of Aligarh and of Rs. 3 lakhs per annum to the Hindu University of Benares. The claim made on behalf of the Scheduled Castes for help in the matter of advanced education at home and abroad receives great support from the financial aid given by Central Government to these two Universities. The grant made to the Universities is really grant made to the Hindu and Muslim communities for supporting higher education. That being so, there is no reason why the Central Government should not undertake to make a similar grant of 3 lakhs of rupees annually to promote higher education among the Scheduled Castes. If the Government is interested in raising the status of the Scheduled Castes, which they have often proclaimed to be their duty, it is high time that a similar provision was made for them in the education budget of the Central Government.

39. The scheme if it is given effect to will revolutionise the condition and status of the Scheduled Castes. The Scheduled Castes lay great store by it. They would even be prepared for the scheme being made a loan system rather than a system of grants. The Scheduled Caste boys who receive these scholarships shall be glad to take advantage of it even if they are required to refund the sums received by them when they are employed or they may be made to serve the Government for a term under a lower scale of salary. There can be no objection to Government accepting these proposals.

40. For the purpose of assisting Advanced Scientific and Technical Education among the Scheduled Caste students I am making two other proposals. One is to make : (3) Provision for Scheduled Caste students in the School of Mines.

The Government of India has under its control the Indian School of Mines, which is located at Dhanbad. The school provides high-grade instructions in Mine Engineering and in Geology. The training given in the Indian School of Mines is calculated to train men who can serve in the coal mining industry and other mineral industries in India. The number of students that are at present taking instructions in the Indian School of Mines are about 97. The school is open to students from all parts of India. From enquiries made it is established that out of the 97 students there is not a single one from the Scheduled Castes. It is very necessary that some special measures should be taken by the Government of India to see that the students belonging to the Scheduled castes are in a position to take advantage of the Indian School of Mines. To achieve this object it will be necessary:

 

(a) To reserve a certain number of seats for the Scheduled Caste boys having the minimum standard of education required for admission. (b) The grant of free-ships. (c) The grant of scholarships.

It will not be too much to claim that one-tenth of the total number of admissions should be reserved for the Scheduled Castes. This is a matter, which falls within the scope of the Labour Department. But it is a question, which concerns also the Finance Department in as much as the free-ships, and scholarships would mean the loss of revenue to the State. But the loss on account of these measures will not be very great. The annual fee on an average, which a student has to incur in the School of Mines, be about 60 rupees a month which would mean a monthly expense of Rs. 60 per student.                

41. The other proposal, which I wish to make, is to give:—

(4) Representation to the Scheduled Castes on the Central Advisory Board of Education.

42. The constitution of the Board consists of—

(1) The Honourable Member in charge of the Department of Education, Health and Lands (Chairman);

(2) The Educational Commissioner with the Government of India;

(3) Ten nominees of the Government of India, of whom one at least shall be a woman;

(4) One member of the Council of State elected by the Council of State;

(5) Two members of the Legislative Assembly elected by the Legislative Assembly.

(6) Three members of the Inter-University Board, India, nominated by the Inter-University Board of India.

(7) A representative of each local Government, who shall be either the Minister in charge of Education (or his deputy) or the Director of Public Instruction (or his deputy) or such other person as the Provincial Government may nominate in this behalf.

43. The functions of the Board are :— (a) To advise on any educational question which may be referred

to it by the Government of India or by local Government. (b) To call for information and advice regarding educational developments of special interest and value to India; to examine this information and to circulate it with recommendations to the Government of India and to local Governments.

44. From the functions of the Board it is quite clear that the board can study the educational problem of the Scheduled Castes as that of special interest and frame recommendations and advice Central and Provincial Governments in that connection. Such a thing can be of immense importance in focussing the attention of the Governments and the Universities on the spread of higher education among the Scheduled Castes.

45. It is, however, necessary in the first place to get the Board interested in the educational problem of specie classes like the Scheduled Castes. This can be done only by giving representation to members of the Scheduled Castes on the Board. It is therefore suggested that two representatives of the Scheduled Castes should be nominated on the board.

VI. Want of Facilities for Technical Training Technical Education

46. From the point of raising the economic condition, technical education for the Scheduled Castes is more important than literary education. But technical education is also very costly and it is not possible for children of the Scheduled Castes to take technical education, and without technical education their economic condition will not be improved. Owing to the social system of the Hindus, the Scheduled Castes occupy economically a very low place in the Indian economy. In times of prosperity he is last to be employed, and in times of depression he is first to be discharged. This, of course, is a result of the social prejudices of the Hindus, which operate against him. But there is also the other difficulty, which stands in his way and that are he is generally an unskilled labourer with no technical knowledge.

47. It seems to me that the Government of India can do a great deal to improve his lot by enabling him to acquire technical skill which he does not now possess and this can be easily done by introducing a system of apprenticeship for the Scheduled Caste boys in undertakings run or controlled by the Government of India, in which the possibilities of giving such technical training do exist. I am referring only to two :— (1) Apprenticeships in Government Printing Presses : There are a number of Printing Presses which are maintained by the Government of India. There are so many skilled occupations, which are open to persons trained in a printing press— compositors, printers, binders, etc. There is no reason why the Government of India should not have a scheme whereby suitable boys from the Scheduled Castes should be taken as apprentices to learn the various occupations, which are related to the printing trade.

 (2) Apprenticeships in Railway Workshops : The Railways in India, most of which are owned by the Government of India, also maintain workshops where fitters, carpenters and other technicians are employed, and I do not know whether the Railway Department have schemes of taking apprentices to be trained as technicians to be subsequently employed on the Railways. But even if such a scheme was not in existence it is necessary to have one for the benefit of the Scheduled Castes.

48. I therefore suggest the scheme of apprenticeship whereby annually a good number of boys from the Scheduled Castes should be given training in the printing press and the Railway Workshops. The cost of it cannot be very great.

VII. Neglect in the Matter of Publicity

47. It is quite well known that the Government of India engages itself very largely in giving publicity to the saying and doings of different individuals and parties who represent the main forces operating in India. As an illustration of this I would refer to the Volume called " India and the Aggressor " (The Trend of Indian Opinion Between 1935-40) issued by the Bureau of Public Information of the Government of India. The name of the Volume is very misleading. It has nothing to do with the Aggressor. It is a collection of sayings and doings of the Political Parties and Politicians in the country and presents a full resume of the views of the majority and minority in India.

48. Now the most annoying part of this volume is the complete neglect of the sayings and doings of the Scheduled Castes. Out of the 940 pages, 158 pages are given to the Congress, 85 pages are allotted to the Muslims. The Hindu Mahasabha and the Hindu League are given about 10 pages. The Liberal Federation has received 16 pages. The Sikhs are spread over 6 pages, Indian Christians over 2 pages and the Scheduled Castes are disposed of in about 3 pages and what is surprising is that in these 3 pages devoted to the Scheduled Castes the material which is included is of a trifling character. It omits altogether to take notice of some of the most important events that have taken place during this period and important pronouncements made by leading individuals from the Scheduled Castes. I may mention only one such event viz., the movement for conversion. Beyond  question it was a movement which shook the Hindu Society to its very  foundations and attracted the notice of the whole world. To emphasise  the trumpery sort of publicity given to the Scheduled Castes in this

volume it is enough to say that the St. Mary's College, Kurscong, once undertook to give publicity to the cause of the Scheduled Castes and has as a result published material covering the same period and which fills a Volume of 507 pages. So vast have been the forces and movements affecting and emanating from the Scheduled Castes during this period of 1935-40. As to myself, I must have made many pronouncements touching the Scheduled Castes. Not one of them however finds a place in this Volume.

49. It is true that this Volume is intended for official use only. But in my opinion this fact does not alter the great value, which the compilation must necessarily have. It goes without saying that it is the mind of the Official, which is, to a large degree, responsible for determining the direction, which the affairs of the State will take. It also determines the value, which he ought to give to issues in which communal interests are involved. It also goes without saying that the attitude and the mind of the Official is bound to be determined by the kind of material which is presented to him and on which he feeds in a Volume like this. Further, the degree of publicity given to a cause by Government in a Government publication may be treated by him as the value which government attaches to it and as a direction for him for evaluating the needs and claims of different communities. Looked at from this point of view this Volume is sure to give to the Officers working in the Central Secretariat as well as in the Provincial Governments and even to the Secretary of State the impression that the Government of India regards the Scheduled Castes as a negligible force not worth bothering about. That this is the effect, which this volume has produced, is evident from the speech delivered in Parliament by the Secretary of State where the references to the Muslims are emphatic and positive while the references to the Scheduled Castes are just of a parenthetical character. It is a grievous wrong done to the Scheduled Castes whose cause has received a setback at a most critical period in their struggle by reason of this unbalanced presentation of their case on the part of Government. I would press that the Bureau of Public Information be asked to prepare a supplement to the Volume which it has issued giving full space to movements carried on by the Scheduled Castes and the pronouncements their leaders have made.

50. Of course, Government may say that it is not bound to do publicity work for parties and communities, and that the parties and communities may do their own publicity. But that is not the case here. The Government of India, as I have shown, does engage itself very much in this work of publicity. And when a Government does it, it is bound to treat all parties on equal footing in the matter of publicity and give a true and correct picture of the movements and forces operating in the country.

VIII. Closed-door in Government Contracts

51. A Good part of Government needs in Public Works is carried out not departmentally but by contracts. This is so in normal times. In war times the work done for Government by the contract system has expanded several hundred fold. I can speak only of the Central Public Works Department. The list of approved contractors maintained, by the Central Public Works Department is 1,171. Of these, I am told, there is only one contractor belonging to the Scheduled Castes. The rest of them are Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. It should be possible for Government to arrange things in such a manner as to make its contract system allow an open door to members of all communities to profit by it. There are many persons of the Scheduled Castes who could be trusted to carry out a Government contract. Already many members of the scheduled castes are working as employees of Hindus, Muslim or Sikh contractors. The result is that the Hindu, Muslim or Sikh contractors are taking profit while the Scheduled Caste men are working on a mere wage.

52. There is not much difficulty in getting a certain number of men from the Scheduled Castes put on the list of approved contractors. But what is important is to enable them to get a contract. There are two rules in the matter of Government contracts :—

(1) That a contract is to be given generally to a contractor whose tender is the lowest;

(2) That Government is not bound to accept the lowest tender.

53. It is therefore, a matter of discretion, which is exercised by the Officer in charge whether a contract will go to a particular contractor or not. This discretion is not likely to be exercised in favour of a Scheduled Caste contractor. His tender may be the lowest but owing to communal prejudice he may not accept it and rely on the second rule " that he is not bound to accept the lowest " . If his tender is higher than the lowest, he will not accept it although he is free to do so. He will rely on the first of the two rules. Either way he will have his justification for rejecting the tender of the Scheduled Caste contractors.

54. There is of course, no remedy against communal basis. The only thing that strikes me that we can do is to amend the rule by saying that a tender of a Scheduled Caste contractor, if it is not higher than the lowest by 5 per cent, shall be deemed to be the lowest. This, of course, involves financial loss and the Finance Department will have to agree to it. I cannot give any idea of the approximate cost of such a concession. I am sure it will not be heavy as to break the camel's back.

 

PART IV

DUTY OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS DISTRESSED PEOPLE

Some of the proposals submitted in this Memorandum on behalf of the Scheduled Castes, particularly those, which are put forth to remove political grievances, do not involve any financial burden on the public treasury. They are really not proposals so much as political demands which, by reason of their logic and their justice. Government must grant. The difficulty arises only with regard to the acceptance of those proposals, which involve a financial burden upon the revenues of the Central Government. Financial burden there is. But, it will not do to reject them merely on that account. For there can be no doubt that Government has a duty towards the Scheduled Castes, and if they accept their duty in this behalf they are bound to discharge it even if it involves a certain amount of financial burden on the public purse.

56. The policy of the British Government towards the Scheduled Castes has been one of complete and continuous neglect. It began from the very beginning when the British Government realised that its duty was not merely to maintain law and order, and extended to giving the people education and looking after their welfare. This will be clear from the following quotations from the report of the Board of Education of the Bombay Presidency for the year 1850-51 :— Inquiry as to Upper Classes of India

" Paragraph 16. It being then demonstrated that only a small section of the population can be brought under the influence of Government education in India, and the Honourable Court having in effect decided that this section should consist of the ' upper classes ', it is essential to ascertain whom these latter consist of.

Upper Classes in India

" Paragraph 17. The classes "who may be deemed to be influential and in so far the upper classes in India, may be ranked as follows :— 1st.—The landowners and jagirdars, representative of the former feudatories and persons in authorities under Native powers and who may be termed the Soldier class.

2nd.—Those who have acquired wealth in trade or commerce or the commercial class. 3rd.—The higher employees of Government. 4th.—Brahmins with whom may be associated, though at long interval, those of higher castes of writers who live by the pen and as Parbhus and Seenvies in Bombay, Kayasthas in Bengal, provided they acquire a position either in learning or station.

 

 Brahmins The Most Influential

" Paragraph 18. Of these four classes incomparably the most influential, the most numerous and on the whole easiest to be worked on by the Government, are the latter. It is a well recognised fact throughout India that the ancient Jagirdars or soldier class is daily deteriorating under our rule.

****

nor among the commercial classes, with a few exceptions, is their much greater opening for the influences of superior education.

****

Lastly the employees of the State, though they possess a great influence over the large numbers who come in contact with Government, have no influence, whatever, with the still larger numbers who are independent of Government ;

Poverty of Brahmins

 Paragraph 19. The above analysis, though it may appear lengthy is nevertheless, indispensable, for certain important conclusions deducible from it. First, it demonstrates that the influential class whom the Government is able to avail themselves of in diffusing the seeds of education are the Brahmins and other high castes Brahmans  proximi.

Question as to Educating Low Castes

" Paragraph 21. The practical conclusion to be drawn from these facts which years of experience have forced upon our notice, is that a very wide door should be opened to the children of the poor higher castes, who are willing to receive education at our hands. But here, again, another embarrassing question arises, which it is right to notice. If the children of the poor are admitted freely to Government Institutions what is there to prevent all the despised castes—the Dheds, Mahars, etc., from flocking in numbers to their walls ?

Social Prejudices of the Hindus

" Paragraph 22. There is little doubt that if a class of these latter were to reformed in Bombay they might be trained, under the guiding influence of such Professors and masters as are in the service of the Board, into men of superior intelligence to any in the community : and with such qualifications, as they would then possess, there would be nothing to prevent their aspiring to the highest offices open to Native talent—to Judgeships, the Grand Jury, Her Majesty's Commission of the Peace. Many benevolent men think it is the height of illiberality and weakness in the British Government to succumb to the prejudices which such appointments would excite into disgust amongst the Hindu community, and that an open attack should be made upon the barriers of caste.

Wise Observations of the Honourable Mount Stuart Elphinstone Cited

" Paragraph 23. But herewith wise reflections of Mr. Elephinstone, the most liberal and large-minded administrator who has appeared this side of India, point out the true rule of action. ' It is observed, ' he says, ' that the missionaries find the lowest caste the best pupils; but we must be careful how we offer any special encouragement to men of that description ; they are not only the most despised, but among the least numerous of the great divisions of society and it is to be feared that if our system of education first took root among them, it would never spread further, and we might find ourselves at the head of a new class, superior to the rest in useful knowledge, but hated and despised by the castes to whom these new attainments would always induce us to prefer them. Such a state of things would be desirable, if we were contented to rest our power on our army or on the attachment of a part of the population but is inconsistent with every attempt to found it on a more extended basis!

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57. Such is the antagonism towards the Schedule Castes with, which began Government's policy of giving education to Indians. This policy was firmly applied. There is a case on record of a Mahar (Untouchable) boy who in 1856 petitioned to the Government of India for being admitted to a Government school in the Dharwar District. The following is the text of the resolution issued by the Government.

" The question discussed in the correspondence is one of very great practical difficulty.

" I. There can be no doubt that the Mahar petitioner has abstract justice in his side ; and Government trust that the prejudices which at present prevent him from availing himself of existing means of education in Dharwar may be ere long removed.

"2. But Government are obliged to keep in mind that to interfere prejudices of ages a summary manner, for the sake of one or few individuals, would probably do a great damage to the cause of education. The disadvantage under -which the petitioner labours is not one -which has originated -with this Government, and it is one which Government cannot summarily remove by interfering in his favour as he begs them to do. "

58. In 1882 Government of India appointed the Hunter Commission to examine the Educational Policy. This Commission made a number of important proposals to spread education among Muslims. With regard to the Untouchables it did nothing. All that it did was to express an opinion that " Government should accept the principle that nobody be refused admission to Government College or School merely on the ground of caste, " but qualified it by saying that the principle should " be applied with due caution!".

59. This antagonism when it passed away, its place was taken up by negligence and indifference. This negligence and indifference made its appearance not merely in the field of education. It also made its appearance in other fields, particularly in the Army. The whole Army of the East India Company consisted of the Depressed Classes. Indeed but for the Depressed Classes Army the British would never have been able to conquer India. The Untouchables continued to fill the Army till 1892. In 1892 their recruitment in the army was stopped all of a sudden and they were thrown in the street in utter distress with no education and no means to pursue other ways of honourable living. 60. Who can raise the Scheduled Castes from the distress in which they are now grovelling ? It is certain they cannot do it by their own effort. Their resources are too scanty to afford them the means to raise themselves. They cannot depend upon the charity of the Hindus. The charity of the Hindus is beyond question communal in its scope and its benefits are confined to those who belong to the community of the donor. The Hindu donors are either businessmen or high State officials. The tragedy is that they make their money out of the general public. But when it comes to a question of doing charity they forget the public and remember their own caste and their community. The Scheduled Castes have neither of these sources available to them and they are rigorously excluded from the charity founded by both. The only source therefore on which they can rely is financial aid from Government. I venture to say that it is the duty of the Central Government to come to the rescue of people who are in distress by no fault of theirs as is the case with the Scheduled Castes. The Central Government is bound to take steps to assist the Scheduled Castes to concede their just claims and to compete on more equal terms with their competitors. There is nothing extra-ordinary in asking the Central Government to pay special attention to improve the condition of the Scheduled Castes. Let those who may think so consider the measures the Government of India has adopted for securing the welfare of the Anglo-Indian community. I will mention only a few of them. (1) Higher Salaries

There was a time when the Anglo-Indian received a higher salary than the Indian. The extent of difference in the salary of the Anglo-Indian and the Indian will be obvious from the following table which gives figures for salaries on three Railways for a few posts selected at random for the sake of illustration—

 

Designation

Anglo-Indians

Indians

North Western Railway

625-25-675

475-25-500

Permanent Way-Inspector

550-25-600

400-25-450

Drivers

260-10-280

Re. 1 to Rs. 1/14/a day

 

 

Special rate Rs. 2 a day

E. I. Railway

 

 

Train Examiners

300-25-400

120-15-180

 

200-20-280

 

G.P.I. Railway

 

 

Head Train Examiners

275

125-275

 

315

 

 

365

 

Washing Chargemen

145

115

 

This difference in salary continued upto 1920. Thereafter it was abolished. One difference still remains and that is the Anglo-Indian gets a basic pay of Rs. 55 per month. He gets this even if he is employed as a peon in a State Railway, while an Indian chaprasi gets only Rs. 13-15. The cost of this favoured treatment to the Anglo-Indians which the Indian Exchequer has to bear annually is Rs. 10,000 in the Posts and Telegraph Department, Rs. 75,000 to the State Managed Railways and Rs. 75,000 to Company Managed Railways, in all Rs. 1,50,000.

(2) The reduction in the pass marks for the examination in the telegraph Department from 50 per cent to 40 per cent in each subject and from 66 per cent to 60 per cent in the aggregate especially made to enable Anglo-Indians to compete successfully.

61. There are many other recommendations made by the Stewart Committee on the Anglo-Indians intended to give them special advantages over Indians. But I do not wish to burden this memorandum with them. I am only interested in showing the marked contrast between the treatment accorded to the Anglo-Indians and the Scheduled Castes. The care of the former and the neglect of the latter stand out in a marked contrast. What is it that can justify this contrast ? In my opinion nothing, and the sooner the Central Government proceeds to assist the Scheduled Castes the better the Government will rank as a Government based on justice.  A Government, which cheerfully bears the cost of Rs. 1,50,000 annually for the uplift of the Anglo-Indians, can, if it has the will, spend a few lakhs on the Scheduled Castes.