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In the year 1902, His Highness was invited to England
to attend the coronation of his Majesty King Edward VII. During this sojourn in
England, he issued the order from England, to the effect, that 50 per cent posts
of the State Services should be reserved for the Backward Class candidates. This
was indeed a landmark in his career as a social reformer. The original order
dated 26th July, 1902 stated,
"Endeavors
have been made in recent years in the Kolhapur State to foster and encourage the
education of all classes of the subjects, so far, but His Highness regrets to
have to record that those endeavors have not in the case of the more backward
classes met with the success that was hoped for. His Highness, has had the
matter under very careful consideration, has come to the conclusion that this
want of success is due to the fact that the rewards for the higher education are
not sufficiently widely distributed. To remedy this to a certain extent and to
establish within the State an incentive to the backward classes of His
Highness's subjects to study upto a higher standard His Highness has decided
that it is desirable to recover for those classes a larger share of employment
in the State service's; than has hitherto been the case."
He immediately ordered :
" From the date of this order., 50 per cent
of the vacancies of that may occur shall be filled by recruits from among the
backward classes. In all offices in which the proportion of officers of the
backward classes at present is less than 50 per cent, the next appointment shall
be given to a member of those classes. A quarterly return of all appointments
made after the Issue of this order shall be submitted by all Heads of
Departments. For the purpose of these orders the backward classes shall be
understood to mean all castes other than Brahmins, Prabhu, Shenavi, parsees and
other advanced classes-. "
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| Employment: General Department |
| Year |
Brahmins |
Non-Brahmins |
Untouchables |
| 1894 |
60 |
11 |
- |
| 1922 |
26 |
59 |
- |
| Employment: Private Department |
| Year |
Brahmins |
Non-Brahmins |
Untouchables |
| 1894 |
46 |
07 |
- |
| 1922 |
43 |
109 |
1 |
| Students in Kolhapur (All Schools) |
| Year |
Brahmins |
Non-Brahmins |
Untouchables |
| 1894 |
2522 |
8088 |
234 |
| 1922 |
2722 |
21027 |
2162 |
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The
year 1919 was a landmark in the Shahu's anti-untouchability
movement. He, by his order closed all the separate schools
meant for the low castes and threw all public schools open for
the untouchable. The order that he issued on 30th September.
1919 states:
"From
the ensuing Dasara of this year 1919, all the separate schools
for untouchables in the Karveer State (excluding Jahagiri)
should be closed forever and any boy from this community
should be admitted in the Government Schools like other boys
from higher community. As the practice of untouchability is
not to be observed in schools. all boys from all castes and
religions should sit and learn together."
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Shri
Shahu took another revolutionary step in abolishing the forced labour by law. He
issued the following order on 3rd May, 1920 in this respect
"Except
the royal family members and office work no other should extract forced labour (Veth
Veral) from Mahar, Mang etc. for their personal purposes. Even the higher
officials such as State Diwan, State Regent or Administrators, are not allowed
to make use of forced labour from these backward peoples for any purpose other
than official work. If any Patil unduly took the service of Veth Veral from any
Mahar against this order, his Watan would be attached. If anybody forced any
Mang to the work of twisting a rope or any Nada free of any wage, he would be
Subject to severe punishment."
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