Vol. 10 · pages 431–435

410 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 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 thing. 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 Bahadur 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 they hold that whatever may have been their political status in the past, since the Round Table Conference their political status had

411 POLITICAL GRIEVANCES 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 footing. 10. The position of the Scheduled Castes in Indian politics needs a great deal of stabilization, and there can be no doubt that the only effective remedy of stabilizing 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

412 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 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 stabilize 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 Indianization 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 ... 1,056

413 POLITICAL GRIEVANCES Out of 1,056 men in the I.C.S. there is only 1 from the Scheduled Castes. Such is the state 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 monopolized 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.

414 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 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 SERVICES Minorities I.C.S. Central and Subordinate Services Recruited on All-India Basis Railways and Customs Posts and Tele- graphs Appraising Department and Preventive Services Muslims … 25% 25% 25% This service is excluded from the operation of the Resolution, apparantly to reserve recruitment for Anglo-Indians only on the ground that the Service re-quires special qualifications. Anglo-Indians … 8% 5% Indian Christians … *8 13 % 6% 3½% Sikhs … … ...... ...... Parsis … … ...... ...... *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 7% will be available for Muslims.