Vol. 15 · pages 916–920

897PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES village, so that the evil forces which brought about the disease may pass away. Fortunately, they forgot that he had a turban on the head, and he too forgot to remove the turban. And the burning fire and the pot in which the fire was placed were so hot that practically half his cranium was burnt. I find no mention of this in the Report of the Commission. I know of a case in the Hyderabad State, in the Aurangabad district, where a certain Scheduled Caste woman was declared by the villagers as a witch who was responsible for some kind of an epidemic that was prevalent in that village. They questioned her. She could hardly prove her innocence; there was no method of proving. The result was that not only she was belaboured, but her house was burnt, and the members of her family were subjected to ignominies of the worst sort. I do not find any mention of that in the Report of the Commissioner. My hon. friend, the Home Minister, I think, will admit that the Scheduled Caste people, for good reason or for bad reason, are in the habit of sending their complaints to me as well as to the Government officers, and I too posses a long list of these tyrannies and oppressions. I thought that it would be right to expect some reference to these complaints in this public document. But there is none whatever. And I have been wondering whether this Report of the Commissioner, so far as the record of complaints is concerned, is a doctored and tutored document. The Commissioner seems to have completely forgotten one of the most important objectives that underline the creation of his office. The object was that public conscience should be energised by the presentation of the ugly treatment which the caste Hindus meted out to the Scheduled Castes, so that those who are enlightened enough may go among the public and tell them whether this is a behaviour worthy of a civilised people. But when you do not present these facts, when you suppress them for one reason or another, this important motive and object in the creation of this office, I think, is completely nullified. I do hope that in the next report which the Commissioner will prepare, he will bear this thing in mind, and not be ashamed to present facts as they are 10-00 A.M.

898 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES presented to him by the suffering masses, the untouchables. That is the first comment that I have to make over the nature of the report submitted to us by the Commissioner. It is quite clear that in such cases as have been referred to by the Commissioner, there have been many violations of the law, and there have been an endless series of tyrannies and oppressions practised upon the Scheduled Castes. This is a matter which, I suppose, is a matter which is within the portfolio of the Home minister. To what extent are the laws made especially for the Scheduled Castes or the general laws made for all people respected, and to what extent are the breaches committed punished ? Sir, on the first day, when the Hon. Home Minister presented the Report to the House, I happened unfortunately to come a little late. But I did catch him towards the end of his speech. And the impression that was left upon me, of the speech that he had made, was that what he had said was said in a spirit not merely of lightheartedness, but—he will forgive me if I say this—with a certain amount of levity. He asked: What is the use of prosecuting people ? People will begin to do Satyagrah, people will begin to do all sorts of things. Therefore, let us not rely upon what might be called the vindication of the law. Well, if that is the attitude of the Home Ministry, then of course nothing can be expected. The lawlessness, which is being practised continously for thousands of years against the Scheduled Castes, has been lawful, and will continue to be lawful, because it is impossible for the Scheduled Caste people themselves to come forward to prosecute the breaker of the law. As the Commissioner has said, the Scheduled Caste people are economically so subservient to, so dominated by the caste Hindus, that it is quite impossible for them to come forward to challenge the very people on whom they depend for their economic livelihood. That is an admission which the Commissioner has been making from the very beginning. It occurs in his first report, it occurs in his second report and he repeats it in his third report that it is useless to depend upon the Scheduled Castes themselves to vindicate their rights. They have neither the

899PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES economic independence against their oppressors nor have they got the means to prosecute their oppressors. The second thing which the Commissioner does not seem to emphasise very much and which I know very well myself from my experience of twenty years is that in a large number of cases the police force is in league with the caste Hindus. Ninety per cent, of the police force is drawn from the caste Hindus. Only a few per cent, and a very small one is now being recruited from the Scheduled Castes but this only to the posts of police sepoys. There are no officers amongst them. The result is that the upper grade policemen are in league with the caste Hindus. More often they refuse to record the complaints of the Scheduled Castes when they go to the Thana, in their station diary even though the offence may be cognisable. They throw them out, turn them out and tell them to go away. They do not record the complaint and secondly if they do, they probably would conduct the investigation in such a slipshod manner that ultimately the case fails. In this situation I ask the Hon. the Home Minister whether he thinks that there is any duty upon him or not. I ask him whether the breaches of the law which are being reported and witnessed by Scheduled Castes or other people are not breaches of the fundamental law and the fundamental rights ? Are not fundamental rights part of the Constitution ? If you are allowing a large mass of bullies and hooligans to trample upon the fundamental rights, are you not bringing the Constitution to contempt ? Is it not your duty to create a special department either within the Home Ministry itself or separately for this purpose ? The United States has got a Judicial Department, the duty and the function of which is to see that the Constitution and the Federal laws are respected. I think it is high time that the Home Minister realises that if the Constitution is to function, if it is to be the law of the land, if all people are to recognise it, his duty is to see that it is enforced, and the only way in which he can enforce it is to take upon himself the duty of enforcing it and not leave it even to the State Governments who can never do it, not even to the Police who has no desire to do it, and not even to the Scheduled Castes who have no means

900 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES to do it. Therefore I hope that he will take the matter more seriously and attend to it in the manner in which a statesman ought to. Now, I come to the subject matter of education. It is quite satisfactory I must admit, that the Government has been spending annually more and more on the education of the Scheduled Castes. If my friend will forgive my mentioning myself., he will realise that it was for the first time in the year 1942 that the Government of India, at my instance when I was a Member of the Executive Council, accepted that they too had the responsibility for the education of the Scheduled Castes. Theretofore, education was purely a provincial subject. It was only so far as the Muslims and Hindus were concerned, that the Government of India had taken upon themselves the responsibility of supporting the Aligarh University and the Benares Hindu University by an annual grant of Rs. 3 lakhs. I raised the question whether the Government which had recognised its duty for the Muslim and the Hindus, had not also a duty for the Scheduled Castes, and the Government of India agreed that it was a legitimate question and that the answer to that question could not be except in the affirmative. They granted Rs. 3 lakhs as a grant for the education of the scheduled castes from the Central funds. While, I am satisfied with the progress that is being made year by year by the enlargement of the educational grants for the Scheduled Castes, there are two points with which I am greatly dissatisfied. One is this: At the time in 1942 when this question was raised by me for the first time in the Government of India, it was agreed that the responsibility for the education of the Scheduled Castes up to the university standard in India was to be borne by the Provincial Governments and that whatever contributions the Government of India made towards the education of Scheduled Castes would be devoted for their education in foreign countries. According to that understanding, the first batch of Scheduled Caste students was sent to England, although there was great, difficulty in the matter of getting admission to English and American universities, because they were overflooded. Yet we here in the Government of India pressed upon the foreign

901PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES universities that as it was for the first time that the lowest of the low people were being sent for higher education, the foreign universities should show them some consideration. The result was that we were able to get admission for about 30 Scheduled Caste students. Thereafter, in 1945 the old regime ended, and the Congress regime came in 1946. I had hoped that a system which had been inaugurated in 1943 or so and which had been given effect to and in which the Government’s responsibility for the education of the Scheduled Castes in India and their education outside was accepted, would be continued, but to my great surprise, great chagrin almost I must say I found that Mr. Rajagopalchari who became the Education Minister in the Congress regime and who has a great knack for giving a pious look to an impious act abolished the system of sending Scheduled Caste students to foreign countries, and since that time there had hardly been any student belonging to the Scheduled Castes who has gone abroad for further studies. I think that this is—what shall I say ?—a most dangerous thing from one point of view. No doubt the Hindus do not like my criticism, but I am firmly convinced that my criticism is right, and I must repeat it notwithstanding the opposition with which it may be met. Shri B. K. P. Sinha (Bihar) : But the Scheduled Castes are also Hindus. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Yes, if you call them so. I am statutorily a Hindu. Shri B. K. P. Sinha : Factually also. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, the point is this. In this country, for reasons into which I need not go now, the fact is quite clear that the higher classes receive the highest education. Their children go to Cambridge, their children go to Oxford, their children go to the Columbia University and to all the other foreign universities. Dr. K. N. Katju : Perhaps my hon. friend is probably not aware that Harijans or members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are being sent to the foreign countries. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : You are repenting, I see.