Vol. 17, Part I · pages 341–345

316 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES (2) VILLAGE OFFICERS 21. The Village Officers were divided into the following sub-divisions :- (i) Those useless both to Government and to the Community. (ii) Those useful to the Village Community. (iii) Those useful to Government. 22. Those useless both to the Government and to the Community—This Class of lnams comprised of village servants such as the Potdar, who, besides being a village Silversmith used to assay all the money paid, either to Government or to individuals or the Chaugula, who was a kind of Assistant to the Patel and also had care of the Kulkarni’s record. On the commutation of their Inams, lands held by this class of servants were settled on the following terms :— (i) In the Old Provinces – the full survey assessment was imposed. (ii) In the New Provinces – half of the full survey rate was taken. In both areas, the lands were converted into transferable freehold. 23. Those useful to the Village Community—This class of Inam comprises village servants, such as Kumbhars, Sutars, etc., who still perform services to the village community. The settlement arrived at in their case was as follows :- (i) In the Old Provinces – The lands held were assessed at either half or quarter of the Survey assessment according as the service performed was more or less useful to the community. (ii) In the New Provinces - The land held was assessed at quarter the assessment. The lands of this class of Village Officers being held subject to service, were made non-transferable. 24. The annual loss sustained by Government on account of the settlement made with this class of village servants will be clear from the figures given below :-

317REPRESENTATION..........MANGS ETC. Annual Loss to Government on Service Inam Lands held by Village Servants useful to Community on account of Commutation is shown below : Rs. a. p. I Northern Division … Rs. 79,177 0 0 II Central Division … Rs. 72,343 5 1 III Southern Division … Rs. 64,256 15 3 Total Rs. 2,15,777 4 4 25. Village Officers useful to Government – These comprised the following three classes (1) Patil, (2) Kulkarni and (3) Mahar. 26. In the case of these Village Officers they were not released from the obligation to serve. There was no commutation effected with them as was done in the case of other hereditary Officers for the obvious reason that they were an essential part of the administrative machinery. They were as much indispensable to the British as they were to the Peshwa Government which preceded it. 27. From this survey the following facts emerge :- (i) The Holders of Personal and Devasthan Inams do not render any service to the State. They are allowed by the British Government to retain the grants made to them by the Peshwa Government and enjoy the same from generation to generation without any obligation as to service. The loss to Government on their account comes annually to Rs. 6,15,649-4—10. (ii) The holders of Political Inams have been relieved by the British Government from the obligation to serve the State. But the emoluments assigned to them have been continued. Their descendants are enjoying these emoluments from generation to generation. The loss suffered by Government on their account comes annually to Rs. 2,67,501-11-7.

318 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES (iii) The District officers of the Peshwa Government, the Desais and Deshpandes render no kind of service to the British Government. Their Inam lands, which were granted to them by the Peshwa Government as remuneration for services, have been continued to them by the British Government subject to a small deduction in the form of a Judi. This was not merely a pension to those with whom the settlement was made by the British Government for lifetime. It has also become a hereditary pension to their descendants who could lay no kind of claim to such a grant. Here again the amount of annual loss is Rs. 8,14,545-8-4. (iv) The Village Servants who had become useless both to the village community as well as to Government were freed from the obligation to serve. But their emoluments were not wholly resumed. They retained their Inam lands and in some cases paid full assessment and in others only half of the assessment. 28. These instances will show that the Government of Bombay has always treated Watan and Inam property as falling in a special class. It has never regarded it as a mere matter of remuneration for service and even in cases where it bore the character of remuneration it never applied the principle of “ no work no pay.” 29. The policy now adopted in the case of levying Judi on the Mahar Watan lands is a complete departure for which there is no precedent. 30. To prove the utter inequity and injustice of treating Watan property of Mahars as mere remuneration I beg to draw attention to the Kulkarni Watan. The Kulkarni Watan fell in the class of Watans belonging to village Servants useful to Government which class included three Watans that of (1) the Patil, (2) the Kulkarni and (3) the Mahar. The Kulkarni Watan as a hereditary Watan continued up to 1914. In 1914 by Government Resolution No. 5070, dated 30th May 1914, the Kulkarni Watan was commuted and the Kulkarni was relieved of the obligation to

319REPRESENTATION..........MANGS ETC. render service to Government. The terms on which this commutation took place were as follows :- (1) Payment in perpetuity to the representative Watandars, their heirs lineal, collateral, or adopted so long as any male heir to Watan lineal, collateral or adopted shall be in existence, of cash allowance equal to one-third of the Akarni (remuneration for collecting land revenue) and the Potgi paid for the year 1913-14. (2) Continuance to the present holders and their heirs, lineal or adopted, so long as any male heir, lineal, collateral or adopted shall be in existence of all Watan lands subject to the payment of existing Judi and when this amount is less than full assessment, an additional amount not exceeding one sixteenth of the full assessment subject to the condition that the additional levy together with the existing Judi shall not exceed the amount of full assessment on the land for the time being. (3) The land will remain liable to the provision of sections 10, 11, 11A and 12 of the hereditary Village Offices Act, but may be excluded from the operation of the above sections by the Collector. (4) The continuance of the cash allowance as also the Watan lands is made subject to the continuance of the holders as faithful subjects of the British Government. (5) A fractional part of a rupee is to be compulsorily purchased at twenty times its value and when the fractional part is annas 14 or more the recipient may purchase at twenty times the difference to make the rupee. 31. Of all the Watandars, the Kulkarni has been given the benefit of the most favoured nation clause. He is relieved from the obligation to serve. He does not serve, yet he retains his land which is subject only to Judi and is allowed to receive in perpetuity l/3rd of the Akarni and Potgi payable to him by Government in 1913-14. Besides, although the right of the Kulkarni to serve hereditary was liquidated by Government under

320 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES the scheme of commutation, still Government has, by its Resolution, given him a preferential right to be employed as a Talati, an agency created by Government to replace the Kulkarni. 32. Now the question that I would like to raise is this : If the principle or policy on which Government rely is “ no service no pay” or “as much service so much pay,” why is it that the said principle was not applied by the British Government in the case of (i) Warshasandars, (ii) Inamdars and Jahagirdars, (iii) Hereditary District Officers, (iv) other Village Officers and (v) the Kulkarnis, who have all been relieved from the obligations to serve but who have been allowed to retain a substantial portion of their emoluments ? Comparing the treatment given to the other Watandars and particularly the treatment given to the Kulkarni, the treatment given to the Mahars stands in a cruel contrast. The limit of discrimination against the Mahars cannot go beyond. Why is this principle applied only to the Mahars ? What is the explanation of this invidious discrimination ? I confess my inability to find any. On the contrary, I venture to suggest that the principle sought to be applied to the Mahars is a wrong principle and that the policy adopted in dealing with the other Watandars was the right principle. According to the law prevalent under the Peshwa Government, Watan property was not only heritable but it was also alienable. So that a Watandar could alienate his office as well as his Watan property. Watan property was of the nature of private property and a Watandar was its owner who could do with it as he could with his own. This was the law upto 1827 when the Bombay Government by Regulation XVI of 1827 declared for the first time the Watan property as inalienable and forbade its alienation by any sole incumbent of the office or any co-sharer of such office out of the family for a term exceeding his life time. 33. That being the view of Watan property it can be said that Government could not have acted otherwise than it did without giving great violence to the sentiment which prevails in the country among Watandars in the matter of the Watan lands. My respectful contention is that Maharki Watan is in no sense distinguishable from other Watans and if in the commutation of these Watans Government has not applied the policy of “no