Vol. 2 · pages 456–460

437SAFEGUARDS FOR DEPRESSED CLASSES absorbed in Hinduism, many of whom are considered impure. We may confidently place the numbers of the depressed classes, all of whom are considered impure, at something between 55 and 60 millions in India proper......” POPULATION OF THE DEPRESSED CLASSES IN INDIA Provinces 000’s omitted Total .. .. .. .. .. .. 52,680 Assam .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,000 Bengal .. .. .. .. .. .. 9,000 Bihar and Orissa .. .. .. .. .. .. 8,000 Bombay .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,800 C. P. and Berar .. .. .. .. .. .. 3,300 Madras .. .. .. .. .. .. 6,072 Punjab .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,893 U.P. .. .. .. .. .. .. 9,000 Baroda .. .. .. .. .. .. 177 Central India .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,140 Gwaliar .. .. .. .. .. .. 500 Hyderabad .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,339 Mysore .. .. .. .. .. .. 932 Rajputana .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,267 Travancore .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,260 8. This cautious and considered estimate of the Director of Census must supersede all guesses and surmises regarding the strength of the Depressed classes in the different Provinces of India. It destroys the validity of the estimate of Mr. Bajpai. For, it has been arrived at after scrutinizing the figures that have appeared in the Provincial Educational Reports which Mr. Bajpai says have formed the basis of his statement. Its correctness must be admitted. For, as the Director says it was arrived at after a deliberate investigation. The Sabha must therefore insist upon the Statutory Commission accepting these figures in preference to any other. According to this estimate the minimum strength of the Depressed classes in the Bombay Presidency is 28,00,000 souls or 10.8 p.c. of the total population. On the basis of their strength alone the Depressed classes are entitled to 15 seats out of a total of 140. 9. If the strength of a community was the only factor governing the extent of the representation to be granted to it, then the demand for the seven extra seats for the depressed classes would no doubt appear to be one for an unearned increment. It must however be recognised that the strength of the community cannot be taken as the sole factor in determining matters of this sort. The standing of a community is no less an important factor to be taken into account in determining its quota of representation. The standing of the community must mean its power to protect itself in the social struggle. That power would obviously depend upon the educational and economic status of the community. It follows from the recognition of the principle that the lower the standing of a community the greater is the electoral advantage it must get over the rest. There can be no two opinions that the standing

438 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES of the Depressed classes both educational and economical is the lowest in this Presidency. Consequently they are entitled to some electoral advantage over what they are entitled to on the basis of their strength. This electoral advantage must be greater in the case of the Depressed classes than in the case of any other community of equal strength and standing; because no community can be said to form a submerged class in the same sense in which the Depressed classes do. Nor can any class be said to be burdened with those grave disabilities which form the common lot of the Depressed classes and which prevent them from rising above their degraded station in life. This is one reason why the Sabha feels justified in asking for this increment in representation. There is also another reason which the Sabha thinks must justify the extra representation claimed by it for the Depressed classes. The representation of a minority, if it is to protect the minority, must also be effective. If not, it would be a farce. To escape this reproach it must be recognized that if a minority is to be protected then there must be enough representatives of the minority to save it from being entirely submerged. To put the same thing in the form of a proposition, the effectiveness of a minority representation depends upon its being large enough to have the sense of not being entirely overwhelmed. In claiming this extra representation the Depressed classes, the Sabha thinks, are entitled to invoke this principle in their favour, in common with the rest of the minorities in the country. 10. Necessity for impartial treatment of all minority communities. —These principles governing the extent of representation are those which have been laid down by the Government of India in their despatch reviewing the Report of the Southborough Committee. The Sabha desires to point out that the case of the Depressed classes was more deserving of the application of such principles than that of any other community that could have been thought of in the whole of India. In practice, however, the benefit of these principles was rigorously denied to the Depressed classes all throughout India and was literally showered upon a community like the Mahomedans holding a stronger and better position in the country than can be predicated of the Depressed classes. To point out one such instance of unequal treatment the Sabha would invite the attention of the Commission to the two following cases : — Provinces MoslemPopulation Seats forMoslems DepressedclassesPopulation Seats forDepressedclasses Central Provinces .. .. 574,276 11 3,060,232 2 Bombay Presidency .. .. 1,207,443 7 1,627,980 1 Howsoever indignant one may feel over the perpetration of such injustice to the Depressed classes the Government of India does not blush at it. For, it had avowedly enunciated those principles for the very limited purpose of applying them to the Mahomedans only. This was due, as everyone knows, to the distinction the Government of India made in the political importance of the different communities. The Sabha protests against this grading of the citizens of a country on the basis of their

439SAFEGUARDS FOR DEPRESSED CLASSES political importance. There can be no safe and secure rule except the one that all communities are politically of equal importance. This invidious distinction is at the root of all the communal troubles and is destructive of the principle of equal opportunity. The introduction of this principle in the governance of India at the time when the 1st instalment of Reforms was granted by Parliament was disastrous to the interests of the Depressed classes. The Sabha is glad to find the present Secretary of State recognizing the existence of the Depressed classes as a problem for serious consideration in the decision that may now be taken With regard to the enlargement of the scope of the Political Reforms already introduced. But the Sabha is anxious to point out that such recognition would be of no consequence to the Depressed classes if it is not reflected in the changes that may now be introduced into the framework of the constitution of the country. 11. Mode of representation. —The Sabha is opposed to the principle of nomination and would insist upon the extension of the principle of election to the Depressed classes. Election is not only correct in principle from the standpoint of responsible Government, but is also necessary in practice from the standpoint of political education. Every community must have an opportunity for political education which cannot well be secured otherwise than by the exercise of the vote. It must be regarded as unfortunate that the Depressed classes who need such education, more than any other community, should be denied an opportunity to take their share in the rapidly developing political life of India. There is also another reason why election in the case of the Depressed classes is a necessity. Ministership is a very important privilege and the Depressed classes cannot afford to forego the same. No great benefit can come to them from the introduction of Political Reforms unless they can find a place in the Cabinet of the country, from where they can influence the policy of the Government This opportunity will be denied to them so long as they are denied the opportunity of electing their own representatives. For, under responsible Government nominated members must continue to be ineligible for office. A system of representation like that of nomination which deprives the Depressed classes of this right must stand self-condemned. 12. Two objections are usually urged against the application of the principle of election to the Depressed classes. (a) Difficulty in forming constituencies. —This objection, the Sabha thinks, must be ruled out of serious consideration as not being honest. If difficulty in the matter of forming constituencies was a consideration which led Government to prefer nomination to election in the matter of the representation of the Depressed classes, it is difficult to understand how the Government ventured to apply the principle of election to the Moslems and the Europeans. These communities are not less scattered than the Depressed classes and no constituencies can be formed for them including the existing one, which cannot be condemned as absurd from a logical point of view. All the same, the Government of Bombay did abandon its aesthetic sense

440 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES and undertook to form as symmetrical constituencies for these communities when it found impossible to form symmetrical ones. All these difficulties in regard to the formation of the constituencies for the Depressed classes are, however, set at rest under the scheme of representation outlined by the Sabha. The problem being thus simplified, no objection ought now to be raised for the substitution of the principle of nomination by the principle of election. (b) Difficulty in getting a sufficiently large electorate. —Will there be a sufficient number of electors in any constituency to make the election of the Depressed classes to the Council a real election ? By way of pointing out a difficulty in substituting election for nomination this question is usually raised and answered in the negative. The difficulty would no doubt be there if it is decided that the existing pitch of the franchise is not to be touched and so long as the pitch continues where it now is, the Sabha must admit that the number of electors among the Depressed classes will be very few. But the Sabha thinks that the existing pitch of the franchise is unjustifiable on every ground. It has turned responsible Government into a mockery. It means a Government of the whole Presidency of two crores of people by a minority of seven lakhs who happen to have the good fortune of being voters under the existing franchise. Such a state of things is clearly vicious and cannot be allowed to continue in future, if there is to be responsible Government, not merely in name but also in fact. It is to be regretted that the question of franchise does not seem to have been adequately pressed by the class that is most vocal in demanding Reforms. Democracy is alleged to be the aim of that class, but if the truth be told, in the words of the Government of Burma, “they are in favour of democratic institutions mainly because they are making an appeal to a democratic nation. They could not very well call for democracy and leave the Demos out. Their chief interests in the Reforms is centered in the powers that they expect to gain over the executive. The broad franchise and responsible voting in its true sense by the rural electors is not at all the central idea of their demand. As long as their own class will furnish the Legislative Councillors who will exercise the desired control, it is immaterial to them whether these represent few or many voters.” Whether or not this is the correct diagnosis of the difference of the Indian politicians to the important question of franchise, the fact remains that the question of franchise occupies in Congress politics a very subordinate place as compared to the question of the transfer of powers. In the opinion of the Sabha, this attitude of the Congress politicians is a reversal of the true relationship between the question of the franchise and the question of transfer of power. It must be admitted that the dictum of the Government of India that the forces which now hold the administration together cannot be withdrawn before satisfactory substitutes are ready to take their place, must find acceptance in all quarters which are willing to look at things from a proper perspective. Now these substitutes must obviously be the electors ; it follows therefore that the degree and the kind

441SAFEGUARDS FOR DEPRESSED CLASSES of responsibility which can be introduced into the Government of the country will depend upon the strength of the electors. So vital is this question of the franchise that upon its determination alone can depend the degree of the transfer of political power. What should be the franchise is therefore a most important question. In the way in which it is determined at present the Sabha wishes to point out that the principle aim of representative Government has been lost sight of altogether. Franchise means the right to determine the terms of associated life. Franchise can mean nothing else. If that is the meaning of franchise, then it follows that it should be given to those who by reason of their weak power of bargaining are exposed to the risk of having the terms of associated life fixed by superior forces in a manner unfavourable to them. If this is true, then the very exigencies of representative Government demand that the franchise, if the term is properly understood, must be fixed so low as to bring it within the reach of the large majority of the poor and the oppressed sections of society. Indeed adult franchise is the only system of franchise which can be in keeping with the true meaning of that term. The Sabha would, however, be content if the franchise for the Legislative Council is fixed at the same level as that for the Taluka Local Board in the rural parts and Rs. 3 rental per month in urban parts of the Presidency. The fear often entertained on the part of the Government that such a lowering of the franchise will bring in a large part of unintelligent people is without foundation. Large property is not incompatible with ignorance. Nor is abject poverty incompatible with high degree of intelligence. Property may as well dull the edge of intelligence. On the other hand poverty does and often must stimulate intelligence. Consequently the adherence of the Government to a high property qualification as an insurance against ignorance is nothing but a superstition, which is sedulously cultivated by the classes and fostered by the Government in order to deprive the masses of their right to the making of their Government. 13. System of Election. —Free election in general constituencies is, in the opinion of the Sabha, out of the question so far as the Depressed classes are concerned. On the other hand the Sabha does not wish to ask for Communal electorates. In its opinion, it would be sufficient if the Depressed classes are provided with reserved seals in the general constituencies. In the case of the candidates for election from the Depressed classes the Sabha would urge the total abandonment of the residential qualification and a partial relaxation in the condition as to deposit. 14. Representation in the Assembly. —The Sabha respectfully protests against the non-recognition of the right of the Depressed classes in the Legislative Assembly in 1919. The Government of India is still supreme in important matters which are directly under its control or under the Reserved half of the Provincial Governments. Even in respect of the Transferred subjects it continues to have the power of superintendence. It is, therefore, obvious that in the direction of such large powers the Depressed classes should have some voice and the Sabha would, therefore, claim that three members