EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SOUTHBOROUGH COMMITTEE 271
The Government has reserved 3 seats for the Sindh Hindus. I have proposed 4 of them, one of which should be earmarked for the untouchables of Sind to be filled by a communal electorate.
For the 6 cities I have reserved 17 seats. Of this I propose that Bombay should be given 10. Of the 10 seats the untouchables of the city should be given 1 seat, also to be filled by a communal electorate.
So far it is shown how the Sind untouchables and their fellows in Bombay can be provided for. In addition to these two seats the untouchables of the Presidency proper, excluding the city of Bombay, should be given 7 seats. The constituencies among which these 7 seats are to be distributed, I have indicated on page 7 of my previous statement. It is in this fashion that the
9 seats for the untouchables of the Presidency should be carved out. The Government of Bombay finds difficulty in defining the Depressed Classes.
The difficulty is not a real difficulty, for, for all practical purposes the untouchables and the Depressed classes are the same. Knowing full well the degradation of the untouchables, the callousness of the Bombay Government is appalling. By refusing to make provision for the representation of the Depressed classes the Government have deliberately thrown the gravest of interests into the greatest of perils—a calamity which I am sure the Committee will avert.
- Having taken out 7 seats from the 60, I propose to distribute the remaining 53 among the touchable population of the 26 districts as follows :
I allow, though cannot quite agree with the Government, that the 7 districts of Sind should elect 14 members on the basis of 2 per district. But in the case of the 19 districts which are outside Sind I feel that a two-member constituency will not suffice, principally because the touchable Hindu population is not homogeneous. In order to satisfy the aspirations of the subdivisions of the touchable Hindus we must at least in some cases give up the principle of a two-member constituency. [91 (2)] To distribute the 39 seats among the 19 districts in question I should first group the districts on linguistic basis as follows :
Districts Touchable Hindu Population I Gujarathi
(1) Ahmedabad . . . . . . . . . 614, 286
(2) Broach . . . . . . . . . 170, 545
(3) Kaira . . . . . . . . . 556, 667
(4) Panch Mahals . . . . . . . . . 259, 929
(5) Surat . . . . . . . . . 535, 236 Total 21, 36, 663 II Marathi
(1) Thana . . . . . . . . . 736, 915
(2) Kolaba . . . . . . . . . 509, 158
(3) Ratnagiri . . . . . . . . . 1, 003, 240
(4) Ahmednagar . . . . . . . . . 738, 747