z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-10.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 746
746 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
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Lieut.-Colonel Sir Henry Gidney, M.L.A., I.M.S. (Retired), on behalf of the Anglo-Indian and Domiciled European Association of India
*16,241. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I realise from your Memorandum that you are very apprehensive of what may happen to your community under the new Constitution. I believe your apprehensions are shared by many other minorities. Therefore, the question I want to put to you is this : Would it serve any purpose which you have in view if a provision was made in the Constitution that there should be some officer or some Department in the future Central Government of India which was charged with the statutory duty of presenting to Parliament annually a Report on the moral and material condition of the various communities in India ? Do you think that proposal would be of any use to your community in drawing the attention of Parliament to anything that may have occurred in the course of the administration of various provinces affecting your material interests ?
Sir Henry Gidney: That proposal meets with my entire approval as the ultima thule of what would be the protection of minorities, but, as a preliminary canter to that the minorities, in my humble submission, demand protection not in so far as someone can report to the Houses of Parliament annually, but a practical protection.
16,242. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Let me make myself clear. What I am suggesting is not in substitution of what you are asking; it may be supplemental to what you are asking ?
Sir Henry Gidney : Yes.
16,243 Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Do you agree with me that this opportunity, or this method of exposing possible abuses of power in itself serve as a check against any possible abuse ?
Sir Henry Gidney: I certainly think it would be a means of bringing to the Houses of Parliament anything in the way of a prejudicial effect on Communities.
16,244. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Not merely yours, but of many others ?
Sir Henry Gidney: Of all minorities.
Mr. Zafrulla Khan: What would Parliament be expected to do thereupon ?
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: It would lie there. Parliament would take note of the various Governments. Not only should the Governor-General know, but Parliament should know how the various Governments are executing their responsibilities to the various minorities which are placed under their charge.
Sir Hari Singh Gour: And you would call that Provincial autonomy ?
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Yes ; I certainly would.
*Minutes of Evidence, Vol. II-C, 10th November 1933, p. 1996.