MUSLIMS HAVE FARED MUCH BETTER....... 345
the Muslims is as well as the position of the other minorities. But I quite realise that within the time that I have it would be quite impossible for me to lay out in completeness the position of these different communities, and therefore I propose today merely to give the figures of Muslims—not only the totals but also the percentages, so that the members of the Muslim League Party may know what exactly the position is.
I begin with the communal composition of the Labour Department secretariat, and in doing so I propose to give not merely the figures as they stand now, but to give the figures on a comparative basis. I think the comparative basis is very necessary and very essential. So far as I have been able to understand the working of this rule, I think I may say that it is somewhat like shooting at a target—a target has a bulls eye, it has an inner circle and it has an outer circle. The percentages are the bulls-eye, undoubtedly. But I do not think that it would at all be possible for any member of the Government of India, no matter what his personal predelictions may be, that he can arrange the services under him in such a manner that he would always be able to hit the bulls eye. What I submit is that there should be an endeavour on the part of every member to see that no community as far as possible is pushed out of what is called the centre, and the question therefore that we have to consider in passing judgment upon the doings of any particular Department is to know whether the position of any particular class of employees in that Department has deteriorated or has bettered, and from that point of view I think a comparative statement is the proper way of studying this matter.
I have collected figures in all cases for 1939 and for
1946-March. I said that I will first present the figures with regard to the Labour Department Secretariat. The gazetted posts in the year 1939 were 12 and the Muslim percentage was 8 per cent. In 1946, the total number of gazetted post is 80 and the Muslim proportion is 20 per cent. I will give the figures for the nongazetted posts. In 1939 the total number of such posts was 75 and of that the Muslims had 23 per cent. In 1946 the total number of posts was 457, and the percentage of Muslims is 24.
Now I will come to that much-talked of C.P.W.D. I will give the figures for the gazetted posts. In 1939 the total number of gazetted posts in the C.P.W.D. was 43., of which the Muslims had 21 per cent. In