412 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
when I say that in the course of the interview that I had with Sir Stafford Cripps when he came to India he told me that one of the principal objects of His Majesty’s Government was to stabilize the position of the Scheduled Castes by their inclusion in the Central Executive which was to be formed during the interim period, so that the Constituent Assembly which under his proposals was to meet to draft the new constitution will find their positions established beyond challenge. I request that this policy should be given effect to when the next step in the direction of the Indianization of the Executive Council takes place.
III. Absence of representation in the Public Services
- No greater injustice has been done to the Scheduled Castes than in the matter of their employment in Public Services. Having regard to the scope of this Memorandum I can deal only with those Services with which the Central Government is particularly concerned. They fall into two classes :—
(a) The I. C. S.
(b) The Central Services—
(i) Those recruited on an all-India basis, and
(ii) those recruited locally.
- Any one who examines the communal composition of these services can have no manner of doubt that the Scheduled Castes have been rigorously excluded from both these Services. To give an idea of the rigorous exclusion of the Scheduled Castes from these Services, I like to present the following facts. I will first lake the position as it stands in the Indian Civil Service. The communal composition of the I.C.S. as it stands at present
(1942) is as follows :—
Communal Composition of the I.C.S.
Community Number in the I.C.S.
Europeans … … 488
Hindus … … 363
Muslims … … 109
Indian Christians … … 23
Anglo-Indians … … 9
Parsis … … 9
Sikhs … … 11
Scheduled Castes … … 1
Others … … 43 Total ... 1,056