434 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
volume it is enough to say that the St. Mary’s College, Kurseong, once undertook to give publicity to the cause of the Scheduled Castes and has as a result published material covering the same period and which fills a Volume of 507 pages. So vast have been the forces and movements affecting and emanating from the Scheduled Castes during this period of 1935—40. As to myself, I must have made many pronouncements touching the Scheduled Castes. Not one of them however finds a place in this Volume.
- It is true that this Volume is intended for official use only. But in my opinion this fact does not alter the great value which the compilation must necessarily have. It goes without saying that it is the mind of the Official which is, to a large degree, responsible for determining the direction which the affairs of the State will take. It also determines the value which he ought to give to issues in which communal interests are involved. It also goes without saying that the attitude and the mind of the Official is bound to be determined by the kind of material which is presented to him and on which he feeds in a Volume like this. Further, the degree of publicity given to a cause by Government in a Government publication may be treated by him as the value which government attaches to it and as a direction for him for evaluating the needs and claims of different communities. Looked at from this point of view this Volume is sure to give to the Officers working in the Central Secretariat as well as in the Provincial Governments and even to the Secretary of State the impression that the Government of India regards the Scheduled Castes as a negligible force not worth bothering about. That this is the effect which this volume has produced is evident from the speech delivered in Parliament by the Secretary of State where the references to the Muslims are emphatic and positive while the references to the Scheduled Castes are just of a parenthetical character. It is a grievous wrong done to the Scheduled Castes whose cause has received a setback at a most critical period in their struggle by reason of this unbalanced presentation of their case on the part of Government. I would press that the Bureau of Public Information be asked to prepare a supplement to the Volume which it has issued giving full space to movements carried on by the Scheduled Castes and the pronouncements their leaders have made.