PART IV
DUTY OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS DISTRESSED PEOPLE
Some of the proposals submitted in this Memorandum on behalf of the Scheduled Castes, particularly those which are put forth to remove political grievances, do not involve any financial burden on the public treasury. They are really not proposals so much as political demands which, by reason of their logic and their justice, Government must grant. The difficulty arises only with regard to the acceptance of those proposals which involve a financial burden upon the revenues of the Central Government. Financial burden there is. But, it will not do to reject them merely on that account. For there can be no doubt that Government has a duty towards the Scheduled Castes, and if they accept their duty in this behalf they are bound to discharge it even if it involves a certain amount of financial burden on the public purse.
- The policy of the British Government towards the Scheduled Castes has been one of complete and continuous neglect. It began from the very beginning when the British Government realized that its duty was not merely to maintain law and order, and extended to giving the people education and looking after their welfare. This will be clear from the following quotations from the report of the Board of Education of the Bombay Presidency for the year 1850-51 : —
Inquiry as to Upper Classes of India
“ Paragraph 16. It being then demonstrated that only a small section of the population can be brought under the influence of Government education in India, and the Honourable Court having in effect decided that this section should consist of the ‘upper classes’, it is essential to ascertain who these latter consist of.
Upper Classes in India
“ Paragraph 17. The classes who may be deemed to be influential and in so far the upper classes in India, may be ranked as follows : —
1st. — The landowners and jagirdars, representative of the former