930 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
when the British came in they started a scheme of what is called commutation that is to say, releasing a person from the obligation of hereditary service and allowing him to retain the land provided he was prepared to pay what is called ‘Judi’ or land revenue, as the Government thought fit. That process has been going on for ever and many, many hereditary officers have been liquidated so far. Recently the Bombay Government took up on itself the responsibility of further commuting these village hereditary officers, but notwithstanding the incessant demand of the scheduled castes in the Bombay State that their workers and their hereditary officers should also be commuted so that they may be free from the obligation of service and be allowed to retain the land on payment of land revenue—they were very liberal and wanted to pay the full land revenue and did not want any concessions—the Bombay Government refused their requests. They confine their law to the commutation of officers other than the scheduled castes. This—I speak from experience—is one of the most cruellest pieces of legislation, because it is quite possible for the village who is an officer under this Act to require the whole body of the scheduled caste people to go and serve under him not merely for Government purposes but also for his private purposes. Any village patel, for instance, if there is a death in the family, would not sent a postcard to his relatives informing them of the death in the family, because it is a derogatory method. He must insist upon one of his village servants, as they are called, to walk miles and miles to convey the message that a death has occurred in the house of the patel . If a married girl comes to the house of the patel and wishes to go back, he must insist upon one or two of the village servants to go along with her, accompany her, chaperon her, and to see that she has safely arrived at her father-in-law’s house. If a marriage takes place, he must insist on the whole of people to go and break wood and do all services without paying them anything. If they refuse, he is competent to report to the Collector that his village servants are not doing their duty, and the Collector under the Act is able to fine them or to take away their land and dispossess them. I wonder whether this is not a piece of legislation which is fundamentally