DEPRESSED CLASSES INSTITUTE 411
under one roof. Its offices are scattered and are maintained in the private apartments of members in charge of the various activities. Housing the Institute in rented rooms has its own difficulties. The inability of the Institute to bear the expense is, no doubt, one of them. The difficulty of getting accommodation in flats on account of Untouchability and the liability of being asked to vacate at any moment on account of protest made by orthodox tenants are factors which often come in the way of the Institute getting decent accommodation for housing itself. Under the system of scattered offices co-operation and co-ordination of the various activities of the Institute have been difficult and the work of the Institute has been there by rendered inefficient. The third need of the Institute is to have whole time workers to carry on its activities. At present the Institute has only part-time workers who have undertaken to devote their spare time to carry on this work of social uplift. To them the work is largely labour of love. This is due to the fact that the Institute is unable to maintain a body of workers on full pay. This is the greatest drawback in the organization of the Institute and the relief value of the work of the Institute to the suffering among the Depressed Classes who stand in need of it is considerably diminished on account of the inevitable discontinuity and laxity arising from the fact that the workers are only spare-time workers. The only way of removing the drawback is the engagement of a body of regularly paid workers who will devote the whole of their time to social work.
Wanted £ 40,000
These three principle needs of the Institute for (1) Press Fund
(2) Building Fund, and (3) Maintenance Fund are estimated to require a capital sum of £40,000. As is well known, much larger amounts have been subscribed in support of causes less urgent and perhaps less humane than that of Depressed Classes of India. The Institute, therefore, hopes that with the support of the philanthropic public, it will not be impossible to collect this amount. Like most other causes of humanity it is undoubtedly one which seeks to bring hope and light to a people who are stagnant and destitute and who arc struggling against the forces of darkness. But there is something in the cause of the Depressed Classes which gives it a pathos all its own. It is not the cause of humanity which is sung by reason of misuse of opportunities. It is the cause of humanity