A SOCIAL . . . . . . . . . IN BOMBAY 447
the honourable member is doing for the cause of his community cannot be measured by any amount of money. Competency does not depend at all on the salary that one may get. What pecuniary gain does my honourable friend get, may I know, for the very competent service that he is rendering to his community ?” *
I am glad to be able to relie on this reference to me from the Congress quarters. It shows that I have mainly devoted myself to social work in the past.
The Need for a Social Centre
It is my desire that the noble work to which Mr. Kher made reference should be put on a lasting foundation and I am sure that, that must be the view of all those interested in the cause of the Untouchables. There can be no two opinions that if movement is to succeed, it must have at its command three things, (1) a Central headquarter, (2) a well-trained body of devoted workers, and (3) financial stability. Only with these means the movement can be placed on a sound and permanent footing.
Of these three, the establishment of a Social Centre as Central Headquarter must be regarded as the most fundamental. For once a Social Centre is established it will help to co-ordinate all social activities necessary for keeping up the movement, under the scheme which I have framed. It will also provide income to meet the expenditure for running the social activities and maintain a body of devoted workers on full time salary basis.
Suitability of Bombay
There is no doubt that the Untouchables of every Province must have a Social Centre. Indeed it is my plan to provide one each. A beginning must however be somewhere and I have come to the conclusion that Bombay is a place where a beginning may well be made. The spearhead of this movement has been provided by Bombay. It is therefore, in the fitness of things that the foundations of a systematic and permanent organization should be laid in the city of Bombay. For these reasons I have selected Bombay to begin with. It is proposed to establish a Social Centre in Bombay which will serve not only as a model for social, economic and
- Bombay Legislative Assembly Debates 1937, Vol I, P. 272.