PEOPLE CEMENTED............INDEPENDENT 37
on the majority to consent to the safe-guards for the minorities. But there rests upon the minorities an obligation of equal sanctity not to insist on such safeguards as will block the way to the unity of all. From this point of view, the scheme of joint electorates and reserved seats must be pronounced to be superior to that of separate electorates. It meets the realities of the present and also helps the ideal of the future.
- There is another matter which must be of special concern to the Depressed Classes for their safety. That relates to their entry into the public services. The power to administer laws is not less important than the power to make laws. And the spirit of the legislator may easily be violated if not nullified by the machinations of the administrator. This is not only the reason why the Depressed Classes should show special concern for securing power of control over adminstration. Often time sunder pressure of work or under difficulties of circumstances law has to leave good deal of discretionary power in the hands of the heads of the administrative department. The welfare of the people must greatly depend upon how impartially this discretionary power is exercised. In a country like India where the public service is alomst exclusively manned by people of one community there is a great danger of this vast discretionary power being abused for the aggrandisement of a class. The best antidote against it is to insist on a proper admixture of castes and creeds including the Depressed Classes in the public services of the country. We should demand a certain percentage in the public service to be preserved for the Depressed Classes and there will be no difficulty in guaranteeing this safe-guard to us by a clause in the constitution. Such a protection you could have dispensed with if there was any chance of the Depressed Classes being represented in the future cabinets of the country. But there is not the remotest chance of this in view of the fact that the Depressed Classes will always remain in minority. This makes it all the more necessary why you must insist upon such a guarantee.
IV. Depressed Classes and the Simon Commission.
- I have drawn your attention to the various safeguards that I think we need must have in the constitution