THE DEPRESSED CLASSES MISSION SOCIETY OF INDIA.
(Established on the 18th of October 1906 and registered under Act XXI of 1860 as a charitable society.)
Origin—The Prarthana Samaj, or the Theistic Church of Bombay has been contributing for the last 30 years its own humble share to the elevation of the so-called low castes by opening night schools &c., for them. Especially, during the last four or five years, the attention of some of its workers was drawn more keenly than ever towards the several interesting movements of self-improvement conducted by such members of the Depressed Communities themselves as had tasted the fruits of the present educational system in India or had come into contact with the Christian Missionaries or the Anglo-Indian masters. They were the Somawanshiya Samaj started by Mr. S. J. Kambale of Poona, the Mohapa Low Caste Association by Mr. Kisan Faga of Nagpur, and the Somawanshiya Hitachintak Man- dali, by Mr. Shripatrao Thorat and Mr. Pandoba Dangle of Ahmednagar. Having closely observed these movements among the Depressed Classes, Mr. V. R. Shinde of the Bombay Prarthana Samaj wrote inDecember 1905 a pamphlet on the Elevation of the Depressed Classes. At the end of it he said:—
“Thus I have tried to review briefly from what little I know, the results of both philanthropy and self-help in this great work of the elevation of the Depressed Classes. If each of these will operate in conscious or unconscious isolation from the other, as it has been the case so long, both will perhaps ceaso to work out of more exhaustion. It is for the Social Reform Association and the Prarthana Samaj of Bombay to devise means to bring both these new forces into a happy and new co-operation.”
The same writer after further study ofthe subject the appalling number and the abject condition of these classes—proved for the first time from the India Census Reports in a pamphlet published in August 1906 that the depressed population was more than one- fourth of the total Hindu population and that more than one-sixth of the total population in India was considered “an-touchable.”! He then pleaded in that pamphlet:—
“ What is wanted therefore is not merely a machinery of education however grand, but a real Mission, t. e., an organisation in which the personal element presides over and energizes the mechanism; and secondly (which is still more essential) a mission which is not exotic but indigenous or in other words a mission which is bent upon working an evolution In the religion, traditions and social life of these people and not a revolution as the Christian Missions are doing . . . . . The City of Bombay in my humble opinion is the fittest centre for such work ... .The Prarthana Samaj ofBombay is the only liberal religious body in this province, that can, if it will, undertake the noble Mission and carry it to its ultimate consumation, viz. restoring, at least each of these depressed souls as are capable, to their rightful though long withheld place in a renovated Hindu society.”
In October 1906, Shet Damoderdas G. Sukhadwalla. Vice-President of the Bombay Prarthana Samaj, generously came forward with one thonsand rupees as an initial contribution towards the funds of such a Mission; and on the 18th of the same month, the Hon’ble Mr. (now Sir) Jnstice Chandavarkar, President of the Bombay Prarthana Samaj, inaugurated the Depressed Classes Mission, by opening its first school at Parel, in the presence of a representative gathering of ladies and gentlemen. Before giving the first lesson to the children assembled, Sir N.G. Chandavarkar in his inaugural speech charged the workers in the memorable words "Let us not approach these people in a spirit of patronization. Let us always remember that in elevating the depressed we are but elevating ovrselves!” The following members of the Prarthana Samaj formed the First Committee of the Mission. The Hon’ble Sir Narayan G. Chandavarkar, President.
Shet Damoderdas G. Sukhadwala, J. P.,
Vice President.
Mr. N. B. Pandit, B. A., Hon. Treasurer.
Mr. S. R. Lad, Hon. Superintendent.
Mr. V. R. Shinde, B. A., Hon. Secretary.