Agree with your point, they don't provide the Hand Towels to us unless and until we ask them because I have seen Hand Towels being neatly wrapped into the brown covers by AC attendant that he was preparing for the return journey from SBC-BBS although he has not provided the hand towels to us along with the bed rolls while travelling from VSKP-SBC in 3rd AC.
PS: i observed this by the end of journey...so i didn't inquire much on this with him