Vol. 10 · pages 196–200

179 STANDING LABOUR COMMITTEE DISCUSSES RECOGNITION OF TRADE UNIONS adopted by the International Labour Organisation. There was general approval of the proposal. The Committee, however, discussed the alternatives of serving notices on all employers irrespective of the number of their employees or only on those employing 10 or more workers. Draft rules and forms for the collection of statistics under the proposed procedure were circulated to the members of the Committee. Visit To Cloth Mills After the meeting, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and the members of the Standing Labour Committee, on the invitation of Sir Shri Ram, visited the Delhi Cloth Mills, where they saw various manufacturing processes as well as the labour welfare work undertaken by the management. Sir Shri Ram accompanied the party to the workers’ quarters and explained the sanitary arrangements and facilities as regards water for drinking and bathing. The Workers’ Colony has a school, a dispensary and a library, equipped with a radio set which was tuned in to a film song radiating from A.I.R., Delhi. The party also saw a swimming pool varying in depth to suit the novice as well as the expert swimmer. At the workers’ sports club a kabbadi match was in progress. Nearby was a workers’ theatre where, it was stated, historical and other plays, all acted by the workers were staged occasionally. The following delegates and advisers representing the Central and Provincial Governments, Indian States, All-India Organisation of Industrial Employers, Employers Federation of India, All-India Trade Union Congress, Indian Federation of Labour, and other employers and workers attended the meeting : The Hon’ble Mr. H. C. Prior, Secretary, Department of Labour, and Mr. S. Lall, Joint Secretary (Central Government); Sardar Bahadur Isher Singh, Labour Commissioner, Nagpur and Mr. C. K. Vijayaraghavan, I.C.S., Labour Commissioner, Madras (Madras and Central Provinces and Berar); Mr. S. V. Joshi, Labour Commissioner, and Mr. V. P. Keni, Assistant Labour Commissioner (Bombay); Mr. A. Hughes, I.C.S., Labour Commissioner Bengal; Mr. J. E. Pedley, I.C.S., Labour commissioner (United Provinces); Mr. M. H. Mahmood, Director of Industries, Punjab, and Mr. P. K. Kaul, I.C.S.,

180 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Secretary to Government, Electricity and Industries Department, Punjab (Punjab, Sind and N.W.F.P.); Mr. A. S. Ramchandran Pillai, Labour Commissioner, Assam, and the Director of Development and Chief Inspector of factories, Orissa (Assam and Orissa); Mr. K. S. Srikantan, Director of Industries, Indore, Mr. B. S. Desai, Assistant Director of Labour, Baroda and Mr. N. D. Gupta, Labour Officer, Gwalior (Baroda, Indore and Gwalior States); Mr. E. I. Chacko, Director of Industries and Labour Commissioner, Travancore, and Mr. M. A. Mirza, State Labour Officer, Hyderabad, Deccan (Mysore and Travancore States); Mir Maqbool Mahmood (Chamber of Princes); Sir Shri Ram, Mr. Kasturbhai Lalbhai and Mr. D. G. Mulherkar, Secretary, All-India Organisation of Industrial Employers (All-India Organisation of Industrial Employers); Mr. H. S. Town, Mr. C. C. Miller, M.L.A., Mr. J. Latimer and Mr. T. S. Swaminathan, Secretary, Employers’ Federation of India (Employers’ Federation of India); Mr. S. S. Mirajkar, Mr. V. Chakkarai Chettiar, Mr. Kazi Mujtaba and Mr. V. G. Balwaik (All-India Trade Union Congress); Prof. B. N. Banerji, Mr. Jamnadas M. Mehta, Mr. Abdul Sattar and Mr. V. G. Karnick (Indian Federation of Labour); Rai Bahadur Shyam Nandan Sahaya (other Employers); Mr. S. C. Joshi, M.L.C., and Mr. P. T. Dewara (other workers). zz

35 * Post-War Employment of Skilled Workers “No plan for the future development of the country can be deemed to be complete which does not provide for technical and scientific training. This is the age of Machine and it is only those countries in which technical and scientific training has risen to the highest pitch that will survive in the struggle that will commence when the war is over, for maintaining decent standards of living for their people. The Government of India is not oblivious to these considerations and would like to see the Technical Training Scheme not only maintained but extended all over the country and become a permanent part of the country’s educational system.” Thus observed the Hon’ble Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Labour Member, Government of India, addressing the Technical Training Scheme Advisory Committee in Calcutta on August 24. The committee, which was appointed by the Central Government to consider the adjustment of the Technical Training Scheme to the needs of civil industry, consists of representatives of engineering associations, the All-India Organisation of Industrial Employers, the Employers’ Federation of India, the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, the Supply Department, the Railway Board and the Institute of Engineering. The meeting lasted three days. Labour Member’s Speech Here is the full text of the Labour member’s speech : Gentlemen : In welcoming you here, today, I should like to express to each one of you my appreciation and thanks for the trouble you have taken to attend this meeting. In these days, we are all so fully preoccupied with our normal duties, that any additon to them must involve * Indian Information, September 15, 1944, pp. 274-77.

182 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES a heavy strain. I am all the more grateful to you for undertaking this task of helping Government to re-mould their Technical Training Scheme to meet the changing needs of the country. I need hardly say how great is the importance I attach to the work of this Committee. The fact that, notwithstanding a last moment hitch, I decided to come down to Calcutta to meet you and to wish you good luck and full success in your labours, is evidence—if there is need for any—of the sincerity of what I am saying. You have assembled here today to consider the future of our Technical Training Scheme, which was introduced as an emergency measure to cater to the technical needs of the Army and has resulted in providing India with semi-skilled man-power to an extent unheard of before. Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of the work done in the field of technical training, I might refer briefly to the history of the Technical Training Scheme from its early stages. It was started 3½ Years ago to overcome one serious obstacle—the lack of technical personnel for the requirements of the Army. We started with a target for training about 3,000 men at a lime, but within two years we had to raise this figure to 48,000 which required setting up 394 training centres. By the end of 1942, we had already supplied 54,000 trained personnel to the Army. By June, 1944, we had turned out 75,000 trainees of whom 63,000 joined the technical branches of the Defence Services and 3,000 went to the ordnance factories. I am sure you will agree that this is no mean achievement having regard to the period within which it has been accomplished. As I said this Technical Training Scheme was started to meet the needs of the Army which had arisen out of the war. The war, as everybody can see, is coming to a close, and the demand for technical training which came for the Army will abate. In view of the situation that will arise at the end of the war there are two questions that arise for consideration. The first is : What are we to do for those who have already been trained, and who have been serving the Army, but who will soon be discharged from the Army and would be waiting for employment ? The second question is : What are we going to do with this Technical Training Scheme ?

183 POST-WAR EMPLOYMENT OF SKILLED WORKERS Some people have formed the conclusion that Government have decided to liquidate the Technical Training Scheme. This is altogether untrue. It is true that Government has closed some of the training centres. We have now 170 training centres with a capacity to train about 32,000 trainees, in place of 400 training centres with a capacity to train 45,000 trainees which we had in 1942. This is due to various causes, foremost among which are two. One is the decreased intake of the Army. The other is the heavy cost of maintaining small centres. Government’s Intention These steps only show that what Government has done is to make necessary adjustments called for by the exigencies of the situation. They do not indicate any intention on the part of the Government to liquidate the Technical Training Scheme. If such was the intention of the Government, the Government need not have constituted this Committee. No plan for the future development of the country can be deemed to be complete which docs not provide for technical and scientific training. This is the age of Machine and it is only those countries in which technical and scientific training has risen to the highest pitch that will survive in the struggle that will commence when the war is over, for maintaining decent standards of living for their people. The Government of India is not oblivious to these considerations and would like to sec the Technical Training Scheme not only maintained but extended all over the country and become a permanent part of the country’s educational system. Industry Should Absorb Trainees While this is the objective of the Government, the success of the Scheme must depend upon the possibilities of the trainees getting employment. If the trainees, after they are trained, fail to get employment, then the Technical Training Scheme is doomed to failure. The answer to this question must entirely depend upon the attitude of the Industry to the trainees coming out from the training centres. The whole fate of the Scheme depends upon it. If the Industry refuses to employ the trainees it is obvious that nobody is going to bother about technical training, and the training centres will have to be closed down. This unfortunate consequence can be averted only if civil industries were to show eagerness to absorb our trainees.