Vol. 10 · pages 576–580

555 L. A. DEBATES (CENTRAL) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Mr. Lalchand Navalrai: May I know from the Honourable Member if any went on terms given by Government, and what were those terms ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : No. I am not aware of any case where Government had to give any terms to ask labourers to resume work. Mr. N. M. Joshi: May I ask, on the statement made by the Honourable Member whether the demands made by the workers of Bombay were placed before the Government ? Whether he is aware that the Bombay Gimi Kamgar Union had sent to the Bombay Government more than a month ago, a statement regarding their demands about pay and other matters ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I am aware that some demands were made, but the point that I wish to emphasize is this : that in no case in Bombay so far as I am aware, the making of grievances was the cause for the stoppage of work. Mr. N. M. Joshi: May I ask if the Girni Kamgar Union sent their demands to the Bombay Government, and if, after that, there were strikes, what is the point in the Honourable Member stating that no economic demands were made, or no economic demands were the cause of the strike ? How did he come by that ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I have no report from the Government of Bombay, but the information to which my Honourable Member has referred, is the information which I have got from the papers. Mr. N. M. Joshi : May I ask the Honourable Member to enquire from the Bombay Government whether they have taken any steps to remove grievances of the Bombay textile workers and consider the demands made by the Bombay Girni Kamgar Union ? Sir Cowasji Jehangir : May I ask ihe Honourable Member how many strikes there were in the textile mills of Bombay after the 8th/9th August ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : There were very few. Mr. Muhammad Nauman : Can the Honourable Member give any indication of the pay of the Tata Iron and Steel Company workers ? Were their specific demands sent lo Government ?

556 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : It is not in the interests of the public to give any information. Mr. K. C. Neogy : Does the Honourable Member know that it is published in the newspapers ? The Honourable Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: That may be so. Government will not take any responsibility. Mr. K. C. Neogy : This report is from the Associated Press, one of the authorised agencies. It is stated that they struck work on the issue of a National Government in India. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not know what the Honourable Member means that the Associated Press is an authorised agency. Mr. K. C. Neogy : I am afraid the Honourable Member does not care to read the Government communiques. Sardar Sant Singh : May I know whether it is a fact that all these strikes occurred after the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi and his co-workers ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Well, I cannot give definite information, but my impression is that these strikes were not spontaneous. Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : Will the Honourable Member be pleased to state the dates on which the strikes started ? We can draw inferences therefrom. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Where ? In what place ? Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : In Tata’s. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : As I said, I am not prepared to give any information because it is not in the public interest to give any information. Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : I do not want the reasons for the strike or any such information ; I want the dates on which the strikes were declared. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I have stated that it will not be in the public interest to give any information. Sardar Sant Singh : Is it a fact or not that all these strikes had occurred after the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi and does the Government believe or not that this shows the intensity of the movement and the following that Mahatma Gandhi has got in the country.

557 L. A. DEBATES (CENTRAL) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That is an argument; it is not a question. Mr. N. M. Joshi: May I ask whether the strike at Jamshedpur has ended? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I believe it has. Mr. President (The Honourable Sir Abdur Rahim): Next question. 2 * Programme of Activities of the Utilisation Section of the Geological Survey of India 17. Mr. K. C. Neogy: (a) Will the Honourable Member for Labour be pleased to state whether a detailed programme has been drawn up in respect of activities of the newly started Utilisation Section of the Geological Survey of India ? (b) What are the minerals that are now intended to be included within the purview of such activities ? (c) Is it a fact that the Section will be concerned initially with pioneering work in respect of select minerals with the help of experts, while ultimately entrusting their exploitation to suitable commercial concerns ? (d) Is petroleum included among the minerals with which the Section is concerned ? (e) What practical steps have been taken so far for furtherance of the object of this Section, and in respect of what minerals and with the help of which experts, and with what ultimate object in view have such steps been taken ? (f) Are the efforts of the Utilisation Section co-ordinated with the activities of the organisations relating to Scientific and Industrial Research and Utilisation attached to the Commerce Department ? If so, in what manner ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : (a) Yes. The programme is, however, liable to alteration if there is urgent demand for a particular mineral. * Legislative Assembly Debates (Central), Vol. III of 1942, 1st September 1942, pp. 90-93.

558 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES (b) All minerals which are required for war purposes and for which there are reasonable prospects of working in India. These include sulphur, mica, tungsten or wolfram, and non-ferrous metals such as lead, zinc, copper and tin. (c) The Utilisation Branch will with the help of experts prove deposits and undertake small-scale mining operations which may include the operation of experimental and pilot plants for smelting, etc., up to the stage when it becomes clear that production can be undertaken by Commercial firms. It is the present intention (subject to the necessity of maintaining war production and to the circumstances of each case) that at that stage commercial development should be encouraged. (d) No, according to present programme. (e) The Utilisation Branch has already taken steps to examine the possibility of obtaining early production of lead and zinc. The most promising lead-zinc mines in India appear to be the mines at Zawar in Udaipur State. The Government of India, acting through Mr. W. P. Cowen, late General Manager of the Mawchi mines in Burma, negotiated with the Mewar Government. They secured the cancellation on payment of compensation of the lease of the mines held by a private company, and obtained a prospecting licence from the Mewar Government. Mr. Cowen was placed in charge of the operations and began work at the end of May 1942. Operations have been planned in two stages (1) a detailed planetable survey and deep-drilling operations to be followed by (2) opening up of deposits and the erection of a pilot ore-dressing plant and smelters as soon as drilling operations establish the workability of the lode. As a result of the Survey’s progress so far made it is hoped that it will be possible to obtain information regarding the “payability” of the lode earlier than was originally expected. Most of the machinery required by Mr. Cowen in the way of drilling equipment, etc. has now arrived. Two Mining Engineers, one Mechanical Engineer, two Metallurgists and three Surveyors have been appointed to assist Mr. Cowen. Exploitation of the sulphur deposits in the extinct volcano of Koh-i-Sultan, has been taken over by the Utilisation Branch from the Supply Department and a Superintending Geologist of the Geological Survey of India is in charge of the operations.

559 L. A. DEBATES (CENTRAL) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS The Branch is also engaged in an endeavour to stimulate the production of mica. A Superintending Geologist of the Geological Survey of India is in charge of a newly-formed Mica Production Section. It will be the work of the Branch to give all possible assistance to mica miners in obtaining the supplies necessary for increasing production. Investigations have also been taken in hand by the Branch regarding wolfram, copper, etc., and a possibility regarding tin is receiving urgent consideration. The ultimate object is to make India as self-sufficient as possible in respect of minerals which are needed for the war effort. (f) Yes; the Director, Scientific and Industrial Research and a Senior official of the Commerce Department are members of the Advisory Body which has been set up to assist this Branch. Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : May I enquire, when the Honourable Member was referring to certain types of technical staff, if they are all British officials evacuated from Burma ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : With regard to the two mining engineers referred to in my reply to this part of the question, the information is this : the two gentlemen employed as mining engineers arc Mr. Smith and Mr. Robottam. Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : Do they all come from Burma ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : They arc Burmese evacuees. Under them there are two probationers ; both of them are Indians. Then the mechanical engineer is one Mr. Symcs. He is also an evacuee. Of the two metallurgists, one is an Indian— Mr. Narayan—and the other is Mr. Fleming. There are three surveyors with regard to sulphur; they are all Indians. I may say that the reason why we had to employ these Burmese evacuees is because they are the only people who happened to know something about mining in regard to lead and zinc. They arc all taken from the Mawchi mines ; and probably the Honourable Member knows that the Mawchi mines in Bunna are the only mines which are lead and zinc mines. We had no expert from anywhere else. The policy of the Department is this, that while in the first place the necessity of employing Europeans who have experience in the mining of lead and zinc is inevitable, the department is taking steps that wherever a European is appointed there