Vol. 13 · pages 931–935

898 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES similar power with regard to their own members. I do not think that the whole power should be concentrated in the Centre. I should have thought that if Parliament passes an Act defining the privileges, immunities and powers of its members, the State Legislatures will probebly follow suit and copy the thing verbatin with such minor amendments as they think desirable. [Dr. Ambedkar’s motion was adopted. Amendment by Dr. Deshmukh was rejected. Entry 69 and 69-A, as amended were added to the Union List] ENTRY 70 *The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That at the end of entry 70 of List I, the words ‘or Commissions appointed by Parliament’ be added.” As it stands, the entry refers only to Committees. Mr. President : I do not think that there is any other amendment to [The motion was adopted. Entry 70, as amended, was added to the Union List] ENTRY 70A †The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That after entry 70 of List I, the following entry be inserted :— ‘70A. The sanctioning of cinematograph films for exhibition.’ ” This entry was originally placed in the concurrent List. It is now proposed to put it in List I. ***** ‡The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Mr. President, Sir, the object bringing this entry which was originally in the Concurrent List to the Union List is two-fold firstly to prescribe as far as possible a uniform standard for sanction of films; and secondly, to prevent an injury being done to any producer of a film whose film may not be sanctioned by any particular province by reason of some idiosyncracy or by reason of some standards which are of an extraordinary character and do not conform to general standards which ought to be prevalent in a matter of sanctioning of Cinematograph. Therefore, I think it is very necessary that this matter of sanctioning instead of being distributed between the Centre and provinces so that each *CAD, Vol. IX, 31st August 1949, p. 820. †Ibid., p. 821. ‡Ibid, p. 824.

899DRAFT CONSTITUTION province may go on prescribing its own standard and the Centre be required to persuade each province to examine its standard and point out whether the standards are good or bad, it is much better to bring it over to the Union List. So far as the rest of that matter is concerned it is proposed to leave the entry 43 in List II as it is so that the provinces will retain all the control they have over theatres, dramatic performances and cinemas minus the question of sanctioning. I do not think that any injury will be caused to any particular interest by the proposal I have made. On the other hand, as I have stated there would be distinct advantages in concentrating the power of sanctioning in a single body like the Centre. Shri Raj Bahadur : Only sanctioning ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Once the Centre has sanctioned that the film is a good film and conforms to moral standards, I do not see any reason why there should be any further provision for the exhibition at all. The matter ends. Mr. President : I put the amendment No.222 to vote. Dr. P. S. Deshmukh : I would like to withdraw it. (The amendment was, by leave of the Assembly, withdrawn.) Shri Raj Bahadur : I would like to withdraw my amendment No. 266. [The amendment was, by leave of the assembly, withdrawn. Entry 70A was added to the Union List.] ENTRY 73 *Mr. President : Then comes entry 73. Dr. Ambedkar. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir I move : “That for entry 73 of List I, the following entry be substituted :— ‘73. Inter-State trade and commerce.’ ” The words that follow these words in entry 73 are unnecessary, because there is a proposal to drop entry 33 of List II. Mr. President : There is an amendment to this, amendment No. 226 of Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad. Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I am not moving it. Mr. President : Then there is no amendment to this entry. I put the entry, as moved by Dr. Ambedkar, to the House. [The amendment was adopted. Entry 73, as amended, was added to the Union List. Entries which are not mentioned here have no coments by Dr. Ambedkar in the debates. Most of these were adopted without any discussion.] *CAD, Vol. IX, 31st August 1949, p. 825.

900 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES ENTRY 73-A ***** *Mr. Naziruddin ahmad : ...So if inter-planetary travel is to be included in the list as it must, this amendment will also have to be accepted. A journey from the Earth to the Moon and back is likely to be the earliest achievement. But Mr. Kamath’s amendment will not make it possible. My amendment should be accepted to make the original amend ment complete. I hope. Sir, if the amendment is to be rejected, it is rejected in a more satisfactory way by vote. Mr. President : I do not suppose any further speech is necessary ! The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not quite understand whether the proposals of my Friend relate to matters which are unknowable or which relate to matters which are unknown. If they are unknown, then we have wasted our lime. But if they arc unknown and not unknowable, then we have enough powers to deal with them. Why bother with any entry at all ? Mr. President: I will put Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad’s amendment to the vote. (The amendment was negatived.) LIST I ENTRY 74 †The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : (Bombay : General): Sir, I move: “That for entry 74 of List I, the following entry be substituted:— ‘74. The regulation and development of inter-Stale rivers and river-valleys to the extent to which such regulation or development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest.’ ” Shri Brajeshwar Prasad : (Bihar : General): Mr. President, may I with your permission, say one word before I move my amendment? Somehow, due to my fault perhaps, one word is missing from this amendment. I want the inclusion of the word “regulation”. Sir, I beg to move: That in amendment 3562 of the List of Amendments, for the proposed entry 74 of List I, the following be substituted :— “74. The regulation and development of inter-State rivers and inter-State waterways, including flood controol, irrigation, navigation and hydro-electric power and for other purposes, where such development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be necessary or expedient in the public interest.” *CAD. Vol. IX, 31st August 1949, p. 828. †Ibid., 1st September 1949, p. 830.

901DRAFT CONSTITUTION Sir, I have only the comment to offer, that this amendment of mine is more comprehensive than the amendment moved by Dr. Ambedkar. ***** The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, all that I would like to say is that whatever Shri Brajeshwar Prasad wants is included in my amendment and it is therefore unnecessary to accept it. [Shri Brajeshwar Prasad withdrawn the amendment, The amendment of Dr. Ambedkar was adopted. Article 74, as amended was added to the Constitution.] ENTRY 75 [Amendment to Entry 75 moved by Naziruddin Ahmad was not accepted by Dr. Ambedkar. It was therefore negatived by the House. Entry 75, as amended, was added to the List.] ENTRY 76 *Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move. “That for entry 76 of List I, the following entry be substituted :— ‘76. Manufacture, supply and distribution of salt by Union agencies; regulation and control of manufacture supply and distribution of salt by other agencies’.” [Entry 76 as amended was added to the Union List.] Shri Mahavir Tyagi: (United Province : General): Sir, when you put the question to vote, Dr. Ambedkar says “Ayes” beyond the mike; with the result that the Ayes have an undue volume of their voice. ENTRY 79 †The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, with regard to entry 79, I have to make one observation. Some Members of the House are under the impression that if entry 79 remained in List I it would be opened also to the Centre to appropriate the proceeds of any taxes that may be levied on the Stock Exchanges and futures market and taxes other than stamp duties on transactions therein. I would like to make it clear that in putting Stock Exchanges and futures market in List I, there is no intention on the part of the Drafting Committee that the Centre should have any right to appropriate the proceed of any taxes that might be levied under this entry. Consequently, the Drafting Committee proposes, in order to remove all sorts of doubts, to amend article 250 which requires the proceeds of certain taxes to be distributed among the provinces. What we propose to do is, *CAD, Vol. IX, 1st September 1949, p. 831. †Ibid., p. 832.

902 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES as a consequential provision, to add to article 250 which contains clauses (a) to (d) enumerating the taxes to be distributed, ‘proceeds of any taxes on Stock Exchanges and futures market’, so that they too will be subject to distribution among the provinces. That would, I am sure, remove all doubts that certain Members have that this entry if it remains in List I would give power to the Centre to appropriate the taxes. That is not the intention. The entry there is purely legislative. It would have no financial implications at all. Pandit Hirday Nath Kunzru : (United Provinces : General): May I ask Dr. Ambedkar whether he intends also to bring in a modification of article 277 in this connection? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Well, I shall consider any consequential provision necessary to bring in to make the matter consistent. [Entry 79 was added to the Union List .] ENTRY 81 *Shri Brajeshwar Prasad : Mr. President, Sir, I beg to move : “That for amendment No. 3572 of the List of amendments, the following be substituted :— “That for entry 81 of List I, the following be substituted :— “81. Duties in respect of succession to property including agricultural land.” ***** †The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I may mention, Sir, that this matter was considered at the conference with the Provincial Premiers. They were of option that, although the principle might be sound, they were at the present moment not prepared to make this radical change. [The amendment of Mr. Brajeshwar Prasad was withdrawn and Entry 81 was added to the Union List.] ENTRY 83 ‡Mr. President : There are two amendments to this. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That in entry 83 of List I, after the word ‘railway’ a comma and the word ‘sea’ be inserted.” The intention is to complete the entry by the addition of the word “sea” which was inadvertently omitted. ***** *CAD, Vol. IX, 1st September 1949, p. 833. †Ibid., p. 835. ‡Ibid., p. 836.