Vol. 15 · pages 856–860

837PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES Sir, the real point for our consideration on this question is whether the Constitution and the rules that have been framed for the procedure of this House permit of giving effect to the suggestion that has been made by my hon. Friend. *Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay): I had originally thought not to participate in this debate, because I felt that it was right and proper that the new Members of this House who are sitting on the front Opposite Bench ought to be given the fullest chance to express their views on these important matters dealt with in the speech of the President. But some of my friends said that it would be useful if I said what I felt about the two important matters which undoubtedly loom large before the minds of some Members of the House at any rate and a large majority of the public. The first matter which looms large is obviously the matter of food. There can be no doubt that this country has found itself in the grip of one of the biggest problems that it has ever been called upon to face. Sir, as a younger boy, I had witnessed famines myself because my father was engaged as some kind of a cashier to pay the wages of many people who were engaged in famine relief work. I was living with him as a young boy and I could see the condition of the famine-striken people. As a student of economics I had the opportunity of reading those magnificent. books by one of the greatest Indian civil servants namely, Romesh Chandra Dutt, who had given a complete picture of the periodical famines that had taken place in this country, right from the beginning when the British came to occupy. But, Sir, remembering all this past history, my imagination cannot recall anything that I have seen or anything that I have read in any way comparable to the condition that we see today. I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that there was a time when there were famines but they occurred sometime at an interval of 10, 15 or 20 years. Today we have reached a stage when there is a famine almost every month in this country. This month there is a famine in Bihar, another month there is a famine in Rayalaseema, a third month there * P. D. (Council of States) Vol. I, 21st May 1952, pp. 266-69.

838 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES is a famine in some other part of the country. I think it would be impossible for any person who reads newspapers to say that any month has passed when there has not been a famine in this country. I was quite interested to listen to the argument which has been urged by some Members of the Congress Party that the Opposition should not be too hard on the Government. The Opposition must remember that when the British left, they left this country as an empty shell, with the resources undeveloped, with the people of this country untrained for economic production. Those arguments, if I may say so with all respect, are without substance. It may probably pass muster in this House or may pass muster with those who are inclined towards the party in this House. But I should like to tell even my friends who are sitting on the Opposite side that this excuse will not go down for a long time with the people……. An hon. Member : You were yourself in the Government once. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Don’t you recollect my past. I am now a divorcee. What I want to tell my friends on the other side is that this excuse will not serve them for a long time. No hungry man is going to be sympathetic to a critic who is going to tell him “My dear fellow, although I am in power, although I am in authority, although I possess all legal power to set matters right, you must not expect me to do a miracle because I have inherited a past which is very inglorious.” If this Government will not produce results within a certain time, long before the people become so frustrated, so disgusted with Government as not to have any Government at all, a time will come when I suppose unless we in Parliament realise our responsibilities and shoulder the task of looking after the welfare and good of the people within a reasonable time, I have not the slightest doubt in my own mind that this Parliament will be treated by the public outside with utter contempt. It would be a thing not wanted at all. Sir, the situation has been greatly aggravated by the sudden decision the Government has taken with regard to this subsidy. The subsidy is in another way an additional project

839PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES which the Government has undertaken to relieve the people against the high cost of living. The subsidy, so far as our information goes, has been in operation……. Shri B. B. Sharma (Uttar Pradesh): What percentage of the population does the hon. Member want to be subsidised for food ? Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, my submission is this that he will not want me to go into the details of the rationing system. I do not want to go into details as to how the population should be classified so that we might be in a position to say that the following classes shall be subsidised and the following classes shall not be subsidised. That information Government has not placed before us. If the Government places that information before us, I certainly will be able to make such contribution as I can make to that proposal. For the moment I am saying this, that this reversal of the policy of giving subsidy seems to me an absolutely new thing. I find that from1946-47, when the subsidy made was 22 crores, it has increased in 1951-52 to 36 crores. In the last Budget which the Finance Minister presented to the Provisional Parliament for the purpose of obtaining a vote on account, he had estimated that the subsidy which he might be prepared to give in this year would come to about 25 crores. That was the estimate that he had made. I am sure about it that at the time when he presented the Budget he must have been ready in his mind to commit himself to that magnitude of expenditure. Suddenly thereafter we find this sudden change. Some reasons have been given. One reason is that the subsidy would come to about 55 crores. Some Members have said it would be about 90 crores. I do not know what the correct figure exactly is.. But I do want to say that even in the last Provisional Parliament, when the Budget was presented, Government was agreeable to take upon itself the responsibility of a subsidy to the extent of 25 crores. I do not quite understand why the Government has stepped aside from that promise, from that obligation. There are of course ……..

840 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Mr. Chairman: Your time is up. You can take one or two minutes more. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I have something else to say. It will not be possible for me to finish within the one or two minutes that you are very gracious to give me. I will stop here.

841PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (45) BUDGET (GENERAL) 1952-53 GENERAL DISCUSSION * Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay): Mr. Chairman, I propose to begin from the point from which I had to leave off, before, my observations on the President’s Address. The House will remember that when I had to break off, I was dealing with the question of food subsidy. Today I find myself in a much better position to deal with the matter, because in the interval we have had a statement from the Finance Minister justifying why he has taken what might be called a ‘political roundabout’. The explanation that the Finance Minister has given is an explanation which I think is more intended to frighten people from demanding any subsidy with regard to food. His explanation is this, that if he at all must do anything in the matter of food subsidy, he must do it in a manner so that he might be able to maintain the price level at the level it stood in the last year. That is, I believe, his starting premise. And then he develops this premise by saying that if on the basis that the subsidy is given only if he maintains the last year’s price level, if the subsidy is to be confined to industrial areas, he would be required to pay Rs. 60 crores; and if that subsidy is to be extended to the rural area, he will be required to pay Rs. 90 crores. Obviously if these figures are correct, they are quite calculated to moderate the spirit of the great enthusiasts who want some kind of food subsidy to be given, so that the misery of the cosuming classes may be alleviated to some extent. So far as I understand, nobody has pitched his flag so high as it has been represented to be by the Finance Minister. So far as I have been able to pursue the discussion that has been taking place in the various newspapers, nobody has said that you must give subsidy to such an extent and on such a magnitude that the price level of this year would be the same as the price level of last year. Nobody is * P. D. Vol. I of 1952, 27th May 1952, pp. 469-80.