Mr. President, I have great pleasure in
commending Clause 11 because it is a clause which mostly relates to a
community, a vast regiment of people who are subjected to untold miseries for
so many centuries. Sir, even nowadays we find traffic in human beings in some
parts of India and this clause will have a great effect on the underdogs of
this land who will have a voice when India gets her independence. This clause
will bring about an economic revolution in the fascist social structure
existing in India. All the disabilities of the underdogs of this land are
mainly due to the economic backwardness of the unfortunate brethren of the
neglected community. It is unfortunate that a section120 of the people of this land will have to
work without getting any remuneration whatsoever, even for their daily
maintenance140 and the people who work in the fields or in
other places will have to go back to their homes160 even without getting a single pie. They have
not got the right to demand the wages even though they will work for day and
night. If the people are called upon to work and if they do not go for that
work, they will get punishments. That is what we find in certain Provinces of
India like the United Provinces. Even if there is not a system of forced
labour in other parts of India, almost a similar sort of240 compulsion exists throughout India and the
majority of the people are subjected to exploitation in all sorts of ways.
The underdogs of this land are deprived of the facilities that make life
happy. This system ought to have been abolished280 even before the Provinces got self-government.
Even if there are rules and regulations regarding this in certain
Provinces, the system still prevails and the people who are subjected to the
system have no voice whatsoever in deciding their fate. So, 320 this clause will give great relief to a great
number of people who are subjected to economic exploitation. When this sort of
economic exploitation is eliminated from this land, the underdogs also
will rise up and will be in a360 position to assert their rights and keep up their self-respect and
dignity and they too will have a right to enjoy like the people belonging to
the upper class and upper caste. I have great pleasure in supporting this
clause.
I
have great pleasure in supporting this amendment to Clause 11. I
accept the new draft of the clause. Sir, 420 I have studied a good deal of forced labour
problems since 1929. I was a member of the Forced Labour Convention in Geneva
in 1929. India accepted the Forced Labour Convention in 1930, but the Indian
States, with certain exceptions, did not accept it. That practice does not
exist among the major States whose representatives I find today in this House.480 Sir, in my part of the country forced
labour has been taken advantage of by most of the small Indian States. They
receive grants from the Government of India for construction of roads
and utilize the money for their own purposes and by means of
forced labour they construct roads and other civil works. Therefore, I do not
apprehend the trouble which my friend has just now voiced. In
case of national emergency, the State must come forward and560 everybody must compulsorily work for the
country, be it war or famine or drought. But I do not want any
lacuna left over which will allow some of the Indian Princes to
use forced labour for their own gains. Sir, one600 point I am not satisfied with is whether
traffic in human beings includes women’s traffic. Some of us have studied this
problem about women's traffic for the last ten years or more.
Unfortunately, every year thousands of women of640 Orissa and the Province of Bengal, where there
are surplus women, are carried away to other parts of India. There is a
regular traffic going on by crooks and gangsters who carry away these women to
some outside Provinces. I do not know whether they are regular
housewives or whether they lead the life of shame. We do know that700 in Provinces like Punjab, the number of women
is less than the population of men. Sir, we had the painful experience720 during the Bengal famine when lakhs of women
were spirited away. Whether these women were taken to the Provinces where
there are less women or whether they were used to supply women to the huge
British army that was then in the eastern part of India, that is a
problem that social workers must work out. But I would have been happy
to see "traffic in women" being specifically mentioned in the clause.
Those of us who belong to800 the eastern part of India still apprehend that
in spite of this provision in the Fundamental Rights, traffic in women will be
carried on by unscrupulous money makers. I, therefore, want Sardar
Patel to assure me whether he has in840 contemplation some kind of legislation by
which this traffic in women may be stopped for ever. Sir, I want a further
assurance from the representatives of the Indian States here whether they
will persuade their colleagues in the less advanced States to abolish
forced labour which is a source of profit and gain to many small principalities
in India. Sir, might I be permitted to point out some of the difficulties that
would present themselves if we put the clause in the truncated form suggested?
First of all, there can be no question, nobody can doubt for a moment that
forced labour in any form must go. But there were certain qualifying Explanations
in the original form of the clause960 which have now been omitted.
Mr. President, going into the question as to
whether there is necessity for the retention980 of the Explanation or not, I am quite clear
in my mind. So far as the first sub-clause is concerned, it will not
preclude military conscription. In the Committee, there was a special clause
inserted to the effect that there shall not be military conscription; but
that has been omitted. In spite of the existence of slavery and
anti-slavery clause in the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court of the
United States has held that there is nothing to prevent military
conscription being introduced. The learned Judges referred to various writers
on international law and they pointed out that the1080 very existence of the State depends upon
military force, and the slavery and anti-slavery or servitude clause
cannot be construed as precluding the United States of America from introducing
conscription. Therefore, the words 'begar and similar forms of
forced labour'1120 cannot possibly be interpreted as excluding
conscription. That is my view and I do not think that the future
legislatures will be precluded from introducing conscription by reason of a
clause like this. The word "similar" occurring in the clause makes it
quite clear that it cannot have in view a military conscription law.
Therefore, under those circumstances, there need not be any
apprehension. That does not mean that I am opposed to the retention of the Explanation.
It was1200 pointed out yesterday in the Committee that
the retention might give rise to considerable difficulties in the
working of the village economy and village institutions, and no harm would
result by the omission of the Explanation, and therefore, yesterday, in the
course of the discussions in the Committee, it was omitted. I do not think
there is any danger of1260 military conscription being ruled out as a
power inherent in the Union by reason of the forced labour clause as1280 it stands.
There are two points referred to in the clause.
First, traffic in human beings is prohibited, and, second, forced labour ought not
to be allowed. Both these are already provided for in the Penal Code. Section
370 of the Indian Penal Code prohibits traffic in human beings, and section 374
makes it an offence to compel any person to labour against his will, but the
word "unlawful" is used there. "unlawful" means, it is
lawful for any legislature to pass a law that for particular purposes labour
may be enforced, as when a person is convicted of a crime and he is sentenced
to penal servitude, or in the interests of village administration when there
are floods, the1400 villagers may be obliged or forced to repair
breaches in tanks, etc.. It also allows compulsory military service. Now that
these two provisions which are already in the general law under sections 370
and 374 of the Indian Penal Code1440 are raised to the status of Fundamental Rights,
we have to be a little careful. When we are giving them the status of Fundamental
Rights, unless we add other Explanations allowing the State to make an
exception to these two Fundamental Rights which are now being given, it might
appear that by taking these out of the ordinary law and placing them in
the Statute Book as Fundamental Rights, the State’s jurisdiction to legislate for
such purposes even under an emergency has been taken away. If the hon.
Member, who has moved this amendment, has at the back of his
mind that the State ought not to be prevented from introducing conscription
whenever or wherever necessary, let the matter be cleared here and now. I do
not see any objection to having an Explanation or even having the original
clause as it stands.
1583
