142 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
is that judging it in the light of these two considerations which I have mentioned, I have no hesitation in saying that the Government’s action is perfectly justified.
My Honourable friend, Mr. Joshi, said that this was a convention which could not have been broken. I agree that it is one of those conventions which does not contain a clause for its own suspension. But I have no hesitation in saying that every nation has got a right to break an international convention or an international treaty under certain circumstances. That has been a well established principle of international law. I am glad to say that in the debate that took place at Geneva in 1940, in the Governing Body, that was more or less the general opinion. Sir, could we have avoided taking steps that we have taken ? I should like to detail to the House some of the circumstances which have led the Government to take this measure. There is not the slightest doubt that shortage of coal was due to shortage of labour. That is circumstance, which I think, is beyond dispute. Now, Sir, the shortage of labour was due, according to the examination which Government made to three causes. First of all, there was the grow-more-food campaign started by the Government of India. There was the opportunity of increased employment on military works. Any one who dispassionately considers employment in coal mines as against the results of the grow-more-food campaign and the increased opportunities for employment in military works can well understand why there should have been shortage of labour in coal mines. Sir, it is quite clear that in the present circumstances, where prices of foodgrains are rising so rapidly, the grow-more-food policy should attract people to agriculture. If people who have been working in coal mines and who, as every one knows, are purely agriculturists, if they are drawn to growmore food policy, it would be a matter of no surprise. Similarly, the military works with their increased earnings attract these people. But, Sir, there is one other circumstance which although I know that some Honourable Members who have spoken have made very light of it, is none-the-less a reality. In the first place, it is quite clear to every one that work under coal mines is the most uncongenial work, even dangerous. Nobody likes it and any workman who finds an opportunity to work on the surface is bound to take the earliest opportunity to leave the coal mines. The grow-more-food campaign and the military works