LIFTING OF BAN ON EMPLOYMENT..... WORK IN COAL MINES 143
are those works which provide an opportunity to the coal miner to obtain what I call less dangerous and more congenial piece of work. The second thing is, I will repeat it again, that both in the grow-more-food campaign as well as in the military works, the coal miner has the advantage of both earning himself and also haying an earning for other members of his family.
Mr. President (The Honourable Sir Abdur Rahim): The Honourable Member has one minute more.
The Honourable Dr. B.R. Ambedkar : I am sorry, Sir.
Mr. President (The Honourable Sir Abdur Rahim) : I have no discretion in the matter. The Honourable Member should conclude.
The Honourable Dr. B.R. Ambedkar : That being so, Sir, there has been a shortage of labour.
I should like to refer to two other points which I think it would be necessary for the House to take into consideration. The first thing is that Government have certainly not gone headlong in this matter as though it was a matter of no consequence. I should like to tell the House that Government have proceeded with great caution. Its first notification applied only to the C.P. and did not apply to the whole of the coal area. It was in November that Government thought that a case had arisen for extending the notification to Bengal and Bihar, and it was only in December that Government extended the notification to Orissa. We have also taken care to see, and this is an important point, that women shall be paid the same wages as men. It is for the first time that I think in any industry the principle has been established of equal pay for equal work irrespective of the sex. We have also taken care that women shall not be required to work in a gallery which is less than 5½ feet. The House will also remember that these notifications are of a very temporary character, and I want to emphasise this point. We have not said that these notifications will last during the period of the war; we have kept the matter absolutely fluid ; we are in a position to revoke them at any time that we like and that we can. And I should like to tell the House that we regard this as a purely emergency and temporary measure. We are also doing one other thing in order to shorten the period of the notification. For instance, we are instituting a labour camp where we are recruiting male labourers to be sent to the
- Emphasis supplied. —Ed.