262 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
and other data affecting the welfare of the workers, and that after the facts were found by the Committee, the Government of India should have another Committee in order to formulate such social security measures as can be based upon the data that were found by this Investigation Committee. This Investigation committee has now been working for nearly six or seven months and its report is promised sometime in June or July next. After the report is received, measures will be taken to constitute the second part of the enquiry and these facts will be placed before them according to the decision of the Tripartite Conference. The second counter-part of this Investigation Committee would be a committee represented by ‘employers, employees and members of Provincial Governments’.
With regard to the other question, namely, unskilled labour supply, the position is this. It was found out that various contractors were competing among themselves and paying much higher wages than what the market rate permitted in order to snatch away labour to their own contracts and to leave other contractors high and dry. The result was that while there was a superfluity of labour in some parts, there was great scarcity of labour in other parts where military works found it extremely difficult to find the necessary amount of labour. Consequently the Government of India decided that it was necessary to ration man-power and therefore the first step that they took was to appoint this committee which is known as Unskilled Labour Supply Committee. To this Committee, every contractor has to make an application, if he wants to take away labour from an area where he is not working and it is only on the certificate given by the Supply Committee that he can go to some other area to tap labour from that area. There are various stations where these labour depots are kept. At the head is a contractor who manages this scheme. I cannot at this stage give my Honourable friend all the details under the scheme. But if he is more interested in the matter, he can put down a short notice question which I am prepared to accept and give information on this subject.
Shrimati K. Radha Bai Subbarayan (Madura and Ramnad cum Tinnevelly : Non-Muhammadan Rural): Sir, I should like first to thank my Honourable friend lor the long statement he has made and the information he has supplied to Prof. Ranga and his colleagues. But I think he has missed one essential question and that is whether the