THE MINES MATERNITY BENEFIT (AMENDMENT) BILL 265
for cases of pregnant women working underground. It is to give some benefit to the women working underground that this amendment is intended.
The provisions of this Bill are mainly two. As it is, there is already in the Act a provision which prohibits women working after delivery for four weeks. We now propose to add a provision prohibiting women working underground before confinement. That period will be a period often weeks, so that under the present Bill no woman would be allowed to work underground for ten weeks before her confinement. Similarly there is a provision for the benefit to be given to her. That benefit will be at the rate of twelve annas per day for fourteen weeks in all-ten weeks before confinement and four weeks after confinement. The qualifying condition for enabling her to earn the benefit is 90 days work underground withnin a period of six months. These are mainly the provisions of this Bill.
Sir, I have noticed that there arc cerrtain amendments which have been tabled and I might tell the House that I have also thought of certain amendments which I want to move on behalf of the Government. But as the time is very short and as the matter is urgent, I think the interest of everybody concerned would be served, if the Bill were forthwith sent to the Select Committee. So that the amendments that I have in mind and the amendments that have been tabled could be considered round the table with mutual give and take. It is because of this proposal, viz., to refer the Bill to the select Committee (which was not my original intention) that I do not propose to dilate at any length on this Bill. With these observations I move.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I do not think I need say much in reply to what has been said by the Honourable Members who have taken part in this discussion. One thing however I would like to say, namely, that I appreciate very much the spirit of the speakers which shows that the two questions, namely, the question of the women working underground and the questions arising out of this Bill should be separated and I am glad to say that they have been separated by the speakers who spoke on the Bill. They have expressed their opinion
Legislative Assembly Debates (Central), Vol. III, 29th March, 1945, p. 2270.