330 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Shri Sri Prakasa : Will the Honourable Member give them in lakhs ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : They are all given here in millions. The notation which I am using is quite famliar to the Honourable Member on the other side. He is not so ignorant as he is showing himself to be.
The number of looms is 200,286; hands employed were 437,690, the number of cotton bales consumed 3,662,648. Therefore, my submission is that so far as experience of the past is any guide to the consequences of the future, I am sure that any such fear that may be entertained is unfounded. However, the Government of India does recognise that there is cloth famine, if not famine, there is shortage of cloth and that under the circumstances, it would be necessary to make some provision, so that should occasion arise, the mills or the other establishments which require longer hours to work may have the liberty to do so. Accordingly, there has been inserted in the Bill a clause which is clause 5 and which amends section 44. It will be seen from the wording of the clause that power is given to the Provincial Government to extend the operation of the order for six months at a time, it was proved that public interest as distinguished from emergency existed. There is already provision for suspending the provisions of the Factory Act whenever there is emergency. It was felt that the shortage of cloth may not be regarded as an emergency and consequently Provincial Governments may not be in a position to use the sections which exist at present in the Act. Consequently as a measure of greater precaution, the Government has inserted in the Bill a clause which now makes provision for another category of situation which is called public interest. So, I hope that that clause will allay such fears as the cotton textile millowners may have with regard to the effect of the Bill on the production of cloth.
Sir, the other clauses, namely, clauses 3, 4 and 6 arc purely consequential. Clause 3 reduces the daily maximum from 11 to 9 for perennial factories and from 11 to 10 for seasonal factories. That is in consonance with the major change which we are making by fixing a new maxima for perennial and seasonal factories. Clauses 4 and 6 merely reduce the spread over from 13 hours to 12 and I am sure they need no comment from mc. With regard to the second main provision