368 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
consideration the situation regarding cloth famine, but we have taken into consideration the situation that might arise with regard to the shortage of other articles of consumption, and the Government of India has not only introduced an amendment which would give relief to the cotton industry but is so widely worded that it would also give relief to many other industries which are engaged in producing consumers goods. I do not quite understand why he is not satisfied with so general a provision which not only gives him relief but also gives relief to many other industries. I am still unable to understand the significance of his comment.
He made two other points to which I think he is entitled to a reply from me. The one comment that he made was—I have got the text of his speech before me—that this exemption ought to be given by the Government of India itself in this very Act and not to be left to the discretionary authority of the Provincial Government. My answer to this criticism is twofold : In the first place, as my Honourable friend knows, granting exemption is what in law is regarded as an exercise of executive authority under the constitution which is now in operation ; although labour is placed in concurrent list, that fact merely gives the Government of India the authority to make the law. It does not give the Government of India authority to put that law into execution. All execution must remain in the hands of the Provincial Government and if, therefore, we have not granted exemption straight-away in this Act it is because it is beyond the powers of the Central Legislature to do so. The second difficulty which I find in meeting the demand that he has made is this : It is impossible for the Government of India to single out any particular industry such as the cotton textile industry to be mentioned in the Act itself for exemption without at the same time giving a list of other industries which might require similar exemption. It is impossible for anybody in the Labour Department to anticipate the needs of other industries and to make specific provisions in that behalf. He expressed the fear that Provincial Governments will not grant the exemption for which they have been empowered very readily, and if I understood him correctly he said that labour in Provinces will create difficulties in the matter of Provincial Governments granting such exemptions. I do not share the fear because I believe that the Provincial Governments while they would undoubtedly listen to such