MICA MINES LABOUR WELFARE FUND BILL 377
standards are maintained. Government, therefore, has come to the conclusion that the better method would be for Government, in matters of this sort, to take the responsibility on their own shoulders and to compel the employer to pay the cost of these welfare measures. Sir, it is this principle on which this Bill relating to the welfare of workers in mica industries is based. If I may say so, so far as the Government of India is concerned, this is by no means a new principle which they have adopted. As the House knows, during the war the Government of India issued an Ordinance for the Welfare activities of the population engaged in coal mining. It was done by Ordinance. But the principles embodied in the present measure are exactly the same as the principles embodied in that ordinance. It is, therefore, unnecessary for me to dilate upon the necessity or the advisability of the principle on which this measure has been based.
Sir, there is one other point to which I would like to make some reference. As Honourable Members will see, under the Bill it is proposed to constitute two Committees to advise the authorities who will be administering this fund as to how this money should be spent. One Advisory committee will be for the Province of Madras and another will be for the Province of Bihar. Some Members might feel that the Government of India has shown no reason why, for instance, another area which is also a mica producing area has been omitted from this consideration, namely Rajputana. I would like to explain to the House the reason why we have not thought it necessary to constitute a third Committee for Rajputana. Rajputana occupies a very small place, for the moment, in this mica industry and I like to give the House some figures on that point. Take the mica mines in India. I have got the figures for 1941. In Bihar the total number of mines in
1941 were 623. Of them those that worked throughout the year were 297. In Madras the total was 108 and those that worked throughout the year were 47; while in Rajputana, although the total was 62, those that worked throughout the year were only 8. Taking the question of the number of workers, I have got figures for 1943. The figures arc as follows. In Bihar the total number of workers working in mica mines was 81, 431 ; in Madras it was
18,379 ; in Rajputana it was only 15,000. It is, therefore, thought that it would be better not to constitute a separate Committee for Rajputana. The reason is obvious. All these Advisory