INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT (STANDING ORDERS) BILL 387
other conditions by which the employee is bound. In fact it is felt that it would be very difficult to work the health insurtance fund unless and until we have placed beyond cavil, beyond doubt and beyond dispute certain questions relating to the employment of the workers in the industrial establishments.
With these observations I move that this Bill be taken into consideration.
*The Honourable Dr. B.R. Ambedkar : Mr. President, I did not think that my motion that the Bill be passed would invoke the sort of debate that we have heard just now. I cannot help saying that I was particularly amazed at the speech of my Honourable friend Dr. Sir Zia Uddin Ahmad and I have a sort of fear that his speech was due to the fact that he probably had eaten something which was indigestible for his lunch, because as we know Dr. Zia Uddin Ahmad has been a most persistent advocate of labour legislation and more than once he has on the floor of the House urged upon me the necessity of bringing in labour legislation of far greater magnitude and without any delay. Today he has made a speech of just the opposite tenor. But I am glad to see that his observations on that point have been so completely answered by my friend Mr. Siddiqi that I think I would not be justified in taking the House over that matter again.
There is only one point which he made to which I would like to give a reply. He said that he had not sufficient notice about this Bill. The position with regard to that matter stands as follows. The agenda on which this Bill was placed was circulated to the Honourable Members on Friday, the 6th instant. On that agenda this Bill was placed as the first item of Legislative Business and not only it was placed as part of the Legislative Business but there was added a footnote in which it was definitely stated that this item would be taken on Friday, the 12th April, 1946, as the first item of Legislative Business. I do not know whether six days notice can be regarded as insufficient.
So far as the Bill itself is concerned I had hoped that I should be able to get it through within 15 minutes but we have now practically spent nearly one hour and five minutes in dealing with this Bill and
*Legislative Assembly Debates (Central), Vol. V-No. 9, 12th April 1946, p. 3926.