796 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
227
*** Statistics** re Unemployed Labour
221. Mr. Govind V. Deshmukh : Will the Honourable Member for Labour please state :
(a) if any statistics about unemployment labour in India is available; if so, what the number is, and how it is classified;
(b) if no statistics are available, when the Government intend to collect the same and classify it according to industries and under the heads “educated” and “uneducated”;
(c) if the Government arc aware that the United Nations arc taking steps to maintain a high level of employment in their countries; and if so, when and what steps this Government intend to take to keep pace with them ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : (a) The answer to the first part is in the negative; the latter part does not arise.
(b) Government at present collect statistics about employment in certain industries and they propose to take steps to improve and expedite such statistics. It is not however possible at present to collect statistics about unemployment.
(c) Government are aware that some of United Nations are making plans to sustain a high level of employment even after the war. The reconstruction plans of the Government of India will also take into consideration the necessity of maintaining as high a level of employment as is available.
Dr. Sir Zia Uddin Ahmad : May I ask if the Honourable Member is alert that in the post-war reconstruction he should see that every person in India should get an employment ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not follow the question.
Dr. Sir Zia Uddin Ahmad : Will the Honourable Member for Labour in the post-war scheme of reconstruction watch the interests of the labour and see that no person is out of employment ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That should be our ideal, I accept.
- Legislative Assembly Debates (Central), Vol. IV of 1944, 10th November 1944, p. 546.