814 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Inspectors under the Chief Inspector of Mines, all of whom are doctors, with a view to enforcing the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder.
(b) As already stated, pregnant women are entitled to leave of absence for a period of one month before the date of delivery; and the object of the employment of Labour Inspectors under the Chief Inspector of Mines is to make known to these women their rights under the Act and to assist them in securing the benefits of that Act.
(c) Yes, but no information of any of these women being pregnant has been received. During enquiries following accidents, the evidence of the colliery doctor is invariably recorded and if a woman were pregnant her condition would be disclosed and recorded.
(d) The Mines Maternity Benefit Act 1941 applies to all mines in British India except:
(i) certain stone crushing plants forming part of mines in the province of Bombay;
(ii) iron ore mines worked without mechanical power, the whole of the ore from which is supplied locally to village smelters and blacksmiths; and
(iii) those mines in which excavation is being carried out for prospecting purposes only, provided not more than
20 persons are employed in or about such excavation and subject to certain other conditions.
It is not considered necessary to make maternity benefits compulsory in these small mines.
Mr. Lalchand Navalrai : Have there actually been any cases of pregnant women having suffered ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Yes, there have been some.
Mr. Lalchand Navalrai: When ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Since they started working. These accidents are often occurring in the coal mines.
Mrs. Renuka Ray : Will the Honourable Member tell us whether the best way of preventing pregnant women from going down the mines would not be to restore the ban on women working underground ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I entirely agree, provided the circumstances were propitious.