DRAFT CONSTITUTION 1085
I do not think that any explanation is necessay. The provisions are quite clear. If any point is raised in the course of the debate, I shall be quite prepared to offer such explanation as I could give.
*The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, just one or two points that have been raised in the course of this debate. The first point that has been touched upon by Mr. Saksena and Pandit Bhargava was in relation to the continuance of the representation of the Muslims and the Siks during this interim period. They object to this carry over on the ground that the Muslims and Sikhs have surrendered their right to special representation under the arrangements which have been entered into during the course of the proceedings of this Constituent Assembly. My, submission on this point is this, that whatever arrangements have been made, those arrangements are made in respect of the permanent structure of Parliament which is to come into operation under this Constitution. That being so, I think it would not be right nor justifiable to alter the structure of the Constituent Assembly which in the main we are carrying over and constituting it as a Provisional Parliament.
With regard to the amendment of Shrimati Purnima Banerjee, I do not think it is necessary to make a specific provision for the retention of women in this Constituent Assembly. I have no doubt about it that the President in the exercise of his powers of rulemaking will bear this fact in mind and see that cerain number of women members of the Constituent Assembly or of the various parties will be brought in as members of the Provisional Parliament.
With regard to Mr. Munniswamy Pillay’s amendment, the new thing he seeks to introduce is the provision for the Scheduled Tribes. As a matter of fact there is no objection to making provision for the Scheduled Tribes but the point is this that at present there is no enumeration of Scheduled Tribes, because Scheduled Tribes as such has not been recognised under the Government of India Act,
- Whatever tribes are included for the purposes of representation under the Government of India Act are called backward tribes. Consequently, if my Friend Mr. Munniswamy Pillay were to leave this matter in the hands of the Drafting Committee, we shall probably make some suitable arrangement to give effect to his amendment.
*CAD, Vol. X, 11th October 1949, pp. 112-113.