460 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
questions have been raised. One is on the amendment of Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad. It has been pointed out by various speakers that it would be very wrong to base any election on the last census viz., of 1941. I am sure there is a great deal of force in what has been said by the various speakers on this point. It is true that the
1941 census was in some areas, at any rate, a cooked census ; a census was cooked by the local Government that was in existence, in favour of certain communities and operated against certain other communities. But apart from that, it is equally true that on account of the partition of India there has been a great change in the population and its communal composition in certain provinces of India, for instance, in the East Punjab, Bombay, West Bengal and to some extent in U.P. also. In view of the fact that the Constitution provides for representation to various communities in accordance with their ratio of population to the general population, it is necessary that not only the total population of every particular province should be ascertained but that the proportion of the various communities to which we have guaranteed representation in accordance with their population should also be ascertained before the foundations of the Constitution are laid down in terms of election.
I have no doubt about it that the Government will pay attention to the various arguments that have been made in favour of having a true census of the people before the elections are undertaken. If I may say so, one of the reasons which persuaded me to accept the amendment of my friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad is that he used the word ‘latest’ in preference to the word ‘last’. I thought that the word ‘ last’ had a sort of a local colour in the sense that the last census may mean the periodical census which is taken every ten years ; and the ‘latest’* census means the census taken before any operation of election is started.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I did not use those words. I said the last preceding census.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Anyhow, I did not pay much attention to what he said. But that certainly is my idea, that this clause shall not prevent the Government from having a new census before proceeding to have elections for the new legislature. I think that should satisfy most Members who have an apprehension on this point.
*Misprinted as ‘last’ in the debates.