514 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That does not require any reply. All that has to be left to the Prime Minister.
Mr. Vice-President: I will now put the amendments, one by one, to vote.
[All 5 amendments were negatived. Article 61 was adopted and added to the Constitution.]
ARTICLE 62
Mr. Vice-President: (Dr. H. C. Mookherjee) : We shall now resume discussion of article 62.
(Amendments Nos. 1310 and 1311 were not moved.)
Nos. 1312 and 1329 are of similar Import. No. 1329 may be moved. Dr. Ambedkar.
*The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : (Bombay : General): Sir, I move :
“That utter clause (5) of article 62 the following new clause he inserted ;—(5) (a) In the choice of his Ministers and the exercise of his other functions under this Constitution, the President shall he generally guided by the instructions set out in Schedule III-A, hut the validity of anything done by the President shall not he called in question on the ground that it was done otherwise than in accordance with such instructions.’”
†Shri Mahavir Tyagi : ...Then there is the amendment of Prof. Shah in which he says that Ministers should know the English language for ten years, and Hindi after the next ten years. I happen to be an anarchist by faith so far as literacy is concerned, I do not believe in the present-day education. I am opposed to the notion of literacy also, even though it has its own value. If I were a boy now, I would refuse to read and write. As it was, I practically refused to read and write and hence I am a semi-literate. The majority in India are illiterate persons. Why should they be denied their share in the administration of the country ? I wonder, why should literacy be considered as the supreme achievement of men. Why should it be made as the sole criterion for entrusting the governance of a country to a person, and why Art, Industry, Mechanics, Physique or Beauty be not chosen as a better criterion. Ranjit Singh was not literate. Shivaji was not literate. Akbar was not much of a literate. But all of them were administering
*CAD, Vol. VII, 31st December 1948, p. 1167.
† Ibid., p. 1184.