DRAFT CONSTITUTION 515
their States very well. I submit. Sir, that we should not attach too much importance to literacy. I ask Dr. Ambedkar, does he ever write ? Probably he has got writers to write for him and readers to read to him. I do not see why Ministers need read and write. Whenever they want to write anything, they can use typists. Neither reading nor writing is necessary. What is necessary is initiative, honesty, personality, integrity, intelligence and sincerity. These are the qualifications that a man should have to become a Minister. It is not literacy which is important.
Shri H. V. Kamath : Does my redoubtable friend want to keep India as illiterate as she is today?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Have you any conscientious objection against literacy ?
Shri Mahavir Tyagi: No, Sir.
*The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Mr. Vice-President, of the amendments that have been moved I am prepared to accept amendment No. 1322 and 1326 as amended by No. 71 on List V. As to the rest of the amendments I should just like to make a sort of running commentary.
These amendments raise three points. The first point relates to the term of a Minister, the second relates to the qualifications of a Minister and the third relates to condition for membership of a Cabinet. I shall take the first point for consideration, viz., the term of a Minister. On this point there are two amendments, one by Mr. Pocker and the other by Mr. Karimuddin. Mr. Pocker’s amendment is that the Minister shall continue in office so long as he continues to enjoy the confidence of the House, irrespective of other considerations. He may be a corrupt minister, he may be a bad minister, he may be quite incompetent, but if he happened to enjoy the confidence of the House then nobody shall be entitled to remove him from office. According to Mr. Karimuddin, the position that he has taken, if I have understood him correctly, is just the opposite. His position seems to be that the Minister shall be liable to removal only on impeachment for certain specified offences such as bribery, corruption, treason and so on, irrespective of the question whether he enjoys the confidence of the House or not. Even
*CAD, Vol. VII, 31st December 1948, pp. 1185-89.