DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 877
Pandit M. B. Bhargava (Ajmer) : It will now. The official amendment is there.
Sardar Hukam Sing : Sir, Punjab is a State of small holdings. Already they are uneconomic. Another thing is that we have smaller number of females than males in the Punjab.
Dr. Ambedkar : Therefore, their value is great.
Sardar Hukam Singh : Yes, Sir; you are going to increase their value but not to look to other things. That value can be, I should say, adjusted. As I said the number is already fewer. It is well-known that some time back people did not like that they should have sons-in-law and there were female infanticides. I tell you honestly and not as an argument that you would encourage that again, if you give a share, because that land-holder feels that he has already got an uneconomic holding, a pair of bullocks and a cow. It is not possible for him to part with those animals which are so essential for his cultivation. It is no answer to say that if a father had another son, how could he have dealt with him, he must have got a share. We are insisting that there should be a definite list of prohibited degrees, and we want to give the daughter in marriage outside that list. That is to say, a stranger would be brought in. He would not live there; he cannot associate himself with the environments. What he would do is to part with his share as soon as he marries the daughter. There are dissensions in every village; there are parties in every village. The friends would not buy the property; but the share would be sold to the enemy. This would create quarrels, murders and affrays.
Shri Tyagi : He is right.
Sardar Hukam Singh : I pray, kindly, do not bring this into the Punjab. Otherwise, you would create confusion and disorder there.
Shri Syamnandan Sahaya (Bihar) : What fault have the other provinces done ? Why not plead for them also ?
Mr. Speaker : Order, order; let us proceed.
Sardar Hukam Singh : I thought that if I advocated their cause, somebody might question my authority and representative character. Therefore, I confine myself to my own province, and particularly my own community. Otherwise, just as I said at the beginning, I wanted that I should represent the whole of my province; I feared that I might be questioned.