446 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
*REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (AMENDMENT) BILL— contd.
Mr. Speaker: The House will now proceed with the further consideration of the following motion moved by the Hon. Dr. Ambedkar on the 18th instant:
“That the Bill further to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950, be taken into consideration.”
Shri Sonavane (Bombay) : When the House adjourned yesterday I was speaking on how the movement of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from one State to another would be restricted by the failure of the Ministry of Law to safeguard the interests of these people by seeing that they are not omitted from the lists of the States and the Union. I would like to illustrate my point by giving a concrete instance. In Bombay, there is a caste known as Mahar. Persons belonging to this caste come over to Delhi, but this caste is not included in the Delhi Scheduled Castes list. Thus, these people would not get any of the benefits under the Constitution only because of the fact that their caste has not been included in the Scheduled Castes list of the Delhi State. In other words, had they remained in Bombay, they would have enjoyed all the privileges and benefits. Therefore, my point is that even if the Scheduled Castes migrate from one State to another, they should get the privileges and benefits under the Constitution. That is not the case today. This omission of the recognition of all Scheduled Castes in the different States has had a restrictive effect on their movement. Therefore, I would urge the Hon. the Law Minister to see to this and make an all-embracing list so that the restriction on their movement would be removed.
Another instance of this omission is that certain castes from Bombay State have gone over to Madhya Bharat and they have not been included in the list there. There are three or four castes of that type. Though they are untouchables, the benefits under the Constitution are denied to them. While replying to a supplementary question of mine, the Hon. the
- P. D., Vol. 10, Part II, 19th April 1951, pp. 7042-7125.