PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 471
have done in bringing forward this Bill is only an implementation of the policy which has been laid down in the Constitution.
Whatever my friends from Delhi and Vindhya Pradesh feel about this matter—and their feeling is that even without this legislation the representation of the scheduled castes and tribes would have been assured in the House of the People— I welcome this measure for certain definite reasons. I can speak with some amount of knowledge as far as Himachal Pradesh is concerned and my feeling is that in spite of all that the Central Government and the other State Governments have done, our machinery is moving so slowly that the schedule castes do not feel that enthusiasm that should have come with the Constitution. And that is all the more reason why we on our part should give a feeling, should give ample proof of our idea, of our determination to see that the scheduled castes do receive a fair deal in the next elections. What is happening in Himachal Pradesh makes it all the more necessary.
I do not want to take very much time of the House, but I will just refer to an incident or two to show how very necessary it is to make this provision. It was about four months back— on the 4th January 1951—that the Himachal Pradesh Advisory Council recommended to the Government to introduce, at least extend, the Untoucability Removal Act as it is in force in Uttar Pradesh, to Himachal Pradesh for there are a number of disabilities which the scheduled castes suffer from in those areas. I was surprised to learn from certain quarters in the States Ministry that some of them at least consider that there is hardly any necessity for this measure, for there is no such problem there as in Madras, nor is there such a serious demand from the people that it should be extended. If that is the view which is prevailing in the Central Government too, I am afraid that much that has to be done will remain undone.
When I had been to my constituency recently, a section of the scheduled castes, known as kolis, met me there in the interior of Himachal Pradesh in district Sirmur. They narrated to me a recent incident in which some members of that