Making of our Constitution MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION Speeches of Ch. Ranbir Singh in the Constituent Assembly of India Edited by K.C. Yadav Gian Singh Foreword by Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda Chief Minister, Haryana Prologue by Prof. R.P. Hooda Vice-Chancellor, M.D. University, Rohtak Ch. Ranbir Singh Chair M.D. University, Rohtak © M.D. University, Rohtak I 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, in any form, without permission from the publishers Published in India by Ch. Ranbir Singh Chair M.D. University, Rohtak Printed in India by Nagri Printers, Shahdara, New Delhi For the peasant whose service was his life-long mission Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Office of the Chief Minister, Haryana Chief Minister, Haryana, Chandigarh 9.11. 2009 FOREWORD I consider it a privilege to be associated with this important work, reproducing the historic speeches, which my father, Ch. Ranbir Singh made in the Constituent Assembly of India. The content of these speeches shows that Chaudhary Saheb was deeply influenced by Gandhiji. His words, thoughts and actions were shaped, to a large extent, by the Gandhian ideas and ideals. Besides that, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar also inspired him. He shared their ideal and spared no pains to build India of their dreams. The neglected village, the poor peasant, and the toiling marginalized millions, were the real objects of his concern. Wiping of tears from their eyes, and preservation and protection of the national environment and the cattle wealth was the chosen mission of his life. MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION The readers may not find in these speeches the glitter of fine silken phrases or urban suavity and glacial perturbability, but they have beauty and strength of their own. Vibrating hope, compasson and understanding, they bear a definite stamp of good will and grace. They discuss the present, but legislate for the future. Their contents, though as old as over 60 years, are very much relevant even today. Most of the problems that Chaudhary Saheb had faced in his days keep on resurfacing before us every now and then. The wisdom and vision that he employed to tackle them can be profitably used by us as well in handling them. In sum, the way he showed us is still the sure path to poise, peace and prosperity. I commend the publication of this valuable book and recommend its wider use. (Bhupinder Singh Hooda) 6 CONTENTS Foreword 7 by Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda Chief Minister, Haryana Prologue 13 by Prof. R.P. Hooda Vice-Chancellor, M.D. University, Rohtak Acknowledgements 15 Introduction 17 PART I: SPEECHES IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY 1. Presentation of Credentials and 45 Signing of the Register 2. Maiden Speech 47 3. On Reservations 54 4. Formation of Haryana and other 56 Matters MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION 5. On the Minimum Support Price of 61 Grains, and other matters 6. On the Minimum of Land Holdings 66 and other matters 7. On Old Delhi as Capital of East 70 Punjab 8. On Merger of Old Delhi with Punjab 73 9. On Burden of Taxes on Peasants 78 and Scheduled Castes 10. On the Public Service Commission 81 and new Employment Policy 11. On the Problem of ‘pest’ control 87 12. On the Uniformity of Land Revenue 89 13. On the Problems of Agriculturists 91 14. On the Problems of the Peasantry 94 PART II : SPEECHES IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (LEGISLATIVE) 1. On the Cotton Textile Cess Bill, 1948 103 2. On Completing the Bhakra Setting 104 up of the Yamuna Valley Corporation 3. On the Railway Budget, 1948 107 4. On the General Budget, 1948 110 8 MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION 5. On the Condition of the Peasantry 113 6. Election to the Standing Committee 119 for Ministry of Agriculture 7. Election to the Standing Committee 119 for Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation 8. On the Electricity (supply) Bill, 1948 120 9. On the Indian Railways Bill, 1948 123 10. On the Reserve Bank (Transfer to 125 Public Ownership) Bill, 1948 11. Re. Checking of Prices of Essential 128 Things 12. Re. Resettlement of Displaced 133 Persons 13. Re. Failure of ‘Grow More Food 139 Campaign’ 14. On the Hindu Marriage Validity 150 Bill, 1949 15. On the General Budget, 1949 153 16. On the Indian Finance Bill, 1949 160 17. Re. Extension of the ‘Control’ Period 169 18. On the Tea Committee for India 174 Bill, 1949 19. On the Child Marriage Rastraint 177 Bill, 1949 9 MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION 20. On the Essential Supplies Bill, 1949 181 PART III : QUESTIONS ASKED IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (LEGISLATIVE) Questions and Replies 191 Chronology 269 10 Prof. R.P. Hooda Maharshi Vice-chancellor Dayanand University, Rothak 4.11.2009 PROLOGUE It gives me immense pleasure to offer this first publication, Making of our Constitution : Speeches of Ch. Ranbir Singh in the Constituent Assembly of India, of the newly established Chair in our University in honour of Ch. Ranbir Singh, a great patriot, a veteran freedom fighter, a maker of our Constitution, an able administrator, and a saviour of the weak and the fallen. The readers will, I am sure, find the publication useful for understanding the making of our Constitution. The speeches given here are short and simple, but they touch the soul of our nation. They reflect the light which the speaker had gathered from his illustrious Guru, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the insights that he borrowed from his leaders like Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION others. They show the way how to empower and embolden the poor, and the marginalized, how to give verve and vitality to the vulnerable sections of our society and how to fulfil the solemn promise made in the Premable to the Constitution to give justice, social, economic and political to ‘We-the- People’ ! I am grateful to my old colleague, Prof. K.C. Yadav and Shri Gian Singh for compiling and editing this valuable work for us. I would also like to put on record my very sincere thanks to Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana, for writing a learned foreward to the publication which has given it a proper perspective and enhanced its usefulness. I am sure, readers would find this precious document useful and interesting. (Prof. R.P. Hooda) 12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The book owes much to may people. First, as in duty bound, we would like to thank Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana for his kind help and encouragement, as also for sparing his valuable time to go through the book and write a learned foreword to it. Our grateful thanks are also due to Shri Ram Niwas Mirdha, former Union Minister, for his keen interest in the project and genial counsel. We are also higly thankful Shri Dipender Singh, MP, Shri Satyanand Yaji, Shri M.S. Chopra, Shri Sukhinder Singh Hooda, and Shri Jogender Singh (HIPA) for their useful suggestions and help. We are most grateful to Prof. R.P. Hooda, Vice- Chancellor, M.D. University Rohtak, for his keen interest in the project as also for its publication in the prestigious series on the life and work of Ch. Ranbir Singh being undertaken by Ch. Ranbir Singh Chair at the University. Our sincere thanks are also due to the staff of the following institutions/libraries for their kind help in MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION making available relevant materials from their holdings: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, the National Archives of India, New Delhi, the Central Secretariat Library, New Delhi, and the Parliament Library, New Delhi. K.C. Yadav Gian Singh 14 INTRODUCTION I This is a collection of speeches of Ch. Ranbir Singh (1914-2009), an eminent member of the Constituent Assembly of India. Broadly, the speeches are of two types: one, which were made in the Constituent Assembly for the purpose of making of the Constitution, and, two which were made in the Constituent Assemlby (Legislative) for the purpose of legislating. In the Constituent Assembly (Legislative) Chaudhary Saheb also asked a large number of questions covering a wide range of subjects of great importance. As these questions and their replies from such great leaders as Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Rajkumari Amritkaur, Babu Jagjiwan Ram and others are also important for our purpose, these, too, have been included here (in part III). To comprehend the context and the content of these speeches and questions, it is, however, essential to have some idea of the man behind them. MAKING OF OUR CONSTITUTION Ch. Ranbir Singh was born on 26 November 1914 at Sanghi, a small village in district Rohtak, Haryana (then Punjab). His father, Ch. Matu Ram was a peasant of small means but big social standing. He was a friend, philosopher and guide to his people. And it was precisely for this reason that the district bureaucracy also held him in high esteem and made him a zaildar (head of a zail, a revenue unit of about 20 villages) 1. Ch. Matu Ram, who was envolved in the ‘spread -education-movement’ in his area, would, understandably, like to give the best possible education to his sapient child: He sent him to the best available institution in the area in those days – the Government Primary School in his own village, Sanghi, Gurukula, Bhainswal, and Vaish School, Rohtak, for initial education and to the Government College, Rohtak and Ramjas College, Delhi for higher studies. From latter, that is, the Ramjas College, the young Chaudhary passed his B.A.