Sir, he tried to read certain portions of the Gupte Committee Report. I am afraid he has changed his position now. Naturally I grant him that right to change if it is meant for something good. But the change which is not for a healthy growth is something very dangerous. I should say it sometimes ends in death. I do not expect that kind of change in the case of the hon. Member.
As regards the question of the rise in prices, to which he referred, it was ably dealt with by my hon. Friend Shri Bharde in his speech. As far as the question of the uniformity of prices of procurement in this State is concerned, I may tell the House that we are considering that question and at the proper moment, perhaps in the month of September or October, this question will be solved on its own merits.
Then, Sir, my hon. Friend, Dr Amul Desai, while speaking, made a reference to the import of coarse grain into Surat district and also to its export. I tried to check up the figures given in the booklet that have already supplied to hon. Members and I found that in the current year we have imported about 25,000 tons of coarse grain and in the year to which he made a reference not a single grain of it was exported from Surat. He even tried to emphasise not once, but twice or thrice, that coarse grain was exported and imported. I may mention, Sir that Surat is a deficit district so far as coarse grain is concerned. I, therefore, leave it to the House to draw its own inference.
Then, Sir, he made a reference to a certain case of hay which is a matter of detail. I assure him that I will certainly look into the matter and consider the question on its merits. That is the only thing I can do in this matter.
Then, Sir, the hon. Member requested that Government should take the whole House into its confidence before embarking on the policy of decontrol. I have tried to deal with this question
Lastly, he made a reference to Satyagraha. I do not know whether any reference to Satyagraha is admissible. But I may repeat, if I am allowed to repeat, that the satyagraha, as far as the Socialists were concerned, was a misnomer. Sir, we also claim to be satyagrahis; we have also an interest in the theory of Satyagraha has made a contribution to the working of democracy in this country and in the world. Even then to call what they tried to start and conduct in this State ‘a satyagraha’ is being unfair to true satyagraha and also to themselves. He betrayed himself when he criticised the attitude of Government to the satyagraha in these words, ‘It is a grand strategy on the part of Government to stifle the voice of the people, and to see that the demonstration of the satyagraha does not get due publicity’. No Government can oblige anybody in that way. I would only request the hon. Member that instead of resorting to such satyagraha it will be better if they go back to their old slogan of land army. Instead of organising a land army, they are trying to lead an army which is fighting with none and which is winning no war. Let them not try to raise such an army. We welcome the efforts that they wanted to make in the interests of the country and we would request them to repeat their own slogan again and help the Government in executing a national plan.
A reference was made by the hon. Member Shri Popatlal Joshi to a report in the Press with regard to cloth. This report is incorrect. We never had any loss till now since cloth distribution was undertaken by the Civil Supplies Department, nor will we have any loss when we may wind up this whole scheme. We are not going to incur any loss. I would like to give this assurance to the House. Certain interested parties may have spread some sort of rumours like these and sometimes it is unwise to contradict such rumours or reports that appear in the Press. Sometimes it is difficult to cope with the problems that such rumours might create if we contradict them. But I may assure the House that we are not going to incur any loss on the cloth scheme. This Government has worked this scheme without incurring any loss during the last few years and it is not likely to incur any loss as long as it is working this scheme.
Sir, I have replied to the important points raised by the hon. Members, and I would now request the House to turn down the Cut Motion moved by the hon. Member Shri Kadam and to support the Demand that I have placed before the House.
