As a socialist, Sir, I welcome this aspect of the Resolution because, as the Mover has rightly pointed out, the content of economic democracy is there although the label is not there. The Resolution, in my view clearly rejects the present social structure; it rejects the social status quo. There can be no other meaning to the words in clause 5 which refer to justice– social, economic and political. I do not think anyone here would argue that the present state of our society is based on justice. I think it has an estimated that today if our national income were to be divided into three equal thirds, 5 out of 100 Indians get one third of our national income, another 33 get the second third and the big mass of 62 get the remaining portion. That surely is not social or economic justice and, therefore, as I understand this Resolution, it would not tolerate the wide and gross inequalities which exist in our country. It would not tolerate the exploitation of a man’s labour by somebody else. It certainly means that everyone who toils for the common good will get his fair share of the fruits of his labour. It also means that the people of this country, so far as any constitution can endow them, will get social security–the right to work or maintenance by the community. The Resolution also provides for equality of opportunity. Equality of opportunity, Sir, presupposes equal facilities in education and in the development of the talent that is latent in each one of us. Today, among our masses a fund of latent talent exists which has no chance to come out and contribute to our national good. Equality of opportunity certainly assumes that every child in this country, every boy and girl, will get an equal opportunity to develop those faculties which he or she possesses in order contribute to the common good.
