Then again the question arises whether it will be right to allow Parliament to discriminate between one State and another. It may be that the people who are in power – at any rate the majority of them – have got particular leanings, and we have to put a check against any improper discrimination between one State and another. That is provided for by article 274 C. At the same time a certain amount of discrimination would sometimes become necessary and also, desirable. I might give an extreme case thought it might not altogether fit in with all the contingencies that have been envisaged by my friends. If supposing in ordering the distribution of cloth which is being produced by and large by the Bombay mills the Government of India says that the distribution so far as Madras is concerned must be restricted to a per capita basis of ten yards as against twenty yards to Punjab or twenty-five yards to Punjab and Delhi, having in view the fact that Madras produces a certain amount of handloom goods which ought to be consumed in that are for the benefit of those people, goods which ought to be consumed in that area for the benefit of those people, and one of the citizens to whom my honorable Friend, Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava wants to give a right to go to the Supreme Court might feel offended for the reason that he has to pay a much higher price for the handloom cloth. He has, by reason of this restriction of import of mill-made cloth into Madras to purchase more handloom cloth at perhaps relatively higher price and he therefore feels aggrieved and he, wants to take it to the Supreme Court. Can such a thing be allowed There would be plenty of cloth available of a general category. It may be that it is necessary for the general well-being of the country as a whole that the Madras consumer is asked to pay a little more in regard to a portion of the cloth that he buys. It is a perfectly reasonable restriction. But if my honorable Friend Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava has his own way, any person who is offended or aggrieved by a decision of the Government of India on these lines could go to the Supreme Court. Sir, the idea of 274C (2) is merely to allow the Government of India permission to restrict the movement of goods so as to arrange the whole economy in such a manner that the economy of the country will be well-balanced and everybody will be supplied with his necessities. As my honourable Friend Prof. Shibban Lal Saksena said the other day, the primary condition in regard to satisfaction of human needs must be satisfaction of their necessities. And I do feel that if the Government which is going to come into being as a result of this Constitution has to stay put for a long time, has to carry out the directives and purposes of this Constitution, it must be given enough power to control the economy of the country of the benefit of the masses of the country and not for the benefit of a few traders or merchants.
