Sir, I will then come to the next part of the Report which deals with the Fundamental principles of governance. My honourable friend Mr.Sidhwa had made some observation and I agree with him and regret that these pious recommendations should find no place in the Statute. I consider that the fundamental principles of governance means–Dharma of the Government–the path of duty of the Government. But we don’t lay down in the Constitution Act what the Government should do and what are the responsibilities of Government to the citizens and the people of India. We say that the Government may do this and it is expected that we, members of the Constituent Assembly should be treated like children in our homes, and shout and agitate for something from the Government and then the Government, whether they may be the present Government or successor Government will legislate for the betterment of the conditions of the people of India. I am not satisfied with the opinion of the legal servants and great authorities on law in this House who interpret the functions of Government as justiciable and non-justiciable. They have said that we cannot include in the Union Constitution of India what the Government has to do for the people. I think it is the primary duty of Government to remove hunger and render social justice to every citizen and to secure social security. Sir, I am not satisfied, although portions of the Soviet Constitution or the Irish Constitution are somehow made into a jumble and included in these 12 paras, that they bring any hope to us. The teeming millions do not find any hope that the Union Constitution that will be passed two months hence will ensure them freedom from hunger, will secure them social justice, will ensure them a minimum standard of living and a minimum standard of public health. In the principles of Constitution we have approved so far, be it the Provincial Constitution or be it the Union Constitution or be it the Union Powers I do not find anything that makes it obligatory on the Government, on the State, to discharge their obligatory duties to the people of India about common welfare and well being of the people. So better it is that these pious clauses find their way to the Appendix and not to the main Constitution Act! It is no consolation to the people of India that they elect the Constituent Assembly which elects the Dominion Government. The Government has a corresponding obligatory duty to the people to govern them properly, to look after their social welfare and their general well-being. We have appointed yesterday a body of draftsmen to draft the Union Constitution. I hope it is not too late for the legal talents of this House to find ways and means for making it obligatory on the part of the Government to function and to exist for the welfare and well being of the people of India. Too much is made of ‘justiciable’ and ‘non-justiciable.’ I do not understand how the Irish Constitution included some of these noble principles in the body of the Constitution. If the Irish Constitution can do it, the Indian Constitution must do it. But then, Sir, we are up against a brick wall of lawyers. Legal talents are there and they rule that these are justiciable and other are non-justiciable. The result is that this House is reduced to the status of children and made to function as children. The Government though it is democratic, must follow, they say, the precedents and the traditions of the bureaucratic Governments of the past. If it does so, it cannot effect any improvement in the social conditions of the people.
