While on this article, I should also like to draw the attention of the House to the unhappy condition which had prevailed so far as the relations between us and the people of the tribal areas were concerned. The British Government wanted to keep these regions as their own preserve, not having imagined for a moment that they will have at any time to quit this country. They wanted to keep the tribal people completely under them for all ages to come and they wanted to have the hills as their own place of preserve and therefore they had introduced rules which prevented the ordinary people of the plains from mixing with their brethren in the hills. I am glad, Sir, that in this article we have laid down that all people will be able to travel freely throughout the territory of India. But it is most unfortunate that we cannot do away with the proviso to say that a particular State may lay down a law by which this freedom of movement can be restricted. Sir, I can only draw the attention of the House to a very unfortunate incident which took place even after the achievement of independence. A few months ago some Members of the Central Legislature headed by our friend the Honorable Mr. Santhanam had occasion to pay a visit to the Manipuri State. Although the officers of the Provincial Government had allowed us to go there freely, we were held up there for more than an hour by the orders of the Manipur State. I believe that after the passing of this Constitution such a state of things will never occur and that immediately after the passing of this Constitution steps will be taken to allow us free ingress and egress to those parts of the States which are now inhabited by the scheduled tribes. There should be greater friendliness between the scheduled tribes and the people of the plains and all steps should be taken to remove the barriers to our movement in those places.
