Mr. Vice-President, Sir, I want to take part in the general discussion on the motion before the House and make some observations about the provisions of the Bill for the administration of certain States whose rulers have ceded full and exclusive power and authority to the Government of India. According to the provisions of the Bill, some States such as the States which now comprise the Himachal Pradesh will be constituted into a Chief Commissioner’s province and other such as the Orissa and Chattisgarh States, Deccan States and Pudukottah State will be administered as parts of the neighbouring provinces. The integration of the Orissa and Chattisgarh States took place in January 1948 and since then these States have been under the administration of the provinces of Orissa and Central Provinces. The integration was the result of agreements between the rulers on the one hand and the Government of India on the other. The people of these States or their representatives never came into the picture. They were neither consulted about the process of integration nor was their opinion taken about the actual administration of the States to which they belonged. The right of self-determination has been denied to them as a result of which there is great discontent in these States. The popular opinion in the Orissa States as reflected through the Regional council affiliated to the All-India States peoples Conference, was not for unconditional merger. The Orissa States being educationally, politically and economically backward, they apprehended domination and exploitation by the province in services, legislature and in developmental schemes. Hence, their acceptance of the idea of one administration between the States and the province was conditional upon certain terms and conditions which should have been entered into between the people of the States and the province. The idea could not materialise as the people of the States were not taken into confidence and the agreement was purely the affair of the Government of India, the provincial Government and the rulers of the States. The unconditional integration of the States has to a certain extent, reduced the people of the States to subjection and justified the apprehensions which they had entertained. To all intents and purposes they are treated as conquered people and instead of the Ruler’s Raj there is in the States the Raj of the administrators. There is, no doubt, in each state an advisory Committee, but the advice and suggestions of these advisory committees are never taken seriously. There are two Executive Councillors, as far as the Orissa States are concerned, but they are, I submit with all humility, mere show-boys and they are never consulted in important and vital matters.
