Now, Sir, this article as originally intended was to give this power without any limit of time and that means that until the emergency lasted, it could remain. But some people have seen in this article a limitation of the powers of Provincial autonomy, and therefore they resented the old article and the amendment of Dr. Ambedkar is to meet that view-point. By reducing the period to one year, I do not see how any emergency can really be met. So every year there shall have to be a vote of the Council of States and only if the Council agrees to extend the period by another year, the legislation undertaken by the Parliament in the Preceding year will continue. On the off-chance of having that vote, I do not think any major schemes can be undertaken. I think therefore it is much better, instead of saying that every year a new resolution will have to be passed to state that at least in the first instance, the resolution of the Council of States will confer power for the three years and after that, it could be extended year by year, until the emergency is over. Therefore, I think that if the purpose for which this article is put in is to be achieved, then, the period of one year should be changed to three years in the first instance and then one year afterwards. That would give Parliament power to make laws for three years in the first instance and their life may be extended year by year by two-thirds majority of the Upper House. There can be no comprehensive planning for one year. It is quite possible that in the next year there may be a new election of one-third of the members’ and they may not pass that law, and it may so happen that the whole of the money spent in the first year may become a waste. This fixing of the period of one year may work as a serious handicap. I would therefore request Dr. Ambedkar himself to amendment by saying three years in the first instance, which period will be extended from year to year if required. In fact, in America where Parliament has got no power to legislate on subjects which are within the jurisdiction of the States, it has been felt that there is very great difficulty in meeting such an emergency and they are able to carry on their schemes which require the concurrence of the States by a sort of allurement to finance the schemes. This article was intended to overcome that difficulty. I therefore request the House that even at this late stage the period may be fixed as three years, as the article as it stands at present is meaningless.
