I am sure the House is well aware that under the Defence of India Act the prices of charcoal and firewood were controlled. But for the power delegated to the provinces by the Government of India the provinces would not have been in a position to control the prices of these two articles. The Defence of India Act is no longer in force and it is therefore desirable to amend clause (a) of the article placed before us by Dr. Ambedkar in order to include these two things. I understand that after the Defence of India Act expired these things continue to be controlled by the Government of India under the provisions of an Act amending the Government of India Act, 1935, passed by Parliament in 1946. There is no mention of charcoal or firewood there. But it is believed that they are included among the derivatives of coal. I am totally unable to accept this explanation. No one has challenged the action taken by the authorities in fixing the prices of charcoal and firewood but had anybody done so, I doubt whether any Court would have accepted the plea that charcoal or firewood was a derivative of coal. What we understand by coal, generally speaking is anthracite. Charcoal is the derivative of wood, and certainly not a derivative of coal. Neither charcoal nor wood can be regarded as a derivative of coal. It is, therefore, necessary to provide for the control of the Government of India expressly in respect of both these things. The common man is concerned with them. When we are providing for the control of the Government of India over a number of other things, it is both desirable and necessary that we should think of the needs of the poor man too, and take power in the Constitution to control the prices of those articles also, that affect his household budget. We all know how serious the position was during the war, in respect of these articles, and we also know how high their prices still are. We usually think of the high prices of foodstuffs, and few people realise that the high prices of charcoal and firewood are matters of as much anxiety to the poor man as the high prices of the foodstuffs.
