Lastly, may I, Sir, mention the debts that we as Drafting Committee have to discharge particularly to the Ministries of the Government of India. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Home Ministry have been very good to us and have assisted us considerably. With regard to the States Ministry, we owe to Mr. V.P. Menon and his assistants this task of integrating the States into this Constitution and they have been very accommodating and helpful. So far as the Law Ministry is concerned, I should like to mention by name two persons –the Secretary and Joint Secretary –Mr. Sundaram and Mr. Bhandarkar – who have been of very great use to us insofar as ultimately the Constitution is to be handed over to them it is only right that they should do so but I think that I would be failing in my duty if I do not mention by name the great services they have rendered to us. I would also like to endorse what members of this House have said in regard to the services of Mr. B. N. Rau. His help we missed during the last stages but while missing his help we were aware of the enormous amount of assistance we had received from him during the earlier part of this work and particularly he was so progressive in his views, so sympathetic and so quick as to be able to evolve a formula whenever we had a difficulty. Sir, I should also be failing in my duty if I do not mention that very happy circumstance about which honourable Friends have also made mention – of the fact that we were able to find a Joint Secretary and Draftsman of the calibre of Shri S. N. Mukherjee. It is no exaggeration to say that he was a real find. Not only is his ability as a draftsman so profound, but more than that, his willingness to work was even greater. (Cheers) And the House will also like to be told that practically everybody from Mr. Khanna downwards, to the clerks, superintendents and the reporters, have had to work very hard. For the last eight to ten months having been closely associated with the work of the Drafting committee, and having voluntarily undertaken some portion of its mechanical work, I was in a position to see that these young people were working on most days till ten o’clock in the night, all because they were so enthusiastic : and the last one month has been a month of very severe strain to them; and I do hope that the House will recognise the work done by them in framing this Constitution which is of a very vital and important nature.
