10
Rehabilitation of retrenched
Civil Supplies Personnel
From 4 March 1954, the general discussion on the Budget for the year 1954-55 was resumed by the House. On 5 March. Shri Y. B. Chavan, Minister for Civil Supplies, placed* some facts before the House regarding the various measures taken by the Government to solve the problem of retrenchment and absorption of the Civil Supplies personnel, which arose due to the policy of decontrol. He also gave details of the assistance which was sought from the Bombay Public Service Commission and the Union Food Ministry to absorb retrenched Civil Supplies personnel.
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*BLA Debates, Vol. 26, Part I, February-March 1954, pp. 645-48.
Mr Speaker, Sir, I am at this stage intervening to explain and place some facts before the House regarding the measures taken by this Government to re-absorb the retrenched Civil Supplies personnel. This question was referred to by many hon. Members of this House; and I thought it fit that instead of giving any reply to the criticisms made by the hon. Members Opposite I should place before the House the Government’s point of view, Government’s difficulties and the efforts made by the Government in this direction. Before I go into the actual measures taken by the Government I would like to refer to one fundamental question regarding this problem of retrenchment and re-absorption of the Civil Supplies personnel and it is about the approach to be made to this problem. Normally, retrenchments are of two types. I should say that the first type of retrenchment is that which is necessitated out of reasons of economy.
Wherever there is over-staffing we always consider retrenchment necessary. The retrenchment that we are faced with today is not a retrenchment of this type. The other kind of retrenchment is one that has to be effected as a result of a major change of policy. This retrenchment is the result of an all-India policy accepted by this Government, welcomed by the people and which is in the interests of the people, I mean the policy of decontrol. The Civil Supplies Department itself came into existence when there were difficulties about the supply of food. So, this very machinery came into existence at a time when we were passing through difficult times to provide a solution for a difficult problem. When that problem is disappearing, it is quite natural that the machinery created to face it should also disappear, and that is how we will have to look at this problem of the retrenchment of the Civil Supplies staff. When the policy of decontrol was accepted we were faced with this problem of retrenchment. Some hon. Members asked that if Government were thinking of decontrol, then why did we not plan for the re-absorption of the staff. I doubt whether those who asked this question knew what they were speaking about. It will be realised that we have adopted this policy of decontrol somewhat cautiously. No doubt we were planning ahead for it, but even then it was difficult to think of any measures for the absorption of the staff. It was very difficult to plan for the re-absorption of the staff in the way the hon. Members Opposite wanted us to do. If we take these factors into consideration, then probably, we will be able to know and appreciate the measures that we have taken and the efforts that we have put in, in this direction.
When these people were appointed they were also very suddenly appointed. As administrative questions arose they had to be appointed. A large number of unqualified people thus came to be employed. Probably, if the normal standards and tests were applied, these very people could not have been employed anywhere in Government service. This fact also will have to be taken into consideration. Nobody has given them any undertaking that they would be permanently absorbed because it would have been wrong on the part of anybody to give such an assurance. Even if somebody has said so, it is wrong to expect the Government to give these people a guarantee of permanent absorption. I am not saying this in an attitude of replying to any points made out, but I am simply trying to explain the difficulties of the Government in this respect.