The Sind Ministry : My Cabinet Will
Follow Congress Program – Allah Baksh
Tribune – 6th February 1939
It is reliably understood that Mr. Bandeh Ali Khan, a former Minister in the Hidayatullah Cabinet, has been selected by Khan Bahadur Allah Baksh, the present Premier of Sind, in furtherance of his decision to enlarge the Cabinet.
The Premier of
Sind, who arrived in Bombay today by plane had a long interview with Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel, Chairman of the Congress Parliamentary Sub-Committee (other members were
Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad) and discussions, it is understood,
centered round questions relating to the policy and program of the Ministry.
One more Minister,
it is learnt, will be selected soon after the Premier’s return to Karachi from
among the Hindu party. Thus, the Sind Cabinet will have a strength of five. The
rumour that Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah might also be included in the
extended Cabinet is discounted.
In an interview
Khan Bahadur Allah Baksh said that the purpose of adding two more Ministers to
his Cabinet was to facilitate the work of the Ministry which, with only three
members at present, was finding it difficult to cope with the work. He added
that his Cabinet would follow the Congress program and the various measures to
be undertaken for the uplift of the masses would be on the lines of the
Congress Provinces.
The question of
introducing prohibition in Sind was engaging the serious attention of the
Cabinet and the report of a prohibition committee appointed sometime back to go
into the question was now under consideration. Financially Sind was not an
independent province in the sense that other provinces are, but if the Cabinet
found additional sources of revenue to replenish the loss due to prohibition,
they would go full steam ahead. For the present the Cabinet had a proposal for
placing restrictions on the sale of intoxicant drugs. It was proposed to place
a premium on the use of intoxicant drugs by persons below the age of 19 from
this year. The age would be raised to 20 in 1940, to 21 in 1941 and so on thus
eradicating the drug evil by stages.
One of the main
items of his ministry, he added, was in the field of cottage industries. The Government
has already opened two emporiums where village industries products were
exhibited and popularized. Legislative measures for debt conciliation and for
relieving rural indebtedness, on the lines of those undertaken in the Congress
provinces were also receiving the attention of the Sind Ministry. A special
officer had been appointed to go into the question of tenancy legislation and
submit a report to the Government.
Referring to
education Khan Bahadur Allah Bakhsh said that the Ministry was examining the
Wardha scheme of Education and final decisions would be arrived at shortly.
The question of
the assessment of the barrage lands had been settled but there were likely to
be some changes when the final orders are to be passed.
Ref : Towards
Freedom 1939
Note :
Wardha Scheme : An educational conference held at Wardha in October 1937 and decided to provide free and compulsory education for seven years on a nation-wide scale.
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