Mr. Deputy Chairman I have to thank hon’ble Members for the kind words that they have said about the Government in the course of the discussion this afternoon. This is an occasion of more than ordinary significance. The political history of India had many vicissitudes and this particular day will be remembered as placing another milestone in our progress towards an ideal State. There have naturally been many storms and we have had to pass through considerable stress and strain. Yet it is a great pleasure to me to tender my felicitations to the hon’ble Members of the House. During the last ten and a half months the country had been resounding with the echoes of the States Reorganization Commission the proposals made by it the various claims put forward by individual groups and Government and the comments and criticisms made by innumerable persons from the press from the public platforms from the floor of the Legislatures and ultimately from the floor of the two Houses of Parliament itself. It is a matter of gratification I would submit almost one of unique character that in spite of all the vicissitudes through which this Bill had to pass ultimately the form which it has assumed and which represents the fruits of the collective wisdom of the two Houses of Parliament has the support almost the unanimous support of both the Houses. I would like hon’ble Members just to place before themselves the picture of the new map of India. So far we had a large number of States; perhaps there were 20 States besides some other territories but now we will have only 14 States and four territories besides the Andamans the Nicobars and the Laccadives. The citizens of this country will be living in the States and only less than two percent or just near about one percent will be living in the centrally administered areas. It is worth considering now whether we have not really succeeded in evolving a scheme of which we all can well be proud. If hon’ble Members will consider the case of each individual State they will find that almost unanimity had been reached except in the case of Ahmedabad in Gujarat. If you take one State after another you will find that almost all people in the country have now accepted the scheme that is contained in this Bill. If you take the various States you will see that Tamil Nadu Andhra Kerala Punjab Rajasthan and other States have virtually accepted the scheme contained in this Bill. It is unfortunate that there has been some amount of difference in Ahmedabad in regard to the Bilingual State of Bombay which was introduced in this Bill with the unanimous support of the Members of the Lok Sabha and I hope with the backing of most of the Members of the Rajya Sabha if not of all of them. I do not want on this occasion to enter into petty controversies. This is too big an occasion to admit of any trivial points by way of debate or otherwise. It is my confirmed opinion that the country has succeeded in achieving results which will prove to be of an enduring character and which will take it forward on the road to progress prosperity and to absolute security and safety. The unity of India will indeed be helped by the rational distribution of the territories of the country. There has been a long-standing hankering on the part of large multitudes that their areas should be reorganised. It was but proper that the Government should have appointed a States Reorganisation Commission to deal with that matter. The Commission worked very hard and made their recommendations. We are obliged to the Commission for the thought that they bestowed on the ticklish and knotty problem. Well there were certain matters to which the Government had to give further consideration though they had always been anxious to translate into concrete form what emanated from the Commission. Whatever changes have been made have been I believe for the better and they have made the entire scheme more acceptable. The Bill that was placed before the House was certainly placed with the approval of and at the instance of the Cabinet. All that was done in the regular way. I do not want to go into details nor do I consider it necessary to make any retort about what might have been said because as I said this is too solemn an occasion for such an operation. I may also observe that we have no fault to find with anybody. Everyone whether individuals or those who had an opportunity of working together tried his utmost tried to the maximum extent he could to achieve what he thought to be in the best interests of the country. Well some things had not been as perfect as one would have liked them to be. We tried to improve them to the extent we could and we respected public opinion and we were guided by it. So far as the bilingual Bombay State is concerned I believe that everybody accepts that it is an ideal solution for Bombay. Without being unfair no one can find fault with Government for having agreed to accept a proposal which I think 99 percent in the country is considered to be the best solution to this very ticklish and almost insoluble problem which had engaged the attention of this and also of the other House continuously for days and days and for weeks and weeks. I am glad that today the scheme that we have has the backing the goodwill the blessing and the support of the entire people in the country. There may have been some errors there may have been some aberrations. Well that is unavoidable in human affairs; but after all man learns by mistakes and wisdom is ultimately the result of the lessons learnt from a series of mistakes that are committed. Submit