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18
Anjanbahuguna1
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The Bill, as passed by the Lok Sabha, is already with the hon. Members The Select Committee earlier
went exhaustively into the various provisions of the original Bill and also recorded evidence from some
of the representatives of the industry. The various recommendations of the select committee has been
incorporated in the Bill. In addition, the wishes expressed by some of the Members of the Lok Sabha
have been incorporated in the Bill. The difficulties of small growers have been apprecrated and the
major portion of the acreage of rubber cultivation is held by the small growers. Proper representation
to these small producers of rubber will be given. The labour representatives in the Board have been
increased from three to four. The labour representatives will be selected from out of the panel of names
submitted by the respective associations an important provision has been made in the Bill to enable
the Board to take steps to secure better working conditions for workers engaged in the rubber industry.
The present production, of rubber is about twenty thousand tons a year, the demand is increasing every
year, while the supply is not keeping pace with the demand. It is proposed to fill up the gap over the
short period by importing rubber. The Bill, when passed would enable the Board to import rubber and
a provision has been made as to how any profits that are made out of this import of rubber should be
utilised. To increase the, production of rubber, it is proposed to take up the development scheme. The
details of which are being worked out. It appears that at present the small grower is at a great
disadvantage, as far as the marketing of his rubber is concerned. This problem is rather difficult to solve
However, provisions have been made for the Rubber Board to take up marketing of rubber also. It is
hoped that the new Board will be able to tackle the problem of the small grower of rubber industry
successfully. The Rubber industry has established itself as a major industry in India. India ranks high in
natural rubber production.