On 23rd November 1948, Shri B. Das [Orissa General] at the Constituent Assembly spoke as follows;
On the question of free and compulsory primary education as follows;
“I will talk of Orissa where we have some Andhra people and some Bengali people for whom I think free primary education upto a certain age should be provided by the State. The same demand I make for the provinces of Madras, Bengal and Central Provinces, where education is the mother-tongue of Oriya has been denied. My friend Premiere Shukla is looking at me, it is not his Ministry’s fault. It is a tradition that has grown. No one bothers about giving free primary education in the Mother Tongue of any race that has a language and a script of its own. In Bengal in Midnapore District, in the 1881 Census, 500,000 Oriya’s existence, in the last Census only a few thousand and perhaps in coming Census they will be completely wiped out. Yet Primary Education gives individuals the chance to be in communion with their Gods and in communion with textbook of their religions. Oriya Children of Midnapore at present have to study of Bengali have changed their name with Bengali name so is the case in Madras in the Vishakhapatnam District where large numbers of Oriyas live and it was their misfortune that the areas could not become part of Orissa Province in 1936, but, I do want in bilingual areas where there is large population of another race. The Provincial Ministry and the Government concerned should not deny those Children the right of knowledge – their own Mother Tongue so that when they become literate. They may have been able to undertake some study of their religious text. It is not a policy of this House or contemplation of this Constitution but every province as it is constituted now should make all the people of one language that is the problem on which I had discussion in private and understand the drafting committee will take this up in Article 23[1] old.
”Comment: Language is the natural highway to comprehensive knowledge.