THE EVOLUTION OF PROVINCIAL FINANCE IN BRITISH INDIA - Page 187

172 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

The reasons for adopting different standard rates of division in the case of the Punjab, Burma, C.P. and Assam was to give the backward provinces opportunities of development in the same proportion as lay within the reach of the advanced provinces.

Of the settlements made in 1904-5 the Government of India declared that those made with the Provinces of Bengal, Madras, Assam and U.P. were to be permanent and not subject to revision in future, except when it was found that the financial results were unfair to a Province or to others by comparison, or to the Government of India when it was confronted by an extraordinary calamity. Owing to this proviso their settlements were termed quasi-permanent. To obviate the recrudescence of unfairness during the currency of the settlements the Government of India felt it necessary to enter certain modifications in the standard ratio of division of the joint-heads of revenue and expenditure with regard to the Provinces brought under the quasi-permanent settlement. They were as follows :—

Revenue Provincial Share Col3 Col4 Col5 Expenditure Provincial Share Col8 Col9
Bengal Madras U.P. Bengal Madras U.P.
Excise ... Stamps ... Registration ... Irrigation ... 7/ 16 ½ Wholly ... ... ½ Wholly ... ... ½ ... Wholly Excise ... Stamps ... Registration ... Land Revenue ... 7/ 16 ½ Wholly Wholly ... ½ ... Wholly ... ½ ... Wholly

Compiled from the Financial Statement of the Government of India for 1904-5, p. 57.

Besides these modifications the Government of india gave them the following grants :—

Bengal Madras United Provinces
1. Addition of 4 lakhs to the assessment to improve the pay of Ministerial establishments. 2. Further addition not exceeding 2½ lakhs for for strengthening the staff of Deputy Collector. 1. Grant of 20 lakhs for Survey and settlements. 2. Grant of Rs. 75,000 a year recurring for relief of certain local bodies. 3. Rs. 50,000 a year for agricultural experiment. 4. Undertaking to bear charges for reorganizing district administration. 1. Irrigation revenue guaranteed up to 40 lakhs. 2. Grant of 2½ lakhs a year in relief of local bodies. 3. Half a lakh a year to reform District Board Finance.

Compiled from the same Financial Statement of the Government of India, p. 67.