BUDGET BY SHARED REVENUES 179
The Government of India was indeed not as powerless as the Central Government in England which, as is well known, cannot rectify cases of neglect by local authorities without resort to a writ of mandamus. But the way to bring a recalcitrant province to order, if easier, was not pleasant. For, the only way to mend such a situation was to end it by suspending the operation of Provincial finance. Rather than resort to such a grave measure the Government of India happily hit upon grants-in-aid of particular services as a powerful and well-tried [1] corrective to the negligence of the Province, and require it to maintain a “national minimum” in those services which it regarded as onerous rather than beneficial. [2 ] Convinced of the virtue of grants-in-aid as a brake on decentralization degenerating into disintegration, the Commission only recommended that measures be taken to give Provincial Finance the greatest elasticity possible by diminishing the assignments to the smallest magnitude possible.
Following the recommendations of the Commission the Government of India decided to make certain modifications in the existing allocation of revenue and charges and to make the quasi-permanent settlements permanent settlements from the year 1912. The permanent settlements did not differ from the quasi-permanent settlements which they superseded in any material point so far as the principle of allocation was concerned. The only point of difference between them in that respect was a partial replacement of the fixed adjusting assignments by increased shares in the following joint heads of revenue and expenditure :—
| Modifications in Shares | Col2 | Col3 | Col4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues | Expenditure | ||
| Heads of Account | Provincial Share | Heads of Account | Provincial Share |
| 1. Land Revenue including the portion credited to Irrigation. 2. Excise Assessed Taxes 3. (P.W.D.) 4. Forest 5. Major Irrigation works (excluding portion of Land Revenue credited to it). 6. Major and Minor Irrigation. | 5/ to Burma 8 ½ Punjab Wholly in Eastern Bengal and Assam, Bombay. In C.P., Bengal and U.P.,3/ 4 ½ Wholly. ½ in Punjab, minimum of 4 lakhs guaranteed. ½ in Bengal | 1. Land Revenue 2. Excise ... 4. Forest 5. Major Irrigation 6. Major and Minor Irrigation. | 5/ Burma 8 ½ Punjab Same as in revenue column. ... Wholly ½ ½ in Bengal |
1 It is possible that the system was borrowed from England.
2 S. Webb, Grants-in-Aid, 1911, p. 25.