272 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
recommended the following fixed ratio as representing an equitable basis for the relative contributions of the Provinces to meet the deficit in the Budget of the Government of India :—
| STANDARD CONTRIBUTIONS | S |
|---|---|
| Province … | Per cent. Contribution to Deficit. |
| Madras … … Bombay … … Bengal … … United Provinces … … Punjab … … Burma … … Bihar and Orissa … … Central Provinces … … Assam … … Total … | 17 13 19 18 9 6½ 10 5 2½ |
| 100 |
The Committee agreed that there should be an interval of time sufficient to enable the Provinces to adjust their budgets to the new conditions before they should in equity be called upon to contribute according to this standard ratio. [1] But the Committee thought that the interval allowed for adjustment should not be unduly prolonged.
“ The initial ratio which,” the Committee said, “we have proposed is a practical necessity, but the Provinces which will be called upon to pay thereunder more than they should pay in equity, ought not to be required to bear that burden for a longer period or to a greater extent than is required to prevent dislocation of the provincial budgets.”
The Committee therefore proposed
“that contributions should be made on the standard ratio to any deficit that there may be in the seventh year of
1 For a good piece of criticism of the basis adopted by the Financial Relations Committee in arriving at the standard ratio, see para. 12 of a rather splenetic letter from Rai Bahadur K. V. Raddi to the Reforms Commissioner, Simla, pp. Cmd. 974 of 1920, p. 58.