Congress Abandons Its Plan - Page 62

WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : 33 A SHABBY SHOW

Was it distributed on the basis of cultural units and their

relative size ? Compare the following figures:—

Table 3

Linguistic Areas Total Grant Amount of Grant Percentage of the Total Grant to the Province Percentage of Popula- tion of the Area to the Population of the Province
Bombay Presidency ... Gujarath ... ... Maharashtra ... Karnatak ... ... Central Provinces ... Marathi Districts ... Hindustani Districts Madras Presidency ... Tamil Nad ... Andhra ... ... Kerala ... ... Bihar and Orissa ... Bihar ... ... Orissa ... ... Rs. ... 26,90,381 ... — ... — ... — ... 47,000 ... — ... — ... 5,05.000 ... — ... — ... — ... 5,65,000 ... — ... — Rs. — 26,22,381 43,000 25,000 — 10,000 37,000 — 1,03,000 3,02,000 1,00,000 — 5,15,000 50,000 — 97.4 1.6 0.93 — 21.2 78.7 — 20.4 60.0 19.6 — 91.0 0.9 100 18 69 13 100 45 55 100 38 52 10 100 73 27

From these figures it is clear that the distribution of these

sums was not made on the basis of any intelligibly principle.

There is no relation between the grants and the population, nor

between the grants and the claims of the cultural units. A province

like Bombay with a population of one and a half crores gets as

much as 27 lakhs while U. P. and Madras with a population of

about 4 crores each get no more than about five lakhs severally.

Consider the grants in relation to cultural units. Take Bombay

Presidency. It includes three cultural units, Maharashtra, Gujrath

and Karnatak. Out of the 26 lakhs and 90 thousand given to the

Bombay Presidency Gujrath with only 18 per cent, of the population

of the Province got as much as 26 lakhs and 22 thousand i.e.,

97.4 per cent. and Maharashtra with a population of 69 per cent

got only Rs. 43,000 or 1.6 per cent and Karnatak. with a population

of 13 per cent got Rs. 25,000 or .9 per cent of the grant. In C. P.

out of a total grant of Rs. 47,000 the Hindustani districts having

55 per cent of the population got Rs. 37,000 or 78.7 per cent

while the Marathi speaking districts having 45 per cent of

the population got only Rs. 10,000 i.e., 21.2 per cent. In