230 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
colossal figure of 25,000 million units and the working cost of electricity would by that date fall from 9.4d, as recorded in
1925-26, to less than 4d. per unit, while the large industrial consumer would be able to obtain his power requirements at ½d.
Items On Agenda
I will now turn to the Agenda for our meeting to-day. As you will see, there are altogether four items on the Agenda. Item 4 places before you for your consideration two schemes, one for the Technical Power Board and the other for sending Indians to foreign countries for training in electricity. Neither is a controversial subject. I will not therefore take your lime in dwelling upon them.
Item 2 on the Agenda is unfortunately not quite so uncontroversial as item 4. Item 2 relates to the question of applying to electrical undertakings certain accounting principles for ascertaining their income, expenditure and profits. This item is not as controversial as it appears. The issue raised by this item covers two questions and not one, and the controversy would be very much narrowed if they were considered separately.
The first question is whether the dividend of an electricity supply undertaking should or should not be related to the charges for consumption of electricity. The second question is how to determine reasonable dividend. On the first question, I venture to say, there can be very little dispute. Electricity is to be a prime necessity of the people both for production and consumption. The price of such a prime necessity cannot therefore be at the will of the suplier. The whole industrial future of India will be put in great jeopardy if India could not ensure cheap and abundant supply of electricity. The necessity of correlating dividends to charges is therefore paramount. If this is granted, the necessity of enforcing rules of accounting which will give the undertaking a reasonable return but no more and choke all holes for concealed profits cannot be disputed.
Principles Of Accountancy
The issue then becomes a secondary one. In pressing for enunciating principles of accountancy we are not introducing any revolutionary idea. We are following the lines laid down in British Legislation on