Vol. 6 · pages 136–140

121 BUDGET BY ASSIGNMENTS Statement of Imperial Assignments to the Provinces for the year 1871-72 Purpose of the Assignment Amount Assigned Details Total Rs. Rs. Original Assignment ... ... ... 1,19,79,000 Add— For Cemetery establishments ... ... ... 4,000 „ Compensation for Agra Brick Factory ... ... 28,000 1,14,000 „ Of ce and House Rent ... ... 82.000 1,20,93,000 Deduct— For transportation charges for convicts ... ... 15,000 ,, fees for licensing cargo-boats 2,600 1,24,690 ,, receipts of public Works Departments ... ... 1,07,000 1,19,68,310 Special Grants Add— For Calcutta University ... ... ... 60,000 „ Midnapore Civil Court Buildings ... ... 31,680 3,41,680 ,, Calcutta Small Causes Court Building ... ... 2,50,000 1,23,09,990 Total Assignments for 1871-72 ... 1,23,09,990 Statement of Imperial Assignments to the Provinces for the year 1872-73 Purpose of the Assignment Amount Assigned Details Total Rs. Rs. Original Assignment ... ... ... 1,19,79,000 Add— Permanent additions in 1871-2 (as above) ... ... 1,14,000 For Miscellaneous services ... ... ... 2,67,070 3,88,936 ,, books and publications ... ... ... 7,600 ,, ground-rent of Orphan School at Howrah ... 266 1,23,67,936 Deduct— Permanent deductions in 1871-2 (as above) ... ... ... 1,24,680 1,30,390 For repairing charges of University ... ... 5,700 1,22,37,546 Special Grants Add— For Burdwan Fever Relief ... ... 1,00,000 Compensation for Sudder Court Building ... ... 4,00,000 9,66,670 Capital value of annual, rent of Rs. 21,000 for public offices 4,66,670 1,32,04,216 Deduct fractions ... ... ... 380 Total Assignments for 1872-3 ... 1,32,03,836

122 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Statement of Imperial Assignments to the Provinces for the year 1873-74 Purpose of the Assignment Amount AssignedDetails Total Rs. Rs. Permanent Assignment for 1872-3 as above ... 1,22,37,546 Add— For payment of Medical Officers in charge of Civil stations 3,85,000 4,85,000 For Land Revenue Sub-divisional establishments ... 1,00,000 1,27,22,546 Deduct— Reduction of rent for public offices ... ... 21,000 21,000 1,27,01,546 Sanctioned for 1873-4 ... ... ... 1,27,01,000 Add for— Ground rent for Howrah Orphan School ... ... 266 Charges on account of European vagrants ... ... 11,500 18,066 Ground rent charges ... ... ... ... 6,300 Deduct— For pay of medical pupils withdrawn from provincial to Imperial. 5,400 3,90,400 For pay of medical officers in charge of civil stations withdrawn from provincial to imperial. ... ... 3,85,000 Special Grants. 1,23,28,666 Add— For rent of Small Cause Court ... ... ... 14 400 Total Assignment ... 1,23,43,066 Statement of Imperial Assignments to the Provinces for the year 1874-75 Purpose of the Assignment Amount Assigned Details Total Rs. Rs. Permanent Assignment for 1873-4 as above ... 1,23,28,666 Add— Assignment for encouragement of Mohammedan education 50,000 50,000 Sanctioned assignment ... ... ... 1,23,78,000 Add— Grant on account of Model Farm ... ... ... 7,000 8,180 Additional grant for ground-rent ... ... ... 1,180 1,23,86,180 Deduct— Reduction of outlay on account of churches and burial grounds 14,314 Reduction on account of Assam transferred ... ... 13,30,000 13,44,580 For ground rent Howrah Orphan School 266 Total Assignment sanctioned ... 1,10,41,600

123 BUDGET BY ASSIGNMENTS Statement of Imperial Assignments to the Provinces for the year 1875-76 Purpose of the Assignment Amount AssignedDetails Total Rs. Rs. Permanent Assignment for 1874-5 as above ... 1,10,41,000 Add— Grant for Botanical gardens ... ... ... 52,500 53,680 ” ” Ground rents ... ... ... 1,180 1,10,94,680 Deduct— Public Works charges on account of the Salt Department 13,683 Assignments on account of lighthouses and ships withdrawn 1,769 33,163 Assignment on account of Town Improvement Fund of Assam 17,711 Total Assignment ... 1,10,61,517 Statement of Imperial Assignments to the Provinces for the year 1876-77 Purpose of the Assignment Amount Assigned Details Total Rs. Rs. Original Assignment for 1875-6 ... ... ... 1,10,41,000 Add— For ground rents ... ... ... ... 1,180 ” Botanical Gardens ... ... ... 52,500 53,680 1,10,94,680 Deduct— Public Works charges for Salt Department ... ... 13,683 1,10,80,997 Deduct— For Form Store Department ... ... ... 8,034 Add— 6,034 For Exhibitions and Fairs ... ... ... 2,000 Total ... 1,10,74,963 Assignment as sanctioned ... ... ... 1,10,75,000 Add— Grant on account of Bankee and Ungool Estates ... 3,271 Cost of the snake-poison commission, establishments and contingencies. 6,000 58,753 Grant on account of census registers ... ... 49,482 1,11,33,753 Deduct— Assignment on account of lighthouses and lightships withdrawn. 1,769 Assignment of Town Improvement Fund, Assam ... 17,711 22,180 Annual cost of lunatics transferred to Tezpore Lunatic Asylum. 2,700 Total Assignment ... 1,11,11,573

124 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES This completes the account of the services incorporated from time to time and the assignments made for them by the Imperial exchequer during the period in which the system of budget by assignments remained in force. It now remains to consider whether the system under the assignment plan was a success. What constitutes success is a question which is always open to discussion, for what may seem successful from one point of view may be the reverse of it from another standpoint. A discussion, however, of this aspect of the question cannot be avoided, for it was on the results of one stage that an advance towards the second was made to depend all throughout the expansion of Provincial Finance. As the definition of success varies with the standpoints, we must first ascertain them for the purpose of our investigation. Let us therefore inquire into the possible parties whose standpoints counted in the moulding of Provincial Finance, and without whose satisfactory opinion about the results achieved, a new step in advance could not have been taken. The Government of India and the Provincial Governments were obviously the two principal parties. Naturally their standpoints were different, if not antagonistic. The question prominent in the mind of the Government of India was how big was the gain to the imperial treasury on the transfer. On the other hand, the Provincial Governments were concerned to know whether the resources offered by the Government of India were adequate enough for their safely accepting the responsibility of managing the incorporated expenditure. It is obvious the Provincial Governments would not undertake the responsibility of managing the Imperial expenditure within a certain assignment unless they were sure that the assignments were adequate. Similarly, the Imperial Government would see no advantage in making the transfer unless the Provincial Governments undertook to manage the expenditure at a sum less than what it cost under the direct management of the Imperial Government. Adequacy to the provinces and gain to the Imperial treasury were therefore the two chief considerations which prevailed in the determination of the continuance and expansion of the scheme. The people of the Provinces may also be conceived of as a third possible party whose concurrence may have been deemed a necessary factor in the situation. What their view-point would have been is not altogether a matter of guess. On the other hand, anyone sufficiently acquainted with the nature of popular

125 BUDGET BY ASSIGNMENTS demands for political advancement could easily imagine that the most urgent concern of the taxpayers would have been neither the well-being of the Imperial nor that of the Provincial Governments, but the distribution of the money they paid along the different channels of expenditure; and if their approval of the results of the scheme had been made a necessary condition of advance, it is probable that the development of Provincial Finance would have been along different lines. There was a suggestion even at that time that the people of the country should have some voice in the financial arrangements of the country. In paragraph 19 of its Resolution of December 14, 1870, announcing the scheme of Provisional finance, the Government laid down that “Each local Government will publish its own Provincial Service Estimates and Accounts in the local Gazette, together with a financial exposition (which should, where possible, be made before the local Legislative Council) analogous to that annually made in the Legislative Council of the GovernorGeneral.” If this suggestion had materialized, the Indian taxpayer would have obtained a voice in determining the financial arrangements between the Government of India and the Provincial Governments. There were, however, certain legal difficulties in the way of giving effect to this suggestion. If the Budget was introduced in the Council and debate had followed upon it, such a proceeding would have offended against Section 38 of the Indian Councils Act (24 and 25 Vic. c. 67) and would have, therefore, been illegal unles the Budget involved some proposal for tax legislation. For, that Act had provided that the activity of the legislative Council should not be called into play except for strictly legislative purposes. If, on the other hand, there was to be no debate, there was no advantage in this mode of giving publicity to the Budget which was not equally secured by its publication in the official Gazette. As a solution of these difficulties, the Government of Madras proposed1 to the Government of India. “that the Provincial Budget should form a schedule to an Appropriation Bill, the contents of which would, after all the necessary explanation and discussion, be voted section by section.” But the Government of India, which had first broached the subject, was shocked by this suggestion as being revolutionary. In reply2 it observed:— 1 Letter to the Government of India, Finance Department, No. 147 of April 18, 1871. 2 Legislative Letter to Madras dated July 11, 1871, No. 765.