Vol. 6 · pages 156–160

141 BUDGET BY ASSIGNED REVENUES Central Provinces1 In the case of the Central Provinces the following additional items were incorporated in its budget:— Heads of Charge Grants as already fixed for 1877-78 Retrenchment Proposed Net Consolidated Grants Rs. Rs. Rs. Refunds of Excise, Stamp, Law and Justice and Miscellaneous. 47,000 ... 47,000 Excise ... ... ... ... 52,000 ... 52,000 Stamps ... ... ... ... 14,000 ... 14,000 Land Revenue exclusive of settlement charges 6,66,000 Administration (exclusive of Account and Currency Office). 3,39,000 Minor Departments (exclusive of Meteorology and Archaeology). 4,000 90,000 17,74,000 Law and Justice ... ... ... 6,91,000 Stationery and Stamps ... ... 69,000 Miscellaneous (excepting Remittance of Treasure and Discount on Supply Bills. 5,000 Add— Existing allotment for provincial services ... 27,73,000 ... 27,73,000 Total Grant for Services to be borne upon the Central Provinces Budget. 46,60,000 ... 45,70,000 To meet these charges the Government of Central Provinces was authorized to appropriate the yield of the following sources of revenue :— Heads of Revenue Assigned Estimated Yield in 1876-7 Estimated Yield at the Assumed Rate of Growth in 1877-8 1878-9 1979-80 Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Excise ... ... ... 13,90,000 14,50,000 15,10,000 15,70,000 Stamps ... ... ... 9,70,000 9,75,000 9,80,000 9,85,000 Law and Justice ... ... 1,67,000 1,75,000 1,83,000 1,91,000 Miscellaneous (excepting Premium on Bills, undrawn Bills of Exchange and any unenumerated items exceeding Rs. 10,000 each). 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 Total ... ... 26,07,000 26,80,000 27,53,000 Compiled from the Gazette referred to above. 1 Gazette of India, Part I, dated June 2, 1877, p. 274.

142 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES As these revenues were insufficient the Government of India undertook to supplement them by the following assignments from the Imperial exchequer:— Year Assignments Rs. 1877-78 ... ... ... 19,63,000 1878-79 ... ... ... 18,90,000 1879-80 ... ... ... 18,17,000 These assignments were, however, subject to change because of the proviso applying to the assigned revenues. By virtue of that proviso the Government of India was to claim half the net increase of their combined annual yield over the estimated normal and was to bear half the deficit if their actual combined yield failed short of the normal. If there was an increase above the normal the assignments were to be reduced by a sum equal to half the increase, and if there was a decrease the assignments were to be increased by a sum equal to half the decrease. Bombay Coming to the Provincial Budget1 of the Bombay Government we find the following charges were incorporated in it:— Heads of Charge Grant as already fixed for 1877-8 Retrenchment Consolidated Grant Rs. Rs. Rs. 3. Refunds ... ... ... 1,10,000 4. Land Revenue ... ... ... 65,07,000 6. Excise ... ... ... 80,000 7. Customs ... ... ... 8,09,000 8. Salt ... ... ... 5,69,000 14. Administration ... ... ... 11,43,000 15. Minor Departments ... ... 1,13,000 16. Law and Justice ... ... ... 43,12,000 5,67,000 2,13,96,000 18. Marine ... ... ... 31,000 20. Ecclesiastical ... ... ... 3,25,000 21. Medical ... ... ... 2,68,000 22. Stationery and Stamp ... ... 2,29,000 24. Allowances and Assignments ... 64,81,000 26. Superannuation allowances ... ... 8,00,000 28. Miscellaneous ... ... ... 28,000 Add— Existing allotment for provincial services 1,04,54,000 ... 1,04,54,000 Total ... 3,24,17,000 5,67,000 3,18,50,000 1 Gazette of India, Part I, dated August 4, 1877, p. 468

143 BUDGET BY ASSIGNED REVENUES Besides the receipts accruing from the already incorporated services the Government of India assigned to the Government of Bombay the following sources of revenue :— ASSIGNED REVENUES (ooo omitted) Heads of revenue assigned Estimated Yield in 1876-77 Estimated Yield at the Assumed Rate of Growth in 1877-8 1978-9 1979-80 1880-1 1881-2 Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. I Land Revenue (receipts of Inamdari adjustments and service commutations). 5,199 6,624 6,624 6,624 6,624 6,624 IV. Excise ... ... ... 3,946 4,000 4,100 4,200 4,300 4,400 Stamps ... ... ... 4,186 4,300 4,350 4,500 4,550 4,600 Law and Justice ... ... 277 270 270 270 270 270 Total ... ... 8,570 8,720 8,970 9,120 9,270 Miscellaneous (excepting gain by exchange, premium on Bills, and on Money Orders, lapsed Money Orders, Sales, Proceeds of Durbar Presents and unenumerated items— exceeding Rs. 10,000 each). 52 70 70 70 70 70 Total ... ... 15,264 15,414 15,664 15,814 15,964 Compiled from the Gazette of India. The adjusting assignments to cover the difference between the expenditure and revenue incorporated in the Bombay Budget were as follows :— Year Assignments Rs. 1877-78 ... ... ... 1,53,20,000 1878-79 ... ... ... 1,51,70,000 1879-80 ... ... ... 1,49,20,000 1880-81 ... ... ... 1,47,70,000 1881-82 ... ... ... 1,46,20,000 These assignments, it must be noted, were subject to the same proviso as obtained in the case of the Central Provinces. Punjab The only remaining Provincial Budget that was framed on the principle of assigned revenues was that of the Punjab.

144 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES The heads of charge incorporated in this budget were as hereinafter specified— Heads of Incorporated Expenditure Grant as Settled for 1877-8 Retrenchment Proposed Net Consolidated Grant Rs. Rs. Rs. Refunds ... ... ... 65,000 Land Revenue, exclusing settlement charges ... 16,21,000 Excise ... ... ... ... 58,000 Stamps ... ... ... ... 72,000 Administration (excluding Account and Currency Offices and settlement Secretary). 9,74,000 Minor Departments ... ... ... 16,00,000 2,24,000 51,38,000 Law and Justice ... ... ... 20,94,000 Superannuation and Retired Allowances, Compasionate Allowances and Gratuities. 3,38,000 Miscellaneous, excluding Remittances of Treasure. 41,000 Stationery and Stamps ... ... 83,000 Add— Existing allotments for provincial services ... 54,22,000 ... 54,22,000 Total ... 1,07,84,300 2,24,000 1,05,60,000 To defray these charges it was proposed to assign the following revenues to the Government of the Punjab :— Heads of Revenues Assigned Net Revenue in 1876-7 Estimated Net Yield in 1877-8 1878-9 1879-80 Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Assessed Taxes ... ... ... ... 12,00,000 12,00,000 Stamps ... ... ... ... 24,85,000 25,05,000 25,25,000 Law and Justice ... ... ... 4,15,000 4,15,000 4,15,000 Excise ... ... ... ... 10,30,000 10,50,000 10,70,000 ... 39,30,000 39,70,000 40,10,000 Miscellaneous (excluding gain by Exchange, premium on Bills, and unclaimed Bills of Exchange). ... 60,000 60,000 60,000 Total ... ... 39,90,000 52,30,000 52,70,000 In making over these revenues the Government of India had reserved to itself a share of the improvement in the net yield from Stamps, Law and Justice, and Excise. The estimated net yield

145 BUDGET BY ASSIGNED REVENUES having fallen short of the estimated expenditure the Government of India agreed to make the following assignments to the Government of the Punjab in order to restore balance in its budget:— Year Assignment Less Share of Improvement in Net Revenue from Excise, Stamp, Law and Justice Net Assignment Rs. Rs. Rs. 1877-8 ... ... 65,70,000 107,000 64,63,000 1878-9 ... ... 53,40,000 85,000 52,55,000 1879-80 ... ... 53,10,000 ... 53,10,000 It should be noted that the Government of Madras refused to undertake the responsibility of a provincial Budget based upon the new principle of assigned revenues. It preferred to remain on the old basis. Provincial Budgets of Assam and Burma are not included in this chapter. As the principle involved in their constitution appertains to the study undertaken in the following chapter it is deemed expedient not to include them in the present. Before closing the study of the second stage in the development of Provincial Budgets it is advisable to take stock of the results achieved during its prevalence from the standpoint of sufficiency to the Provincial Governments and gain to the Imperial exchequer. The following is illustrative of the results of this stage from the standpoint of sufficiency to the provinces :— Annual Surpluses or deficits Provinces 1877-8 1878-9 1879-80 1880-1 1881-2 ££ £ ££ C.P. ... ... 5,992 7,049 —28,133 2,956 95,221 Bengal ... 173,380 158,932 82,523 —11,313 255,189 N.W.P. and Oudh ... 4,469 237,100 320,729 280,790 667,613 Punjab ... 18,578 48,195 7,017 59,497 135,979 Bombay ... —609,672 61,249 —11,201 37,855 418,783 Compiled from the Finance and Revenue Accounts of the Government of India. From this it is clear that except in Bombay the funds provided by the Imperial Government proved not only sufficient for the purpose of carrying on the services incorporated in the Provincial Budgets, but were such as to afford a safe margin of revenue over