Sir, I cannot help saying that this Government has
been constantly encroaching upon the privileges of this House. My
honourable friend the Home Minister is unfortunately not here and I
regret it because I do want to refer to one or two things for which he
principally is responsible. I have noticed that ever since the Congress
Government has taken office, the honourable Home Minister has insisted that
this House has no right to pass upon any rules that the Government
might make under any particular law that this House may have passed. Sir, I say
that this is an encroachment upon the authority of this House. I
say that there are rules and rules. There are rules which merely120
carry out what is called the administrative policy. There are rules
which are nothing else but a part of the140 law, and I claim and I insist that
wherever a rule is a part of the law, then this House160 has not only the
right to pass upon the original legislation but it has the right to pass
upon the rule as well. I do not understand how any executive Government
can appropriate this field to itself. But the Congress Government has done it.
Time in and time out it encroached upon this privilege of the House.
This lifting of money, this asking for a blank cheque is another encroachment
upon the privileges of this House.
I do not know240 what the situation now is but I was quite familiar
with what is known as the Devolution Rules which were prepared under the old Government
of India Act and I think my honourable friend the Finance
Minister will bear me280 out that one section of the Devolution
Rules included what is called the constitution of the Finance Department.
It was one of the cardinal principles then recognized under the old
Government of India Act that the Finance Department ought not320
to be a “transferred” department. The reason given was a very substantial
reason for not treating the Finance Department as a “transferred”
department. The Finance Department was intended to be the watchdog. The Finance
Department was intended to scrutinize all360 expenditure that was put forth by any
particular Minister in charge of any particular portfolio. It was
intended that one of the principal functions of the Finance Department
was not only to see whether the sum asked for any particular purpose was
necessary and could be granted, having regard to the financial position
of the province, but whether the grant420 asked was properly itemized. I am sure
that, although the old Government of India Act has ceased and the Devolution
Rules framed under that Act are probably no longer law, the principles enunciated
in those Devolution Rules must be abiding for all time.
Ever since finance came to be recognized as an
important part of the machinery of control which480 the Legislature has
forged over the Executive, it has always been accepted that no Minister
shall place before the Legislature a demand for any lump sum without specifying
the particular services, the particular items which are supposed to be included
in that demand. The reason is two-fold. The House must know what are the
details on which funds are being spent. Secondly, it is necessary for
the Audit and Accounts Department to know how the money granted by
the House560 has been spent. It is something which is
quite inexcusable that this Government should have had the audacity
to come forward before this Legislature and merely say that they want
Rs. 31 lakhs for spending on certain items, about the600 propriety of which
the House has never decided and as to the details of which the Government
itself has not made up its mind. I say it is audacity. Now, coming to the budget itself, I do not propose to640
go into the details of the different items of which this budget is composed.
That would take me too long; nor do I think the general discussion is
the occasion on which one should go into the details of the expenditure. I
propose to confine myself to the general aspects of the budget, the broad
problems with which we are700 faced and the ways and means
adopted by the Finance Minister to deal with those problems.
Sir, the question I720 want to ask is this.
What are the liabilities, responsibilities, which the Congress
Government proposes to take upon its shoulders? Let us realize what our total
liabilities are. Sir, it is a small matter whether these liabilities are
such that we can meet them tomorrow, or whether it will take a
long time for us to meet these liabilities. That is altogether a different
question. It is quite essential and in fact fundamental question that those
who are sitting on800 this side and those who are
sitting on the other, should know once for all what we propose to undertake with
respect to the welfare of the people of this Province. Therefore, it
is very necessary that we should take840 stock of what
the ultimate position is going to be apart from the question how we meet
and how soon we shall meet it. Now, it is quite clear that,
traditionally taking things as they stand in this Province up to this day,
Governments have undertaken their responsibilities and duties which certainly
cover such fields as education, public health, medical relief, and to a certain
extent, water supply. But Governments have never fulfilled these
responsibilities. These are admittedly the functions of the Government.
I am glad to say that the Congress Ministry, when it came in office, issued a
statement which is called a Statement on the Labour Policy of the
Government. I would like to remind my honourable friend960
of that statement, because he has altogether taken no note of what the Government
has stated in the Press Communique. 980 Referring to that statement, I
find that the Government has unequivocally accepted the fact that
these are not the only duties which this Government would look upon as
their obligations. The Congress Government has accepted that over and above
these, there are other duties which the Government must undertake. These
duties are unemployment benefit, sickness insurance, old-age pensions,
maternity benefits and premature death benefits to dependents. Therefore, we
have got to start with this position that my Government which claims to
have the reins of office in its hands must look upon these duties as part of its
functions.
1080 The question is: What are going to be the total
liabilities of the Government, if the Government were to decide
upon discharging these obligations? As I said, it matters nothing, it
does not solve the problem, whether we are in1120 a position to do
this today or not. It is quite essential that we ought to know what our
duties are and what is the liability in
which we will be involved ultimately.
Sir, taking all these things into
consideration, I would like, even at the closing of the debate, some kind of
estimate from my honourable friend, to tell us what exactly would be the
liability thrown on the revenues of this Province, if we are to
undertake the discharge1200 of those liabilities in their fullness.
I have made some little calculation so far as I am able to do. My
calculations cannot be exact. I have no information, I have no data, I have no
expert assistance, but I have ventured to make some kind of estimate to
find out exactly what would be the total financial liabilities of1260
the Government. Modestly speaking, the total liabilities of this Province will
come to Rs. 24 crores. This is what a1280 Government of this Province will have
to bear in mind. I have no objection which Government comes in. Even
this Government may perpetually carry on the administration of this Province. I
have no quarrel so long as that Government is conscious of what its
obligations are. The question we have to bear in mind is, how are you going to
raise this sum of 24 crores? It may be a little more or a little less;
somewhere about that figure will be the liability of the Government in this
Province to undertake. Is it within the competence of this Government,
or any Government for that matter, to raise this sum?
Let us now turn to certain figures of revenue in1400
other parts of the world and let us compare the position in other parts
of the world with the position that we find in our own province.
I have worked out some figures of per capita revenue in some countries. 1440 If you see these figures, you will find that
this is a most staggering picture. It is a contrast, which is bound
to make any Finance Minister who wants to take the responsibility of
bringing welfare to the masses of this province, shake in his shoes. Now, the other thing which we have to notice with
regard to the financial position in this province is that our revenues have
been absolutely stagnant. I am quoting the Finance Minister himself. In the
last year’s Budget speech, he gave us a very useful set of figures
comparing the increase of revenue in the
different provinces of India. 1545
