Sir,
I know there are people who believe that Sales Tax is a good tax and that it
may be levied. I have a different opinion about it. To my mind, it certainly
smacks of what we in India used to have imposed upon the Indian mills, and what
was called the excise duty on cotton manufactures. It cannot be anything else
except that. If it is shifted by the manufacturer or by the salesman, it is
certainly going to affect the consumer; it is certainly going to affect his standard
of living. If it is not shifted, if it is borne by the manufacturer himself,
then it is going to affect the industry on which it is placed.120
In either case, it is not a very satisfactory piece of taxation. Now, Sir, I am
one of those who have140 always held the view that good things of
life do not fall from heaven; they have never done so anywhere. 160
In fact, if you want the good things of life, you have got to pay for them.
Unless you pay for them, you cannot get them. I am, therefore, one of those who
cannot have any conscientious objection to taxation, because I am certainly one
of those who believe in having the good things of life and also believe in
having to pay for them. The question, therefore, that we have to consider is
this: What is all this240 taxation for? What is the purpose? What
good the Government proposes to do by levying this taxation? It is necessary to
remember that the total revenue which the Finance Minister is proposing to
raise by his scheme of taxation is280 Rs. 169 lakhs.
I
would like to point out one thing. Apart from the question whether the
expenditure that is provided for in the Budget is adequate having regard to the
needs of the province, the one thing that this House320 should realize is
that new taxation is not at all necessary for the new expenditure. The issue is
absolutely narrowed down and the specific question is whether drink is a
problem, and if drink is a problem, is it360 an urgent problem? Unless this House is
prepared to give an affirmative answer to both these questions, there will be
no justification for voting taxation which has been proposed by the Finance
Minister. Sir, let us make no mistake in analysing the position. There is no
question that drinking is an evil and it does have very bad consequences, but420
to admit that drink is an evil is not to admit that drink is a problem; much
less is it an admission that it is an urgent problem. Now, Sir, let us look at
the position in a comparative way. What is the position in the Bombay
Presidency? We need not bother ourselves with the rest of India at all480
for the moment because we are dealing with the Budget of the Bombay Ministry.
What is the position in the Bombay Presidency and what is the position in other
countries so far as the drink question is concerned? The Bombay Presidency has
a population of 180 lakhs. The total revenue from excise is Rs. 325 lakhs. Can anyone
say that this consumption of liquor in the Bombay Presidency can be said to
create a problem which the State must undertake560 immediately to meet?
A man who gave an affirmative answer would certainly be a man who has lost all
his bearings. You can take another test. Take the consumption of liquor and I
take these figures from the report submitted600 by the Government of
Bombay itself. What is the total amount of liquor that the people consume? Now,
the Blue Book issued by the Government of Bombay says that the average
consumption for the whole presidency works out at the640 rate of 3 drams per
head. I am told that it is less than an ounce, and my honourable friends on the
opposite side call it a problem.
The
second distinguishing feature which marks out our country from other countries,
and which cannot create a problem so far as drink is concerned, is that the
drink traffic is in the700 hands of the Government. It is not in
the hands of private profiteers as it is in the case of720 America or as it is
in the case of other European countries. The Government is a responsible body;
it is subject to public opinion; it is subject to the opinion of this House,
and therefore, can never do the mischief which a private profiteer can do. As I
said, looking at it from every point of view, I refuse to admit that it is a
problem which needs to be tackled. Then, Sir, the next question that I want to800
ask is this. Is this such an urgent problem that we must keep aside everything
and deal with it first? In order to answer that question, it is necessary to
bear in mind what the different needs are of the840 people of this
Province. Are the other needs fully satisfied? Are they tolerably satisfied, so
that we ought to keep them aside for the moment and tackle this one and only
question? Let me take a few illustrations.
First
of all, take the question of education. With regard to adult education, the
position in this Province is this. So far as males are concerned, only 14 per
cent of the male population is literate. So far as the female population is
concerned, only 3 per cent of the female population is literate. That means
that practically 86 per cent. of the male population and 97 per cent of the
female population still needs to be taught the rudiments of education, 960
so that they may carry on the activities of their life without falling a prey
to the machinations of980 other classes. We have had a committee
appointed by the Government to report upon this matter. That committee has made
its report. But I do not find any provision made in the present Budget to carry
out the proposals made by that committee. Let us take children’s education.
What is the position in this Province? In this Province, one thing which is
absolutely undeniable is that this Government has repudiated its responsibility
in regard to college education. I think there can be no doubt on the point. This
Government does not think that giving higher education to the boys of this1080
Province is one of its own responsibilities. That has been left by the Government
to private agencies. With regard to secondary education, the matter is more or
less on the same footing. The Government does not take responsibility on1120
its shoulders but it supplements the money collected by private agencies in the
form of small grants from public treasury. Therefore, we are really under a
very limited field of activity so far as education is concerned. Then, there is
primary education. What has the Government done with regard to primary
education? From the figures that I have been able to collect yesterday, I find
the present position is this. The Primary Education Act applies to children who
are between1200
6 and 11 years of age.
According
to Government figures, there are 184 primary schools in the towns of this
Province. This is with regard to towns. What is the position with regard to
villages? The Government does not even care to provide facilities for them,
apart from the question of carrying out the provisions of the Primary Education
Act. 1260
Sir, one curious thing which strikes me at any rate, and I do not know whether
it strikes the honourable1280 Finance Minister, is what would be the
cost of making primary education compulsory. According to the figures worked
out by the Primary Education Committee, what the Government needs to make
primary education compulsory is Rs. 2 lakhs. That is just the amount the honourable
Finance Minister is raising by his taxation proposals. Apart from the question
whether the taxation proposals are good or not, confining my attention to the
question as to the proper purpose for which this money ought to be spent, the
question that I should like to ask of the honourable Finance Minister is this.
You are raising practically Rs. 2 lakhs; is it necessary that you should spend
this money on improving the lot of a drunkard1400 or should you spend
this money on educating children who do not get education? What is the choice
that you make? That is really the whole question. Is the education of 18 lakhs
of children less important than the1440 lot of 10 lakhs of city people who
choose to drink? I do not believe in it. I am a teetotaller and I wish
everybody was. But the problem is really this. If you give me an educated man
who is also a sober man, I welcome him. But, if you tell me to take a sober man
who is a fool, who does not understand anything, I for myself would prefer a
man who drinks but who knows something. I think that is the position which
ought to be considered by the honourable Finance Minister when distributing
this colossal taxation which he is levying on the Province. 1548
