Sir, if I compare the attitude of mind of the authors of the Drafting Committee and that of the predecessor government here,-the former British rulers, I find that the latter did not take away the resources of the provinces during the last great war. They went on, it is true, taxing, they went on extending their taxable capacity by putting extra income-tax, corporation-tax, excess profit-tax and so many other taxes. They brought in higher export duties and so on. Of course, that was taxing the people of the Provinces; but at no stage did the Centre encroach upon the resources of the Provinces. Today we are asked to hand over that power of confiscating the provincial revenues to the President. We are told that an elected Cabinet would be there and the Cabinet would advise the President. We have an elected Finance Minister in the present Government as Member of this House. Why is it that he has not justified his attitude as to why he advised or his Ministry advised the Drafting Committee to encroach or expropriate or usurp the resources of the provinces in time of emergency? Sir, this is a challenge to the democratic spirit of the future Parliament. Do members’ of the Drafting Committee think that the Parliament will not be willing to hand over such absolute power to the dent or the Cabinet when an emergency arises ? It did in other countries. Why should the Indian Parliament be have differently? I may say the future Parliamentarians will be as good, bad or indifferent as we all are at present.
