Next I come to jute. Sir, through the efforts of the representatives of Bengal in the Joint Parliamentary Committee, the then Government was forced to adopt the principle of giving a part of the export duty on jute to the growing provinces. In that year,-it was first given in 1934,-Assam was supposed to produce 5 per cent. of the total jute grown throughout the world and on that basis she was getting on an average 14 lakhs of rupees per annum. But since the declaration of independence, when the largest jute-growing area of Bengal fell to the lot of East Pakistan, the position of Assam has gone very high as one of the jute-producers of the world. Assam, which had a vast area of waste land was increasing her jute acreage every year. And, if I remember aright, now Assam stands next to Bihar, among the highest jute-growing area of the Dominion of India. This adjustment of percentage has its necessary–repercussion in the amount of the jute export duty that fell to Assam’s lot.
