7. The process of financial development in this country has been one of evolution from a unitary to a quasi-federal type. The Government of India started as a completely unitary Government in entire control of the revenues of the country with the Provincial Governments depending on the Central Government for all their requirements. In the earlier years, Provincial Governments were given fixed grants for meeting the expenditure on specific services, and the first step in making specific sources available to them was taken when the Provincial Governments were given the whole or part of certain heads of revenue like Forest, Excise, Licence Fees (later to develop into Income-tax), Stamps, Registration, Provincial Rates, Law and Justice, Public Works, Education, etc. The funds released by this allocation were not adequate for the requirements of the provinces and had to be supplemented, mainly by sharing with them in varying proportions the main source of Central revenue, namely; Land Revenue, and partly by making to them additional cash assignments. In 1904, the settlements with the provinces were made quasi-permanent, thereby making the provinces less dependent on the fluctuating grants from the Centre. This method of financing the provinces was examined more than once and retained as the best suited to the then circumstances.