Sir, I was very glad to hear my friend Sir Ramaswamy Mudaliar, speak about provincial revenues and income. He was a party before 1933 to the distribution of taxation under the 1935 Act. It is galling to me that Honourable Members of this House should try to perpetuate the taxation arrangements under the 1935 Act. What is the basis of that Act ? That Act gave all powers and all resources to a foreign Government. That devil of a foreign Government has quit India but the devil’s system still continues. The Act of 1935 gave all resources to the Centre so that the Centre could rule and dominate and spend the country’s resources as it liked. The Centre had no responsibility to the people of India except to send them to jails when it liked. Since the 15th of this month, we have a people’s Government. This report is the fourth report that we are discussing, and I fail to observe that the Union Powers Committee’s report is drafted in any democratic spirit. I am very glad that two gentlemen, Sri Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar and Sri Gaganvihari Lalubhai Mehta, spoke of social welfare and social justice. I was pleasantly surprised to here these two gentlemen, situated in high places as they are and situated far above the people as they are, speak of social welfare and social justice. I think Sri Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar who is a member of the Union Powers Committee has failed to give consideration to the primary duty of the State to render social justice to the people. We are not going to give powers to the Government, to the ministry, only for them to continue the policies of the foreign administration which were expensive and top-heavy. Defence, of course, there should be defence. Will defence suit the national temperament, the national requirement of India, or will it be in the line of the capitalist Western nations like the U.S.A. and England? I do not think that at any stage the members of the Union Powers Committee of the Union Constitution Committee had it in their minds that India’s temperament will require a different orientation in the policy of expenditure at the Centre.
