So far as the first question goes, the Expert Committee on which a good many of the various speakers have relied, does not support the case for the distribution of export duties between the Centre and the provinces. I do not know what Mr. Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri said on this but I believe all the other speakers agreed with the Expert Committee on this point. They recognised that no province had any right to the proceeds on an export duty. Some of the Members have come forward with a demand that the export duty on tea should, like the export duty on jute, be shared by the Centre with certain provinces. But if the principle that the proceeds of an export duty should be retained by the Centre is accepted as sound, there can be no basis for that demand. I agree with Dr. Ambedkarthat export duties like customs duties should be purely central and that the entire proceeds should be retained by the Centre. This does not, however, mean that needy provinces should get no assistance. My honourable Friend Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra pleaded hard for Bengal and pointed out that it would be impossible for Bengal, without the assistance that it was getting from the Centre, to make both ends meet. He quoted from the report of the Expert Committee, but forgot to read out one sentence which is of great importance to provinces like Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Orissa; and that sentence is this : “If at the end of ten years, which we think should be sufficient to enable the provinces to develop their resources adequately, the provinces still need assistance in order to make up for this loss of revenue.” i.e., the loss due to the retention of the entire jute export duty by the Centre- “It would no doubt be open to them to seek grants-in-aid from the Centre which would be considered on their merits in the usual course by the Finance Commission.“
