DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68025#0157
ROYAL COMMISSION UPON DECENTRALIZATION.
151
expenditure would not interfere with the efficient
working of any other department, the Local Govern-
ment should have liberty to spend without the previous
sanction of the Supreme Government on works of a
purely provincial character, but such expenditure should
be clearly set out in the budget and sanctioned by the
Council. Provincial budgets should be less cryptic
than they are at present ; any additional or extra-
ordinary expenditure should be distinctly shown, and
the Council should be allowed the right of dividing
thereupon. If any extra grant is required during the
year, the matter should be placed before the provincial
Council for sanction. The present constitution of
the Council does not offer an effectual safeguard : but
the fact that the Council may be divided will work as
a brake on any scheme of unjustifiable or extravagant
expenditure.
The present financial settlement, though an im-
provement on the past, is not entirely satisfactory so
far as the provincial Government is concerned. As
the division is by certain fixed proportions, the
Supreme Government reap the benefit of the ad-
ministration by the Local Government and participates
in the increase. There ought to be a rule that taking
the division by fixed proportions as a working basis,
the Supreme Government ought at the end of at least
every 10 years, if not oftener, to allow a rebate, so to
say, when the increase exceeds a fixed percentage.
The customs have been entirely imperialized : this
should not be the case, specially as the whole ad-
ministration is by the Local Government, which has
no voice or control over the appointment.
The difficulties in the case of borrowing by pro-
vincial Governments would be greater than in the
case of the Supreme Government and the loans would
be more onerous : but at the same time I would
support power being given to Local Governments to
borrow within certain limits for the purpose of
spending on productive Public Works such as feeder
railways and canals. These railways have in a few
instances been constructed by private enterprise on
the guarantee of District Boards, but the District
Boards generally are not in a position to furnish this
guarantee with the result that the development of the
country is being retarded.
As regards new appointments to the Subordinate
Services the Local Government ought to be allowed
full powers, so also as regards the enhancement of
salaries if carried out as part of a definite scheme,
sanctioned by the Council and not by individual
preferment. As regards the new appointment of
European officers above Rs. 200, the rule laid down
by the Secretary of State that his sanction should be
obtained should be strictly followed, and I would
extend this rule to non-domiciled Eurasians also.
In certain matters, such as famine relief and sanita-
tion, the Local Governments may be allowed to work
on the general lines of policy laid down by the
Supreme Government. A special Sanitary Department
to deal with the question of malaria in Bengal is
urgently needed. In matters relating to the collection
of revenue, the control of the Supreme Government
is necessary.
In legislative enactments in which any action is
directed to be taken by Local Governments, the taking
of such action should not be delegated to a lower
authority without special legislation. I am against a
general delegation of authority, but there are some
minor matters in which such delegation would probably
be of some advantage, but this should be clearly stated
and each Act amended in detail.
The Government of India is too impersonal. The
pomp and circumstance with which it surrounds itself
is an absolute and often irritating anachronism and is
a vain attempt to imitate the outward trappings of
the Eastern rule of old without its inwardness. There
is no direct touch between the Supreme Government
and the people, no Darbar-i-Am where the Emperor
sat in open state to receive petitions from his subjects.
The approach to the Supreme Government is difficult
if not practically impossible.
Taking the case of the Director-General of Educa-
tion, I do not see much use of his appointment so far
as Bengal is concerned.
The greatest administrative reforms of recent times,
-the Local Self-Government Act and the Indian
Councils Act were due to the initiative of the Govern-
ment of India. So far as Bengal is concerned, one of
the most retrograde measures, namely, the Calcutta
Municipal Act, was due to the initiative of the
Local Government. I would recommend that certain
questions should be reserved for introduction after
sanction by the Supreme Government, such as
questions of taxation, matters prejudicially affecting
popular rights, etc. In other matters dealing only
with purely local questions I would leave the initiative
and the carrying out of any measure to the Local
Government.
Babu
Bhupendra-
nath Bobu.
28 Jan., 1908.
The right of appeal should not be curtailed : It
would not be desirable to restrict appeals only to cases
certified as suitable for appeal by the authority
appealed against.
Commissioners and Collectors ought to be allowed
to spend money, subject to sanction, within a grant
limited for each division and district respectively.
So far as the provincial Government in Bengal is
concerned it is not too impersonal. It should how-
ever be brought in closer touch with the people. A
provincial Government is often to a great extent
dominated by considerations of revenue. I may
instance the case of income-tax, where, notwithstanding
the raising of the taxable limit to Rs. 1,000, the receipts
have not appreciably diminished, and the result is
ascribed to closer scrutiny.
There are sufficient opportunities for personal con-
tact between the executive and the people, but un-
fortunately they are not sufficiently availed of. Close
personal relations seldom exist between the Executive
Head of a district and any class of the people : when
the District Magistrate is out on tour, he is so hemmed
in by, and so closely associated with, the police, that
the ordinary people do not, and dare not, come to him
freely: here insufficient acquaintance with the
language is a great obstacle. In the headquarters also,
the visits of the people are generally formal. The
young Civilian comes out to India with all the feelings
of a ruling race : he is at once placed in a vicious
atmosphere : he generally forms an extravagant idea
of his own importance, and is led to believe that freer
intercourse with the people would diminish it : he
generally invests himself in such a coating of dignity
and aloofness that self-respecting people as a rule
avoid him : he is generally intolerant of opposition
and he wields such large powers that he cannot be
crossed with impunity. The result is that the District
Officer has hardly any personal knowledge of the
people under his charge. I would suggest the follow-
ing remedies—better knowledge of the vernacular on
the part of District Officers : the separation of the
functions of the police and the judiciary at present
combined in the same officer ; relieving the District
Officer of his municipal and District Board work ; the
establishment of clubs where Europeans and Indians
may associate on a footing of social equality ; the
cultivation of closer personal relations (for instance, a
single unceremonious call by the District Officer on a
private gentleman, of congratulation or condolence as
the case may be, would draw the hearts of the people
more towards him and the Government he represents
than any number of formal or ceremonial meetings or
Darbars) ; sending for and consulting people more
frequently about affairs of the district ; the retention
of District Officers in their stations for at least three
years if not five ; the capacity for sympathy to be
treated as an essential qualification for promotion.
No general increase in the administration staff is
required.
Transfers are very frequent : the same system
ought at least to be followed as in the Judicial
Service.
There ought to be less interference by the District
Officers in the affairs of District Boards and muni-
cipalities. The interference with the budgets specially
in minor details is unnecessarily irritating ; a grain
allowance for instance of eight annas to a peon need
not be under the scrutiny of the Magistrate. Only
major heads of the budget should be examined : on
the minor’ heads freedom ought to be given to the
municipalities to spend within the budget grant.
In the case of the more advanced municipalities
there ought not to be any interference at all, except
in very important matters of capital expenditure, and
the two classes of municipalities may be very easily
differently scheduled. The District Boards are prac-
tically official bodies : half the members are nominated
and the Chairman is the District Officer : interference
with them—except in the case of capital expenditure-
is hardly needed at all. The constitution of the
151
expenditure would not interfere with the efficient
working of any other department, the Local Govern-
ment should have liberty to spend without the previous
sanction of the Supreme Government on works of a
purely provincial character, but such expenditure should
be clearly set out in the budget and sanctioned by the
Council. Provincial budgets should be less cryptic
than they are at present ; any additional or extra-
ordinary expenditure should be distinctly shown, and
the Council should be allowed the right of dividing
thereupon. If any extra grant is required during the
year, the matter should be placed before the provincial
Council for sanction. The present constitution of
the Council does not offer an effectual safeguard : but
the fact that the Council may be divided will work as
a brake on any scheme of unjustifiable or extravagant
expenditure.
The present financial settlement, though an im-
provement on the past, is not entirely satisfactory so
far as the provincial Government is concerned. As
the division is by certain fixed proportions, the
Supreme Government reap the benefit of the ad-
ministration by the Local Government and participates
in the increase. There ought to be a rule that taking
the division by fixed proportions as a working basis,
the Supreme Government ought at the end of at least
every 10 years, if not oftener, to allow a rebate, so to
say, when the increase exceeds a fixed percentage.
The customs have been entirely imperialized : this
should not be the case, specially as the whole ad-
ministration is by the Local Government, which has
no voice or control over the appointment.
The difficulties in the case of borrowing by pro-
vincial Governments would be greater than in the
case of the Supreme Government and the loans would
be more onerous : but at the same time I would
support power being given to Local Governments to
borrow within certain limits for the purpose of
spending on productive Public Works such as feeder
railways and canals. These railways have in a few
instances been constructed by private enterprise on
the guarantee of District Boards, but the District
Boards generally are not in a position to furnish this
guarantee with the result that the development of the
country is being retarded.
As regards new appointments to the Subordinate
Services the Local Government ought to be allowed
full powers, so also as regards the enhancement of
salaries if carried out as part of a definite scheme,
sanctioned by the Council and not by individual
preferment. As regards the new appointment of
European officers above Rs. 200, the rule laid down
by the Secretary of State that his sanction should be
obtained should be strictly followed, and I would
extend this rule to non-domiciled Eurasians also.
In certain matters, such as famine relief and sanita-
tion, the Local Governments may be allowed to work
on the general lines of policy laid down by the
Supreme Government. A special Sanitary Department
to deal with the question of malaria in Bengal is
urgently needed. In matters relating to the collection
of revenue, the control of the Supreme Government
is necessary.
In legislative enactments in which any action is
directed to be taken by Local Governments, the taking
of such action should not be delegated to a lower
authority without special legislation. I am against a
general delegation of authority, but there are some
minor matters in which such delegation would probably
be of some advantage, but this should be clearly stated
and each Act amended in detail.
The Government of India is too impersonal. The
pomp and circumstance with which it surrounds itself
is an absolute and often irritating anachronism and is
a vain attempt to imitate the outward trappings of
the Eastern rule of old without its inwardness. There
is no direct touch between the Supreme Government
and the people, no Darbar-i-Am where the Emperor
sat in open state to receive petitions from his subjects.
The approach to the Supreme Government is difficult
if not practically impossible.
Taking the case of the Director-General of Educa-
tion, I do not see much use of his appointment so far
as Bengal is concerned.
The greatest administrative reforms of recent times,
-the Local Self-Government Act and the Indian
Councils Act were due to the initiative of the Govern-
ment of India. So far as Bengal is concerned, one of
the most retrograde measures, namely, the Calcutta
Municipal Act, was due to the initiative of the
Local Government. I would recommend that certain
questions should be reserved for introduction after
sanction by the Supreme Government, such as
questions of taxation, matters prejudicially affecting
popular rights, etc. In other matters dealing only
with purely local questions I would leave the initiative
and the carrying out of any measure to the Local
Government.
Babu
Bhupendra-
nath Bobu.
28 Jan., 1908.
The right of appeal should not be curtailed : It
would not be desirable to restrict appeals only to cases
certified as suitable for appeal by the authority
appealed against.
Commissioners and Collectors ought to be allowed
to spend money, subject to sanction, within a grant
limited for each division and district respectively.
So far as the provincial Government in Bengal is
concerned it is not too impersonal. It should how-
ever be brought in closer touch with the people. A
provincial Government is often to a great extent
dominated by considerations of revenue. I may
instance the case of income-tax, where, notwithstanding
the raising of the taxable limit to Rs. 1,000, the receipts
have not appreciably diminished, and the result is
ascribed to closer scrutiny.
There are sufficient opportunities for personal con-
tact between the executive and the people, but un-
fortunately they are not sufficiently availed of. Close
personal relations seldom exist between the Executive
Head of a district and any class of the people : when
the District Magistrate is out on tour, he is so hemmed
in by, and so closely associated with, the police, that
the ordinary people do not, and dare not, come to him
freely: here insufficient acquaintance with the
language is a great obstacle. In the headquarters also,
the visits of the people are generally formal. The
young Civilian comes out to India with all the feelings
of a ruling race : he is at once placed in a vicious
atmosphere : he generally forms an extravagant idea
of his own importance, and is led to believe that freer
intercourse with the people would diminish it : he
generally invests himself in such a coating of dignity
and aloofness that self-respecting people as a rule
avoid him : he is generally intolerant of opposition
and he wields such large powers that he cannot be
crossed with impunity. The result is that the District
Officer has hardly any personal knowledge of the
people under his charge. I would suggest the follow-
ing remedies—better knowledge of the vernacular on
the part of District Officers : the separation of the
functions of the police and the judiciary at present
combined in the same officer ; relieving the District
Officer of his municipal and District Board work ; the
establishment of clubs where Europeans and Indians
may associate on a footing of social equality ; the
cultivation of closer personal relations (for instance, a
single unceremonious call by the District Officer on a
private gentleman, of congratulation or condolence as
the case may be, would draw the hearts of the people
more towards him and the Government he represents
than any number of formal or ceremonial meetings or
Darbars) ; sending for and consulting people more
frequently about affairs of the district ; the retention
of District Officers in their stations for at least three
years if not five ; the capacity for sympathy to be
treated as an essential qualification for promotion.
No general increase in the administration staff is
required.
Transfers are very frequent : the same system
ought at least to be followed as in the Judicial
Service.
There ought to be less interference by the District
Officers in the affairs of District Boards and muni-
cipalities. The interference with the budgets specially
in minor details is unnecessarily irritating ; a grain
allowance for instance of eight annas to a peon need
not be under the scrutiny of the Magistrate. Only
major heads of the budget should be examined : on
the minor’ heads freedom ought to be given to the
municipalities to spend within the budget grant.
In the case of the more advanced municipalities
there ought not to be any interference at all, except
in very important matters of capital expenditure, and
the two classes of municipalities may be very easily
differently scheduled. The District Boards are prac-
tically official bodies : half the members are nominated
and the Chairman is the District Officer : interference
with them—except in the case of capital expenditure-
is hardly needed at all. The constitution of the