DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68025#0166
160
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE:
Babu
Bhupendra-
math Basu.
28 Jan., 1908.
themselves with such a coating of dignity and aloofness
that self-respecting people as a rule avoid them ?—I
am sorry to say that I have known them in my
younger days.
18276. It is not a general impression derived from
what you have heard people say ?—It is derived from
both personal experience as well as from impressions
received from people.
18277 (Chairman.) Probably the number of cases
to which you refer is rather small ?—Yes, so far as my
personal experience goes.
18278. Your knowledge of what may be called
village life is very limited indeed ?—I live mostly in
Calcutta but my home is in a village.
(The witness withdrew.)
Babu Baikunta Nath Sen
was,, galled and examined.
Babu 18279. (Chairman.) What is your profession?—I
Baikunta am }-,y profession a vakil of the Calcutta High Court
Aath ben. o£ 44 years’ standing and a landholder. I have had
28 Tan 1908 some experience in the mufassal administration of
_’’ ’ ’ municipalities, and I was Chairman of the Berhampore
municipality for nine successive years. I was once a
member of the District Committee before the consti-
tution of the District Boards, and also a member of
the Bengal Council.
To have some real control over the bureaucracy, we
must 'have a Governor and his Executive Council, who
all should be appointed from England unless indeed
any of those appointments are given to Indians.
Experience has shewn that a provincial Head of
each Department with an expert and exclusive staff,
such as in the Excise, Registration and other Depart-
ments (by exclusive staff, I mean a staff the members
of which are not ordinarily liable to transfer to other
departments, and who therefore develop expert know-
ledge of their own departments), secures the greatest
efficiency in the administration. The Excise Depart-
ment is now about the best administered, and it will be
still better when it is given an entirely exclusive staff.
There should be a provincial Head for each important
Department, who should be called the Inspector-
General of the department and who should have an
exclusive expert staff under his control. The provincial
Heads of Departments should be called Inspectors-
General of their respective departments, where they
are not so designated now. And we may similarly
have an Inspector-General of Wards’ Estates, of
Government Estates, of Tauzi and Cess Collections,
of Partition and Land Acquisition, of the Chaukidari
Department, and so on. The Land Registration
Department should be under the Inspector-General
of Registration with a Deputy Inspector-General
under him. The Inspectors-General of big depart-
ments should have Deputy Inspectors-General to assist
them, for instance the Accountant-General should have
Deputy Accountants-General who will be inspectors
of district and sub-divisional treasuries. In this way
not only will decentralization be secured but the
maximum efficiency insured.
The Governor of the province should have an
Executive Council of four members, all the European
members of which should be appointed directly in
England and not recruited from the Indian Civil
Service. The Governor will himself have a Chief
Secretary and will hold direct charge himself of the
Political, Legislative and Appointment Departments.
All the other departments should be divided between
the four members of the Executive Council. Each
member of the Council should have the Inspector-
General of all his departments directly under him, and
each member will have a junior secretary to assist him.
The chain of subordination will be as follows :—■
(1) Governor and member : (2) Inspector-General :
and (3) District Officers. The District Officers will
have powers of decision up to Rs. 1,000. The
Inspector-General up to Rs. 5,000, member of Council
up to Rs. 25,000, and the Governor above that sum.
Appeals will' lie with the Inspector-General and
member in all cases. Appeals from the decisions of
members will lie beyond a certain limit to the
Governor in Council, and thence beyond a certain
higher limit to the Secretary of State in Council.
If the above scheme is accepted, there need be no
Board of Revenue and no Divisional Commissioners.
The latter serve no useful purpose at present, the only
thing at all useful which they do is their periodical
inspection of the District Officers, but these are not
done effectively, as they have too many departments
to inspect and no man can be an expert in all depart-
ments. Hide-bound routine and red tapeism is
unquestionably the bane of the existing form of
administration, and the greatest share of this mischief
has been brought about by the cart-loads of manuals
issued by the Board of Revenue, and whose correction
slips in a year would fill boxes. They have made all
initiative almost impossible and have reduced the
members of administrations into machines. These
two anachronisms, viz., the Board of Revenue and
the Divisional Commissioners, should be altogether
abolished. It is quite feasible to reduce the shelf-full
of manuals into two handy volumes for all the depart-
ments put together.
There need be no separate Advisory Councils for
the Local Governments and District Officers. When
the provincial Local Self-Government Board, the
Education Board, and the Committee of Wards’
Estates are constituted as proposed below, all local
officials will then have ample opportunities of meeting
the representatives of the landholding and educated
middle classes in those Boards, and in the District
Boards, and in the municipalities.
The anomaly and the anachronism of the Non-
Regulation districts should be removed. Almost half
of each of the districts of Midnapore, Birbhum and
Bankura is inhabited by Sonthals and other aboriginal
tribes. Is it seriously maintained by anyone that they
are at all discontented because they have to live in
Regulation districts ?
There should be a provincial Education Board at the
capital of the province to consist of one representative
from each district (to be elected by the District Board
and all the municipalities in a district jointly), and
representatives from each of the recognised Land-
holders’ Associations and literary bodies, such as the
British Indian Association, the Bengal Landholders’
Association, the Bihar Landholders’ Association, the
Muhammadan Literary Society, the Anglo-Indian
Defence Association, and the Asiatic Society, as well as
four representatives each from the University, and the
Agricultural and Industrial Departments of Govern-
ment. There should be also a number of nominated
members equal to one-fourth of the total strength of
the Board in order- to secure the representation of
minorities and of Government interests. The present
Director of Public Instruction, who should be called
the Inspector-General of Education, should be the
Secretary to the proposed Education Board, and
it should be presided over by the Member of the
Governor’s Council in charge of the Education
Department. All non-collegiate education should be
under the control of this Central Education Board
which should fix the curricula for all grades of schools,
should sanction all grants-in-aid, and should control
the entire inspecting staff of the Education Depart-
ment. There should not be separate standards for the
collegiate educations of Europeans, Eurasians or
Muhammadans. For the non-collegiate education,
they may have separate curricula to be decided by
Special Committees of the Education Board, consisting
of a majority of members belonging to their respective
communities. There should also be Special Committees
of the Board for female education, agricultural educa-
tion,and for industrial and technical education generally..
When the Divisional Commissioners are abolished,,
there should be a provincial Local Self-Government
Board, consisting of one representative member for
each district to be elected by the District Board and
all the municipalities in the district put together, and
two representatives from each of the Landholders’
Associations in the province, such as the British
Indian Association, Bengal Landholders’ Association,
Bihar Landholders’ Association, etc., and a number of
nominated members equal to |th of the total strength
for securing the representation of minorities and
Government interests, the whole Board to be presided
over by the Member of the Governor’s Executive
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE:
Babu
Bhupendra-
math Basu.
28 Jan., 1908.
themselves with such a coating of dignity and aloofness
that self-respecting people as a rule avoid them ?—I
am sorry to say that I have known them in my
younger days.
18276. It is not a general impression derived from
what you have heard people say ?—It is derived from
both personal experience as well as from impressions
received from people.
18277 (Chairman.) Probably the number of cases
to which you refer is rather small ?—Yes, so far as my
personal experience goes.
18278. Your knowledge of what may be called
village life is very limited indeed ?—I live mostly in
Calcutta but my home is in a village.
(The witness withdrew.)
Babu Baikunta Nath Sen
was,, galled and examined.
Babu 18279. (Chairman.) What is your profession?—I
Baikunta am }-,y profession a vakil of the Calcutta High Court
Aath ben. o£ 44 years’ standing and a landholder. I have had
28 Tan 1908 some experience in the mufassal administration of
_’’ ’ ’ municipalities, and I was Chairman of the Berhampore
municipality for nine successive years. I was once a
member of the District Committee before the consti-
tution of the District Boards, and also a member of
the Bengal Council.
To have some real control over the bureaucracy, we
must 'have a Governor and his Executive Council, who
all should be appointed from England unless indeed
any of those appointments are given to Indians.
Experience has shewn that a provincial Head of
each Department with an expert and exclusive staff,
such as in the Excise, Registration and other Depart-
ments (by exclusive staff, I mean a staff the members
of which are not ordinarily liable to transfer to other
departments, and who therefore develop expert know-
ledge of their own departments), secures the greatest
efficiency in the administration. The Excise Depart-
ment is now about the best administered, and it will be
still better when it is given an entirely exclusive staff.
There should be a provincial Head for each important
Department, who should be called the Inspector-
General of the department and who should have an
exclusive expert staff under his control. The provincial
Heads of Departments should be called Inspectors-
General of their respective departments, where they
are not so designated now. And we may similarly
have an Inspector-General of Wards’ Estates, of
Government Estates, of Tauzi and Cess Collections,
of Partition and Land Acquisition, of the Chaukidari
Department, and so on. The Land Registration
Department should be under the Inspector-General
of Registration with a Deputy Inspector-General
under him. The Inspectors-General of big depart-
ments should have Deputy Inspectors-General to assist
them, for instance the Accountant-General should have
Deputy Accountants-General who will be inspectors
of district and sub-divisional treasuries. In this way
not only will decentralization be secured but the
maximum efficiency insured.
The Governor of the province should have an
Executive Council of four members, all the European
members of which should be appointed directly in
England and not recruited from the Indian Civil
Service. The Governor will himself have a Chief
Secretary and will hold direct charge himself of the
Political, Legislative and Appointment Departments.
All the other departments should be divided between
the four members of the Executive Council. Each
member of the Council should have the Inspector-
General of all his departments directly under him, and
each member will have a junior secretary to assist him.
The chain of subordination will be as follows :—■
(1) Governor and member : (2) Inspector-General :
and (3) District Officers. The District Officers will
have powers of decision up to Rs. 1,000. The
Inspector-General up to Rs. 5,000, member of Council
up to Rs. 25,000, and the Governor above that sum.
Appeals will' lie with the Inspector-General and
member in all cases. Appeals from the decisions of
members will lie beyond a certain limit to the
Governor in Council, and thence beyond a certain
higher limit to the Secretary of State in Council.
If the above scheme is accepted, there need be no
Board of Revenue and no Divisional Commissioners.
The latter serve no useful purpose at present, the only
thing at all useful which they do is their periodical
inspection of the District Officers, but these are not
done effectively, as they have too many departments
to inspect and no man can be an expert in all depart-
ments. Hide-bound routine and red tapeism is
unquestionably the bane of the existing form of
administration, and the greatest share of this mischief
has been brought about by the cart-loads of manuals
issued by the Board of Revenue, and whose correction
slips in a year would fill boxes. They have made all
initiative almost impossible and have reduced the
members of administrations into machines. These
two anachronisms, viz., the Board of Revenue and
the Divisional Commissioners, should be altogether
abolished. It is quite feasible to reduce the shelf-full
of manuals into two handy volumes for all the depart-
ments put together.
There need be no separate Advisory Councils for
the Local Governments and District Officers. When
the provincial Local Self-Government Board, the
Education Board, and the Committee of Wards’
Estates are constituted as proposed below, all local
officials will then have ample opportunities of meeting
the representatives of the landholding and educated
middle classes in those Boards, and in the District
Boards, and in the municipalities.
The anomaly and the anachronism of the Non-
Regulation districts should be removed. Almost half
of each of the districts of Midnapore, Birbhum and
Bankura is inhabited by Sonthals and other aboriginal
tribes. Is it seriously maintained by anyone that they
are at all discontented because they have to live in
Regulation districts ?
There should be a provincial Education Board at the
capital of the province to consist of one representative
from each district (to be elected by the District Board
and all the municipalities in a district jointly), and
representatives from each of the recognised Land-
holders’ Associations and literary bodies, such as the
British Indian Association, the Bengal Landholders’
Association, the Bihar Landholders’ Association, the
Muhammadan Literary Society, the Anglo-Indian
Defence Association, and the Asiatic Society, as well as
four representatives each from the University, and the
Agricultural and Industrial Departments of Govern-
ment. There should be also a number of nominated
members equal to one-fourth of the total strength of
the Board in order- to secure the representation of
minorities and of Government interests. The present
Director of Public Instruction, who should be called
the Inspector-General of Education, should be the
Secretary to the proposed Education Board, and
it should be presided over by the Member of the
Governor’s Council in charge of the Education
Department. All non-collegiate education should be
under the control of this Central Education Board
which should fix the curricula for all grades of schools,
should sanction all grants-in-aid, and should control
the entire inspecting staff of the Education Depart-
ment. There should not be separate standards for the
collegiate educations of Europeans, Eurasians or
Muhammadans. For the non-collegiate education,
they may have separate curricula to be decided by
Special Committees of the Education Board, consisting
of a majority of members belonging to their respective
communities. There should also be Special Committees
of the Board for female education, agricultural educa-
tion,and for industrial and technical education generally..
When the Divisional Commissioners are abolished,,
there should be a provincial Local Self-Government
Board, consisting of one representative member for
each district to be elected by the District Board and
all the municipalities in the district put together, and
two representatives from each of the Landholders’
Associations in the province, such as the British
Indian Association, Bengal Landholders’ Association,
Bihar Landholders’ Association, etc., and a number of
nominated members equal to |th of the total strength
for securing the representation of minorities and
Government interests, the whole Board to be presided
over by the Member of the Governor’s Executive