Now, let us take the financial aspect. Of the three provinces with which we are at present concerned and for which I am told clauses (4) and (6) have been particularly drafted, we find that in the case of Madras there is no financial difficulty at all as the Honourable Prime Minister and the Revenue Minister of Madras have made it quite plain on more than one occasion. The total financial requirement according to them is only about Rs. 15 crores, which for a province like Madras ought not be difficult to find if not in one year, at best in two or three years. In the United Provinces the Honourable the Premier and the Members of his Cabinet have evolved a scheme which, I suppose, is going to bring them more money than they would require to pay the zamindars. If will be a kind of what you call an improvement trust scheme where ultimately the trustees gain rather than lose. In Bihar the position, in my opinion, is comparatively simple, because the Government there desire to take up for acquisition larger estates to begin with and with the sayings made from them they propose to acquire ‘smaller estates. They have even made a statement to the Government of India that they do not at present (perhaps I am using the word “at present” as my own and not that of the Government of Bihar) propose to take over zamindaris of less than Rs. 5,000. If that is so, the problem of payment of compensation even in Bihar is not a difficult one.
