The Hindustan Gadar Office

“ Briefly, it is that all the persons of the labouring classes, and 10 per cent of the cultivating and artisan classes, or 45 per cent of the total population, are insufficiently clothed, or insufficiently fed, or both. In Gaya district this would give about a million persons without sufficient means of support. If we assume that the circumstances of Gaya are not exceptional — and there is no reason for thinking otherwise — it follows that nearly 100,000,000 of people in British India are living in extreme poverty. ”

“ The textile woven goods pay a duty of 3V-> per cent, and Lancashire is protected by a corresponding excise duty on textile goods produced in the country. Iron and steel pay only a nominal duty of 1 per cent. The other principal source of revenue is the drink traffic, from which the government of India makes an income of about nine million pounds, sterling. ”

“ The income tax, which is levied on incomes other than those derived from agriculture, is only 6y 2 pence in a pound on incomes of £133 or more a year, and almost 5 pence a pound on incomes below that figure. ”

“ There is no truth in the assertion made by British newspapers that India is loyal to the British or sympathizes with their cause. India is from one end to another Dis- Affected. The country is seething with anti-British revolutionary ferment. ”

“ The minimum taxable income is £66 2/3 a year, which shows that all incomes of between £5 to £6 a month, or between 25 shillings to 30 shillings a week are taxed. The large fortunes made by Europeans and Indians by trade, speculation, manufacture and unearned increments of valuation are thus easily let off. The principal burden of taxation falls on the poor ryot.
Income from agriculture is supposed to be taxed at the rate of 50 per cent of the net income of the landlord, or at the rate of 20 per cent of the gross produce of the ryot, under the ryotwari system. ”

“ It, therefore, appears that 50 per cent is the lower limit and it may be 65 per cent if it can be paid without difficulty. We are always assured that the land tax is light and paid without difficulty, which, perhaps, explains the fact that in the Central Provinces over a million people disappeared or died of starvation between 1894-1901, as admitted in the census report of the late years. ”

“ CAUSES. National industries deliberately crushed by the East India Company cannot revive under existing conditions. Annual drain of India. Lack of such education as will enable people to develop their resources. DRAIN. "The annual drain of £3,000,000 from British India has mounted in thirty years at 12 per cent (the usual Indian rate) , compound interest, to the enormous sum of £723,900,000 sterling." ”

“ Hindusthan is an extensive agricultural country and the average land produces two crops a year, and in Bengal there are lands which produce thrice a year. Bengal alone produces such large crops that they are quite sufficient to provide ALL THE POPULATION OF HINDUSTHAN FOR TWO YEARS.
Adam Brooks says (Laws of Civilization and Decay, page 259-246) : "Very soon after the battle of Plassey (fought in 1757) the Bengal plunder began to arrive in London and the effect appears to have been almost instantaneous. ”