Indian Industrial Commission 1916 - 18 Report

Abstract

The Indian Industrial Commission was appointed by the Government of India by order conveyed in Resolution 3403 (Industries), dated the 19th May 1916, in the Department of Commerce and Industry, -the full text of which is reproduced as Appendix A-l. The Commission was “ instructed to examine and report upon the possibilities of further industrial development in India and to submit its re’commendationifwith special reference to the following questions :— • “ (a) whether new openings for the profitable employment of Indian capital in commerce and industry can be indicated; (6) whether and, if so, in what manner, Government can usefully give direct encouragement to industrial development— (i) by rendering technical advice more freely available ; (ii) by the demonstration of the practical possibility on a commercial scale of particular industries ; (iii) by affording, directly or indirectly, financial assistance, to industrial enterprises ; or (iv) by any other means which are ngt incompatible with the existing fiscal policy of the Government of India.” In addition to the exclusion of the tariff question from the scope of the Commission’s enquirers, it was also stated to be unnecessary for it to undertake the examination of those aspects of technical arid industrial education which had recently been dealt with by the Atkinson- Dawson Committee, appointed in 1912 to enquire into the means of bringing technical institutions into closer touch with employers of labour in India, and by the Morison Committee which reported to the Secretary of State in 1913 on the system of State technical scholarships, established by the Government of India in 1904.