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THE ESSENTIALS OF FEDERAL FINANCE
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India is to have a new constitution. The prospect of
framing one which will meet with general approval is
rather remote at present. The general attention is just
now engrossed by events, which, whatever their importance
under the exigencies of the present political
situation, cannot be of much account in determining the
ultimate destiny of our people. The world is full of
portents and presages ; and sensitive spirits are everywhere
feeling the vivifying touch of the future on the
ideas and institutions of the people. A new world seems
to be in the making ; and though this cannot be ushered
in all at once, or without some painful readjustments, it
is already a factor to be reckoned with in the affairs of
men. India's political freedom is an essential constituent
of the new order, and has to be conceived as a part of the
world-process. It cannot come to us as a gift of the gods*
'No nation deserves to be free without strenuous exertion
or great sacrifices!) But one important condition of
success under the overwhelming difficulties of the times
is that we should have a right sense of values. We
must learn to distinguish between essentials and nonessentials,
and assess the relative importance of measures
and policies in the light of our vision of things to be. It
is wrong to let the past come into conflict with the
present or pay undue attention to survivals which have
no future. The past may live in the future, but it is the
latter which must provide the pattern for schemes of
reconstruction. The leaders of national life have to
cultivate, in some measure, the qualities of seers, and
look ahead for inspiration. It is necessary for right
thinking and action that our gaze should be fixed on the
India of our hopes and aspirations ; and the proposals
for the solution of our national problems bear the impress
of coming events.