§ 3. Sir WILLIAM DAVISONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to the widespread apprehension among European members of the Indian Civil Service with reference to the Indian Civil Service Family Pensions Fund, having regard to the fact of the large number of Indian civil servants who are now coming upon the fund, whose conditions of family life are widely different from those of Europeans; whether, under these circumstances, the Government of India will be prepared to rescind the decision arrived at some years ago to extend the benefits of the fund to non-Europeans; and whether the fund will be forthwith divided into two sections, one European and one Indian, with separate accounts and separate actuarial calculations.
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Earl Winterton)I have already had under consideration the effect on the Indian Civil Service Family Pension Scheme of the increase in the numbers of Indians in the Civil Service. It is not possible, however, at this stage to make any statement on the matter.
§ Sir W. DAVISONHas the Noble Lord fully before him the fact that this fund was constituted almost entirely by the contributions of the British civil servants, and that no Indian contributions at all were made to it before 1913, and then very few? Is there any reason why it should not be divided into two parts?
§ Earl WINTERTONThe whole question is under consideration, and the facts mentioned by the hon. Gentleman will, of course, be taken into consideration.