Page:White Paper on Indian States (1950).pdf/187

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177

These Princes have by their act of abnegation purchased in perpetuity their right to claim the devotion of their people. I am sure that very soon the Provincial Governments who would be acting for the Dominion Government in discharging administrative functions in these States will turn their thoughts and energies to ameliorating the conditions of the people and to devising ways and means of associating representatives of States with the fashioning of administrative measures. Let them all realise the stakes involved—some 56,000 square miles of territory with a population of about eight million, a gross revenue of about 2 crores and immense potentialities for the future. It is the undisputable right of the people in these territories to modern amenities of Government which should be the governing consideration in everything that we do for them. It will also be the duty of the people concerned to help and co-operate wholeheartedly with the respective Provincial administrations in this process of unification and amelioration, so that they may derive the full benefit of this great achievement.