Of course, the. Budget will be passed, and it is
not likely that certification by the Government will be necessary. The Budget is notable for other things besides the financial benefits which the Swarajists have failed to appreciate. For instance, the opium policy goes much further than was expected—indeed, beyond the requirements of Washington. The trade will be extinguished altogether except for opium which is grown for medical purposes. So the Geneva Conferences which seemed to fail have actually had a wonderful result. Another striking thing is the grant for archaeological research in India. The Hindu doctrine of caste is based on the assumption that the Ayran civilization was superior to anything that preceded it, but recent archae- ological research reveals that the Dravidian peoples of India were not by any means savages but had a civilization comparable with and apparently connected with the Sumerian culture of Mesopotamia. Sir John Marshall, in a very interesting article in the Times, ascribed this earliest civilization in India to the Dasyus, who were overthrown by the Aryan invaders in the second millennium B.C., and perhaps even earlier.
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