Land Revenue Research Articles

A MUCH NEEDED LINK IN AGRICULTURAL DISSEMINATION WORK

In an agricultural country like ours the affluence of the nation is synonymous with the welfare of the cultivators who form the major component. Hence, any scheme for the advancement of this country must take them into consideration and outline ways and means to improve their knowledge and intellect, their customs and habits and their agricultural methods and machinery. It is well known that there is not much money in farming and even if the income is doubled the income may not be large. Still, agriculture, being the main industry of India, should form the foremost pro- blem to be tackled by a sincere economist who has the welfare of the country at heart. The remission of land revenue, the formation of debt conciliation boards, the establishment of land-mortgage banks, the enactment of the Debt relief and Tenancy bills and the introduction of the Prohibition Act are but a few attempts to relieve the distress among farmers. Concentration should be made more towards the enhance nent of their agricultural income. The proverbial conservatism of the ryot and his obstinate tendency to tread along his age-old path has to be broken and he must be persuaded to move with the times, study the present conditions of the markets and adopt the various Improved and economic methods of cropping advocated by the Agricultural Department. The establishment of Agricultural Colleges and Research Institutes, the patient and sincere toils of the Scientists and the results of all successful investigations are but only half the task, the other and perhaps the greatest task is to disseminate these results in villages. And no results of agricultural research, however important in themselves, can be considered of any value unless and until it is carried to the door of the individual cultivator.

December, 1934. La Natalià illegittima in Italia. A. Marchiori. (Pp. 1–183.) Sully struttura professionale della popolazione Isaliana. P. Luzzatto‐Fegiz. (Pp. 187–218.) Ricerche statistiche suil' occupazione operaia in Italia. L. Lenti. (Pp. 221–253.)

D<scp>ecember</scp>, 1934. <i>La Natalià illegittima in Italia</i>. A. M<scp>archiori</scp>. (Pp. 1–183.) <i>Sully struttura professionale della popolazione Isaliana</i>. P. L<scp>uzzatto</scp>‐F<scp>egiz</scp>. (Pp. 187–218.) <i>Ricerche statistiche suil' occupazione operaia in Italia</i>. L. L<scp>enti</scp>. (Pp. 221–253.)

The Agrarian System of Moslem India.

Like many British authors of books about India before independence, William Harrison Moreland (1868–1938) had worked as a civil servant in the subcontinent. He spent twenty-five years in the North-West Provinces, and for twelve years he was Director of Land Records and Agriculture. He was committed to improving the agricultural system of the region, and even established an agricultural college in Kanpur. After he retired, he decided to examine old land and revenue records, resulting in this work, which was published in 1929. Starting in the thirteenth century, the book gives a historical context to the changing land use and revenue practices in India. Moreland also examines the role of religious law and the influence of successive regimes and rulers on the development of agrarian practices as well as on the lives and work of India's peasantry.

The Reform in Indian Land Tenure

The present distribution of land in India is fraught with great economic and social danger. Throughout India the ancient custom and tradition laid down that the cultivator had a right to retain his holding so long as he paid a definite share of the harvest or the tax demandable from him. In Southern India, where most of the land is held by petty occupiers direct from the State, this custom has been respected from the beginning of the British rule. In the ryotwari areas in Madras the registered occupant of each field is entitled to hold the land for ever, so long as he pays his land revenue; and inheritance, transfer, mortga ges, sale and lease are without restriction. Similarly in Bombay, as in Madras, a ryot is secure in possession of his holding, so long as he regularly pays the instalments of his land revenue and the right of occupancy, in the case of the ordinary survey tenure, is transferable by inheritance, sale, gift or mortgage without restriction.

Akbar's Land Revenue Arrangements in Bengal

The nature of Akbar's arrangements for the assessment of the land revenue in the newly acquired province of Bengal is a matter of some historical importance. It concerns the eighteenth century as well as the sixteenth, for the controversies which marked the early years of British rule found common ground in the revenue roll attributed to the year 1582; and, now that the famous Fifth Report of the Select Committee of 1812 is being studied so widely in India, it is desirable to know just what Todar Mal did, and just where Grant and Shore took erroneous views regarding the nature of his action.

Official Publications Received

Commercial Intelligence Department, India. Agricultural Statistics of India, 1920–21. Vol. 2: Area, Classification of Area, Area under Irriga tion, Area under Crops, Live-Stock, and Land Revenue Assessment in certain Indian States. Pp. v+205. (Calcutta: Government Printing Office.) 1.8 rupees.

I. Akbar's Land-Revenue System as described in the “Āin-i-Akbari”

This paper attempts to bring together the facts disclosed in somewhat disjointed fashion in the Āīn-i-Akbari so as to present as nearly as possible a complete view of the theory of the land revenue held at the headquarters of Akbar's administration. How far that theory accorded with the actual practice in the villages is another question, and one on which the work of Abul Fazl cannot be expected to throw light; but it is perhaps fair to assume that in the sixteenth century, as in the twentieth, practice tended to approximate to theory, and that if we make some obvious reservations and allowances we can take the theory as a trustworthy guide. So far as the writers are aware, this task has not previously been carried out, and it is not difficult to show that the partial accounts of the system contained in standard textbooks of Indian history are marked by numerous errors or omissions. The importance of Akbar's reign in the political and economic history of India appears to afford sufficient justification for an attempt to restate the official account of what is universally regarded as one of his greatest administrative achievements, a correct understanding of which is necessary for the appreciation of much of the historical material recorded in the Āin.

III. Notices of Books - Short Account of the Land Revenue and its Administration in British India, with a Sketch of the Land Tenures.

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Land Revenue in Madras

Land Revenue in Madras

The Suez Canal

SINCE I last addressed you I have had an opportunity of inspecting the Suez Canal under the most favourable circumstances. After a careful personal examination, and having heard the various opinions of others differing in every conceivable respect, I think that, considering all things, M. de Lesseps and his staff have much cause to feel proud of the success they have attained. To return to my previous letter, I may say, without fear of any objections which may hereafter be raised, that not only do I think the suggestions I then made are sound and practical, but that to carry them out would be most economical to the shareholders of the Canal, while to the Egyptian Government it would add probably 25 per cent, to the land revenue, by reclaiming a vast extent of desert that only requires water to make it most productive.

IV.—A Description of the Agricultural and Revenue Economy of the Village of Pudu-vayal, in that part of the Peninsula of India called the Carnatic

In submitting these notices to the attention of the Society, the object is to bring under its view the internal revenue economy of a Hindu village that has never been under the direct control of any European officer of the East-India Company, in order to exhibit a fair specimen of ancient usages in the south of India, and to shew with accuracy, the proportion of the produce of the soil customarily taken in kind, in latter times, as land revenue, the rights of the parties paying revenue, and those of the individual who, by grant from the sovereign, is entitled to collect that revenue.