XVI

suit in his study of a Konkan village. Mr. Keatinge follows
the second method in his 'Rural Economy in the Bombay Deccan'
and 'Agricultural Progress in Western India*.

Thus though the Deccan and the Konkan have received some
attention at the hands of the economic investigator, Gujarat has
been sadly neglected. With the solitary exception of the Pardi
Taluka Economic Enquiry Committee's1 Report there is no scien-
tific work on the economic conditions of Gujarat. This neglect
should be made up both by a general survey as well as by inten-
sive surveys of selected villages. The present is an intensive
survey of Atgam, a village in the Bulsar Taluka, Surat District.

In view of the increasing importance of such studies, to which
we have already referred above, it is absolutely necessary to un-
dertake a thorough discussion of the scope and method of such
surveys. Though Major Jack was the first man who carried out
an intensive survey of a district in Bengal, Dr. Mann was the
first to chalk out a systematic and scientific plan and devise a
method for making village studies. Ever since the publication
of his first study, several others have been made. For the pur-
pose of discussing the scope and method followed in such surveys
we shall consider only the following important studies referring
to conditions in different parts of our country:

(i) Land and Labour in a Deccan Village,
Dr. Mann, Study No. I.

(2) Land and Labour in a Deccan Village,
Dr. Mann, Study No. II.

Bombay
Presidency

(3) A Social and Economic Survey of a
Konkan Village, Ranade.
!4) Some South Indian Villages, Dr. Slater. \ Madras
5) Economic Life in a Malabar Village, Aiyyar. F Presidency
6) The Economic Life of a Bengal District,3 ) Bengal
Dr. Jack. j Presidency
(7) The Economic Life of a Punjab Village, \
Dr. Lucas. I The
(8) Report on an Economic Survey of Bairampur, f Punjab
Bhalla. )
For the sake of clarity and precision in discussion, we shall
take Dr. Mann's Study No. I as the standard, and examine the
scope and method of other village studies in the light of that
standard.
1 This Committee consisted of (i) Rao Saheb Dadubhai P. Desait (2) Rao
Bahadur B. R. Naik, and (3) Professor C. N. Vakil. The report was
published in 1926 by the Gujarat Branch of the Bombay Provincial Co-
operative Institute.
2 In the absence of a detailed village study relating to Bengal we have
taken this work for the purpose of discussion.