201

rise may be due more to improvements' made by the
farmer than to the rise in prices—affects the value of
all other fields to such an extent that the average value of
land for the village as a whole, begins to rise. Conse-
quently in the case of some of those who realise a higher
price by selling plots without making any improvement
thereon, there is an unearned increment.

On the other hand, we came across several instances
in which the rise in land values was due to an unhealthy
state of competition consequent upon excessive pressure
on the land. As a good amount of land has
passed to the hands of the sowkars1 during the last 30
years or so, a comparatively lesser area remains for
the agriculturists. This leads to a cut-throat competition
for land among agriculturists, which in its turn inflates the
price of land. This is borne out by a number of cases in
which the existing land was mortgaged for purchasing
a fresh piece of land. The following are some of them.

Schedule number .of the purchasing family
Area in
acres
Price in Rs.
Price per acre in Rs.

302
1 -6 (kyari)
450
285

390
0-7 (kyari)
240
343

445
2-0 (kyari)
400
200

453
0-4 (Jarayat)
200
500

456
3-9 (jarayat)
700
179

When we remember that in this village the average
price per acre of Kyari land is Rs. 170 and that for jarayat
Rs 60*, the abnormal nature of these transactions will be
obvious.
Again, occasionally the seller of a field exploits to its
fullest extent the necessity of the purchaser, either to con-
solidate his holding or enlarge it, and exacts an inflated
.price* This is by no means uneconomic, but it does not
1 Of this tendency one typical illustration has been given in chapter VII.
$ How we have arrived at these figures will be explained in chapter XV! i.
$6