CHAPTER—XVII
THE CAPITAL VALUE OF THE VILLAGE
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
The survey of the social and economic conditions of
Atgam would be incomplete if we did not make an esti-
mate of the capital value of the village. This concept of
the capital value of the village is of great importance
since the proportion which other village charges bear
to it, serves as a basis for comparing the conditions of one
village with those of another.
The capital value of a village can be arrived at by capi-
talising the value of its capital resources. We have seen
in a previous chapter that the capital resources of the
village consist of:
(i) land and wells, (2) houses, (3) cattle, (4) implements
(5) utensils and furniture (6) cash and ornaments and (7)
investments.
The latter three are purely personal possessions and
are ignored in calculating the value of the village, for
want of reliable data about them. We have taken into
account only the first four items of capital resources while
attempting the valuation of the capital value of the vil-
lage. We propose to capitalise the value of each
separately.
(i) VALUE OF LAND
It is difficult to get at the exact value of land of this
village as a whole, for it divides itself into two widely
different varieties of soil, namely, kyari and jarayat. There
is a remarkable difference between the prices of these two
classes of soil and hence no common price per acre can be
adopted for the village as a whole.