Life And Labour In A South Gujarat Village

STUDIES IN INDIAN ECONOMICS

A series of volumes dealing with the economic history and problems
of Modern India

EDITED BY

C. N. VAKIL

UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, BOMBAY

1. Financial Developments in Modern India, 1860-1929 By C. N. Vakit

(second edition in preparation ).

2. Currency and Prices in India By C. N. Vakil and S. K. Muranjan.
8. Life and Labour in a South Gujarat Village By G. C. Mukhtyar.

4. Population Problem of India, with special reference to food supply

By B. T. Ranadive.

5. Taxation of Income in India By V. K. R. V. Rao (in the Press).

6. Growth of Trade and Industry in Modern India By C. N. Vakil,

S. C. Bose and P. V. Deolalkar (in preparation).

JLIFE AND LABOUR

SOUTH GUJARAT VILLAGE

GieilMUKHTYAR, M.A.

EDITED BY

C. N. VAKIL,

UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, BOMBAY.

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. LTD.
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EDITOR’S PREFACE

The importance of investigations into the life of people living
in rural areas has been generally recognised. It was emphasised
recently by the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture which
pointed out the duties of the Universities in this connection. Though
systematic work of this character was first done in this Presidency
by Dr. Mann, the Punjab is more advanced at present inasmuch as
it has an organised body which carries out the work. So far as
this Presidency is concerned, the investigations of Dr. Mann
referred only to the Deccan. Other parts of the Presidency were
neglected for some time; a detailed survey of a Konkan village
was done in this School by Mr. V. G. Ranade during 1922-24-,
and published by the Provincial Co-operative Institute in 1926.
Gujarat has been hitherto neglected and the present work is the
first attempt to fill the gap. 1

Any one interested in rural investigations of this character is
bound to be faced with several difficulties, the chief of which
will be with reference to the methods that he should adopt.
Existing village studies do not give a full explanation of the
methods followed in each case, the reader being left in most cases
to infer the method for himself. In view of the growing impor¬
tance of such studies apd the variety of problems which each of
them is likely to;* raise, a study of the method of investigation is
essential. This would on the one hand facilitate the work of
other investigators, and on the other hand enable comparisons to
be made between different studies. The present work is a
definite improvement in this connection, inasmuch as in addition
to a general explanation of the method . in . the introduction,
detailed explanations “have been given throughout the text,
wherever necessary, and in the appendices. *

This was considered specially necessary because of another
important d^ijarture which this study has made. The scope is
usually restricted to a few selected topics in most of the existing

iSee Appendix X.

works of a similar character; in the present volume, an attempt
has been made to make the scope of the investigation as compre¬
hensive as possible, by collecting data on almost all the aspects of
social and economic life of the people of the village. It will be
obvious that this effort made it necessary to work out the exact
method to be followed in each case. Problems of scope and
method which arose during the course of this investigation were
tully discussed by the author with me at each stage. Full
account was taken in these discussions of the methods that were
followed by other investigators, so far as they could be ascertained,
before determining the line of action. Though we do not claim
finality about these methods, it is expected that the comprehensive
scope of the present work, and the explanations of the method
followed, will help in the scientific study of this important branch
of Indian Economics to which increasing attention is being
naturally paid.

Another difficulty in such investigations is the selection of
the village from the point of view of its representative character.
A village typical of all important conditions existing in a
particular large area is an ideal impossible to achieve, but it
is desirable that the selected village should be as far as possible
representative of conditions in the larger area of which it
forms a part. With this view, a preliminary tour covering about
20 villages in South Gujarat was made by Mr. Mukhtyar.
With the impressions thus gathered and with the co-opera¬
tion of Diwan Bahadur A. U. Malji, Chairman, Gujarat

Branch, Bombay Provincial Co-operative Institute and his
co-workers, it was decided to select the village of Atgam in

Bulsar Taluka of the Surat district as one fairly representative of
conditions in South Gujarat. The actual investigations involved
a stay of about 200 days in the village on the part of Mr. Mukhtyar.
This was not a continuous stay, but comprised several visits
during different seasons. The work was begun by the end

of 1926, and was finished by the beginning of 1928, so that the
facts related may be taken to be true of the year 1927. Mr. Mukhtyar
was fortunate in getting the sympathy and help of several men,
official and non-official in this survey. Among these, special
mention must be made of Mr. Manibhai H. Desai to

vii

whose good work the people of Atgam owe a great deal. It may
be added that this investigation was done by Mr. Mukhtyar as a
research scholar in this School, and was submitted for the M. A.
degree of this University in 1928. The degree was awarded to
him with distinction.

In order that interest may be created in such work in other
parts of Gujarat, and in order that some comparison may be
possible regarding the conditions of this village with Gujarat as a
whole, it has been thought desirable to give a brief survey of
rural conditions in Gujarat at the outset. Chapter I, which deals
with this, has been written by me based mainly on material
collected by Mr. Mukhtyar, supplemented by personal obser¬
vation.

C. N. Vakil.

School of Economics
and Sociology,

University of Bombay,

1st December, 1929.

CONTENTS

- . Page.

Editoe-s Preface. v

Introduction.

The importance of village studies. Scope and
method of existing works on the subject. Scope and
method of the present volume. xv

Chapter I.

Regional Background, or a brief survey of rural condi¬
tions in British Gujarat. I

Area. Population. Education. Crops. Rainfall and
irrigation. Extensive cultivation. Intensive cultivation.
Sub-division and fragmentation of holdings. Scarcity of
labour. Inadequacy and inefficiency of cattle. Marketing
organisation. Finance. Transport. Subsidiary occupa¬
tions. Prices and Wages. Indebtedness. Land Revenue.

Chapter II.

The Physical Background. 24

Location of the village. Its construction. Its surround¬
ings. Rainfall: Variations in its total quantity and
seasonal distribution. The nature of seasons. Climate
and its effects on the farmer and his occupation. Soils
of the village. Water-supply: Wells, the main
source of irrigation. Characteristics of wells. Wells
and the irrigated area.

Chapter III.

The People of the Village. . 42

The representative nature of the village. The actual
composition of its population. History of the evolution
of Atgam as a village community. The average size of
the family and proportion of sexes. The proportion of
effective population. Birth-rate and death-rate.: Average
expectation of life. Immigration and emigration.

Chapter IV.

Some Aspects of Life in the Village.

The daily routine of life of the people. The level of
literacy. Their religious beliefs and festivals. Civil
condition. Social customs like marriage, remarriage,

■ and death-ceremonies. Ceremonial expenditure and
the indebtedness of the people.

Chapter V.

Some Aspects of Agricultural Life and Practice.

The position of agriculture in the economy of the
village. Salient features of agricultural practice:
rotation of crops, mixed cropping, use of manures,
quality of cultivation, fencing, seed-preservation, intro¬
duction of new crops and economy regarding leakage.

Chapter VI.

Economics of Cultivation.

Economics, or, the cost of, and return from the
different crops: cereals, pulses and commercial crops.
Economics of grass and trees. The total amount of
real net income from land derived by the families
studied. The nature of agricultural returns. Reconstruc¬
tion of the agriculture of the village.

Chapter VII.

Land and its Distribution.

Meaning of the phrase 4 distribution of land \ Distri¬
bution of owned land. Historical aspect of the
distribution of land in Atgam. The present state of
subdivision and fragmentation. Causes of this state of
affairs. Distribution of land as it is cultivated.
Cultivated holdings. Consolidation of fragments in
actual cultivation. Redeeming features, like the sporadic
attempts at consolidating fragments through purchase,
and the joint-cultivation of sugarcane. Legislation,
the only solution.

xi

Chapter VIII. page.

Capital Resources of the Village. 126

Cattle and Implements. Cattle: their importance in
the economy of the village. Distribution of cattle.
Inadequacy. The breed of cattle. Causes of inefficiency :
fodder of low nutritive value, indifference in tending
and emigration. Housing of cattle. Cattle diseases
and the traditional remedies employed by villagers. The
annual net income from the cattle and other animals
of the village.

Implements: Nature and description, quantity and
cost. Hire and repairing charges.

Chapter IX.

Capital Resources of the Village (continued). 150

Houses and Personal Possessions. The housing of
the people. Utensils and furniture used by them. The
average villager’s fondness of ornaments, and his
shortness of cash. His ignorance about modern forms
of investment.

Chapter X.

Agricultural Labour. 158

The nature of the labour-problem: free labour and
the Hali-system. Causes of scarcity of labour in At gam.

The rates of wages. Hours of work. Growing inefficiency
of labour. Remedies for this twofold problem.

Chapter XI,

Marketing Organisation of the Village. 172

A general discussion of the different forms of market¬
ing of necessaries as well as of farm-products, (i) At
the home of the producer, (ii) At the home of the con¬
sumer. (iii) At the market place. (iv) Between
buyers and sellers at great distances, (v) Purchase
from, or sale to, a middleman, (vi) Purchase or sale
through a middleman. Care in handling goods. Market¬
ing of paddy, gul and mango fruits.

xii

Chapter XII.

Some Tests of Agricultural Prosperity.

The study of the general economic condition of the
people by means of tests like the extension of area
under cultivation, increase in the number of plough-
cattte, increase in the number of ploughs, increase
m the number of carts, rise in land-values, rise in
rentals, rise in the prices of agricultural produce,
ease with which land revenue is paid and improve-
merits in methods of cultivation.

Chapter XIII.

r*HE Standard of Living of the People.

The definition of the phrase ‘ standard of living
The methods of studying the standard of living of a
people. Grouping of the people of the village for
studying their standard of living. The standard budget
adopted for group I. The standard budget adopted for
group II. The standard budget adopted' for group III.

Chapter XIV.

The Economic Condition of the People.

The balance-sheet of income and expenditure for the
village as a whole. Discussion of the economic condition
of the people as divided into economic groups and
as divided into racial groups: the Kaliparaj and the
Ujaliparaj. Causes of poverty : the small size of the
holding, overpopulation and indebtedness. The pro-
gramme of reconstruction.

‘212

227

Chapter XV.

Credit and Indebtedness.

The extent, main features and causes of the indebted¬
ness of the people. Description of the organisation of
agricultural credit in the village. A critical examination
of the working of the Local Co-operative Credit Society.
Services rendered by the Society. Work to be done by
1 . The necessity of a Land Mortgage Bank to assist

1 m improving the economic condition of the

people.

xiii

Chapter XVI. Page.

The People and the State. 264

Relations between the people and the State through
the administrative machinery. The total dues paid by
the village to the state and the benefits received by
it in return. Taxation.

Chapter XVII.

The Capital Value of the Village. 272

Value of land, houses, livestock and implements. The
total capital value of the village. The proportion which
certain village figures bear to the capital value of the
village. Comparison with other village studies.

Chapter XVIIL

Summary and Conclusions. 279

Summary of conclusions and suggestions made
throughout the work.

Appendix I.

Form of Schedule used in conducting the
enquiry. 285

Appendix II.

The method of constructing indices for gauging the
nature of the seasons. 288

Appendix III.

Showing the estimate of the cost of sinking a well
in Atgam. 291

Appendix IV.

Giving the annual time-table of work of two
brothers, possessing and cultivating 15 acres of land
in Atgam. 293

Appendix V. A.

Showing minimum and maximum expenses on
marriage for different castes.

296

XIV

Appendix V. B.

Showing minimum and maximum expenses on death
ceremonies for different castes.

Page.

297

Appendix VI.

Giving detailed information about the fragmentation
of holdings in the village.

Appendix VII.

Giving a list of cattle-diseases and the traditional
remedies employed by the villagers.

Appendix VIII.

Explaining the method of calculating the receipts
from labour.

300

Appendix IX.

Showing how the usual daily diet of the average
Kaliparaj family falls short of the standard diet of
physical efficiency. gQ2

Appendix X.

an account of rural investigations in

Gujarat.

304

INTRODUCTION

India is a land of villages. About nine-tenths of her popula¬
tion live in rural areas. About seven-tenths live on agriculture.
Thus the bulk of the^ population of our country pursues agricul-
ture either as a principal or subsidiary source of income. Obvi¬
ously the prosperity of our rural areas is intimately woven with
the prosperity of agriculture. In view of this, the importance
ot a study of agricultural conditions and their effects on rural
population cannot be over-emphasized.

Only a few attempts 1 have been made so far to study the
problem of Indian agriculture as a whole. These studies could
not evidently be comprehensive or complete in themselves. Conse¬
quently two methods have been devised for attacking the prob-
lem: (i) by makmg surveys of typical villages like Dr. Mann’s
Land and Labour in a Deccan Village* and ( 2 ) by surveying
large homogeneous tracts. Among the latter there are two
subdivisions—study of a particular problem of the region like
Darling s Punjab Peasant in Prosperity and Debt’, and a general

stu , d y °£ aI1 problems of an area like Calvert’s ‘Wealth
and Welfare of the Punjab’.

Let us note the relation between these two classes of surveys.
The former are based on first hand investigations; the latter on
statistics collected by Government and private agencies. The
tormer have a special value in so far as they supply us with a

lol'f P f Ure ° f 3 Sma11 unit in a11 its devils and completeness;
the latter have a general value as they indicate the broad tenden-
cies operating m a tract. For a thorough study of the problem
of Indian agriculture both classes of surveys are necessary. The
that ^ ° f b °, th s £ ould be co-ordinated. But we must mention

nrnhJh-rF rea f ter * e - number of Vll lage surveys, the greater is the
probability of arriving at the truth.

So far as the agricultural problem of our Presidency is con¬
cerned, both classes of studies have been made. Dr. Mann has
surveyed two villages in the Deccan. Mr. Ranade has followed

1 *' 3 ' implement of Indian Agriculture, by Dr. Voelcker

(2>> The Agricultural Problems of India, by Sir Gancaram
la t Agriculture m India, by James Mackenna.

9 Tbp fnitw °,T ° f th u Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture.

Study Nb lT M A <? - 1 ” sta ” ce £ of th « first method: ( 1 ) Dr. Mann’s

Ranade • e ?-" d f, C -? normc Surve y of a Konkan Village,

Mi ^ SoUt . h - Indlan Viiages, Dr. Slater; ( 4 ) Economic Life

lace Dr^LucIs 1 - 3 ?^’ R iyy3r ’ ^ The Economic Life of a Punjab Vil-

Bhal’la. Lucas ’ Re P ort ° n an Economic Survey of Bairampur,

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’s 1 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:

(1) Land and Labour in a Deccan Village, \

Dr. Mann, Study No. I.

( 2 ) Land and Labour in a Deccan Village, ( Bombay

Dr. Mann, Study No. II. [ 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. 1 Presidency

( 6 ) The Economic Life of a Bengal District , 2 ) Bengal

Dr. Jack. 1 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 (1) Rao Saheb Dadubhai P. Desai, (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.

% In the absence of a detailed village study relating to Bengal we have
taken this work for the purpose of discussion.

xvii

The scope of Dr. Mann's study No. I may be analysed as
follows:

Part I: The general features of the economic life of the yillage
including:

(1) the physical character of the village,

(ii) the land, its divisions and holdings,

(iii) vegetation, crops and cultivation of the village, and

(iv) the agricultural stock of the village.

Part II: The statistical part of the enquiry showing the actual
economic condition of the people as measured by

nn px^ne'nditnrp 1 for the vilIa £ e as a whole and as divided

(iii) indebtedness I int0 certain economic ? r0U P S ‘

(iv) the capital value of the village and the proportion certain

village charges bear to it.

Keeping this scope in mind, we shall now review the contents
of other studies mentioned above.

( 2 ) Dr. Mann’s Study No. II: In this work there is one more
topic, namely, the effects of a rise in prices on rural prosperity.

( 3 ) Mr. Ranade’s work 1 on “A Social and Economic Survey
of a Konkan Village” includes, over and above the standard
scope, a study of some social aspects of village life like reli¬
gion, education, litigation and daily routine of work.

( 4 ) Dr. Slater has compiled and edited a number of village
surveys made by his students in accordance with the questionnaire
he drew up. The questionnaire as well as the studies include a
few additional topics like subsidiary industries, village trade,
sanitation, education and village administration. Greater details
are aimed at in the study of the other problems than those which
come within the scope of the standard survey. All these Madras
surveys are, however, defective since they do not include a statisti¬
cal study of the economic conditions of the village as a whole and
in groups. They contain only a few typical budgets.

( 5 ) Mr. Aiyyar has more or less followed the standard. In his
general treatment of the subject, however, he notes a few more
peculiarities of land tenures and indebtedness of the people.
Moreover, he has added two new chapters: one on “Workmen
and Wages”, which includes a study of typical weekly as well as
annual budgets of artisans, depressed classes and others; and the
other on “Wealth and Welfare” which contains a discussion of a
number of aspects of rural life like the standard of living, housing
conditions, physical and mental health of the people, religious
festivals, education, unemployment, inequality of wealth, pancha-

1 This study was made under the guidance of Professor C. N. Vakil
and has been published by the Provincial Co-operative Institute, Bombay.

xviii

yats and others—all referring to Malabar, in which the village
he studied is situated. So far as the village study itself is con¬
cerned, though the author has statistically examined the economic
condition of the village as a whole, he has not analysed the
figures further with a view to give us an exact idea as to what
proportion of the people live in poverty. Nor has he touched the
conception of the capital value of the village.

( 6 ) Major Jack’s is a purely statistical study of a district (Farid-
pur), with necessary explanations to put flesh upon the dry bones
of statistics.

( 7 ) In his study of Kabirpur Dr. Lucas added to the standard
scope the following topics: marriage and other social customs,
education, sanitation, administration and a few remarks on the
marketing organization of the village. He has moreover given
an interesting annual time-table of the work of a farmer. Greater
details are given regarding the people, their occupations, indebted¬
ness, rents and wages. This study, like Dr. Slater’s, includes
only three typical budgets—one of a Sheikh agriculturist, an¬
other of a weaver and the third of a chamar.

( 8 ) The contents of Mr. Bhalla’s work are mostly similar to
those included in the above study. The only additions are
details on a few topics like land revenue, sales and mortgages,
and in the discussion of new topics like the actual cost of sinking
a well, and a concrete instance to illustrate the process of sub¬
division and fragmentation of land. This study, like Dr. Lucas,’
is also incomplete as it does not contain a statistical pre¬
sentation of the economic condition of the people.

Having thus considered the scope, we may briefly discuss the
method. The method in such intensive village surveys means
the method of collecting data with regard to the size of population,
its equipment, its income, expenditure and indebtedness. It in¬
volves in practice either a schedule or a questionnaire. A
questionnaire alone is generally used in those studies in which no
attempt has been made to calculate the income and expenditure
of the village as a whole. For instance, in Study No. ( 4 ) an
elaborate questionnaire has been given. In Studies ( 7 ) and ( 8 )
a questionnaire was evidently in mind while making the survey,
though none has been given in the works themselves as published . 1
In study No. ( 6 ) ‘an abstract of the rules and instructions in
accordance with which the economic information was gathered’

1 It may .be noted that the elaborate questionnaire issued by the Punjab
Economic 'Enquiry Board has obviously been based on these studies. This
Board published “An Economic Survey of Gaggar Bhana” (Amritsar
District) by S. Gian Singh under the supervision of C. M. King, I.C.S.,
in 1928. The questionnaire referred to above has been included in this
work.

xix

has been given at the end of the book, but this is not sufficiently
explanatory in the absence of a copy of the original schedule*
Dr. Mann, Mr. Ranade and Mr. Aiyyar have, as can be easily
inferred from their studies, used a schedule and a questionnaire.
Unfortunately, neither in Dr. Mann’s studies nor in that of Mr.
Ranade is the schedule or the questionnaire published. ^ Mr.
Aiyyar, however, gives at the end of his work five* statistical
forms for collecting data and has followed Dr. Slater’s question-
naire.

In the light of the above analysis of the scope and the method
of the studies so far made, we shall now mention the special
features of the study that we have made. So far as the scope
is concerned, we have followed the standard study and, in addi¬
tion, have dealt with almost all the topics that have received
attention by other investigators, and have added a few more. The
following are some of the special features of this study;

(1) a detailed examination of agricultural methods,

( 2 ) the description of ‘purely personal possessions* like furni¬
ture, ornaments, cash and others—of the village,

( 3 ) a thorough study of the labour problem of the village,

( 4 ) a comprehensive discussion of the marketing organization
of the village,

( 5 ) a discussion of the general economic conditions of the
people by the application of tests, usually applied by Eco¬
nomists and Settlement Officers, for gauging the prospe¬
rity or otherwise of rural areas,

( 6 ) an attempt to consider the relation between the total
Government dues paid by the village and the benefit re¬
ceived by it in return,

( 7 ) greater details about the relation between the people and
the state,

( 8 ) greater details about indebtedness and credit organiza¬
tion of the village and

( 9 ) a programme for the reconstruction of the village.

We have also added a number of appendices, some^ giving
original data collected on the spot, and others explaining the
method followed in making certain calculations. So far as the
method of collecting the data is concerned, we have given the
schedule used by us in an appendix.

A few words about the salient features of the method we have
followed in this study, may not be deemed out of place here. ^ We
filled in certain columns in the schedule on the spot. The remaining
columns were filled in after making calculations which have been
explained in the text, foot-notes and appendices. We may how¬
ever, mention the important features of the methods used in
making some of these calculations.

XX

As regards the net receipts from land to the different families,
we have closely followed Dr. Mann’s method with this difference :

(i) his net income for the village is exclusive of land revenue,
while ours is not; we have debited land revenue separately to
each family, treating it as an item of annual expenditure with a
view to trace the relation, if any, between the burden of land reve¬
nue arid the economic condition of the family concerned; and

(ii) while he has not deducted anything by way of repairing
charges, we have done so in the final calculation of the real net
income from land.

Regarding net income from animals and labour (skilled, un¬
skilled or external), we have given in the case of the former,
balance-sheets relating to different animals, and a table of the
figures of the net income from each, used by us in calculating the
net receipts derived by different families from animals they own;
and in the case of the latter, we have given a full explanation of
the method of calculating net income from labour in an appendix.

Finally, we must note that whatever amount of care an investi¬
gator may take, the accuracy of statistics collected in such studies
depends upon the nature of the ‘raw-material.’ There may be
slight inaccuracies in detail here and there, but we believe that
the picture, as presented in this work as a whole, does not belie
the reality it seeks to represent. Though this study could not be
made as intensive as that of Rowntree or that of Booth, we have
tried our best to make it as comprehensive and intensive as was
possible under the circumstances, giving at the same time an
explanation of the methods followed, as far as possible.

CHAPTER—I

REGIONAL BACKGROUND

or

A BRIEF SURVEY OF RURAL CONDITIONS

in

BRITISH GUJARAT

INTRODUCTION

The object of this chapter is to describe in brief rural
conditions in British Gujarat, so that the swiy o
village of Atgam in the Bulsar Taluka of the Surat Lh
ric^ which is the subject matter of tins work may be
understood in its true perspective. It may also serve
an eye opener to those interested m *e subject to und

take intensive enquiries m other parts?f*n
t ; nn n f several typical enquiries relating to an area is an
to any well-thought scheme of rural

reconstruction.

AREA

British Gujarat is the northern part of the Bombay
Presidency and consists of five districts, \

had, Kaira

interspersed y* f^xh. torf ^ of British Gujarat is

other mmor states. The tow area Ahmedabad district

1600 square miles.

POPULATION

According to the census of 192L ™ ral Gujarat consists
of 3W viUages with a total population of at, 93 ,* 83 .

2

persons. The districts of Panch Mahals and Kaira have
a larger rural population than those of Broach and Surat;
the rural population of Ahmedabad is the least being
about 59 per cent. It appears that the rural population
is on the increase as can be seen from the fact that the
average size of a village in British Gujarat, which was
604 persons in 1901, rose to 669 in 1921. This, how¬
ever, does not give the true picture of the density of
population in the different districts. We find that whereas
the average village population in Kaira is 1027 ; that in
Panch Mahals is 482 ; the corresponding figures for Surat,
Ahmedabad and Broach are 663, 612 and 594 respect¬
ively. If we look at the figures of population classified
according to occupation, we find that the numbers living
on agriculture are increasing. The percentage of the
agricultural population which was about 59 in 1901 rose
to 62.6 in 1921 as can be seen from the following table.

’ooo

Agricultural Population . 1593

Other Population . . . 1109

Total Population . . . 2702

1901

1921

Percentage

? 000

Percentage

58*9

1583

62*6

41*1

1105

37*4

—

2958

—

It is perhaps true to say that the sub-division of popula¬
tion according to caste is perhaps most minute in British
Gujarat as compared with other parts of the country, but
from the point of view of the agricultural industry we
shall refer to the main divisions which are known as Ujali-
paraj and Kaliparaj. The word Kaliparaj means black
races and includes, generally speaking, the working
classes known by different names such as Chodhra, Dhan-
ka, Dhodia, Kunkna, Bhil, Naika, Dubla and others.
All other Hindus, other than these are called Ujaliparaj.
In addition to the Hindus, there are of course Mahom-
medans, Parsis and Christians in varying numbers in the
different districts, and though in some areas we do find
that the Mahommedan population is doing useful agricul¬
tural work, we shall confine our attention to the main

3

sub-divisions of the Hindu population, which from the
point of view of the agricultural industry is the most
important. Among the Ujaliparaj the two most indus¬
trious communities are those of Kunbis or Patidars and
Anavils. There is a wide gulf between the Ujaliparaj
and the Kaliparaj in their standard of living, customs and
social traditions, as well as in their methods of agricul¬
tural wprk. The Kaliparaj> who number more than one-
third of the population of Gujarat are generally in a back¬
ward condition and in most cases addicted to drink. One
of the important problems of rural reconstruction in
Gujarat is to improve the condition of these people. It
may be noted that efforts are being made in this direction
by voluntary associations like the Bhil Seva Mandal of
Dohad and the Rani Paraj Seva Samiti of South Gujarat.
So far as the Ujaliparaj are concerned, the two most im¬
portant agricultural communities, namely, the Patidars
and Anavils are either decreasing in population or remain¬
ing stationary as can be seen from the following figures.

Year

1881

1911

1921

Patidars in
British Gujarat
3,22,488
2,59,992
2,33,277

Anavils

(Surat District)
24,519
23,721
23,895

One of the principal causes of this state of affairs is the
social custom among both these communities by which,
generally speaking, a girl is not given in marriage except
to a bridegroom belonging to a family of high status
which is determined more by tradition than by the actual
position of the party at the time. From the point of
view of the agricultural industry, this is indeed an un¬
fortunate situation.

EDUCATION

In matters of education, though there is a steady pro¬
gress, the actual figures do not reveal a satisfactory posi¬
tion. At the last census about 13 per cent, of the peo-

1*

pie were recorded as literate; the literacy among males
was about 22 per cent., among females it was less than
i Pe ^ ent ' The. following figures show the position of
the different districts regarding literacy in 1921. It is
obvious that. for any reform the first step will have to be
in the direction of spreading elementary education to a
much greater extent than now.

DISTRICT PERCENTAGE OF LITERACY

a u ■, , , Males Females

Ahmedabad. 22*71 5*15

f aira . 19-62 3-13

Panch Mahals. 11*37 1*60

Broach .. • 27-97 3-41

^ urat 28-31 5-65

British Gujarat . , . 21.99 © 79

RAINFALL AND IRRIGATION

Both in volume and distribution, rainfall in Guiarat
vanes from district to district, and even from village

in S age ' ,, 0n , th t whole ’ k ma y be said that it is heavy
m the south and the east, and comparatively less iti the

fh° p rt fi ^L d If th r T West - j The rain y season commences in
the first half of June and is over by the beginning of Octo-

. The prospects of the Kharif (monsoon) and Rabi
(winter) crops depend on the adequacy and distribution
of the rainfalh An analysis of the statistics of rainfall
in British Gujarat reveals the fact that it has become more
deficient and irregular since 1900. The following fio-ures
will bear out this remark. s & i

Years

1850-1900

1894-1900

1901-1910

1911-1920

1921-1926

Average annual rainfall in British Guiarat
in inches

37 *4
85-4,

30*7

33*8

29*6

5

In the absence of adequate rainfall, Gujarat is not well-
provided by a system of irrigation canals. We have
some tanks and wells, but their condition is not satisfac¬
tory. During the quinquennium 1922-23 to 1926-27,
the average annual area irrigated from all sources amount¬
ed to about 103,000 acres, or only 2.3 per cent, of the
gross cropped area in 1926-2.7. Gujarat is traversed by
several rivers, which can be utilised for irrigation. The
Indian Irrigation Commission of 1901-03 recommended
the construction of large canals connected with the Sabar-
mati, the Mahi, the -Narbudda and the Tapti—the four
principal rivers of Gujarat. Schemes were submitted to
the Bombay Government in 1919 and in 1921 for the
Sabarmati Canal project, but they were rejected on the
ground of financial stringency. A well-thought scheme
of irrigation for Gujarat is an urgent necessity in the inter¬
ests of the farmer. 1

CROPS

The most important food crops grown in British Guja¬
rat are jowar, bajri, paddy and wheat. Cotton and oil¬
seeds are the important non-food crops. On a detailed
analysis of the figures, we notice that there is a tendency
to increase the area of non-food crops. The total cropped
area in 1895-96 amounted to 3403 thousand acres ; in
1926-27 the figure rose to 4421 thousand acres. The
area under food crops, which was 2575 thousand acres
in the former year remained more or less stationary, being
2581 thousand acres in the latter year. The area under
non-food crops accounted for the total increase having
risen from 838 thousand acres to 1840 thousand acres in
the period mentioned above. Among the non-food
crops, cotton is popular in ail the districts ; Broach having
46 per cent, of its cropped area under cotton, Ahmedabad
25 per cent., Surat 20, Kaira 11 and Panch Mahals 6.
Another crop of importance which is grown in recent years
is groundnut which has become popular in Northern Gu-

1 Cf. the written memoranda and evidence of witnesses from Gujarat
before the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture; VoL II, Part 2 .

6

j arat > the Ares under this crop was about 400 acres before
the War, in 1924-25 it rose to 40,000 acres, in recent
years it has exceeded 75,000 acres. 1 The tendency that
we have noticed above towards increasing attention to
non-food crops is true of all districts as can be seen from
the following table.

FIGURES IN PERCENTAGES

District

■ i

1895-96

1926—27

Food crops

Non-food

crops

Food crops i

Non-food

crops

Ahmedabad . .

72

28

64 1

36

Kaira.

92

8

68

32

Panch Mahals .

91

9

70

30

Broach ....

49

51

43

" 57

Surat .....

77

23

38

62

British Gujarat .

75

25

58

42

Though Gujarat is considered one of the most fertile
regions in India, it is generally believed that the yield
of crops is very low. This opinion was voiced before
the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, and one
hears of the complaint generally in rura lareas. 2 I n the
absence of detailed farm accounts, it is not possible to
have a statistical proof of this tendency. The following
figures show that the yield per acre of food grains, which
in itself is low, has not increased during the last 50 or
40 years, but has slightly decreased.

Tears

1

Annual average
yield of food grains
•in maunds of 40 seers |

Annual average
acreage under
food grains

Yield per acre
in maunds

1891-1900

43,558

2,457

17-7

1901-1910

42,572

2,233

19*1

1911-1920

35,148

2,051

17*1

1921-1926

.22,471

1,328

16*9

1 ioafr 11 ? 1 Rep ° rt ° f the De P artment of Agriculture, Bombay Presidency,

2 Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, Evidence Vol. II, part 2 pages
206 and 111 . K F »

7

We thus find that on the one hand the pressure on the
land is increasing whereas on the other, the yield of crops
does not show proportionate increase. The problem in
British Gujarat therefore, is to find the best means to
increase agricultural production. There are only two
ways of doing this, first, by extending the area under
cultivation, second, by taking suitable steps to increase
the yield of different crops.

EXTENSIVE CULTIVATION
The total area of British Gujarat is classified as under 1

Acres

Percentage

Forests

269,000

4

Not available for cultivation . . .

1 , 002,000

15

Cultivable waste other than fallow .

448,000

7

Current fallow ...

563,000

9

Net area sown . ..

4,246,000

65

.__ '■«

Total .

6,528,000

100

We thus find that 448 thousand acres are still available
for cultivation and that the area kept as current fallow
is very large. The fact that such large areas are not
cultivated in spite of a larger population shows that the
available lands are of inferior quality which people are
not willing to take up because of the increased cost of
production which is likely to be involved. In other words,
the scope for extensive cultivation is limited.

INTENSIVE CULTIVATION ■

So far as the question of intensive cultivation is con¬
cerned, we must refer to the principal causes which have
brought about the present low yield before we can think
of the remedies to be applied.

1 Season and Crop Report of the Bombay Presidency, 1926-27.

8

(i) Sub-division and Fragmentation of Holdings.

As in other parts of the country, this tendency is one
of the principal causes of the present deplorable condition
of agriculture in British Gujarat. The size of an aver¬
age holding as estimated in 1921 was 12.2 acres in
Ahmedabad, 4.9 in Kaira, 8.3 in Panch Mahals, 12.6
in Broach and 6.3 in Surat. It must however be remem¬
bered that these holdings are not made up of one com¬
pact plot, but each of them consists of several small plots
situated at varying distances from one another. Though
it is true that in the case of certain kinds of rich soil, even
a holding of about 5 acres would be sufficient for an agri¬
cultural family, it has been estimated that for a dry crop
soil, the size of an economic holding should be 20 acres.
On the whole it appears that the majority of holdings in
British Gujarat are uneconomic. The people themselves
are conscious of this situation, and in some cases, they
are trying to make up for the defect by enlarging the unit
of cultivation. This is done by leasing neighbouring
plots from one’s neighbours so that though the unit of
ownership may be small, the unit of cultivation may be
larger. This has, however, not gone far.

So far as this evil is concerned, it must be pointed out
that the tendency is on the increase. We find that there
has been a progressive diminution in the size of an aver¬
age holding in British Gujarat as can be seen from the
following figures.

Size of an average holding in acres
9*5
9*2
8*1
7*7
7*6

Year

1886-87

1900-01

1916-17

1921-22

1926-27

(2) Scarcity of Labour.

The cultivating labourers may be divided into two
classes, (1) permanent and (2) temporary. The former

9

may be further sub-divided into (a) those who are engag¬
ed annually and are called Sathis in the Ahmedabad Dis¬
trict and (b) those who are attached to their masters in
many cases for life and work in return for the debt that
they owe to them. These are known as Halis in bouth .
Guiarat. One frequently hears of complaints about the
scarcity of these labourers. 1 Among the causes of this
scarcity may be mentioned the fact that the number of
labourers has decreased from 523 thousand in 1901 to
319 thousand in 1921. The decrease of 4 thousand is
comparatively great because during the interval, the e-
mand for them has increased. 2 3 The second cause is the
tendency on the part of the labourers to take up land tor
themselves and become cultivating owners, i he thifd
cause of some importance is the seasonal migration to
urban areas for seasonal work which is paid at a higher

The scarcity of labour referred to above is felt all the
more because the demand for it has increased not only
by an extension of cultivation, but also by other causes,
namely, (1) partial withdrawal of certain high-caste culti¬
vators such as Patidars and Anavils from work m the
fields (2) extension of urban industries which absorb
large’numbers of workers, (3) the demand for domestic
and other servants in towns and cities, (4) the gradual
break up of the joint family system which results m a. situ¬
ation whereby the small family unit requires outside la¬
bour, which under the former system was not necessary.
We also hear of complaints regarding the efficiency of
the labourers, particularly the decrease in the hours ot
work per day. 4

1 Report of the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, Evidence Vol. II,

Part 1 ' p. 557 and Vol. II, Part 2, p. 340. ^ 0 .

2 Report of an enquiry into the agricultural wages in the Bombay Presi¬
dency, 1Q24, issued by the Labour Office, Bombay.

3 Land Revenue Administration Report, Bombay Presidency, I 923 " 2 4 -

4 Report on Agricultural Wages, ibid. Q

10

(3) Inadequacy and Inefficiency of Cattle.

From the following figures we find that the number
of cattle varies from district to district, there being a sur¬
plus in some, a deficiency in others.

District Cropped area per pair of

plough cattle in acres 1

Ahmedabad ...... 24*8

Kaira. 16*2

Panch Mahals. 10*5

Broach . . .... . . 22-8

Surat ........ 11*8

It is well known that on account of this deficiency the
system of. Sandhal or exchange of bullocks in seed and
harvest seasons is prevalent. Besides the inadequacy
of the number of cattle, they have generally grown ineffi¬
cient. Among the causes of this tendency may be men¬
tioned (i) a decrease in facilities for rearing cattle due to
reduction in grazing areas consequent on extension of cul¬
tivation, (2) frequent occurrence of fodder famines parti¬
cularly after 1900, the effects of which on the cattle are
known to be disastrous and (3) the increase in crop area
per pair of plough cattle.

Among the other causes of low yield, we may men¬
tion the use of primitive implements, the existence of crop
disease, the damage caused by wild animals or by cattle
let loose in fields by negligence and so on.

In view of these considerations it is but natural that
we find complaints regarding the deterioration of the soil
m British Gujarat. 2 It has been observed that the pea¬
sants of Gujarat do not adopt the wholesome practice of
manuring the soil, of protecting crops and of carefully
preparing the soil before sowing. This tendency may be
ascribed to the following cases : (1) want of means to pur¬
chase manure or to keep sufficient cattle to get an ade-

l SS fr T ? e D Statistica l AtIas of the Bombay Presidency, i 9 «.
page Hy. ^-enue Assessment Committee, - 1925 , Evldencl Voi.

11

quate supply of manure or to prevent the use of cattle
dune as fuel; (2) want of confidence in the business of
agriculture which has been rendered precarious by uncer¬
tain rainfall and a fixed government demand which must
be paid ; x (3) the growing tendency towards absenteeism
which results in a general neglect of cultivation. 1 2

We thus see that there are great difficulties m the way
of better cultivation, (i) that early steps should be taken
to remove the evils of fragmentation of holdings by means
of consolidation, (2) that the question of the inadequacy
and inefficiency of labour and cattle must be solved and
(3) that the processes of cultivation including the use of
implements and manure should be improved.

MARKETING ORGANISATION

The growth in non-food or commercial crops, and the
proximity of cities like Bombay, which on the one hand
provides a large market for certain crops for local con¬
sumption and on the other provides excellent facilities tor
the export of different kinds of goods, have introduced
a new outlook in the life of the people which makes it
necessary for them to think of efficient and economical
arrangements for marketing their produce. From the
point of view of the farmer, we find that marketing m
Gujarat is highly uneconomical. (1) In the first place ex¬
cept for a few crops like cotton and oil-seeds there are no
organised markets. We do not therefore have timely in¬
formation regarding current rates for different kinds of
crops in different districts, and this gives opportunities to
the middlemen to buy out crops at rates unfavourable to
the farmer. (2) In many cases purchases are made from
the cultivators by money lenders who are the agents of
some town dealer. In those areas where transport facili¬
ties are good, the farmers cart their produce to the towns
for disposal. In the absence of organised markets how-

1 Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, Vol. II, Part 2 , p. 317 *

2 Royal Commission on Indian , Agriculture, Vol. II, Part 2 , p- 337-

2 *

12

ever, they have to wait sometimes for a long period with
their loaded carts and are often compelled to sell at a
comparatively low price. (3) On each transaction, broker¬
age has to be paid, and in addition to this certain fees
have to be paid to the ‘tolats’ whose business it is to weigh
the produce ; but these charges are not always fixed. (4)
It is customary to make certain deduction from the prices
paid to the producer, for example, a discount has to be
allowed for cash payments. (5) In weighing the goods it
is not infrequent to find that the local tolat who is gene¬
rally friendly to the town dealer is in the habit of showing
the weight of the goods in question to be somewhat less
than real. (6) Troubles arise especially in the case of cot¬
ton with the quality of the goods even after they are
weighed, and deductions may be made on this account.
(7) In case of disputes regarding one or the other of the
above mentioned difficulties, there are no rules and regula¬
tions to determine or to decide the issues which are invari¬
ably turned against the farmer. (8) As a rule, the num¬
ber of middlemen between the primary producer and the
final exporter or consumer is large. Taking all these fac¬
tors into consideration we find that the producer is at a
very great disadvantage in disposing of his goods and
has to accept whatever price is paid to him, because
it is well-known that he is not in a position to hold out for
a long enough period. In other words, it may be said
that the producer does not always get the advantage of
rising prices.

In addition to these factors, there are certain other diffi¬
culties for which the farmer himself is responsible. In
marketing his goods, the farmer does not usually take
sufficient care to sort out the different qualities of his pro¬
duce in a graded manner ; on the contrary, he does not
hesitate to mix up the inferior sort of goods with superior
in the hope of realising a higher value. Some attempt at
grading is made in the marketing of mangoes. In the case
of cotton, it became necessary to impose restrictions by
law to prevent malpractices. The Cotton Transport Act

of 1923, and the Cotton Ginning and Pressing Factories’
Act of 1925 were passed for this purpose. The cotton
growing areas are marked out according to the quality
of the cotton produced in each of them. Cotton of an
inferior quality from one area is not allowed to be import¬
ed into another except under a license. Though this
legislation created a good deal of dissatisfaction at first,
if it succeeds in preserving the quality of cotton, it is likely
to prove beneficial to the farmers in the long run.

Another factor which makes marketing both difficult
and unfavourable to the producer is the variation in the
weights and measures current in different parts of
Gujarat. For example, when produce is bought, a
maund is reckoned as equivalent to anything like 40 to
44 seers; when it is to be sold, it is reckoned as equal
to 2 , 7 i t0 4° s eers - A bhar of cotton which is a unit of
transaction in cotton is equal to 25 maunds in the Broach
District, whereas it is equal to 24 maunds in Surat. The
standard maund for all purposes for most parts in Guja¬
rat is taken at 40 seers ; in Surat it is taken at 37J seers.
So far as measurements are concerned, things are not so
bad, but complications are introduced when things have
to be marketed in a place like Bombay where a seer is
equal to 28 tolas for’ things like corn, and 56 tolas for
milk and other liquids.

FINANCE

■ So far as necessaries are concerned, the farmer has to
provide himself throughout the year both for direct con¬
sumption and for seed and other expenses of cultivation.
His income on the other hand is generally confined to the
seasonal period when he is in a position to market his
crops. In view of this, the question of the method by
which he finances himself in either case is of great import¬
ance. Generally speaking, the village bania or sowcar
makes advances either in cash or kind or in both and en¬
ables the cultivator to carry on, particularly during the
sowing season. As soon as the crops are ready, he ar-

14

ranges to remove ' he “°^ f ° r to Sa be thep urchase P rlce
credited with what ^ ““'ders b P f food

in part payment .of the debt.^In tn ^ ^ ^ ^

a quantity sufficient fo ^ whole quantity is

“ Ae r e T°L C “o1 SS'aSs and thle dales
removed. 1 his is true 01 , In those area s

which are comparative y intellis'ent and consci-

where the cultivators have becomei mtelhgenit an

ous, they arrange to seU them £°P s J™ Ct J° ket t f wn .

merchants or the ginners in nroducers set toge-

We also find instances where several producers get tog

x&i&z nSEis l

0f Smaki^ U Ws purchases of daily necessaries, most of

^ “Hb™ ST Tfm^SeT?

ke4e? V tLseli g is,a money-lender or has. relates wi*

a farmer has got into the ^ches °f Tequeltly

1 ^ fijc : t difficult to set out of them, it happens irequenuy

^ the^^fa7mer has S depend for the disposal o his crops
on the same money-lender, and thus he is doubly hit both
hi his selling and in his buying transactions In brief
we find that Ae Gujarat cultivator sells his produce cheap
and buys his finance dear.

TRANSPORT

The difficulties in the marketing organisation to which
we have referred are partly due to want of adequate faci-
lides of transport and other modern means of communica¬
tions We find that goods are marketed in Gujarat both
bv water and land. Among the harbours in Gujarat may

15

be mentioned Dholera and Gogha in the district of
Ahmedabad, Tankaria and Broach in the district of
Broach, and Surat and Bulsar in the district of Surat.
In addition to these, there are minor places on the coast
where small craft ply to and fro, but of which sufficient
information is not available. It is well known that the
total trade carried by these harbours was at one time
large, but it has gone down considerably in recent years.
The chief reason of this state of affairs is that attention
has been concentrated more on the development of
Bombay harbour and of railways in the interior to feed
the same. Though we hear of considerable develop¬
ment of ports in some of the Kathiawar states in recent
years, we find that on the whole, the ports in Gujarat
mentioned above have been neglected. In many of them
we do not have adequate facilities even for the small indi¬
genous boats and no provision has been made in some
cases to prevent silting up at the mouths of the rivers.

Transportation by land is carried on by means of rail;
the B.B. and C. I. Railway passes through the districts
of Gujarat. So far as the interior is concerned, goods
have to be carried over long distances to the station towns
over roads which are not always in the best of condition.
In place of carts, we find in recent years, a tendency to
transport by means of motor lorries in certain parts where
the roads are good enough for the purpose. There is
great room both for the development of roads as well as
for increasing railway mileage. For example, if Bulsar is
linked up with Dhrampore on the one hand and Nasik
on the other, a flourishing trade in wood and other things
may be developed.

Among other means of communications we find that
the number of post offices is limited ; not every village
has a post office though it may have a post box. There
are many villages in which letters are delivered at inter¬
vals of 3 or 4 days. This is partly due to the condition
of roads connecting these villages with towns, and partly
to want of sufficient demand on the part of the people. It

16

must however be pointed out that the post office has an
educational value ; inducement to send and receive letters
to friends and relatives at a distance must result in a desire
to learn the alphabet. At the same time it would be easy
to know the current prices of goods in organised and
other markets which would therefore enable the farmer
to get better returns for his crops. The telegraphic
and telephone service has not yet penetrated into the in¬
terior. It may be noted in this connection that in some
states of Kathiawar, for example in Morvi and Gondal
a telephonic service has been instituted at a rate cheaper
than that charged for telegrams, and this has become
popular with the local merchants. 1

SUBSIDIARY OCCUPATIONS

In view of the fact that agriculture is on the whole
becoming an uneconomic industry, and that it affords
work for about 180 days only during the year, the ques¬
tion of subsidiary occupations for the farmer is obviously
of great importance. We find that large numbers of
Kaliparaj cultivators idle away their time during the slack
season, though some of them do go out as labourers in
neighbouring towns or take to some work like wood fell¬
ing and wood cutting. Similarly the Ujaliparaj farmers
try to raise some crops by irrigation if they possess a well
in the absence of which they waste their time. Social
and religious ceremonies provide opportunities for wasting
a good deal of time which could be utilised profitably dur¬
ing the slack season. 2

One of the most paying occupations open to the agri¬
culturist is the dairy. Most of the cultivators keep a cow
or a buffalo for milking purposes ; part of this milk is used
by the family, part is turned into ghee which is sold to
local dealers who export it to the neighbouring cities.

1 Paper read before the Indian Economic Conference, January 1929 by
Mr. K. H. Kamdar.

2 Cf. Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, Evidence Vol. II, Part 2
p. 185 *

17

The dairy industry on a somewhat larger scale has been
established in the Kaira and Ahmedabad districts. Cream
producing machines are set up, and the parties in charge of
these machines buy milk from the cultivators, separate
the cream and sell it to butter factories in Bombay or
Ahmedabad. This industry received a great impetus
during the War on account of the demand for the mili¬
tary. In the Anand Taluka of the Kaira district, there
are about 50 cream producing machines and 38 casein
factories where casein is produced from the remnant of
the milk after cream is taken out of it. It has been cal¬
culated that North Gujarat receives more than Rs. 25
lakhs per year from the sale of this produce in Bombay
and other cities. In spite of this it is true to say that there
are great possibilities of further development of this
industry.

The other important subsidiary occupation is spinning
and weaving cotton. This industry which was once in a
flourishing condition and had suffered greatly at the hands
of machine made goods, has been revived by the swa-
deshi movement. The All-India Spinners’ Association
which has its head office at Ahmedabad does useful work
in this connection. The total number of production cen¬
tres under this Association in Gujarat is 18. There are
2,065 spinners, 194 weavers, 49 carders and 47 persons
employed otherwise on the staff of this Association. In
addition to these, there are workers who do their work
independently of the Association, but of whom statistical
information is not available. In view of the fact that
Gujarat is a cotton producing area there is a great possi¬
bility for the development of this subsidiary occupation.

Carting agricultural produce is a good occupation in
rural areas, but the possibilities of development in this
connection are not great because of the competition of
motor transport in recent years. There are possibilities
for the development of poultry as an occupation ; it is at
present confined to a few of the Kaliparaj, the Mahomme-
dans and the Parsis. The making of mats, baskets and

s

18

other domestic requirements including eatables may also
provide useful work both for men and women. If a com¬
prehensive survey into the various existing cottage indus¬
tries as well as to the possibilities of new cottage industries
is made by the Department of Industries, one of the cry-
mg needs of Gujarat will be met. It may be noted that
such surveys have been made in most of the other presi¬
dencies ; the Bombay Presidency happens to be backward
m this connection.

PRICES AND WAGES

Though the actual yield of agricultural produce has
not been satisfactory, the monetary returns have increased
largely since 1890. This is due to increase in prices of
most of the principal articles that are produced. The
following table gives weighted index numbers of the prices
of wheat, paddy bajn and jowar which constitute the
food grains of the area.

Weighted

Index Numbers of Prices of foodgrains in
Gujarat 1

Year In T dex
No.

1890 100

1891 107

1892 106

1893 102

1894 103

1895 102

1896 ISO

1897 161

1898 104

- - 1 - ' I I •

We find from the table that though there are fluctua¬
tions till 1905 partly due to famine conditions at the end

giV6n !n SurVCy and Settlement Reports

19

of the last century, from 1905 we have an era of high
prices. During the war, the prices rose still further, the
maximum rise being in 1919 from which date there has
been a gradual fall though we have not yet reached the
pre-war level.

Contrary to expectations this great rise in prices has
not led to a permanent advantage to the Gujarat peasant.
There have been signs of prosperity here and there ; new
houses have been built in some parts ; the habits of dress
have slightly changed, new wants have been created,
for example, taking tea ; some luxuries can be noticed,
like smoking cigarettes and so on. If we consider the prob¬
lem not from superficial indications, but from the point
of view of the cost of cultivation, we find that the* cost
has increased in a greater proportion than the rise in the
prices of agricultural produce. In the absence of detail¬
ed data, we shall take the following figures. The daily
rate of wages of field labourers and of skilled labourers
whose services are indispensable to the peasant for mak¬
ing new implements or repairing old ones, has risen 3 -i
times in the case of the former and 4 times in the case
of the latter since 1900 as shown below.

Year

FIELD LABOUR

SKILLED LABOUR

Daily average i
wage

Index

No.

Daily average
wage

Index

No.

1900

Its- As. Ps.
0 - 2-8

100

JRs. As, Ps,

0- 7-3

100

1922

O

I

OO

1

O

356

1 — 13—6

407

It is obvious from these figures that the cultivator has
not gained but has probably lost from the rise in prices,
but this generalization is subject to several limitations
because the assumptions made in such calculations are not
all true in every case, (i) The cultivator, if he grows
corn, does not sell the whole of it but retains a part for
his own consumption for the year. To that extent there¬
fore he does not enter into the market either as a seller or

3*

20

as a buyer, and the changes in prices therefore may not
affect him. (2) In calculating the cost of cultivation we
have to include several items besides labour, such as the
cost of seed and manure which the cultivator does not
always buy. (3) Most of the labour on the fields is done
by the farmer and his family and it is not necessary for
him to pay cash by way of wages to labourers. (4) It
is customary in several parts of rural Gujarat to pay
wages partly in kind or corn which is raised on the farm.
It is obvious therefore that it is difficult to make general
statements regarding the profitableness or otherwise of
agriculture in Gujarat with the help of figures of prices.
It may however be pointed out that the era of
falling prices which has begun since 1923 may do great
harm to the farmers, because, whereas his receipts are
going down, he is not in a position to curtail his expendi¬
ture in proportion, partly because his habits of life have
become somewhat more expensive, and partly because
wages are not going down in proportion.

INDEBTEDNESS

A correct idea of the extent and nature of indebtedness
in Gujarat cannot be had unless intensive enquiries are
made for this purpose. We propose to make an esti¬
mate in the following manner. The Baroda Government
appointed an officer in 1911 to report on the agricultural
indebtedness of the people of the state. He estimated the
indebtedness of Baroda territory at more than 8 crores
of rupees in 1912. The total land assessment for the same
year for this territory was more than Rs. one crore. The
Baroda territory is interspersed with British Gujarat,
and is in many ways similar to it in the nature of the soil
and the character of the people, and their general econo¬
mic life. If we assume therefore that the amount of indeb¬
tedness in British Gujarat bears the same proportion to
land revenue as it does in the Baroda State, we may not be
far from the truth. The assessment of agricultural land in
British Gujarat was Rs. 124 lakhs in 1926-27; if we

21

multiply this by 8 we get 990 lakhs as a rough estimate
of rural indebtedness in Gujarat.

The Broomfield Committee which recently reported on
the Bardoli Settlement examined 43 out of 137 villages,
and found that the debts in these villages amounted to
about Rs. 33 lakhs, and if we work at this estimate for
the whole of Gujarat, we shall find that the above esti¬
mate of about Rs. 10 crores is not an exaggeration.

More than the volume of the debt we have to consider
its nature. If debt is incurred for productive purposes, it
is certainly not a matter of great concern, but if it is for
unproductive purposes, then the problem is really serious.
Anyone connected with the cultivating classes in Gujarat
will at once realise that a large part of the debt is due not
so much for the development of the agricultural industry
but for the expenditure on the social and religious customs
and ceremonies which the farmer thinks his duty to per¬
form. 1

The continuation and accumulation of the debt is due
to several factors which may be thus summarised. (1)
The facilities offered to the cultivator by the money lend¬
ers to incur debt with ease and in secrecy ; (2) usurious
rates of interest and the heavy commissions charged by
the money lenders ; (3) the general illiteracy of the people
which leads to absence of proper accounts and gives
opportunities to the money lenders for fraudulent practice ;
(4) the inheritance of debt from father to son and (5) lack
of adequate banking facilities.

The parties from which debts are incurred by the culti¬
vator may be divided into three classes. (1) private
money lenders including banias and pathans, and shop¬
keepers who sell on credit, (2) the Government which
advances money in the form of tagavi loans and (3) co¬
operative credit societies. In 1926-27 we find that the
state claimed Rs. 1582 thousand from the people by way
of .tagavi; the co-operative societies claimed Rs. 3037
thousand, the two together making a total of Rs. 4619

1 Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, Evidence Vol.II, Part 2 , p. 160 .

22

thousand. The remainder of the debt is due to private
money lenders for which we do not have reliable data.
In other words, if the above estimate of about io crores of
debt for the whole of Gujarat is correct, then we find that
only i J 20th is due to the government and the co-operative
societies, the remainder to the money-lenders. In other
words, the peasantry of Gujarat is bearing a dead weight
of a large volume of debt which is incurred generally for
unproductive purposes from private money-lenders who
charge large commissions, and heavy rates of interest
varying from 12 to 25 per cent, for loans in cash, and from
25 to 100 per cent, for loans in kind.

Though the co-operative credit movement has made
progress, 1 it has only touched the fringe of the population
so far, and the problem before it is immense as can be seen
from the above mentioned facts. It may be pointed out
that the societies which are already in existence are not in
the best of condition ; we find, for example, that on 31st
March 1928, the amount of arrears was Rs. 15.4 lakhs
or more than 37 per cent, of the working capital of all
societies put together. In addition to the credit societies,
a few non-credit societies have been started which are 28
in number. They are for different purposes, for cattle
insurance, for cotton sale and seed supply, for ginning and
so on. The cotton sale and seed supply and the ginning
societies are flourishing, the rest do not show a satisfactory
progress. It is necessary to help the farmer to take to
non-credit co-operation both for production and marketing
which will increase his earning capacity and enable him to
get out of the clutches of the money lenders.

LAND REVENUE

Land revenue forms the most important item in the
revenue receipts of all Provincial Governments. It

X The progress of the Co-operative movement in Gujarat may be seen
from the following figures:—

v No. of No. of Working Revenue

iear Societies members capital Rs. fund Rs.

1908 26 1912 50,480 1,669

1928 676 . 44382 41,54,767 4,49,545

would be an interesting piece of investigation if we could
o-et exact details of the amount of land revenue paid by
British Gujarat on the one hand, and the expenditure
incurred by the state for the amelioration of the farmers of
Gujarat on the other. Without going into these details,
we may observe that in view of the highly unsatisfactory
condition of agricultural life, land revenue is becoming a
heavy burden to the farmers in most parts of India and
Gujarat is not an exception. The land revenue policy
of the Government raises many complicated issues which
it is beyond the scope of this work to go into. But it is
well known that recent events have brought this question
to the forefront, and the policy will have to be revised at
an early date. The agitation in Bardoli Taluka of the
Surat District, the subsequent enquiry into the Bardoli
settlement by the Broomfield Committee and the accept¬
ance of the grievances of the people in general, the an¬
nouncement of the Government of Bombay that a new
Land Revenue Bill will be introduced into the Council as
soon as possible, and the consciousness on the part of the
people to press for a more equitable policy in this connec¬
tion—all these signs show on the one hand that land reve¬
nue has been a serious burden in the past, and that on the
other steps are likely to be taken to make its burden more
equitable in the future.

CHAPTER—II

THE PHYSICAL BACKGROUND.

INTRODUCTION
Location oj the Village :

The village of Atgam is situated on the eastern
boundary of the Bulsar Taluka, Surat District. To its
immediate west lies Khergam, one of the big villages of
the adjoining Chikhli Taluka, which has a permanent mar¬
ket. To its east lies at a distance of about 9 miles Bulsar,
a well known market town, railway station and the ad¬
ministrative centre of the Bulsar Taluka. It is connected
with both these places by what is known as the Khergam-
Bulsar road which covers a distance of about 12 miles.
A bye-road to the north at a distance of about 7 miles
from Bulsar leads us to the heart of the village under
enquiry. By the side of the village flows the Bam, which,
though merely a rivulet at this part of its course, gradually
develops into a large river as it approaches the Arabian
Sea to the west.

Its structure :

The structure of this village is characteristic of the kind
of people who form the bulk of its inhabitants. It is
a Kaliparaj village. The Kaliparaj are well known for
their habit of staying in small groups of eight to ten
families in separate areas more or less distant from one
another. These are called “falias.” Atgam consists
of ten such falias which lie at different distances from its
centre varying from half a mile to three and a half miles.
These falias are linked with the central place, which is
known as the village site, by means of small fair-weather
tracks.

This village site covers an area of only one acre and
four Gunthas. It is mainly inhabited by members of the
Ujaliparaj community like Banias, Brahmins, Rajputs,
Kolis, Suthars, Darjis, Mochis, Machhis, Valands, and
Mahommedans and Parsis. There are however a few
Dubla families—a section of the Kaliparaj. The verna¬
cular school, chawdi and the Post Office are located here.
In this place are found two grocers’ shops and an open
space in front of the village school where under a tamarind
tree some villager occasionally sets up a temporary shop
for selling chillies, onions, garlic and a few vegetables.
Here are also seen a temple of Rama and a mosque. On
its outskirts to the east dwell the untouchables known in
this part as Dheds.

Thus though the village site presents varied phases of
life, economic, educational, administrative and religious,
these are confined only to the Ujaliparaj who constitute a
small section of the village community. The real social and
economic life of this village can be seen not here but ip
the falias which are populated mainly by the Kaliparaj.

Its surroundings:

The village is bounded on the east by Vav and
Khergam, villages of the Chikhli Taluka ; on the north by
Chari, a village of the same Taluka ; on the west by Dha-
nori and Fanaswada and on the south by Segwa, all the
last three being villages of the Bulsar Taluka. It is linked
with all these villages of the two Talukas by small fair-
weather tracks.

The object of this work is to attempt a study of the
social and economic life of Atgam, the village whose lo¬
cation, structure and surroundings we have just described.
The social and economic life of a group of people is
moulded by its natural environment. We, therefore, pro¬
pose to deal in this Chapter with the physical features or
the natural environment which condition the life of the
people of Atgam.

28

Period

Rainfall in
inches

Remarks

1st to 30th Aug.

10

Necessary for the growth of all

crops.

1st to 3oth Septr.

10

Necessary and also useful for

Rabi crops.

1st to 31st Oct.

g |

Useful for Rabi crops.

This shows that the seasonal distribution of rainfall is
of far greater importance than its total quantity. W e may
mention two concrete instances one of which we gathered
from our talks with the people on this subject, and the
other from our personal observation, to verify this state¬
ment.

(i) In the year 1925-26 the first few showers came in
early June. The cultivators broadcasted the seeds of
paddy in the beds prepared for them. For a month it
did not rain with the result that the seedlings shot up too
high and were rendered unfit for easy transplantation.
The final result was that during the course of removing
the seedlings from their nursery to other beds a consider¬
able number was wasted as they could not be picked up
from the nursery along with their roots which are neces¬
sary for giving them strength and vigour when transferred
to new beds. This involved a serious decrease in the
total output of paddy.

(ii) In 1927-28 during the course of the present enquiry
we could see that it did not rain adequately when ex¬
pected in July and August, and poured when the paddy
plants were drooping with the load of paddy sheaves.
The result was that in some plots the paddy plants were
levelled to the ground, and in others they rotted because
of excessive rain. The cultivator is at a loss to under¬
stand these freaks of nature. He attributes all these
events to the working of the Almighty and resignedly
says, “The cultivator is wise only after the harvests’’ 1
which means that he is not sure of the out-turn of his crops
till he harvests them and actually sees the heap of corn.

1 The original proverb runs thus: «T®T.’

29

The following analysis, of the figures of rainfall showing
the frequency of particular ranges of rainfall for the last

15 years will be of interest:

June

July

August

September

October

Below 1 inch . .

. . 1

—

—

1

3

From 1 to 5 inches .

. . 3

—

-

4

,, 5 to 10 ,,

. . 4

1

1

4

~T

, 3 10 to 15 „

. •. IT

1

2

__

—

33 15 to 20 „

. . 8

5

7

1

1

3, 20 to 25 ,,

. . 1

_

T"

1

__

Above 25 inches . .

. . 1

7.

4-

3

All that can be inferred from these figures is (i) that
there is a great probability of more than five inches of rain¬
fall in June and more than fifteen inches in July and
August; (2) that in September there is an even chance
that the rainfall will be below five inches or above five
inches and in October below five inches or very little.

The following are the main characteristics of rainfall
in this area as shown by the discussion so far :

(i) The total quantity of rainfall is greatly variable.

(ii) Equally variable is its distribution in different
months.

(iii) The rainfall in Atgam is of a local character.

(iv) The rainy season is mainly confined to four
months, June, July, August and September.
The main conclusion is that the seasonal nature
of suitable distribution of rainfall is more import¬
ant than its total quantity.

Rainfall and the nature of seasons:

In a place where rainfall plays an important part in
shaping the nature of the season it will not be considered
out of place to discuss here the allied subject of the nature
of the last fifteen seasons. It is obvious from our analysis
of the statistics of rainfall that it does not give us any clue
to the exact nature of each season. We have, therefore,

so

devised the method 1 of constructing indices of annawari
for each year with a view to determine the nature of each
season. W e are conscious that this method cannot give a
perfectly accurate result regarding the nature of a particu¬
lar season but we believe that it does show the relative na¬
ture of different seasons. We may as well mention that
thi£ method devised for judging the nature of the seasons
is a roundabout one but we had to resort to it in absence
of a systematic record of annawari® valuation of crops for
each of the last fifteen years for this village or at least

for the whole Taluka. ■'

Judged by this annawari, we find that out of the last

fifteen seasons,

3 are very good 8

2 „ good

5 „ fair

3 bad

2 ,, very bad

Though the terms here used are arbitrary they give us a
fairly accurate idea as to the relative position of the sea¬
son. In order to make ourselves doubly sure about these
results we consulted a few intelligent villagers including a
money-lender who has an admirably retentive memory
with regard to this subject. We were happy to find that
our view was generally confirmed. They however point¬
ed out two differences which we may note with advantage.

(i) Though the indices of annawari show the years
1915-16 and 1918-19 to be very bad and 1925-26 a bad
one, as a matter of experience the worst years were 1918-
19 and 1925-26 when remissions of land revenue were
granted by the Government.

(ii) The season of 19x2-13 was not so bad as is suggest¬
ed by the index number.

X For an explanation of the method vide Appendix II.

% It may be noted that there are a few figures of annawari valuation of
crops recorded in one of the Taluka papers but they are available only
for the years 1915 - 16 , 1923 - 24 , 1925 - 26 , and 1926 - 27 .

3 For details see appendix II.

31

It will be obvious that these differences regarding the
exact nature of years are not great and may be neglected
when we take the whole period of fifteen years for our
discussion.

Looking at the indices from another standpoint we
find that on an average out of every five consecutive years
there are three good seasons and two bad seasons. We
may however note that a ‘bad’ year does not mean in
this village or the neighbouring area a total absence of
crops as in the famine zones of the Deccan.

(2) Climate

Its importance in the economy of the village : The im¬
portance of climate, in general, cannot be overrated in
the study of rural areas of any country. ‘Climate’ ex¬
presses three conditions—namely light, heat and mois¬
ture. All these are essential to the growth of different
forms of vegetation. It is however necessary to bear in
mind that an excess or deficit of each proves harmful to
all of them.

Normal temperature in the village : In our study of
the village we found that the temperature varied from 53
to 108. The following figures obtained from the Kher-
gam Government Dispensary represent the normal tem¬
perature in the village under survey.

Maximum.

Minimum.

June, 1926 .

. . . . 104'F

84°F

July? „.

. . . . 95 „

78 „

August, ,,

.... 92 „

00

September, ,, . . . . .

.100 „

93 „

October, ,, .....

. . . . 94 „

64 „

November, . .

. . . . 94 „

60 „

December, „ . . . . .

. . . . 91 „

53 „

January, 1927 . . . .

. . . . 90 ,,

54 ,,

February, ..

.... 95 „

54 „

March, ,, .....

.... 104,,

58 „

April, ......

, . . . 108 „

74 „

May, „ .....

.... 106 „

84 „

It is obvious that January is the coldest and April and

May the hottest months in the year. _ p

Its effects upon agriculture and the agriculturist . Cli¬
mate plays in this village an important part in determin-
ing the total yield of rabi and hot-weather crops If the
cold is moderate, it contributes to a large yield of wal
(beans) which is a winter crop. If the heat is moderate
we have a large yield of well-developed mango-fruits
which are picked in summer. But excess of either proves
ruinous to the respective crops. Intensity of cold result¬
ing in a fall of dew spoils the crop of wal. Intensity of heat
accompanied by violent winds frequently blows raw man¬
go fruits off the trees and causes a heavy loss to the

grower.
&

These two aspects of climate have also their marked
effects on the efficiency of the agriculturist. Intensity of
cold and heat are well-known for their enervating effects
on man. But we may note that effects of the former are
intensified in the case of the average Atgam cultivator
who has too scanty clothes to cover his body as a protec¬
tion against the inclemencies of weather in the cold season.

(3) The Soil of the Village.

Its importance : Though rainfall is a factor of supreme
importance in all forms of cultivation and climatic condi¬
tions not less important, the soil the texture of land
is the very basis of cultivation, and the results are there¬
fore greatly influenced by the nature of the soil. It is
easy to understand that with the most adequate and sea¬
sonal rainfall and favourable climate, the peasant can
reap hardly anything unless he has a fertile piece of land.
No doubt fertility of land can be augmented by the
application of manures but this presupposes a thorough
knowledge of the nature of the soil and a capacity to
pay for the manures. .

Classes of soil: Three classes of soil are found in this
village : Bagayat (garden-crop-land), Kyari (rice-crop¬
land) and Jarayat (dry-crop-land). The areas under

33

them as determined by the Government in 1899 at the
time of the First Revision Settlement are given below :

Acres

Bagayat . . . . . 138

Kyari.. . 397

Jarayat.2926

Total . 3461

Nature of the soil : The above mentioned figures do
not give us a definite idea of the exact nature of the soil
found in the village. We, therefore, obtained from the
Government the original figures of anna valuation attach¬
ed to different fields for the purposes of the Settlement
and constructed the following table based on them.

Table showing the nature of the soil in 'Atgam.

ANNA-VALUATION

ACRES

18 and

18*

annas

and above

75

17

»>

17*

99

s>

99

10

16

>>

16*

99

*9

99

12

15

99

15|

99

99

99

24

14

99

14|

9 9

99

99

66

13

99

13*

99

9 9

99

79

12

12*

99

99

9 9

67

11

99

11*

>>

9 >

99

82

10

99

10*

99

99

9 9

282

9

99

9*

9 ,

99

99

319

8

99

8*

9 9

99

99

525

1275

7

99

7*

9 9

99

99

879

6

9 9

6*

99

99

99

675

5

99

5*

99

99

9 9

325

4

9 9

4*

99

99

99

40

1919

5

oo

Chemical analysis of the same sample of Jarayat soil

| Surface soil °/o

Sub soil °/o

Stones.

nil

nil

Moisture . . . . •

4*50

5*56

Loss on ignition (organic
matter) ....

6-08

6*96

Silica (acid insoluble

matter).

74*56

72-42

Lime .......

.0*83

0*72

Nitrogen .

0*081

0*054

Phosphoric acid . . .

0*063

0*026

Potash .

0*23

0*27

Without making the discussion of the nature of the
soil technical we may mention, in brief, that a glance at
the quantities of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash
present in these typical samples will show how the soil
of the village is deficient in these three substances which
form the most important, plant-foods. The quantities of
these plant-foods present in the soil justify us in our con¬
clusion that the soil of the village is only slightly better
than one of poor quality. 1

(4) Water-supply of the village.

The importance of water-supply is obvious to a village
where sugarcane is the principal commercial crop.

Sources of water-supply : The only sources of water-
supply in the village under study are (a) Khadies or
streamlets, (b) tanks and (c) wells.

1 Cf. “Owing to the very undulating surface of the country, the soil, ex¬
cept in a few favoured localities is very poor.It principally con¬
sists of ferruginous loam not very productive for dry-crop cultivation.

The Kali basar soil occupies a very small portion of the surface and is

almost entirely found in the rice-beds...The prevailing soil.super-

abounds with lime, a quality injurious to all unirrigated crops. The
presence also of the protoxide of iron necessitates a system of following
after an interval of a few years to render cultivation at all remunerative
p. 44 , Appendix R, Selections from the Records of the Bombay Govern¬
ment. No. CCC III—New Series: Papers relating to the Revision Survey
Settlement of the Bulsar Taluka, 1900 .

(a) Khadies or streamlets : In this village there are
four Khadies. One forms its natural boundary on the
south and south-west; and another on the north and
north-east. Two other streamlets pass through the vil¬
lage. In spite of such a good number of streamlets the
village has inadequate supply of water for irrigation. The
reason is that the water in each of these streamlets is
soaked up into the bed as early as January except at few
points of its course.

(b) Tanks : The village has fourteen tanks. Four of
these are owned by government and the remaining by
private individuals. The same reason as is given above
for the inadequacy of water-supply holds good in this
case too.

(c) Wells : Wells constitute almost the only source of
water for irrigation in this village when the Khadies and
tanks are empty. Of all the Talukas of the Surat Dis¬
trict Bulsar possesses the highest number of wells used
for irrigation, since sugarcane, a wholly irrigated crop, is
its principal commercial crop. In this particular, Atgam
is representative of the Bulsar Taluka in which it is situ¬
ated. It possesses no less than eighty-six wells. Of
these only one has fallen out of use ; 16 are used for drink¬
ing purposes only, and the remaining 69 are used both
for drinking and for irrigation. Of the 86, 5 are owned
by government, 7 by groups of villagers and the rest by
private individuals.

In view of the importance of wells in the village under
study it is necessary to note their principal characteristics
and how they affect the activities of the people. The
following are some of them :

(i) Water is generally found in most of these wells at
the depth of about 30 to 40 feet. There are, however,
about a dozen wells in the south-west corner of the
village where it is available at a comparatively higher
level varying from 25 to 30 feet from the top. It is
noteworthy that a little to the west of the village site in
Survey numbers 484 and 265 are two wells that

40

area under irrigated crops and (ii) to what extent wells
from which sugarcane fields are irrigated depend on rain¬
fall for their water-supply. In connection with this topic
we may consider another question of some importance
whether the existing irrigation wells are used to their
fullest capacity. We found that they are not. Accord¬
ing to our calculation about 96 acres can be irrigated with
the help of existing wells. The actual area irrigated in
the year of enquiry was only 26 acres. In considering
the reasons why there is this difference between the
possible and the actual irrigated area we must remember
that sugarcane is the only irrigated crop in this village.
The following seem to be the main reasons for this dis¬
parity : (i) Sugarcane, the only irrigated crop of this area,
is exhausting both to the soil and the grower. To the big
farmer who works with hired labour it is a losing con¬
cern at the present market price of gul. 1 To the small
farmer it means considerable labour patiently applied for
a long time. And it is difficult to expect this from the
average small peasant proprietor of the village who be¬
longs to the Kaliparaj community, and is notorious for
his love of liquor and toddy.

Regarding its exhausting effect on the soil, the big
farmer is out of consideration since he loses in this kind of
cultivation as we shall see later. A small farmer on the
other hand, even if he desires to grow sugarcane, does
not possess a sufficiently large holding to be able to culti¬
vate sugarcane on different plots from year to year.

:(ii) It is a very expensive crop. It requires rich
manuring, a good pair of bullocks to fetch water from
wells to irrigate it, and a large amount of cash for the
purchase of seeds and manufacturing gul out of it. This
is difficult for the small farmer who is short of capital.

(iii) There is uncertainty about this crop both as regards
its yield and the price it may command.

These causes can be removed provided

1 This will be explained in Chapter VI.

41

(i) the average Kaliparaj farmer is made to understand,
through education and propaganda his own well-being;
and

(ii) better credit facilities are made available to both
classes of farmers big and small at a low rate of interest.

We believe that the area under irrigated crops can be
increased to a figure larger than 96 acres if boring opera¬
tions are performed by government or if bunds are erected
at different points in the Auranga river that flows only at
a distance of three miles to the South of this village, and
water is thereby provided to the village under study as
well as to other neighbouring villages through canals.

MAIN CONCLUSIONS

Having thus considered the four principal features of
the environment, we may summarise the main conclusions
as under:

(1) The rainfall in the village under study is uncertain
both in its total quantity and as regards its seasonal dis¬
tribution.

(2) Climatic conditions of this place vary greatly and
exercise a powerful influence for good or bad on the far¬
mer and his occupation.

(3) The soils of the village are deficient in plant-foods
and largely poor in character.

(4) The only permanent source of irrigation is wells
whose supply of water is uncertain.

6

CHAPTER—III

THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE.

THE COMPOSITION OF THE VILLAGE

The population of Atgam is divided into twenty three
castes containing in all 2560 persons. The following table
gives the list of castes along with the numbers of families
and persons in each.

Name of Caste

Number of Families

Number of Persons

Dhodias

225

1882

Dublas

58

274

Naikas

14

68

Kuknas

2

16

Total Kaliparaj

294

1690

Kolis

61

882

Brahmins 1

6

89

Rajputs

4

12

(Shepherds)

Bharwads

5

82

(Fishermen)

Machhis

6

80

(Untouchables) Dheds

20

146

(Tailors)

Darjis

2

10

(Goldsmiths)

Sonis

5

9

(Carpenters

and

Suthars'

4

18

Ironsmiths)

(Barbers)

Valands

5

22

(Potters)

Kumbhars

8

41

(Tanners)

Khalpas

8

85

(Shoemakers)

Mochis

4

16

(Depressed

class)

Bhangis

1

7

Banias

5

18

I This group of families consists of five Anavil Brahmins and one family
of Modh Brahmin.

Name of Caste

4$

Number of Families

Number of Persons

Mixed groupl

$

r r
l

Parsis®

$

19

Mahomedans®

18

114

Christians®

1

5

Total Ujaliparaj

167

870

Grand total for the village 461

2560

It is evident that the Kaliparaj constitute two-thirds of
the population, whereas the Ujaliparaj account for the re¬
maining one-third. Whereas the characteristics of the
Ujaliparaj are easy to trace because of their greater intelli¬
gence and better organization, those of the Kaliparaj are
difficult of understanding when they form only a minority
in a village. The fact that the percentage of the Kali¬
paraj is large in this village has thus enabled us to under¬
stand them better; there has been at the same time no
disadvantage in studying the characteristics of the Ujali¬
paraj in spite of their small numbers because of reasons
already given.

Secondly, the characteristic of self-sufficiency of a vil¬
lage community, may be seen from the presence of differ¬
ent classes of artisans and personal servants intended to
administer to the needs of the farmers.

Historical evolution of Atgam as a village community :
A brief study of the history of the population of the vil¬
lage will enable us to understand its present composition
better. Unfortunately, no old records are available to
serve us as guides for constructing a systematic history of
this village community. We had, therefore, inevitably
to fall back upon the memory of the old people of the
village for information. The history of this village, how¬
ever faint, may be thus briefly told :

X This group consists of family heads—who are products of mixed castes.

9 These communities are classed as Ujaliparaj in the Baroda Gazetteer;
in view of the smallness of their number we do not propose to class them
differently. The word ‘Ujalivaran’ is used when only high-class Hindus
are distinguished from Kaliparaj.

6*

4 > 4 >

The village traces its origin as far back as two hundred
years. It is reported that it was founded by an Anavil
Brahmin named Naranji Lala, the brother of an ancestor
of Mr. Manibhai, the present Police Patel of the village.
No exact date about its foundation can be given. The
founder was originally a resident of Bulsar town where
his descendants still own a house and some landed pro¬
perty. In those palmy days of the Anavil Desais of
South Gujarat—when they were the practical rulers of
this part, enjoying the monopoly of farming land revenue,
this man is supposed to have taken a fancy to establish
a new village. In his wanderings to select a suitable
place he came to this part where the village is now situ¬
ated to the eastern-most boundary of the Bulsar Taluka.
Here he saw that there was a possibility of founding a
village with the Kaliparaj, who abounded in the adjoin¬
ing Dharampore territory, as the farming population. He,
therefore, persuaded some of them to abandon that terri¬
tory, and to come down and settle in (now) British Guja¬
rat and form a new village. Enticed by the privilege
offered to them of cultivating as much area as they liked,
a group of Kaliparaj people migrated to this place. Thus
was laid the foundation of Atgam about two centuries ago.
In course of time, Naranji Lala persuaded, by offers of
pieces of land, some artisans like carpenters and personal
servants like barbers to settle down in the village for the
comfort and service of the cultivators. Gradually a
village police force consisting of Dheds was evolved and
a Bhangi family was ushered in for serving the people as
sweepers and as removers of carcasses. These people
were, like the artisans and personal servants, given a sta¬
tus in the village by being granted pieces of land. The
descendants of all these families still enjoy the usufruct
of land originally given to them, some by paying a quit-
rent and others on the payment of merely the local cess.
It is said that not only were the members of the non-agri-
cultural population of the village provided with a status
in the social and economic life of the village, but that each

45

of them was also assured of an annual income 'in kind to
be paid at the time of harvest by different farmers accord¬
ing to the latters’ need for the services of the former. The
vestige of this practice, once widely current, is still found
in the payment in terms of paddy made by a few farmers
to their barbers.

Slowly but surely the members of Anavil families began
to increase. Originally, they together with the class of
village artisans constituted the Ujaliparaj. As the fame
of the improved economic condition of the Kaliparaj be¬
gan to spread far and wide, a few Rajput families migrated
from the north, 1 to enjoy a settled life. Similarly but
with a different intention did the Banias 3 and the Parsis
come to this village. The former hoped to get custom¬
ers in their business of money-lending. The latter
thought that there was a wide and permanent market for
the liquor 3 they dealt in in this village of the Kaliparaj,
well-known for their irresistable craving for intoxicating
beverages. The Kolis, of course, originally formed a
section of the Kaliparaj, but gradually they raised their
standard of living, thanks to their contact with the fair
races and are now regarded as members of the Ujaliparaj
class. The Bharwads and Machhis migrated to this vil¬
lage later in its history. As the number of the Ujaliparaj
Hindus went on increasing, Modh Brahmins were invited
to stay in the village to serve them as priests and were
granted Inam lands. Whence, why and when the Ma-
hommedans came is involved in obscurity. There is only
one Christian family. Its head immigrated to this place
about 12 years back as a servant of the Church of Eng¬
land Missionary Society (Gujarat Division).

This, in brief, is the history of the village that we have

1 It may be noted that one of the intelligent Rajput residents of Segwa,
an adjoining village, told us that he and his caste had run away from
Patan in North Gujarat due to the oppression of their sowkars.

% One of the Bania money-lenders gave us to understand that the Banias
originally migrated about two hundred years ago from Marwar to Untdi,
a village about 7 miles from Atgam and thence to this village.

3 This is supported by the fact that there is still extent a native furnace
for manufacturing liquor in the compound of one of the Parsi families. *

46

been able to gather and accounts for the heterogeneous
character of its present population.

Average size of the family and proportion of sexes :
__ Resuming our analy-

Name of the Average size ^females°^ ^ the present po-

group of the family perI00ma i es pulation, the margin-

Kaliparaj . . 5-69 87 table shows the

Ujaliparaj. . 5-21 95 average size of the

For the village family and the. pro¬
as a whole . 5-51 90 portion of women

- per ioo males.

It is obvious that the average size of the Kaliparaj
family is larger than that of the Ujaliparaj. For the
village as a whole the average family consists of 5.51
members. Further there is an obvious deficiency of
females in both the groups and therefore for the village
as a whole. 1 It is too presumptuous to discuss from this
meagre data whether this inequality of sexes is due to
racial, climatic, geographical or social factors. 2

THE WORKING POPULATION

Of greater importance than the total population or the
size of the family is the size of the working population—
the real producers of the place. To ascertain what it is
we have divided the total population into certain groups.
The ages adopted as the lines of demarkation are not
quite arbitrary. The working capacity of the individual
is principally taken into account.

1 The following are the percentages of females to males: 92 , 99 , 100 and
82 for Bombay Presidency, British Gujarat, Surat District and Bulsar
Taluka respectively. It is necessary to add that Surat is one of the
most migratory districts of our Presidency and consequently, as many
males stay out, the percentage of females to males is higher.

% An interesting discussion of this subject is given in the Census Report of
1921 for the Bombay Presidency, pp. 102 - 108 .

47

The following is the classification we have adopted :

All male and female children nnder 1 = infants.

All male children from

1

to

7

— male children.

All female ,,

»

1

to

6

— female children.

,, males

>5

7

to

15

— boys.

j, females

99

6

to

15

— girls.

„ males

99

15

to

55

*=male adults.

,, females

99

15

to 50

*= female adults.

,, males

above

55

— old men.

„ females

99

50

— old women.

It is necessary to note that the average age at which
a boy or a girl in this village is expected to shoulder the
responsibilities of a family or household is 15, and hence
we have adopted it as the mark of distinction between
adults and non-adults. Distributed according to this
classification, the Kaliparaj, the Ujaliparaj, and the total
population for the village as a whole form themselves into
different groups as under :

Kaliparaj

Ujaliparaj

Total

Male infants

20

10

30

Female infants

33

16

49

Male children . .

189

73

262

Female children .

138

48

186

Boys .....

200

79

279

Girls.

164

67

231

Male adults

456

255

711

Female adults . .

400

253

653

Old men . . .

37

S3

70

Old women .

53

! 36

89

Active workers

456

! 255

711

Dependents

1234

; 615

1849

Infants and children are certainly an addition to the
number of mouths to be fed, and they cannot be expected

48

to do any work of a remunerative character. Boys and
girls among the Ujaliparaj usually go to school, among
the Kaliparaj and a few Koli families, they serve as herds¬
men either to their own family or to those of their neigh¬
bours, and thus supplement the family income. Excep¬
tions apart, a man above 55 does not generally retain
strength to put forth constant, hard field work. A woman
who bears children at an early age among the Ujaliparaj
and who among the Kaliparaj faces frequent dangers of
child-bearing in spite of adult marriage is apt to become
incapable of active help to the family at a comparatively
earlier age than a man. All males above 55 and all fe¬
males above 50 are, therefore, classed as dependents.
Of the adults, not all females go to work on the field.
Though a majority of Kaliparaj women go to work on
their own or others’ fields, they do so only in certain
seasons. Among the Ujaliparaj, only the Koli, Machhi,
Bharwad and a few M ahommedan and Dhed women do
field-work. No doubt, all women between the ages 15 to
50 render most valuable services to society as mothers
or/and managers of the household. These services how¬
ever do not add any measurable wealth to their families
and hence are above monetary computation. The only
steady, day to day. earners on fields or elsewhere are the
males between the ages 15 and 55. Bearing these consi¬
derations in mind, it is obvious from the above table that
there are only 22 and 29 per cents, of active workers
among the Kaliparaj and the Ujaliparaj respectively. Re¬
latively speaking, the latter are better situated. For the
village as a whole the percentage is 28. In other words,
28 persons out of every 100 or 71 x out of 2560 constitute
what is called the working, active or effective population.

Problems connected with the proportion of working
population : The importance of the proportion of working
population to the total population is even greater than
what it seems to be from the discussion hitherto made.
There are two things in connection with this proportion

49

that require our serious consideration. In the first place,
the proportion as it is at present must not be allowed to
fall and must be maintained over a series of years at any
cost. Secondly, all possible efforts must be made to in¬
crease in future the number of adult workers or at least to
increase their ability to secure livelihood for the total
population. A decrease in the number of working adult
population may be due either to emigration of adult work¬
ers or to deaths. The increase in their number may be
due directly to immigration of adult workers or more usu¬
ally to boys coming of age. Thus the increase will vary
with the death-rates among boys and girls, children and
infants. It will also ultimately be affected by the inflow
of new population or by the birth-rate. The question of
increasing the ability or effectiveness of the existing num¬
ber of earners involves a consideration of the problems of
sanitation and health as they affect the average expecta¬
tion of life. Thus this seemingly simple topic of the pro¬
portion of working population raises fundamental issues
like the birth-rate and death-rate, immigration and emi¬
gration, average expectation of life and others. Having
considered the proportion of the effective population to
the total we shall now proceed to discuss the factor of
birth-rate and death-rate and the factor of migration as
they affect the total population as well as the proportion
of effective population. We shall first examine what
part these factors played in the history of the population
of this village.

Historical view of the population of the village : The
following are the figures of population 1 of Atgam at differ¬
ent dates :

■ 1 The population in 1926-27 was counted by the author; the figures for
the other years are those of the Official Census.

7

50

Year

Total

population

Percentage, *f increase, or—decrease.

1890-1

1900-1

2155

2087

. — 3*15 on the population

of 1891.

1910-11

2817

4 - 11*02 ,, ,,

99

33 1901.

1921-22

2097

— 9*49 55 35

5 9

„ 1911.

1926-27

2560

(' + 22-07 „ „

99

3 , 1921.

1 or

( + 18-8 „ „

99

„ 1891.

The tendencies evident from the foregoing table are :

(i) Twice in the history of the village there was a de¬
crease in the total population. It occurred first in the
decade 1890-1900 and subsequently in the decade 1911-
1921.

(ii) The quinquennium ending with the year of enquiry
reveals an abnormal increase of 22.07 per cent, in the
population over that of 1901.

(iii) In spite of variations, the net increase in the size
of the population during the last 37 years is 18.8 per
cent.

Causes of variations in the size of the population : The
first question is, what are the causes of these variations
in the size of the population at different censuses? An
enquiry into this aspect throws considerable light on the
part played by birth and death rates on the one hand and
migration on the other.

Birth and Death rates : We shall first consider the role
played by the former. The inadequacy and imperfect¬
ness of data need not be too often repeated. Luckily in
this case, we could lay our hands on registers of births
and deaths, however indifferently written, from 1892.
We believe that the statistics of births and deaths since
1914 are fairly accurate. The following table based on
statistics of births and deaths, gives in a summarised form
the total number of births and deaths that occurred since
1892 up to date :

51

Years

Births

Deaths

Net Increase

1892-1900

766

470

296

1901-1910

556

288

278

1911-1920

777

664

118

1921-1926

451

815

186

Thus there was a net increase during every decade.
This, then, fails to explain the diminution in the size of
the total population that occurred in the first and third
decades.

Emigration : The only other factor that reduces the
size of a population is emigration. On making a minute
enquiry about emigration we found interesting informa¬
tion. In 1900-01—a disastrous famine year—when the
census was taken, a good many people usually residing in
the village had been out in search of employment. This
explains why the figure of the size of the population in
this year seems to have dwindled from that of the previous
census. The diminution in the third decade was also due
to a similar reason as we shall presently see. During
the third decade however there was an additional cause
that materially affected the size of the population. It
was the outbreak of influenza and famine in 1918-19 which
took a heavy toll of life in this village. This is obvious
from the relatively small net increase in this decade.

The important role played by the factor of emigration
is again obvious when we consider why there was
such an abnormal increase in the population of 1926-27
over that of 1921. There are two circumstances which
explain this apparent abnormality.

(i) The census figure for 1921 is the result of a de facto
census, that is to say, only those people who were found
on the census night in the village were regarded as its
population. Our figure is the result of a de jure census,
that is, we have regarded as its population all those who
legally belong to the village, irrespective of the considera¬
tion whether they were within or without the village at
the time when we took the census. This meant a great
difference between the two figures because of

7*

52

(ii) the fact that about 200 to 300 persons belonging to
this village, as we were informed by one of the then ce ^ sus
enumerators had gone out of the village in search of
employment.

Real increase in the size of the population from 1891 .
Finally, has the population of the village really increased
bv 18.8 per cent, since 1891 as shown by the table of
population given above ? The answer is in the negative.
Like the census of 1921, the 1891 census was also a de
facto one. If we deduct the number of emigrants from
the figure of population of the census we took we get the
figure 2,342. If this can be regarded as the de facto po¬
pulation, the net increase dwindles from 18.8 to 8.6 per
cent Thus the real increase during the last 37 years is
only of 187 persons or 8.6 per cent, on the population of
1891. In other words, on an average there was an addi¬
tion of 5 persons per year during this period. This low
rate of increase is due to a high birth-rate accompanied by
a high death-rate.

The part played by the factor of emigration : Pausing
for a moment and reviewing this period of 37 years, we
clearly see that emigration has throughout been a power¬
ful factor in moulding the size of the population. In this
respect our village is typical of the Surat District which
is regarded as one of the most migratory districts m our
Presidency. 1

Having thus examined the part played by the factor of
birth and death rates and the factor of migration, we shall
pass on to a detailed consideration of each.

BIRTH-RATE AND DEATH-RATE

The following are the statistics of births and deaths
that occurred in the village during the last ten years :

1 This is shown on p. 116 , paragraph 330 , Census of India, 1921 , Vol.
XIII, part I, Bombay Presidency.

58

TEAR

I BIRTHS

Births

| DEATHS

Deaths

per

mille

Male

Female

| Total

jklhsX

mille

Male

Female

| Total

1917-18

44

38

82

35*4

| 37

28

65

j 28

1918-19

44

37

81

, 34*9

i 70

98

168

; 72*5

1919-20

34 ■■

33

67

28-9

; 40

34

74

j 31*9

1920-21

38

46

84

1 36*2

: 35

40

75

! 32*4

1921-22

46

31

77

! 36*8

j 30

26

56

26*7

1922-23

48

49

97

46*3

43

26

69

32*9

1923-24?

41

33

74

35*3

30

27

57

; 27*6

1924-25

50

41

91

43*4

31

27

58

i 27*6

1925-26

61

51

' 112

53*4

26

30

56

35*8

1926-27

30

40

70

33*3

33

42

75

35*8

Total

436

399

835

39*8

375

378

753 1

Thus the average birth-rate and the death-rate of
Atgam are 39.8 and 35.9 respectively. In spite of varia¬
tions these averages of the last ten years do not show
much divergence from those of British Gujarat, which in
1920 were 36 and 34 respectively. Obviously it will be
of great interest to ascertain whether the causes and the
effects of these factors of birth and death-rate are the
same here as elsewhere. We shall first analyse the caus¬
es and effects of a high birth-rate.

Causes and Effects of a high birth-rate : A minute ob¬
servation of the economic and social life as well as the
social customs of the Kaliparaj and the Ujaliparaj leads
us to conclude that the following are most probably the
causes of a high birth-rate among them. So far as the
Kaliparaj are concerned, the causes are as under :

(i) prolificness of the aboriginals, 1

(ii) the absence of early marriage among them. (This
is strange at first sight. But it is necessary to remember
that a mature girl when she becomes a wife can stand

1 The following are the statistics of birth for the Kaliparaj in 1926 - 27 .

Males 19 , Females 27 . Total 46 .

Out of 70 births 46 occurred among the Kaliparaj.

54

more frequent child-bearing than an immature one. The
first characteristic combined with this accounts for a high
birth-rate.)

(iii) The frequency of widow-remarriage.

(iv) Comparative absence of cerebral development.

Am ong the Ujaliparaj, with the exception of non-Hin¬
dus, the cause seems to be early marriage which results in

a woman bearing children
at a relatively early age.
Speaking comparatively,
the former are more fer¬
tile than the latter as
shown in the marginal

No. of children
per family 1 *

2*48

1*75

2*28

Kali para j....

Ujaliparaj . . .

Village as a whole .

DUU VVU XJLi ' ^

table. It is clear that the number of children per
family of the dark races is higher than that of the fair
races. Add to this the fact, we mentioned elsewhere,

that the average size of the family in the former is 5-69
and thus greater than that in the latter which is 5.21.
Thus here is an instance where greater fertility or fecun¬
dity is associated with primitive methods of living. This
forcibly brings home to our mind the significance of the
remark that “Our high birth-rate is, therefore, an indica¬
tion of the primitive state of our society and an evidence of
an unsophisticated type.”2

High birth-rate and longevity of life. : This compara¬
tively greater fecundity affects the longevity among both
males and females. This is obvious from the relatively
smaller proportion of old folks among the dark than among
the fair races. 3 The relation between fecundity and longe¬
vity is, however> more forcibly established by the fol¬
lowing table. We have correlated the percentages of
the children under 10 to the women of child-bearing age
among both classes with the number of old women found
in them.

1 ‘Children’ here means non-adults, that is, all males and females below 15.

The Population Problem in India, by Wattal, p. 17.

3 Vide table showing the classification of population.

55

Name of the Class

No. of children below
10 per 100 women of
child-bearing age 1 ]

Total No. of
Old Women

Kaliparaj..

172

58

Ujaliparaj.

14U

89

The table makes It evident that the higher the ratio
of children under io to females of child-bearing age, the
lesser the number of women who survive the maximum
limit of that age. Thus the dangers of frequent child¬
bearing are obvious.

Average Expectation of life : Unf ortunately, what is
true of the Kaliparaj seems to be true of the village as a
whole. In the latter case too, the high birth-rate has
meant a low average expectation of life. According to
Dr. Farr’s formula, 3 the average expectation of life for
this village comes to 26.9 years.

Main features and Causes of a high death-rate . Let
us now consider the causes of a high death-rate. The
most important feature of this high death-rate is a high
rate of infant mortality. Taking the last five years when
there was neither famine nor plague and examining the
figures carefully, we get the following results :

Year

Total No. of Births

Total No. of
Infantile Deaths

Infantile Deaths
per mille

1922

97

18

144*8

1928

74

12

162*2

1924

91

21

230*8

1925

112

14'

125

1926

70

22

314*8

Total

444

82

184*7

x This age period has been assumed to be 15—40 years. .

9 Dr. Farr’s formula for determining the average expectation of life is:

Average expectation of life (|*X

where d ** death-rate and b * birth-rate per unit of population; referred
to in Newsholme’s Vital Statistics p. 301 , (1899 Edition).

56

In spite of variations it is obvious that on an average
for the last five years out of every 1000 children .born 185
died within the first year of their birth. The cause—
common to both the Kaliparaj and the Ujaliparaj—is a
rapid succession of births of children lacking vitality and
consequently living short lives. Among other causes of
a high death-rate the following may be mentioned so far
as the Kaliparaj are concerned :

(i) want of cleanliness and insanitary habits, e.g., ab¬
sence of a habit of taking daily bath, indifference in
wearing clothes and drinking pure water and the
peculiar construction of their houses ; x

(ii) low quality of food and irregularity in taking the
same, especially when adults go out to urban areas
in search of employment, and

(iii) drink.

So far as the Ujaliparaj are concerned, a special cause
is the custom of neglecting female children. Greater care
is taken in bringing up male children whereas a female
child is looked upon as a burden.

All this discussion leads irresistably to the conclusion
that the health of the people of the village is far from satis¬
factory. This explains the fact why an abnormal num¬
ber succumbed during the influenza epidemic of 1918. It
also accounts for the frequent attacks of malaria which we
saw during the course of our enquiries.

MIGRATION

We shall now turn our attention to the other factor of
migration. This has two aspects : immigration and emi¬
gration.

Immigration : So far as immigration is concerned, with¬
in the last 30 years, as we gathered from local sources,
about 57 families immigrated to this village. Some of

1 The peculiarity of their houses is this. There is generally no barrier
between the sleeping room and stable. Consequently the vermin, created
in the dirt of the latter, unfailingly affect their health.

57

them originally came in search of work ; some were invit¬
ed by their relatives staying here, and one, as already
noted- the head of the Christian family, came for mission-

ary work.

Emigration : Little historical evidence is available for
tracing the history of emigration. During our enquiries,
however, we came across two cases of emigrants which
give us a faint impression of the time from which the iso¬
lation of this village has been affected by emigration. In
one case it is reported that a Mahommedan went on foot
to Calcutta about seventy years back in search of service.
In the other, a Dhed went to Bombay about fifty years
ago for a similar purpose. Of recent times we could
get a few instances of Banias and Suthars (carpenters)
migrating to some city or town, the former to avoid the
increasing competition among their fellow-money-lenders,
the latter to make a better living. The census we took
in 1927 gives us much more interesting information about
this fact of emigration. 218 persons, including 182 males
and only 36 females, were found to be out of the village
at the time when we took the census in the winter of I 9 2 7 -
Of these emigrants some are semi-permanent, like the
Dheds who serve as domestic servants to Europeans in
Bombay ; or the male members of the Bhangi family who
stay outside and serve as sweepers of roads on a regular
salary; or again like the two Banias, one of whom stays
at Bombay and is a sub-broker in the Share Bazaar and
another has set up a grocer’s shop in Bulsar. Some are
temporary migrants like the Kaliparaj who go out in the
off season to serve as labourers at Kalyan, Andheri,
Dharsana, Surat or Bulsar. A few Koli and Mahom¬
medan youths are employed as teachers in the vernacular
schools in villages in the vicinity of Atgam. They usually
stay for week-days on the spot and return home on
Sundays. These are classed as temporary emigrants.
Of the Kolis, however, one is at Bombay serving as an
accountant in a Shethia’s pedhi (merchant’s shop). Of

8

58

the Mahommedans, two are employed in railway service,
two are working as clerks to the contractors of forests in
the jungles of the Dangs to the east of Atgam, and one
is serving in the Income-tax Department in Bombay.
Artisans like Mochis (shoe-makers), Kumbhars (potters)
and Khalpas (tanners) migrate to towns like Navsari and
Billimora or Bulsar, mostly for supplementing their
meagre earnings at home, but at times for learning a new
craft (as was found to be the case with some of the Kum-
bhar emigrants who had gone to Surat to learn car¬
pentry.) There is yet one more purpose for which per¬
sons have emigrated from this village. That is study.
Two Anavil boys are studying English, one at Bulsar
and another at Viramgam in the Ahmedabad District.
Three boys from a Brahmin family are out, of whom one
is prosecuting his studies at the Engineering College at
Karachi, and two are studying Sanskrit in Chaklasi, a
village near Anand in the Kaira District. It is interest¬
ing to add that one of the Kaliparaj emigrants had gone
out to study in a Kaliparaj Boarding School at Khergam.
and a girl from the Christian family had been to Borsad
for -prosecuting her studies in Gujarati, when we made
our enquiries.

The number of places to which all these persons emi¬
grated comes to about forty. The most prominent of
these are Kalyan and Bulsar. Evidently a major por¬
tion of the emigrants go out to supplement their meagre
returns from land.

MAIN CONCLUSIONS
We have thus seen that—

(1) Atgam is a representative village community of
South Gujarat and contains a heterogeneous population.

(2) Of the total population, the proportion of working
population is relatively small, being 28 per cent.

(3) The village shows a high birth-rate.

(4) It has also a high death-rate, part of which is due
to high infant mortality which shows low vitality.

59

(5) The average expectation of life is low.

(6) A substantial section of the population emigrates
to supplement their meagre returns from land.

Does all this scent of the operation of the Law of
Malthus ? We shall be in a position to answer this ques¬
tion when we have finished our study of the production
of this village. Having studied the general characteris¬
tics of the people of the village, we shall now turn our at¬
tention to a few important social aspects of life in Atgam.

8*

CHAPTER—IV

SOME ASPECTS OF LIFE IN THE VILLAGE.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Human life is an organic whole. There are no such
divisions as economic and social in actual life. We, how¬
ever, make such divisions only with a view to make our
study precise and accurate by selecting one of its multifa¬
rious aspects. While doing this we should not forget the
fact of the fundamental unity of life. The main theme
of this work is to study the economic life of the people of
Atgam. The economic life of any group of people is sure
to be affected by some aspects of its social life—like the
marriage and death ceremonies which involve expendi¬
ture ; the religious beliefs of the people which materially
influence the state of their mind and make them pessimis¬
tic or optimistic in their outlook on life ; education, the
presence or absence of which affects production, and simi¬
lar other aspects. The object of this chapter is to follow
up the preceding one, which principally deals with the
people of Atgam in a general way, by studying a few
aspects of their social life which have an important bear¬
ing on their economic life. In order to appreciate the
significance of the effects of social aspects on economic
life, we shall first describe the routine of daily life in the
village and then consider (i) education (2) religious
beliefs and festivals, (3) civil condition, and (4) social
customs—like marriage, remarriage and death ceremony.

THE ROUTINE OF DAILY LIFE

The average daily life led by an Atgam dweller is mo¬
notonous. It may appear almost mechanical to a Bom-
bayite with his multifarious activities amidst the incessant

61

bustle of the city. Yet it has to be described lest he may

have no idea of the reality.

Early in the morning the peasant goes to his farm driv¬
ing a pair of bullocks or with a scythe in his hand, tie
works there till about 9 o’clock, and returns home to
take the morning meal, consisting of loaves of Nagli
flour and a meagre quantity of pulse or vegetable, or at
times some pickles. He goes back to his field and works
there till half past twelve or one. Once again he returns
home , 1 takes his mid-day meal and rests himself tor a
while. At about three o’clock one^ finds his dark, per-
plexing figure in the field busily moving about or working
with tools and implements similar to those his forefathers
used generations ago. As the shadows of the night ga¬
ther, he ‘homeward plods his weary way’ whistling and
driving a pair of tired-looking bullocks. If he is a Kali-
parai cultivator he often goes from the field direct to the
toddywala’s shop or booth, drinks as much toddy as his
means allow or his credit commands, and returns home
reeling and singing obscene songs. He takes his supper
if he can, or immediately drops down to sleep on the
ground forgetting the toils and troubles of his monotonous
life. The average Ujaliparaj cultivator also visits the
toddy shop or liquor-shop but drinks moderately.“ The
next day dawns with the same dull routine of life. Days,
months and years roll on without any break in the deaden¬
ing monotony of his life. There are no play-grounds and
clubs for him to attend. Nor are there libraries which
he may occasionally visit to refresh his mind, receive new
ideas and ennoble his life. Unfortunately, in most cases,
he is illiterate. If he knew the three ‘R s, he has ior-
o-otten them for want of practice.

If there are any changes in this uniformity they are

1 It is necessary to remember that the construction of this village is such
that a farmer can go from his field to his house and from his house
back to his field frequently. ' , . . „

9 This whole description does not apply in all its details to all, J> ut a
majority of working cultivators who form the bulk of the village popu¬
lace. * • • ■

62

dictated by the time and nature of his work. For him
the year is divided into periods of hard work, light work
and idleness in turn. He is very busy in June, July and
for a few days in August. In June he is busy tilling his
fields and sowing seeds. July is the time for transplanta¬
tion of paddy and Nagli plants from their nursery beds to
other ones reserved for them. For a few days in August
he is occupied with weeding the crops. September is a
period of little work for him. This is the time when the
average Kaliparaj cultivator frequently enjoys festivals.
Some families gather together for feasts consisting mainly
of meat, and fish caught from the streams, which abound
in them at this time of the year. Liquor flows in plenty
on such occasions, either purchased from the licensee of
liquor or secretely distilled at home. October
again, is a busy month. The farmer reaps his paddy
plants, bundles them and carries them home. He tills
the soil and sows wal (beans) which is a usual second
crop. He cuts nagli-sheaves and takes them home. In
November he is busy separating paddy and nagli grains
from straw and cutting grass to feed his cattle during the
off season. His work is over by the beginning of De¬
cember. In this and the following months he occasion¬
ally takes a job as a farm labourer under some big land-
owner or as a worker on the Local Board roads. In
some cases where the second crop of wal is not sown, the
small peasant proprietor repays the corn borrowed by his
family from his sowkar when he was away and hastens
to some industrial area like Bulsar or even Kalyan (on the
G. I. P. Railway). Here he receives cash wages, board
and a small quantity of liquor. If he remains in the vil¬
lage and has a cart, he earns a few rupees, by plying it
for hire, with which to purchase clothes and other miscella¬
neous things. February and March are busy months.
During these months he reaps his wal and finds opportu¬
nity to supplement his meagre earnings by working as a
farm labourer. This is the time when wal, castor-seeds
and cotton fibres are harvested.

68

Summer is the time for social festivities and religious
relaxations. Toddy can be had in plenty in this season.
Occasional earnings of a few coppers by working as a
farm labourer on the farm of some cultivator growing
sugarcane, or as a cooli to assist mango-dealers, are in¬
vested (or wasted) in purchasing the license of tapping
toddy-trees in his farm, or paying frequent visits to the
toddy-shop. If he extracts toddy at home, he drinks it
till he is stupefied. If he goes to the toddy-shop, he
carouses in the company of friends ; this is a place where
altercations and affrays are frequent.

Marriages generally take place in summer. They in¬
terrupt his daily routine of life. For some days in this
season he has to attend them and go in processions to
other villages. It is in this period that guests often come
to visit his house as he has yet some corn—especially
wal—recently reaped from his field. They are served
with loaves of nagli or jowar together with sufficient wal,
toddy and mutton or fish. Days thus pass away ; June
returns with its usual demand for hard field-work and
the round of one year is over.

This is a picture of the “noiseless tenor” of life led by
an average Atgam dweller. He works practically for
six months during the year, partly on his own field and
partly on those of others. The remaining six months
form his period of rest or idleness.

A substantial minority of cultivators, however, both
Kaliparaj and Ujaliparaj, who grow sugarcane and pur¬
sue diversified farming, are occupied with work for more
than eight months 1 during the year.

(i) EDUCATION

The humdrum of life which an average farmer of Atgam
leads may be attributed to his lack of education. Among
the Kaliparaj who constitute the bulk of its population,
only 83 out of 1690 persons or 4-8 per cent, are literate.

X An annual time-table of work for such a cultivator owning 15 acres of
land is given in appendix IV.

64

The majority of these literates may be called so by court¬
esy since they only know how to sign their names. Not a
single female among them was found to be literate.

The percentage of literacy for the village as a whole is,
however, comparatively high. Out of 2560 persons 358,'
of whom 311 are males and 47 females, or 13.9 per cent!
are literate. The following table shows correctly the
level of literacy among the main classes :

Literate in
English

Studying English

Literate in
Gujarati

Studying

Gujarati

Literate

Percentage on
total Population

Males

Females

Males

Females

Males

Females

Total

Kaliparaj . . ,

_

_

41

32

83

83

4-8

Ujaliparaj Hindus

3

4

129

16

37

16

173

32

205

28

Non-Hindus .

4

4

36

13

11

2

55

15

70

50*7

Total for the

Tillage . , .

7

8

20 6

29

80

18

311

47

358

13*9

Though the general level of literacy is low as compared
with villages in the West, it is relatively high so far as
villages 1 in our country are concerned. It is, however,
obvious that the general percentage for the village is high
because the high percentage of literacy prevalent among
the Ujaliparaj enters into its making. The real bulk of
the population, the Kaliparaj, is mostly illiterate.

The high level of literacy for the village as a whole
may, however, be taken as quite natural when it is re¬
membered that this village has a vernacular school for

1 Cf. in Roth Khurd, a village in the Konkan studied by Mr. Ranade onlv
three out of a population of 346 were found to be literate. Even'these
3 belonged to the wine-merchant’s family. Vide A Social and Economic
Survey of a Konkan village, Ranade.

Bairampur, a village in the Punjab, Mr. Bhalla found only 2 per
cent, of the population to be literate. Vide An Economic Survey of Bai¬
rampur, Ram Lall Bhalla. y

Dr Lucas in his study of Kabirpur village in the same province
iTof^ Punjfb vkge, 6 L P uc r as < ; ent - * ^ Vide The Eco °°^

65

the last 57 years. During the last 15 years about 37
students from this school have passed the Vernacular
School Final Examination, which qualifies a student for
the Teachers’ profession in vernacular schools. The
majority of them are Mahommedans and Kolis who now
serve as teachers in villages in the neighbourhood of At-
gam. A few have passed the Matriculation Examina¬
tion and are serving, as already stated elsewhere, two in
the B. B. and C. I. Railway and one in the Income-tax
Department in Bombay.

While we approve of this high level of literacy, we
cannot ignore its saddening effect, namely, the exodus of
the intellect from the village to the town. A mere liter¬
ary education has thus meant no advantage to the village
itself. It has virtually spelled a net deduction from the
number of farmhands or farm-managers. This does not
mean that villagers should be kept in ignorance. What
is really wanted is indeed more education, but it
should be given an agricultural bias. The education in the
three ‘R’s must be made only a first stage in the scheme of
rural education. The higher stages must be reserved
for imparting a knowledge of agricultural technique and
agricultural economics.

Whether even this type of education with an agricul¬
tural bias should be made compulsory or not is another
important issue which we may briefly dispose of here. On
being asked whether compulsory education for boys and
girls would be welcomed by them, many of the Kaliparaj
family-heads gave us to understand that it was not desir¬
able, for they could not afford to send all their children
to school. One child, they said, at least, must be kept
at home to take the cattle of the family out to graze. A
deeper consideration is sure to convince one that this
argument is not quite as irrational as it seems to be. Tlie
importance of cattle in the economic life of an Indian vil¬
lager cannot be overrated. On the other hand, the inter¬
ests of the minors cannot be ignored. The only solution
in this case seems to lie in the introduction of the system

9

66

of quarterly courses in useful subjects which may be
taught in the rainy-season when the land is covered with
plenty of green grass and cattle need no special supervi¬
sion during the major part of the day.

(2) RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND FESTIVALS

It is obviously impossible to give a full account of the
religious beliefs and festivals of all the castes and creeds
that are found in the village under study. We, therefore,
propose to note only a few salient points about the reli¬
gious beliefs and festivals of the Kaliparaj and the Ujali-
paraj Hindus, who together form about 95 per cent, of the
total population of the village.

Religious Beliefs of the Kaliparaj : The Kaliparaj be¬
lieve in ghosts. It is a usual custom among them to set
up a wooden image called ‘Khatru’ to the memory of a
dead relative. This they occasionally worship. On
every festival when they prepare delicious food (accord¬
ing to their notion), they, first of all, offer a part thereof
to this ghost. The ghost is looked upon by them as a
Supernatural power that protects them from all sorts of
dangers.

The Kaliparaj of this place often go to Malwada, a
village to the east of Atgam about 10 miles away where
they worship the image of a goddess locally known as
Malwadi-Mata. Occasionally some of them go to Moti-
favel, a place near Dharampore about 10 miles to the east
of the village under study, for worshipping Samal Dev.
It is interesting to note that though a god called Gusmai 1
is regarded as their principal god in written literature avail¬
able about them, the Kaliparaj of this place know nothing
about him.

Religious Festivals of the Kaliparaj : The leading festi¬
vals observed by the Kaliparaj are :

1 The image of this god is said to be in the cave of a hill near the hot
springs of Unai, a place about 25 miles to the North of Atgauu

(i) Diwaso which generally falls in June or July.

(ii) Vag Baras ,, ,, ,, October or November.

(iii) Diwali ,, ,, , 9 ?? >> >>

(iv) Holi „ ,, 55 5 , February or March.

On these days and on a few other Sundays and Tues¬
days, most of these people visit their gods in large num¬
bers and make offerings to them. These offerings gene¬
rally consists of a goat or a hen, a cocoanut, a lamp fed
with ghee and a flower wreath.

Dublas, a section of the Kaliparaj, however, enjoy a
few more holidays like the Mata-Ashtami which falls in
September or October, Balev which falls in July or Au¬
gust and Makar Sankrant which falls in January. On
some of these days they play what is locally called “Gher-
ias.” They tie a belt of gingling bells round their waist,
hold a stick in their hands and dance from place to place.
On these occasions they collect gifts from the people and
spend the money thus collected in drinking toddy.

Religious Beliefs of the Ujaliparaj Hindus :

The religious beliefs of the numerous castes that come
under the term Ujaliparaj ‘Hindus’ vary with the different
tenets they follow. A majority of them are Ramanuji
Vaishnvas. Of the rest some are Shaivites and some
devotees of Shakti. A few of them are found to have
no religion whatever.

The most noteworthy feature, however, about their
religious life is this. There are three Bhajan-mandlies—
bands of men who gather together and sing devotional
sacred hymns to the accompaniment of cymbals. One of
these Bhajan-mandlies consists of members of different
castes like Kolis, Darjis, Valands and a few others. The
second was recently started and consists of young intelli¬
gent Kolis many of whom are serving as teachers in the
vernacular schools in the neighbouring villages. The third
consists again of Kolis staying in one of the farthest ‘falias’
of the village. These Bhajan-mandlies show the last

9'

68

vestiges of that spirit of co-operation which was once a
marked feature of rural communities. It is unfortunate,
however, that a majority of the members of these Mand-
lies believe that they cannot sing unless they ‘whet’ their
throat with liquor or toddy. In spite of this sad feature,
we believe that looking to the reception accorded to these
bands of songsters, if inspired with fire for reform and
freed from love of intoxicating drinks, they can be very
powerful social agencies for remoulding the life and gene¬
ral outlook of the people at large in this village.

Religious Festivals of the Ujaliparaj Hindus:

Almost all festivals mentioned with regard to the Kali-
paraj are common to this class. There are a few more
which are too well known to be noted.

,( 3 > CIVIL CONDITION

The following table embodies the results of the census
of civil condition of the people taken by us in 1927.

Unmarried |

Married* |

Widowed

Males

Females

Males

Females

Males

| Females

Kaliparaj .

468

387

393

392

42

58

Ujaliparaj .

Total for the

198

124

217

226

32

73

village .

666

461

610

618

74

131

It is difficult to offer any remark on the civil condition of
the people in the absense of similar figures for the last
census. From a minute study of the family schedules we
collected in our enquiry we, however, find that child-
marriages, especially of girls, are rare among the Kali-
paraj and the non-Hindus, though they are frequent

1 The disparity between married males and females is due in some cases
to the fact that a wife has run away, in others due to the fact that
girls though married are yet a burden to their parents from an economic
standpoint as they stay with them.

60

among the Ujaliparaj Hindus. We, however, came ac¬
ross two cases among the Kaliparaj where girls under 13
were married. In the case of the lower castes of the
Ujaliparaj Hindus we found about 17 cases of marriages
of girls under 13.

( 4 ) SOCIAL CUSTOMS

The marriageable age among the Kaliparaj is usually
18 to 30 in the case of boys and about 15 in the case of
girls. However, of late a tendency towards early marri¬
ages is discerned in some cases. This is an unfortunate
effect of the desire to imitate the practice of the Ujaliparaj
in the hope of attaining their status.

Among the Ujalivaran (Ujaliparaj Hindus) the marri¬
ageable age for boys and girls varies with each caste.
However, as a rule, girls are married between 9 and 13,
and boys between 14 and 18. Late marriage is a pro¬
minent characteristic of non-Hindus, that is, of Maho-
mmedans, Parsis, and Christians. There is no objection
to the re-marriage of widowers ; but widow remarriage
is not allowed among Banias and Brahmins.

Polygamy is rare in all the social groups. Even among
the Kaliparaj we could discern only one or two cases
where it had taken place. Polyandry is conspicuous by
its absence. No one tolerates the idea of polyandry.

The dead are mostly burnt by the Kaliparaj and the
Ujalivaran. They are buried by the non-Hindus except
the Jains who burn them. Performance of death cere¬
mony is compulsory among the Kaliparaj. One of the
Dubla Patels told us that they would physically beat a
man into performing such a ceremony. Among the
Ujalivaran and non-Hindus, there is no such compulsion
hut spending a large sum on obsequies and dinners is
looked upon by them as a sign of the high status of a
family.

These are a few important social customs obtaining
among different communities in this village. Details of

70

the ceremonies performed on each occasion are deliberate¬
ly avoided as they are not of great use in a work which is
mainly economic. However the expenses that they incur
on different ceremonial occasions are of great importance
to us. We have, therefore, collected from as many commu¬
nities as we could, the figures of expenses incurred on the
celebration of the first marriage of a boy or girl, and re¬
marriage of widowers and widows ; and also the expenses
incurred for the performance of death-ceremony of boys
and girls and adults. These figures are summarised in
appendix V.

The conclusions from these figures are :—

(i) With the exception of Anavil Brahmins and Par-
sis, in all communities the expenses on the marriage of a
boy are usually less than those on the marriage of a girl.

(ii) Expenses on remarriage of a widower are less
than those on widow-remarriage in all classes except Ko-
lis, Bharwads, Kumbhars, Khalpas and Mochis.

(iii) Expenses incurred for the performance of death-
ceremonies of boys and girls are less in all cases than those
incurred in the case of deaths of adults.

(iv) Expenses on the death-ceremonies of male and
female adults are almost equal among all communities ex¬
cept Kolis, Bharwads, Dheds, Suthars, Valands and
Mahommedans.

(v) If we compare the figures of net income per
family,! and the figures of expenses on the celebration of
first marriage, we find that with the exception of Ana-
vils, Khalpas, Mochis, Kumbhars and Banias, in all
communities the expenses on the first marriage do not
outrun the average annual family-income to an abnormal
extent.

The first four conclusions are mere statements of
facts. This last observation is of importance and hence
we shall concentrate our attention on it. At first sight it
appears that this ceremonial expenditure does not weigh

1 Cl. Chapter XIV.

heavily on the majority of the village populace. It is,
necessary however, to remember that it is not merely
marriage ceremonies but all kinds of ceremonies, that have
to be performed in accordance with custom, which rules
the life of the rural folks with an iron hand. These occa¬
sions for ceremonies arise any time in the life of a. family,
since there is no knowing as to when deaths of young or
old members, or near relatives of the family will occur.
Again, the expenses for each ceremony are more or less
fixed by custom, while the earnings of a family from land
or other rural occupations are low and uncertain and their
savings practically nil. This makes it almost inevitable
for the average farmer to incur debt or part
with some.of his capital goods for performing a ceremony.
On enquiry into the economic history of about 30 rami-
lies we found that 18 had to contract debts to meet the
expenses on different ceremonies. Of the rest some de¬
frayed these expenses from the sale of goats or sheep ;
some from the sale of cattle or a piece of land ; some from
the sale of molasses or paddy ; some from the wages they
earned in external areas supplemented by their meagre
returns from land and others by borrowing from the local
co-operative credit society. .

This discussion leads to the irresistible conclusion, that
such expensive ceremonies are responsible to an appre¬
ciable extent for the indebtedness of the farmer or the sale

of his land or some of his capital goods.

We have so far studied the general and social aspects ot
the life of the people of Atgam, and seen how they affect
their economic condition. We shall now pass on to study
in greater detail their economic life and we shall begin
with the study of some aspects of agricultural life and
practice of the people.

CHAPTER—V

SOME ASPECTS OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE
AND PRACTICE.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Land has been the basis of life in village communities in
India as elsewhere. Though artisans, personal servants
and village police pursued avocations other than agricul¬
ture in earlier days, they were closely connected with land
which was offered to them as an inducement to stay in the
village and administer to the needs of the farming popula¬
tion.

Land is still the basis of village-life, however weak it
has grown through the passage of time and through the
operation of different influences. Wander where he may
in search of employment in some industrial area or in
some city, being attracted by the glitter of its life, the
villager goes back at certain intervals to his village where
he owns a piece of land. In this respect, Atgam makes a
fascinating study. We have already seen how a good
number of persons annually emigrate from this village,
in search of service in the off season and come back
home as June returns to till their tiny plots of land
and reap a meagre crop. We now propose to study
how and to what extent these emigrants as well as the
total population of the village are associated with land as
a source of income. In other words, the theme of this
chapter is to study agriculture which, to the people, is
either a principal or a subsidiary source of income. We
shall first study the extent of the part played by agri¬
culture in the life of the village and subsequently examine
plg W sa ent f eatures of agricultural practice of the peo-

THE EXTENT OF AGRICULTURAL WORK
An analysis of the different family-schedules yields the
o owing results regarding agriculture as a source of in-

come to the people :

73

Number

Percentage 1 on
the total number
of families

I. Families having agriculture as the

only source of income ....

11. Families having agriculture as the

14

a

O

principal source of income . . .

III. Families having agriculture as a sub¬

235

51

sidiary source of income

IV. Families indirectly deriving income I
from land like field-labourers,

153

33

Halis2 and permanent servants 3

V. Families following occupations not

50

11

connected with agriculture

9

2

Total .

461

Too

It is obvious that out of 461 families residing in the
village, only 9 or about 2 per cent, are not connected with
agriculture. The sources of income to these nine fami¬
lies are shown below :

Sources of income

Number of families
with the specified
source of income

Labour on Local Board roads .....

1

Domestic service in Bombay.

1

„ ,, ,, Billimora.

1

Permanent service at a potter’s.

1

Manual labour at Kalyan .......

1

„ =, » Bulsar.

2

Goldsmith’s work.*

I

Service of the Protestant Church of England

3

Total .

~9~

1 Decimals are omitted in calculating these percentages.

9 A ‘Hali’ means a labourer who has mortgaged his labour to a farmer
” for a loan he borrowed from him for celebrating his own marriage.

3 This phrase means ‘a field-labourer who sticks to one farmer for getting
employment. 5

10

74

Apart from these nine families, we find that there are
50, which indirectly derive their income from agriculture.
As against this, the number of families which are associat¬
ed with agriculture directly is 402. The following is the
distribution of these 402 families which are so intimately
connected with the land : y

Number of families I Percentage
falling in the on 402

—.. specified group | families

1 . Rent-receivers. 26 6-5

Owners cultivating part of their
land and letting the rest. . . 22

S. Owners cultivating part of their
land, letting the rest and leasing

others J land (nearer their fields) . 3 73,1

4 . Owners cultivating their own land . 116

5. Owners cultivating their own land

and leasing extra land as small

tenants 173

6. Mere tenants. _62 15 . 4

_____ Total . 402 j 00 .

Th e above classification makes it quite clear at a dance
hat out of 402 families connected with land, 314 or^about
78 per cent, are peasant-proprietors. Thus the problem

of rfnt C rl tUra pr0d K Cti ° n b Atgam is neither the problem
? l ab , sentee landlords nor of the landless

doubt S a b fe t pr ?Z P y that ° f P easant -P ro pnetors. No
plus b knd f an V H°! P easant -proprietors lease their sur- .

after aH tt d ° ny , aS ™ ana £ ers o£ their farms ; but,
er all, they cannot be classed either as mere rent-re¬
ceivers or as tenants.

Jte? mai " bct about the of a larve

umber of peasant-proprietors in view, we shall nass on

pra«L SC ^n° f 3 ^ Sa i ie "

practice, fins discussion is based on our investigation*
i”® 1 by available in Govlrnmeni

SALIENT FEATURES OF AGRICULTURAL
PRACTICE IN ATGAM

We propose to discuss under this heading the following
features :

(1) Rotation of crops,

(2) Mixed cropping,

(3) Use of manures,

(4) Quality of cultivation,

(5) Fencing,

(6) Seed-prqpervation,

(7) Introduction of new crops,

(8) Economy and leakage.

(1) Rotation of crops : Rotation of crops means grow¬
ing of different crops on the same piece of land one after
another from year to year. This is done with a view to
avoid exhaustion of the soil. An examination of the
crops entered for the last five years in the present crop re¬
gister 1 of the village in most cases did not show any regu¬
lar order. However, as gathered from local sources of
information and personal inspection, we find that paddy,
a Kharif or monsoon crop, and wal, a Rabi or winter
crop, are frequently and widely grown in succession for
a number of years. Occasionally intelligent farmers,
who own sufficiently large fields and who manure them
well every year, replace this paddy-wal crop by sugarcane
every fifth or sixth year. In the generality of cases sugar¬
cane is rotated at intervals of ten years. This is true of
Kyari or rice-land. With regard to Jarayat or dry-crop
land, a large portion of it is kept reserved for cutting
green grass or hay or is used as pasture. On this land,
however, diligent farmers raise Kodra at intervals of
eight to ten years. Some make a more profitable use of
this kind of soil by growing Kodra one year and following
it up with Diveli or castor-seed next year ; Kodra recurs
in the third year and subsequently the field is kept fal¬
low for about five to ten years.

1 Crop Registers are renewed quinquennially.

10 *

76

In some cases, people have learnt by practice to alter¬
nate an ordinary crop with a leguminous crop. We have
already seen above how the paddy crop which removes 1
considerable plant-food from the soil is alternated with
wal, a leguminous crop. Wal, it may be noted, reple¬
nishes the soil by its ability to take nitrogen—an import¬
ant plant-food—from the air by means of the bacteria in
the nodules formed on its roots and renders the field fit
for raising paddy next year. Similar is the action of cas¬
tor-seed, a leguminous crop, when it succeeds Kodra
which is looked upon by all farmers here as one of the
most exhausting crops. Lang, watana and gram are
other leguminous crops which are grown instead of wal
to succeed paddy. Gram, however, is generally grown
in the bed of tanks and not in the rice-plot, as it removes
much plant-food from the soil.

(2) Mixed cropping : Besides the rotation of crops,
farmers have developed a system of mixed cropping. The
mixtures or combinations commonly used are as follows :

(i) Wal (beans) and Sanbi (hemp).

(ii) Kodra (a coarse cereal) and Tur (pulse).

(iii) Marvel (a species of rice) and Tur (pulse).

(iv) Nagli (a coarse cereal) and Tur (pulse).

The first mixture is invariably grown in Kyari or rice-
land in winter and the other three in Jarayat or dry-crop
land in the monsoon. The reason for growing the first
mixture, as a good many farmers told us, is that the latter
crop shoots up earlier than the former, covers the former
and protects it against the effects of a fall of dew. Re¬
garding the other three mixtures they have little explana-
tion to give except that that is the usual practice from
time immemorial. We may note in passing that science
tells us that cereal crops, as a rule, take off much nitrogen
rrom the sou ; and Tur which is a leguminous crop, ab¬
sorbs nitrogen from the air and supplies it to the soil.

1 This crop sucks up 41 lbs. of nitrogen and 68 lbs. of potash per acre •

Intensive Farming in India, Kenny. P. 407. P P acre ’

It will be interesting to read two illustrations of the fea¬
tures of agricultural practice we have described above.
They are taken from crop registers maintained by Gov¬
ernment and refer to the fields of two fairly intelligent
farmers. They form practically the history of cultiva¬
tion on two plots for the last sixteen years and read as
under:

THE CROPS RAISED IN

YEAR

„ vr 648

Survey

Survey No. 152

(Kyari)

(Jarayat)

Area: 10 gunthas

Area : 2 acres

1911

Paddy

Kodra and Tur

1912

t wal

Castor seed

1913

fallow

Kodra

1914

Paddy + wal

Grass

1915

Paddy

1

1916

Paddy (Kharif)

yy

1917

f Sugarcane (Rabi)

1 Sugarcane (Kharif)

y 1

1918

Paddy

yy

1919

,, -f wal and Sanbi

yy

1920

Paddy

y y

1921

,, + wal ;

yy

1922

Paddy (Kharif)

yy

1923

/ Sugarcane (Rabi)
t Sugarcane (Kharif)

yy

1924

Paddy + wal

yy

1925

Paddy

yy

1926

Paddy + wal

Kodra and Tur

(3) Use of manures : The manure most commonly used
in this village is cattle-dung. It is dumped in a pit which
is only at a short distance from the cattle-shed and left
to decompose or ferment. These manure-pits are gene¬
rally kept under the shade of trees. House-sweepings,
ashes and other rubbish are also thrown into these pits

78

where they mix up with cattle-dung and form rich manure.
The whole supply of cattle-dung is not used as manure.
It is a usual practice among almost all farmers whether
Kaliparaj or Ujaliparaj to use some portion of it as fuel.
A good number of the Kaliparaj earn a few rupees by
selling dung-cakes at Bulsar. Both these practices mean
that the soil is starved to the extent to which the quantity
of cattle-dung, the only manure an average farmer can
afford to use, is diverted to non-agricultural purposes.

From our personal observation, we found that only a
few people know the true value of cattle-urine as a kind
of manure. Of those, who know that weight for weight
urine is a much richer manure than cattle-dung, few
have made attempts to conserve the whole of it available
during nights and non-working hours.

Cattle-dung is generally used as a manure only in pad¬
dy and sugarcane fields. No manure is used in fields of
jarayat soil. Such fields are kept fallow at intervals and
only grass is allowed to grow. At different parts of the
year, goats, sheep and cattle are allowed to graze on
these plots. The excreta and the urine which they drop
are the only manure these fields get.

Occasionally, for preparing a field for sugarcane, sanbi
(jute-seed) is grown in June or July. When it becomes
mature by the end of August, the plants are puddled in
green. This use of green manure, as some of them said
considerably improves the texture of the soil.

It is a frequent practice with many farmers to make
adar. This practice means that the dry leaves that have
dropped down from trees, dry plants and such other rub¬
bish are collected, heaped in the midst of a field and set
on fire The ash left behind supplies potash and enriches
. ® ^ 01 ■ This practice is usually followed while prepar¬
ing a nursery for paddy or nagli plants.

Only half a dozen farmers use bones and fish as ma¬
nure for mango-trees and chiku-plants. The use of cas-
tor-od cakes as a manure for sugarcane is similarly limit¬
ed. No artificial fertilisers are used in this village, though

79

on enquiry, we found that a large quantity of ammonium
sulphate was used as a manure for sugarcane last year in
Palan, a village about four miles to the west of Atgam.

(4) Quality 0} cultivation : Farming in this village is of
varying degree of excellence. A few Anavils and the
Kolis compete with one another in attaining perfection;
the former by their able management and the latter by
their personal exertion. The Dhodia farmers are gene¬
rally regarded as, and, as a matter of fact are, inferior in
methods of cultivation. Very careful cultivation is done
by all those who grow sugarcane, which requires a cer¬
tain degree of fineness of tilth for a full growth. All
agricultural operations are performed with the help of in¬
digenous implements and tools of which more anon.

(5) Fencing : The subdivision and fragmentation of
land prevents farmers from erecting permanent fences and
turning their fields into well-demarcated areas. As a
rule, when the different crops shoot up in the monsoon,
farmers raise temporary fences round about their fields.
These fences are nothing but the thorny branches of ba¬
bul-trees placed one with the other in such a way as to
allow no stray cattle to get in and damage the crop.
Some Anavil, Bania, Koli, and a few other cultivators
have, however, erected round their big plots of land
fences consisting of Thuer plants 1 which grow thickly
and form a strong, impenetrable barrier for animals. Su¬
garcane being a sweet crop, requires considerable care in
this respect. Even in this case, the majority of farmers
raise temporary fences of Thuer or other plants or thorny
branches of babul-trees. They also make ‘frantic
efforts to drive pigs, monkeys and jackals away
by passing sleepless nights and shouting or throwing
stones at them.’ Wire-fencing has been introduced very
recently by one Anavil farmer and it seems that it is likely
to catch the fancy of those who can afford it.

X A kind of vegetation bearing thorns.

80

(6) Seed-preservation : The farmer, whether Kaliparaj
or Ujaliparaj, understands the value of using good seed.
He generally selects the best ears or sheaves, as the case
may be, from his fields and preserves them for seed. But
a greater number of farmers, especially the Kaliparaj,
are too poor to select and preserve good seed. They gen¬
erally borrow it from the local Bania sowkars or bring
it from their relatives staying in some villages near by.

(7) Introduction of new crops : While studying the na¬
tural environment of the farmer of this village, we noticed
that there is a great element of uncertainty about his occu¬
pation, which depends on uncertain factors like rainfall
and climate. In spite of these discouraging circumstanc¬
es, one is happy to find that two new crops—new to this
area—namely cotton and wheat are introduced in this
village. Cotton was first introduced by Mr. Manibhai 1
in 1916. It has now become one of the usual crops raised
by a good number of cultivators of this area. Wheat
was successfully grown only last year by a Dhodia farmer
and has been continued this year also by him and imitated
by another farmer.

(8) Economy and leakage : It is often said by the far¬
mer “Ek kasar and so safar” i.e. ‘a single act of econo¬
my in agriculture enables one to acquire as much wealth
as one’s hundred commercial ventures in foreign coun¬
tries can.’ This characteristic love of economy is really
a remarkable feature about the agricultural practice of
these farmers. The straw of paddy, the leaves and stems
of wal, cotton-seed and the upper shoots of sugarcane
plants when green are used as fodder crops. The chaff of
paddy is pulverised and used along with guar and cotton¬
seed as a concentrated food to cows and she-buffaloes
in milk. The upper shoots of sugarcane, when dry, are
used for roofing houses. The raw mangoes blown off
from their parental trees by violent, winds are used in

1 The present Police Patel of Atgam and Honorary Organiser of Co-opera¬
tive Societies for Bulsar Taluka.

81

making a variety o£ pickles. The straw of Kodra is
used by the Kaliparaj to serve as beds. The stems of
jute are used as fuel. Thus, as much economy as possi¬
ble is effected in the use of agricultural bye-products. Yet
there is considerable waste.

This waste is due to several factors as shown below :

(i) In the first place, it is due to crop-pests and plant-dis¬
eases. Red rot (locally called Ratdo) and leaf smut are
the diseases which frequently overtake sugarcane in this
part. At the same time white ants often attack this crop
and spoil some sugarcane plants by eating them away at
the bottom. The people are not aware of adequate re¬
medies to cure and prevent such plant-diseases or attacks
of pests.

(ii) When sugarcane sets are being manufactured into
gul it is a usual practice to invite relatives and friends to
drink juice and eat warm gul. In the case of some
farmers, even potfuls of juice are sent to others. This
may be a good way of creating fellow-feeling but
on the whole it results in much waste.

(iii) Monkeys, jackals and pigs, as already mentioned,
take away their share of the farmers’ produce.

Some of this leakage is almost inevitable under the pre¬
sent circumstances. Let us take, for instance paddy.
When the seeds are sown, some do not germinate at all.
Of those that germinate, a few seedlings are spoiled in the
process of transplantation. After transplantation, as soon
as plants grow mature and put on sheaves, sparrows come
in numbers and feed on the grains. Again, some grains
drop down when the paddy plants are being harvested
and some are lost while removing them from the
farm to the farmers’ house. Even when they are heaped
in the farmers’ compound, they are not safe, since white
ants, found in large numbers in this place, swarm the
ground below the heap and eat away the sheaves at the
bottom. Some grains are again lost in separating them
from straw and winnowing them.

The mind of the people in connection with some of the

u

topics here discussed is reflected in local proverbs which

are in current use e.g. . .,

(1) Skilful rotation of crops and careful tilth yield rich

crops. 1 .

(2) As a man prospers by wealth, so does a farm by

the use of manures. 2

(3) Deep ploughing and the use of green manures yield
luxuriant crops. 3

(4) The better the seed the richer the crop. 4

When we read and hear these proverbs and ruminate
over them, we feel with Mr. Kenny that “the discoveries
of science in Europe during the last quarter of a century
are, in India, the petrified customs derived from hoary
antiquity.” 5

MAIN CONCLUSIONS

The following are the main conclusions of this chapter :

(i) Agriculture is the mainstay of the village, in which
peasant-proprietors form the bulk of the community.

(ii) A study of the agricultural practice of the people
shows that, though there are defects like the use of a part
of cattle-dung as fuel or, the wastage of cattle-urine and
inadequacies like the absence of the use of artificial ferti-

1 The original in the Gujarati runs thus:

wRTT =EtR W, 3TTT *TTtr;

«Rfit S'rar sift

2 The original runs thus:

^ spftanRT.

3 The original is :

<TT% fit Wfr 55 RT.

4 The original is as follows:

6 Intensive Farming in India, p. 284.

83

Users, on the whole the present practice shows a good
amount of intelligence on the part of the people.

Having thus determined the place of agriculture in the
economy of the village and examined the extent of care
with which it is carried on by the people, we shall pass
on to a consideration of the economics of cultivation with
a view to ascertain the nature of agriculture as a source
of income to them.

IX*

CHAPTER—VI

ECONOMICS OF CULTIVATION.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

In the last chapter we have considered the general
aspects of agricultural life and practice of the people. In
this chapter we proceed to greater details and see as far
as the data permit, the economics of cultivation as it is car¬
ried on in the village. Under this broad heading our
main object is to consider the total net agricultural income
of the families which our economic enquiry embraces.
This is the most important as well as the most difficult
subject in all village surveys and requires a thorough con¬
sideration.

In order to ascertain the net agricultural income for
the village as a whole, we shall first of all study the aver¬
age cost and return per acre of the principal crops raised
in the village. We shall then estimate the net receipts
from all forms of vegetation found in the village and
finally calculate the actual net income derived by the fami¬
lies. We shall first proceed to see what crops are raised
in the village.

CROPS OF THE VILLAGE

The following is a summary, extracted from Govern¬
ment Records, of crops raised in the village in 1926-27.

Acres

Total gross cropped area. $ 525*5

” net >» » ...... 2884**0

Fallow. 259*4

Area double cropped . . . . . . . , 641*5

85

Acres

Grain crops • .♦ 908*2

Faddy 762*9

Nagli 56*0

Kodra 86*5

Jo war 2*8

Pulses.*499*7

Wal 464*2

Tur 14*7

Lang 11*7

Other Pulses 9*1

Spices 1. 4*0

Vegetables. 8*2

Tobacco. 5*5

Til. 0*9

All non-commercial crops ..1421*5

Sugarcane 26*2

Castorseed 129*0

Cotton 84*1

Hemp 6*7

Mango Trees 5*7

Plantain ” 2*4

All commercial crops. 204*1

Total area under grass.. . 1899*9

Percentage of area under non-commercial

crops to the gross cropped area . . . 40*8

Percentage of area under Commercial-crops

to the gross cropped area. 5*8

Percentage of area under grass to the gross

cropped area. 53*9

General features : With the exception of jowar, all the
cereals are Kharif or rain-fed crops. With the exception
of Tur, all the pulse crops are Rabi or winter-crops. Tur
is mostly raised, as noted elsewhere, as a mixed crop
either with Marvel, Kodra or Nagli. Spices, vegetables,
tobacco and til are classed as non-commercial crops be-

1 This includes chillies, garlic, etc.

86

cause they are raised in this village for domestic consump¬
tion only. Sugarcane and cotton are what are called in
Government Reports ‘perennial crops, that is, they prac¬
tically occupy the field for both Kharif and Rabi seasons.
Mango trees are found spread over the village. Plantain
trees are raised only by a few farmers. These are all
regarded as commercial crops since their produce is. in¬
variably reserved for sale and not for private consumption.
The area under grass is relatively large in this place.
Having thus noticed a few general features of the crops
raised in this village, we shall now pass on to a study of
the economics of the principal crops.

ECONOMICS OF THE PRINCIPAL CROPS

In considering the economics of each crop, we have
first given a brief description of the principal processes of
cultivation in raising the particular crop and subsequently
given a balance-sheeti for the same. It is necessary,
however, to describe at this stage how we have con¬
structed these balance-sheets.

Method of constructing balance-sheets of crops : We
first of all approached a few intelligent farmers, who sup¬
plied us with some figures of actual expenses, made for
different processes of cultivation with regard to a few
crops. These figures were, however, found inadequate.
With a view to supplement our data on this subject, we
consulted a number of skilful Kaliparaj and Ujaliparaj
cultivators and verified the figures of yields and estimates
of expenditure for different crops per Bingha (2 /3rd of
an acre).

In the actual process of framing the balance-sheets of
crops there were a number of difficulties. We may men¬
tion the principal ones along with the manner in which
we overcame them.

(i) It is easy to understand that while considering the

1 This means the average cost of, and return from, a crop. For want of a
more appropriate word we have used this phrase.

ST

balance-sheet of a crop we cannot ignore the farmer who
raises the crop. The cost of a crop will differ as the
farmer raising it works himself or solely depends upon
hired labour. In the village under study, both these
classes of cultivators are present, though the former con¬
stitute the bulk of the cultivating populace, t or whom
we should prepare the balance-sheet of a crop was the
difficulty. We solved it by constructing balance-sheets
f or both—an average capitalistic cultivator as well as a

self-working cultivator.

(ii) As the cost of a crop varies with the efficiency with
which the field work is done, we have assumed that t e
average farmer for whom the balance-sheets are prepare
is a fairly diligent fellow and finishes all his field work in

reasonable time. < .

(iii) Again, the cost of a crop when raised by a self-
working cultivator, will vary with the number of working
members in his family. We have, therefore, assume
that an average family of such a cultivator consists of
two working males ana one female. This assumption is
based on the fact that the average family of the Kalipa-
raj, who form the bulk of the population of this village,
consists of two male and one female adults.

(iv) It is widely known that in our rural areas the sys¬
tem of cash economy is found side by side with that of
kind economy. It was a great difficulty to calculate the
rate of wages in view of this. After taking all things into
consideration 1 we have adopted for the purpose of cal¬
culation, five annas per day for a male labourer a.nd tour
annas per day for a female labourer. We may also note
that the services of a pair of bullocks are valued at

eight annas per day.

(v) In the balance-sheets we must set aside some
amount by way of depreciation of cattle and implements
and for repairing charges. In actual practice the average
cultivator does not set aside any amount for depreciation.

1 Vide Chapter X

88

We have, therefore, omitted that item from our calcula¬
tion of the cost of a crop. But as he does spend every
year some amount for getting some of his implements
repaired and others renewed, we have reserved for it a
separate column headed ‘Other necessary expenditure’ in
our schedule, along with other items of annual expendi¬
ture incurred by a family. This was done with a view to
avoid unnecessary complication in preparing balance
sheets.

(vi) As a rule, the average farmer does not purchase
manure nor does he hire the services of bullocks. Some,
however, do so at certain periods of hard work in a year.
These individual peculiarities formed a great difficulty.
Again, the average farmer does not dispose of all his pro¬
duce. He sells off some portion and retains the rest for
private consumption. These difficulties were solved by
assuming that the average cultivator parts with the whole
produce of his land at the prices of 1926-27, and pur¬
chases every thing for raising his produce, including even
manure, and the services of bullocks at the prices for the
same year. 1

In view of the complexities of the calculations involved,
this explanation of the method is thought necessary. In
the existing village studies, such an attempt has not been
made. We do not claim complete accuracy for this meth¬
od, but we believe that such a statement will enable fu¬
ture investigators to make the method more accurate in
course of time.

1 This may at first sight appear to be a very bold assumption. But it is
necessary to remember two things: (i) while calculating the annual cost
of living of the farmer’s family we have assumed that the farmer pur¬
chases the whole quantity of corn needed for a year at the prices of
1926-27; and <ii) while calculating his net income from cattle we
have credited him with the value of manure and the services of
bullocks at the prices for the same year. It is obvious from
this that just as we credited him with the price of his whole pro¬
duce, so we have debited him with the cost of his total annual corn
requirements. Similarly though we have here debited him with the cost
of manure and services of bullocks, we have credited him with the income
therefrom if he owns cattle. Thus the whole question is one of mere
transfers of entries.

89

We shall now go on with the discussion of the balance
sheets of the principal crops of the village in the order
in which they are mentioned above.

(i) Paddy — (a) Kada—a species of rice.

Kada is a species of rice, inferior in quality and cheap¬
er in value to Kolam or Vankvel, the well-known species
of rice used in Bombay. It is the principal cereal crop
raised here. Its seeds are broadcasted in June. The
seedlings that shoot up within a week are transplanted in
July from their nursery bed to other rice-beds prepared
for them. This crop is weeded once or twice in August.
The sheaves of corn appear in September. The crop is
harvested in October. The plants laden with sheaves
are cut by a sickle close to the ground, bundled and car¬
ried home from the field. They are afterwards untied,
spread out on the ground prepared for them and grains
trodden out by cattle. The yield per acre varies from
2 5 to 35 maunds. The following is the balance-sheet for
this crop :

EXPENDITURE j

With hired (With cultivator’s

1 labour j own labour

Rs.As.Ps.

Rs. As. Ps.

1. Labour cost (animals and men)

(a) Levelling the land, dressing sides etc.

■ 2 14 0

(b ) Two ploughings, sowing and harrow¬

ing.

12 4 0

0 8 0

(c ) Weeding.

1 11 0

(d ) Preparing the beds.

5 0 0

2 0 0

(e ) Transplantation.

6 12 0

(f) Weeding.

2 4 0

(g ) Harvesting.

S 6 0

(h ) Collecting, bundling and bringingto

the Khali.

4 8 0

(i ) Separating and winnowing.

8 4 0

o

00

Total

36 15 6

7 0 0

% Cost of manure, SO cartloads at Rs. 0-8-0

per unit for 15 of rich manure and at Rs.

0-4-0 per unit for 15 of ordinary manure.

114 0

114 0

3. Cost of seed, S maunds at 2-0-0 per unit.

6 0 0

6 0 0

4. Land Revenue.

10 0 0

10 0 0

Grand Total ..

64 3 0

34 4 0

12

90

Income:

Value of

Rs.

As.

Ps.

1. Paddy grain (52| maunds at 42-0-0 for

21 maunds).

105

0

0

2. Straw (2| cartloads at 2-0-0 per unit) .

5

0

0

110

~Q

0

Net profit to the capitalistic cultivator .

45

13

0

Net profiit to the self-working cultivator

75

12

0

(i) Paddy :—(b) Marvel—another species of rice.

This species of rice differs from the former main ly in
two respects, (i) It is invariably grown in dry-crop land
and not rice-land. (2) It is never transplanted. Every
other detail is similar to that given in connection with
Kada. This species, however, requires more labourious
weeding than the other. The following is the balance-
sheet of this crop :

EXPENDITURE

With hired,
labour

With

cultivator’s
own labour

Labour cost (animals and men)

Rs.

As.

Ps.

Rs.

As.

Ps.

(a) Cleansing the land . . .

1

4

0

(h) Removing stubbles etc. . .

1

10

0

(c) Tilling the land, sowing

Marvel.

5

0

0

2

0

0

(dj One after ploughing and

harrowing.

1

9

0

0

8

0

(e) Fencing.

1

14

0

(f) Two weedings.

13

0

0

(S) Bringingto the spot. Marvel.

3

14

0

(h) Separating grains, . . .

5

0

0

2

8

0

Total .

33

3

0

5

0

o

Cost of fencing material .

0

12

0

0

12

0

Cost of seed, 3 maunds @ Rs. 2-0-0

per unit . . .

Land Revenue . . . .

6

1

0

6

0

0

6

1

0

6

0

0

Grand Total .

41

5

0

13

2

0

91

Income:

Value of

(1) Marvel -grams (SO maunds @

1 12 0 per unit) ....

(2) Punja or Straw .....

Total

Net Profit to the capitalistic cultivator .
Net Profit to the self-working cultivator

Rs. As. Ps.

52 S 0
2 0 0
54 8 0

IS S 0
41 6 0

(2) Nagli — a kind of coarse corn.

Nagli is a small grain, red in colour and resembling a
mustard seed. Like paddy of either species it is a quar¬
terly crop. It is cultivated in a way similar to that of
Kada, but with this difference that it is invariably grown
in jarayat or dry-crop land, while Kada, as already men¬
tioned, is always grown in Kyari or rice-land. This
grain constitutes a favourite food of the Kaliparaj tribes.
Its balance-sheet is given below :

EXPENDITURE

I

With hired j
labour i

with

cultivator’s
own labour

1.

Labour cost (animals and men) .

Rs.

As.

Ps.

Rs. As.

Ps.

(a) Doing adar.

1

4

" 0

_

(b) Preparing seed-bed . . .

(c) Removing weeds from beds.

10

0

0

4 0

0

sowing .......

1

14

0

_

(d) Transplantation ....

4

8

0

_

(e) Two weedings.

3

12

0

_

(f) Cutting, bringing. . . .

7

8

0

_

(g) Separating grain ....

8

4

0

—-

Total «

32

2

IT

4 0

0

2.

Cost of manure .......

4

0

0

4 0

0

3.

Cost of seed, 2 seers @ 0-0-9 per seer

0

1

6 !

0 1

6

4.

Land Revenue .......

1

6

0

1 6

0

Grand Total .

37

9

6

9 7

6

92

Income:
Value of

Nagli grain (20 maunds @ 2-0-0 per unit). .

40

0

0

Fodder.

1

0

0

Total .

41

0

0

Net profit to the capitalistic cultivator .

8

6

0

Net profit to the self-working cultivator

81

8

0

(3) Kodra—another species of coarse grain.

This is also a three months’ crop. The seed is broad¬
casted in July. It requires considerable weeding in
August when monsoon weeds such as Gundardi, Bhopdi,
Samo and Kutro shoot up in fields of Kodra and obstruct
its growth. The sheaves appear in October, and become
ripe in November. The crop is reaped close to the
ground and removed home early in the morning lest the
grains fall off due to the heat of the sun. The grains are
separated in the usual fashion. This coarse corn is used
mostly by Kaliparaj tribes who consume it in the form
of loaves. The balance-sheet for this crop is similar to the
one given for Marvel. Only the price per maund of
Kodra is different from that of Marvel. The total gross
income from Kodra per acre will come to Rs. 45 > exclud-
mg the price of its punja or straw which is used only as
a bedding by the Kaliparaj or sometimes in packing man¬
go-fruits to Bombay and hence commands little value.
The expenses on cultivation of this crop for a capitalistic
farmer and for a self-working cultivator will be Rs. 36-3-0
and Rs. 8-6-0 respectively, and their net profits
Ks. 0-13-0 ana Rs. 36 ~io-o respectively.

(4) Wal—a species of pulse.

is c m ° St ^ £ rown as a second crop to paddy—
(Kada). Sometimes it follows sugarcane. Immediately
after Kada is reaped and removed from the field, the field
is ploughed lest the moisture evaporates, and wal seed
sown by means of a wooden seed-drill. Within a week
plants make their appearance. They put forth flowers in

93

the beginning of February. In course of time fruits
follow and become ripe by the middle of March. The
crop is reaped close to the ground, bundled, and carried
home. The plants are allowed to dry for three to four
days and then the grain is trodden out by cattle. Its chaff,
locally called gotar, serves as a nutrious fodder to cattle. It
Is often sown mixed with Sanbi or hemp. The following
is the balance-sheet for this crop :

EXPENDITURE

With hired
labour

With

cultivator’s
own labour

Es.

As.

Ps.

Rs.

As.

Ps.

1 . Labour cost (animals and men) .

( a) Digging, sowing, and 2

plough! ngs.

5

0

0

1

0

0

( b) Weeding.

1

4

0

_

(e) Harvesting

1

10

0

_

(d) Separating and winnowing.

3

12

0

—

Total .

11

10

0

1

0

0

2. Cost of seed, 30 seers @ 2-0-0

per unit.

1

8

0

1

8

0

Grand Total .

13

2

0 1

2

8

0

Income:

Value of Rs. As. Ps.

1. Wal pulse (12 maunds @ 1 8 0 per maund) 18 0 0

2. Chaff.300

Total . . 21 0 0

Net profit to the capitalistic cultivator . . . 7 14 0

Net profit to the self-working cultivator . . 18 8 0

When this crop is sown mixed with jute-plants, the
additional costs to the capitalistic and self-working culti¬
vator are respectively 14 annas and 4 annas, and the net
profits increase to Rs. 11-4-0 and Rs. 21-4-0 respective¬
ly-

94

(5) Tur 1 —another species of pulse.

This is mostly sown as a mixed crop with either Mar¬
vel, Kodra or Nagli. It is not as extensively cultivated
as Wal, and constitutes an article of daily food to but a
few high-class families. The tillage operations are al¬
most similar to those in the case of Wal, with the differ¬
ence that Tur is a monsoon crop, whereas Wal is a win¬
ter crop. Since it is always a mixed crop, the expendi¬
ture on its cultivation is not very great. The respec¬
tive costs to the capitalist and self-working cultivator
are Rs. 3-15-6 and Rs. 0-3-6. The gross income being
Rs. 24 per acre, the crop will leave as net profit to the
former Rs. 20-0-6 and to the latter Rs. 23-12-6.

(6) Lang—another species of pulse.

Lang, like Tur, covers a very small area and is tilled
in the same way as Wal. Its chaff serves as a fine cool¬
ing fodder to cattle. Its balance-sheet is as under :

EXPENDITURE

With hired
labour

With

cultivator’s
own labour

(l) Labour cost (animals and men)

Rs. As. Ps.

Rs. As. Ps.

(a) One ploughing ....

00

o

1 0 0

(h) Weeding.

1 2 0

( c) Digging out and bringing

home ..

2 4 0

( d) Separating and winnowing

1 14 0

Total . . .

7 12 0

1 0 0

(2) Cost of seed, 30 seers @200

per unit.

1 8 0

1 8 0

Grand Total , . .

9 4 0

2 8 0

t The cereal preceding this, namely, Jowar is omitted since it occupies a
negligible area. r

95

Income:

Value of

Rs. As* Ps.

Lang, 12 maunds @18 0 per maund

38

0

0

Gotar

0

0

0

Total . .

20

0

0

Net profit to the capitalistic cultivator

10

12

0

Net profit to the self-working cultivator

17

8

0

Other pulses like Mag, Vatana, Udid etc. are of lit¬
tle importance since they are not widely grown here. The
net receipts from these have, however, been taken to be
(as they really are) the same as in the case of Lang.
Secondly, condiments, vegetables, til and tobacco are
also of little importance, since they are raised only for
domestic consumption, and are therefore not given detail¬
ed consideration.

(7) Sugarcane :

Sugarcane is an annual crop. Malbari and Bharat-
morsi are the two species of sugarcane raised in this area.
The former is sown in October or November, the latter
late in December. The latter is harder than the former
and less liable to depredations of jackals or white ants
and hence often preferred. Firstly, as noted elsewhere,
this crop requires untiring energy on the part of the far¬
mer in all its processes—beginning from sowing to the
stage when gul is manufactured out of its juice. Second¬
ly, it is an exhausting crop. Per acre it takes off from
the soil 127 lbs. of nitrogen and 298 lbs. of potash. 1 The
balance-sheet for this crop is given below :

I Intensive Farming in India, Kenny, p. 407 .

96

EXPENDITURE

With hired
labour

With

cultivator’s
own labour

Rs.

As. Ps.

Rs. As. Ps.

1 .

Labour cost (animals and men) .

(a) Ploughing and sowing Sanbi

2

8

0

1

0

0

(b) Twelve ploughings .

80

0

0

12

0

0

(c) Clod-crushing etc. . . .

12

8

0

—

(d) Repairing water-courses

from the well to the field .

8

12

0

-:

(e) Planting.

22

12

0

14

0

0

(f) Fourteen waterings .

182

0

0

84

0

0

(g) Four hand-diggings .

15

0

0

—

(hj Earthing up and making

watercourses across the

field.

12

8

0

_

(i) Top-dressing-wages .

8

12

0

—.

(j) Setting up the press. . .

5

8

0

4

0

0

(k) Harvesting and manufactur-

ing gul.

115

0

0

85

0

0

(1) Watching.

9

0

0

—

Total ,

418

15

0

tc

o

o

0

0

2.

Cost of manure . . . . ; .

25

0

0

25

0

0

8.

,, ,, seed (1500 whole canes).

150

0

0

150

0

0

4.

, s ,3 fencing material and rent of

net and pots ....

42

0

0

42

0

0

5,

3 3 33 fuel ...

55

0

0

55

0

0

6.

yj 3 , castor-cake manure

82

0

0

82

0

0

7.

,3 3 , two kosh and 2 ropes . . .

82

0

0

82

0

0

8.

Rent of the press etc. . . . .

20

0

0

20

0

0

9.

Land Revenue .......

2

0

0

2

0

0

Grand Total

771

15

0

558

0

0

Income:

Gul, 180 maunds @ 8-12-0 per unit. .... 675 5 0

Efaad, 900 bundles @ 4-0-0 per 100 .... 86 0 0

Total . ~7U 0 0

Net loss to the capitalistic cultivator: .... 60 15 0

Net profit to the self-working cultivator ... 158 0 0

97

It is worth considering why a capitalistic cultivator
persists in raising sugarcane year in and year out, though
he sustains a loss on the whole. There are mainly two
reasons why he does so. They are :

(i) In this village and, in point of fact, in the whole of
Southern Gujarat, there still obtains a system of labour
called the Hali system in which a labourer mortgages his
labour to the farmer for a loan he takes for celebrating
his marriage. A capitalistic cultivator generally keeps
one or two Halis for performing field-operations. He is
bound to maintain them whether he exacts work from
them or not. He, therefore, deems it wise and profit¬
able to occupy them in sugarcane-cultivation.

(ii) Besides making use of labour at his disposal for
a productive purpose, the capitalistic cultivator obtains
a large amount of cash at the end of the year from the
sale of gul. This cash enables him to make the payment
of Land Revenue and also to pay the instalment to his
sowkar, if anv.

(8) Castor-seed :

Whether grown as a first or second crop, it is always
a winter crop. It is capable of being raised both on
jarayat and kyari land. The seed is sown in October.
Fruits appear by the end of January and become ripe
early in March. The fruits are then picked, carried
home, allowed to dry and finally trodden out by male
workers, with the consequence that castor seeds are se¬
parated from the fruits. These are exported to Billimo-
ra or Bulsar. The following is the balance-sheet for
this crop : . -

is

98

EXPENDITURE

With hired
labour

With

cultivator’s
own labour

(l) Labour cost (animals and men)

Rs. As. Ps.

Rs. As. Ps.

(a) Four ploughings ...

10 0 0

0

0

(b) Sowing the seed

(c) Picking up.

(d) Separating seeds ... i

8 2 0

5 0 0

1 4 0 I

1 0 0

Total . . .

(2) Cost of seed, 80 seers @ Rs 8

19 6 0

0

0

per unit:..

2 4 0

2 4 0

(8) Land Revenue.

1 6 0

1 6 0

Grand total . . .

28 0 0

8 10 0

Income: Es. As. Ps.

(I) Value of Castor seeds, 6 maunds @

Es. 3 per unit. 18 0 0

Loss to the capitalistic cultivator . 5 0 0

Net profit to the self-working

cultivator. 9 6 0

It is interesting to note that like sugarcane, this crop
also entails loss to the capitalistic cultivator. Yet he
grows it for the simple reason that it enriches the soil by-
drawing in nitrogen from the air, and prepares it for rais¬
ing sugarcane or Kodra in a subsequent year.

(9) Cotton :

Cotton, though an innovation, has passed the experi¬
mental stage and is becoming acclimatised to this vil¬
lage. As cultivated at present, it is not a very profit¬
able crop. It requires a considerable amount of weed-
The seed is broadcasted in June. Weeds, which
shoot up with full force and obstruct its growth, are re¬
moved in August. The crop is intercultured at inter¬
vals. The plants put forth flowers in early January.
Buds follow suit. They become ripe and burst open in

99

March. The cotton-fibre is picked and exported either
to ginning factories at Chikhli Road about 6 miles
to the north-east or to those at Billimora about the same
distance to the north-west. The balance-sheet for this
crop is given below :

EXPENDITURE

With hired
labour

With

cultivator’s
own labour

Rs.

As.

Ps.

Rs,

As.

Ps.

1. Labour cost (animals and men)

(a) Removing stubbles and

cleansing the ground . .

3

12

0

_

(h) Two ploughings . . , .

5

0

0

2

0

0

(cj Sowing the seed ....

1

9

0

0

8

0

(d) Weeding . . . . . .

5

0

0

_

(e) Interculturing&nd harrowing

3

12

0

_

(f) Harvesting . . . . , .

4

8

0

2

0

0

(g) Carting.

0

12

0

—

Total .

j 24

5

0

4

8

0

2. Cost of seed, 15 seers @010 per

seer.

0

15

0

0

15

0

3. Land Revenue.

1

6

0

1

6

0

Grand total .

26

10

0

6

13

0

Income:

Value of

Cotton fibre (6 maunds @ 5 12 0 per maund)

Net profit to the capitalistic cultivator
Net profit to the self-working cultivator .

(io) Hemp.

This crop is grown either for the supply of fibre or
as green manure or sometimes for both the purposes.
When grown as green manure, it is generally mixed with
Wal which we have already noted. When grown for
the dual purpose or fibre alone, it is sown in July. It is
allowed to grow till the middle of September. It is then

13*

Rs. As. Ps.

. 34 8 0

7 14* 0

. 27 11 0

100

pulled up by the roots, tied into bundles, each contain¬
ing about ioo plants and put in water. The plants are
taken out after 48 hours and the fibre from each plant
is extracted by hand. This fibre is sold sometimes in
the form of ropes, sometimes in the form of bundles.
The gross income per acre from this crop is Rs. 52.
The cost per acre to the capitalistic cultivator and to the
self-working cultivator is Rs. 42-3-0 and Rs. 15 res¬
pectively. The respective net profits per acre are,
therefore, Rs. 9-13-0 and Rs. 37.

OTHER FORMS OF VEGETATION

In calculating the net agricultural income of the vil¬
lage we must take note of all forms of vegetation. We
have so far considered the net returns from the principal
crops only. The forms of vegetation now left for dis¬
cussion are grass and trees. With regard to the area
under grass, we have calculated Rs. 10, to be the net
receipts per acre to a self-working cultivator as shown
below :

Gross receipts per acre Ha,

1800 bundles @ Rs. 10 per 1000 18

Expenses of cutting, pressing,

etc. 8

Net receipts. 10

Of the trees, mango trees are the most important.
Alphonzo, Payree and ‘country’ are the three varieties
grown here. The yield per tree is so uncertain that it
is impossible to get at any accurate figure of net receipts
per tree. Equally uncertain is the income from Babul,
date trees, tamarind trees and others found in the vil¬
lage. The receipts however from this form of vegeta¬
tion cannot be ignored in a study of facts. We have,
therefore, ^ entered in individual family-schedules, the
figures of income from trees, supplied to us by the heads
of families in our house-to-house enquiry.

101

THE BALANCE SHEET OF CULTIVATION FOR
THE VILLAGE AS A WHOLE

Having thus examined the economics of the princi¬
pal crops, grass and trees found in the village under
study, we shall now make an attempt to arrive at an
approximate figure of net returns, for the village as a
whole, from all these three species of vegetation. In
doing this, it is necessary to bear the following consi¬
derations in mind.

(i) We have first of all calculated the net income from
all crops, excluding sugarcane, for the village as a whole,
by multiplying the acreage under each crop by the
figure of net receipts from that crop, summing up the
acreage under different crops on the one side and net re¬
turns on the other, and finally dividing the latter figure by
the former figure. This gives us the figure of net average
income per acre for all crops combined. This figure we
have taken as the standard for calculating net returns from
land under crops belonging to each family. Sugarcane
is a very rich crop. Only a minority of the cultivators
in this village grows it. Hence we have entered
Rs. 155 1 per acre as the net receipts from this crop only in
those individual family schedules where it figures as a
crop. With regard to trees, we have, as already noted,
entered the actuals we got from different heads of fami¬
lies in our house-to-house enquiry. Regarding grass we
have assumed, as already explained, Rs. io as net re¬
ceipts per acre and entered in individual schedules the
figures of receipts from grass area separately from those
of receipts from area under ordinary crops. This had
to be done because, in the first place, the area under grass
is very large in the case of this village; and moreover,
the value of grass per acre is very low as compared with
that of any other crop. If we amalgamated for the vil¬
lage as a whole the area under different crops and that

1 This figure excludes land revenue and is based on the balance-sheet of
sugarcane cultivation discussed above.

102

under grass on the one hand, and the receipts from them
on the other, the figure of average net income per acre
would be a mere abstraction. 1

(ii) We have hitherto included land revenue in the cost
of cultivation of the different crops we have studied, in
order to present correctly their actual economic position
In our calculation of the net income from land for the
village as a whole we have, however, excluded it from
the cost of cultivation. The reason is this. In our
family schedules, we have reserved a separate column
for entering land revenue along with other items of an¬
nual expenditure incurred by a family. If we included
land revenue in the cost of cultivation for each crop, the
burden of land revenue will be deducted in our final cal¬
culations of the total net income from land for the village
as a whole. As we have already seen, for entering net
returns from land in each individual schedule we have
used a standard figure of net average returns from land
per acre. Thus it will be clear that if land revenue were
to be regarded as an item of cost, in the case of each crop,
it would be included in our calculation of the net income
for the village as a whole, and consequently be included in
the cost of cultivation per acre charged to each family.
Since we have entered figures of land revenue paid by
each family in a separte column along with other items of
expenditure, there will be the error of counting the same
thing twice in our figure of net income for thelotal num-
ber of families residing in the village.

(iii) As already noted, the self-working cultivator domi¬
nates the situation in Atgam. We have, therefore, taken

This will be dear from the following explanation: As we shall presently
see, the total net receipts from 1577 acres under different crops come to
, ,9,608. If we add 1900 acres —area under grass—to 1577 acres

land^n'w’Tw ‘s* ° ne s!d / and Rs - 19,000 as net receipts from grass-
to t 79,6o8—rceipts from crops, the result will be Rs, 98,608 as net
income from 3477 acres, or Rs. 28-3 as the average net income per acre.
If the area under grasp and receipts therefrom are not lumped with
those for crops, the figure of the average net income per acre comes to
. 5°. the difference between these two figures of the average net

income per acre is obvious.

the net receipts per acre under each crop, in this case, as
the basis of these calculations. It may be noted that in
the case of the schedules of capitalistic cultivators, while
entering the net returns from land, we have deducted the
estimated figures of annual wages they pay to labourers
so that their income from land may not be over-estimated.

The following are the figures of net returns from each
crop used by us in calculating the net income from all
crops combined, for the village as a whole.

KIND OF CROP

Gross income
per acre

Expenses of
cultivation
per acre

Net return
per acre

Es.

As.

Ps.

Rs.

As.

Ps. 1

Rs. ,

As.

Ps.

Paddy

110

0

0

24

0

0

86

0

0

Marvel

55

0

0

13

0

0

42

0

0

Nagli

40

0

0 !

8

0

0

32

0

0

Kodra

47

0

0

8

0

0

39

0

0

Wal

21

0

0

2

0

0

19

0

0

Tur

24

0

0

0

0

0

24

0

0

Lang-

20

0

0

1

0

0

19

0

0

Other pulses

20

0

0

1

0

0

I 19

0

0

Sugarcane

711

0

0

556

0

0

155

0

0

Castors eed

18

0

0

7

0

0

11

0

0

Cotton

35

0

0

6

0

0

29

0

0

Hemp

52

0

0

15

0

0

37

0

0

On the basis of these figures of net return per acre we
have arrived at the total income from all crops combined
for the village as a whole as follows :

104

KIND OF CROP

Paddy

Marvel

Nagii

Kodra

Wal

Tur

L&ng

Other pulses
Castors eed
Cotton
Hemp

Total .

Net return
per acre

Rs. As. Ps.
86 0 0

42 0 0

32 0 0

39 0 0

19 0 0

24 0 0

19 0 0
19 0 0
110 0
29 0 0

37 0 0

Total return
for the
villa ge

• Rs. As. Ps.
58824 0 0

3360 0 0
1792 0 0
3893 0 0
8816 0 0
860 0 0
228 0 0
171 0 0
1419 0 0
986 0 0
259 0 0
79608 0 0

Thus the net income per acre under crop comes to
Ks. 50-8-0. We have adopted the round figure of Rs. so
as the net receipt per acre under crops while entering

family 3 schedules C ° me ^

THE REAL NET AGRICULTURAL INCOME

So far we have considered the net income from differ¬
ent forms of vegetation for the village as a whole We

HvJl 0 f W m 3 P ° S1 , tl0n ? c ° nsider the r eal net income de¬
rived from agriculture by the people of the village whose

; nvesrigaKd - lndoingthis

byip s; r consider the net income derived

(ii) that the net income that we have hitherto considered

tainina ^the S ‘ 1Ve 1° f ^ Ieven ?f 311(1 consequently in ascer-
ducted • h rea net mcome land reven ue should be de-

1 Figures are taken to the nearest acre.

have been studied te^pla^ed^n Chapter 5 Xiv* 6 V! " age ’ ° nly 4S °

105

(iii) as we are considering the ‘real net income’ from
the stand-point of families residing in the village, we
should deduct the renti which they pay to the outside
landlords whose lands they have leased ; and also

(iv) the annual repairing and renewing charges that
have to be defrayed from the income from land.

Thus though the ‘net income’ from crops, grass and
trees derived by the people of the village as a whole, as
calculated above, comes to Rs. 80,201, the ‘real net in¬
come’ from agriculture is only Rs. 68,o8q as shown be¬

low.

Rs. As. Ps.

Total net income.80201 0 0

Deduct,

by way of land revenue. 7221 0 0

>9 jj cash rent paid to outside landlords . 805 0 0

55 >5 55 repairing and renewing charges . . 4086 0 0

/. Real net income.. 68089 0 0

As this real net income is derived from 2730 acres culti-

vated by the people of the village the ‘real net return’
per acre comes to Rs. 24-15-6 or about Rs. 25. s

UNCERTAINTY OF AGRICULTURAL INCOME

The most interesting and important question which
arises here is whether agriculture in this village with ‘real
net income’ per acre of Rs. 25 is a steady source of in¬
come. W e have already seen that out of the last ten sea¬
sons only two were better than the year of enquiry, the
rest being either similar or worse in nature. Ignoring

1 Rent is of two kinds : (i) kind rent and (ii) cash rent. As regards the

first, we have calculated the net income of each family in such a way
that the kind rent is already deducted. We shall therefore take only
cash rent into account while calculating the ‘real net income’ from
agriculture, for the village as a whole.

2 We may note that our figure of real net return per acre closely resembles
that arrived at by Prof. B. S. Patel of the Poona Agricultral College. His
figure 25 (rupees) is based on strict accounts kept for 8 years by a farmer
of^ a village in the Broach District. Vide pp. 529-30, Memorandum sub¬
mitted by Prof. B. S. Patel to the Royal Commission on Indian Agri¬
culture, Evidence Vol. II Part I.

14

106

all other considerations and taking the nature of these ten
seasons alone into account, it becomes obvious that the
real net income from agriculture, which is the main-stay
of this village community, varies from Rs. 12*5 to Rs. 30
per acre, on the basis of prices as shown below :

Year

Net receipts
per acre

Year

Net receipts
per acre

Rs.

Rs.

1917-3 8

25

1922-23

30

1918-19

12*5

1923-24.

25

1919-20

80

1924-25

25

1920-21

17*5

1925-26

17*5

1921-22

27*5

1926-27

25

This element of uncertainty in the main industry of the
village is bound to have a highly depressing effect upon
the farmers. In their talks with us on the balance-sheets
of different crops, their spirit of despondence was too evi¬
dent to escape notice. We believe that unless agricul¬
ture is put on a sound basis it is impossible to improve
the economic condition of the village.

REMEDIES

The following are some of the remedies which, in our
opinion, require immediate application.

(1) The dependence of agriculture on the vagaries of
rainfall should be lessened by providing some irrigational
facilities, as are stated below, in addition to those already
mentioned in Chapter II.

(a) The fourteen tanks which are found in the village
should be deeply excavated and converted into reservoirs
of water; and

(b) a few pucca bunds should be constructed in the
streamlets passing through the heart of the village, in
order to store up water, for raising irrigated crops like
sugarcane, in greater quantities.

107

(2) The use of water-pumps, simple agricultural machi¬
nery and commercial fertilisers should be encouraged.

CONCLUSIONS

The following are the main conclusions of this chap¬
ter :

(i) that the real net income from agriculture is highly
uncertain ; and

(ii) that this uncertainty can be lessened to a great
extent, by providing irrigational facilities like deep exca¬
vations in the existing tanks, bunding the streamlets
passing through the heart of the village and by making
other improvements.

14 *

CHAPTER—VII

LAND AND ITS DISTRIBUTION.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Though we have studied certain aspects of agricultural
life in this village, we have not yet considered the relation
of the people to the land. In this chapter, we propose
to consider this relation, or the way in which land is dis¬
tributed among the people. Distribution of land in agri¬
culture means two things : 6

(i) division of land as between rent-receivers, cultivators
who may be partly tenants and partly owners, and mere
tenants; or

(ii) division of land into separate farms owned by differ¬
ent individuals.

In a region where peasant proprietors dominate the
situation, the first meaning is out of consideration. The
object of the chapter is, therefore, to study the distribu¬
tion of land into separate farms owned by different indi¬
viduals.

It is well-known that one of the essentials of success-
ful farming and agriculture is the suitable size, shape and
constitution of a farm. However industrious, intelligent
and well-equipped a farmer may be, his labour and capital
will be lost if he possesses an unsuitable farm or what is
generally called an uneconomic holding. This shows
how the division of land into several farms, or in other
words, the distribution of land, is an important condition
ot success m agriculture.

We are now in a position to appreciate the true nature
of the distribution of land and its importance in the eco¬
nomy of a village like the one under study. We have
treated this problem from two stand-points : ownership

109

and cultivation. Land may have been so owned as a
result of distribution, which in its turn is a result of social
and economic forces operating for a number of years,
that the average unit may fall very short of the economic
holding. But, if it is so cultivated that the average farm
is greater in size than the economic holding, or at least
equal to it, the situation need not be regarded as a very
serious one from the wider standpoint of agricultural pro¬
duction for the villages as a whole. 1 In plain language,
use is more important than legal title. The cultivated
holding is of greater importance than the hold¬
ing owned. We have, therefore, divided this chapter into
two sections : the first embraces the distribution of land
as it is owned ; the second considers land as it is cultivated.

SECTION I.

DISTRIBUTION OF LAND AS IT IS OWNED

Introductory : Distribution of land as it is owned, is a
result of social and economic forces working over a series
of years. It is, therefore, necessary to study the history
of the distribution of land in the village under survey with
a view to better appreciate the significance of the present
state of 'affairs.

Historical aspect of distribution of land in Atgarn : It
is unfortunate that no records supplying information about
the period prior to 1900 are available. We have, there¬
fore, had to make the best of what inadequate material
we could obtain. In studying this aspect only four thino-s
are noted, namely ' &

(i) the total number of land-owners,

(ii) the total area owned,

(iii) the size of the average farm or holding as we shall
henceforth term it, and

1 Cf - “Who holds the land, is, from the point of view of production, a

matter of no importance;—the vital matter is as to who cultivates it.”
Land and Labour in a Deccan Village, Study No. H, p. 48.

110

(iv) the exact nature of the distribution of land among
the different owners.

Taking the years 1900-1901 and 19x7-18 as landmarks
we find that the following are the main facts :

1900-01 1917-18

1. Total number of landowners . . 219 404

2. Total area owned, in acres . . . *3071 3143

3. Average size of the holding, in acres 14*02 7‘7S

The precise nature of the distribution of land among
different landholders for these years is indicated by the
following table :

1900-01 1917-18

Number of holders with more than 100 acres: 1 j

33

33

33

33

91

to

100

33

2

1

35

33

33

33

81

to

90

33

2

1

3 3

33

33

35

71

to

80

33

1

1

33

33

33

33

61

to

70

33

2

1

33

33

33

33

51

to

60

33

6

5

33

33

33

33

41

to

50

35

7

6

33

33

33

3 3

SI

to

40

33

14

S

5 3'

33

33

33

21

to

SO

33

17

17

S3

33

33

33

15 to

20

3 3

17

20

33

33

33

33

11

to

15

33

15

86

33

33

33

>5

6 to

10

33

24

71

33

33

33

33

1

to

5

33

67

1S2

33

33

33

below

1

acre

S3

44

109

Total .

219

404

It may be noted that in the last five frequency groups
there is an increase in the number of holders. The fre-
qnency group 21 to 30 acres’ shows a stationary state.
The rest of the frequency groups show a decrease. This
means that the holdings larger than 30 acres have been
subdivided and hence the increase in the number of hold¬
ings smaller than 20 acres. In other words, during the
period 1901 to 1 9 1 7 there was a tendency to increasing
subdivision of land.

Ill

PRESENT STATE OF DISTRIBUTION OF LAND

In the year of enquiry we find that the distribution is
as under :

(i) total number of landholders: 481

(ii) total area owned: 3143 acres

and (iii) the average size of the holding: 7-8

The precise nature of the distribution of land among
these landholders is shown below :

Number of holders

with

more than

3 00

acres:

Number,

3

95

95

95

59

91

to

100

5 9

5 9

55

99

99

81

to

90

95

_

55

55

59

55

71

to

80

55

_

59

9 9

59

59

61

to

70

99

4

59

59

9 5

95

51

to

60

55

4

55

55

99

99

41

to

50

59

4

99

55

59

55

31

to

40

59

3

59

99

99

55

21

to

30

59

18

95

95

95

99

15

to

20

9 9

19

59

55

95

99

11

to

15

55

28

59

55

99

59

6 to

10

95

67

99

59

99

95

1

to

5

99

133

95

59

99

less than 1

acre:

143

Total ... 451

All joint holdings are regarded as though owned by one
of the joint-owners. The number of holders, there¬
fore, becomes an interchangeable term with the number of
holdings. As compared with the year 19x7-18, the
general character of the distribution of land has remained
unaltered. A close study of the statistics, however, reveals
that all holdings below 100 acres in area have either re¬
mained stationary or decreased and that the highest fre¬
quency group of holdings of more than 100 acres, and the
lowest frequency group of holdings of less than an acre,
show an increase. The total area having remained the

112

same, the natural inference is that these increases must
have been brought about, on the one hand, by a process of
concentration under a single owner, of some of the plots
which formerly formed parts of the holding in lower fre¬
quency groups, and, on the other, by a further splitting up
of the large fields which has now increased the number in
the lowest frequency group. Thus an important two-fold
tendency of a consolidation at one end, and a subdivision
at the other, is found in operation during the last decade.
The other important changes that have taken place in the
distribution of land during the last 26 years may be indi¬
cated briefly as under :

YEAR

Total No. of
holding’s l

Total area
owned. Acres

Average size of
a holding. Acres

1900-01

219

1 3071

14*02

1917-18

404

3143

7*73

1926-27

431

i

I >y

7*3

The obvious conclusions from this table are :—

(1) There is a progressive increase in the number of
owned holdings, and

(2) there is consequently a progressive decrease in
the average size of the owned holding.

Subdivision of holdings : This decrease in the average
size of the holding does not matter if the size of the hold¬
ing has not gone below that of an economic holding.
What is an economic holding, and as judged by that stand¬
ard, are these 431 holdings economic ? This is the funda¬
mental question. It is recognised by all that small farms
d°.not necessarily mean undesirable farms from the stand-
point of agricultural production. On the contrary it will
not be wrong to say that they are better than large ones
m so far that they can be managed bv the individual farmer
with greater care and efficiency. What is, however, un¬
desirable is the existence of farms which being too small
tor profitable cultivation, are uneconomic.

113

The phrase ‘economic holding’ has raised a great con¬
troversy among Indian economists in recent years.
Different economists define it in different ways. Some
define it as a holding which can be managed with a pair of
bullocks, without any loss so far as the agricultural costs
and returns are concerned. Others define it as a holding
“which will provide for an average family at the minimum
standard of life considered satisfactory.’’ 1 * The latter
seems to us to be a more scientific definition because no
holding can be called ‘economic’ in the true sense of the
term ‘economic’ unless it has a reference to the man or his
family that is supported by it.

Opinion is equally divided regarding the average size
of an economic holding. Dr. Mann has taken 20 acres as
the size of the economic holding in his second study. Mr.
Keatinge wrote that “a gardener in the Surat District
with 3 acres of good garden land can support a family in
comfort, while in a dry part of the Deccan with poor soil
30 acres might not suffice.^ He, however, wrote in his
Agricultural Progress in Western India 3 that ‘a good
cultivator aims at cultivating 15 to 20 acres with one pair
of bullocks’, which he regards as an economic holding
in the dry-crop villages of the Surat District. We have
taken about 15 acres to be the size of the economic hold¬
ing for our village. We have further assumed that this
should consist of 3 acres of Kyari land and the rest of
Jarayat land. We believe that the figure is not too high
when we remember that the average soil of the village
is deficient in plant-foods and poor in character. Judged
by this standard, 376 holdings out of 431 or 87*2 per
cent., of the existing number of holdings will be classed as
uneconomic. If this test be applied to the holding in 1900
and 1917 we get the following results :

1 cf. Dr. Mann, Land and Labour in a Deccan Village, Study No. IT
P* 43*

% Rural Economy in Bombay Deccan, p. 53 .

3 Appendix I-B, p. 207 .

15

114

YEAR

Total No. of
holdings.

Holdings below

15 acres.

Percentage of
holdings below 15

1 acres to total.

1900-01

219

150

68-5

1917-18

404

848

86-1

1926-27

481

876

87*2

Evidently there is a progressive increase in the number
and percentage of uneconomic holdings.

Fragmentation of holdings : In addition to this, the
factor that enhances the seriousness of the existing faulty
distribution of land is the fact that all these holdings are
not held in one block. The following frequency table
shows the number of fragments into which these 431 hold¬
ings are parcelled :

Number of Fragments

Number of holding with specified
number of Fragments 1

1 - 5

286

6—10

62

11 —15

42

16-20

22

. 21-25 ;

7

26-80

8

81-40

6

More than 40

8

Total . 2642

481

Thus on the average there are about 6 fragments for
each holding. The size of these fragments or plots is
given below :

1 For detailed figures, vide appendix VI.

115

Size of Plots Number of Plots of each size

Above

10 acres

80

9 to

10

33

12

8 to

9

3)

11

7 to

8

33

20

6 to

7

33

18

5 to

6

33

89

4 to

5

33

58

3 to

4

53

75

2 to

3

33

135

1 to

2

33

320

Below 1

acre

1924 1 * * * 5

2642

At first sight the fragmentation seems to be very seri¬
ous. It is necessary to remember that though serious,
it is not so serious as is shown by these figures. There
are two modifying circumstances peculiar to this village :

(i) Of the total area under cultivation, about 25 per
cent, is rice-land. Paddy requires to be sown always in
small beds surrounded on all sides with a raised boundary.
Hence the size of a large number of rice-plots is bound
to be small, even smaller than 1 acre; and

(ii) as already noted, the Kaliparaj farmers live in
groups of 8 to 10 families in the midst of their farms.
Though, as we shall presently see, their holdings have
been fragmented, the effects of these fragments are not
seriously felt by them, since they are mostly situated at
small distances from their dwellings.

We find from this discussion (i) that the land in this
village stands highly subdivided and fragmented ; (ii) that
this is the result of a tendency which is in operation for
many years, and (iii) that a slow, though imperceptible,
process of consolidation in ownership goes on along with
a process of subdivision of holdings.

1 The size and number of the plots below 1 acre are as follows:

SO to 4*0 gunthas 201
20 to 40 „ 311

15 to 20 216 ,

10 to IS „ 339 (one guntha = 1/40 acre.)

5 to 10 5 , 552

below 5 305

15'

116

THE CAUSES OF SUB-DIVISION

AND FRAGMENTATION OF LAND IN THE VILLAGE

The most natural question that arises at this stage is :
what are the causes of this grave problem ? In our en¬
quiry into the historical aspects of this problem, we came
across an interesting case illustrating some of the most
important causes of this tendency. It refers to a Dhodia 1
fam ily headed by a man called Kikla Panchia 2 and may
be described as under :

Kikla Panchia lived in the ‘seventies of the last cen¬
tury. It is reported that he had a family of about 50
persons and was a holder of extensive land. The ex¬
tent of his landed property is not available, but what it
must have been can be guessed from two stories current
about him. It is said that he annually produced about
Rs. 2,000 worth of gul and 4,000 maunds of paddy.
No records are available to show how much land his des¬
cendants possessed till we come to the year 1900 when
the Bodkhat 3 gives some interesting figures. In this re¬
cord we find that the original single family was divided
into five separate ones and consequently the landed pro¬
perty of the family was parcelled into five divisions. All
the five together held 247 acres of land in 80 plots. An
examination of the present owners of the Survey numbers
that formed these 247 acres gives us the following results :

(i) the total number of landholders has increased from

5 to 53 :

(ii) of these 53 landholders, 14 belong to the original
stock and 39 are outsiders who have come in possession
of this property. Of these 39, 37 have purchased land
(mostly received in. repayment of debt) from different

1 A section of the Kaliparaj Which is in a majority in this village.

2 In his Settlement Report of the Bulsar Tatuka submitted in 1870 to
the Government of Bombay, Mr. Beyts refers to a rich Dhodia family
in Atgam. On enquiry we ascertined this family to be the same as that
of this man—Kikla—whose history we are relating.

3 A register of landowners prepared at the time of the last Settlement
in 1900 .

117

members of this family ; one has received an acre by way
of gift - made by one of the members of the family and
one holds a plot of land as a mortgage ;

(iii) the 14 families into which the original 5 are
divided own in all 105 acres at present;

(iv) the total number of plots as a result of this sub¬
division through sale, mortgage, gift and partition of
land has increased from 80 to 258 ; and

(v) the average size of the holding owned by the mem¬
bers of the original stock has dwindled from 89-4 to 7*5
acres during the last 26 years.

The piece of land given as a gift has an interesting
history of its own which shows one of the causes in
operation. This piece was given to a Dhed, still living,
at the time when all the different families belonging to
the original stock sat down to distribute their land. It
is reported that when land was equitably divided among
different members so as to secure to each, holdings of
equal fertility and assessment, a piece of land was left.
Not knowing how to dispose it of, it was given away
as a gift to the Dhed who served them as a village
policeman.

From a careful consideration of this illustration, as
well as from our personal observation, we conclude that
the following causes leading to subdivision and frag¬
mentation are in operation :

(i) the Hindu Law of Inheritance which gives to each
male member of the family an equal share in the family
property from his very birth ;

(ii) indebtedness leading to the sale or mortgage of
land in the repayment thereof;

(iii) a strong desire to distribute the landed property
of a family among different members so as to secure to
each, holdings of equal fertility and assessment. 1

1 cf. “In addition to the Hindu Law of Inheritence, unequal fertility
and assessment, another cause which contributes to this state of affairs
is the gradual absorption of large amount of land into the hands of the
village sowkar by means of foreclosure of mortgages or sales,* etc. The
agricultural population in consequence has only a.limited area to divide

118

We also came across instances where the loss of some
rural occupations and the depression that has under¬
taken others, as a result of foreign competition and
changes in fashion, have compelled the people to resort
to agriculture as a means of livelihood. Though a
large number of Dheds who lost their hereditary occu¬
pation of weaving blankets, has migrated to places like
Bombay for menial service, the remaining have increased
their landed estate by purchase. Again, some of the
tailors, potters and carpenters residing in the village
have augmented their landed possessions in order to sup¬
plement their small earnings from their slowly decaying
occupations. Thus the pressure on the soil has increas¬
ed, accentuating the already serious state of affairs.

We have thus studied the extent of subdivision and
fragmentation of land and traced the causes which are in
operation in this village. It is obvious that the study
confirms the general causes of this evil pointed out by
distinguished Indian Economists. Its disastrous effects
on agricultural production may be summed up in the words
of the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture : “ Even
where cultivation is possible, fragmentation involves end¬
less waste of time, money and effort; it restrains the cul¬
tivators from attempting improvements ; it enforces uni-
formity of cropping, and especially restricts the growing
of fodder crops in the period when cattle are usually
sent out to graze in the fields.” i

We have so far seen that the distribution of land as'
it is owned in this village is very defective : not in the
sense that property in land is confined to a few but
in the sense that land exists in a highly subdivided and
ragmented state. ^ This makes agriculture an extremely
precarious occupation. We now propose to see whether
the other essential of profitable agriculture, namely, culti¬
vation by owners is present or not.

Relrt STJ p eS ’, S Vf , aS /c he nation of land is concerned;” P. 16 .
5%!; Taluka (Surat D!strict) Economic E n<l“iry Commit-

1 Main Report, p. 135 .

119

SECTION II.

DISTRIBUTION OF LAND AS IT IS CULTIVATED
OR AREAS HELD OR TAKEN FOR CULTIVATION

The village : A place of peasant-proprietors : “In
Western India peasant proprietors dominate the situa¬
tion.” 1 The same is true of the village under survey.
Out of 431 landowners, 331 cultivate their land them¬
selves. Thus taking the total number of landowners of
the village, about 77 per cent, are peasant proprietors.
There are, however, about 80 outsiders who either lease
their land to some inhabitants of the village, or allow
one of their relatives staying within the village, to enjoy
its usufruct in the case of plots that are very tiny. The
number of people who cultivate land merely as tenants is
52, and we therefore find that the total number of cultiva¬
tors is 331 plus 52 equals to 383 as against 431 owners. It
must be noted that out of the 331 persons who cultivate
their own lands, some lease part of their lands to others,
and some lease others’ lands for cultivation by them¬
selves. 2 The average size of the cultivated holding
comes to 8*2 acres while that of the holding owned, as
we have already seen, is 7-3 acres.

1 Agricultural Progress in Western India, Keatinge. p. 64 .

% These details were kindly obtained for us by the village-accountant.

CULTIVATED HOLDINGS

The following table shows the relation between owned
holdings and cultivated holdings :

Owned Holdings

Cultivated Holdings or
areas cultivated by
one man

Number

J Percentage

Number

Percentage

Above 100 acres . .

6

*7

_

91 to 100 „ ....

—

—

—

■

81 to 90 „ . . . .

—

— •

1

*3

71 to 80 „ ....

—

—

1

*3

61 to 70 „ . . . .

4

*9

2

*6

0

<Q

O

' 4

*9

1

*3

41 to 50 „ ....

4

•9

3

*9

81 to 40 „ ....

3

• .7

_

—

21 to 80 „ ... .

18

4-2

14

3*7

15 to 20 ,,

19

4-3

22

5*8

31 to 15 „ ....

28

6*6

49

12*8

6 to 10 „ ....

67

15*6

76

19*5

1 to 5 ,, . . . .

138

30*9

175

45*7

Below 1 acre .....

148

34*3

39

10*1

431

100

388

100

A cursory glance at this table is likely to mislead any
taking 15 acres again as the size of the economic
holding we see that while 12 -6 per cent, of the owned hold¬
ings are above this limit, only 11*9 per cent, of the
cultivated holdings are larger than this. This may sug¬
gest that the subdivision of cultivation is greater than
the subdivision of ownership. This conclusion is not
true, because it applies to a small fraction and the differ¬
ence is small and because we have seen that the average
size of the cultivated holding is larger (8-2 acres) than

i! at acres ) o£ an owned holding. A closer study of
the different frequency groups given above shows the
following tendencies :

121

(i) while 34*3 per cent, of owned holdings are below
x acre, only icti per cent, of cultivated holdings are
below the same limit. This makes it quite clear that
the farmers have a disinclination to cultivate very small
holdings.

(ii) Farmers having tiny plots of land under one acre,
lease others’ plots and go into the upper frequency
group of farmers who cultivate areas varying from I to
5 acres. Similarly the difference in the percentage of
the cultivated holdings and of owned holdings in corres¬
ponding groups shows that there is an upward push
from every lower group to the higher one until the 15
acre limit is reached in the case of the former. In other
words, these small farmers augment the size of their
cultivated holdings by leasing others’ land, and thus have
larger units of cultivation to this extent.

This line of argument leads us to the conclusion that
there is a tendency among owners of uneconomic hold¬
ings to cultivate larger holdings. This means that the
extent of subdivision of cultivation is less than that of
the subdivision of holdings.

CONSOLIDATION OF FRAGMENTS

One is happy to find that there is not only a tendency
to cultivate a holding larger than the average owned
holding, but also a tendency to consolidation of fragments
or plots in actual cultivation. The following typical
instances of individual farmers establish this tendency :

Case No. 1. Chhana Lala.

Survey No.

Land owned

. Land leased

acres

acres

367

2*2

—

368

4*3

—

369

2*6

T~

------

16

122

Case No. 2. Unkadio Chhanio.

Survey Number

Land owned

acres

Land leased
acres

778

•07

_ ^

780

1

0*6

—

777

1

—

0*2

# 788

3

—

0*7

Case No. 3. Patalio Jivlo.

Survey number

Land owned

acres

| Land leased

acres

977

6*7 ]

—

978

2*7 !

979

—

6*5

983

—

2*7

It is obvious in all these cases that the survey num¬
bers just in the neighbourhood of those (fragments) they
own are leased by these cultivating landowners to make
their cultivation profitable.

We have thus seen (i) that the second essential of
profitable agriculture, namely, cultivation by owners is
found in a good measure in this village; and (ii) that the
tendency to cultivate a holding larger than the average
owned holding by the consolidation of fragments in actu¬
al cultivation, lessens the evils of fragmentation and sub¬
division of land. In this connection, we may note two
redeeming features that came to our notice :

(i) Sporadic attempts at consolidation of fragments as
owned : An analysis of the sales of land during the last
five years disclosed some attempts made by a few farm¬
ers, consciously or unconsciously, to purchase plots in the
immediate neighbourhood of their fields and thus to con¬
solidate their fragments. In one instance we found that
a farmer paid Rs. 1,125 f° r a plot of 3*4 acres which

lay just in the neighbourhood of his fields. Of course
the price in this case is very high, Rs. 330 per acre l 1
This shows that even at a great sacrifice, some parties are
willing to have the benefit of consolidation.

(2) Joint cultivation of sugarcane : The other redeem¬
ing feature of the situation is the practice of joint culti¬
vation of sugarcane which is at present pursued mostly
by the Kaliparaj farmers. This, however, is not due to
the fact that they are conscious of the advantages of
co-operative cultivation, but because they are practically
forced to it for want of capital sufficient to finance the
crop singly. This sort of co-operative effort, though
thus forced by their economic disabilities, has neverthe¬
less marked effects on the production of sugarcane.
Further, it may be noted that it has a great potential
value. If, through education and propaganda, people
are made to realize the advantages of co-operative culti¬
vation, it is probable that it may be extended in future
to the cultivation of other crops.

We thus see that though there are some redeeming
features of the highly defective distribution of land in
the villages, the problem of sub-division and fragmenta¬
tion is universal in Gujarat and is so acute everywhere
that we can no longer afford to ignore it.

Remedial measures. Different remedies have been
suggested by different economists and administrators.
After a critical review of the various remedies employed
in different Provinces, the Royal Commission on Indian
Agriculture concludes that the best method of getting
relief from the evils that arise from fragmentation of
right holders’ or landowners’ holdings is the consolida¬
tion of holdings or the substitution—by exchange of
land—of a compact block for a number of scattered
fragments through the medium of co-operative societies
established for that purpose. When this is not likely to

1 How abnormal this price is can be realised when it is remembered
that this was a plot of Jarayat land and the average price per acre of
this class of soil is Rs. 60 in this village.

124

be successful, a permissive piece of legislation should be
enacted, but such an act must embody the following
general principles :

(1) “The scheme should be free from ambiguity and be
formulated in as simple a language as possible so
that it may be understood by the persons most
closely affected;’’

(2) No rigid rule as to the majority to be required
need be laid down';

(3) “The element of compulsion should be reserved
till the latest possible stage’’ and should be used
only to bend an obstinate minority.

(4) ‘ ‘The civil courts must be barred from jurisdiction

on matters arising under the legislation__

their (farmers’) interests must be carefully safe¬
guarded by provision for consideration of all ob¬
jections at various stages and by allowing, a re¬
sort to arbitration with power to nominate one arbi¬
trator.”

We are of opinion that consolidation of holdings
through co-operative societies will take a very long time
to solve the problem which affects the very basis of all
agricultural production and prosperity and needs an
urgent remedy. We further hold that some piece of
legislation, such as the one brought forward but tempor¬
arily withdrawn in the Bombay Legislative Council with
the modifications sugested by the Commisssioners, should
be enacted and applied to selected areas. The Bombay
Bill laid down that further subdivision of the existing
fragments beyond a certain minimum should be stopped,
and that attempts must be made to promote consolidation
of fragments with a view to increase the size of holdings
and thus make them economic. We strongly hold that
in its application it must be borne in mind that compul¬
sion is a supplement and not a substitute for education
which alone can bring about consolidation.

In order to accomplish this result, the only • remedy
is to provide subsidiary occupations with a view to divert

125

some portion of the existing population from land, so that
the sharers of land may decrease, thus allowing the re¬
maining population to have larger holdings.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The following are the conclusions and recommendations
made in this chapter :—

(1) The distribution of land in the village is very de¬
fective in the sense that it is owned in a highly
subdivided and fragmented condition.

(2) Though there are redeeming features of this con¬
dition, such as the tendency to cultivate a holding
larger than the average owned holding by consoli¬
dating fragments in actual cultivation, the sporadic
attempts at consolidating fragments through pur¬
chase and joint-cultivation of sugarcane, still
the problem of subdivision and fragmentation has
reached serious proportions and needs an urgent
remedy.

(3) There are tw r o ways of remedying the situation :
(i) consolidation of holdings through co-operative
societies and (ii) a piece of legislation to prevent
on the one hand a further subdivision and frag¬
mentation of holdings below a minimum size legally
fixed, and on the other to promote consolidation
by means of voluntary mutual exchange of plots.

(4) The permanent solution of the problem is to re¬
duce the pressure of people on the soil by divert¬
ing a part of them to subsidiary occupations and
thus lessen the number of those who share land
for cultivation.

CHAPTER—VIII

CAPITAL RESOURCES OF THE VILLAGE-
CATTLE AND IMPLEMENTS.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

We have now sufficiently advanced in our acquaintance
with the village under survey, its people and their prin¬
cipal occupation;. We are therefore in a position to
examine some of the prominent features of their econo¬
mic life before we come to the stage of ascertaining their
economic condition with the help of statistics. One of
the principal features of their economic life which we
propose to consider in this chapter is their capital re¬
sources. The capital resources of a rural population
usually consist of :

(i) Land,

. (2) Wells,

(3) Cattle,

(4) Implements,

(5) Houses,

(6) Utensils and other furniture,

(7) Ornaments and cash, and

(8) Investments.

The first five are more or less directly connected with
agriculture. The latter three have an indirect connec¬
tion with it. The former may be regarded as aids to
agricultural production, the latter as its results. We
have already dealt with (1) land and (2) wells. We,
therefore, propose to deal, in this chapter, with (3) cat¬
tle and (4) implements which deserve separate treatment.
The remaining forms of capital resources we shall discuss
in the next chapter. This chapter has been divided into
two sections : the first deals with the principal aspects of '
cattle, and the second with the several questions connect-

127

ed with implements and tools used by the people of the
village.

SECTION I.

CATTLE

The importance of cattle—both working and milking
—cannot be overrated in the economy of an Indian vil¬
lage. The former are indispensable in carrying on agri¬
culture which, as we have seen, is the principal occupa¬
tion of this village. The latter are important both as
breeders of good race and sources of milk. In view of
this, we shall consider this subject in details under the
following three heads :

(1) the quantitative aspect,

(2) the qualitative aspect, and

(3) the annual income.

(1) The quantitative aspect :

The following table indicates the number of cattle
found in the village at different dates ;

KIND OF CATTLE

1915—16

1919—20

1924—25

|

1926—27

Increase (+) or
decrease (—)
over the
number in
1915—16

Bullocks ...

615

589

618

575

— 40

He-buffaloes

78

58

48

41

— 87

Total working animals

698

647

661

616

— 77

Cows ....

405

869

t

! 467

898

— 12

She-buffaloes

158

181

,181

_22

Young ones . .

888

759

597

— 286

Total milch cattle

and young ones

1891

1259

1816

: 1121

— 270

Total number of
bovine cattle.

2084

1906

1977 1

1787

—847

128

KIND OF CATTLE

1915—16

1919—20

1924—25

1926—27

Increase (-{-) or
decrease (_.)

over the
number in
1915—16

Goats

474

477

756

494

+ 20

Sheep

Total number of

182

124

108

98

- 84

ovine cattle. 1

656

601

864

592

— 64

Total strength of

cattle ....

2740

2507

2841

2329

-411

The facts established by this table are :

(i) Twice in the history of Atgam during the last 12
years the total number of cattle decreased.

(ii) With the exception of goats, there is an all round
decrease in the number of cattle in the year of enquiry.

Both these facts have an interesting history behind
them which throws considerable light on the cattle-prob¬
lem of the village. The fall in the number of bovine
cattle in the year 1919-20 was found to be, on personal
enquiry, due to the famine and influenza of 19x8-19 and
the sudden rise in the price of hay. During the course
of our enquiry about the effects of the famine of this year,
we came across an instructive illustration which we may
note with advantage. •

One of the cultivators who had half a dozen cattle,
found it very difficult to purchase hay at high prices.
But one day his heart melted. He could tolerate his
pet animals turning their pitiable heads towards him no
longer whenever he stepped into his cattle-shed. So
he ran to one of the local sowkars and requested him to
lend a few rupees on the security of his ring. The sow-
kar gave him one rupee. On the latter’s desiring to
have grass instead of a rupee he was given six bundles

lThough we consider ovine animals as cattle here, in the general considera¬
tion of the cattle problem of this village, we have ignored them as they
are usually not. regarded as cattle. J

of grass. 1 This typical instance is illustrative of four
important features of rural life e.g.

(i) the intense love of the farmer for his cattle;

(ii) the proverbial lack of capital in the hands of an
average farmer;

(iii) the incurring of debt at any unfavourable turn of
the season ; and

(iv) the way in which the rural capitalist exploits the
farmer’s necessity in times of difficulty.

The decrease in the year of enquiry is explained by two
circumstances : (i) the year 1925-26 witnessed a fodder
famine ; and (ii) the fodder famine wa's accompanied by
cattle-diseases like sore throat, diarrhoea, cough and
others.

In the case of ovine animals which do not eat grass,
the decrease in their number in 19x8-19 is difficult to
explain. Probably a number of them succumbed in the
rainy season of 1917-18 when it rained excessively. The
same thing happened in 1926-27. Excess of rain, as we
learnt from shepherds of this place, proves injurious to
ovine animals in two ways : (i) goats and sheep cannot go
out in the open to graze on areas of green vegetation with
which they are mainly fed by their masters in this part;
and (ii) rain water penetrates the feeble roofs of their
sheds, wets the floor and rots their feet, causing death in
some cases.

This explanation of the variations in the number of
cattle at different censuses suggests that either the vita¬
lity of the cattle as a whole is too low, because of con¬
stant underfeeding, to resist any attack of disease or re¬
duction in what little food they usually get; or that the
purchasing power of their owners is low and seriously
dwindles in times of famines. We believe that both are
responsible for the poor state of cattle in this place, as
we shall presently see.

1 This means that the price per 1000 bundles of grass was Rs. 166

whereas the ordinary price in the year of enquiry was Rs. 10 .

Distribution of cattle : The following table shows the
distribution of cattle between the Kaliparaj and the
Ujaliparaj per family :

Kind of Animal

Kaliparaj 1 per
family

Ujaliparaj 1 per
family

Bullocks ..

1-2

1-4

He-buffaloes ......

*09

*07

Cows.

*8

■9

She-buffaloes .....

•1

*5

Young ones ..

1-1

•9

Total bovine cattle.

8*8

4*6

Goats.

1-8

•6

Sheep . ..

•2

•2

Total ovine cattle .

1*5

•8

Total head of cattle.

4-9

5*4

The foregoing table brings out some of the most
prominent characteristics of the Kaliparaj in connection
with their ownership of cattle in South Gujarat. They
are as follows : (i) The Kaliparaj make greater use of
he-buffaloes than the Ujaliparaj in field-work, for they
cannot afford to keep costly bullocks.

(ii) Unlike the Ujaliparaj, they do not maintain she-
buffaloes as a rule, not because they do not like to drink
their milk but primarily because they cannot afford to
keep them.

(iii) For milking purposes they usually keep goats in
large numbers. Goats require little concentrated food.
As a rule, they are allowed to graze on the green either

1 The actual figures are given below:

Kind of Animal

Bullocks .........

He-buffaloes ........

Cows...

She-buffaloes ........

Young ones . . ... . . .

Total bovine cattle.

Goats # *

Sheep ..... .

Total ovine cattle. . . . . . . '

Total cattle heads. . . _ . . ..

Kaliparaj Ujaliparaj

342

233

29

12

237

156

40

91

326

271

974

763

395

99

63

35

458

134

1432

897

181

on the roadside or on the side of a tank in the mon¬
soon and on the boundaries of fields or on the creepers
that cover the fences of the fields in winter and summer.
It may be noted that more than maintaining them for
the purpose of getting milk the Kaliparaj keep them to
serve as sources of meat on festivals.

(iv) If we look to the capacity of the Kaliparaj to
maintain cattle it becomes obvious that they keep too
many, but if we look to their requirements they seem to
fall short of the necessary number.

Inadequacy of cattle : An analysis of the actual figures
of cattle and the number of families possessing them
shows the following two facts : (i) out of 461 families,
302 (or 65.5 per cent.) possess among them 616 work¬
ing animals ; and (ii) only 270 (or 55.5 per cent.) possess
among them 524 milking cattle. It is evident that, roughly
speaking, though there is a pair of working cattle and
a pair of milking cattle per family of those who own them,
for the village as a whole both classes of cattle are inade¬
quate.

(2) The qualitative aspect.

The main problems we propose to consider under this
head are (i) the breed and (ii) the health of cattle.

(i) 7 he breed : Most of the cattle found in this village
are of what is locally known as the Talabda breed. This
breed is different from the other which is known as Kan-
khrej and which we mostly come across in the north of the
Surat District and the whole of northern Gujarat. The
native breed seems to be inferior to the Kankhrej one.
It appears that some of the people of this village have
realised this difference and have, therefore, imported for
experimentation a breeding bull from the Athwa Agri¬
cultural Farm. This was done only last year and it is
too early for us to pronounce any judgment on the re¬
sults of this experiment in cross-breeding. One thing,
however, is noteworthy. It is that many intelligent
Ujaliparaj and Kaliparaj farmers have already availed

17*

132

themselves of the services of this bull. This is indeed
a happy sign of the times and clearly indicates that the
importance of good breed is being realised by a part of
the peasantry.

(ii) The health of cattle : Passing on to the second
problem we may mention at the outset that this problem
is in itself one which requires serious consideration for
the village under study. This is a sugarcane tract and
if irrigation is increased, it means that sugarcane, a crop
which requires very strong bullocks while planting and
watering, will be cultivated on a far more extensive scale
than at present.

From the standpoint of health, the cattle of the village
can be divided into three grades. Some cattle which are
3i to 4 feet in height and possess well-built bodies may
be classed as 'good.’ Those whose height varies from 2j
to 3 feet and have half developed constitutions may be
classed as ‘ordinary.’ There is, however, a majority
of cattle, small in size and lean in appearance, which may
be regarded as ‘bad’ cattle. The first two grades are
generally found with the Ujaliparaj farmers and a few
of the Kaliparaj who grow sugarcane. The third grade
is found mostly with the Kaliparaj.

The natural question that arises at this stage is, what
is the cause of the desparity between the quality of cattle
owned by the Ujaliparaj and those owned by the Kali¬
paraj? Close observation and minute inquiry lead us
to conclude that the causes lie principally in (i) the quan¬
tity and quality of fodder given to cattle ; (ii) the amount
of care with which they are tended and (iii) the fact of
temporary emigration so extensively resorted to by the
Kaliparaj, which prevents them from giving sufficient
attention to cattle.

(i) Feeding of cattle : This differs in some important
respects in the case of working animals—mainly bul¬
locks—and in that of milking ones. We shall, therefore,
deal with the feeding of each separately.

m

The usual food given to the working animals by the
Ujaliparaj and a £ew ? of the Kaiiparaj who possess the
first two grades of cattle can be seen at a glance from
the following description.

Season .

Winter and Summer.

Nature and description of
food given.

Usually grass ; frequently supplement¬
ed by some substantial food like guar
seed. The latter is generally given from
December to April which is the season
of plying carts for hire. A part of the
earnings from carting is usually set
apart for purchasing guar seed. A few
farmers occasionally give toddy to their
cattle. Toddy has a cooling effect and
prevents cattle from suffering from foot-
disease or mouth-disease mostly due to
the scorching heat of the sun in summer.

Monsoon. Dry grass is continued till July.

Though the ground is covered late in
June with green grass soon after a show¬
er or two, these farmers do not allow
their cattle to graze this grass for, as
they say, it gives rise to diarrhoea.
From July to October the cattle are al¬
lowed to graze in private compounds re¬
served for them by their masters. They
are allowed to graze for the whole day.
At night they are brought home and
given green grass, cut by the farmer
from one of the corners of the field. In
some cases this is supplemented by
naglifiour mixed with gul and ghee.
This latter food is, however, usually given
when the bullocks are overworked e. g.
in transplantation of paddy or planting of

134

Monsoon. sugarcane. Some also give sweet-oil

cakes. Only one or two cultivators give
in addition, turmeric mixed with sesa-
mum oil, which serves as a purifier of
blood.

Occasionally grass is replaced or supplemented by
straw of paddy, and stems and leaves of wal and other
pulses.

The usual food given to milch cattle and young ones
is grass, straw and stems and leaves of pulses. But the
cows and she-buffaloes, when in milk, are given a kind
of substantial food which consists of cotton-seed, guar-
seed and kunski i.e. pulverised chaff of paddy.

This systematic method of giving food to cattle is fol¬
lowed by none of those who possess the third grade of
cattle. Instead of giving grass usually and straw occa¬
sionally, they give to their cattle straw more often than
grass. Now straw has a low nutritive power and work¬
ing animals expected to do hard work on the field can¬
not get sufficient vitality from this kind of food. It may
be noted that even straw is not given in sufficient quan¬
tity, for the quantity of straw available to the farmer is
limited by the amount of paddy he raises on his small
field. Guar seeds are rarely given. This class general¬
ly does not keep she-buffaloes which require rich food,
but the cows that they keep are also underfed even when
in milk.

(ii) Indifference in tending cattle : The Ujaliparaj are
very careful about their cattle. They keep either herds¬
men for taking their cattle regularly out to graze for the
whole year or entrust this duty to one of their sons or
daughters. Moreover they are always careful about
the_ place of grazing and about the kind of water that
their cattle are allowed to drink. The Kaliparaj do
send their children to look after their cattle but they are
not so careful about these things. Moreover, unlike the
Ujaliparaj, these people have not got sufficiently large

I $5

holdings to reserve separate compounds for grazing their
cattle. Even in the rainy season they send their cattle
to graze in the public pasture or more often to ■ the
forest area and Government wastes. Now these areas,
though they amount in all to 321 acres for the village
as a whole, are mostly barren and yield little grass even
in the rainy season, with the result that the cattle grazing
on them remain half-starved.

(iii) Emigration : Most of the Kaliparaj landholders
and labourers who cultivate small rented plots go aw r ay
to outside areas in search of work as soon as the rainy
season is over and the crops are reaped. In the absence
of the responsible man,-the other members of the family
grow negligent about the cattle.

At this stage we may dispose of two more topics which
are intimately connected with the health of cattle, namely,
(!) housing of cattle and (ii) treatment of cattle diseases.

(i) Housing of cattle : The housing of cattle is gene¬
rally , satisfactory as regards both the Kaliparaj and the
Ujaliparaj. In the majority- of cases, cattle are housed
under the same roof under which their' masters live.
We found on inspection, however, that among the Kali¬
paraj, the stables were not generally cleansed every day,
nor the ground, wet with droppings of dung and urine,
covered with ash. . The natural result Is that the bad
smelling rubbish found in the stables affects the health
of both men and beasts.

(ii) Treatment of cattle-diseases : The Ujaliparaj are
no wiser than the Kaliparaj in their knowledge of cat¬
tle diseases. When on the spot, we found four or five
cases where even some of the most intelligent Ujaliparaj
farmers stood dumbfounded when some disease suddenly
attacked their cattle. The diseases which are common
in this area are foot and mouth-disease, cough, choking,
impaction of stomach, and so on. A list of these diseases
as well as the remedies usually employed by the villager
Is given in. Appendix VII. A glance at it makes it

1S6

obvious that almost all the remedies devised by them
involve the use of indigeneous leaves and drugs.
In some cases, oaths are taken or a man is called, who
is supposed to know the art of removing the disease by
enchanting some mysterious thing or applying the juice
of some unnamed leaves. It is evident that the farmer
of Atgam does not care to consult the authorities of the
Veterinary Hospital located at a distance of about 9
miles, at Bulsar. Nor, as some of the farmers complain¬
ed to us, do the latter evince any eagerness or earnest¬
ness to assist them by coming in close contact with them.
We may mention that the remedies employed by the vil¬
lagers in the case of fever do not usually prove effective.
This shows how necessary it is to impart to them some
knowledge of the best means that can be employed to
combat such diseases.

Thus the discussion of the problem of numbers and
quality of cattle leads to two main conclusions : (i) in
the first place the cattle-wealth of the village is inade¬
quate on the whole and (ii) the quality of the cattle in a
majority of cases is unsatisfactory.

(3) The annual net income.

Under this head we propose to ascertain the net in¬
come received by the village from the cattle and other
animals it possesses. Among the latter we have already
seen that there are a number of ovine cattle. We may
note here that besides these animals there were, at the
time of the census, three horses and about 2,130 fowls.
Though we have ignored the net income from the for¬
mer, because they constitute only a temporary feature of
the village and their number is almost negligible, we
. have taken note of the latter in arriving at the figure of
the net income for the village as a whole, as their number
is appreciable.

Method of constructing balance-sheets for animals:
As in the case of crops, we have first prepared balance-
sheets for different animals. The method of preparing

1S7

them may be thus described. We have assumed that
the owner actually spends cash on every item of expenses
necessary to maintain an animal per annum. On the other
hand we have assumed that he sells off every product
that he receives from the animal whether that pro¬
duct is milk, manure or calf. These suppositions were
necessary because (i) the average villager sometimes sells
milk and sometimes reserves it for domestic consump¬
tion ; (ii) he does not keep any accounts of how much he
sells per year and (iii) he does not know how much out-
of-pocket expenditure he incurs every year for maintain¬
ing the animal. Some may raise an objection that so
far as milk or calf is concerned, the second supposition
is correct, as the farmer sells either, but this does not
apply to manure which he does not usually sell. The
explanation is the same that we gave while discussing
the method of preparing balance-sheets for different
crops. We may, however, repeat it here for the sake
of clarity. While considering the expenses on cultivation
of different crops we have debited the cultivator with
the cost of manure he applies to his land. Here we cre¬
dit him with the receipts from whatever manure he gets
from the animals he owns, per year. Thus it is evident
that crediting him with the value of cattle-dung does not
inflate his income. Doubts may similarly be raised re¬
garding the entry of grass as an item of cost, though in
actual practice most of the farmers use their own grass in
feeding their cattle. This may unnecessarily swell the
expenditure and consequently reduce net income. To
this query, the answer is simple. It will be remembered
that while considering his income from land we have
credited the cultivator with net receipts from his whole
grass land. Here we debit him with the cost of grass.
In both cases the sale and the purchase prices are assum¬
ed to be the same. Thus there is no attempt at inflating
the expenditure.

Having thus explained the method of preparing ba¬
lance-sheets for animals, we shall now pass on to the dis-

18

138

cussion of the balance-sheets themselves with necessary
explanation in each case. y

(i) The Balance-sheet for a pair of bullocks.
(a) The expenses of maintenance per annum :

1. 4050 bundles of grass at 15 bundles per

day; for 9 months in a year; charged
@ Rs. 10 per 1000 bundles . . . .

2. cartloads of chaff of wal and i cartload

of chaff of tur . , ..

8. 2 Cartloads of straw weighing 1400 lbs.

4. Cost of grazing for three months in the

rainy-season.. .

5. Green grass given at night during the mon¬

soon-necessary area 2/3rd acre, which can
be leased at . . ...

6. 8 maunds of oil cakes @ Rs. if per maund

7. seers of oil @ Rs. 2 for 5 seers . .

8. Cost of guar-seed, 7 \ maunds, for 5 months

at 2 seers per day charged @ Rs. 70 for
SO maunds . ....

Total .... .

Rs. As. Ps.

40 0 0

7 8'0
4 0o

10 0 0

5 0 0
5 4 0
1 0 0

17 8 0
90 4 0

(b) Gross receipts per annum :

1. \ alue of the work of the pair calculated on

the basis of the possible number of days
they usually work on a holding of 15
acres—the number assumed is 160 days
and the value per day 8 annas . . . \ 80 0 0

2. Price of 6 cartloads of well-rotted manure

@ 0 8 0 per cartload. . . . . , , . 800

and of 6 cartloads of ordinary manure
® 0 4 0 per cartload . .... . . 180

Total . . 84 8 0

the / ross recei pts in this case are-less than
the total expenditure per annum, we have assumed that

both sides nearly balance each other. The “main reason
is this. Whether it Is a lucrative or a losing proposition,
the cultivator has to keep a pair of bullocks if he wants to
carry on his occupation. In agriculture timely tillage is
an essential condition of success. If the peasant does not
possess a pair of bullocks he cannot cultivate' his field at
the proper time. Moreover in this village a majority of
cultivators keep their own bullocks.

We do not propose to give a separate balance-sheet
for a he-buffalo, as the number is relatively small in this
village. We may mention in brief that he-buffaloes are
generally given the same food as is given to bullocks
with the exception of concentrated food. On a careful
calculation we arrived at the figure Rs. 50 as the annual
cost of maintaining a pair of he-buff aloes. Some of the
villagers complained to us that a he-buffalo does
not put forth work-value in proportion to what it
consumes. From minute enquiry we found that it was,
therefore, underfed. This leads one to'conclude that
the receipts from this animal are less than the cost of
maintaining it. We have, however, assumed both
sides to balance each other. If the expenditure is greater
than income in this case, the total budget of the farmer
will be underestimated on the side of expenditure, to
that extent.

(ii) Balance-sheet for a she-buffalo in milk.

N. B.—Average period of lactation equals 12 months,
(a) Expenses of maintenance per annum :

Rs. As. Ps.

1 . Cost of concentrated food given during this

period at 0 - 4-0 per day. 90 0 0

2 . Cost of delivery. 15 0 0

3. Cost of grazing in the monsoon .... 1000

4. Cost of green grass given to her in the same

season ...... ■ 500

5 . Cost of 1000 bundles of grass, 4 cartloads

of straw and other things ..... 20 0 0

Total . 140 0 0

140

(b) Gross receipts per annum :

1. Price of ghee, produced out of milk; 54
m&unds at 4 seers of ghee for every
maund of milk; valued at Re. 1-0-0

per seer.

$. Price of dung, 8 cartloads at 8 annas per

cartload.

3 . Value of the young one born.

Total .

fts* As.Ps.

216 0 0

4 0 0
10 0 0
230 0 0

Thus the net profit in the case of a milking she-buffalo
is Rs. 90 per annum. It is necessary to explain why
in calculating the receipts we have converted milk into
ghee and taken its price as though the income from milk
was the same as from ghee. The reason is this. The
majority of farmers of this village sell ghee for which there
is a market in Bulsar. It is not possible to send milk
to Bulsar, which is at a distance of nine miles, because
the facilities of conveyance are inadequate.

We may note that when dry, a she-buffalo is usually
taken out to graze during the day. She is given grass
and straw at night. In the rainy season she is allowed
to graze green grass. No concentrated food is given
to her. The cost of maintaining her when dry may be
taken at Rs. 12 per annum. The only income received
from her during this period is manure which may be
reckoned at Rs. 2. This leaves a net loss of Rs. 10
when the she-buffalo is dry. Yet she is kept by the
farmer because this loss is much more than compensated
for, in the future, when she gives birth to a calf, bv the
value of the calf and the milk.

(iii) Balance-sheet for a cow in milk.

N. B.—Average period of lactation equals 12 months.

141

(a) Annual expenses of maintenance :

Rs. As. Fs.

1. Cost of special fodder. 45 0 0

2. Cost of delivery ......... 10 0 0

3. Cost of grazing in the monsoon .... 500

4. Cost of green grass ........ .300

5. Cost of straw, grass etc. 10 0 0

Total . *73 0 0

(b) Annual gross receipts :

1. Price of ghee prepared out of 36 m&unds of

milk at 2 seers per maund; valued at
Re. 1-0-0 per seer ..

2. Price of dung.

3. Price of the young one.

Total .

Rs. As. Ps.

72 0 0
2 0 0
20 0 0
94 0 0

The reason why we have converted milk into ghee in
the receipts is similar to the one mentioned above
in the case of a she-bufialo. Similarly, just as a she-
buffalo is not a profitable concern when dry, so is a cow
when not in milk. The cost of maintaining her, how¬
ever, during this period will be a little less, about Rs.
io. The receipts too, consisting of only dung, will be less,
by about Re. i. This will leave a net loss to the farmer
of Rs. 9 which will be compensated for, when she is
in milk.

Net Income from Young Ones.

A buffalo-calf and a calf are also animals which the
farmer has to maintain. The income from them con¬
sists of only dung till they become old enough to serve,
if they are males, as working animals or, if females, as
milking animals. We have assumed that the annual
expenses of maintaining a buffalo-calf and a calf are
Rs-5 each, though the income from the former is worth 12
annas and that from the latter is worth only 8 annas.
The difference between the income is due to the fact that
on an average the dung, which constitutes the only source
of income in this case, of a buffalo-calf is usually larger
in quantity than that of a calf.

142

Net Income f rom Goats and Sheep.

So far as goats and sheep as sources of income are
concerned, we have assumed Rs. 15 and Rs. 10 as res¬
pective gross receipts from them (including the price of
milk converted into ghee, the value of young ones and
the value of excreta). The annual expenses of maintain¬
ing them are practically nil since they are grazed on green
vegetation in any part of the village and are rarely given
grain. Thus the net incomes from a goat and a sheep
are respectively Rs. 15 and Rs. 10.

Net Income from Poultry.

Taking into account the average number of eggs a hen
lays per year, (making allowance for breakage or theft)
and the value of her chickens, we come to a figure of
Rs. as the gross income from a hen per annum. She
is usually kept on grains which may be valued at -J- a
rupee per year. This leaves Rs. 2 as the net income
from a hen per annum.

For easy reference we have summarised below the
figures of net annual income, we have adopted, from
different kinds of animals, while entering in our schedules
the net receipts from them :

KIND OF ANIMAL

Bullocks . . . . ,

H e-buffaloes . ",
She-buffaloes in milk .
She-buffaloes when dry
Cows in milk . . .

Cows, dry . . , .

Calves .

Buffalo-calves .

Goats.

Sheep .

Hens.

Gross income
per head
in Rs.

Cost of
maintenance
per head
in Rs.

Net receipts
per head
in Rs.

45

45

0

25

25

0

230

140

90

2 !

12

-10

94

73

21

I

10

- 9

1

'2

• 5

- 41

3

4

5

• - 4

15

0

15

10

0

10

01

^2

1

2

143

Calculated according to the method described above,
the total net income from all animals derived by the .450
families that our investigations embrace comes to
Rs. 12,776.

S E C T I O N II.

IMPLEMENTS

The tools and implements most commonly used by
the average farmer in this village are a plough, harrow,
seed-drill ,pick-axe, hoe, sickle and scythe. A leather bag
called ‘Kosh’, 1 a pair of ropes and a pair of yokes are
found in addition with those farmers who grow sugar¬
cane. Besides these, there are important implements like
the Nangar (a seed-drill for planting sugarcane) and
Champan (clod-crusher) which are owned only by a few
big farmers. Karpi (hoe) and Fadko (three-coultered seed-
drill) are introduced only recently as they are necessary
for sowing and interculturing of cotton.

An iron press for pressing out juice from sugarcane
was introduced about twenty years ago. Prior to its
introduction the presses in use were made of wood.
On inquiring into the reasons for this change, we were
told that, though more costly, an iron press is more effi¬
cient and durable than a wooden one.

Quantity and cost of implements and tools : The follow¬
ing is the list of implements and tools used in the village.
The prices mentioned are those that we obtained from
one of the local carpenters and one of the iron-smiths.

1 This is used for fetching water from a well to irrigate sugarcane

fields.

144

A list of agricultural tools and implements used in
the village.

Names of tools Life

and in

implements. years.

1. Hal (plough
with a yoke) 5

2, Paniu (har¬
row)

8. Orni (seed-
drill) 5-7

4. Kuhadi (axe) 10

5. Kodali (pick¬
axe) 7

6. Pavdo (hoe) 7

7. Panjethi $

8. Pare!

9. Datardu
(sickle)

10. Dhariu

(scythe)

11. Galli (big 10
cart)

12. Ediu (yoke) 5

IS. Champa n
(clod-crusher). 5

Cost in
Rs. As. Ps.

II 0 0 Ploughing

10 0 Levelling the

ground.

0 7 0 Sowing seeds.

0 12 0 Chopping wood,

branches of J

trees ete. I

10 0 Digging the j

ground. I

10 0 Ordinary hoeing.

0 4 0 Gathering leaves of

trees or taking
out dung from
the manure-pit.

1 4 0 Deep digging.

0 10 o Reaping crops \

and grass. 1

Repairing:
charges in

Rs. As. Ps.

2 8 0

per

annum

0 12 0
per

annum

Cutting branches t

0 14 0

of Babul, remov- f

per

ing thorny plants

annum

etc.

Carrying manure

11 0 0

crops, grass as well

per

as men.

annum

4 0 0 Yoking bullocks to
the sugarcane press,
or to the Kosh for
fetching water.

6 8 0 Crushing clods.

145

' Names of tools
and

implements.

Life

in

years.

Cost in

Rs. As. Ps.

Use.

Repairing:
chargres In

Rs. As. Ps.

14. Nangar (seed-

drill for sugar-

cane

15. Kolu (sugar-

25-80

15 0 0

100 0 o)

Planting sugarcane.
Pressing out juice

cane press, iron)

10

150 0 0J

from sugarcane.

16. Kolu, wooden

4

20 0 0

9 9 99

17. Champan for

Kolu

18. Thalu(wood-

10

8 0 0

Necessary accompa¬
niment of Kolu,
for supporting
Nar and Manda—
8 rollers in the
press-from above.

en seat) ;

i

ft

15 0 0

Supporting the roll¬
ers from below.

19. Pat

20. Kadha (big

99

12 0 0

A long wooden rod
for moving the
three rollers.

pan)

7-8

40 0 0

Boiling sugarcane
juice.

21. Kadha (small

pan)

15-20

10 0 0

Cooling gul.

22. Kundi

rt

15 ,0 0

Retaining the juice
when sugarcane
sets are squeezed
between the rol¬
lers.

28. Karpi (h oe)

5

10 0 0

Interculturing
cotton.

24. Fadko (three

coultered drill)
25. Kosh (leather

99

f>

Sowing Cotton
seeds.

bag)

26. Vartu (rope

8-12

months

8 0 0

Fetching water from
wells.

8 0 6

per

annum

for hanging

the Kosh)

1

4 0 0

Suspending the
Kosh.

4 0 0

19

146

Names of fools

and

implements.

Life

in

years.

Cost in

Rs. As. Ps.

Use.

Repairing
Charges in
Rs. As. Ps.

27* Sarak (rope)

10

4

0

0

Binding heaps
grass or bags
corn loaded
carts.

of

of

in

*28. Jotar

2

1

0

0

Tying bullocks
the yoke.

to

29. Nandi

| 1

1

0

0

Tying the yoke
the cart.

to

30. Supdu

! 1-2

0

5

0

Winnowing.

SI. Toplo

1 J5

0

8

0

Carrying grains
head.

on

According to our house-to-house census the village
possessed in the winter of 1927 the following numbers of
tools and implements. We have omitted very small and
unimportant tools of little value like topla (basket) or

jotar or nandi.

Big carts 1

198

Seed-drills

198

Ploughs with yokes

829

8-coultered drills

2

Harrows

102

Cotton harrows

• 7

Axes

485

Sugarcane seed-drills

18

Pick-axes

860

Leather bags

55

Hoes

286

Yokes

110

Parei

157

Sugarcane presses

4

Panjethi

826

Accompaniments of the

Scythes

898

press

8

Sickles

1551

Clod-crushers

12

Of these, the most

___ _r . 1 . _ _ _ _

important instruments according

—w j/wpv* cxi ^ teuw), dim seea-umis

for the average cultivator, and leather bags, seed-drills for
sugarcane and sugarcane-presses for the average grower

1 Besides these, there were 19 small carts for riding, which may be valued
at Rs._ 2850 . These being of the nature of luxuries are not regarded

as agricultural implements.

147

of sugarcane. The following table shows briefly how
these important implements were owned per head of the
total number of cultivators in the year of enquiry :

Carts.

Total

198

Number per cultivator!

0*58

Ploughs.

829

0*87

Seed-drills.

193

0*51

Seed-drills for sugarcane .

18

0*83

Sugarcane presses . . .

4

0*07

Kosh .......

55

1

Thus it is evident that with the exception of the kosh
all other important implements are, therefore, exchanged
free of charge and others on hire. For instance, ploughs
and ordinary seed-drills for sugarcane are exchanged free
of charge. But some money is charged for a cart or
a plough when the owner accompanies it as a driver. A
press ns generally rented and so are its separate parts.

Hire charges : The following are the usual rates
charged for different units.

UNIT

Rates charged
per day 2

Rs.

As. Ps.

a.

A pair of bullocks with a driver and a

plough.

1

0 0

b.

A pair of bullocks only.

0

8 0

c .

A pair of bullocks with a driver and a

cart.

1

4 0 •

d .

A sugarcane press with all its necessary

accompaniments.

2

0 0

€.

A sugarcane press alone.

1

0 0

/*

A big pan for boiling sugarcane juice .

0

8 0

I'lo the year 1926-27 there were 376 ordinary cultivators. Of these only
. 54 8 rew sugarcane.

% These are the rates we have adopted in calculating the estimates of ex¬
penditure far crops in Chapter VI.

19 ’

148

Repairing charges : As we have noted elsewhere,
though the farmer does not set aside anything for the
depreciation of his stock and implements, he spends
annually some money for getting some of his implements
repaired, and for renewing others. We have already
noted the annual repairing charges required by certain
implements in the list of agricultural implements mention¬
ed. To calculate the repairing charges for small tools like a
pick-axe or an axe in each individual schedule would
mean a great loss of time without attaining proportionate
accuracy. We have, therefore, reckoned the repairing
and renewal charges on certain groups of tools and imple¬
ments, and used these figures as standard figures while
entering the charges in the schedule. These groups are
formed with reference to the number and kind of tools
and implements which the different classes of people pos¬
sess. The following are the standards we have adopted :

Group I.

1 Plough...

1 Pick-axe \

l Axe )

4 Sickles j

1 Scythe [•******,*•*•

1 Kosh. . . . .

2 Vartas.. .

1 Cart..

Total .

Group II. =

Group I minus 1 Kosh \

2 Vartas f

Group III. =

Group II minus 1 Cart.

Repairing charge
Rs. As. Ps.

2 8 0

0 12 0

0 14 0

8 0 0
8 0 0
11 0 0
81 2 0

15 2 0

4 2 0

To facilitate calculations we have adopted the round
figures of Rs. 30, Rs. 15 and Rs. 4 as the annual repair¬
ing charges for the groups I, II and III respectively.

149

It will be interesting to note that though these repair¬
ing charges seem to be trifling sums when taken by
themselves, they assume a large proportion when con¬
sidered in the aggregate for the village as a whole. As
calculated from the schedules collected, we find that the
village has to spend Rs. 4086 by way of repairing charges
per annum. This is no small sum for a village whose
annual net income is only a little more than rupees one
lakh and a half. 1

CONCLUSION

The main conclusions from this chapter are :

(x) That the cattle of the village are inadequate in
numbers and generally poor in quality ; and

(2) that the necessary implements and tools for carry¬
ing on cultivation are also inadequate.

1 Vide Chapter XIV.

CHAPTER—IX

CAPITAL RESOURCES OF THE VILLAGE.

(Contd.)

HOUSES AND PERSONAL POSSESSIONS

In the former chapter we discussed cattle and imple¬
ments, two forms of capital resources, which are most
closely associated with agriculture. We shall discuss
in this chapter the remaining forms of capital resources,
namely (5) houses, (6) utensils and furniture, (7) orna¬
ments and cash, and (8) investments.

HOUSES

The houses in this village may be divided into two
classes. One comprises those with a thatched roof;
the other, those with a tiled roof. Among the latter, some
are roofed with tiles made by the potters in the neigh¬
bouring villages, and others are covered with what are
called Mangalore tiles. The latter are, however, few
and far between. It is usually believed in this place
that as a man grows richer the thatched roof of his house
is replaced by one covered with local tiles and the latter
in course of time by one covered with Mangalore tiles.
Our enquiry revealed an element of truth in this belief.
The majority of tiled houses, we discovered, were built by
former generations in days when tiles were cheap.
Garrets are found in almost all houses and are used some¬
times for storing grain but often for storing fodder. Stori¬
ed houses are conspicuous by their absence.

The raw material with which these dwellings are built
is generally mud and grass. In some houses we, how¬
ever, found that bamboo poles were used in construct-

ing walls. In a few exceptional cases walls were erected
with bricks and mud or mortar.

The Kaliparaj House : The Kaliparaj people inhabit¬
ing this village are not so primitive as their tribesmen in
the adjoining territories of the States of Dharampore
and Bansda, or the Chaudhras of Mandvi Taluka, or the
Bhils of the Panch Mahals. Nevertheless the original
primitiveness of their forefathers is still found reflected
in the way in which they live. As already explained,
they do not stay in one area, but in groups of eight to
ten families. These are called Falias. Each Falia has
a distinct name of its own, whether derived from the name
of one of the well-known residents, or from the name of
a lake or a tank found in the Falia or sometimes from
the name of the neighbouring village. Atgam consists of
ten such Falias named Moti, Undi, Patatalao, Bhony-
awad, Char, Patalawadi, Ghuriyawad, Bahadurfalia,
Segwafalia and Rojasamer. Chari and Segwafalia are
so named because they are in the vicinity of the villages
bearing those names. Ghuriyawad and Bahadurfalia
derived their nomenclature, as our enquiry showed,
from the names of two famous dwellers, Ghuriyo and
Bahadurio. In Patatalao there is still a tank of that name.
For the names of other falias no satisfactory explanation
is forthcoming.

The housing of these tribes varies with the status of
the occupants. The cottages of Dublas and Naikas who
constitute the bulk of the labouring class are generally
very small. Most of them are from about ioo to 200
sq. feet in area. The cottages and houses of the farm¬
ing populace are comparatively large and more roomy.
Cattle-sheds are, as a rule, found in the immediate vici¬
nity of the tenements. Entrances are often too low for
an adult to walk in. Doors and windows seem to have
been ruled out of the construction of cottages. There
are, however, a few large tiled houses which are in¬
habited jointly by a number of families who originally
belonged to the same stock.

152

During the last ten years four Dhodias have built
houses with Mangalore tiles. One of them did it with
a sum borrowed from the local Co-operative Credit So¬
ciety ; another from his savings in railway service and
two others partly from savings, and partly by borrowing.
The notion that a family has a high status if it owns a
house roofed with Mangalore tiles seems to be filtering
down, even to these tribes, from their constant associa¬
tion with the fair races.

One of the most remarkable characteristics of their
dwellings is an extra structure attached to every cottage.
This is a crude platform made of bamboos, about 3 feet
in height and 4x4 feet in area. All the waterpots of
the family are stacked one upon another, on this platform,
and are never kept inside the house.

The Ujaliparaj House : The houses vary in size,
shape and also in building material because their owners
belong to many different castes differing in wealth. In
general the depressed classes, Bharwads, a few Machhis
and a few Kolis live in small cottages. Others have
fairly large houses. Among the advanced and literate
classes like the Anavil Brahmins, the Banias, Mahomme-
dans, Parsis and Christians and a large number of Kolis,
the houses are covered with local tiles. Eight of these
houses are roofed with Mangalore tiles. These houses
resemble more those found in cities. Even in this case
only a few have cattle-sheds away from the dwelling
place of the owners. A majority of these stay in the
\nllage site. Some, however, who originally dwelt on
their farms in the falias are found separated from this
group. A large number of Kolis reside along with the
Kaliparaj in the falias. It is interesting to note that
some of these have imitated their Kaliparaj neighbours
s.g. t ey have a structure attached to their dwelling's for
keeping water-pots.

Renting of houses : Renting of houses is rare in this
village. However, a few instances were found in which

158

houses were rented. In one case the rent, for a tiled
house about 400 sq. feet in area, was Rs. 8 per mensem.
A few cottages were rented at Re. 1 per mensem. The
rents are paid mostly in kind or in terms of manual labour
and vary with the size and quality of the house.

Size of Houses : The following approximate data
about the size and quality of the houses were obtained at
the time of taking our house-to-house census :

Size of house

Thatched

Roofed

Total

Over 5000 sq. ft.

—

+

5

=

5

From 2000 to 5000 sq. ft.

9

+

17

sacs

26

,, 1000 to 2000 „

44

Hr

32

=

76

„ 500 to 1000 „ 55

91

+

18

—

109

„ 200 to 500 „ 5S

108

+

4

=

112

„ 100 to 200 ,, „

75

+

-

=

75

Below 100 square feet

-

+

-

—

Total .

. 327

+

76

403

We shall now proceed to deal with what may be called
‘purely personal possessions.’ Though it is difficult to
have an exact statistical measurement for them, they
have their place in a realistic study of a village.

UTENSILS AND FURNITURE

Brass utensils are used by many families of the higher
class, but earthen vessels are used for storing grain.
A majority of the Ujaliparaj use earthen vessels as a rule.
However, in every house one or two utensils of brass are
found in use. The Kaliparaj families too, use earthen
vessels extensively. Yet in a good many families we find
on,e or two bronze utensils and a brass bucket as a novelty.
These are indications of the multiplying wants of these
simple folks.

Furniture, in the real sense of the word, is rare. A
few chairs and small tables are visible in the houses of
high class families like those of Brahmins, Banias and
Parsis. Cots are found with a good number of families
of both the races. The usual custom, however, for the

so

154

majority of the Kaliparaj and some portion of the Ujali-
paraj like Dheds, Bharwads and a few others is to sleep
either on bare ground or on a simple mat. It is interest¬
ing to note that the average Kaliparaj often prefers to
sleep on the heap of straw in his yard to lying in his
cottage.

Deitz lamps are used only by high class families. Ke¬
rosene lamps, usually of cheaper make, are in general use.
The use of castor oil in small earthen vessels with a num¬
ber of wicks, is fast disappearing among both sections of
the population.

ORNAMENTS AND CASH

Almost all inhabitants of the village from the richest
to the poorest seem to be fond of ornaments. Orna¬
ments are given a status, as it were, in social customs
like a marriage ceremony, when ornaments of a fixed
value have to be given to a bride. It may almost seem
that the fondness of the average villager for ornaments
is only, surpassed by his love of drink.

There is, however, one justification in the present
state of affairs for keeping some capital invested in orna¬
ments. They serve as a useful and ready means
for borrowing a petty loan at any odd turn of the season.
In this village, as elsewhere in South Gujarat, there are
what are called ‘Janasudhar’ sowkars, i.e., money-lend¬
ers who make petty loans only on the security of orna¬
ments. Even the professional money-lender in modern
days makes himself doubly sure, by keeping as security,
the ornaments of the borrower who is a notorious defaul-
ter. I his shows that ornaments serve the same purpose
to the village as Government securities do to modern
banks. I hey are a reserve for ready money, and can
be tapped a.t any moment.

This partial explanation of the necessity of keeping- a
few ornaments as fluid resources need not be taken to
ments^ enera defence investing one’s savings in orna-

1 55

The ornaments usually seen on the body of an aver¬
age Kaliparaj woman consist of :

Approximate cost
Rs. As. Ps.

(i) about 10 to 12 bangles of brass ... 1 40

(ii) about 12 to 16 anklets of brass ... 1 80

(iii) a number of necklaces of false pearls .040

Total 3 0 0

Thus the ornaments usually worn by an average Kali¬
paraj woman cost only about Rs. 3. Some women,
however, of a comparatively well-to-do class wear in ad¬
dition a silver necklace which they call Kantla, costing
from Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 and a silver armlet costing from
Rs. 15 to 20. These ornaments are given to them as
a dowry.

One interesting thing may be noted here. A few
women of the well-to-do class have replaced brass ank¬
lets by silver anklets. This is a change worthy of praise
for brass anklets are useless even to pawn._ This
change is due to one of the administrative orders of
1919-20 of Mr. Shivadasani, 1 who was an Assistant
Collector in the Southern Division of the Surat District.
This instance shows how administrative machinery, if
well designed for the betterment of the people, can expe¬
dite social and economic reform. Let us now consider
the cash found in the village.

The average Kaliparaj is proverbially short of cash.
Some well-to-do families, two generations ago, we were
told, used to hoard some cash buried underground.
For the last two decades, the people are not aware of
any such instance, but during the course of our house-to-
house enquiry we found that two Kaliparaj men had
buried a few rupees under ground, the amount of which
they were unwilling to disclose.

Silver and gold ornaments are not a rarity with the
high class and well-to-do families among the Ujaliparaj.

1 Now a member of the Bombay Legislative Council.

90 *

156

The majority of them, however, wear silver ornaments.
Glass bangles are in daily use among a large section of the
women of this group. Males generally do not put on
ornaments except a ‘Kadi’ or ringlet in their ears or a ring
on their fingers. Boys are adorned on some festivals with
gold armlets and girls with bangles, ear-rings and silver
anklets.

So far as actual cash is concerned, only a few big
landlords, including the money-lenders, keep cash. A
few Koli and Mahommedan teachers, it is said, invest
some portion of their cash salaries as deposits with one
of the money-lenders. But as soon as these savings ac¬
cumulate to a pretty big sum they either purchase new
land or build a new house. Very recently an intelligent
Koli farmer borrowed a loan from a money-lender for
celebrating his son’s marriage. This typical case shows
that farmers do not keep large amounts of cash but invest
it in land or houses.

INVESTMENTS

Modern^ methods of investment are absolutely unknown
to the Kaliparaj. Of the Ujaliparaj only two were found
to possess insurance policies and shares of a few indus¬
trial concerns. It usually happens in such villages that
as soon as a man accumulates a small amount of money
he invests it in money-lending, or in land, or houses. How¬
ever, it may be noted that a few widows of high class
have deposited the money realised from the sale of their
ornaments, with the local Co-operative Credit Society.

The deposits of the members of the Society can be
regarded as an investment of modern type. But un-
fortunately, it is not due to voluntary savings but
to one of the bye-laws of the Co-operative Society en¬
forcing a member to deposit io per cent, of the total
sum he borrows. ■

Thus, except in a few cases the people have little cash
resources or capital fund. The high state of indebtedness,

157

of the majority of the people, as we shall see later on, is
itself an incontestable proof of lack of capital resources.

MAIN CONCLUSIONS

We may now summarise the main conclusions to be
drawn from this chapter as follows :

(i) The houses of the majority of the people are mere
huts.

(ii) Though luxuries (from the villagers’ standpoint)
like a few chairs, cots, crude lanterns, utensils and some
ornaments are found to be in use in the village, the hoard¬
ings of which we hear so often, are practically nil.

CHAPTER—X

AGRICULTURAL LABOUR.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

One of the principal features of the economic life of
the people, namely, capital resources, has already been
examined in the last two chapters. In this chapter we
propose to study another equally important feature—ag¬
ricultural labour. At first sight it may appear that the
existence of a problem of agricultural labour in a village,
where peasant-proprietors dominate, is an anomaly. But
it is necessary to remember that, as already stated, there
is a section among these peasant-proprietors, compris¬
ing those who act only as managers of their farms and
a tew others, who usually work with the help of hired
labour. Though these landed proprietors form only a
small proportion of the whole cultivating class in the vil¬
lage, they create a problem, none the less real and im¬
portant, which demands a treatment wide enough to
justify a separate chapter. This minority consists of
farmers who have large holdings (or else they cannot en¬
gage labourers) and who constitute the well-to-do class of
the people. If any agricultural reform is to be introduc¬
ed it is through this minority that we can hope for it
Regarding the acuteness of the labour problem which
this sectmn of the community feels, our village is repre-

tive Td ° f he Wh ° e ° f Gujaratl and ma kes an instruc-

1 cases'^cultivators a" ° f in Gu l arat .most

ted to the Roval CnmrrU ates £ sufferers . Memorandum submit-
M. Desai, Deputy d\wV° ^culture by Rao Saheb B.

also Cf. memorandum to the 0 . 4*> r ‘ cu * ure Northern Division
M. L. c memorandum to the same body by Rao Bahadur B. R. Naik,

159

Southern Gujarat, however, presents another side of
this labour problem, the ‘Hali system.’ Her agriculture
is mostly 1 carried on with the help of Halis. “The
Hali system prevailing in Surat District and parts of
Thana District,” writes the Collector of Surat, “is now
dying out, owing to labourers leaving the service of their
masters shortly after their marriage and before the debt
is paid up.” 2 In this specific aspect of the labour prob¬
lem of South Gujarat too, Atgam affords an inviting
scope for study.

From the above remarks we have already had glimpses
of the nature of this problem in South Gujarat. The main
cause of the problem is scarcity. We shall also consider
the other reason, namely, the growing inefficiency of
hired labour.

SCARCITY OF LABOUR IN ATGAM

We shall first examine the causes that are responsible
for the scarcity of labour in the case of the village under
survey. From a minute enquiry on this subject, both
in its historical and present day aspects, we feel that the
following are the principal causes of this scarcity :

(1) The principal crops of this area, as we have seen,
are paddy and sugarcane. Both necessitate a large num¬
ber of labourers in some of their processes of cultivation.
For instance, in the season of transplanting paddy, plant¬
ing sugarcane or manufacturing gul out of the latter, there
is a great demand for labour. In other words, the nature
of these two crops is such that there is a great seasonal
demand for labour every year.

(2) This scarcity of labour has been augmented because
some farmers have given up manual work. In this vil¬
lage the Anavils, with rare exceptions, have retired from

1 Out of 84302 Halis found in tfee Presidency in 1921, 57010 or about
•67 per cent -belong to Surat District. P. 223, para <625, Census of
India, VoL VIII, Bom. Presidency, Part I. Tfiis shows to what ex¬
tent the agricultural organization of South Gujarat is .based on the
Hali system.

S Land Revenue Administration Report, 3924-25, p. 39.

160

field-work long ago. In recent years a few others have
followed in their footsteps. Of the latter a good many
are Mahommedans and Kolis—all young men—most of
whom have taken up employment as teachers in the
neighbouring villages and a few have gone away to dis¬
tant places for employment.

(3) This increase in demand is again made greater by
the following fact. The joint-family system in the vil¬
lage has given way in a large measure, and has been
replaced by individual families. In consequence, the
individual families of to-day require the help of outside
labourers to work in their fields whereas, in the days of
joint-family system, such outside labour was not needed.

(4) Moreover, the avenues of earnings for rural labour
have increased in the urban areas during the last thirty
years. Whereas, formerly, few people in Bulsar and
Surat required the services of patawalas, ghariwalas, sy¬
ces or domestic servants, to-day it is otherwise. In addi¬
tion to this demand for domestic servants, there is a de¬
mand for labour from industrial centres like Kalyan where
bricks are manufactured, or from Dharsana for the salt-
pits.

Thus, on the one hand the demand for labour has in¬
creased in different ways, and on the other hand the sup¬
ply has decreased because of the following reason :

Dublas form a proverbially labouring community in
South Gujarat. During recent years some of them have
adopted the practice of purchasing small pieces of land
with a few sayings made in cities to which they often mi-
grate. 1 In this village during the last twenty years, out of
53 families of the Dubla community, eleven have pur¬
chased land. Of the rest, fifteen cultivate land on kind-
rent ; eight migrate to different places in the off season in

1 In this respect, Atgam is representative of South Gujarat. Cf “Aeri-

on the oalTrf £ and dear 'accoJt of the tendency

Sv^s for cn?Hv?H J b0U ?" g C ’ aSSeS 6lther 40 take U P land for them -
“'T® for cultl . v ; atl °" ° r t0 emigrate to industrial centres where hich

Report a i 92 3 T 4 * ° btalnabIe ” P- 37, Land Revenue Administration

161

order to supplement their earnings ; and the remaining
nineteen have been engaged by a few landowners of the
village as Halis or permanent labourers. Thus only those
who migrate in the off season and return in the monsoon
serve as the fluctuating labour supply. All others are
occupied either with work on their own fields or on their
masters 1 in the season, when there is a great demand for
labour from the general class of. landlords.

The above discussion does not exhaust the whole story,
because, as we have said above, the labour problem of
the village, like that of South Gujarat, is twofold due to
the existence of what is known as 4 Hali system/

THE HALI SYSTEM

The word "Hali 1 literally means ‘one who handles the
plough or Hal/ The system by which a labourer is en¬
gaged by others for performing field operations is called
the Hali system. In actual practice the system works
thus. A poor member of the Dubla community and, for
the matter of that, of the whole Kaliparaj of whom Dub-
las are only one sect, on coming of age, approaches one
of the big landlords of his village, or of some neighbouring
village, for a loan to finance his marriage. In return for
the loan, as he has little landed property to offer as secu¬
rity, he gives a verbal promise to serve the creditor till his
debt is repaid. This promise is usually renewed
every year. ' In the majority of cases the labourer 'is
never able to repay the loan all his life, for the
simple reason that even if he works for all the days of a
year, he cannot repay the full amount, as he has to bor¬
row corn from his master every now and then to maintain
himself and his wife and children. The natural result
is, that,.in fulfilment of his promise, he has to serve the
master for his whole lifetime.

Having thus studied the general nature of the labour
problem of this village, we shall now pass on to an exami¬
nation of some of its important aspects.

m

162

THE RATE OF WAGES

For the sake of clarity and precision we shall discuss
• this topic under two heads :

(i) rate of wages for free labour j 1 and

(ii) rate of wages for Halis.

(i) The rate of wages for free labour : There are as
many difficulties in calculating the average rate of wages
in the case of a free labourer as there are different me¬
thods of making payment. The following are some of
the principal methods of paying wages prevailing in this
village :

(a) Usually a labourer is paid in kind. In certain sea¬

sons, however, like the time of harvesting grass or cut¬
ting babul in December and January, he is paid in cash
Now it is very difficult to calculate in money, the wages he
receives in kind per annum (if the labourer knows them
at all), as the price of the commodity in which he is paid
fluctuates from time to time. r

(b) In certain seasons again, he receives a day’s wage
partly m kind and partly in cash. For instance, in the
season of manufacturing gul out of sugarcane, besides
taking his day s wage, he is allowed to take away one or
two bundles of sugarcane at the end of the day for which
he works In some cases he receives also a small quan-
i y o gul from the farmer at the end of the manufacturing

process. Similarly in the season of harvesting paddy he
B allowed to take away a small bundle of paddy sheaves.

1 hese extra wages cannot be ignored while calculating the
average rate of wages. ^

(c) Sometimes a group of labourers undertake to work
on piece wages. They enter into a verbal contract with

ig farmer to finish a piece of work e. g. digging

sum ’ Tlf dee P- rooted on payment of ahLf

sum This amount varies with the persuasiveness
of the employing farmer and the intelligence of the labour-

1 ar of an inde -

163

ers and several other factors. If this lump sum is spread
over the number of days this group works, and if the total
strength of this group is taken into account, the average
rate of wages per day may vary from 4 to 8 annas. The
rate of wages in this case will obviously vary with the ra¬
pidity and energy with which the group works. Thus,
this fluctuating element makes it difficult to have a statis¬
tical measurement of the average rate of wages for the
village as a whole.

(d) Again, in this village there obtains a peculiar system
of advancing petty loans to needy labourers in the off
season, and demanding work from them in the busy one on
repayment thereof. In one such typical instance we
found that a labourer was made to work for five days for
one rupee. This means that the average rate of wages
he received was 3 annas 2 pies per day. Adding 4 pies
by way of interest on the rupee advanced, it would come
t° oh annas. It may be noted that this was the season
of harvesting grass when the usual rate of wages preva¬
lent varied from 5 to 8 annas.

In view of these different methods of payment, it is
obvious that it is extremely difficult to arrive* at an aver¬
age rate of wages for the village as a whole. However,
on minute enquiry, we found that the average rate paid
in the ordinary season is 4 annas for a male and 3 annas
for a female. Taking the seasonal rise into account, 5
annas for a male and 4 annas for a female may be safely
taken as the average rate of wages. These are the rates
we have adopted in calculating the estimates of expendi¬
ture for crops as also for estimating the receipts from la¬
bour to individual families deriving income from labour. 1

(ii) The rate of wages for a Hali :The determination of
the average rate of wages in this case is not as difficult

1. We may note that we had to go through an elaborate process for cal¬
culating the receipts from labour to labouring families, as the heads

of many of them could not give us reliable estimates of the total wages
their families got per annum. For an explanation of this method
vide Appendix VIII.

31 *

164

as in that of a free labourer. Though there are slight
variations in the method of making payments to Halis
followed by different masters, who are called ‘Dhania-
mas,’ the similarity overshadows the difference.

It is a usual practice for a Hali to get his wages in
kind. When he requires cash, he gets it in three wavs :
(a) He may take cash wages for a few days, for which
period, the master would stop his allowances in kind, (b)
He may borrow a petty loan of a rupee or two from his
master with a promise to return it in terms of additional
labour, (c) He is allowed by his master, when the latter
does not require his services, to work as a farm-labourer
on a neighbour’s fields and get cash wages.

As regards wages in kind, he does not receive one and
the same commodity throughout the year. He receives
either paddy, or rice, or nagli, or kodra. The following fig¬
ures show the usual way in which these grain-wages
work out :

One maund of paddy = 9 days’ wages
j* »j rice ==: .16 ,, ff

„ ,, „ Nagli = 16 ,, „

s* s) 33 Kodra = 8 ,, ,,

Assuming that he works for 360 days per year, the
Hali receives 40 maunds of paddy or 22^ maunds of rice
or nagli or 45 maunds of Kodra. 1 Besides these grain-
wages, he is given every year two dhoties, two
waistcoats, a cap and a pair of shoes. He is also al¬
lowed from time to time a little tobacco raised on his mas¬
ter s farm and permitted to enjoy a few holidays. He is
occasionally given toddy in summer and country liquor in
the^ monsoon. If his master is an Anavil Brahmin,
he is usually entrusted with the duty of accompanying his
master’s daughter to her husband’s house. On this occa-

' J! ‘ T CSSSa 7 *? r t emen \ ber that besides this amount of grain he is given
tnhwl? a i ° af °L" ag !' wei f>bing about f of a seer and some vege¬
tables or pulses. Thus increases the quantity of corn he actually re-

eeives from his master. y c

165

sion he generally receives from the father of the son-in-
law a few coppers and a small quantity of corn.

The wife a Hali, as a rule, serves in the house of
her husband’s master. Her usual duties are to fetch wa¬
ter from the well, cleanse the vessels and occasionally
grind corn. Besides this, she has to cleanse the stable
every day and remove the dung from the shed to the
manure-pit. For these services she is paid 3 to 6
rupees per mensem, and given a pair of garments worth
about Rs. 8 per annum. In the transplanting and reap¬
ing season, besides doing housework she works as a farm¬
hand on the field of her master and receives regular
wages.

The son of a Hali, if old enough, is engaged by the
master as a herdsman. He is expected to take the cat¬
tle every morning out to graze on the common pasture or
in the compounds reserved for them. Every day the boy
returns at about two in the afternoon, and goes back
at about three with the cattle to return after sunset. Some¬
times, however, when he takes the cattle a very long
distance to graze he does not return for the recess but
comes back only in the evening. For rendering this ser¬
vice he receives a loaf along with some vegetable or pickle
every morning and Rs. 12 per annum in cash.

Thus regular employment is provided to the Hali’s
family. Over and above this, he is allowed the usufruct
of a piece of land varying from 3 to 7 gunthas without pay¬
ing land revenue, and also allowed to erect a cottage on
his master’s land without being charged any rent for it.

Assuming that a Hali works for 360 days, and taking
into account all payments made to him in kind and cash,
the following will be his receipts as wages per annum :

Rs. As. Ps.

(a) 7 maunds of nagli @ I loaf of nagli-ilour

given every day, weighing | seer ..1500

(b) Some vegetable or pulse given with each

loaf per day @ 0-0-8 each .... 5 S 0

(c) 40 maunds of paddy @ one maund for nine

days 5 wages @ 2-0-0 per md. . . . 80 0 0

Rs. As. Ps.

Brought forward .100 8 0

(d) Clothes and shoes.18 8 0

(e) Tobacco.. 3 0 0

(f) Occasional draughts of toddy and liquor .300

(g) The usufruct of the land given to him . 18 0 o

(h) The rent of his cottage.12 Q (>

Total for the year 150 0 0

In this income we have not included the price of medi¬
cines given to him or to any member of his family in case
of illness. Nor do we count the interest on the
principal he borrowed from his master at the time of his
marriage. It may be noted that neither the interest nor
the principal is ever returned. If the payments made to
the other members of his family are added to this wage¬
bill, the figure of annual receipts by way of wages will
mount up to a much higher figure than Rs. 150. But
ignoring all these considerations and taking into account
only Rs. 150 as his annual receipts as wages, the rate of
wages works out at 6 annas and 8 pies per day. Thus
it is obvious that the average rate of wages paid to the
Hali is higher than that paid to the free labourer.

Having discussed the average rate of wages both for
the free labourer and the Hali, we shall now pass on to a
discussion of the average number of hours which a
labourer works.

HOURS OF WORK

The average number of hours which a free labour¬
er usually works at present comes to six, as shown below :

Number of
hours.

He goes to work after the morning meal at about

9 o’clock and returns home at about 12 o’clock . 3

He again goes to the field at about 3 p. m. and works

there till about 6 p. m. ........ 3

Total number of hours per day 6

A hali is expected to work from 7A.M. to 6 p.m.
with an interval of 2|- hours between 12 noon and 2-30
P.M. Thus he is made to work for 8-| hours.

167

This discussion of the rate of wages and hours of work
leads us to consider the problem of labour from the point
of view of efficiency. During the course of our enquiry
on this subject we w r ere supplied by some of the intelli¬
gent big land-owners of the village with the following
statements, which if true, would show a growing ineffici¬
ency of labour.

(i) About a generation ago an average labourer used
to cut within one hour grass sufficient for making 300
bundles, each bundle weighing about i-| seers. Now an
average labourer cuts grass sufficient for binding only
100 bundles, each bundle weighing about f seer.

(ii) Formerly he used to bind 300 bundles of grass
per hour ; now he does only 100.

(iii) Formerly he could cut per day babul wood weigh¬
ing 20 maunds ; now he cuts a quantity weighing only
1 /3rd of this per day.

(iv) Formerly he used to dig out 200 feet of rice land
per day ; now only 100 feet.

(v) About thirty years ago the number of hours per
day for which'an average labourer used to work was 10 ;
now it is only 6.

On consulting those who were not directly interested
in the problem, we felt that there was a substantial ele¬
ment of truth in the complaint made by the big farmers.
Having ascertained the extent of truth in the complaint
we tried to probe the causes. The causes of this pheno¬
menon described to us by the landlords are :

(1) The vitality of the average labourer has decreased,
because of his habit of migrating to places where he is
supplied "with food of low quality and has more opportuni¬
ties to take to liquor.

(2) The average labourer has become dishonest and
insincere in his work, thanks to his visits to external places
where he fosters these habits.

An impartial analysis of the problem, however, show's
that the real causes of the phenomenon are different from
those mentioned above. We think that the following

facts present a correct explanation of the state of
affairs :

(1) The rate of wages has risen more than three times 1
what it was in 1902. This has a psychological effect
on the mind of the employer who thinks that the labourer
does not put forth work in proportion to the wages paid.
It is however necessary to remember that prices have
more than doubled since 1902. The complaint, there¬
fore, of the landlord is justified only to the extent to which
there is a greater rise in the level of wages than in that of
prices.

(2) No doubt emigration to external areas does influ¬
ence the physical and mental powers of the labourer.
Though he loses vitality when outside, he recoups it
when he returns home. But the habit, which he contracts
when outside, of working for a fixed number of hours
without being reprimanded every now and then to ac¬
celerate his speed is not forgotten. When he returns to
the village he does not like to revert to the old habit of
working from early morning till late in the evening. He
militates against such discipline if enforced by any emplov-
ing farmer. This accounts for the labourer’s insolence
and the consequent complaint of the farmer about the
growing inefficiency.

(3) By coming into contact with literate people of a
high status in cities where he serves as a domestic ser¬
vant, the labourer has developed a desire to wear better
clothes, eat a little richer food and enjoy more leisure
than he used to do before. Moreover, he has become
conscious of the fact that there is a great demand for him
in urban areas where he can receive a higher rate of
wages.

1 * —Tl 1 ®, ear! ' est figures of wages of field-labourers available for the Bulsar
1 aluka are for the year 1902. Taking it as the basis, the following
index numbers show at a glance the extent of rise in their wages:
^ ear * Index number.

This explanation also holds good in the case of the
average Hali, who is often allowed to emigrate to indus¬
trial areas in the off season, when his master does not
require his services and wants to effect a saving of so
much wages, which he must pay even without exacting
any work, if the Hali is kept at home. In the case of the
Hali, there is one additional reason why his output of
work is not larger than that of the free labourer. It is
that, as he is guaranteed every day’s food whether he
works or not, he becomes irresponsible and indifferent in
his work.

Whatever be the explanation of the inefficiency of
labour, the facts remain that the number of hours has de¬
creased from io to 6, 1 and consequently the output of work
per day has decreased while the rate of wages has greatly
increased. This adversely affects agriculture which is
the principal industry of rural areas and calls for some
remedy.

REMEDIES

In suggesting remedies we should remember that the
problem of the village—which is generally true of
South Gujarat—is twofold : one is of the free labourer and
the other of the Hali.

Regarding free labour : In the first place we should
not forget that the tendency of the rural people to emi¬
grate to urban areas is universal and cannot be checked
by any piece of Government legislation. Nor can the
problem of labour be solved by lodging repeated com¬
plaints of the growing scarcity and inefficiency of labour.
The real remedy lies in

(1) The resumption of actual field work by those who
have abandoned it; this will decrease the demand ;

(2) the introduction of the system of paying piece-
wages ; this will tempt the labourer to put forth more work
than he does at present; or

1, Cl. Report of an enquiry into Agricultural Wages in the Bombay
Presidency, 192.4, paras 32 and 33.

170

(3) the introduction of a system’of giving the labourer
a fixed share in the farm-produce ; this will induce him
to stay in the village.

Regarding the Halt-system : In view of the fact that the
agricultural organization of South Gujarat is mainly based
on this system, we shall first criticise the system and then
suggest remedies.

This system has been the target of a good deal of bitter
criticism from several quarters. A Hali is regarded as
a freeman de jure, but a serf de facto . 1 2 On the ground
that this is a system based on the negation of the liberty of
the individual, it is strongly pleaded that it should be
abolished as early as possible.

Judging from the facts that we have already set forth
in the preceding pages, it is obvious that the average rate
of wages paid to the Hali is higher than that paid to the
free labourer, while the actual output of work per day
by the former is only equal to, if not less than, that
of the latter, as the former, unlike the latter, is an irres¬
ponsible fellow. Thus evidently the Hali-system is uneco¬
nomical and inefficient.® Though the big farmers who
keep Halis know this, they cannot avoid it in view of the
growing tendency of labourers to emigrate to urban
areas. Thus the system is regarded as a necessary evil.

We think that far from solving the problem, an imme¬
diate abolition of this system by legislation will make
matters worse. It is necessary to remember that the big
farmers, who have not, for a long time, been accustomed
to fieldwork, cannot resume it all at once. If the system is
removed by a stroke of the pen, it will give a shock to the
agricultural organization of South Gujarat which, as al¬
ready stated, is mainly based on this system.

1 Cl. “Halis are freemen, de jure, but serfs or slaves de facto ”, p* 223*
Pai625. ^ Census of India, Vol. VIII. Bom. Presidency, Part, I.

2 Cf. “Considering all things, we are of opinion that this system is both
uneconomical and inefficient and that the people of the Taluka should
take steps to do away with it as soon as possible”. P. 20, Pardi
Taluka (Surat Dist.) Economic Enquiry Committee’s Report.

On the other hand, it should not be continued indefinite¬
ly, firstly because it offends our sense of justice and fair-
play to the labourer ; and secondly because agriculture
which is largely carried on with the help of mortgaged
labour can never prosper. 1

The solution, 2 that is suggested by some, is that the
system should be replaced by what is known as the ‘card-
system’. This system means that a labourer who is in
service of one master cannot be legally engaged by an¬
other, unless he shows the card of his first master permitt¬
ing him to seek another’s service.

We are afraid that this system, instead of making the
labourer free will tighten the hold of the master. What
the immediate solution should be, is extremely difficult to
suggest. We believe that the remedies we have suggested
in the case of the free labourer are likely to solve this
problem too, for if free labour is easily available, none will
like to resort to the uneconomical and inefficient Hali-
system.

CONCLUSIONS

The following are the main conclusions of this chapter :

(i) The efficiency of the agricultural labourer has. de¬
creased in spite of an increase in wages, making agricul¬
ture a more costly occupation.

(ii) The real solution of the problem lies in the resump¬
tion of fieldwork by those who have retired from it, and
in the introduction of a system of piece-wages or in offer¬
ing the labourer an inducement in the shape of a fixed
share in the produce of the farm.

1 Cf. The Idea is expressed in Gujarati by the Economic Enquiry Commit-

* tee appointed by the Swarajya Ashram at Bardoli to enquire Into the
question of an enhancement In the land assessment of the Bardoli

Taluka : it runs : ^ v

^ 3 srr srsrr (*i<£h4Rr)

3^1 PRT 3.”

» m Vide Memorandum submitted by Rao Saheb B. M. I>esal to the Royal
Commission of Indian Agriculture.

CHAPTER—XI

MARKETING ORGANISATION OF THE
VILLAGE

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

With the solitary exception of Dr. Lucas’s work, none
of the village studies hitherto made include a discussion
of this topic. Even Dr. Lucas has referred to the pro¬
blem generally, and has not attempted a detailed discus¬
sion of the marketing organisation of Kabirpur, the vil¬
lage he studied.

The reason for our departure is not far to seek.
Marketing of agricultural products has assumed a great
importance in our country with the commercialisation
of agriculture. The practice of raising special crops
which the farmer exchanges for food-stuffs in a market,
has been gathering force for the last thirty years. This
specialisation in farming has made marketing a matter of
vital importance to the farmer. His prosperity now de¬
pends not only on an increase in the rate of production
but also on the capacity to dispose of his goods at an ad¬
vantage.

This very specialisation in raising commercial crops,
which are exchanged for necessaries, has given import¬
ance to the other aspect of marketing, namely, the
purchase of necessaries.

The term ‘marketing’ as used in modern economic
treatises has a wide connotation. It refers to all types
and methods of marketing, ranging from the most primi¬
tive marketing of a product as an individual unit at the
house of the producer, to the most modern co-operative
or capitalistic organization requiring sampling and grad¬
ing of commodities for sale. 1

1- Hibbard’s Marketing Agricultural Products, pp. 20-28.

ITS

The marketing organization of our village, as viewed
from this broad outlook, makes an extremely interesting
study. We have divided this chapter into two sections.
The first embraces a general discussion of marketing in
both its aspects, namely, marketing of necessaries and of
farm produce. The second deals with a special detailed
discussion of the marketing methods followed in this re¬
gion with regard to principal articles of export. This
division is made with a view to emphasize the greater
importance of marketing of farm produce than 'of
necessaries, in the present state of the economic develop¬
ment of our rural areas. It is easy to understand that once
the farmer’s purchasing power is augmented and his
standard of living raised, he will be tempted to devise
means for making his purchases more efficient and eco¬
nomical.

SECTION L

A GENERAL DISCUSSION OF MARKETING
ORGANISATION

Marketing is either direct or indirect. The former
hinges mainly on the place at which marketing is done,
since the producer and the consumer must meet often, or
at least occasionally, to settle the conditions of their bar¬
gain. It can, therefore, be conveniently divided into four
groups :—

(1) At the home of the producer,

(2) At the home of the consumer,

(3) At the market place,

(4) Transactions between buyers and sellers staying
far apart through the medium of post and rail.

These may be called direct forms of marketing as
against indirect ones with which we shall deal later. ■

DIRECT MARKETING

(1) At the home of the producer . In the village under
study, commodities most usually sold in this market^ are
milk, sour milk, curds, ghee and dried fish. This prlmi-

174

five type of marketing is confined mostly to the village
site, which is inhabited by a large number of the Ujali-
paraj most of whom use these commodities. In the falias
there are no shops. The Kaliparaj unlike the Ujaliparaj
do not as a rule consume ghee or curds. Nor do they
usually take tea which may require them to purchase milk.

In the village site one often finds a boy or a girl passing
on the road with a brass pot in hand. If asked, he or she
would say, “I am going to purchase milk for tea”. Tea
has become a necessity to the members of the fair races
in this village. Equally frequently one finds a Koli
woman going from house to house with an earthen pot
in hand. She is in search of sour milk.

In this village only a few Ujaliparaj families prepare
ghee out of milk of milch-cattle, which commands a
sale value. As a rule, the Kaliparaj prepare ghee out of
goat’s milk. This ghee does not command as wide a
market as the other mentioned above. People generally
go to the house of the producer to purchase ghee. But
for the last few years some of these people have com¬
menced to market it abroad to Bulsar and other places.
The volume, however, of the ghee exported from this
place is very small as compared to that sent by the Kan-
bis of Kalwada and Pitha, villages only three to four miles
to the south of Atgam.

Besides these dairy products, dried fish forms one of
the usual commodities sold at the producer’s house.
Sometimes, this too is sold by the fisherwoman wander¬
ing from the house of one consumer to that of the other.
The Kaliparaj often catch fish in the rainy season from
the rivulets, which abound in them. Only in winter
and summer some of them are found making purchases
of fish at the fisherman’s house in the village site. With
the exception of Brahmins, Banias, and a few others, all
Ujaliparaj castes eat fish. It is a common sight in the
evening to see one boy after another, or at times a host of
them crowding at one of the fisherman’s doors to purchase
fish.

(2) At the home oj the consumer. Another way of direct
marketing is for the producer to go to the consumer to
sell the produce, but this does not seem to be much in
vogue in the jnternal economy of the village. However,
in its marketing relations with the neighbouring villages,
we find this type of marketing. Occassionally, cultivators
of^ other villages arrive to sell chillies or onions or
brinjals in the off season. Similarly, soon after the har¬
vest, Banjaras come here with huge bags of nagli loaded
on the backs of donkeys or bullocks. This grain has a
wide market in this place as almost all Kalipara] people
use this grain as a staple food. They invariably consume
it in the form of loaves. For the last few years, we even
see some itinerant merchants occasionally coming to the
village with a number of second-hand coats and shirts per¬
haps purchased from a city like Bombay. Borah hawk¬
ers are sometimes seen, moving from house to house with
huge bundles of glass bangles.

When one notes all these petty things one cannot but
reflect that though the average villager lives far away
from the “maddening crowd's ignoble strife 9 ', he is none¬
theless affected by the multiplying wants of the town-,
dweller.

(3) At the market place . This third way of effecting
direct sales is not quite common in this village. There is
only one permanent market at Khergam. This is some¬
times resorted to by some of the inhabitants of the vil¬
lage for the sale of their vegetables. On a few festivals
a ‘hat 9 or a bazar is held at Kochwada, a village about
three miles to the south of Atgam, where a. few farmers of
the place go with vegetables or with fruits, say, plantains.
At times under the tamarind tree opposite the Local
Board School in the village site, some villager sets up a
temporary shop to sell a few vegetables, such as onions,
chillies or garlic he may have raised in a corner of his
compound.

(4) Transactions between buyers and sellers by post
and railway . This is too modern a method of marketing

176

to be found in extensive use in a village. However, dur¬
ing the course of our enquiry, we came across one or two
cases where the growers of mango-fruits send their man¬
goes directly to the consumer in Bombay or Surat or
elsewhere by railway parcel.

Having thus dealt with the different forms of direct
marketing we shall pass on to the consideration of indi¬
rect marketing.

INDIRECT MARKETING

The most usual types of indirect marketing are :—

(1) Purchase from, or sale to, a middleman.

(2) Purchase or sale through a middleman.

(1) Purchase from, or sale to, a middleman. From the
standpoint of the Atgam dweller as a consumer, this is
the most common way of purchase. There are two groc¬
er’s shops in this village. Both of them are managed by
Mahommedans.

The following result of a stock-taking done by us on
the 13th May 1927 at 5 p. m., shows the nature of
commodities sold by one of the grocers in the village.

Kind of Commodity

Quantity j
Ms. Srs.

Value
Rs. As.

Ps.

1.

Paddy ... .

126 -

204

12

0

2.

Tur-pulse..

- 20

2

8

0

8.

Rice.

2 -

3

8

0

4.

Wal-pulse.!

1 10

2

8

0

5.

Wheet.

- 10

1

0

0

6.

Dang.1

- 10

0

15

0

7.

Wal-surti.

- 2

0

5

0

8.

Gram.

— 10

1

14

0

9.

Choti-pulse ..

2 -

3

0

0

10.

Salt.. .

7 -

7

0

0

11.

Kerosine ........

(12 Tins)

! 48

0

0

Carried forward

. 275

6

0

177

Kind of Commodity

Quantity
Ms. Sr s.

Value

Rs. As.

P§.

Brought forward ,

275

0

0

12.

Sesamum oil ......

—

20

7

8

0

IS.

Castor oil.

—

10

2

8

0

14.

Sugar.

6

—

86

0

0

15.

Tea.

—

2

2

0

0

16.

Chillies ........

—

10

8

2

0

IT.

Tobacco . . ' !

5

—

75

0

0

18.

Condiments and spices . . . i

1

4

0

19.

Eggs • ..

500 (Nos.)

18

0

0

20.

Coconuts.

12

99

1

2

0

21.

Khajur.

1

Md.

4

0

0

22.

Misc. things.

5

0

0

Total

. 480

14

0

A minute enquiry into the methods of purchase and
sale and several allied topics revealed the following facts.

(i) This shopkeeper buys the commodities wholesale
from Bulsar and Khergam. The average price at which
he sells the commodity is a little higher than the cost he
pays. The excess of market price over the cost price
constitutes his earnings.

(ii) Regarding the methods of sale the Kaliparaj people
make their purchases every day usually for cash. It is a
common sight to see crowds of people standing at the
shopkeeper’s door asking for chillies or condiments,
tobacco, kerosine or sesamumoil for a piece or two. In
his dealings with the Ujaliparaj, he usually sells goods
on credit and receives payment at the end of the year.
As a rule, credit is not extended to the Kaliparaj, most of
whom are spendthrifts. As soon as they get a few cop¬
pers, their first resting and recreation place will be the
toddy or liquor shop.

(iii) Signs of barter are also visible. Occasionally a
poor Dubla woman comes to his shop with a few eggs
and receives in return salt, tobacco or chillies.

ss

(iv) An inspection of his account book, showed that the
shopkeeper had credit dealings with the majority of Dhed
families belonging to the village and a few Kolis, Kanbis
and Rajputs residing in the surrounding villages. It is
interesting to note that the amount of credit given to
Dheds is based on their earnings in Bombay, as domestic
servants to Europeans.

Of greater importance than all this is for us to remem¬
ber, that the main sources of the shopkeeper’s profits are :
(i) he gives his customers short weights and measures
and (ii) he keeps the retail price as high as possible. Thus'
the farmer in whom we are interested, is hit hard by his
purchases through the middleman.

The solution in this case lies in the development of a co¬
operative store 1 for the sale of sundries. The volume of
business of such a store may be increased by adding
clothes as a commodity to be sold. We found that the
grocer, we examined, started his shop about seven years
ago with a paltry capital of Rs. 200 borrowed from the
local co-operative credit society.

We shall now study the other aspect of marketing,
from the standpoint of the farmer as a producer. This
is the usual method in which the bulk of farm produce is
disposed of.—Almost all cereals and pulses are sold to
middlemen at Bulsar or Khergam, or to one of the vil¬
lagers, who does the work of a middleman. Even in the
case of commercial crops with the exception of gul at
times, this is the method adopted. Grass is almost inva-
riably sold to a Mahommedan merchant at Dungri, a rail¬
way station about six miles to the north-west of Atgam.
This merchant subsequently exports it to Bombay.

Besides the farm produce, there is an important article
namely, eggs, which are often sold to an agent of some

1 While making this suggestion, we are conscious of the failure of the
co-operative store at Gaderia, a village 9 miles to the south-west of
Atgam. We must mention that the failure was due to lack of business
knowledge on the part of its administrators. As its liquidator found
out, the store contained articles which had no market in the locality
concerned. J

179

wholesale merchant. We have seen that there are
about 2130 fowls in this village. Taking on an average
that each hen lays about 30 eggs per year, of which 5 are
reserved for hatching, 3 are wasted and 22 remain for
sale, and assuming that of 2130 fowls 2000 are females,
we get an estimated figure of 44000 eggs that are prob¬
ably available for sale in this village per annum. If
24000 eggs are, as gathered from local sources, taken to
be consumed in the village, about 20000, worth
Rs. 312 at one pice per egg, can be exported. If this
number is augmented by collecting eggs from some
of the surrounding villages, we believe a co-operative egg
sale society can be run on business lines with a profit to
the farmer. We may note that a Mahommedan of Kher-
gam is at present regularly sending to Bombay, by railway
parcel, three to four big earthen pots each containing
from 150 to 200 eggs, at intervals of every two or three
days. This shows that our suggestion is not an unwork¬
able proposition.

(2) Purchase or sale through a middleman. This is
the other way of indirect marketing. Many Kaliparaj, as
well as some Ujaliparaj cultivators, usually purchase cattle
through a middleman.

This function of a middleman or a commission agent,
is however, not regarded as a reputable source of earning
because it generally lends itself to fraud on the part of the
middleman, who may be influenced in favour of the party
giving him a larger commission.

Selling through a middleman is generally resorted to in
the case of gul, which is the product of the principal com¬
mercial crop of this village. No doubt, to all intents and
purposes, the farmer looks upon the Bulsar dealer as the
man finally resposible for the value of his produce. But
this is not true, because the Bulsar dealer is invariably an
agent of some outside merchant and therefore this would
come under the category of sale through a middleman.

23*

180

CARE IN HANDLING GOODS

A few words about the care with which goods are
marketed, are essential at this stage. We do not want to
enter into an elaborate discussion of this topic. Suffice it
to say that in this area, sales are made by the primitive
method of handling individual units to the most modern
one of grading. Grading is, however, done only in the
case of Alphonzo mango-fruits when they are exported
by the farmer direct to his broker at Bombay.

S E C T I O N II.

MARKETING OF PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF EXPORT

It need not be too often repeated that the more import¬
ant problem, at present for the agriculturist is how best to
market agricultural produce. We have already given a
few general characteristics of marketing of cereals, pulses
and commercial crops of this area. Now we propose to
undertake a detailed study of the methods of marketing
three main articles of export from this village, namely,
paddy, gul and mango-fruits. Before doing so we shall
give a brief history of marketing, in this village, which
throws considerable light on the attitude of the peasant-
proprietor to the importance of marketing.

History of marketing in general. It may be mentioned
at the outset that though no records on this subject are
kept by the government, or the people, we had the good
luck to get the following detailed information from some
of those who are conversant with the work of marketing
as at present carried on.

In 1900 people knew very little of marketing as now
understood. There was nothing like a systematic market¬
ing of paddy or mango-fruits. The money-lender was
all supreme. The usual practice was to hand over all
exportable surplus produce to him, in repayment of debt.

181

In the case of mango-fruits, some people occasionally
went to Surat to sell them. During recent years
the number of Alphonzo trees has increased and
is still increasing. The marketing of mango-fruits is
becoming more systematic. A few intelligent farmers
have even learnt the method of grading and packing
this fruit. Paddy is now sold direct in the Bulsar
market and not, as before, through the money-lenders.
The marketing of gul is particularly interesting in its
historical aspect.

Before 1915, it is said, great annoyance was caused by
the up-country merchants (merchants coming from N orth-
ern Gujarat and Kathiawar) w T ho came to this area to
purchase gul. The village dalals were virtually forced
to take them from place to place, though often they made
no purchases, which would have entitled the dalals to some
brokerage. Bulsar dealers, too, put them to great incon¬
venience. After a brief yet memorable struggle in 1917,
the matter has improved considerably. We give below
the origin and events of this struggle which clearly demon¬
strate that the illiterate cultivator is not ignorant of his
economic interests and that he can rise to the occasion
when necessary.

It was in the season of 1917 that one of the most
flourishing money-lenders and gul-merchants of Bulsar,
asked one of the farmers of Fanaswada, a village to the
west of Atgam, to send his gul-pots to the Bulsar station
at the latter’s risk and responsibility. As will be clear
from the description of the marketing of gul we shall
presently give, this was a departure from the usual system
and, if adopted, would have affected the farmer adversely.
The farmer of Fanaswada boldly refused to do so.
Thereupon the merchant did not purchase his gul. The
matter spread far and wide, with the result that the farmers
of Atgam and a few other surrounding villages, set them¬
selves to discover the best method of selling their gul in
case the Bulsar merchants remained obstinate.

182

One does not know whether this departure was
conceived by all the Bulsar dealers jointly but, as the farm¬
ers had expected, the Bulsar dealers did combine and be¬
gan to make efforts to set up an association of gul dealers,
to defeat the farmers, on the point at issue. This
produced a greater commotion among the farmers. A
few- bolder spirits among them came forward, and set
themselves to the task of founding a farmers’ association
to withstand the encroachments of the merchants.

For that season Mr. Manibhai (Police Patel of Atgam),
Mr. Chhotubhai J. Desai (another resident of Atgam
who was at that time running a gul factory) and a few
others, induced merchants from Broach to purchase gul
belonging to a number of farmers of this area. In course
of time was formed the Patan ( a village about 4 miles
to the west of Atgam) Gul Company. Its career was
brilliant but brief. Gul sold through its agency, fetched
a remarkably high price. In one case it rose to Rs. 8
per maund, a record price. Unfortunately for the Com¬
pany, one of the Kathiawar merchants who had pur¬
chased a large quantity of gul through its agency, failed,
and all the efforts of the Company ended in smoke by
1918. Meanwhile the Bulsar dealers became wise and
resumed the old system of sale which continues to this
day.

Having thus given a few facts of the history of market¬
ing, we may proceed with the marketing organization of
three principal articles of export from this area, namely,
paddy, gul and mango-fruits.

MARKETING OF PADDY

The volume of business. The average yield of paddy
per acre in this area varies, as we have already stated,
from about 25 to 35 maunds. Assuming 30 maunds to be
the average yield per acre, the total quantity of paddy pro¬
duced in Atgam in the year of enquiry will come to more

183

than 20000 maunds. 1 Of this, on a rough estimate, not
less than 1000 maunds were exported from the village.
This, we were told, is a recurring phenomenon. The vil¬
lages in the neighbourhood export about the same, which
indicates that a large amount of paddy is exported from
this group of villages to Bulsar, from where it is sent to
more distant places.

The marketing season. Though paddy is exported at
any time of the year when the farmer is in need of money,
the bulk of it is exported in the months of November and
December immediately following the harvest.

The methods of marketing. There are mainly three
methods of marketing this crop which are described be¬
low.

(i) The farmer himself fills bags of paddy corn, loads
them in carts and takes them to Bulsar town which is
both a gathering and distributing market for paddy. The
big dealers in this corn are the Chhipas of Bulsar, some of
whom combine shopkeeping with commission business.
The farmer approaches one of them whom he knows well.
Seeing him, the dealer assumes a business air. For a mo¬
ment, the familiarity displayed on other occasions
vanishes, and the conversation centres round the settle¬
ment of the price. All the while the dealer is conscious
that the farmer cannot go back to his village without dis¬
posing of his produce, as he requires cash, perhaps for
paying land revenue or celebrating the marriage of his
daughter. Fully availing himself of these circumstances
and of his own knowledge of possible demand and supply
of the corn, he settles the price after a good deal of
haggling and strikes a bargain.

Taking a big ‘hara\ i. e. 21 maunds of paddy which is
the unit in the paddy trade, the following are the usual
deductions which the farmer has to meet before receiv¬
ing the value of his produce.

1 The total acreage in 1926-27 under paddy of both species was 762.9
acres. Multiplying this figure by 30 we get 22887 maunds of paddy.

184

Supposing the price per hara to be Es. 82 on this day
Gross price= Rs. $o 0 ’

Deduct by way of

(i) weighing charges. 55 0 2

(ii) discount for ready money ... 35 04

(iii) the price of loss in weight, usually

charged, whether the loss is real

or not .. „ 06

(iv) Toll.. „ o 1

Total . 0 18

Net receipts Rs. .81 3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

It is obvious that no deductions' are here made on the
score of charity and Mahajan-fund, because the dealers
do not belong to the caste of Marwari Banias. When,
however, paddy is sold to a Marwari Bania, 2 annas by¬
way of charity and one anna by way of Mahajan-fund are
paid.

(ii) The other method may be thus described. One of
the Chhipa merchants of Bulsar comes to the village and
makes purchases of corn. In this case the price per
maund of paddy purchased is invariably less than that
given at Bulsar. The difference covers the transport
charges, as well as some remuneration for the extra
trouble to the merchant in coming to the producer to
make purchases. In the year of enquiry we ascertained
that the price given in the village varied from Rs. 28 to
Rs. 30 per hara, while at Bulsar it varied from Rs. 32 to
Rs. 34.

(iii) The third method is only a slight variation of the
second. Instead of the Bulsar merchant, some enterpris¬
ing men of this village undertake the business of marketing
paddy, as a part-time source of income, to supplement

1 It may be noted that for 30 maunds of castor-seed sold, the deductions
are: 2 annas by way of charity and 4 annas by way of discount for
ready money. Similar deductions are to be met with in the case of
Jom' U l S necessar y tc > that when paddy is

ow lf . ’ he ( armer , has t0 sustain a loss to the extent of the

weights Jirt In T U t n i S pe, i ■ hara > thanks to the difference between the
eignts used in British and Baroda territories.

185

their uncertain earnings from land. These village dalals
purchase corn, say, at Rs. 29 and sell it in the Bulsar mar¬
ket within a day or two, or even later, when the price
shows a favourable rise. It is interesting to note that, in
the year of enquiry, we noticed a case where one of these
temporary brokers had made a forward contract with a
Chhipa merchant of Bulsar, undertaking to supply him
with a fixed amount of paddy before a particular date at
the price ruling on the day, when the verbal contract was
made. If properly organized, this instance augurs well
for the marketing of their produce by the farmers
themselves.

The difference between the producer’s and the consum¬
er’s prices : We have so far given a brief description of
marketing paddy. But the act of marketing cannot be
said to be complete till the commodity is delivered to the
consumer. Paddy is not the commodity that the average
consumer of Bulsar purchases. He buys rice which is
the result of husking paddy. The average rate at which
Kada-rice was sold, during the year of enquiry, was about
Rs. 3 per maund. From the account given above, the
actual value realised by the producer, after paying neces¬
sary deductions, comes to Rs. 1-7-9 or a bout Rs. i-£ per
maund. Obviously there is a hundred per cent, difference
between the two prices. This is partly due to the fact
that the producer sells paddy (or rice in an unhusked or
raw form) while the consumer purchases cleaned rice ready
for cooking; and partly due to the deductions we have
enumerated above, which the farmer has to meet, as well
as the profit of the middleman.

Suggestions. It will be interesting indeed to ascertain
whether the farmer will gain anything by selling rice
instead of paddy.

(a) If he hulls his paddy at home, which an average
farmer who has little occupation in the off season can do,
he will gain to the extent of Rs. 13 per hara as shown
below.

24

186

Per every maund hulled the farmer can get :

about 22 seers of rice;

, 5 10 ,, of broken rice-grains called * Kanki

and „ 8 „ of chaff, which, when pulverised, is used as a

food for a cow or a she-buffalo
in milk.

Valuing these at the prices of 1926-27, we get the
following:

Rs. 19 6 for rice;

,, 0 10 0 for Kanki;

55 0 1 0 for chaff or c Kunski.*

Total Rs. 2 4 6

or about Rs. 2 5 0.

This shows that for every maund of rice the farmer
may sell instead of paddy, he is likely to realise 13 annas
more. Assuming that 3 annas are deducted by way of re¬
muneration to the middleman, whose services are neces¬
sary as the farmer cannot stay in the bazar to sell the
quantity of rice at retail prices, he will at least get 10
annas more per maund, or about Rs. 13 per hara. If the
farmer does not sell ICanki and chaff along "with the rice,
he will realise about Rs. 1-8-4 per maund or roughly at
least as much as he receives for paddy. In that case the
Kanki and the chaff will constitute his net savings.

(b) If he gets paddy hulled in a mill in Bulsar he will be
charged Rs. 3 per hara. Even in that case the farmer is
not a loser as he will realise Rs. 10 more.

_ Why do farmers not sell rice instead of paddy ? The
big farmers do not follow this method of sale because they
are afraid that the labour charges will be very high if all
the paddy is hulled at home. If hulled in a mill, they
argue that considerable time would be lost which would
mean a deduction from their time for supervising the
farms. The small cultivators do not follow this system,
because they are ignorant of the potential gain.

Co-operative marketing : We believe that the situa-
faon would be much improved if a Co-operative Paddy
bale Society were started for this village, or a group of vil-

187

lages, under the guidance, administration and control of
an intelligent and honest secretary and chairman. The
obvious advantages of such a proposal are :

(i) It would remove the objection of the big farmer that
he cannot spare time, as the Society would undertake to
get paddy hulled for him.

(ii) Since this business of hulling paddy will be on a
large scale, the cost per unit will be low. This removes
another objection of the big farmer.

(iii) If hulled in the village with hand labour, it would
afford a suitable subsidiary occupation to a few small pea¬
sant proprietors, who are compelled at present to migrate
to outside areas to eke out a meagre existence.

(iv) It would also give the farmer the knowledge of
some of the modern methods of marketing.

(v) Above all, the higher average price realised would
prove an impetus to the farmer to grow a better species of
paddy, or at least to produce a larger quantity and better
quality, of the same species as he grows now, by the use
of good seed and manure.

MARKETING OF GUL

The volume of business : Gul is prepared out of
sugarcane which is raised here as the principal commercial
crop. On a rough estimate more than Rs. ioooo worth
of Gul is exported per annum from the village under study.
The quantity exported by the group of villages including
Atgam, Dhanori, Kalwada, Fanaswada, Mull, Pal an,
Khajurdi, Pitha and Endorgota is worth about a lakh of
rupees.

The marketing season : The marketing season varies
with the kind of sugarcane from which gul ^ prepared.
Two varieties of sugarcane, as already noted, white Mala

i Acreage under sugarcane in 1926-2T ^6^res.

Average production of fftti por 8>cre — 1-^ m&onub.

• Total production of gul for the Village==S130 maunds.
Assuming Rs. SI as the price per maund.

The total value of the whole production=Rs. 11700.

188

bari’ (msforoRnff) and ‘Bharat morasi’ are

grown here. The former is manufactured from the end
of October to the second week of November ; the latter
from the end of December to the second week of January.
The season of marketing gul therefore, extends mainly
over three months, November, December and January.

The unit used in the gul trade : The unit of gul used is
peculiar to this region. In this part farmers do not
prepare blocks of gul as their brethren do in the Deccan.
The usual system is this. When gul becomes cool, it is
transferred from a small pan to earthen pots of varying
weight. These pots are made by local potters. The
usual weight of a pot made in Khergam is 12 seers, but it
increases as we go to the west till it reaches about 22
seers in Dhamdachi, a village just in the vicinity of Bul-
sar. In Bhagda Bunder, about three miles to the south
of Bulsar, the uppermost limit is reached. Here the
weight of an earthen pot varies from 28 to 32 seers.
The unit of gul is such an earthen pot containing gul filled
to its brim. It includes both the weight of the vessel and
the weight of gul. In fixing the price, the outside mer¬
chant invariably takes the weight of the pot into con¬
sideration.

The methods of marketing : Though there are varia¬
tions in detail, the main links may be described as
follows :—

Bulsar is the gathering and distributing centre of gul,
as far as this region is concerned. Here we find a good
numbers of dealers in gul. Some of them purchase gul on
their own account; some partly for themselves and partly
for the up-country merchants ; and the rest, -who constitute
the majority, act only as commission agents of the up-
country merchants.

These dealer-merchants are generally connected 1 with
the gul-producing villages through the village Bania or

X Some of these dealer-merchants are directly connected with the grow¬
ers of sugarcane as creditors.

189

one who is called a ‘fatakia’ dalal 1 ■ These dealers and
dalals mostly belong to the Bania caste, but o£ late we find
a few Anavils too.

The demand for gul produced here comes mainly from
North Gujarat and Kathiawar. Some enterprising men
of Broach, Kaira and Kathiawar have made it a regular
business to purchase gul from the Bulsar and Pardi Talu-
kas in the harvest season through the dalals of Bulsar
and other places, and sell it piecemeal in their area either
on their own account at retail prices or at wholesale prices
to dealers.

THE STAGES IN THE ACTUAL MARKETING OF GUL

In order to get a precise idea of what marketing of gul
means, we shall briefly describe the different stages in
the actual marketing of gul. Let us suppose that a
Broach merchant desires to purchase 100 pots of gul
from Atgam. He comes to Bulsar and goes to the house
of his usual broker. The Bulsar dealer, or his clerk, ac¬
companies the merchant- to Atgam in a carriage. Both
sometimes go direct to the farmer’s field where gul is
being, or has been manufactured, and the pots of gul stor¬
ed under a shed made of bamboo-sticks, date-leaves and
the upper dry shoots of sugarcane. More often they go
with the ‘fatakia’ dalal of the village to the field or store¬
house of the farmer. Soon after they reach the place,
the up-country merchant inserts a small stick into some
pots at random, to determine whether the quality of gul
is the same at the bottom as is seen at the top. It is re¬
grettable to have to note that it is a common practice,
among some of the cultivators here, to cover the tops of
different pots of gul with the best species of gul, of pale-

1 The ‘fatakia’ (i.e. irresponsible) dalal is generally a money-lender,
as is the case in this village, who is interested in the sale of the client’s
produce so that his old debt may be repaid and a fresh one contracted,

giving him (the creditor) some discount. He is called ‘'fatakia because
he is not responsible to the farmer for the value of gul sold through
him.

190

yellow or shining grain-like colour. In testing the gul
the up-country merchant is assisted usually by the village
dalal. The merchant then inquires of the farmer whence
the pots have been bought and even weighs some of
the empty ones to assure himself of the truth of the far¬
mer’s statement. Then follows an amusing process.
The Bulsar Dalal and the village dalal on the one hand
and the up-country merchant and the Bulsar Dalai on the
other, join their hands under the cover of a shawl and
shake their heads, talking all the while in a mysterious
language. This is the way in which haggling is
concealed from the farmer who is the real owner of the
commodity for sale and who, in justice, should have a pro¬
minent share in determining the price. A similar method
is followed in the cotton market in Bombay. Of late, the
Ujaliparaj farmers are generally consulted by the dalals.
After a good deal of haggling the price is fixed and the
merchant buys, say, ioo pots of gul. The up-country
merchant and the Bulsar dealer then leave the village, en¬
trusting to the cultivator and the fatakia dalal the task of
despatching ioo pots of gul, each filled to the brim, to
Bulsar in carts, to be sent by the Bulsar dealer. AH
charges incurred from the time the pots of gul are purchas¬
ed at Atgam, to the moment when they are stacked in his
godown at Broach, are to be borne by the up-country mer¬
chant.

After they are gone, the farmer gets ioo pots of gul
weighed by a ‘tolat’ (weigher) and fastens earthen lids on
their tops by means of pieces of fresh shoots of sugarcane.

One morning early a line of carts is seen coming to the
farmer’s field. These are sent by the Bulsar dealer to
carry the pots of gul purchased. The village broker
is sent for. The broker, the farmer and his men
assist the carters in loading the pots in the carts and care¬
fully fasten them to their seats. These pots are taken
to Bulsar station, carefully loaded in a goods train,
and despatched to Broach. The railway receipt is posted
to the Broach merchant. On learning of their arrival.

19!

the Broach merchant goes to the station, with the receipt
and takes the pots in carts to his godown.

The details of the approximate costs of all these pro¬
cesses, obtained from two residents of Atgam, are given
below :

The unit adopted is ioo earthen pots each containing
gul to the brim. The average weight of each potful is
taken to be i J maunds. 1

/. 100 pots of gul=150 maunds in weight.

Assuming Es. 4|- to be the price per inawid, the price
of 100 pots=Rs. 600/-.

Cost of transporting from the field of the At gam farm¬
er to the godown of the Broach merchant f including
brokerage, freightetc :

. Es. As. Ps.

(a) Brokerage of the village dalal 3 0 0

(b) Carting from Atgam to Bulsar including

the toll duty . . . * - 18 0 0

(c) Commission of the Bulsar dealer . 6 0 0

(d) Deduction on account of charity . . 0 7 0

(e) Cost of baskets, ropes, etc., for fastening

the pots while loading them in a

wagon train so as to avoid breakage . 9 6 0

(f) Coolie charges, etc., at the Bulsar

station ...... :> 0 0

(g) Railway freight from Bulsar to Broach. 25 0 0

(h) Charges for carting gul pots from the

station to the godown . * * -10 0

(%) Duty etc. , at the Broach Station. . d00

Total . 74 13 0

1 In some parts of this (Bulsar) Taluka it Is a custom for the up-country
merchant to deduct a quarter of a seer per every seer of the weight of
the unit. This means that if a "potful # gul weighsi.} maunds, the

farmer receives the value of only 45 seers. 15 seers are deducted by
way of the weight of the earth contained in the pot. In this tract,
however, the scales for weighing gul are so constructed that in the
actual process of weighing 1/8 of a seer per every seer is automatically
deducted. This means that 7$ seers are deducted for every potful of
i| maunds. It is necessary to-note that our figure of i| maunds, as
the average weight of a potful, is exclusive of this deduction.

It may be mentioned at this stage that the Bulsar deal¬
er deducts Rs. per Rs. too/- worth of gul, or Rs. 9/-
as in the case under discussion, while making payment
to the farmer. This sum of Rs. 9/- will include Rs. 3/-
by way of discount charges for ready money, Rs. 3/- by
way of brokerage to the village dalal and Rs. 3/- the
brokerage of the Bulsar dalal. From this sum of Rs. 9/-
the Bulsar dealer gives Rs. 6/- to the Broach merchant
as discount for ready money. Thus the net cost
to the Broach merchant for the gul he purchased comes
to Rs. 668-13-0. (Rs. 600 being the price of gul and
Rs. 68-13-0 for other charges.)

Financing : A few words on the financing of gul
marketing will not be deemed out of place. A few years
back, the Bulsar dealers used to lend large sums to the
up-country merchant in order to earn interest, discount
and brokerage. In one of the cases, we were told, the
amount was as high as three lakhs of rupees. But of late
this credit has been restricted, thanks to a large number
of bankruptcy cases that occurred in this part during the
last two years. The confidence in foreign merchants has
been greatly shaken. The natural consequence has been
a decrease in the gul trade which spells heavy loss to the
farmer who, in this part, is accustomed to raise sugarcane.

A suggestion : It is well known that the one end of
the chain of exchange is the producer and the other is
the consumer. We have seen that the producer realises
from the Bulsar dealer Rs. 591/- ( 600/- gross price of
his produce less Rs. 9/- by way of deductions) for 150
maunds of gul an average price of Rs. 3-15-0 per
maund.

On enquiry, we found that the price per maund of gul
ruling at Broach from April 1926 to March 1927 varied
from Rs. 6-6 to Rs 6-9 per maund. Taking however,
Rs. 6/- as the average price per maund charged to the
consumer, the difference between the producer’s and the
consumer’s prices comes to Rs. 2-1-0 or 52 per cent, on

the sale price realised by the producer. This difference is
not immaterial from the standpoint of a cultivator who
lives on the margin of subsistence. There is room, there¬
fore, for starting a Co-operative Gul Sale Society, or a
Union, which can be successfully run on business lines.

MARKETING OF MANGO-FRUITS OR MANGOES

Three types of mango trees, as noted elsewhere, are
grown in this area—Alphonzo, Payree and Deshi. The
two former form the bulk of the export trade to places
like Bombay, Baroda, and Surat. The deshi mango-
fruits are usually sold at Bulsar, and only sometimes
taken to Surat and other places. Mangoes form
mainly a commercial crop in this region, though
a few of them are used in the village itself for making
pickles of various sorts. The canning of mango-pulp is
not known here. The season of marketing mangoes
extends mainly over two months, May and June.

The methods of marketing : Mangoes are marketed in
three different ways as follows :—

(1) The farmer himself sends mangoes by railway
parcels, to one of his dalals in Bombay. The mangoes
thus sent are invariably either of the Alphonzo or Payree
type.

(2) Occasionally, some dalals of Bombay come to this
area in early summer. They visit the gardens of big
farmers containing trees of Alphonzo and Payree species.
They go from one end of the garden to the other, specu¬
late from the number of blossoms that are found on the
trees, and offer a certain price to the owner for the whole
produce of his garden for the season. If the farmer ac¬
cepts the price offered as reasonable, a bargain is struck.
Sometimes the bargain is made after a good deal of
haggling on either side.

(3) Some energetic and intelligent men of Atgam itself
undertake the work of marketing mangoes. Unlike the
Bombay dalals, they do not and cannot buy whole gar¬
dens. As a rule, they purchase a few trees and those too,

194

of the Deshi or Payree species. What they generally do
is this. They settle with the owners of mango-trees
a lump sum as the purchase price of the fruit for one
season. They get the mangoes picked and packed,
and despatch them to Bulsar, Surat or Baroda and
occasionally to Bombay. This they do on their own
risk and responsibility bearing loss or making profit, as
the case may be.

Statistics of marketing of mangoes from At gam to
Bombay.

What is of importance and interest to us is the export
trade in Alphonzo and Payree mangoes. The manner in
which mango-fruits are picked and packed from Atgam
and received at the Crawford Market in Bombay has
been described in detail in the Report of the Mango¬
marketing Committee. 1 The economic aspects, however,
deserve consideration. Fortunately for us, one of the
intelligent Ujaliparaj farmers who sends his mangoes to
a dalal in Bombay happened to keep a regular account of
this enterprise. He w 7 anted to see whether he was
a gainer or a loser in not accepting Rs. 275/- to 300/-,
offered to him by one of the Bombay dalals, as a whole¬
sale price for his garden of Alphonzo and Payree mango-
fruits. The following account is based on the figures
taken from his diary :

Expenses of marketing 120 baskets, each containing
mangoes varying in number from 50 to 100 :

Rs. As. Ps.

(1) Cost of Bamboo, baskets, etc., for packing

the fruits . . . . . . . . ... 21 8 0

(2) Cost of Coir-ropes and gunny bags to cover

baskets . . . . . . . . . . ... 18 .IS 0

(S) Labour charges for picking, packing and carting

mangoes from Atgam to Bulsar ...... 21 40

« Total . 61 9 0

1 This Committee was appointed by the Government of Bombay to
investigate the problem of mango-marketing in the Konkan, 1924.

195

Brought forward

Rs.

61

As.

9

Ps.

0

(4)

Railway freight from Bulsar station to Church-
gate station ..

84

18

0

(5)

Brokerage fee of the Bombay datai ....

41

0

0

(6)

Transporting mango-baskets from Church gate
to Crawford Market ........

26

10

0

C)

Counting or weighing in Bombay.

4

i

0

(8)

Miscellaneous..

15

0

0

Total

2 8$

7

_

Gross receipts from the sale of 120 baskets of
Mangoes despatched in instalments from 3-5-27
to 2-7-27..

612

14

0

Net receipts .

378

”

0

The total number of mangoes exported was 5791
or about 482 dozens. Thus the gross price of each lot
of 100 realised by this farmer comes to Rs. 5-7-6, or about
Rs. 5^. 1 The net price per dozen comes to 10 annas 6
pies. In the absence of statistics of the average price per
dozen of mango-fruits, ruling in the Crawford market dur¬
ing the year 1927, we are unable to find out the difference
between the producer’s and the consumer’s prices, as we
did in the case of paddy and gul.

It is, however, obvious that this farmer has been bene¬
fited by undertaking the venture himself instead of
selling the produce of his garden for a lump sum.
He has realised Rs. 378/- whereas he was offer¬
ed Rs. 275/- or at the most Rs. 300/-. The difference
may be regarded as the remuneration for his own exertion.
It may be said that the value of the experience gained
is greater than the monetary profit. It is only by going
through the experience that one can become a large dealer
in marketing mangoes, or can easily manage a Co-opera¬
tive Mango Sale Society.

i Our figure of gross receipts per ioo very nearly approaches the figure
(Rs. 6/-) given by the Mango Marketing Committee, as the receipts per
hundred fruits realised by a Konkani farmer.

§ 5 *

196

Mango-Pulp. One reflection more and we have done
with this subject. The Mango Marketing Committee
calculates that the Konkan farmer can realise Rs. 8/- per
hundred on the spot by canning mango-pulp. This is an
admirable suggestion which we commend to the attention
of the people. It is, however, well known that such an
enterprise cannot be initiated by the people who are mostly
illiterate and in want of capital. We think that the proper
agency to initiate such a venture is the Co-operative
Institute.

CONCLUSION

The following are the main conclusions of this chapter.

(1) that the organization of marketing both daily
necessities and agricultural products is uneconomical ;
and

(2) that if put on a co-operative basis, the marketing of
necessities will secure the farmer all the advantages of
large scale purchase, and that of agricultural products will
make an appreciable addition to his income from land.

CHAPTER—XII

SOME TESTS OF AGRICULTURAL PROS¬
PERITY

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

We have so far studied the action and reaction of what
may be called the natural, social and economic environ¬
ment, on the people of the village. It is usual in such
studies at this stage, to give a picture of the economic life
of the people of the village as a whole, and of important
groups, in a statistical form based on family budgets. Be¬
fore we go to these details let us consider the economic
life of the people in a more general way, by the application
of the tests generally applied by economists or Settlement
Officers, to gauge the prosperity or otherwise of rural
areas.

The prosperity of a rural area or a village, let us re¬
peat, means the prosperity of agriculture, which is
inevitably the major source of income to the people of the
village. We shall, therefore, use these two phrases as
interchangeable. Among the principal tests usually applied
to gauge the prosperity of agricultural people may be
mentioned the following :

(1) Extension of area under cultivation,

(2) increase in the number of plough-cattle,

(3) increase in the number of ploughs,

(4) increase in the number of carts,

(5) rise in land values,

(6) rise in rentals,

(7) rise in the prices of agricultural produce,

(8) ease with which land revenue is paid, and

.(9) improvements in methods of cultivation.

198

THE TRUE TEST OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS

The soundest test of measuring agricultural progress
is evidently the out-turn of crops. If the out-turn of crops
per acre, shows a definite increase when examined over a
number of normal years, it can serve as an incontroverti¬
ble proof of agricultural progress.

It is a misfortune of this region, as it is of our country,
that few peasant-proprietors keep any accounts of the
annual yield of their farms, as the majority of them are
illiterate. Though many of them know whether there is
a tendency to an increase or otherwise, in the yield per
acre of any crop, their information can at the best be
accepted as vague impressions, as they do not weigh
their corn. Such impressions are obviously of no use for
a statistical and scientific study of the subject. We have,
therefore, inevitably to fall back upon tests like those enu¬
merated above, which enable us to observe agricultural
progress or otherwise, only indirectly.

We propose to take the first four of these tests together
for our discussion. It may be mentioned at the outset,
that these tests taken by themselves in an abstract manner
are no good as true indices of agricultural progress or
otherwise. They must invariably be studied in relation
to- the size of the population. The significance of this
important remark will be obvious from the following two
tables :

TABLE No. 1.

j

Tests

Year

1915-16

Year

1926-27

Increase <+)
or decrease
(-)

Percentage
increase [+] or
decrease f—]

I.

Land under culti-

SI 29-9

3143*4

+ 13*5

+ -04

vation in acres

2.

Plough cattle

69 S

616

—77

— 11-1

8 .

Ploughs

297

329

+ 32

+ 10*7

4.

Carts

179

198

+ 19

+ 10*6

199

TABLE No. 2.

Tests

Year

1915-16

1

Year

| 199347

Per capita j
la |

1915-16 j

Per capita
in

1996-97

Per capita

increase [-tj nr
decrease [—]

I. Land under

cultivation

in acres

3129 *9

|

3143*4

j |

1.3 ■

i-2

-1

2, Plough cat¬
tle

693

616 j

•29

*24

-•05

3. Ploughs

297

329

•127

*128

+ •001

4. Carts

179

198 j

*17

*77

■—

It is evident from the first table 1 that with the exception
of plough cattle, there is an all round increase in other
items. The fact established by the second table is that with
the exception of ploughs, which show a negligible increase
of .001 per cent., there is a decrease in the first two items
and a stationary state in the third. Thus it is obvious
that, if we do not take the size of the population into ac¬
count, we shall get a misleading conclusion.

We shall now pass on to the other tests and see if the
main conclusion, with regard to the economic condition of
the people shown above, is confirmed or controverted. We
propose to take the next three tests together as they are
interrelated.

INTERRELATION BETWEEN RISE IN LAND VALUES,
RENTALS AND PRICES

Rise in land values and rise in rentals are closely asso¬
ciated with the rise in the price of farm produce. If the
first two are due to the third, it will imply that there is an
increased profit from agriculture which imparts a high

1 Settlement Officers as a rule, consider the resources of the people in
the first way which is generally apt to show an increase and conse¬
quently likely to give a false, or at any rate an exaggerated notion, of
the prosperity of agriculture and hence of the agricultural population,
e. g. compare the Butsar Taluka Revision Settlement report (1900),
p. 6.

200

rental and capital value to land as a factor of production.
If the rise in land values and rentals is not due to the rise
in prices, they cannot be taken as indices of agricultural
progress because in that case it will be due to scarcitv
caused by a larger population subsisting on the land. Let
us now examine the causes of rise in land values and rent¬
als.

RISE IN LAND VALUES

The marginal table makes the fact of a rise in land val¬
ues evident. It is often said that such a rise in land values is
_simply an unearned incre-

Average price 1 Average price 1 Hient tO the agriculturist.

Year of rice-land In Other words, it is be-

--- lieved that he acquires it

1910-14 116-9 30-6 without labouring for it. Is

1915-19 127-5 35 this rise in land values due

1920-24 iu 9-6 52-6 either to a rise in prices or

1925-26 I 182-8 _ 54 ‘ 9 to the pressure of popu¬

lation on land, or is it part¬
ly due to the former and partly to the latter? This is
the crucial question to which we shall now attempt an
answer.

An enquiry into the sales of land during the last 26
years showed that, in some cases, the rise in land values
was certainly due to a rise in the price of farm produce.
For instance, in cases where grass land was turned into
fields for sugarcane, the value of land rose. Thus the
more valuable a crop is, the greater the value it imparts
to the land on which it is grown. The price of the produce
thus indirectly contributes to a rise in land values.

As we have already said, custom rules even to-dav
many of the transactions of our rural folks. It is quite
natural that a rise in the value of one field—though this

1 In calculating these average prices, nominal sales made by sowkars
to their clients and vice versa are excluded. It may be added that
,7® pT,ces , of on 'y two Masses of soil are given because there is little
difference between the prices of bagayat and kyari land in this village.

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, w r e 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 sowkars 1 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) i

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 6o*, 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.

*2 How we have arrived at these figures will he explained in chapter XVII.

§6

202

bespeak a condition of free competition in which the price
of a commodity can be settled at a fair rate. In one case
which we have already mentioned in Chapter VII, Rs.338
were taken per acre, for a plot of jarayat land which sells
at an average price of Rs. 60 per acre.

Thus we see that the rise in the value of land is partly
due to the rise in the prices of farm produce, and partly to
the pressure of population on land resulting in unhealthy
competition. To this may be added two other considera¬
tions, which generally play an important part in raising
land values : 5

(i) It is widely known that land has a prestige value 1
in our rural areas. Our enquiry into the manners and cus¬
toms of the Dhodias, a section of the Kaliparaj, showed
that this idea of prestige was one serious consideration
with them in the selection of a bridegroom for a girl. One
of them informed us that he found numerous difficulties
m finding suitable girls to marry his sons when he was
landless. He, therefore, purchased a small plot of 7 gun-
thas, and now he finds that he is looked upon with respect.
Even among an intelligent and literate community like
the Anavilis, ^ ownership of landed property is regarded
as a qualification for a young man to be selected as a suit¬
able match for a girl.

(ii) Moreover, partly due to the lack of banking facilities
and partly to their ignorance of modern forms of invest¬
ment, the villagers invest their savings, if any, in land.
This increases the demand for land and consequently
raises land values. Very recently in the village under
study, a few Kolis who are serving as teachers in the
neighbouring villages, invested their savings in purchasing
12 acres for Rs. 3750 or at an average price of Rs. 312A
per acre.

Thus it is obvious that the rise in the price of land is
partly due to the rise in the price of farm produce ; partly
to the unhealthy competition consequent upon great pres-

1 Cf. Report on an Economic Survey of Bairampur, Bhatla, p. 112 .

203

sure of population on land, and partly to social considera¬
tions like the idea of prestige, and the conception of a safe
investment. It is evidently impossible for any one to say
whether this rise in land values indicates prosperity of
the agricultural class or not, as so many considerations,
other than a mere rise in the prices of farm produce, have
contributed to it.

RISE IN RENTALS

Passing on to the next test, the village under study
has two forms of rent : kind-rent and cash-rent. The
kind-rent is generally taken at half of the produce raised
on the piece of tenanted land. Cash-rent varies with the
nature of the soil and the price of the crop raised on it.
The following are the rentals commonly charged at pre¬
sent for different classes of land :

Rs. 6 to Rs. 9 for an acre of grass land.

Rs. 24 to Rs. 30 „ „ „ paddy ,,

Rs. 90 to Rs. 120 „ „ ,, „ sugarcane land.

It is necessary to remember that the expression ‘rise in

rentals’, when spoken of as a sign of agricultural progress,
means ‘rise in cash-rents’ only. The reason why a ‘rise
in cash-rent’ is regarded as an index of agricultural pro¬
gress is this. When a tenant pays a higher rent for a plot
of land than he used to do, it implies that his returns from
the piece of land tenanted, must have increased to such an
extent as to enable him to meet the rise in rent.

Unfortunately, no systematic records of land rented on
either cash or kind rent are maintained in the village. On
an examination of the crop-register of the village, we
found, that the cash-rents were entered only in a few cases
and then too not from year to year. In view of this un¬
happy state of affairs and the importance which the cash-
rent has assumed in recent discussions in this Presidency
in connection with land revenue, we persuaded the village
accountant to take for the year 1926-27 a special survey of
the tenanted plots, including the names of those who

26*

204

leased and the terms of agreement. This survey yielded
the following results :

(i) 888 acres out of 3143 cultivated acres or about 28
per cent, was leased on kind-rent; 195 acres or about 6
per cent, was leased on a cash rent of Rs. 2195 in all or
Rs. 11.2 per acre, and the rest was cultivated by the
owners.

(ii) As a rule, big landowners who live within the vil¬
lage are unwilling to lease land on a cash-rent since, as
they said, it is not so beneficial to them as kind-rent.

(iii) The few plots which they leased on a cash basis con¬
tained only grass which has little value as compared with
corn. The landlord does not, therefore, bother about a
share in kind in such cases.

(iv) The landlords residing outside the village usually
lease land on cash terms, since they do not care to put
themselves to the trouble involved in (a) going to the vil¬
lage to collect their share after weighing the produce,
and (b) keeping constant watch over the tenant lest he
may conceal some part of the produce, and consequently
give less to the landlord than his share.

(v) Sugarcane land is generally leased on cash-rent by
the tenant because kind-rent is unfavourable to him. If
he leased an acre on kind-rent he would have to part with
about Rs. 355 worth of gul but if he rents it on a cash
basis, he has to pay only Rs. 90 to Rs. 120 only.

(vi) In some cases the landowner was the sowkar and
the tenant his client. The latter had mortgaged his land
to the former for a loan. In such cases the rent included
interest on the sum borrowed in addition to the normal
rent.

(vn) In a few cases we found that the tenant was the
original owner of land. He transferred it to his sowkar
in repayment of his debt. Yet he cultivated it as a tenant
and would pay any rent, and would not leave it because it
was once his own property.

From the facts given above, namely, that the resident
landlord is unwilling to lease on-cash-rent land which yields

20o

valuable corn crops ; excepting only in the case of plots
of grass—a commodity of low value ; and that sugarcane
fields are generally leased on cash-rent, as the
tenant does not like to share the high price of gul, it is
evident that the price of farm produce indirectly does affect
rents. But, whether the rise in rentals is due to a rise in
the price of farm-produce or not, cannot be easily said from
the facts established by the census. On enquiry we found
that there was no rise in rentals. On the contrary, two
cases, 1 recorded in the crop register, showed that there
was a great fall with the decline of prices. This shows
that the rise in the price of farm-produce alone is not
responsible for an increase in rentals. What other factors
were responsible for that rise we are unable to ascertain.

So far as the present Is concerned, we have seen above
that only 6 per cent, of the total cultivated land was leased
on cash-rent in the year of enquiry. Of this, a greater
portion had been so leased because of several other con¬
siderations mentioned above. It is, therefore, obvious
that even if there was a general rise in the rental (which
in the absence of figures we are not able to affirm), it could
not be taken as an index of the increasing profits from
agriculture.

Thus we have seen that neither a rise in land values, nor
a rise in rentals, gives us any clue to the fact or tendency
of agricultural progress. Let us now j turn to the rise in
the price of farm produce itself as a test of prosperity.

1 Both these were grass plots. With the rise in the price of grass the
rentals of these plots rose hut the fall in the rent during the last
eight years by far outruns the fall in the price of grass. The actual
figures are as follows:

Year

Cash rent 1 Index No. of the Price
Acres - n | grass (1M2=1®©>

Cbo, I. {“JS

uss

m 400

„ 1 100

20 1 250

.., ! 125

364

300

206

RISE IN THE PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCE

In ascertaining whether there was a rise in the prices of
agricultural produce we have constructed a table based on
prices which were partly obtained from the records kept
at the Bulsar Kacheri, and partly from the office of the
Department of Agriculture at Poona, for no prices are re¬
corded in the village itself. The prices thus collected
are expressed in terms of index-numbers. In compil¬
ing these index numbers we had to reduce the figures to
a uniform level. In some cases the prices are given as so
many seers per rupee ; in others it is so many rupees per
seer or maund. We have reduced them all to so many
rupees per unit of weight in calculating index numbers.
Secondly, we have adopted the year 1905 as a basis since
prices for all articles are not available for years prior to
that, and because it was a normal year. Thirdly,
for articles of food stuffs we have given a weighted index
number. In doing so, the weights assigned to unhusked
rice, wal, kodraand nagli were 13, 7, 1, and 1 respective¬
ly, in view of the cultivated area under each in this village.
The following table thus constructed shows the trend of
prices of farm produce during the last 21 years :

Prices of farm produce expressed in terms of index
numbers :

Year

Food grains

G 11 I

i

Castorseed

1905

100

100

100

1914

12$

1$$

122

1926

227 s

i

' 171

277

This makes it obvious that there was a rise in the price
of farm produce during the last twenty-one years.

Has the rise in prices benefited the agriculturists ? This
is the principal question that we shall attempt to answer in
the following few lines. In order to study the effects of this
rise of prices on the economic condition of the agricultural

207

population, we shall divide the whole class of farmers
into big farmers and small farmers.

Gul and castorseed are raised by both these classes of
farmers as commercial crops. The rise in the prices of
these commodities obviously benefits them. As regards
food-grains, the big farmers sell some portion which to
them is a surplus ; the small farmers also sell a portion of
their food-grains, which, though not a surplus, has to be
sold in order to realise cash necessary for paying land
revenue. Thus, as in the case of commercial crops, the
rise in the prices of food-grains, also, benefits both classes
of farmers. In short, the apparent conclusion from this
brief discussion is that the rise in the prices of farm pro¬
duce should have benefited the agricultural class as a
whole, including both big and small agriculturists.

But to what extent they have been benefited is a doubt¬
ful question. In ascertaining this, the following table of
the wages of skilled and unskilled labour and the price of
plough cattle will be helpful .

Wages of skilled and unskilled labour and the price of
plough cattle expressed in terms of index numbers :

Year

i Wages of skilled

j labour j

Wages of unskilled j

labour :

Price of
plough cattle

1905

300

100

100 ;

1914

140

120

150

1926

240

; 320

320

This table clearly establishes that during the period in
which there was a rise in the prices of farm produce there
was also a rise in the wages of both field and skilled
(carpenters and ironsmiths) labour, and in the price of

plough-cattle.

Looking at this rise in wages and in the price of plough
cattle from the standpoint of the agriculturist, it becomes
obvious that since these form the' principal items in his
cost of raising farm produce, the : rise implies an increase

208

in his cost of cultivation. It is, however, necessary to re¬
member that the big farmer is hit hard by the rise in the
price of all the three, but the small farmer, only by the
rise in the wages of skilled labour, and by the rise in the

price of plough-cattle. . . .

If we balance the extent of the rise in the prices of farm
produce as a whole, with the extent of the rise in
wages and in the price of plough cattle it becomes
evident that the latter exceeds the former. Thus
the conclusion is that the benefit due to the rise in
the prices of agricultural produce is nullified by the rise in
the cost of raising it. This conclusion is further confirmed
by the following considerations :

(i) Our farmers are peculiarly unfortunate regarding
their capacity to take advantage of rising prices of farm
produce. Most of them are virtually forced to part with
some of their produce close upon the harvesting season
with the object of realising cash to pay land revenue. In
our enquiry about the marketing methods of agricultural
products in this village and the neighbouring villages, we
found that this practice was so common that it never
appeared as unnatural to the majority of farmers. What
this circumstance costs the farmer will be evident from
the difference between the harvest prices, and the highest
prices of paddy and gul—the commodities which farmers
of this place generally sell, as shown below.

Commodity

Year

Rupees per mairad of 40 seers
[each seer = 40 tolas]

Harvest price
in

Rupees

Highest price
during the year
in Rs. -

/ 1924

4-4

4*4

Paddy

j 1925

5

V 1926

jy

5

/ 1924

4

6*7

Jagri

\ 1925

4

5

l 1926

5

5

(ii) The customary deductions which the farmer has to
meet by way of weighing charges, charity, Mahajan-
fund and other miscellaneous charges should not be ignor¬
ed in this connection.

Thus, though the rise in the prices of farm-produce
does benefit the agriculturists, the leakage is so great that
the balance is almost reversed. The rise instead of prov¬
ing a blessing turns out to be a curse in disguise.

To sum up the discussion in connection with the rise in
land values, the rise in rentals and the rise in prices of
farm-produce, we find that on the whole the economic
condition of the agricultural class in this village has not
improved.

First seven tests : Taking the first seven tests toge¬
ther, we find that there is a close relation between the
first four and the last three. If the agricultural class had
been benefited by the last three, these benefits would have
surely reflected themselves in their capital and implement
wealth as well as in the extension of the area under culti¬
vation. The decrease in the cattle and implement wealth
of the village (if not in the area under cultivation) forcibly
proves that the rise in land values, in rentals, and in the
price of farm-produce have not benefited the ryots. We
shall now consider the remaining tests.

210

EASE WITH WHICH LAND REVENUE IS PAID

The ease with which land revenue is paid during the
last thirteen years is shown by the following figures :

Year

Number of
notices
Issued

Remarks

1913 1

45

At this time a Dhodia Patel was in charge

19U

48

of the village administration.

The first year of the career of Mr. Manibhai

1915

27

as a Police and Revenue Patel of Atgam.

1919

5

The year of the renewal of the Patelship of

1919 to
1926

Nil.

Mr. Manibhai.

Patel: Mr. Manibhai.

It is obvious from the above figures that as no notice
had to be served during the last seven years to any of the
villagers for not making an immediate payment of land
revenue, it was being paid with ease. This ease admits of a
double explanation. It may either suggest that the
economic condition of the agriculturist had considerably
improved during this period or that the admini¬
stration had become more efficient in collecting land
revenue in due time. From our personal investigations
we found that the absence of notices during 1919-26
shows an efficient administration rather than an improved
economic condition of the agricultural class as a whole.
This will be clear from the following. In 104 cases of
payment of land revenue examined, we found that in the
year of enquiry, 27 farmers paid land revenue wholly by
borrowing from the local co-operative society or sowkars
or relatives ; 19 paid out of non-agricultural sources, and
11 paid partly by borrowing and partly by sale of some of
their farm-produce. Thus in 38 cases out of 104 or 26
per cent, of the total, money flowed from sources other
than agriculture. This speaks for itself.

1 This is the earliest year for which figures are available. The earlier
records, we are told, have been destroyed.

211

IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS OF CULTIVATION

Finally, we come to the last test of agricultural pro¬
gress, namely, improvemsitit in methods of cultivation.
Under this head we found from personal inspection sup¬
plemented by local information that some Kaliparaj, Koli
and high class Hindu farmers did show some progress as
indicated below’ :

(i) Two wells have been sunk by Koli farmers during
the last ten years.

(ii) Much better tilling and manuring than before are
done by a minority of farmers.

(iii) Some of these have exhibited a sense of enterprise
by introducing new varieties of crops like cotton and
wheat.

(iv) Some have increased of late the number of mango
trees of the Alphonzo species.

(v) Some have carved out new’ rice-beds in Jarayat
fields.

The fact that these improvements have been made
only by a few’, w’ho are sufficiently well off to try them,
does not show a tendency towards general progress.

Thus an examination of the general economic conditions
of the people of this agricultural community by the appli¬
cation of the tests usually employed by economists and
Settlement Officers to gauge the progress of rural areas,
shows that, if anything, the people of the village have
remained in a stationary economic condition during the
last decade or more.

Having thus examined in a general way the economic
condition of the people, we shall now undertake in the fol¬
lowing chapters a detailed discussion of the economic
condition of the people as a whole and as divided into
important groups, with the help of statistics we have
collected.

.*■?»

CHAPTER—XIII

STANDARD OF LIVING

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

We have hitherto studied the general features of the
economic life of the people of Atgam. We are now in
a position to give the true economic picture of the village,
for which the preceding chapters will serve as a back¬
ground. For this purpose we shall first take into account
the expenditure or standard of living of the people.

‘The standard of living’ is a phrase used in different
senses by different economists. It is, therefore, necessary
to determine the exact sense in which it is used in this
chapter. The term ‘standard’ may mean either a type,
an average or an ideal. For instance, when phrases like
a 'standard typewriter’ or a ‘standard dictionary’ are used,
the term ‘standard’ means the common, ordinary, ac¬
cepted or representative form of an object. But when such
an expression like ‘a man of high standards’ is used, the
same term ‘standard’ means an ‘ideal*. The standard of
living may thus mean two things : (i) the way in which
people actually live and (ii) the way in which they ought
to live. The former concept is of greater importance than
the latter in such realistic literature as village studies.
We have, therefore, used the standard of living of a group
to mean ‘an average amount of necessaries, comforts and
luxuries enjoyed by the typical family in the group. 1

GROUPING OF THE PEOPLE

Having thus determined the meaning of the expression
‘standard of living’ we should know whether the people
inhabiting this village form a homogeneous group.

We have already found it necessary to classify the pee-

1 Cf. Applied Sociology, Henry Pratt Fairchild, p. 83.

pie into two broad groups, namely, the Kaliparaj and the
Ujaliparaj. We have noted that this division is necessary
because there is an economic as well as cultural difference
between these two groups which must have already been
obvious from a perusal of the preceding chapters. So far
as the different sections of the Kaliparaj are concerned,
there is a remarkable similarity of economic and cultural
life. In the case of the Ujaliparaj too, there is a broad
uniformity of life. But a minute observer detects under
this broad uniformity of life among the latter, an appreci¬
able difference between the economic life and cultural out¬
look of the Brahmins (including the Anavils), Banias,
Parsis and Christians on the one hand, and the rest of the
Ujaliparaj on the other. Such a distinction among the
Ujaliparaj was found necessary, at least while studying the
standard of living, which is so realistic a topic that even
small details cannot be overlooked in its consideration.
We have, therefore, divided the total population of the
village into three groups. The first consists of the Kali¬
paraj, the second of the Ujaliparaj with the exception of
Brahmins, Banias, Parsis and Christians and the third of
the rest.

METHODS OF STUDYING THE STANDARD OF LIVING
OF THE PEOPLE

There are two methods of studying the standard of liv¬
ing of any group of people. The first consists of collecting
family budgets and the second of constructing a standard
budget for a typical family of the group under study. In
the former we have to collect from all the families consti¬
tuting the group the estimates of annual expenditure on
different items like food, clothing, shelter, etc. In the
latter we have to consult freely different intelligent mem¬
bers of the group as to what a normal family, say, of one
man, two women and two children usually spends, accord¬
ing to their notion, on food, clothing, shelter, etc. The for¬
mer is certainly preferable to the latter as it is more realis¬
tic. But it is" necessary to remember that the former is

214 .

possible only in an enquiry about those people, an appre¬
ciable proportion of whom is literate and intelligent and
can give reliable estimates. In view of the illiteracy of the
majority in this village, we have adopted the second
method for a large number of families and the first only
for a few. We, however, propose to enumerate the diffi¬
culties which obstructed us in adopting the former method
for the benefit of a future investigator dealing with a
similar group of people.

The method of sampling : So far as the first group
consisting of the Kaliparaj was concerned, the following
were some of the principal difficulties :

(i) The Kaliparaj are in the habit of purchasing their
sundries from day to day and, their food-grains 1 frequent¬
ly during the year. They neither keep accounts of
these purchases as most of them are illiterate, nor
do they care to remember how much they spend on
them, (ii) The majority of them do not know the quan¬
tity of corn their families consumes per annum. Some
of them told us that a man required about one ‘hara’ or 21
maunds of corn per year. But it is necessary to note,
that one of the most patent facts of their life is that many
of the small cultivators and labourers in their castes, in¬
dulge in feasts during winter and early summer when
there is plenty, and consequently have to underfeed them¬
selves during the latter part of the year, or are compelled
to live on corn borrowed from the sowkar or their rela¬
tives, with a promise to return about twice as much. Care¬
ful observation convinced us of this lamentable fact and
hence in calculating the net income of such families
we had to take this dismal fact of annual corn-borrowing
and repayment iifto account, (iii) Only a microscopic
minority of these people are intelligent enough to talk
reasonably with any one on this subject. The extent of
their ignorance may be gauged when we meet with instan¬
ces of heads of some of the Kaliparaj families who cannot

1 The Ujaliparaj purchase the food-grains for the year during the sea¬
son.

215

tell us even the number of children in their families, with¬
out a series of cross-questions.

With regard to the second group, absence of accounts
was certainly a great difficulty. Though some family-
heads could supply us with very rough estimates of ex¬
penditure, the majority could not with any approach to
accuracy. In their case, too, w'e were forced to adopt a
standard budget for all castes taken as an aggregate.

In the case of exceptional families, which form the third
group, we were fortunate in getting fairly reliable estimat¬
es of expenditure on different items from the heads of nine
families, and estimates of total expenditure only, without
the details of different items, from the remaining three.

We shall now turn to a detailed discussion of the stan¬
dard of living of these three groups. In the case of the
first two we shall describe how we have constructed the
standard budget, and in the case of the third we" shall make
only a few remarks about their standard as seen from the
estimates of expenditure supplied to us.

THE STANDARD BUDGET ADOPTED FOR THE
KALIPARAJ

We shall describe in a general manner the method of
constructing a standard budget for a group. It may be
noted that even in this case there are two ways of con¬
structing a standard budget. One is to collect a few
normal budgets from some intelligent members of the
group and then deduce the expenditure therefrom for an
average family. This method mostly resembles the
family-budget method. The second way is to construct
at first hand a budget of normal expenses incurred by the
average family of the group on different items after a free
consultation with the people. We have combined the
two. We collected a few weekly budgets from some in¬
telligent members of this group and ascertained the nature
of their dietary. We subsequently proceeded to construct

216

the abstract budget for an average family, partly with the
knowledge derived from a study of their dietary as men¬
tioned above, and partly by consulting different members
of this community, and also of other communities who
were well acquainted with their life and manners. The nor¬
mal budget of an average family of this group that we have
constructed and adopted in our calculation, is thus a result
of frequent talks with the members of the community as
well as outsiders, modified in the light of the actual weekly
budgets we collected. We shall now discuss it under
different items.

Food : The staple food of the Kaliparaj is rice. Next
in importance to rice among food-grains is Nagli which is
largely consumed by them in the shape of loaves. Occa¬
sionally Kodra, another kind of coarse grain, is substituted
for Nagli and consumed in a similar form. The village
being a region where wal is invariably raised as a second
crop to paddy, it figures frequently in the budgets of these
people. One usually hears the remark that if an average
Kaliparaj man is supplied with as much toddy and wal as
he likes, he will think himself to be in paradise on earth,
and is sure to work no longer. Sometimes during the
year when gul gets exhausted, they use sour milk as a sub¬
stitute. In summer they generally eat wal. In the rainy
season they alternate sour milk with some vegetable
grown on the boundaries of their fields. During the mon¬
soon and in winter when brooks are teeming with fish,
many of them catch them for food.

Among the items of food, jowar is used only occasion¬
ally by some of the comparatively well-to-do Dhodia and
Dubla families, especially when some guests are to be
entertained. Meat is indulged in only as a luxury, for it is
too dear to be an item in the budget of an average family.

Milk and ghee of milch cattle are rarely used, though
use of milk and ghee from goats is not so rare. Salt is an
indispensable item in their budget. Among spices the
chief is chillies. Sometimes til-oil or ground-nut oil
is used in frying vegetables.

This discussion leads us to a quantitative and monetary
consideration of the normal budget of an average family
of this group, which is composed of 1.67 men, 1.54
women and 2.48 children. For facilitating our calculations,
we shall first consider the budget of a normal family of
five persons consisting of one adult male, two adult fe¬
males and two children. 1

From minute observation and frequent consultation w r ith
them, we think that the average daily requirements of such
a normal family may be safely taken at 5 seers of paddy,
3-! seers of Nagli and about i|- seers of wal or any other
pulse sometimes replaced by vegetables or sour milk.*

Assuming the quantities mentioned above as the daily
requirements and taking into consideration the remarks
about the diet of this group made above, we have con¬
structed the following table which gives an idea of the
annual quantity and cost of the ration of a normal family of
five.

Material

Quantity needed

I Value per

1 annum in

i per manna

rupees

1.

Paddy

1800 lbs.

90

2.

Nagli (or Kodra)

1200 „

60

8.

Pulses (wal or any other)

360 „

18

4.

Salt

4|

5*

Chillies \

6»

Sesamutn oil V

7.

Miscellaneous j

Total

180

Assuming that a woman requires four-fifths and a child
two-thirds of the food a man does, the necessary ex¬
penditure for food will be Rs. 45-12-0 per man, Rs. 36-10
per woman and Rs. 30-8-0 per child, per annum. It is
evident that the price of the food-grains dominates the
total cost of food in the case of this class as was found to

1 In considering the question of food and clothing requirements, we
have regarded all persons under 15 as children.

9 How unsubstantial this diet is will be evident from Appendix IX.

218

be the case in Dr. Mann’s survey. 1 While the percent¬
age in that case was 87.5, here it is 93.3.

Clothing : The Dhodias who constitute the largest
section of the Kaliparaj in this village dress alike. From
the richest to the poorest every one usually wears a loin
cloth, a waistcoat, a cap, a pair of shoes and a covering
on his shoulder. The younger generation is, however,
influenced by urban ideas of dress. Some who have
visited cities like Bombay or Surat, in search of employ¬
ment, have begun to wear small dhotars instead of the
customary loin cloths. But these are few in number and
emphasize vividly the general uniformity in dress.

In the case of the Dublas, the long and close associa¬
tion with the Ujaliparaj, as their Halis, has resulted in the
adoption of some of their manners and customs. They
put on more decent dress, but in their case, clothing often
encroaches upon the budget of food or other necessaries,
and hence from the point of view of monetary calculation,
a slight excess in one is counterbalanced by a slight deficit
in the other. This remark holds good even in the case of
Naikas and Kuknas who form the other two castes among
the Kaliparaj.

According to the notion of respectability prevalent
among the Kaliparaj as a class, the following may be ta¬
ken as the necessary requirements per year in matters
of clothing for a man, a woman, a boy and a girl under
fifteen.

1 Land and Labour in a Deccan Village, Study No, 2 .

219

For a man.

Article

Cost
Rs. As.

ft.

0)

Loincloths 2

1

0

0

(2)

Upper covering 1

2

0

0

(S)

Short dhotar 1

1

8

0

(4)

Waistcoats 2

S

0

0

(5)

Shoes, one pair .

5

8

0

(6)

Cap 1 *

.

0

4

0

(7)

Umbrella, made of leaves etc.

»

0

4

0

Total *

11

8

ir

For a woman.

Article

Cost

; Rs. As. ft.

i

(l) Sarees 2 .

5 0 0

(2) Fine bodice lasting generally for $

years, (annual expenditure)

0 10 0

(8) Ordinary bodices, 2 . . * .

1 8 0

Total

7 2 0

For children below fifteen.

It is difficult to give an accurate figure of the cost of
clothing for a boy or a girl because the age-period that had
to be adopted from the standpoint of consumption is long.
We took after a good deal of consideration Rs. 8 both
for a boy and a girl above five years of age. Expenses on
food, clothing and sundries for children under five are
ignored in all cases.

Other expenses : The villagers as a rule have gene¬
rally nothing to spend by way of rent. In a few cases,
however, where the families pay rent, they do so in kind.
Fuel is generally to be had here free of charge. Light¬
ing is now-a-davs an item of cost to these people.
Though Deitz lamps are rarely used, the indigenous tin-
lamps are frequently found. Smoking is perhaps more
important an item than lighting. Among the Kaliparaj
both males and females smoke. Some, however, grow
tobacco on their own sugarcane fields, some borrow it

93*

from their relatives and others purchase it from shopkeep¬
ers. By far the most important item of expenditure is
toddy or liquor. The task of computing what an average
family spends on toddy or liquor seemed almost impossi¬
ble, for these people have an insatiable desire for drink.
Even the occasions of marriages and deaths are made
mere orgies of toddy and liquor. Though villagers are
usually supposed to spend little on medicine, it is neverthe¬
less true in the case of these people that an appreciable
amount is usually spent in paying their medical adviser
who is styled a Bhagat (devotee). When any member of a
family is laid up with fever, the ‘Bhagat’ is sent for. As
soon as he reaches the cottage of the sick, he declares him¬
self to be ‘possessed’. As a sign of possession, he shakes
his head and rocks violently, all the while uttering some
weird words which he alone understands. Sometimes he
strikes his patient with the branches of some tree in order
to cure him. Sometimes he gives him the juice of some
leaves or roots. During his visit he is served with toddy or
liquor and given a few coppers as his fee. No expense is
incurred on education as it is imparted free to these people
both in Atgam and K her gam to its immediate east. After
considering all these details like lighting, smoking, use of
intoxicants, medicine and education, we have adopted the
modest sum of Rs. 25 or Rs. 5 per capita for a normal
family of 5 persons as the normal expenditure on other
necessaries.

The following will be the total expenditure, on the
basis of the prices of 1926-27, for a normal family of five
persons :

Man

Woman

Child

Family of

Rs. As. Ps.

Rs. As. Ps.

Rs. As. Ps.

5 persons

Rs. As. Ps-

Food

V'l

O

36 10 0

30 8 0

180 0 0

Clothing

11 8 0

14 4 0

8 0 0

S3 12 0

Other Expenses: including lighting,

smoking, intoxicants, medicines etc. 25 0 0

Total .

238 12 0

221

Thus the annual cost of maintenance for a normal family
of five persons of this group comes to about Rs. 240 or
roughly Rs. 48 per capita. These are obviously only esti¬
mates. In order to be on the safe side therefore, in our
detailed calculations, for estimating the total annual cost
of living of all Kaliparaj families that come under the per-
view of this economic enquiry, we have adopted the fol¬
lowing figures as the usual amounts spent on different
items of expenditure, per man, woman and child, male
and female.

Average cost for

fmd ctotfclsif

Rs. Bo.

Per man ....

45 |

12

Per woman .

*«£

7

Per male child

30 ^

2

Per female child

6

Regarding ‘other expenses on necessaries’ we have
taken Rs. 5 as the cost per capita irrespective of sex and

age-

Calculating on the basis of these figures the following
represents the standard budget of an average 1 family of
the Kaliparaj group which consists of 1-67 men, 1*54
women and 2‘48 children :

Food ....

Clothing

Other expenses

Toiml

Rs. As. Ps.
207 12 9

40 4 1

29 7 2

277 $ 0

How low this standard of living is will be obvious from
the discussion of the standard for the other two groups.

1 It may be noted that the average family is different from the normal
one. The latter consists of one man, 2 women and 2 children; the for¬
mer of fractions as shown above, and is based on the census taken by

us.

222

THE STANDARD BUDGET ADOPTED FOR THE
SECOND GROUP

As in the case of the Kaliparaj group, we collected
weekly budgets of a few families of different castes includ¬
ed in this group. Some of these budgets were written by
the heads of families under our supervision and instruction
from day to day, and others were prepared by ourselves
after daily visits to the families concerned. Unfortunately,
this was an off season when there is usually little field-work
to be done. Consequently in accordance with the custom
prevalent among these castes many persons had come as
guests. We, therefore, find in some of the budgets rich
meals prepared by the family to entertain such guests.
Moreover it is necessary to remember that these budgets
relate to families whose heads could appreciate such an
enquiry, and such persons, as in the case of the first group,
were naturally above the average. Again, the diet that
the average family of the group takes is not as varied or
rich as is revealed by some of these budgets.

A minute study of these budgets supplemented by con¬
versation with different members of this group leads us to
the following conclusions regarding the diet of the people
comprising this group :

(i) The staple food of these people, like that of the first
group is rice, as this is a rice-region.

(ii) The food-grain next in importance varies slightly
with different castes but mainly with their economic condi¬
tion. A few families like the Rajputs, Suthars, Darjis and
some Mahommedans use jo war or rice-flour. But the
majority of this group, namely, the Kolis and others use
Nagli-flour in the form of loaves.

(iii) Other items of expenditure are similar to those of
the first group, except that mutton and fish and a few luxu¬
ries like dishes of ‘lapsi’ 1 or milk and ghee occur in this
group.

1 Wheat pieces mixed with sugar or gul tu>d ghee.

In matters of clothing, there is an appreciable difference
between the first and the second group. The dress of the
latter is more ample and varied than that of the former,
for this group is comparatively more advanced than the
first. Even the depressed classes who are usually regard¬
ed as shabbily dressed, clothe themselves neatly in this
village. Sometimes we find some of them wearing a
coat or shirt even costlier than that put on by a high class
Hindu * The) receive such shirts and coats by way of
gifts from their European masters in Bombay. After a
close personal observation of these and many other
small but significant pecularities regarding the dress of
these people, we have assumed the following as the ap¬
proximate amounts the average family of this group will
spend on clothing. 1

Its. 20 for a man

Es. 20 for a woman

Es. 10 for a child, male or female-

As regards other expenses on lighting, smoking, use of
intoxicants, education and medicine, the average family of
this group spends a little,more than that spent by an ave¬
rage family of the first group. Taking this distinction into
account, we have adopted Rs. 7 per head as the usual
"expenditure on other necessaries 1 for an average family
of this group.

THE STANDARD OF LIVING AMONG THE THIRD
GROUP

As already mentioned, in the case of families constitut¬
ing this group we have been lucky enough to get the esti¬
mates of expenditure from the various heads of the
families* themselves. This has greatly facilitated our task
of studying the standard of living of this group. The fol¬
lowing table shows - in brief the estimated expenses incur¬
red 1 per annum by the different families for different
purposes :

■ 1 These figures include the cost of shoes, umbrellas etc*

224

SHOWING THE ANNUAL EXPENSES INCURRED BY
THE THIRD GROUP ON DIFFERENT ITEMS,

IN RUPEES

Schedule
No, of the
family

Food

Clothing

Fuel and
lighting

Expenses
on other
necessaries

Social

expenses

Litigation

Miscellane¬

ous

1

Total

422

451

50

100

380

20

—

10

1011

423

448

30

100

100

20

10

708

424

306

30

40

25

—

10

411

425

496

30

100

140

30

10

806

426

781

101

125

114

75

10

1206

427

608

39

167

95

95

10

1014

432

598

60

150

90

75

100

30

1103

433

-

—

—

—

- :

—

7001

434

—

: -

—

—

—

—

4001

441

880

120

300

70

100

30

1500

442

725

40

200

120

100

100

30

1215

461

—

— :

—

—

—

—

5001

Some explanation of certain abnormal figures found in
connection with schedule numbers 422 and 432 is neces¬
sary .

(i) The expenses on ‘other necessaries’ in the case of
family No. 422 seem to be abnormal. But as a matter of
fact it is not so. It appears so because the cost of main¬
taining one of the members of this family who is studying
at the Engineering College at Karachi enters into this
total.

(ii) The item of litigation is filled in only in the case of
family No. 432 as its head is a money-lender and has on
occasions to go to a law court to recover his money.

With regard to the actual standard of living of this peo¬
ple, a few general remarks will not be deemed out of
place. The main diet of these families, too, is rice. But

1 The heads of these families could not supply us with the details of
their annnual expenditure.

225

in some cases the rice consumed is not Kada but Kolam—
a better and more nutritious species of rice. The food-grain
next in importance to this is jowar which they consume in
the form of bread. Nagli flour is rarely used by them as
food. Though the last two families are non-Hindus, their
diet chiefly consists of the same food-grains. They,
however, supplement it by frequently taking fish and mut¬
ton. Vegetables are used by all families but they are
generally those raised in their own compounds. Milk and
ghee are consumed by all in fairly large quantities. Thus
their dietary is ample and varied.

It is obvious from the table that these families spend
an appreciable amount on clothing. In actual practice we
found them cleanly dressed. All the heads as well as
most of the members of these families are literate. Four
of them know how to read and write English. They usu¬
ally read vernacular and sometimes English newspapers.
Possessing a high status in the village, they have to incur
a comparatively large expenditure on social ceremonies.
Education and recreation are recurring items of cost in
their budgets. Thus this small group of people enjoys a
relatively high standard of life according to the notions of
the local people.

CONCLUSION

The following are the conclusions from this chapter :

(i) that from the standpoint of the standard of living,
the population of the village can be divided into three
groups : the first comprising the Kaliparaj, the second the
Ujaliparaj with the exception of Brahmins, Banias, Parsis
and Christians, and the third the excepted classes ;

(ii) that the standard of living rises as we go from the
first group to the third so far as this village is concerned ;
and

(iii) that the difference between the standard of living
of the Kaliparaj and that of the Ujaliparaj as a whole is
obvious, and discloses the extent of the gulf that at pre¬
ss

sent exists between these two broad groups of people who
inhabit South Gujarat.

We have thus studied the standard of living of the peo¬
ple of Atgam or, what is equivalent to the expenditure
side of the budget of the people. We have already referred
in some of the preceding chapters to the method of arriv¬
ing at the income of the people from different sources. We
shall now gather all the threads of discussion about income
from different sources and expenditure on different items
and present in the next chapter the economic condition of
the people in a nutshell.

CHAPTER—XIV

THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE
PEOPLE

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

The aim of such village studies is to examine the
economic condition of the people of a village with
the help of statistics. Graphic descriptions of the general
features of the economic life of a village, are apt to fall
flat, unless they are supplemented by a statistical presen¬
tation of the economic life of the people. The object of
this chapter is to attempt such a statistical presentation of
the economic condition of the village community we have
studied so far. Income and expenditure are the two mea¬
suring rods invariably used in this task. Indebtedness is
only a consequence of an excess of the latter over the
former.

So far as the income of the people is concerned, land,
labour and animals and In some cases, employment in out¬
side areas, are the principal sources of income. The
method by which we have derived net receipts from these
different sources, and have enteral them in different family
schedules, has already been explained in some of the pre¬
ceding chapters. In some cases the details are given in
the appendices. It is, however, necessary to mention at
this stage three points :

(i) In the schedule, as we have constructed it, the in¬
come from labour is classified into income from un¬
skilled labour and, income from skilled labour. This
classification was necessary in order to attain precision.
The receipts from the latter kind of labour are generally
calculated at a higher rate than those from the former.

99*

228

(ii) In making the schedules we have entered the income
from external sources separately, in the column headed
‘unskilled labour’, with a view to ascertain to what extent
the economy of this village is affected by extra sources of
income.

(iii) In the column headed ‘other sources’ we have en¬
tered the receipts from subsidiary occupations, like mat
making pursued by Dhodia women and net making fol¬
lowed by fishermen, as well as receipts from corn lending
and money lending, in the case of those who do this busi¬
ness.

As regards the expenditure side, we have explained
in the last chapter how we have calculated the expendi¬
ture necessary for maintaining the standard of living for
the Kaliparaj and the majority of the Ujaliparaj, and have
given the actual figures regarding the remaining families.
Besides this expenditure for necessaries, the families have
to incur expenditure by way of annual payments
of land revenue and interest charges on debt, as well as
the annual expenses on repairs of implements used
in cultivation. The first two need little explanation;
the^ method used in connection with the last has been ex¬
plained in Chapter VIII under the heading ‘Implements’.

The figures of indebtedness which we have entered in
the different schedules are, of course, what we obtained
directly from the people, after a good deal of cross exami¬
nation in our house-to-house enquiry.

These introductory remarks, regarding the method of
collecting information before entering it in the schedules,
are important in view of the fact that the statistics given
in this chapter are wholly based on personal investigations.

One more thing of importance may be mentioned here.
In our detailed calculations of the income, expenditure
and indebtedness of the people we have rejected eleven
families out of 461 . Thus the statistics and the remarks
that follow refer only to the remaining 450 families.
Henceforth the term village will be taken to imply these

229

450 families only. The reasons for rejecting these 1 1
families have been explained below. 1

For the purposes of discussion, we have divided this
chapter into two sections. The first is devoted to a statis¬
tical presentation of the present economic condition of the
people. The second embraces a consideration of the
causes of poverty revealed in the first section and a brief
discussion of the programme of reconstruction. In the
first section, however, with a view to clearly understand
the situation, we have presented the figures in the follow-
in four sections :

(i) statistics referring to the people of the village as a
whole ;

(ii) those referring to the people divided into economic
groups;

(iii) statistics separately given for the Kaliparaj, both in
the aggregate and as divided into economic groups ; and

(iv) those given for the Ujaliparaj in a similar way.

SECTION I.

STATISTICAL PRESENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC
CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE

We shall first give the balance-sheet for the village as
a whole.

The balance-sheet for the village : The following are
the figures of the net annual income and expenditure of the

1 The following table shows the reasons why eleven families have been
rejected;

Schedule number of families. Reason for rejecting their budgets.

4 5 Left the village during the course of our enquiry.

81 Do.

' m Bo.

414 Do.

216 . The man is mad and lives by begging.

448 Died during the course of the enquiry.

These are one-member families. The members
mostly live out of the village.

280

450 families comprising 2213 consumption-units 1 2 * * 5 which
our detailed investigations embrace.

Income :

Amount in
Rupees.

Percentage of each
on the total income
of the village

Income from land

80201

52*2

55 5?

animals

12776

8*8

* 9 5 5

labour

40215

26*2

5 5 5 5

external sources

16021

| .. 10*4

it 55

other sources

4589

2*9

Total

156802

100

Expenditure :

Rs.

Percentage of each
on the total income
of the village

Cost of living

Expenses on repairs of imple¬

127S98

84*8

ments

6218

4*2

Land Revenue

7221

4*8

Interest charges

9251

; 6*2

Total

150083

100

The total indebtedness for the village as a whole
amounts to Rs. 94758 .

It is obvious from the above figures of income and ex¬
penditure that, the economy of this village as a whole
leaves, a surplus at the end of the year. The surplus,
however, gives a misleading idea. The following figures
give a correct view of the situation :

1. The average size of a family is. 4*9

2. The average income per family is about . . . Rs. 842

S. The average expenditure per family is about . ,, 834

4 *. The average indebtedness per family is about . ,, 211

5. Per capita income is about .. ,,70

m expenditure is about .. „ 68

9 > indebtedness is about . . . ' . . 51 43

1 Our readers will remember that in the last chapter we mentioned
that children of either sex under five are ignored in the case of all
families while calculating their cost of living. Hence the number
of consumption-units is less than that of the actual number of persons
these 450 families consist of.

281

It is thus evident that the average family of Atgam just
maintains itself from hand to mouth.

DISCUSSION OF THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE

PEOPLE AS DIVIDED INTO ECONOMIC GROUPS

With a view to have a thorough grasp of the reality, we
have further divided the families into three econo¬
mic groups. The classification adopted is the same as
that used by Dr. Mann in his village studies. These
groups may be defined as under :

I. Those families in which the income derived from land
is sufficient in a normal year to maintain them in a sound
economic condition.

II. Those families in which the income derived from
land, supplemented by income from other sources, like ani¬
mals, skilled and unskilled labour or employment in out¬
side places, is sufficient in an average year to maintain
them in a sound economic position.

III. Those families in which the economic position in an
average year is unsound, even when income from all
sources is considered.

The number of families in each of these groups, for the
village under study is :

Group I. 36 families
» n. i85
„ III . 229
Total 450 families

This makes it quite obvious that out of 450 families
more than half are living below the reasonable standard
of living as understood by them. This is a serious state of
affairs. The natural question that arises at this stage is
as to why such a large proportion of families is living in
an unsound economic condition. A further analysis of
each of the above groups will help us in answering this
question.

232

Group I. This group consists of 36 families. All of
them are landowners. The main facts about this group are
as follows :

1. The average size of the family is . 4*5

2. The number of children per family is . 1*25

8. The total amount of land held by all

families is . . . . <537

4 . Land owned by the average family is 18

5. Land owned per head is . . . 3.9

6. The total amount of land cultivated by

all families is .... . 599

7 . Land cultivated by the average family is 17

8. Land cultivated per head is . . . 3.7

9 . With the exception of $ families, the

rest are largely in debt. Their total

debt amounts to . . . . . £ s#

10. Indebtedness per family is about . 5J

11 . Indebtedness per head is about

acres.

3 >

3 3

33
S 3
3 3

14546

404

88

The general economic position of this group is shown
by the following statistics :

INCOME:

Rs.

Percentage of each
! to the total income

of this group

Income from land ....

17759

84*6

Income from other sources .

$2 $5

15*4

Total

20944

100

EXPENDITURE:

Cost of living.

Repairs of implements
Land revenue . .

Interest on debt

Total

Total surplus . .

Percentage of total expen¬
diture to the income from
land

Rs.

Percentage of each
to the total expenditure
of this group

9905

71*8

749

5*4

1780

12*8

1461

10*5

18895

100

7099

78*2

288

Putting the facts about the general economic condition
of this group in a different way, we find that

The average income per family is about . . gg

5? expenditure per family is about

;5 ;J surplus per family is
Per capita income is about
35 5 5 expenditure is about

55 55 surplus is about

Group II. This group consists of 185 families which

make both ends meet with the help of income from land
and other sources. 20 of these families, however, derive
no income from land. The following are the main facts

about this group :

1 . The average size of the family is ... 4*9

2 . The number of children per family is . . 1*25

3. The total amount of land held by all families

58 $

886

197

127

84

48

is

4.

5.

6 .

7.

8 .

9.

10 .

II.

Land owned by the average family is

,5 „ per head is..

The total amount of land cultivated by all

families is..

Land cultivated by the average family is .

Land cultivated per head is.

With the exception of 52 families, the rest
are in debt. Their total debt amounts

to...

Indebtedness per family is about ....
Indebtedness per head is about ....

1828 acres.
7' „

1*4 „

1856 „

7*2 s ,
1*5 „

Es.

42681

280

47

The following figures indicate the general economic
position of this group :

INCOME:

1 Es.

Percentage of each
to the total incone
of this group

Income from land ....

50540

!

62*4

,, ,, other sources .

80486

37*6

Total '

80976 ]

100

30

234

EXPENDITURE:

Rs.

Percentage of each
to the total expendi¬
ture of this group

Cost of living..

55628

88-8

Repairs of implements . . . j

3171

4*8

Land revenue.

3883

5*9

Interest on debts .....

4068

6

Total

66750

100

Total surplus.. 14226

Percentage of total expenditure

to the net receipts from land 132*1

The following figures give a more clear idea of the eco¬

nomic condition of this group :

The average income per family is about . . . . ,

j? j? expenditure per family is about . . . ,,361

„ surplus per family is about. }J 77

Per capita income is about. . 89

,, 5J expenditure is about . .„ 74

» surplus is about . ..45

Group. III. This is the largest of all the three groups
and comprises 229 families, which are eking out a miser¬
able existence from year to year, with their annual
expenses running ahead of their income from all sources.
32 families in this group derive no income from land. The
following are the main facts about this group :

1 . The average size of the family is ... 4*9

2 . The number of children per family is . 1*6

3. The total amount of land held by all families

* s . 608 acres

4. Land owned by the average family is . . 2-7

5. Land owned per head is. .5

6 . The total amount of land cultivated by all

families is. 775

7. Land cultivated by the average family is , 3*4

8 .. Land cultivated per head is. -7

o*

Of 229 families 78 are free from debt. The
total indebtedness for this group conies

to .. Rs. 20380

10. Indebtedness per family is about ... ,, 89

11. Indebtedness per head is about .... 18

The general economic position of this group Is Indi¬
cated by the following figures :

INCOME :

! Rs.

j ;

Percentage of each
to the total Incoae
of this group

Income from land .

. .

9725

58*5

j j 3? other sources

. .

8458

. 46*5

Total

18188

100

EXPENDITURE : i

j

R S . j

]

Percentage of each
to the total expendi¬
ture of this group

Cost of living ....

22618

85*6

Repairs of implements .

1088

4*1

Land revenue ....

772

2*9

Interest on debt .

1989

7*4

Total

26412

100

Total deficit. 8229

Percentage of total expenditure

to the net income from land 271

To put the above facts about the general economic

more clearly.

The average income per family is about . . .

,, ,, expenditure per family is about .

The average deficit per family is about . .

Per capita income is about.. . . .

,, ,, expenditure is about ...

„ ,, deficit is about .... .....

position

Rs.

79

115

86

16

28

Of the host of facts which we have mentioned above
about the three economic groups, the principal ones are

30*

2S6

summarised in the following table with a view to elicit the
answer to the question for which we undertook the above
calculations, namely, why more than half of the families
inhabiting the village are living in an unsound economic
condition.

Table showing the comparative condition of the three
economic groups :

Group I

Group II

Group III

Number of families .

36

185

229

Percentage of families to the total .

8

41*1

50*9

Size of average family.;

4-6

4*9

4*9

Number of children per family . .

1*8

1-3

1*6

Land owned per head in acres . .

3*9

1*4

*5

Land cultivated per head in acres

8*7

1*5

•7

Per capita income in Rs.

127

89

16

55 expenditure in Rs. . .

84

74

23

„ s, surplus (+) in Rs. . .

+ 48

+ 15

or deficit ( — ) in Rs. .

— 7

indebtedness in Rs. .

88

47

18

conclusions are evident from this table :

0/ The size of the family is equally large in the second
and the third groups ; the number of children is largest in
the third group. But in spite of this there is no material
difference in the composition of the groups so far as these
aspects are concerned.

(^) The volume of indebtedness decreases as we pass
on from the first to the third group, suggesting the opera¬
tion of the tendency, 1 so ably established by Mr. Darling,

1 Cf. .... In other words, debts postulate not only a debtor but a creditor,
and not only a need but also security; and in a country like India,
thebettefthe great and improvidence general, it may be said that
in Parity and D^t', p“ ** *'**“ The Pun i ab P “

cation ^ y r e p h ° W / Ver ’ tha { th!s theof y has a limitation in its appli-

wh ch he finds r Cy ‘ l 15 , sll0Wn ^ Dr ’ Mann ’ s studies in

" h he finds that the poorer the class, the greater its debt.

287

debt 16 6 ^ eCt t ^ at t ^ 6 k etter the security the greater the

(3) The size of the area owned and cultivated steadily
decreases as we go from the first to the third group re¬
vealing that the smaller the size of the holding, the lesser
the income and the greater the instability of the economic

condition of the owners.

It is obvious from the above facts that the cause which is
responsible for the poverty of the third, and by far the
largest group, is the small size of the holding. We must,
however, bear two important considerations in mind.
Since there is a regular recurring deficit in the third group,
( 1 ) the burden of population and (ii) the incidence of debt
are acutely felt in that group. Thus, though the primal-
cause of the poverty problem of this village is the small
size of the holding, overpopulation and indebtedness
aggravate the situation.

POVERTY IN THE RACIAL GROUPS OF THE VILLAGE

It will be highly interesting to pursue the analysis
further, and see if the same causes are responsible for the
poverty among the_ people considered racially, that is,
among the Kaliparaj and the Ujaliparaj. First of all we
shall, state the comparative position of these two main
groups as a whole, and subsequently construct a table
similar to the one given above, with a view to analyse the
causes of their poverty.

Table showing the comparative economic position of
the two racial groups : Kaliparaj and Ujaliparaj :

Kaliparaj Ujaliparaj

Number of people (consumption units)

1440

778

,, ,, families . . . . . . .

290

160

Average size of the family.

4*9

4*8

Average number of children per family .

1*5

1*8

Total land owned in acres . . . ...

989

1684

Comimmd

238

Continued

Kaliparaj

Ujaliparaj

Total land owned per family in acres

3-2

10*2

Total land owned per head in acres .

*6

2*1

Total land cultivated in acres . .

1373

1356

Total land cultivated per family in acres

4*7

! . 8*5

Total land cultivated per head in acres

•9

1*8

Total income from all sources, in rupees

82734

1 71068

Total expenditure in rupees .

82241

67842

Total indebtedness in rupees . .

44433

50325

The average income per family in rupees

285

444

The average expenditure per family in Rs.

284

424

The average surplus per family in rupees

1

20

The average indebtedness per family in Rs.

153

315

Per capita income in rupees.

58

92

Per capita expenditure in rupees .

58

90

Per capita surplus in rupees . . .

0

2

Per capita indebtedness in rupees .

31

66

The facts obvious from this table are :

(1) The average size of the family among the Kaliparaj
is larger than that among the Ujaliparaj; the number of
children in the former is larger than in the latter.

(2) The average size of the holding both owned and
cultivated is smaller among the Kaliparaj than among the
Ujaliparaj.

(3) Consequently, the income per head of the former
group is smaller than that of the latter.

(4) The average Kaliparaj, therefore, lives just on the
verge of poverty, whereas the average Ujaliparaj makes
both ends meet with difficulty.

(5) According to Mr. Darling’s thesis, the average
Kaliparaj, with smaller income and less landed security,
has a smaller debt. However, the debt, though small,
will press more heavily on him than on the average U jali-
paraj because he has no surplus.

The following two conclusions emerge from the above
facts<

(1) So far as the relative economic position of these two
racial groups is concerned, the Ujaliparaj are better situ¬
ated than the Kaliparaj.

(2) So far as the causes of their relative poverty are
concerned, the same causes as mentioned in connection
with the economic groups for the village as a whole,
namely, the small size of the holding, over-population and
indebtedness hold good.

A further analysis of each of these racial groups,
divided into the economic groups we have adopted for the
village as a whole, confirms the above-mentioned con¬
clusions. This is evident from the following table.

Kaliparaj

Ujaliparaj

Group

L

Group

11 .

Group

III.

Group

I.

Group

II.

Group

III.

Number of families

.21

116

153

15

69

76

Percentage of families
to the total . . .

7*2

40

52*8

9-4

43*1

47*5

Size of the average
family.

4**7

4*6

5*2

3*7

5*8

4*5

Number of children per
family.

1*5

1*1

1*9

*9

1-6

1

Land owned per head
in acres ....

2*6

*7

*4

6*8

2*8

*9

Land cultivated per
head in acres . .

2*7

1*1

•6

5*8

2

*8

Per capita income in
rupees.

110

i

71

‘ 42 ^

182

118

58

Per capita expenditure
in rupees ....

72

60

| 54 :

124

94

77

Per capita surplus (+)
of deficit (—) in
rupees . . „ .

+ 48

+ 11

-12

+ 58

+24

—24

Per capita indebtedness
in rupees . . .

87

35

22 1

106 i

m

60

240

Thus the examination of the relative economic position
of the two racial groups, both as aggregates and as divided
into economic groups, convinces us of the validity of the
conclusions already drawn regarding the causes of the
poverty of the people in this village.

S ECT I O N II.

CAUSES OF THE POVERTY OF ATGAM AND A
RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME

The principal causes responsible for the poverty of
this village, as we have seen, are :

(1) the small size of the holding,

(2) overpopulation, and

(3) indebtedness.

(i)The small size of the holding : We have seen in
our examination of land and its distribution in the village,
the nature of this problem. We may briefly repeat the
leading tendencies established in that connection with a
view to understand the relative importance of this cause
of poverty.

(a) The land, as it is owned, is highly subdivided and
fragmented. About 87 per cent, of the owned holdings
are uneconomic, that is, they fall short of a fifteen-acre
holding which is the minimum necessary for profitable
cultivation.

(b) This situation, though slightly bettered by the con¬
solidation of fragments in actual cultivation, remains yet
serious from the standpoint of agricultural production,
since about 88 per cent, of the cultivated holdings are
uneconomic.

(c) This is the result of a tendency which has been in
operation for a long time and it is probable that if left un¬
checked at this stage, it will make matters worse.

We have also seen how the small holding is responsible
for low agricultural production, which is the same thing as
poverty for the people of the village.

241

(2) Over-population : In the chapter III, we have seen
that there are evident signs of a tendency towards over¬
population. These are :

(a) The birth-rate of the village is as high as 39.8

(b) The death-rate is also as high as 35.9

(c) The average expectation of life is as low as 27
years.

(d) There is a continuous annual exodus of people from
this village to outside areas for supplementing their
meagre earnings from land.

(e) The fact that the people of the village are not able
to make both ends meet by their earnings in the village,
but have to depend on external sources of income. This
is evident from the following :

(i) Deducting the income from external sources, for
the village as a whole, from its total net receipts
from all sources combined, we find that the average
income per family comes to Rs. 306, while the
average expenditure per family, as we have seen in
the last section, is Rs. 334.

(ii) Even taking the racial groups individually, a similar
calculation shows that in the case of the Kaliparaj
the average income per family comes to Rs. 26a,
the average expenditure being Rs. 284 ; and in the
case of the Ujaliparaj the average income per family
comes to Rs. 389 while the expenditure per family
is Rs. 424.

(3) Indebtedness : Reviewing the operation of these two
causes together, we find that on the one hand there is low
production and on the other, there is an excess of popula¬
tion so far as the means of subsistence available in the
village are concerned. There is an intimate relation be¬
tween the two, each acting and reacting on the other.
Over-population may be the cause of low production. It
is equally true that low production may be the cause of
over-population. At the present stage in the economy of
this village both these forces are acting powerfully. We

31

'242

have seen 1 that increasing population has accentuated the
problem of sub-division which in turn has resulted in low
production in agriculture. We can also see that low pro¬
duction, or the comparative poverty of the Kaliparaj, i s
associated with greater fecundity. 2 In other words, the
vicious circle, namely, over-population leading to poverty
and poverty in turn leading to over-population, is com¬
plete. Indebtedness is the inevitable consequence ' Is
there any way out of it ? This is the difficult question we
must now try to answer.

THE RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME

The state of affairs is not so hopeless as it seems to be
at first sight.

Agricultural production : All throughout this work
we have seen that there are yet great potentialities which
if tapped, can materially raise the low level of agricultural
production. We shall briefly mention them with a view to
indicate a programme for the economic reconstruction of
the village. The following table summarises the principal
defects in the economic organization of this village,
which are responsible for low returns from land, and their
respective remedies ; most of these have been alreadv
mentioned.

Kike’s family is illustrative of this remark;

1-The instance of the
Vide Chapter VII.

2 We have seen.in Chapter III that the Kaliparaj have greater fecun¬
dity than the Ujahparaj. In the preceding section we have seen that
they are poorer than the Ujaliparaj. at

■'24.$

Defects in the Economic Organization
of the village

Remedies

1 . , Uncertainty of rainfall and
inadequacy of water-sup¬
ply-

Poverty of the soil.

3. Sub-division and ragmenta-
tion of land.

4. Inefficiency of cattle.

5. Use of primitive implements.

6 . Scarcity and inefficiency of

labour.

7. Uneconomical marketing.

*8. Lack of agricultural education.

1 . Irrigational facilities and

experiments in steam¬
boring of wells.

2 . Manuring and intensive

culture.

8 . Compulsory legislation to
prevent further subdivi¬
sion and fragmentation,
and permissive legisla¬
tion to consolidate hold¬
ings.

4. Careful breeding, better

feeding and careful
housing of cattle, and
spread of the knowledge
of cattle diseases.

5. Gradual introduction of

improved implements.

6 . Resumption of manual

work by the high class
people, introduction of
piece wages, or a system
giving a share to the
labourer in the produce
of the farm.

7. Co-operative marketing.

8 . Dissemination of agricul¬

tural and rural educa¬
tion.

If these defects in the economic organization, or what
may be otherwise called causes of low production in agri¬
culture, are removed by the kind of measures suggested
above, the income of the village., from agriculture, which
is its principal occupation, can be greatly enhanced.

si*

244

Subsidiary occupations : The improvements mention¬
ed above refer to the defects in the existing economic
organization of the village. There are yet avenues of in¬
come which have hitherto not been tapped at all. These
are the subsidiary occupations for which raw materials
already exist in this village. Of these the principal ones
are mentioned below :

(1) rice-hulling,

(2) manufacturing of gul on an organised scale,

(3) canning of mango-pulp,

(4) manufacturing of vinegar from toddy, 1

(5) manufacturing of paper from a species of grass called
‘Rohdo’, which abounds in the village,

(6) spinning and weaving,

(7) animal husbandry,

(8) poultry-rearing,

(9) manufacturing of blankets,

(10) manufacturing of mortar, and

(11) manufacturing of bricks.

If some of these industries are started, they will prove
doubly advantageous to the people. In the first place,
they will supply an additional source of earning to those
who annually migrate to outside areas in search of em¬
ployment. Moreover, they will serve as openings to
absorb the agricultural population likely to be displaced
by any scheme of consolidation of holdings.

Reduction in expenditure : There are only two ways
of increasing material wealth : either increased income or
decreased expenditure, or both together. We have sug^
gested the ways in which the annual income of the village
under study can be augmented. We shall now suggest a
few methods of reducing expenditure. Some of these de¬
pend upon the people themselves, and others depend
upon other agencies interested in the economic progress of
the people. Of the first category, there are two :

1 The village and its surrounding area abound in date-trees from

which toddy is extracted.

(1) The people should regulate their habits of life in a
wise manner. We have frequently stated that the Kali-
paraj have an insatiable desire for intoxicating drinks in
which they indulge excessively. This devil of drink not
only debilitates their health, but often becomes a source
of quarrels, which obstruct close co-operation in produc¬
tion and distribution.

(2) The members of some of the castes inhabiting the
village, who spend lavishly on social ceremonies, should
reduce such expenditure as far as possible.

Among other methods of reducing expenditure not
dependent on the will of the people are :

(1) Land revenue, though obviously not an important
cause of the poverty of the people of this village, (because
in this village the richer the class, the larger the landed
property it owns and hence the larger the land revenue
it pays) still acts as a burden to a majority of the families
inhabiting the village who are faced with recurring annual
deficits. Some relief under this head should be granted
to these people, to uplift them as early as possible to a
sound economic level. Some relief should also be granted
to the remaining two groups, with a view to enable the
village as a whole to work out the reconstruction pro¬
gramme.

(2) Capital should be made available to the people
through the local co-operative society at a low rate of
interest, say, 5 to 7 per cent, for financing the current
needs of agriculture and other subsidiary occupations,
which ought to be started to solve the poverty problem
of the village. But of greater importance at the present
stage in the economy of this village is the question of the
redemption through a Land Mortgage Bank, of old debts,
which virtually act like a mill-stone, crushing down any
spirit that the villager may have for initiating reforms.

In view of the importance of this cause of poverty viz.
indebtedness, we shall consider it separately in the next
chapter, along with the connected problem of rural
credit.

246

CONCLUSIONS

The following are the conclusions from this chapter :

(1) More than half of the families residing in the village
live below a reasonable standard of living, as understood
by them.

(2) The principal causes of this state of affairs are (a)
low production, (b) an excessive population depending on
land for its maintenance and (c) indebtedness.

(3) This poverty problem of the village can be solved
by

(a) preventing further sub-division and fragmentation
of land and encouraging the consolidation of hold¬
ings ;

(b) better tillage and manuring of the soil;

(c) providing ample irrigational facilities in the manner
suggested ;

(d) increasing the efficiency of cattle by careful
breeding and better feeding, careful housing and
tending;

(e) introduction of improved implements ;

(f) relieving the scarcity of labour, partly by the high-
class people resuming field-work, and partly by In¬
ducing hired labourers to stay in the village by offer¬
ing piece-wages, or a share in the produce of the
land ;

(g) introducing co-operative marketing both of farm-
products and necessaries ;

(h) providing capital at a low rate of interest, and re¬
moving the burden of old debts by starting a Land
Mortgage Bank ;

(i) granting some relief in land revenue ; and

(j) dissemination of rural education with a view to en¬
able the people to understand their own problems
and work out their own solutions.

CHAPTER—XV

CREDIT AND INDEBTEDNESS

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

In the last chapter we have noted that indebtedness is
a serious burden and acts as a clog to the economic pro¬
gress of the people. How serious the problem is can be
realised when one remembers that the average Atgam
dweller just lives from hand to mouth and yet has a debt of
Rs. 43. We propose to examine in this Chapter, what
exactly this problem of indebtedness is, and as it
is closely connected with the organization of agricultural
credit in general, and the co-operative society of the village
in particular, we shall deal with them also. For the pur¬
poses of discussion we have divided this chapter into
three sections. The first deals with the problem of indeb¬
tedness including the extent, nature and causes of
indebtedness ; the second with the organization of agricul¬
tural credit in general, and the third with the working of
the local co-operative society in particular.

SECTI ON I.

THE PROBLEM OF INDEBTEDNESS

Under this heading we propose to examine :

(1) the extent of indebtedness,

(2) the special features of indebtedness, and

(3) the causes of indebtedness.

(x) The extent of indebtedness : The following figures

show the extent of indebtedness in the village.

(i) The total debt amounts to.

Eg.

94758

(«)

Average debt per family is about . . .

211

(iii)

The per capita debt is about . . . .

48

(iv)

Average debt per family among the in¬
debted families is about . . ... ..

■291

248

There are two ways of looking at the extent of indebt¬
edness, in order to realise the true position, (i) We may
either study the actual figures of debts, divided into suit¬
able frequency groups, or (ii) we may judge of the extent
of indebtedness in relation to income, by devising suitable
frequency groups.

Looked at in the first way, the following figures give a
picture of the extent of indebtedness :

Free from debt

In debt
Below

Rs.

50 .

From

Rs.

51 to Rs. 100.

35

33

101 to

3 , 200 ..

5 3

3 3

201 to

„ 300 .

51

33

801 to

,3 400 .

* 5

3 3

401 to

„ 500 .

55

53

501 to

,, 600 .

S3

3 3

601 to

„ 700 .

35

33

701 to

„ 800 .

5 5

33.

801 to

3 , 900 .

5 3

55

901 to

,3 1000 .

>3

33

1001 to

„ 1500 .

Above Rs. 1500 .

.

Number of
families.
124

48

61

57

69

22

19

15

8

4

. 5

. 2

11

5

Total 450

Looked at in the second way, the following frequency
table shows the extent of indebtedness :

Number of families free from debt . . . / #

jj 3? 55 in debt

up to 1/10 of their income. 41

from 1/10 to 1/2 of their income . . . 102

,, 1/2 to 1 of their income . ... 90

55 1 to 1 ^ of their income .... 5$

55 l|r to 2 of their income . . . . 19

53 2 to 2 -| of their income . . . . %$

33 2^ to 3 of their income . . . 7

55 3 to 8 ^~ of their income ... 1

> Total . 450

In view of the proverbial indebtedness of villages in
our country, it may appear to be a consolation that in this

249

village at least 124 families out of 450, or about 27 per
cent are free from debt. But unfortunately the real state
of affairs is not so rosy as this may indicate. Out of these
124 families only 24 are enjoying a really sound economic
position. Of the rest, 43 families have little landed pro-
perty and are given to migratory habits and hence com¬
mand little credit. Three consist of one man, and four of
one woman each. Nobody will ever lend to these families
as they have no sound basis of credit. The remaining
fifty are mere labourers and are in the same position.

Again, though it appears that the debt in the case of
71 per cent, of the indebted families is less than their
annual income, it should be remembered that they are so
situated that on the advent of an adverse season they
would find themselves in a helpless condition. The fact
that in the case of 29 per cent, of the indebted families,
debt exceeds their annual income, further shows the
extent of the seriousness of the problem.

Having thus examined the extent of indebtedness, we
shall now pass on to a consideration of some of the import¬
ant features of the problem of debt.

(2) The main features of indebtedness .

(a) The first feature of indebtedness that we noted in
our house-to-house census was that a majority of families
resorted to more than one creditor. 1 Two typical instan¬
ces will suffice to illustrate this remark :

CASE 1 .

Rs.

Schedule No. 15,
owed in May <
1927.

3 3
S3
35
33

33
3 3

80 to a Parsi—Atgam.

80 „ ,, Bania— ,,

60 ,, another Bania—Atgam
250 ,, a Brahmin—Atgam.

80 ,, „ Bania—Kalwada.

10 the local Co-operative Credit Society.

11 „ a Bania—Bulsar.

16 several others.

Total Rs. 587

1 Cf. “Thus it was discovered that cultivators who borrow much rarely
deal with a single money-lender”.

The Economic Life of a Bengal District, Jack, p. 97.

250

CASE 2 . .■

( Rs. $50 to a Bania—Bulsar.

,, 400 to a Brahmin_Atgam.

„ 20 .. Bania—Kalwada.’

>? 25 ,, —Atgam.

100 others.

Total 895

It is obvious that increased facilities, for credit, due to
the growth in the number of money-lenders, have been
abused by the illiterate cultivator.

(b) The second feature of indebtedness is, as we have
already noted in the preceding chapter, that the greater
the credit, the greater the volume of debt. There is
however, another side to this tendency which must be
considered a source of anxiety. The following table
shows that though the volume of indebtedness is least in
the last group, the burden of indebtedness is the heaviest
Thus indebtedness is a factor that is likely to perpetuate
their poverty.

Table showing the volume and burden of indebtedness :

Group

I

Group

II

Group

in

Land owned per head in acres . ......

3.9

1*4

*5 •

Indebtedness per head in Rupees , . .
Proportion of per capita debt to per capita

88

47

18

income.

•67

•6

M

(c) The third is, however, to some extent, a redeeming
feature of the situation. Of the total debts amounting to
Rs. 94758 , only Rs. 10679, or about 11.3 per cent., is
lent on the security of land (305 acres)

Of these Rs. 106791 Rs. 6989 are lent on the ‘ordi¬
nary mortgage’ of 201 acres; Rs. 350 only on the
possessory mortgage’ 1 of 33 acres; and Rs.' 3275 on

1 Under this kind of mortgage land is handed over to the mortgagee to
be retransferred to the mortgagor on payment of the price of redemption.

251

the third kind of mortgage known as Sarti Vechan or
deferred sale, 1 of 61 acres. Thus the major portion of
the mortgaged land is pledged on the ‘ordinary mort-
gage . This kind of mortgage does not deprive the ryot
of his land as the other two forms are likely to do. Sow-
kars generally adopt the third form of mortgage with a
view to wrest land from their clients. About 242 acres
out of 305, or about 79 per cent., are mortgaged to the
Society in the ordinary way. Thus the Society prevents
the passage of land from the agriculturists to the money¬
lenders and in this way renders an invaluable service to
ks members.

(3) Causes 0} Indebtedness .

We shall now pass on to the principal causes of
indebtedness. Minute enquiry regarding this topic leads
us to believe that the causes of indebtedness in the village
are mainly two :

{!) Social : The performance of social ceremonies at
marriages, births and deaths, which frequently occur,
makes a heavy demand on the purse of the cultivator.
The force of social custom compels him to incur debt.

(ii) Economic : The low level and uncertainty of agri¬
cultural production frequently drive the " average
cultivator to the door of his money-lender.

SECTION II.

THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL FINANCE
IN THE VILLAGE

Under this heading we propose to discuss three things :

(1) facilities for loans,

(2) rate of interest, and

(3) purpose or use of loans.

} In this type of mortgage, the lender promises to return the land of the
mortgagor on payment of the mortgage debt within a definite period.
Generally this is entered in Government records as a purse sale and
hence usually it passes to the hands of the creditor without difficulty
as soon as the definite period is over.

32 *

252

(i) Facilities for loans .

The sources of borrowing in this village fall into twn
classes : (i) money-lenders and (ii) the local co-operative

credit society. F e

(i) There are at present two professional money-lenders
m the village m addition to a few non-professional and
W money-lenders. A few of these latter are what are
called Janasudhar sowkars or those who lend monev
only on the security of ornaments. Besides these, there is
a host of professional and non-professional money-lenders
residing outside the village, some in the neighbouring
villages and others at Bulsar, who have dealings with the
people of this village. s

( u ) The Co-operative Society was started in 19x7 and
has during the last ten years become a powerful force in
the economic life of the village. It serves as an organised
institution, advancing loans to its members.

Relation between (i) and (ii) : The primary obiect of
j t. j mer g r 0l ? p ls usually to increase the volume of in¬
debtedness of the client, with a view to keep him under
control, and thus make him a steady source of commission
and interest to themselves. The primary obiect of the
Society is to enable its members to be free from debt and
to increase their earning capacity and enable them to stand
on their own legs m course of time. Conflicting as these
two aims are, the relations between the money-lenders on
the one hand, and the Society on the other, are in this vil¬
lage cordial, thanks to the forceful personality of the
chairman of the Society and to the steadily increasing
stability of the Society as a financing agency.

(2) The rates of interest.

There is a great difference between the rate of interest
charged by the money-lenders and that charged by the
Society. Even among the money-lenders the rates of
interest vary with the nature of security offered. With
the Society the rate of interest is the same whether the
loan is advanced on personal or landed security. The fol-

253

lowing figures show the minimum and maximum rates of
interest charged by money-lenders according to the nature

or security offered :

Nature of the

Security

Minimum rate of
interest

Maximum rate
of interest

Land

Silver ornaments

Percentage

12

Percentage

18

Gold

Personal

10

18

12

25

™ one y"lender, as a rule, charges some commission
at the time of advancing the loan. This varies from 6
to 9 per cent, when loans are taken on landed or personal
security, and 3 to 6 per cent, when thev are taken on the
security of gold ornaments.

The Society does not charge any commission. On the
contrary it teaches people thrift by making it a rule for
them to deposit in their own name 10 per cent, of the
loan they borrow. The rate of interest charged by the So¬
ciety is 9 per cent, for all loans of Rs. 50 or more, and
cent, for all loans below Rs. 50- T here is, however,
one noteworthy feature regarding this Society, namely i
that it has introduced a system of rebate which is
calculated at 1 per cent, on the loan repaid and is given
to one who repays the debt within due time. This
device was introduced only last year and it is too early
to announce any judgment on its effects.

The Pathan—a menace : While discussing the rate of
interest there is one thing of importance which deserves
notice. During the course of our enquiry on this subject
we came across one or two cases in this village where
families have borrowed money from Pathans, who are
notorious in this area for charging as high a rate of inte¬
rest as 150 to 300 per cent. They give, say, Rs. so and
will demand Rs. 15 or Rs. 30 even within a few months.
Not only do they charge an exorbitant rate of interest

254 >

but they also use physical force in recovering their money.
We believe that they are a great menace to the people
in the surrounding area and should be checked in their
rapacity, by legislation.

(3) The purpose or use of loans.

The purposes for which the debt has been incurred
could not be determined because of three reasons : (1) the
Kaliparaj borrow petty loans from one and the same sow-
kar frequently during the year for different purposes ; (ii)
they also borrow from several sowkars, one after another,
during the same year ; and (iii) in several cases debts run
over more than five years. Under the circumstances, a
detailed inquiry into the nature of each transaction of debt
was impossible. We have, how-ever, studied this aspect
in the next section, so far as the loans advanced by the
Society are concerned.

SECTION III.

THE CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT SOCIETY
OF THE VILLAGE

We are happy to find that in this village the task of re¬
construction has already been begun, of course, in a
small measure, by the Co-operative Credit Society. • In
order to gauge properly the extent to which it has con¬
tributed to the economic reconstruction of the village,
we must glance at the economic history of the area prior
to its introduction, as well as during the period it has been
in existence. The history of the village prior to its intro¬
duction divides itself into two parts : that referring to the
period prior to 1914 and that referring to the period 19x4
to 1917.

The economic history of the village.

In our investigations on this subject, we have been
able to gather the following impressions about the condi¬
tion of the village before 1914 and from 1914 to 1917.
The main points show how the dominating position of the

255

administrative officer in the village-the Patel-resuits in
the good or otherwise of the people. We found that the
administration of the village prior to 1914 was inefficient
because the Patel-a member of the Kali^a^®

“P er “ d 'c S ' Upefi f d for ^ und “ *e date trees in
hts held. Some of the Kaliparaj themselves gave
us to understand that he frequently harassed tLm
by demanding hens or goats to make a feast.
The village school-master informed us that in xqu
when he was transferred to this place, the village was in a
state of chaos and no one dared to enter it after sun-set
lest he be robbed of his possessions, (ii) As the adminis¬
trative head was inefficient there was none to curb the ra¬
pacity of the money-lenders who numbered more than
fifteen at this time. They wielded great influence, as the
Fate himself was heavily indebted to one of them, and
usuafly sided with them in the settlement of disputes,
(in) Many Kaliparaj families indulged in excessive drink
in i^tetion of the Patel, who belonged to their communi¬
ty; There was none to check these people nor to lead them
aright. The interest of the money-lenders lay in encour-
aging this habit of drink with a view to domineer over
them. Far from making any attempt to reform them, the
sowkars vied with one another in giving large credit to
the Kaliparaj. The result was that on the eve of the sec¬
ond period 1914-17 the autocratic power of the sowkars
was as great, as the poverty and indebtedness of the peo¬
ple, were apalling.

The second period began with the Patelship of Mr.
Manibhai, who still holds the position. He exchanged
his promising appointment in the B.B.& C.I. Railway,
for the headmanship of this village, with the avowed ob¬
ject of trying his best to uplift the masses from the burden
of debt. This was certainly a task beset with numerous
difficulties. In spite of the opposition of vested interests
and the lack of ready response from the people, he carried
on patiently his work of reform during this period. He
frequently visited the cottages of the Kaliparaj and

256

sympathetically tried to understand their difficulties. Find¬
ing that credit was the crying need of this people and the
kind of the creditor that they had was the source of their
indigence, he introduced the co-operative credit society
in the village.

The history of the Co-operative Credit Society.

The Co-operative Credit Society of Atgam was regis¬
tered on 31st May 1917 and commenced its operations on
13th June of the same year, with a small capital of
Rs. 166 1 —Rs. 150 were deposited by Mr. Manibhai and
Rs. 16 were received as entrance fees. Rs. 163 were
loaned out on that day to fifteen Kaliparaj farmers.
From this modest beginning the society has made great
progress during the last ten years. This will be evident
from the following table :

Table showing the consolidated position of the Atgam
Co-operative Credit Society from igiy-iQ26.

Year 2

No. of
members

Members*
deposits
in Rs.

Non-

members 1
deposits
in Rs.

Reserve
fund
in Rs.

j

Total
turnover
in Rs.

Rate of ]
interest j
on loans 1
to

members

Rate of
interst on
loans
from non¬
members

1917

79

250

450

_

8271

9§»/ 0

7«/p

1918

105

169

2500

71

8879

1 9

1919

t

681

3920

118

4782

99

99

1920

148 |

1278

4055

181

5768

9 9

99

1921

156

1985

4455

480

6976

99

99

1922

176

2745

4610

568

10878

99

9 9

1928

165

4006

7787

799

18012

99

99

1924

! 188

5848

9677

1204

16477

9 9

9 9

1925

, 194

6990

11929

1457

20288

9 9

9 9

1926

195

6880

12146

1788

! 20708

9 «/„

6 •/.

1 This information has been gathered from the records of the Society.

2 The year means the financial year; for instance 1917 means 1 st April
1917 .to 31 st March 1918 .

t Not available.

257

The Mowing conclusions are obvious from this table :

(1) The Society has made great progress during the last
ten years of its existence. This is indLted by tlie steady

rn?verHcTi? e th nUmber ° f ^ members ’ ( b ) * ^ toS
turnover, (c) in the amount of members’ deposits and

(d) by a similar expansion of the reserve fund It may

be noted that members’ deposits and reserve fund are^he

Sif ^ ^ ~ ° f “7 co-operative

(2) The fact of its increased financial stability is indirect¬
ly attested to by (a) the constant increase in the non-
members deposits—-which suggests that the confidence
of outsiders in the financial position of the Society has in¬
creased : and by (d) the fell m the rate of interest on
loans from non-members—which implies that the supply

° f /^ e p° S1 5f f I° m ext f rnal sources is considerable 7
(o) Finally, the rate of interest on loans to its members
has also decreased This forcibly shows that the
real function for which such societies are started
namely, to make capital available to its members at as low
a rate of interest as possible, has been discharged by the
society. This ability on the part of the Society to reduce
its rate of interest on loans is an incontrovertible proof
of the tact that the financial position of the society is

... W . e ma y n ° te j n Passing two facts of great importance :
(1) that the Society is conducting its work without the
assistance of the local District Bank, for the last four
years ; ana (li) that the deposits from non-members are
received from twelve different places, including Bombay
and Surat, thanks to the indefatigable energy of its found¬
er, who is at present its chairman.

SERVICES RENDERED BY THE SOCIETY

Low rate of interest : From this historical review of
the working of the Society, it is evident that the most im¬
portant service it has rendered to its members is to make
capital available to them at a low rate of interest.

33

258

Encouragement to the productive use of loans : An¬
other equally important service it has rendered to them is
to direct them from the unproductive to the productive
use of capital as far as possible. This is demonstrated by
the following table showing the purposes for which loans
were advanced to the people during the last ten years of
its existence :

Purpose of the Loans

Percentage of
each to the
total loans ad¬
vanced during
the decade

i

I PRODUCTIVE 1

1. Purchase of land..

5-S

2. Payment of land revenue

2*5

3. Purchase of cattle . ...

10*1

4. » grass.

2*8

5. j) 55 seeds ......

8*7

6. 55 and repairs of carts

1*7

7. Financing local trade . .

5*7

8. Expenses on cultivation ....

9*8

9. Redemption of old debts and land

28*1

10. Building and repairing of houses .

10*4-

Total

II UN-PRODUCTIVE 1

11. Domestic expenditure .....

• 4*5

84*6

12. Celebration of marriage ....

10*2

18. Performance of death ceremonies

*7

Total

15*4

Grand Total 100

i The classification of purposes into ‘productive* and ‘unproductive* is
somewhat arbitrary. The only two items which we have included under
‘productive*, and which may be objected to, are ‘redemption of old debts
and land’ and ‘building and repairing of houses*. The reason for classi¬
fy* 1 ^ first as ‘productive* is that the burden of indebtedness acts as
a powerful deterrent to agricultural production ; that for the second is
that the cultivator cannot do without a house to live in and to store his
implements and keep his cattle—the main capital goods used in his
wealth-production activities.

2W

Thus about 85 per cent, of the total sum advanced

during the last ten years is for productive purposes.

Debt-redemption : A minute scrutiny of the above
table shows that the Society has done another piece of
valuable work in the interest of its members. It is that
it has advanced the largest amount of loans for the re¬
demption of old debts. The actual sum thus utilised is
Ks. 19423 °ut of Rs. 69139, the total loan advanced dur-
mg the last decade. Old debts, as we have already noted,
act as a dead-weight on the energy and enterprise of the
farmer and obstruct all kinds of progress. The Society
undertook to work out a scheme of debt redemption in
the year 1918-19. Ever since that time the scheme has
been zealously pursued. Its success is obvious from the
fact that out of 43 families who were granted loans of
more than Rs. 100 each by the Society for the redemption
of old debts, 33 or 76 per cent, are at present living in a
sound economic condition.

It is interesting and instructive to study the way in
which the scheme was worked. The chairman of the
Society, Mr. Manibhai, persuaded the sowkars of
some of the members of the Society to give him an account
of their dues from the latter. He then got the sow¬
kars to accept a lump sum in settlement of the loan, which
would be less than the amount legally due. It was
always argued that the sowkar was the richer man who
could forego a few rupees due from his debtor. In four¬
teen cases, which we carefully went through, we found
that only Rs. 4155 were paid though the total dues claimed
amounted to Rs. 6779.

THE CAUSE OF THE SUCCESS OF THE SOCIETY

This discussion of the working of the Society leads to
the conclusion that it has been a great success. The
main cause of this success is a policy of cautious finance
and vigilant recovery. As a rule, loans are not given by
the Society for unproductive purposes. When it gives,

33 *

it does so only on the security of the land of the borrower.
In the case of likely defaulters it follows the same policy.
This is demonstrated by the following table :

Out of 26 cases of mortgages made to the Society and
not redeemed till the year of enquiry, the following were
the purposes of loans advanced :

No. of cases

1 . Redemption of old debt ....... 11

2 ; Celebration of marriage ....... 4

8. Partly ( 1 ) and partly ( 2 ) . 8

4 . Purchase of land.. 2

5 . ,, „ bullocks and house repairs . . 1

6 . Partly ( 1 ) and partly purchase of a cart . 1

7. Building a house.. 1

8. Trading. 1

9 . Purchase of bullocks. 1

10 . Partly ( 1 ) and partly (9). 1

The other feature of the policy, namely, vigilant re¬
covery, is shown by the following accounts of two typical
members of the society.

CASE I.* FAMILY, SCHEDULE No. 145.

Date

Amount borrowed
in Es.

Amount repaid
in Es.

Outstanding: loans
in Rs.

24- 8-18

40

—

40

28- 1-19

—

80

10

22-12-19

—

10

—

25- 8-20

50

—

50

14-12-20

—

50

, —

18- 1-26

50 1

—

50

80-12-26

—

25

25

81-12-26

—

25

—

8- 4-27

150

—

150

In both these cases payments of interest are ignored for the sake of
simplicity.

261

CASE II.* FAMILY, SCHEDULE No. 248.

Date

j Amount borrowed
in Rs.

Amount repaid
in Rs.

Outstanding loans
in Rs.

22- 3-18

50

_

50

18-12-18

—

33

17

20- 1-19

—

17

—

12- 1-22

115

—

115

12-11-22

—

70

’ 45

26-11-23

—

45

—

27- 2-24

220

—

220

15-12-24

__

100

120

9- 3-26

___

100

20

18-12-26

—-

20

—

9- 1-27

125

—

125

1-12-27

—

95

30

10-12-27

-

30

—

These accounts again show that the people are being
taught the habit of regular banking.

THE WORK OF THE SOCIETY

The services rendered by the Society may be thus
summarised.

(i) It has made capital available to the people at a low
rate of interest.

(ii) It has diverted the people from the unproductive to
the productive use of loans.

(iii) It has, in some cases, removed the burden of debt
that checked the enterprise of the farmer, and increased
his earning capacity.

(iv) By its policy of vigilant recovery it has taught the
people the habit of regular banking.

(v) It has also enabled a few members to realise the
advantages of deposit-banking and thus cultivate the
habit of thrift.

* In both these cases payments of interest are ignored for the sake of
simplicity.

262

(vi) It has acted as an uplifting force among the Kalipa-
raj, who constitute the bulk of its members, by not only
improving their economic condition but also by giving
regular training in its working to some of them who are
placed on its managing committee.

Over and above these services of economic and educa¬
tional character, it has also rendered some social service.

(vii) It was through its agency that some bye-lanes and
small fair-weather tracts of the village were repaired from
a contribution by the Social Service League, (Bombay
Branch) supplemented by subscriptions raised in the
village.

(viii) Out of the profits of the Society some portion is
anually set aside, to be used on charitable purposes, like
giving clothes or corn to the poor residents of the village.

It may be of interest to note that it contributed a modest
sum of Rs. i2jr to the Poona Agricultural Show Fund and
Rs. 55 to the Gujarat Flood Relief Fund.

It is obvious from the discussion so far made that the
Co-operative Society of the village has become a powerful
force in the social and economic life of the people. It is,
however, necessary to remember that there is yet con¬
siderable work to be done by the Society before it can
claim to have really remoulded the life of the people.

WORK TO BE DONE BY THE SOCIETY

Minute examination of the accounts of the Society
shows that, out of 195 members 30 do not at present deal
with it. Of these only one can get loans at a rate of
interest lower than that of the Society. A few others do
not require loans annually. But the majority of them have
ceased to deal with the Society because of its policy of
cautious finance and careful recovery. This majority has
to be brought back under its fold by persuasion and rea¬
soning. Moreover, at present the Society depends for its
finance on outsiders. This element of dependence must
be removed.

263

THE NECESSITY OF A LAND MORTGAGE BANK

Finally, in this connection, there is an important fact to
be noted. It is that the members who are at present
dealing with the Society were found, in May 1927 when
we took the census of indebtedness, to have an external
debt of Rs. 36,419. Though some of it is of a temporary
character, the major portion is permanent. This fact
often clogs the rapid progress of the Society and serves as
the cause of delay in the recovery of its dues. We have
seen that the Society has already redeemed old debts to
the extent of Rs. 19,423, and we think that looking to its
present position, it can hardly spare as much money as is
necessary to liquidate this Targe external debt. Thus the
necessity of a Land Mortgage Bank for removing the
burden of outside debt is obvious.

CONCLUSIONS

The following are the main conclusions from this
chapter :

(1) The problem of indebtedness for the village as a
whole is quite serious.

(2) Though the successful working of the Co-operative
Credit Society has modified the situation to some extent,
the problem of external debt of its members, which is in¬
curred obviously at high rates of interest, demands an
urgent solution.

(3) In view of this, the necessity of establishing a Land
Mortgage Bank (for the Taluka or District in which this
typical village is situated) is obvious.

CHAPTER—XVI

THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

It will have been obvious by this time to what extent
the government can influence the life of the people, partly
by initiating themselves,and partly by encouraging the
people to work out, a programme of reconstruction. In
view of this we propose to study in this chapter the exist¬
ing relations between the people and the state.

The State, or the government, is connected with the
people in two ways : (i) it receives revenue from the peo¬
ple and (ii) spends it so as to promote the welfare of the
people. To discharge this two-fold function is devised the
whole machinery of administration. We shall therefore
divide the discussion of the relation between the people of
the village and its government into two parts : one dealing
with government dues and village welfare ; the other deal¬
ing with the administrative machinery. We shall discuss
the latter first.

ADMINISTRATION

The immediate representatives of the government in
a village are the Patel and the village accountant. In the
case of the village under study the functions of a Police
and a revenue Patel are combined in one man. As a
Police Patel he is expected to preserve peace and order
in the village, keep the local magistrate constantly inform¬
ed as “to the state of crime and all matters connected with
the village-police, the health and general condition of the
community in his village ”, 1 and to assist all superior

1. Vide Section 6 of the Bombay Village Police Act, 1867. Besides those
mentioned above, there are several other duties of a Police Patel which
are defined in this Act.

265

officers who visit the village. To assist him in these func¬
tions he has six Dheds who constitute the village Police
force. As a revenue Patel he has to collect land revenue
from the people within the prescribed periods and remit
it to the government treasury at Bulsar.

The village accountant ‘frames all written returns and
proceedings for the Police Patel.’ 1 Most of these returns,
refer to the collection of land revenue from the village.

Besides these immediate representatives of the govern¬
ment there are a number of other representatives of the
State who visit the village periodically. These officers be¬
long to different departments of government. We shall
briefly note who they are and how they come in contact
with the people.

Revenue Department: There are five officers of this
Department who visit the village. They are :

(1) The Circle Inspector,

(2) The Avalkarkun,

(3) The Mamlatdar,

(4) The Assistant or Deputy Collector, and

(5) The Collector of the District.

(1) The Circle Inspector usually visits the village three
or four times a year, and sometimes even more frequently,
if circumstances demand it. Asa rule he visits the village
after the rainy season in December or January, to examine
the register of crops written by the village accountant and
check the entries of crops. Every time he comes to the
village he inspects the register of births and deaths writ¬
ten by the Patel of the village. If there is any dispute in
matters connected with revenue or survey, his presence is
required.

(2) The Avalkarkun (the subordinate Taluka Magis¬
trate) usually visits the village once or twice a year, mostly
for the purposes of revenue and sometimes for deciding
some matter at issue between the people and the State.

(3) The Mamlatdar, (the Taluka Head Magistrate) as
a rule, visits the village once a year. Sometimes he visits

1 Vide Section 7, Ibid.

34

266

it more often. Whenever he comes he inspects the reve¬
nue registers, and birth and death registers, and makes
other general enquiries about the village.

(4) and (5) Above the Mamlatdar of the Taluka are the
Assistant or Deputy Collector, and the Collector of the
District. Each of them camps at this village every third
or fourth year. As a rule, either of them once examines
all the village records on the spot, or at the Bulsar
Kacheri.

Police Department: Immediately superior to the
Police Patel of the village is the constable. Above him
is the Head Constable and then the Fojdar or the Sub-
Inspector. The first, or the second, pay about half-a-
dozen visits to the village every year. The things he en¬
quires after are usually, the trouble, if any, caused to the
people by any wandering tribe or rabid dogs; and
the presence of any doubtful criminal or crime. The
Fojdar visits the village generally once a year. If, how¬
ever, any murder or other crime occurs, he has to be
present in the village.

Excise Department : The taluka Excise Inspector
annually pays sudden visits to the village, with a host of
police, to detect illicit attempts, if any, made at manufac¬
turing liquor.

Agricultural Department : There is one Overseer of
this Department for the Bulsar Taluka. Above him
Is the District Agricultural Overseer. These officers
rarely visit the village.

_ Veterinary Department : There is a Veterinary Hos¬
pital at Bulsar, but the officer in charge thereof never visits
the village unless called for. We are informed that he
has been to this village only twice during the last twelve
years. The second time he visited the village, in
February last, was only to inquire after the health of
the breeding bull imported by the people of the village
from the agricultural farm at Athwa.

267

Vaccination Department : The local taluka vaccinator
pays three to four visits to the village every year. Every
time he comes to the village, he gives previous intimation
of his visit to the Police Patel, and asks him to gather to¬
gether, with the aid of the village police, the people of the
village with their babies, for vaccination.

Educational Department : The Deputy Educational
Inspector, Surat District, visits the village school once
or twice a year, generally at the time of annual examina¬
tions.

Co-operative Department: The Registrar, the head
of the Co-operative Department of the Presidency, is re¬
presented by the Assistant Registrar for the Northern
Division, and the latter in turn by the auditor of co-opera¬
tive societies for the Surat District. This auditor visits
the village once every year to examine the accounts of the
local Co-operative Credit Society. The Assistant Regis¬
trar had been here about four times during the last ten
years.

Besides these two government officers of this Depart¬
ment, there are other non-officials like the local Bank
Inspector, the District Honorary Organiser, the Taluka
Honorary Organiser, the Propaganda Officer and the
Secretary of the Bulsar Chikli Supervising Union. As
the local society works without the assistance of the local
District Bank (Bulsar Branch) the services of the Bank
Inspector are not required. Similarly as Mr. Manibhai,
the Police Patel of the village, himself is an Honorary
Organiser for Bulsar Taluka, the presence of the Propa¬
ganda Officer in the village is not required. The District
Organiser pays two or three visits to the village every
year. As the society is not yet a member of the Bulsar-
Chikhli Union, the services of its secretary are not re¬
quired. Nevertheless he often passes through Atgam
when he visits societies in some of the neighbouring
villages.

These, in brief, are the facts regarding the administra-

34*

268

tive machinery, so far as the village under study is
concerned. Two remarks of importance are necessary
at this stage, (i) It is too presumptuous to offer from the
study of such a small unit, any remark with regard to the
efficiency of the general administrative machinery and the
extent to which it actually promotes the welfare of the
people. (2) So far as the immediate village officers are
concerned, enough has been said about the Police and
Revenue Patel, Mr. Manibhai. As regards the village
accountant, we may generally observe that wherever
there is an efficient Patel, the village accountant behaves
as his clerk ; wherever the Patel is inefficient, as was the
case in the history of this village before 1914, it is the
village accountant who rules the people and, more often
than not, with an iron hand.

Having thus studied the administrative machinery of
the village and its relation to the people, we now pass on
to a consideration of government dues and village welfare.

GOVERNMENT DUES AND VILLAGE WELFARE

Under this heading, we shall examine the total dues
paid by the people of this village to the government, and
the amount that they receive back in the form of good
administration, educational facilities and so on.

Of all the government dues paid by the people of a
village, land revenue is usually the largest. In the case of
this village, as we have ascertained, excise revenue is the
largest. The latter is, however, not so evident because
it is paid indirectly by the people. Besides land revenue
and excise there are other dues which the village people
pay to the government like tolls, stamp-duties, registra¬
tion-fees, salt tax and several others. Moreover, one of the
Sowcars of this village pays income tax the incidence of
whic'h is, of course, shifted to the borrower.

The dues other than land revenue, excise and income
tax cannot be separately calculated because of the want of
separate records for the village. We have, therefore,

269

attempted a calculation of the total revenue-demand which
the people have to meet for the above-mentioned three
heads only. The following is an attempt at calculating
the total government dues met by the people in the year
of enquiry.

(1) Land Revenue : The total land revenue paid by the
village in 1926-27 was Rs. 8717-15-0, including local cess.
If calculated per head, this comes to Rs. 3^. In govern¬
ment revenue records under this head is also mentioned
the revenue derived from the use of government waste
and forest area of the village. This amounted to
Rs. 68-10-9 in the year of enquiry. Thus the total land
revenue paid by the people in 1926-27 amounted to
Rs. 8785-15-9.

(2) Excise Revenue. It was a very difficult thing for
us to calculate the exact amount paid by the people under
this head. We have searched different registers referring
to this topic kept, partly in the taluka Record room, and
partly in the office of the Excise Inspector for the Bulsar
Taluka. The following figures give an estimate of the
total payment made by the people of the village to govern¬

ment by way of excise revenue.

EXCISE DUES Rs. As. Ps.

(a) The auction sale price of 2 toddy booths . 710 0 0

(b) The auction sale price of a toddy shop . 4875 0 0

(c) The duties paid to government for the

use of date-trees ... 1000 0 0

(d) The auction price of the liquor shop . 760 0 0

(e) The duty on the total quantity of liquor

sold, the quantity being about 818

gallons, charged @ Rs. 2\ per gallon . 2032 0 0

(f) The duties paid on date-trees purchased

for domestic consumption about . ... . 552 0 0

Total . 9429 0 0

Two things may be noted (i) that though the auction-
price of booths and the shops and other duties are paid by

£70

some individual villagers, the incidence of this tax is al¬
most invariably shifted to the consumers, and (ii) that, as
noted above, the excise revenue exceeds land revenue bv
Rs. 648-8-3.

Adding Rs. 56 paid by way of income tax to (1) and
(2), the total comes to Rs. 18271-7-9. If all these dues
are regarded as taxes, the taxation per head comes to
Rs. 7-2-2. 1

We shall now consider what was received by the peo¬
ple from the government during this year. The following
is an estimate of what may be considered to have been
received by the people from the government.

Rs.

As.

Ps.

(a)

Remuneration to the Police Patel . .

153

0

0

(b)

Salary^ of the village accountant

255

0

0

(c)

Remuneration 3 to the Village Police . .

216

0

0

(d)

Total expenses incurred on account of

the Village School, including the salary

of teachers, annual repairing charges

for the school building etc. . . . ...

1432

0

0

Total ,

. 2056

0

0

Two remarks are necessary at this stage. (1) Though
there is a government dispensary at Khergam, few people
of Atgam take advantage of it, for the Kaliparaj, as al¬
ready noted, do not generally use modern medicines and
the Ujaliparaj either use indigenous medicines or consult
doctors at Bulsar.

(2) For the sake of computation, we may take that
the cost of the services rendered by superior officers who

1 cf. The incidence of taxation in British India was, in 1922 Rs. 6-7-7.
‘Financial Development in Modern India,’ C. N. Vakil, p. 533.

2 The village accountant is paid. Rs. 30 per mensem but, since he has
s two other villages in his charge whose total assessment is Rs. 3500,

we have divided his salary on the basis of the proportion of assessments
for this village and the other two.

3 In practice the village police who are Dheds have been assigned pieces
of land for which they Have to pay local cess only and not government
assessment. The lossHhus incurred by government is regarded as a
remuneration to them.

271

visil the village occasionally may, so far as the share of
this village is concerned, be counter-balanced by the pay¬
ment made by the people by way of stamp-duties, regis¬
tration fees, etc., which we have omitted from our calcu¬
lation of the government dues met by them.

If we take Rs. 2056 as the net cost incurred by the
government for village welfare, the average annual
receipts per head will come to 12 annas 10 pies. Thus
the dues paid by the village comes to Rs. 7-2-2 per head,
while the receipts come to 12 annas 10 pies only. It is
evident that only about 11 per cent, of what is paid to the

government is received back by the people.

more interesting calculation and we have done.
We have seen that the per capita income for this village
is Rs. 70. Here we find that the taxation per head comes
to Rs. 7-2-2. This shows that the average individual is
taxed to the extent of about 10 per cent, of his annual
income.

CONCLUSIONS

The following are the main conclusions of this chapter :

(1) that the direct return to the village from the State,
in view of its contribution, is small; and

(2) that in a village where more than half of the popu¬
lation live on the margin, this must be considered as a
drain which reduces the capacity of the people.

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.

(1) 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.

We have already seen that the value of land is not
dlways determined by purely economic considerations
like fertility and situation. Sometimes it is affected by
social considerations like the prestige-idea about land ;
and sometimes an inflated price is exacted because of the
monopolistic situation of the seller. It is also influenced
by the relations between sowcars and their tenants.
Though there are such limitations, in the absence of other
reliable data, we have taken the sale values of land 1 as
the basis of calculations. Taking the actual sales of land
during the last six years ending with 1926, including both
genuine sales between buyers and sellers, and nominal
sales between sowcars and their customers, we find that

(i) 78.6 acres of kyari land were sold for Rs. 12,524-4-0
or at about Rs. 160 per acre, and

(ii) 267.2 acres of jarayat land were sold for Rs. 18,271-
4-0 or at about Rs. 68 per acre.

If we exclude the vitiating circumstances of nominal
sales and some extraordinary sales, we get the following
results for the last few years :

Year

Price of kyari land
per acre

Price of jarayat land
per acre

| Rs. As.

Ps.

Rs.

As.

Ps.

1921

185

10

0

42

2

0

1922

159

8

0

58

8

0

1923

200

4

0

64

11

0

1924

212

2

0

75

0

0

1925

158

5

0

32

8

0

1926

217

6

0 -1

77

4

0

Average price per acre. 180

8

0

- 58

8

0 .

In our calculations, we-have assumed Rs. 170 to be
the price per acre of the former and Rs. 60 per acre of
the latter.

1 Let us note at this stage that when the sale values of land are determi¬
ned, the existence of wells on the fields is invariably taken in account.
We have, therefore, not valued the wells separately.

274

The total cultivated kyari land in the village including
both old and new 1 kyari is about 775 acres. The total
cultivated jarayat land is 2368 acres. Calculating their
value at the rates adopted, we get the figure Rs. 2,7*3,830.
To this must be added the value of government waste
and the forest land of the villages which only serve as
grazing grounds at present. Though these two come under
the category of jarayat land it will obviously be wrong to
value them at Rs. 60 per acre since this land is practi¬
cally unarable. A gentleman of this village recently
offered Rs. 10 per acre for a piece of government waste.
Assuming, therefore, Rs. 10 to be the price for both, the
total land (284 acres) included under these two—govern¬
ment waste and forest area—will be worth Rs. 2840.
The gaothan land is never sold. The land occupied by
the river-beds, roads, nallas, tanks and cemetery have no
sale value. Kharaba or waste land has similarly no
value. Regarding the village site, it is almost impos¬
sible to arrive at any correct figure of value for it, since
sales are not frequent. In a recent sale, however, the
price given was Rs. 2000 per acre. This was due to the
play of jealousy among different members of a caste.
This is obviously an extraordinary price and cannot be
taken as a guide. Assuming, after taking other things
into account, Rs. 500 as the price per acre, we get Rs.950
as the total value of the village site. Thus the total
capital value of the village land comes to Rs. 2,77,620.

(2) VALUE OF HOUSES

More difficult than the valuation of land is the valuation
of houses. We have already seen how they vary in this
village in size, shape and the raw material with which
they are made. There are mainly two types of houses,
thatched and tiled. The number of the former is greater
than that of the latter. There are 327 of the first type and
only 76 of the second. Moreover sales of houses are

1 Separate figures for new kyari are not available.

275

rare ‘ "f^ere oc curred some years back only one case
in which a tiled house about 1000 sq. feet in area was
sold tor Rs. 900.

Reckoning these 403 houses, including the Hindu
temple of Ram and the mosque of the Mahommedans,
at prices varying with their size and the raw material with
which they are made, we get Rs. 83,950 as the total value
j houses. If this figure errs at all, it does so on the
side of excess.

( 3 ) VALUE OF LIVE STOCK

In valuing the live-stock of the village we have
scanned the prices of several actual sales of cattle that
occurred during the last three years and adopted the ave¬
rage prices. The total value of live-stock found in the
village comes, according to our calculation, to Rs. 73,136
as shown below :

1 .

Bullocks and bulls.

575 @ Bs. 75 per animal .

Rs. 43125

2 .

He-buffaloes.

41

30

93

99

1280

3.

Cows, in milk

121

» ?

so

99

99

3080

4.

» dry

262

>>

15

39

99

8930

5.

She-buflaloes, in milk 54

?>

60

99

9 9

2240

6 .

J5 dry

77

>s

30

33

>5

2310

7.

Calves

472

39

20

99

99

9440

8 .

Buffalo-calves

125

33

10

33

99

1250

9.

Goats

494

39

8

3i

99

8952

10 .

Sheep

98

99

8

' 99

39

784

11 .

Horses

3

99

60

9i

39

180

12 .

Poultry

2180

99

1/2

39

Total Rs.

39

1065

78136

( 4 ) VALUE OF IMPLEMENTS

We have studied the different kinds of implements used
in this village. We have also studied their approximate
costs according to the prices in the year of enquiry . Val¬
uing all the implements found in the village when we

35*

276

took the census, at their respective prices, we obtain the
figure Rs. 28,139 as shown below : •

Big carts

198 @ Rs. 80 per unit

Rs.

15840

Ploughs with yokes

829

„ n

j>

3619

Harrows

102

’ „ i

3 3

102

Axes

435

„ S/4 .

33

*326

Pick-axes

360

,, 1

35

360

Hoes

286

„ 1

33

286

Parei

157

3 3 1}

33

196

Panjethi

326

„ 1 ft

33

86

Scythes

398

„ 7/8

33

349

Sickles

1551

„ 5/8

3 3

944

Seed-drills

193

„ 7/8

3 3

169

3 Coultred drills

2

„ 10

3 3

20

Cotton Harrows

7

„ 10

3 3

70

Sugarcane seed-drills

18

„ 15

33

270

Leather bags with yokes

55 @ Rs. 8 & 110 @ Rs. 7

33

1210

Sugarcane presses

4

„ 150

3 3 .

600

Accompaniments of the presses 8

„ 100

3 3 .

800

Clod crushers

12

jj 3-|-

3 3

42

Total Rs. 25289

Add to the above total Rs. 2850 which is the value of
19 small carts used for riding, that were found in the vil¬
lage at the time of the census, the final total comes to
Rs. 28,139.

VALUE OF THE VILLAGE

Thus the total capital value of the village, if it could
be sold as a running concern and excluding the purely per¬
sonal possessions of the people, would be :

Rs.

Percentage of each to the
total value of the village.

Land . . '.

!

277620

59*9

Houses . . .

83950

i8*2

Live-stock . .

73136

15*8

Implements .

v *28139

. 6*1

Rs. 462845

100

277

Though this Is at best an approximation, it is a useful
one since it enables us to ascertain the proportion which
certain village charges bear to capital value and.so the
relationship which they bear to the conditions prevalent’
or our country or other countries.

The following table shows the percentages which cer¬
tain village figures bear to the total capital value of land
and of the village as a whole :

Percentage on capital
value of land.

Percentage on capital
value of the village
as a whole.

1, Government assessment on
land amounting to

Rs. 8300.

2-98

i*?9

2. Total government -dues,
being about Rs. 18,271

6-58

3.94

$. Net village income from
all sources being

Rs. 158,802 .. . . .

l

55*22

88*22

4. Total Village expenditure
on all things Rs. 150,088

54*06

82*4

5. Net returns from land,
being Rs. 68,089

24*52

1

| 14*71

6. Total debts, beings

Rs. 94,758 . . . . .

34*13

i 20*47

These percentages show at a glance the economic con¬
dition of the village community surveyed.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER VILLAGE STUDIES

Figures similar to some of these items are available in
three 1 other village studies made in this Presidency. It
will be highly interesting to institute a comparison be¬
tween these three studies and the one we have made in

1 (i) and (2) Land and Labour in a Deccan Village, Studies No. i and 2.
and (3) “A social and Economic Survey of a Konkan Village” by
V. G. Ranade.

278

this work. The basis of comparison is the percentages
which certain vilage figures, in each study, bear to the
total capital value of the village in question.

The following table brings out the points of simila¬
rity or otherwise between these four village studies :

Pimpla

Soudagar

(Deccan)

Jategaon

(Deccan)

! Roth
Khurd
(Konkan)

Atgam

(Gujarat)

1 . Percentage of net re¬
turn of crops on the
capital value of the
village ....

10*4

10*6

9*58

14*71

2 . Percentage of total
debts on the capi¬
tal value of the vil¬
lage . . . .

11*7

22-1

17*7

20*47

<>. Percentage of govern¬
ment assessment on

the value i of the
village . .

. 1-27

1-46

0*99

1*79

Thus it is obvious that Atgam derives an income from
land larger than the rest. This is quite natural as Gujarat
is less affected by visitations of famine than the other
two regions. At the same time it is more in debt and has
to pay the highest charges by way of government assess¬
ment.

CHAPTER—XVIII

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

In the preceding chapters we have made an exhaustive
survey of the social and economic conditions of the village
of Atgam. We may now summarise the main tendencies
and conclusions and the suggestions we have offered in
the different chapters.

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

The following are the principal conclusions about the
present economic life of the village of Atgam :

I. REGARDING THE ENVIRONMENT

(1) The rainfall in the village is uncertain both in its
total quantity and as regards its seasonal distribution.

(2) Climatic conditions of this place vary greatly and
exercise a powerful influence for good or bad on the far¬
mer and his occupation.

(3) The soils of the village are deficient in plant-foods
and largely poor in character.

(4) The only permanent source of irrigation is wells
which are uncertain as to their output of water and as to
their ready response to steam-boring.

(5) The distribution of land in the village is very defect¬
ive in the sense that it is owned in a highly subdivided and
fragmented state.

(6) Though there are some redeeming features e. g.
the tendency to cultivate a holding, larger than the average
owned holding, by consolidating fragments in actual culti¬
vation, or the sporadic attempts at consolidating frag¬
ments through purchase, and the system of joint-cultiva-

tion of sugarcane, still the problem of subdivision and
fragmentation needs an urgent solution.

II. REGARDING THE PEOPLE

(7) Though predominantly inhabited by the Kaliparaj
Atgam reflects in its life the social and economic condi¬
tions of both the Kaliparaj and the Ujaliparaj—the two
big groups of people that dwell .in South Gujarat.

(8) The proportion of active earners (effective popu-
tion) to the total is relatively small in this village.

(9) The village has a high birth-rate.

(10) It has also a high death-rate.

(11) Consequently, the average expectation of life is
low.

(12) A substantial section of the population annually
migrates to outside areas in search of employment.

(^0) The tenor of life led by an average Atgam dweller
is dull and monotonous ; the variations, if any, are dicta¬
ted by the nature of his work.

(14) The general, level of literacy, though higher than
in other Indian villages so far studied, is low.

(15) Religious beliefs and practices have a strong hold

on the life of the people in general. &

(16) Custom rules them with an iron hand and compels
every family-head to perform social ceremonies, even if
incurring debt.

III. REGARDING THE GENERAL FEATURES OF
THEIR ECONOMIC LIFE

(17) Agriculture is the mainstay of this village commu¬
nity, which it pursues with moderate care.

(18) The returns from agriculture are, however, low
and uncertain.

(19) The cattle of the village are inadequate in number

and inefficient in quality. '

(20) The important implements for carrying on cultiva¬
tion are also inadequate.

%8l

■ ^ ^'^ le k° uses of the people are, on the whole, poor

in character and unattractive in appearance.

(22) Furniture in its modern sense is as yet rare in this
village.

- P e ?P Ie village are fond of ornaments

in which they invest their meagre savings, if any; they
are proverbially short of capital and know little of modern
forms of investments.

,.(^ 4 ) The labour problem of the village is acute, as
''f 1 ir ns ^ n § rate.of wages, the efficiency of the labourer
is falling. This is mainly due to outside influences im¬
ported by labourers who occasionally go out in search of
employment.

(25) The marketing organization of farm products like
paddy, gul and mango-fruits, as well as of necessities, is
uneconomical.

(26) All these and other factors like the rise of prices
have a marked effect upon the general economic condition
of the people, which seems to be stationary, if not
deteriorating, during the last decade or more.

IV. REGARDING THE SPECIAL FACTS OF THEIR

ECONOMIC CONDITION AS GAUGED BY STATISTICS

(2 7) The average standard of living varies with the
different groups of the people, but in the case of the majo¬
rity of the Kaliparaj it is decidedly low.

(28) Taking the village as a whole, the average Atgam
dweller just lives from hand to mouth.

(29) Taking the village by economic groups, more
than half of the families inhabiting the village live below
a decent standard of living as understood by them.

(30) The causes of their poverty are the small size of
the holding resulting in low production, over-population
and indebtedness. The first is the primary cause while
the latter two are the accentuating factors.

(31) Looking at the village population as subdivided
into the Kaliparaj and the Ujaliparaj, the former are
found to be worse situated than the latter. The compari-

36

282

son proves the validity of the above-mentioned causes of
poverty.

(32) Over-population accentuates the effects of low pro¬
duction or poverty, and poverty leads to indiscriminate
increase in the population. The vicious circle of over¬
population leading to poverty and the latter in turn to the
former, is complete in the present economic condition of
the village.

( 33 ) The burden of indebtedness acts as a deterrent to
the progressive activities of the people. It is serious for
the village as a whole, though the local co-operative credit
society has done its best to redeem as much of old debt as
possible.

(34) Besides indebtedness, there is another serious pro¬
blem, namely, heavy taxation which seems to be a virtual
drain in a village where poverty is serious, if not ab¬
normal.

SUGGESTIONS

The following are the principal remedies suggested in
connection with the defects mentioned above :

I. MEASURES TO BE UNDERTAKEN BY THE
PEOPLE

(1) In view of the fact that the general nature of the soil
is poor because of its deficiency in plant-foods, the peo¬
ple should make attempts to till' the soil deep and manure
it adequately and properly.

(2) Good manure presupposes healthy cattle and there¬
fore, the people should be very careful in breeding, tend¬
ing, housing and feeding their cattle.

(3) They should apply themselves to agriculture
personally and conscientiously, and should learn to stand
courageously and successfully the uncertainties of weather.

(4) They should try to extend co-operative cultivation
in case of crops other than sugarcane.and attempt a*
consolidation of holdings on a co-operative basis.

283

(5) Ttay. should welcome the idea of co-operative
marketing of farm products and domestic necessities.

( 6 ) They should try to reduce the expenses on social
ceremonies by developing a social opinion among them¬
selves against lavish expenses on unproductive purposes.
„ '() They should regulate their diet; particularly the
Kaliparaj should try to check their habit of excessive drink
and should attempt to raise the standard of living, as well
as their standard of work and income.

It is necessary to remember that all the above sugges¬
tions will remain as pious wishes unless and until the
Government, whether represented by the Agricultural,
Educational or Co-operative Department, assist the peo¬
ple by initiating such measures as are mentioned below.

II. MEASURES TO BE UNDERTAKEN BY THE
GOVERNMENT

( 8 ) Steam-boring operations should be undertaken free
of charge in the beginning.

(9) A single bund, or rather a series of them, should be
constructed at suitable places in the course of the Auranga
river, with a view to supply water through canals to the
village and its neighbouring area, where sugarcane is
raised.

(10) Pure seed and commercial fertilisers should be
supplied to the people at low rates, and cultural operations
with improved implements should be performed frequent¬
ly, with a view to train the people in the use of these
devices.

(x 1) Legislation should be enacted for a compulsory
prevention of further subdivision and fragmentation below
a fixed unit, and for encouraging a voluntary consolidation
of holdings.

(12) In order to absorb the displaced population due to
the application of the above measure, subsidiary occupa¬
tions like rice-hulling, canning of mango-pulp, weaving
and others should be initiated or encouraged.

36 *

284

(13) Co-operaitve societies for marketing farm produce
and necessaries should be started for a group of villages
or for the Bulsar Taluka, with branches and sub-branches
in villages.

(14) The local co-operative credit society should be put
in such a position as to be able to lend money to its mem¬
bers, at a rate of interest varying from about five to seven
per cent.

(15) The burden of old debt should be removed by
starting a Land Mortgage Bank for the Bulsar Taluka
or Surat District in which the village is situated.

(16) Relief should be given to the people of the village
by a reduction in taxation and by spending more on
village welfare than at present.

(17) Above all, efforts should be made to spread ele¬
mentary education at a greater speed, along with a
quarterly course in certain subjects e. g. agriculture and
rural economics.

“Better farming, better business and better living” was
the ideal prescribed for a rural community by Sir Horace
Plunkett, the economic regenerator of Ireland. The
first and the second can be done by the co-operation of
Government and the people, and the third will naturally
follow. What is lacking most on the part of the people is
enthusiasm, and on the part of the State, initiative and
encouragement. Both these are necessary at present for
the solution of the problems of rural poverty in our
country.

In conclusion, let us mention that the essentials for re¬
generating the village community of Atgam are, in short,
education, organisation, industrialisation 1 and co¬
operation.

1 In the restricted sense of developing rural industries.

APPENDIX I

FORM OF SCHEDULE USED IN CONDUCTING

THE ENQUIRY

Name of Head.

Serial No.

House tEHSE* area .-. S <1- ft-

Members of the
family

Age

1

Civil

Condi¬

tion

Literacy

Residing
outside at

Occupation

Liter¬
ate in

Study¬

ing

Princi¬

pal

Sub¬

sidiary

1 .

2 .

3 .

4.

5.

6.

7.

8:

■

i

Total annual
income

Land (net)

Animals (net)

Labour (net)
Skilled j Unskilled

Other

Sources

Total annual
expenditure

Food

Cloth¬

ing

Other

neces¬

saries

Interest

i

Land

revenue

Cash

rent

Repairs

and

renew¬

als

Depreda¬
tion of
livestock
and

deadstock

Total indebtedness

Ordinary

Mortgage

Productive

Unproductive

Total assets

Value of land

Value of
animals

Value of
implements

Value of house

Note; Figures of area to be given in acres.

Figures of value to be given in rupees.

286

ANNUAL RETURNS FROM LAND

Classification of
land

Area

owned

Net income

Area taken
on lease

Net income

Area given
out on lease

Net income

Total

income

Add or
deduct
kind rent
converted
into cash

Total net
income

Irrigated crops
Non-irri gated
crops

Grass

Trees

Total

I

1

s

i

i

1

I

|

|

1 !

J

Land:

(a) Owned.acres in.plots

(b) Cultivated.acres in.plots

Value of rice-land:
Value of dry-crop land :
Value of garden land:
Total value of land:

INDEBTEDNESS

Legal aspects .

Amount . . *

Rate of interest .

Ordinary mort¬
gage . . .

Possessory mort¬
gage . . .

Conditional sale.

Productive pur¬
poses . . .

Seed .

Cultivation .

Animals .

Implements .

Irrigation. .

Land improve¬
ment

House-building .

Debt redemption

Miscellaneous .

Unproductive pur¬
poses

Domestic ex¬
penditure .

Ceremonial .

Miscellaneous .

Compidsory pay¬
ments

Land Revenue
Rent . .

Borrowed , previ¬
ous year

Repaid , previous
year ....

C. C. S. = Co-operative Credit Society

287

ANIMALS

J IMPLEMENTS.

Kind

Number

Js

"3

>

Net income

Kind

Number

Value

Annual

repairing

and

renewing

charges

Cow in milk
Cow, dry
She-buffalo in
milk

She-buffalo, dry
Bullocks
He-buffaloes
Calves

Buffalo-calves

Goats

Sheep

Poultry

Cart

Plough

Axe and pick-axe
Hoe and Panjethi
Scythe and Sickle
Omi

Kosh (water-bag)
Ediu

Clod-crusher
Nangar (big plough)
Harrow
Pharsi

!

:

Total j

1

1

Total j

!

Employment: (a) on land.months

(h) otherwise.months

ECONOMIC HISTORY GENERAL REMARKS

(a) Land owned:

(b) Land purchased:

(c) Land mortgaged:

(d) Land sold:

(e) Cause of sale or mortgage:

(f) Means of purchase:

APPENDIX XI

THE METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING INDICES
OF ANNAWARI

The following were the stages in constructing the indices:

a) We collected figures of total yield in tons, and of
acreage under,

(i) paddy
(ii) kodra

(iii) 'other pulses 9 (including ‘wal’) for the Surat,
District from the Season and Crop Reports.

Notes: (i) These three are the principal cereal and
pulse crops of the village.

(ii) For years prior to 1916-17, statistics of total
yield and acreage under these three crops are
not separately given for Surat District. For
the years 1911-12 to 1916-17, we have therefore
taken the figures of yield and acreage of these
crops given for the whole of British Gujarat
in arriving at the average.

b) We summed up the total yield in tons for each of these
three crops for each year. We also summed up the acreage
under each for each year.

c) For each of the last 15 years, we converted the total
yield in tons for the three crops combined into so many
maunds (taking 1 ton=56 maunds) and divided the total yield
in maunds by the total acreage under the three combined.
The resultant was the average yield of the three crops combined
in maunds per acre for each year.

d) Taking then the highest one of these figures of average
yield as representing ‘12 anna’ crop (and this is the normal
crop adopted as the basis of calculation even in the Season
and Crop Reports) we converted the other figures of average
yield for the rest of the years into anna-valuation in terms of
‘12 anna’ crop.

The final results are adopted as the indices for gauging the
nature of different years. The following table will make this
method clear: We have given, by way of illustration, figures
for three years only.

37

290

The result of the calculation may be thus summarised:—

Year

Index of Annawari

Nature of the Season

1912-13

8

Bad

1913-14

11

Good

1914-15

10

Fair

1915-16

5

Very bad

1916-17

12

Very good

1917-18

10

Fair

1918-19

5

Very bad

1919-20

12

Very good

1920-21

7

Bad

1921-22

11

Good

1922-23

12

Very good

1923-24

10

Fair

1924-25

10

Fair

1925-26

6

Bad

1926-27

10

Fair

APPENDIX III

SHOWING THE ESTIMATE OF THE COST
OF SINKING A WELL

The actual cost of sinking a well in Atgam in
follows:—

1925-26 was as

The internal diameter of the well measured 8-J- feet.

The outer diameter of the well measured 11 feet.

Height of the masonry work built 24 feet.

The circular piece of wood 12"X12", the Chaki, on which the
masonry wall was built.

(a) A tamarind tree cut from the field of the owner of the

well, valued at Rs. 15. Less the worth of fuel obtained
Rs. 3.

aj

Net cost of the wood.jls

Payment on account of felling the tree
and preparing the chaki.

12 0 0
10 0 0

DIGGING THE EARTH
A contract made with the Dublas at piece rates
to dig the earth to the level of water under
the ground ....

. 5 >

Cost of bricks 10000 @ Rs. 7-2-0 per 1000 . „

Cost of carriage of bricks @ Rs. 1-8-0 per 1000 „

14 Khandies of mortar @ Rs. 4-4-0 per khandi
of 20 maunds.

.. 5

45 cartloads of sand were obtained from the
Auranga river on the payment of the cost of a

permit from Government. 5)

Cost of carting mortar @ 0-12-0 per cart . . „

Cost of carting sand @ 1-0-0 per cart . . . 99

Employment of Dublas as labourers during the
construction of the masonry work at 4 annas
per diem 4- cost of toddy given at intervals
of every three days 4“ cost of loaves given
once every day:

35 0 0
71 4 0
15 0 0

59 8 0

1 4 0

10 8 0

45 0 0

37 *

292

(i) In cash Rs. 14- 0-0
(ii) In kind ,, 18-10 0
Total ....

2

masons for 7 days @ 1-8-0 per diem + cost of
liquor + cost of feeding them as they belonged

to some other village :

0 )

(W)

In cash Rs. 21-0-0
In kind ,, 8-6-0

Total

Rs. 27 10 0

29 6 0

Estimated cost of the construction of the top,

8 feet high and other miscellaneous charges ,, 75 0 0

Total Rs. 891 8 0

The farmer in this case was lucky in finding water at a
comparatively higher level. Usually water is found at a much
oreater depth, say 40 to 50 feet below the surface of the ground.
In that case, the cost of digging, masonry work, etc., comes to
almost double the cost we have arrived at above. Thus the cost
of sinking a well in Atgam varies from about Rs. 400 to Rs. 800.

APPENDIX IV

Giving the annual time-table of work of two brothers, possessing
and cultivating 15 acres of land, in Atgam:

1 st JETH to 30th JETH
June—July.

1 . Preparing fields for paddy, Kodra, Nagli, Tur

and Sann—

20 days; 8 hours a day = jgo hours.

2 . Carting and spreading manure in heaps in the

fields—

4 days; 6 hours a day =24 „

S. Top-dressing sugarcane -1 day; 6 hours = ®

4. Sowing paddy, Kodra, Nagli, Tur and Sann

5 days; 8 hours a day = 40 >y

1 st ASADH to SOth ASADH
July—August.

1. Fencing—

8 days; 7 hours a day = 21 „

2 . Transplantation of paddy and nagli—

15 days; 8 hours a day =120 ,,

1 st SHRAVAN to SOth SHRAVAN
August—September.

1 . Weeding paddy-fields—

6 days; 7 hours a day =42 ,,

2 . Weeding Kodra-fields—

20 days; 7 hours a day =140 ,,

5. Weeding Nagli-fields—

4 days; 7 hours a day =28 ,,

1 st to SOth RHADARVO
September—October.

1 . Fencing—

5 days; 7 hours a day =21 ,,

2 . Taking out Sann-fibre—

5 days; 5 hours a day =25 ,,

Carried over 627 hours.

294

Brought forward 627 hours.
1 st to 30th ASO
October—November.

1 . Reaping, collecting, bundling and bringing home

paddy plants bearing sheaves and nagli
sheaves—

15 days; 8 hours a day =120 ,,

2 . Ploughing and sowing wal, Sanbi and castor-

seed—

5 days; 8 hours a day =40 ,,

1 st to 30th KARTAK
N ovember—December.

1 . Reaping, collecting and bringing home Kodra—

8 days; 8 hours a day = 64 ,,

2 . Setting up the sugarcane-press—

2 days; 8 hours a day = 16 ,,

3 . Pressing out juice and manufacturing gul

therefrom—

4 days; 20 hours a day = 80 ,,

4. Cutting grass—

5 days; 7 hours a day = 35 ,,

5 . Planting sugarcane—

1 day; 9 hours a day = 9 ,,

6 . First watering to sugarcane—

4 days; 8 hours a day =32 ,,

1 st to 30th MAGSAR
December—January

1 . Separating and winnowing paddy, nagli, kodra
and marvel.

10 days; 9 hours a day = 90 ,,

1 st to 30th POSH
January — F ebruary.

1 . Weeding wal and castorseed fruits—

3 days; 6 hours a day = 18 ,,

2. Collecting fuel for the sugarcane-furnace next

year—

3 days; 7 hours a day = 21 ,,

Carried over 1152 hours.

295

Brought forward 1152 hours.
1st to 30th MAH

, „ February—March.

1 . Keaping tur—

6 days; 4 hours a day = 24

2 . Reaping wal— ”

5 days; 4 hours a day == 20

Second watering to sugarcane-

3 days; 8 hours a day = 24

4. Digging the sugarcane field with a pick-axe-

4 days; 7 hours a day = 28

5. Separating and winnowing tur and wal—

9 days; 8 hours a dav — 70

. 1 — 5,

1st to 30th FAGAN
March—April.

1 . Reaping and separating castorseed—

7 days; 6 hours a day

== 42

2 . Third watering to sugarcane—

3 days; 8 hours a day

= 24

3. Hand-digging the sugarcane-field -

4 days; 7 hours a day

= 28

4. Bringing grass bundles home-

2 days; 7 hours a day

= 14

1st to 30th CHA1TRA
April—May.

1. Four waterings to sugarcane—

12 days; 8 hours a day

= 96 „

2 ,

Twice hand-digging the sugarcane field—

6 days; 7 hours a day

= 42 ,,

Cutting and packing mango fruits —

2 days; 6 hours a day

= 12 „

1 st to 80th VAISHAKH

May—June.

1 .

Six waterings to sugarcane—

12 days; 8 hours a day

= 96 „

Grand total

1634 hours.

Taking a normal day of 7 hours, the total number of days for
which these two brothers work comes to 233-4 days per annum.
In other words, they work for about 8 months during the year.

APPENDIX V. A

MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM EXPENSES ON MARRIAGE
FOR DIFFERENT CASTES, IN RUPEES

Caste or Class

Of a boy

Of a girl

Remarriage
of a man

Remarriage
of a woman

Dhodias

150/250

50/100

75/100

40/50

Dublas

150/200

25/50

60/100

20/30

Naikas

150/250

40/50

50/75

15/25

Kuknas

100/150

30/50

75/100

10/25

Kolis

250/400

125/200

300/500

50/75

(Anavil) Brahmins

defrayed
from the

dowry

8000/10000

Rajputs

800/1000

200/800

600/700

100/150

Dharwads

250/300

100/150

300/400

50/75

Machhis

400/500

150/250

250/800

30/50

Dheds

200/400

80/150

100/150

20/30

Suthars

500/700

300/700

300/500

75/100

Valands

250/400

100/150

300/500

40/60

Kumbhars

650/800

150/250

1000/1100

75/125

Khalpas

200/800

75/100 j

800/400

40/50

Mochis

200/800

100/150

400/600 |

60/100

Bhangis

50/75

80/50

30/50

20/30

(Jain) Banias

2500/4000

700/1500

Parsis

1500/2500

2000/3000

1000/1500

700/1000

Mahomme-

dans

400/700

150/250

60/125

40/60

APPENDIX V. B

MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM EXPENSES ON DEATH
CEREMONIES FOR DIFFERENT CASTES, IN RUPEES

Caste or Class

Boy

Girl

Man

Woman

Dhodias

10/20

10/20

50/75

50/75

Dublas

5/10

5/10

20/25

10/15

Naikas

5/10

5/10

20/25

10/15

Kuknas

5/10

5/10

30/50

15/25

Kolis

10/15

10/15

50/100

50/100

(Anavil) Brahmins

10/25

8/15

100/500

400/800

Rajputs

80/40

30/40

200/250

200/250

Dharwads

25/40

25/40

70/100

70/100

Machhis

25/40

20/25

100/150

100/150

Dheds

10/20

10/20

60/100

50/75

Suthars

20/30

20/30

300/500

250/400

Valands

10/80

5/15

80/150

50/100

Kumbhars

50/75

50/75

200/800

200/800

Khalpas

15/25

15/25

100/150

100/150

Mochis

8/10

8/10

100/200

100/200

Bhangis

5/10

5/10

30/50

80/50

(Jain) Banias

50/100

50/100

100/250

100/250

Parsis

200/800

200/800

1200/1500

1200/1500

Mabommedans

30/50

30/50

125/200

75/150

38

APPENDIX VI

GIVING DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT THE
FRAGMENTATION OF HOLDINGS IN THE VILLAGE

Holdings of

No. of holdings
with this

No. of plots.

Average area
of holding.
Acres.

Largest

holding.

Acres.

Largest

plot.

Acres.

Smallest

holding.

Acres.

Smallest

plot.

Acres.

One plot.

135

1-07

11*15

11*15

*025

*02

Two plots.

53

2*07

16*1

16

*2

*02

Three

55

44

3*27

16*7

13*17

•27

*02

Four

5 5

23

4*47

15*22

7*12

1*07

*02

Five

7 5

31

7*3

32*27

15*32

*57

*02

Six

55

17

6*12

27*2

13*97

*85

*02

Seven

55

9

5*12

12*12

7*37

1*9

'05

Eight

55

12

9*9

53*87

19*72

1*72

*02

Nine

55

13

6* 77

18*7

9*7

0*97

*02

Ten

55

11

12*25

20*57

10-52

1*05

•02

Eleven

55

9

1*35

33*35

11*87

3

*05

Twelve

55

15

13*07

29*35

9*72

3* 3

*02

Thirteen

55

6

16*52

43*37

8*7

6*77

*05

F ourteen

55

5

7*2

12*57

4*25

S-0T

•02

Fifteen

55

7

28*27

28-82

6*4

3*25

*05

Sixteen

5 5

9

13* 7

45*97

11*6

2*32

*02

Seventeen

55

2

20*12

31*75

11*22

8*5

*02

Eighteen

55

5

15*2?

18*97

6*57

12

*02

Nineteen

55

3

7*5

8*52

1*27

6*65

*02

Twenty

55

3

43*07

48*25

11*7

37*87

*05

Twenty-one

55

4

39*4

67*15

14*02

13*1

*05

Twenty-two

5 5

2

32*65

55*87

13*17

9*45

*75

Twenty-three,,

1

10*3

10*3

1*27

10*3

*05

Twenty-six

5 5

1

15*77

15*77

3*6

15*77

*1

Twenty-seven,,

1

9*9

9*9

*85

9*9

*15

Thirty

5 5

1

28*23

28*23

7*37

28*23

*02

Thirty-one

55

1

27*52

27*52

5*07

27*52

•02

Thirty-three

55

1

57*12

57*12

10*47

57*5

*07

Thirty-five

55

1

68*85

68*85

9*22

68.85

*02

Thirty-seven

55

1

104*45

104*45

12*22

104*45

*05

Thirty-nine

5 5

1

20*82

20*82

4*02

20*82

*02

Forty

5 5

1

63*2

63*2

11*72

63*2

•05

Forty-two

55

1

116*62

116*62

21*25

116*62

*1

Fifty-seven

55

1

62*57

62*57

10*22

62*57

*05

Sixty-nine

55

1

104*55

104*55

1 7*75

104*55

*02

Total Plots 2642. 431 (Holdings).

APPENDIX VII

«mployId n fy a v!nageL. Cattle ' diSeaSeS ^ the traditionaI remedi « s

Name of disease.

English.

Local.

1.

H aemorrh-

Galsuna.

agic septi-
coemia.

■2.

Mouth-d is-

Mova.

ease.

8.

Foot-disease.

Kharva.

4.

Tick-fever.

(bloodshed
in urine.)

d.

Verruca,

Mata.

6 .

Memities.

7.

Cough.

Khamsi.

8.

Choking.

■9.

Timpanitis.

Afro.

10.

Impaction of

Fugvn.

the stom¬
ach.

11.

Diarrhoea.

Atisar.

12 .

Skin-disease.

Khujali.

Remedy employed.

Application of the juice of
or SR%r~kinds of trees; or getting it
brushed by a so-called medical man.

Giving boiled Tur or rubbing the
tongue with the bark of a Babul tree
or with the pulverised leaves of = 5 ^]^
a kind of vegetation. *

Pressing the feet of the animal in hot
dust or tying a bandage of crushed
tobacco leaves and leaves of pine-apple
plants round, the feet.

Giving toddy or alum-water to drink.

Taking oath of the goddess supposed ‘
to control the disease and giving boiled
Tur or chaff of Tur or ghee.

Application of the juice of leaves of
mango trees or rubbing that portion
with a piece of iron or silver. ■

Giving paddy or leaves of bamboo-trees
to eat or rubbing salt on the tongue.

Thrusting a strip of a palm leaf into
the mouth.

Rubbing salt on the back of the animal
or giving salt-water or water taken out
of cucumber, or juice of white onions or
eggs.

Giving liquor or eggs.

Giving ash mixed with sour milk
or plantains.

Application of castor-oil or sesamum-
oil.

APPENDIX VIII

Explaining the method of calculating the receipts from labour.

The average rate of wages taken into consideration, which
entering the receipts from labour in the case of the schedules of
those families who derived income from this source, are assumed to
be 5 annas for a man and 4 annas for a woman.

It is, however, easy to understand that the available period of
employment will vary, in the case of peasant-proprietors who
derive income from labour, with the unit of land they cultivate
and the nature of crops they grow. This point formed one of the
principal difficulties in our way of calculating net income from
labour for these families. After consulting several peasant-
proprietors, who combined labour with agriculture, and several
other intelligent big farmers who employ such labour, and taking
all other things into consideration, we constructed the following
table for calculating annual income by way of wages received by
such peasant-proprietors :

Unit of area cultivated and the nature of
crops grown.

Employ

On land
in

months.

fluent.

otherwise

in

months.

<>)

15

acres

with

sugarcane J

8

1

(2)

n

93

39

other crops

‘ 5

2

(8)

10-15

99

19

sugarcane

7

2

(4)

31

39

13

other crops

4

8

(5)

5-10

93

91

sugarcane

5

2

(«)

99

19

11

other crops

8 !

4

( 7 )

GO

19

33

sugarcane

5

8

(8)

9 9

39

11

other crops

2 ,

5

(9) below 8

99

31

” 1

1

6

These figures, though approximate, are not far from the truth.
We may however mention that the periods of available employ¬
ment assumed above are, if anything, a little longer than those
for which the peasant-proprietors usually get work. We may note
that in the case of those who cultivate sugarcane, the period
available for carting—which type of labour they usually do—is

301

reckoned to be generally one month. We may also note that we
have assumed 15 acres as the size of an economic holding and
hence our other units are mainly based on this figure.

In the case of pure labourers the question of calculating the
receipts from labour was simple. We have generally adopted
8 months as the period available for employment in their case.
In the case, however, of Halis and permanent servants, the period
assumed is one year.

The following few other assumptions were found necessary:—

(i) I* 1 calculating the wages earned by those persons who

go out of the village to do manual labour, we took the figures of
the average rate of wages given to them in our house-to-house
census. We also consulted some of those who had in the past
gone to these places as regards the rates of wages paid. Having
calculated the wages they receive in the working season, we have
deducted therefrom the extra expenditure of living they have to
meet while they are in the outside areas. This we had to do be¬
cause in calculating the annual necessary expenditure incurred by
the families from which persons had emigrated, we included the
cost of maintaining these emigrants at the standard of living
assumed for them when in At gam.

(ii) A Hali, as an individual, is supposed to receive Rs. 150
per year including wages and gifts, if his roaster raised sugarcane;
if not, he is supposed to receive wages at the most for six months,
and gifts both amounting to a sum varying from Rs. 60 to Rs. 90.

(iii) In the case of female labourers the available period for
employment is assumed to be two months per year—mostly in the
seasons of transplanting paddy and reaping cereals and pulses and
occasionally in weeding.

It may be noted that in applying the assumptions to individual
families we have taken into consideration individual peculiarities
like the place of residence and the availability of employment in
that locality, in case of women especially the existence of infants
to take care of and similar other difficulties.

APPENDIX IX

Showing how the usual daily diet of the average Kaliparaj
family, regarded by them as a decent ration, falls short of the
standard diet of efficiency.

We have assumed, in accordance with the notion prevalent
among the Kaliparaj, 5 seers of paddy (yielding about seers of
rice) 3^- seers of nagii and 1^ seers of wal as the average daily
requirements of a normal Kaliparaj family consisting of 1 man,
2 women and 2 children. We shall try here to find out whether
this daily diet supplies the family with as much nutrition as is
necessary for maintaining physical efficiency.

In accordance with our assumption, namely, 1 man = f woman
=§ child, the normal family will be—59/15 adults (male). Convert¬
ing the daily ration mentioned above into ounces per adult,,
the following will be the results :

15*2 oz. of paddy,

13*6 ,, ,, nagii, and

5*4* ,, „ wal.

The following figures, extracted from the Bulletin of the
Agricultural Department No. 124 of 1925 by Prof. D. L„
Sahasrabudhe, show the nutritive value of rice, nagii and wal in
terms of percentages:

Rice

Nagii

Wal

(Ram sal)

(Poona)

(Poona)

Moisture .

10*9

14*36

9*08

Ether extract .

0-65

1*34

1*11

Proteins .

6*13

6*44

20*75

Starch .

31-9?

73*34

58*38

Woody fibre . . .

nil

1*83

6*78

Ash . . . . ,

0*35

2*69

3*90

Though the quality of the three varieties of corn used by the
Kaliparaj dweller of Atgam is inferior to that of those mentioned
above, we shall assume for the purpose of discussion the above-
mentioned analysis to be true in the case under consideration.

Proteins, ether extract or fat and starch are the three
important elements which supply nutrition to the human bodv.
Of these the first is of greatest importance.

The average ration of an average Kaliparaj adult mentioned
above will thus consist of the following quantities of grain:

| Oz.

I Proteins.

! Oz. j

Fat.

Oz.

Starch.

Oz.

Rice

15-2

0*93

0*09

12*45

Nagli

13*6

0*87

0*18

9*97

3*16

Wal

5*4

1*12

0*05

34*2

i

2*92

*33

25-58

Church says that the average Indian who does hard work (e.g.
eld-work) must be supplied every day with S-6S5 oz. of proteins,
2-506 oz. of fat and 16-95 oz. of starch.

Thus it is obvious that the average daily ration of the average
Kaliparaj adult of Atgam is deficient in proteins, the most
important human food for replenishing the worn-out tissues.
In other words, he is a victim of chronic malnutrition.

7 09

appendix X

RURAL INVESTIGATIONS IN GUJARAT

The Greater part of this work was done in 1927, and the claim
made in”he Preface may be maintained in spite of certain recent
activities in the same direction mentioned below.

(1) A general survey of the Pardi Taluka, Surat District
was done by a Committee appointed by the Gujarat
Branch of the Bombay Provincial Co-operative Institute
in 1928; this was published in 1925.

(2) While this book is in the press, “ An Economic Survey
of Aladar”, a village in the Broach District, made by
Mr. G. C. Mukhtyar himself during 1928-29, under the
auspices of the Gujarat Branch of the Bombay Provin¬
cial Co-operative Institute, has been published.

(8) A survey of the economic conditions of the villages of
Vedchhi and Kumbhia (Bardoli Taluka Surat District),
made by Mr. Narhari Dwarkadas Parikh and his
co-workers in May 1929 is being published in instal¬
ments in the monthly supplements of “Navjivan”
(Gujarati).

(4) The Gujarat Vidyapith (the National University at
Ahmedabad, founded by Mahatma Gandhi) has recently
appointed a Committee for the Economic survey of the
Matar Taluka, Kheda District. The survey is to be done
by students under the direction of Professor Coomarappa
and Mr. Narhari Parikh.

(5) Similar work relating to Gujarat is in progress in the
Bombay University School of Economics and Sociology.