Whitcombe_Agrarian Conditions_Notes

Pdf page nos.

Pg. 34: in 1877: NWP and Oudh brought under a single administration

1901- United Provinces created

3S@

Supplementary sources of watering: streams, jhils, tanks, and above all wells - individually a well
irrigated not more than 1.4 acres: total 3,000,000 & 4,000,000 acres irrigated by wells by 1860-61 -
1/7th of the total cultivated area by 1860-61 under shallow earthen wells and some deeper masonry
structures - in areas of predominantly sandy soil with a water table below approx. 20 feet.

Prior to CANALs: qty of moisture in the surface layers of the soil and more important, the distance
from surface of spring level was chiefly function of annual monsoon - well irrigation could neither
bring about an increase in the spring level nor at the max irrigating capacity result in an excessive
application of water at surface

gravity flow canals percolated through earthen walls of the channels increased moisture content of
soil and within a few years led to sub-soil saturation

Flush instead of lift irrigation led inevitably to an abandonment of the old caution in applying water
which labour of peasants and bullocks had dictated

Following first 2-3 years rise in productivity patches of less than top-grade soil composition tended
to show a decline in fertility status through over cultivation - 'beyond its optimal limits'

cultivators and bullocks laid off: released from arduous, lengthy rhythms of well lifts - they had no
alternative employment to offset this disruption of their work pattern and condemned to periodic
idleness

Canal dept found it difficult to recommend Lift (at higher cost) as alternative to Flush irrigation -
would hamper economic principle of widening water market to its greatest feasible limits upon
which canal's earnings depended

1874_setting up of Dept of Agriculture: what remained within its purview was mostly experiments
with exotic varieties of crops and quaint expensive machinery ill-adapted in essence to local
environment - diffusion of such crops also proved difficult

Officials in the field thought it not so useful to diffuse practices of experimental crop production
when the crying need was to encourage supplementary well irrigation by developing takavi loans -
takavi loans mostly extended to 'respectable men'- In times of scarcity, the strictures for giving
takavi was relaxed but lack of funds on takavi account meant little more than the most summary
contribution to relief

In view of modernization, govt found it necessary to reform crucial elements of its fiscal system -
assumption of a broad divn of society into legal categories of 'landlord' and 'tenant' had been
introduced with provisions for subdivisional classification; these had proved consistently
unsatisfactory - By 1855 revision of settlement terms set by Regulation IX of 1833- proportion of
gross rental claimed by govt from landlord became 50% as opposed to the earlier 66.66%;
meanwhile the assessment now operative over a greatly increased area was more rigorously defined
by introduction of scientific principles based on qualitative estimates of fertility according to soil
classification - estimates of gross rent henceforth to be tied to estimates of productivity - resultantly
a 'rent rate' as reference point for given units of like soil composition came about

wHERE THE WATER TABLE WAS HIGH AND SOILS RANGED FROM COMPACT TO HEAVY LOAM -
KACHHA OR SIMPLE EARTHEN WELLS - LINED With thick cables of straw or twigs could be
constructed readily and at little cost for materials - Sleeman estimated Rs 5-10 expense - though
given that much of these materials were sourced from nearby groves over which cultivators had
rights, the rupees estimate might ne misleading

17th C Dutch Observer: Around Agra - where light soils predominated, wells were commonly
renewed each Rabi season. In Bhur (sandy) tracts of upalnd areas where water lay deeper below
surface, wells were impracticable - only pukka wells.

The distribution of wells per cultivated area was therefore far greater in low-lying lands and greatest
of all in the Doab region - worked by one or two pair of bullocks harnessed to a charrus or leather
bucket drawing 15-20 gallons of water at a time.

Irrigation from streams and tanks where teams of 2-4 cultivators lifted the water manually in behris
on cords into guls was both inefficient and expensive

Proportion of area irrigated by Western Jumna Canal that re-excavated by Shah Jahan was
somewhat minimal compared to well irrigated lands - 1860-61: of total cultivated area through MWP
of some 24,000,000 acres, not less than 3,000,000-4,000,000 acres watered by wells - by then, canal
system irrigated 1/3rd of this at 1,000,000 acres.

Which crops benefited from irrigation - not Kharif food grains which supplied the staple of majority
of population and depended on rainfall. Amongst kharif crops, cotton, vegetables, indigo, tobacco
needed irrigation - Sugarcane needed extensive irrigation

During Rabi - not the coarse, common gram but rather the finer grains, wheat and barley needed to
be watered artificially to supplement in the lighter rains of cooler months. When rains failed,
farmers could only look to irrigation - but generally that part which was recoverable customarily
depended on irrigation and did not supply farmers with staple foods.

Pg. 64- Kacchis as also a successful group of cultivators cultivating with dhekli mode of well irrigation
on small plots with thorough watering – commented in the 1870s to be quite successful.

Given harsh conditions, it is hardly a surprise that settlements of more industrious castes were not
as a rule to be found in Bandra

Canal development was concentrated in those areas where facilities existed for it - that is in western
districts of the NWP those districts had a long established and sophisticated pattern of farming in
which well irrigation particularly played a large part

Baird-Smith estimated that in 1848-49 - number of masonry wells in NWP came to some 13,337 of
which 75,523 were in the Doab - Mutiny brought this number to 70,000 with each wells irrigating 4.5
acres per season - corresponding numbers of kachha wells estimated to be about 280,000 each
irrigating 1.5 acres on an average per season - from this Baird Smith estimated that 1,470,000 acres
in the Doab were irrigated by wells in 1860-61

Pg. 98-99: For its part in supplying dense population, the well irrigation of the Doab was not
regarded by Baird Smith and other official observers trained in engineering as wholly inefficient -
effects of wells less open to doubt as those of canal irrigation. Labour required to work the wells
ensured the maximum use of water drawn. Produce from well irrigation is also larger and better
than that watered in any other way

For its part in supplying dense population, the well irrigation of the Doab was not regarded by Baird
Smith and other official observers trained in engineering as wholly inefficient - effects of wells less
open to doubt as those of canal irrigation. Labour required to work the wells ensured the maximum
use of water drawn. Produce from well irrigation is also larger and better than that watered in any
other way - only trouble with wells was that they did not produce enough - for the land to be
induced to produce more, canals were required

1866- Chaprauli - inroads of canals had left most wells in disuse and that well-sinking was almost
entirely abandoned. It would be better, it was thought if people took more to well cultivation to
guard against the uncertainties of canal supply.

Canals helped grow sugar and other more valuable crops - but against this a total dependence on
uncertain water supply came about since wells were ruined.

In which products was the increase from canal irrigation realized: peasantry relied on kharif millets -
jowar and bajra and various pulses for staple - these and fodder for draught beasts were generally
grown on wider areas of middle and even poor quality soils dependent for their moisture on periodic
rainfall.

Irrigated lands of better and top-quality soils was used for the heavier and more valuable crops
which required careful attention and a number of waterings in addition to rainfall for good yields.

What sort of protection did the canals offer in the event of a drought - when the summer rains
failed, it was the staple kharif grains and fodder crops which suffered - where the winter rains were
insufficient - it was the poorer rabi crops

Famine years of 1868-69 - Govt in NWP exhibited a pattern which was to reappear whenever the
rains failed - at the beginning of the drought - Govt issued a circular encouraging the sowing of grain
and fodder crops in canal irrigated areas...It was not until the August 1868 that a rush for water took
place, after the destruction of the kharif harvest was imminent. Farmers will only take canal water to
save not improve the coarser grain crops.

Wells require a large livestock and great labour - soil reaps 2 benefits therefrom - more manure
saved from burning and the tendency to overfarm checked

Kachhis, the skilled gardener-cultivators, and even the officers of the Govt Opium Dept seemed to
have had a marked preference for wells.

Far from firing him with the much-heralded spirit of industriousness, canal irrigation required less by
way of labour from the farmer than his well had demanded.

It was not always a matter of choice for farmer, he had to use canal water where canal put local
wells out of use - especially where it had well-digging impracticable by rise in water table

Deleterious effects of canals on wells were by now widely noted - Saturation of the subsoil was
specially common in bhur (sandy tracts) irrigated by canals and this is turn cause the side of kacha
wells to fall in - Remedy to construct a masonry pakka well was somewhat inconceivable given its
cost in materials and labour.

In 1870 agricultural dept created with GOI - during Lord Mayo's time - before this, attention of govt
mainly t/w collecting revenue and liitle had been done to develop agricultural resources – but not
very effective as narrated by a.o.hume – In 1874 a subsidiary dept set up at NWP – but had limited
bidget – with well sinking being one of the budgetary heads amongst others.

Court of Wards Estates carried on their experimental farms – costly experiments almost academic in
character with costly equipments like masonry wells.

The Indian Govt by placing three of the most valuable and powerful mineral manures so largely
extant in this great empire under lock and key of the excise (namely, SALT, NITRATE OF POTASH AND
NITRATE OF SODA) under excise has virtually rendered agricultural improvements an impossibility -
since these can't be freely manufactured from saline soils, we have to import them from England,
Europe or Egypt

1865: Steam ploughs and threshing machines will be of no use here till bullocks' price rises to 40 gbp
or the cooly's wages rises to 14s. a week and corn at English prices - weediing machines he can never
want for he has cheap and abundant weeding power in the women and children of his village - he
will dispense with all their machinery of they will simply given him help to make wells and place the
water within his reach...'

Takavi situation - effectively barred access to majority of cultivators through later half of 19th c - for
smallholders, the qualiffcation for assistance still remained 'distress' in 1891 Voelcker noted wisdom
of Govt proposals of Govt proposals to five loans for well-digging - making revenue the point off
takavi (?)

Ch. III- Revised Revenue Settlements

First systematic settlement of NWP under Regulation VII of 1822 whoch basically took local maliks
who held office as zamindars before british rule - these people became landlords - beneath them
came wide variety of sub-proprietors without clearly defined - these people became tenants - but
this 1822 regulation's cumbersome method of assessment proved unworkable after a decade's
experience

Then came the refinements of Regulation IX of 1833 - which was the first to be based on local
records of rights compiled under the supervision of settlement authorities by patwaris, the
accountants who held heriditary office under zamindars - these records were held to establish the
recognized proprietary right of zamindars - and the rents recorded in them as payable to zamindar
by cultivators of his mahal were the basis of assessment - fixd at the equitable proportion of 66.67%
- 2 categories of rent-paying tenantry - maurusi or tenants with hereditary right of occupancy &
ghair-maurusi, tenants cultivating fields within the mahal but resident outside it

1833 regulations were majorly developed through a set of rules drawn up in 1855 establishing a new
principle which became the crux of future assessments - officials were to ascertain rates for
valuation from aggregate recorded rentals of mahals composing a pargana or a 'vicinage' - rental as
recorded in accounts for each mahal was to be compared with this deduced 'rent rate' which was
then to be adjusted if it proved too much in excess of assets recorded for the majority of mahals.
zamindars thus incentivised to increase area under cultivation if their rents fell below this level –
since new std. of assessment increased govt’s claims to rental assets, govt sharereduced to 50%
from 66.67% w/o fear of loss in revenue.

Emphasis in these settlement directives wqs placed more than ever before on actuality - the rent
rate was to be calculated according to official instruction from data amassed and direct enquiry - a
'basis fo rent-rates' to be created how is this tobe done: 1.Find out whether in any area rent
adjusted by custom or by compeition? 2. Measure customary rents 3. If there is a dispute here,
arrive at actual figure by means of inquiry - in this he was to apply as his std. the custom of the
pargana or vicinage - should he decide in favour of maurusi, then next course of action contained in
Bengal Recovery of Rents Act X of 1859. - Ghair-maurusi ryots lay beyond the pale of protective
clause of revenue and rent legislation

Given the practical restrictions of limited means employed in this exhaustive project of field by field
recording, estimated often replaced actual in compilation of revenue accounts

1868 - Elliott's Rent-Rate Report for pargana Chibramau that made for a revolution in settlement
work of inspection and finding assumed rates - key to this method was the correct measurement of
soils, the basis of comparison between different villages as the great principle underlying Elliott's
system. -- Previously the S.O.'s source for ascertaining actual rental had been village returns -
zamindar's nikasi - but this was a highly diverse document influenced by fluctuations in local social
circumstances and often exceedingly difficult to comprehend within the abstract frame of ref. of the
revised settlements - Elliott's revolution now provided the harassed S.O. with a basis of estimation of
actual conditions -but of a NATURAL not SOCIAL order. although free of local manipulation, this
could be also devoid of social significance - but preference went to the relatively precise soils rates -
officers differed only in order in which they dealt with the 2 sources.

The crux of settlement problem: not simply contained by zamindari duplicity - but that local records
fitted a context radically different from that recognized in settlements - indeed records applied to a
context where social differentiation was paramount and formulated as dues and claims where no
arithmetical standards could create a recognized rent-rate and in which the zamindar cultivator
relationship was the basis of amount exacted

A dilemma that could not be solved by administration - the amount of zamindar's charges depended
on his wealth and on his power - where these fluctuated, charges also fluctuated and where the
charges corresponded to the sober arithmetical estimate of the S.O. it was largely coincidence - as a
consequence it became impossible to detect fraud

Claims of adminstration to have introduced a new sense of stability through its improved revenue
system under the revenue system dubious at best.

In view of all problems , a permanent settlement urged by likes of Baird-Smith - but in 1862 SS
stipulated that this could only be thought for places weher cultivation had expanded to its spatial
limits - based on common assumption that optimum level of production was identical to maximum
degree of expansion - problem of late 19th c administration was that while a permanent settlement
would certainly supply motive for enterprise for landlord by leaving him free from periodic
harassments of periodic reassessments - it could necessarily mean a surrender of revenue on
potentially rising value of crops and increasingly improved cultivation

Rents not necessarily co-ordinated with price rise - rents - governed by power of zamindars

Rents not necessarily co-ordinated with price rise - rents - governed by power of zamindars - but s.o.
necessarily supplied with assumption that rent rise follows price rise - his assessments of the
'expanding' areas were therefore calculated on assumed rates enhanced by his estimate of increased
capacity - consequence was that assessments came to dictate rise in rents - where zamindars were
in a position to secure it

Canals were important revenue earners to the Govt on 2 main accounts: dues collected by Irrigation
Dept and the increment to the land revenue charged on 'enhanced rents' of irrigated areas
In addition, North Indian Canal and Drainage Act VIII of 1873 provided for assessment of owner's
rate - at 1/3rd of existing occupier's rate - justification for this - it was assumed that zamindars of
tracts commanded by canals will within a very short period realize from cultivators, about 1/3rd of
the net increase in value of produce attributable to canal

Pg. 166- wide-ranging fiscal ramifications of the canals

The process of refinement and abstraction in revenue demand based on estimates obtained with
minimum direct interference in local affairs and calculated in terms of what was assumed to be
equitable rather than what was seen to be actual could take little account of the condition of the
revenue-paying classes - zamindars and talukdars - question of their capacity to meet the demand
was not confined to the extent to which productivity of soils in their mahals corresponded to the
settlement officers' assumptions or expectations

The final assessments as drawn up on the basis of soil rates and such vernacular records as were
broadly consonant with them had to be declared before the disparate 'proprietary bodies; of each
pargana and distributed amongst them. The general rule was that a proposed distribution of the
demand other than according to the quality of the soild must be approved unanimously, which was
difficult to hope for generally.

Far from being controlled by the results of the harvests, its climate etc., realization of demand of
revenue depended on the zamindar's capacity - increases in revenue demand under the revised
settlements necessitated increased exploitation of their resources by the zamindars - assessments
under rules of political economy could signify up to 40-100 % increase since last settlement -
expansion of cultivation offered little by way of a solution as it almost automatically entailed an
enhancement of the revenue demand and the result could not be other than a vicious spiral - far
more commonly, zamindars looked to their haqs to cope with new pressures and chiefly to charges
on cultivators which secured greater part of their income

Viewed as landlord-tenant relationships - zamindars did little to improve their estates - if a kacha
well is to be dug, the tenant would find capital to do it ...Lucknow zamindars tended to bypass the
privileged groups of Thakurs and Brahmans and come down hard on the remaining classes -
labourers of the soil w/o traditional privileges - the vulnerability of this unprivileged majority is
undeniable - but the position of upper class cultivators vis-a-vis zamindars was more complicated

1859 Bengal Recovery of Rents Act X - recognised zamindar's right to enhance rent in accordance
with Power assumed by chief Landlord, the Government to enhance its claim to revenue - but the
zamindar could only only enhance rent of 'tenant-at-will' to whom no new legal righst were
conferred. Act X of 1859 strengthened potential opposition to zamindar from privileged groups - it
created a prescriptive right to occupancy - to be claimed at law by cultivators on presentation of
proof of their continuous occupation or cultivation of a given holding over a period of no less than 12
years - occupancy status was attractive as no direct liability to revenue - legally constituted as free
from guarantee of the zamindar - it entitled holder to resist in the courts the zamindar's attempts at
enhancement -

SUits by zamindars for ouster generally aimed at preventing the accrual of occupancy rights within
their mahals - also expensive enhancement suits resulting from assessment being based on higher
rents than what is obtained by actual practice-

With the move to enhance rents, dictated by revised settl;ements came attempts to consolidate
zamindari cesses with rents and thus under the NWP Revenue Act XIX of 1873 cesses regarded as
deriving from occupation of land were henceforth to be included with the zamindar's rent -
Miscellaneous sayer revenues were legally abolished - though the s.o.'s only sanction against
zamindars continuing such exactions seems to have been to refuse to record them in official set of
village papers – not much evidence that such orders were actually carried out

Kisht system…failure to control it…leading up to serious indebtedness

Ch. On indebtedness

1869 - Except in masonry wells very little capital is actually invested in the soil

..

Moneylending hardly only a monopoly of trading castes, but is largely engaged in also by well-to-do
Rajputs and Brahmans

Check Appendix 8 for tenant categories till 1873 NWP Tenancy Act.