'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1904-1905' [‎135r] (45/116)

1904-1905.]
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plague and famine^ the supply of tenants is quite unequal to the demand. As an instance of this it
appears that in some parts of Thana the tenants are practically able to make their own terms with
the landlords. The lean years have further caused a very general return to the old system of
payment of rent in kind and thus the landlord is no longer able to shift the whole burden of the
losses in a poor year on to his tenants. There is, however, little indication of any organised attempt
on the part of tenants to get better terms from the landlords save in Surat where it is reported
that the depressed Kaliparaj, supported however by astute Anavla Brahmans, are endeavouring
to do so. The relations between agricultural landlords and their tenants seem to be quite friendly
as owing to the system of payment in kind the one party cannot gain at the expense of the other,
In very many eases where the tenant has a customary right to cultivate land of which he
is not the actual owner strained relations exist owing to attempts on the part of the owner to
reduce him to the position of a tenant-at-will. Naturally such attempts are bitterly opposed
by the cultivator and not infrequently lead to violence. The reverse of this process seems to be
taking place in Sind where hereditary tenants frequently put forward claims of actual owner
ship to land which they cultivate. The scarcity of labour makes their position very strong but
in a few cases where the zemindars are prepared to enforce their rights the tenants have been
dispossessed. In precisely the same spirit the hereditary “ haris of Rohri, who have practically
developed into khatedars, pay their dues to the zemindars with continually increasing reluctance.
Relations between landlords and tenants in inam villages are rarely cordial. The indmdars are
as a rule unwilling to grant any remissions in bad years and the tenants in consequence delay
the payments of their dues as long as possible not only in bad years when they have difficulty
in meeting their obligations, but also in good years when there should be none. The practice of
granting suspensions to inamdars only in so far as they undertake to extend this concession to
their tenants should produce a distinct improvement.
With revenue-payers as with rent-payers it is a matter of frequent observation that
the inclination to pay dues promptly varies almost inversely with the ability to do so. The
1 Sdvk^r ’ landlord will not pay until the last moment because he wishes to keep the money out
at interest. Others again withhold payment in the hope of getting the benefit of any ultimate
remissions or suspensions, while in some districts a not inconsiderable number seem to regard
resistance to the payment of any Government dues whatever as an essential article of their faith.
Chap. II.
ADMINISTRA
TION OF THE
LAND.
2. In Kaira a total area of 45,765 acres has now now been granted on the new tenure. Working of Act
Out of an original forfeited area of 68,020 acres, 33,932 acres have now been disposed of in this V1 of 1901 ‘
way. In the Panch Mahals a further area of 7,946 acres was given out on this tenure, the area so
held at the beginning of the year being 78,288 acres. Land is not so freely taken on the restricted
tenure in Thana, the area given out during the year amounting to only 1,610 acres. In this
district a considerable area of Government waste land has been given out on annual lease to hill
tribes on easy terms under the Woodland scheme. The restricted tenure does not appear to
make much headway in the Deccan. In Ahmednagar 240 acres were given out during the
year. In Khandesh, however, a district which is peculiarly suited for its operation, a total area
of 1,77,tOO acres had been given out by the end of the year under report. Sholapur with
589 acres given out during the year has now a total area of 9,258 acres held on this tenure.
In Bijapur 2,278 acres were given out, the total area of land on which the right of transfer is
restricted now amounting to 4,862 acres. In Karachi and the Upper Sind Frontier 4,433
acres and 8,252 acres respectively were granted on the restricted tenure.
3. As far as figures are available they show that assistance and ejectment suits in the Assistance and
Northern Division diminished from 5,222 and 1,006 to 3,743 and 926. In the Central Division ofchcr sult3 *
there was a considerable decrease in the number of assistance suits while that of ejectment suits
remained about the same. In the Southern Division the figures were practically the same as in
the previous year. In Sind such figures as are available show that there was a decrease in the
number of assistance suits but an increase in the number of suits for ejectment.
4. The long series of bad years appears to have somewhat checked the acquisition of land
by the non-agricultural classes although in Kolaba and Ratnagiri the number of transfers,
mortgages and sales is reported to be on the increase and the land appears to be rapidly passing
into the hands of non-agriculturists. Although the Deccan Agriculturists’ Relief Act affords
the ryot very considerable protection yet the provisions of that Act are reported to be evaded in
Satara by a custom of handing over land on a sale-deed as security for money lent, the sdvkar
giving an oral agreement to return the land on repayment of the loan. As the agriculturist
frequently fails to keep up his payments the land passes quietly into the hands of the money
lender, the original holder remaining on the land as a tenant. Out of 7,983 acres which changed
hands in Kaira, 3,995 acres passed from agriculturists to non-agriculturists while only 443 passed
from non-agriculturists to agriculturists. In the Surat district, however, where 2,544 acres and
2,^82 acres respectively were so transferred the disproportion is not so marked. In Thana the
acquisition of land by savkar landlords continues, but many of the P£rsi land-holders take great
interest in agriculture and some supervise the cultivation of their own lands. The registration
figures afford interesting evidence of the effect of a cycle of bad seasons on the acquisition of land
by the money-lending classes. Throughout the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. mortagage transactions have decreased
while the figures for sales remain steady. Under the Village Registration Act mortgages both
with and without possessions have fallen below the normal standard to t he extent of 25 to
t>0 per cent. Money-lenders are increasingly unwilling to advance money to land-holders on
anything save the absolute security of landed estate.
B 780—6
Transfer of
tenant’s rights