Colonisation
was still in progress in 1918.
Cambridge History of India - v4 - Indian Empire
39; Moral
and Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882-3, p. 132.
## p. 280 (#318) ############################################
280 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
above lines in 1860 and completed in 1873. In about one-third of the
province, there being no talukdars, settlement was made with the
village communities in the usual way. Certain special incidents of
the talukdari tenure were regulated by legislation in 1869.
The land-revenue administration of the North-Western Provinces
was placed on a statutory basis by Act XIX of 1873 and that of Oudh
by Act XVII of 1876. They were replaced by Act III of 1901,
which
applies to the present United Provinces (of Agra and Oudh). The
corresponding enactments for the Panjab were XXXIII of 1871 and
XVII of 1887. All these deal with the powers and functions of revenue
officers of all grades, with the principles and procedure of land-revenue
assessment, and with the maintenance of records of rights; but the
subjects of tenancy and rent are regulated by separate enactments.
In the newly constituted Central Provinces most of the villages were
of the ryotwari type. Under the oppressive rule of the Marathas very
many of them had been farmed, commonly to their own headmen,
who were termed patels. Over groups of others various classes of
persons, local tribal chiefs or their relatives, grantees of state revenue,
and others, had acquired a proprietary status on quasi-feudal con-
ditions as jagirdar or talukdar. Prior to . 1861 summary settlements
of various kinds had been made. It was decided at the regular settle-
ment, which began in 1863 and was completed in 1870, to recognise
all the above classes as proprietors, under the common designation of
malguzar, or revenue-payer, and to make the settlement with them. 1
This arrangement, however, in strong contrast to the Bengal system,
was combined with an ample measure of tenant-right, by which a
large majority of tenants received substantial protection. This form
of settlement is known as malguzari. In the first regular settlement the
assessment of land-revenue followed generally the "aggregate to
detail" method already described. 2 Tenants whose claims were based
on length of time or on the expenditure of capital on improvements
were recognised as full proprietors of their holdings, practically
independent of the malguzar. Others with weaker claims were allowed
an occupancy tenure, varying in its incidents, but in all cases affording
security in respect of ejectment and rent, the latter being fixed at
settlement but liable to periodical revision. The tenancy law was
codified on the above principles by acts passed in 1883 and 1898,
which also gave a measure of similar protection to ordinary tenants
without occupancy right. The land-revenue "law of the Central
Provinces was embodied in Acts XVIII of 1881 and XII of 1898. 4
In consequence of the special position of tenants rents have ceased to
be the direct result of economic forces, so that the assessment of land-
1 Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, 385-8; Adm. Rep. Cent. Provs. 1911-12, pp. 22, 23; Moral and
Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882–3, p. 137.
2 Baden Powell, op. cit. II, 390.
· Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, 478-99; Adm. Rep. Cent. Prous. 1911-12, p. 26.
• Baden Powell, op. cit. 17, 501.
## p. 281 (#319) ############################################
TENANT RIGHT
281
revenue is primarily the assessment of such rents as the settlement
officer may consider reasonable in the circumstances of the tract
concerned. The actual method employed, known as the “soil unit"
system, is complex. Its main object is the equalisation of rent incidence
with reference to the quality of soil, which is minutely classified by
means of a proportionately numerical valuation in terms of an
assumed common unit, known as the "soil unit". Having regard to
certain general considerations a fair rent rate per unit is determined,
and by a discreet application of this rate, more or less modified
according to local circumstances, a fair rental for each holding and
village is framed. 1 The land-revenue due to the government is about
one-half of the sum thus obtained. The land-revenue of Berar, which
is not legally British territory, though it is attached to the Central
Provinces, has been settled on the ryotwari system in force in the
Bombay Presidency. 2
In all three provinces assets due to agricultural improvements
effected by private labour and capital are exempted from assessment
for a period of years sufficient to yield a remunerative return; while
the rigidity of the fixed land-revenue demand is mitigated by its
suspension or, when necessary, by its ultimate remission, on occasions
of widespread agricultural calamity.
For many years after the Mutiny tenant right constituted a very
intricate problem in the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, and the
Panjab. The Bengal Act X of 1859 applied only to the first, but it was
replaced by the successive North-Western Provinces Acts XVIII of
1873 and XII of 1881, though neither effected any change of prin-
ciple. These acts protected certain tenants of long standing in the
permanently settled Benares districts as well as tenants who had once
been proprietors, and they maintained the twelve-years rule which
has been already explained in another chapter. A certain measure of
protection was also accorded to the interests of all tenants, while
collectors and subordinate revenue officers were empowered to dispose
judicially of suits between them and landlords. The later Act II of
1901 effected no radical changes. In Oudh the first tenancy law was
the Rent Act XIX of 1868. In view of the wide protection afforded
to sub-proprietors under the talukdari settlement, occupancy right was
allowed only to those tenants who had lost proprietary right within
the thirty years preceding annexation, but this being found to be
insufficient, a subsequent act (XII of 1886) went further by ensuring
to all non-occupancy tenants a tenure for seven years without increase
of rent; and even this measure has been found to be inadequate.
In the Panjab in 1863 a controversy arose as to the propriety of the
1 Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, 415-31; Adm. Rep. Cent. Prous. 1911-12, pp. 30–2.
: Adm. Rep. Cent. Provs. pp. 27, 33.
• Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, p. 175; Adm. Rep. Unit. Provs, 1911-12, p. 19.
• Baden Powell, op. cit. n1, 246-9; Adm. Rep. Unit. Provs. p. 19.
## p. 282 (#320) ############################################
282 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
methods by which tenant right had been treated in the first regular
settlement. It led to a lengthy enquiry into the actual status of tenants
throughout the province, of which the ultimate outcome was the
Panjab Tenancy Act XXVIII of 1868. 1 While saving, subject to a
few exceptions, all rights previously conferred, it abolished, for the
future, acquisition of occupancy right by mere lapse of time. On the
basis of existing custom and with reference to considerations of equity,
five classes of cultivators were defined as eligible for such a right, its
incidents varying with each class. The act also regulated the rents of
occupancy tenants, and afforded some measure of protection to all
tenants. It was considerably amended and amplified in details by the
existing Act XVI of 1887.
Mainly as a result of the famine of 1860–1 the question of the
extension of the permanent settlement to Upper India was revived
after the lapse of fifty years. 2 An influential official school inclined
to the view that such a measure would foster economic prosperity, and
in 1862 the secretary of state, Sir Charles Wood, went so far as to
accept it in principle. But further prolonged discussion of methods
and details showed not only its impracticability but also its essential
unwisdom, and in 1882 it was finally abandoned after it had been
established that in permanently settled tracts prosperity was no
greater than elsewhere. In recent years short-period settlements have
been avoided as far as possible, and a general term of thirty years
adopted, except in tracts where specially rapid development due to
the construction of state canals is foreseen.
Special measures for the organised collection of reliable information
regarding the economic condition of a vast agricultural population,
coupled with the maintenance of correct records of landed rights, were
initiated in the last quarter of the century. 3 Previous efforts in this
direction had been confined to the occasion of a settlement of the
land-revenue, so that by the expiration of its term, many years later,
the statistics and records had necessarily become hopelessly out of
date. In 1875 reform was initiated in the North-Western Provinces,
and five years later a Famine Commission strenuously recommended
the establishment of special departments in each province. These
were constituted in 1880 under the designation of departments of land
records and agriculture, each under a provincial director. Originally
they had little concern with technical agriculture: their function was
to secure the two main objects alrcady indicated. Of the first the
primary purpose is to obtain the earliest possible information of the
premonitory symptoms of famine, though many other useful ends are
also secured. By the continuous maintenance of correct records of
1 H. of C. Papers, 1870, vol. Lui; Panjab Sett. Manual, p. 100 sq. ; Baden Powell, op. cit.
II, 705-22.
2 H. of C. Papers, 1887, vol. 2; Baden Powell, op. cit. 1, 340–9; Panjab Sett. Manual, p. 254;
Moral and Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882-3, pp. 117-19.
3 Baden Powell, op. cit. 1, 349-60; Report of Famine Commission, 1880; Imp. Gaz. IV, 24.
## p. 283 (#321) ############################################
IRRIGATION
283
a
rights it was hoped to shorten the settlement operations periodically
undertaken in each district, a hope which has been realised. The
introduction of more scientific methods of cadastral survey has greatly
promoted progress in this direction, while all transfers of right are
promptly attested and registered, correct record being thereby facili-
tated. As the result of the policy adopted, the three provinces now
possess up-to-date land records probably unrivalled in the world, and
containing detailed information about each one of several millions of
fields and holdings and many thousands of villages; while the usual
duration of settlement operations in a district has been reduced from
six years to little more than three.
The importance of irrigation is indicated by the fact that the total
area of crops irrigated by state canals in the Panjab and the United
Provinces increased from seven and a half million acres in the first
years of the present century to nearly eleven million acres in 1917-18,
while the entire capital cost of the works in the latter year was approxi-
mately twenty-two millions sterling. The greatest progress has been
in the Panjab where the area irrigated quadrupled during the forty
years ending 1918. It was in 1866, when Lord Lawrence, as viceroy,
inaugurated the policy of financing productive public works from
loan funds, that the modern development of irrigation began. The
first-fruits were the Sirhind Canal in the cis-Satlej-Panjab, which,
originally proposed in 1841, was sanctioned in 1870 and opened in
1882, with a total length, inclusive of branches and distributaries, of
3700 miles; the Lower Ganges Canal in the southern part of the Doab
of the North-Western Provinces, sanctioned in 1872 and completed
in 1878, and the Agra Canal, opened in 1874, which provides irriga-
tion on the west of the Jumna. Between 1870 and 1876 the Upper
Bari Doab Canal, and fifteen years later the Western Jumna Canal
were greatly improved and extended.
But the colony canals of the Panjab have been the most striking
irrigational development of the period under review. Their primary
object was not to serve areas already cultivated, but to make possible
the colonisation and development of the immense areas of waste
crown land which existed in the province within recent years and on
which large numbers of colonists selected from congested districts
have since been settled on specific terms as lessees of the state. The
encouraging results of two experiments made on non-perennial canals
in the 'eighties led to more ambitious schemes. In 1890 work began
on a perennial canal, with a head weir from the river Chenab,
designed to irrigate the waste tract-termed Bar-lying between it
and the Ravi. Now known as the Lower Chenab Canal, it has proved
1 Imp. Gaz. II, 331; Statistical Abstract relating to British India, 1917-18, p. 150.
Imp. Gaz. IV, 329; H. of C. Papers, 1866, vol. Lii; 1867, vol. i.
• Triennial Review of Irrigation, 1918-21, Calcutta, 1922, pt , chap. v.
• Idem, pt m, chap. vi.
## p. 284 (#322) ############################################
284 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
to be one of the most successful irrigation systems in India, if not in
the world. Its total length is nearly 2700 miles. Colonisation began
in 1892, with the aid of a defective "inundation" canal, but the new
canal was not complete until 1899. By 1901 the population of the
tract had increased from practically nil to 800,000, while the area
now annually irrigated exceeds two million acres. The yearly net
revenue from the canal is nearly 40 per cent. of its capital cost of more
than two millions sterling. The headquarters of the colony are at
Lyallpur, one of the most flourishing towns in Upper India. The
second Colony Canal, the Lower Jehlam, in the tract between the
rivers Jehíım and Chenab, though sanctioned in 1888 was not begun
until 1898 and was opened in 1902. Its results have been satisfactory.
At the beginning of the century a project was on foot for the irrigation
of the lower portion of the Bari Doab from the river Satlej. Meanwhile
a commission’ was appointed in 1901 for the formulation, after full
enquiry into past results and existing needs, of a definite irrigation
policy for India as a whole. It reported in 1903. It found in the
Panjab one of the few tracts in which there was scope for the execution
of large productive schemes, which would both be financially re-
munerative and also augment the food supply of the country. It
supported the proposal to irrigate the lower part of the Bari Doab
while recommending the examination of an alternative scheme,
suggested by Sir James Wilson, a distinguished civil servant, and
Col. Jacob, an eminent irrigation officer, which substituted for a canal
from the Satlej a chain of canals which would successively convey the
water of the river Jehlam across the intervening Chenab and Ravi
rivers to the lower Bari Doab. This scheme, now known as the Triple
Projects and comprising the Upper Jehlam, Upper Chenab and
Lower Bari Doab canals, was ultimately approved. Its construction,
which cost seven millions sterling, took ten years, from 1905 to 1915.
The first two canals supply water to the third while irrigating extensive
areas in the tracts through which they pass. The total length of the
canals with distributaries is 3400 miles and the area irrigated nearly
two million acres.
Colonisation was still in progress in 1918.
In the United Provinces the Betwa Canal, a protective work for
insecure districts in Bundelkhand, was opened in 1885 and proved its
value in the later famines. The Irrigation Commission recommended
other protective but non-remunerative works, of which the Ken Canal,
also in Bundelkhand, was opened in 1908. Up to 1907 there were no
state irrigation works in the Central Provinces. Until 1896 a com-
plete failure of rain had been unknown, but in the following famine
years the tract suffered severely. The commission, holding that pro-
tective irrigation was necessary, recommended the construction of
i Triennial Review, p. 137.
: Imp. Gaz. II, 351 sq. ; Triennial Review, pp. 109-10; Report of Indian Irrigation Commission,
3 Triennial Review, pp. 131 599.
Calcutta, 1903.
## p. 285 (#323) ############################################
FAMINES
285
small canals, and also of reservoirs for the storage of local rainfall and
of the comparatively precarious river supply. Up to 19181 several of
the latter had been completed, the most notable being the Ramtek
tank in the Nagpur district with a capacity of 4000 million cubic feet,
while three fairly large canals were still under construction. In 1918
several large new schemes for the Panjab and the United Provinces
were being considered. Some of these have since matured, the most
noteworthy being the Satlej valley project, with an estimated capital
cost of nine and a half millions sterling.
As a result of the extensive development which has been sketched
above irrigation had by 1918 become an important branch of district
administration. Local work is in the hands of officers of the irrigation
branch of the provincial public works department, but the collector
is intimately concerned with its success and is generally consulted in
all important developments. Moreover, he and his superiors, as land-
revenue officers, have a preponderant voice in the determination of
the rates charged for the consumption of canal water, while he is also
responsible for the collection of the resulting demand, though its
actual assessment at harvest time is usually made by irrigation officers.
In 1917-18 net revenue from state canals in the Panjab was 1. 8 millions
sterling, in the United Provinces £580,000, while in the Central
Provinces there was none. 3
Modern famine policy has been treated in another chapter, but a
few facts may be added here. In 1860-1 severe famine affected an
area of 50,000 square miles containing a population of twenty millions.
It comprised the south-eastern Panjab and the west of the present
United Provinces. The policy of relief on public works, initiated in
1837-8, was retained and expanded, while poorhouses for the gra-
tuitous relief of the incapable were opened for the first time. Remis-
sions of revenue were comparatively small but considerable advances
were made. Gratuitous relief appears to have been liberal: in the
Hissar district of the Panjab, for example, its recipients were treble
the number of persons on relief works. The same tract was again
severely attacked in 1868-9 by a famine which was far more wide-
spread than the last. Distress was extreme, mortality great, and the
destruction of cattle immense, while a heavy influx of starving multi-
tudes from the feudatory states, which were without famine organisa-
tion, greatly aggravated the situation and in fact broke down the
relief system. In the United Provinces the state spent nearly Rs. 30
lakhs in addition to heavy expenditure in the Panjab. In 1896–7 the
same areas again suffered from intense famine, and the Central
Provinces were for the first time affected. But on this occasion the
1 Triennial Review, p. 128.
2 Idem, p. 170.
3 Statistical Abstract, 1917-18, p. 150.
Imp. Gaz. II, 485; Rep. of Fam. Comm. 1880, p. 12; Adm. Rep. Unil. Provs. 1911-12, p. 12;
H. of C. Papers, 1862, vol. XL.
s Gazelleer of Hisar District, 1892, p. 23.
• Imp. Gaz. 111, 487; Rep. of Fam. Comm. 1880, p. 12; Adm. Rep. Unit. Prous. 1911-12,
p. 22.
## p. 286 (#324) ############################################
286 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
organisation, as testified by the subsequent Famine Commission of
1898,- was far more efficient than it had been previously, while the
agricultural population generally showed a power, hitherto unknown,
of meeting the disaster. In the Panjab Hissar was again the most dis-
tressed district, and it accounted for more than one-half of the total
number relieved in that province, at one time as many as 15 per cent.
of its total population being in receipt of relief. Rs. 167 lakhs were
spent in the United Provinces and Rs. 23 lakhs in the Panjab in addi-
tion to heavy suspensions and remissions of land-revenue. Once more
in 1899–1900 the south-eastern Panjab and the Central Provinces
were very severely attacked. Distress was more intense than in 1896-7
and cattle mortality, owing to a complete failure of fodder, enormous. 3
In the Panjab the death-rates of the affected districts rose considerably
but mortality from actual starvation was prevented. Relief operations
in that province cost Rs. 48 lakhs, most of which was incurred in the
Hissar district. The great development of irrigation and of communi-
cations which has been achieved in recent years, the elaboration of
a complete famine organisation, not only in British territory but also
in the feudatory states, and, last but not least, the growth of general
economic prosperity have gone far to vanquish one of India's direct
and most persistent scourges.
The forests of India are of the first importance, not only for their
natural products but also through their influence on climate, rainfall,
and water supply. As has been truly said they are "the headworks
of Nature's irrigation scheme in India". Under native rule unchecked
destruction and wasteful misuse did untold damage. Up to 1855
British attempts at management were sporadic and dominated by
considerations of revenue, but in that year Lord Dalhousie inaugurated
a policy of scientific conservation and regulated exploitation. An
inspector-general of forests was appointed nine years later, but it was
not until 1869 that an organised forest department with a staff of
trained officers came into existence. Indian forest lands are the
property of the state, though generally more or less burdened with
public or private customary rights of user, largely grazing, in favour
of village communities or individuals; a fcature which mainly decides
the degree of conservation which can be applied. Those classed as
reserved” are important for purposes of scientific forestry. Forests
are “protected” with a view to later reservation or in order to increase
their direct utility to the agricultural population; while in “unclassed”
forests very few, if any, restrictions are enforced. The first legal basis
for forest administration was the Indian Forest Act of 1865, which
was replaced by the existing Act VII of 1878. It prescribes, inter alia,
1 Rep. of Fam. Comm. 1898.
* Adm. Rep. Unit. Provs. 1911-12, p. 23; Adm. Rep. Panjab, 1911-12, p. 24.
; Adm. Rep. Panjab, 1911-12, p. 25;
• Imp. Gaz. m, 107sq. ; Moral and Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882–3, pp. 202 sqq. ; H. of C. Papers,
1871, vol. LII.
66
9
## p. 287 (#325) ############################################
FORESTS
287
a procedure for the adjudication and record of public and private
rights in forest lands and for their extinction in the reserves, if necessary,
by compensation or exchange; the entire operation being known as
a forest settlement. Each provincial government has a forest depart-
ment under a conservator of forests. For executive purposes there are
deputy-conservators, or district forest officers, each in charge of a
division, corresponding to a civil district, with an assistant and a
subordinate staff. The collector is not concerned with technical forest
work, but the deputy-conservator is under his control in all matters
which directly concern the people, such as grazing in forests, levy of
fees, and supply of forest produce. The collector, or a specially deputed
officer, carries out forest settlement operations, often a lengthy and
intricate business. Up to 1921 the Government of India controlled
forest administration through its inspector-general. The main objects
of the department are scientific improvement and regeneration of the
forests, and, as subsidiary measures, protection from fire and from
illicit grazing. Produce of various kinds is commercially extracted in
accordance with prescribed working plans, which regulate this as well
as other branches of forest technique. The United Provinces and the
Panjab are not of great importance as measured by the proportion of
forest to total area, which is 7 per cent. in each. In the Central
Provinces, however, the figure is 20 per cent. , the forest area consisting
of 20,000 square miles of “reserves " 1 Former large areas of unclassed
forest in the Panjab plains have been entirely colonised in recent
years. The reserves in all three provinces are chiefly in the hills.
Smuggled importation from feudatory states together with the wide
prevalence of illicit distillation of alcohol, facilitated by the abundance
of suitable material supplied by the cultivated sugar-cane and by the
wild mahua tree (Bassia latifolia), long hindered progress in excise
administration. But by 1918 much had been accomplished through
restriction of supply to supervised distilleries and by improving the
quality of the preventive establishment. ? An excise law, applying to
the North-Western Provinces, was passed in 1856, which provided
for central distilleries. But in view of their previous failure, it was not
until 1863 that they generally displaced the system of farms and out-
stills in the North-Western Provinces, though in Oudh they had been
introduced in 1861. A duty was levied on all spirituous liquor pro-
duced, and the right of vend at specified shops was leased separately.
By 1870 it became clear that the change had been too extensive, and
in 1873 illicit traffic was found to be very prevalent. Again there was
a reversion to farms and out-stills in many districts. Matters remained
thus in the United and the Central Provinces until the early years of
this century, farms and out-stills prevailing in one-third and nearly
1 Statistical Abstract, 1917-18, p. 157.
• Imp. Gaz. II, 235; Parl. Papers, LXII, 609 sqq. ; Moral and Mal. Prog. Rep. , 1882-3, pp.
170-1; Papers relating to Excise administration in India, Government of India Gazette,
i March, 1890.
## p. 288 (#326) ############################################
288 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
three-fourths of their respective areas. Throughout the Panjab, where
previously there had been no excise restrictions, the farming system
was in force for some years after annexation, but in 1863 it was en-
tirely replaced by central distilleries, with separate licences for sale at
specified shops. Under this system, which continued for nearly forty
years, taxation was substantially increased, so that by 1890 illicit
traffic was more rife than in the rest of India. In the early years of
this century central distilleries gave place throughout the province to
a few private distilleries of modern type located at selected places.
Under direct official supervision and in mutual competition, they
supplied spirituous liquor, after payment of duty, and at prices liable
to government control, to local vendors, who were separately licensed
for specified shops. The system was known as the “free supply"
system. Only in two small areas, peculiarly situated, were out-stills
allowed.
With the passing of an Excise Act in 1896 matters had developed
thus far when in 1905 the government referred the whole question of
excise administration in India to a committee for review and for
advice. In doing so it declared definitely that, while refusing to inter-
fere with the moderate use of alcohol, its settled policy was to minimise
temptation for the abstainer and to discourage excess among others;
and that no considerations of revenue could be allowed to hamper
this policy. It held that the most effective means of pursuing this
was as high a taxation of liquor as was possible without stimulating
illicit production and resort to harmful substitutes. While recognising
that uniformity of method was impossible, it regarded the continuance
of extensive farm and out-still areas, of crude distillery systems, and
of low rates of taxation as defects to be remedied as soon as possible.
After a lengthy enquiry the committee in 1906 submitted with its
report detailed recommendations for the future course of excise ad-
ministration, most of which, with some modifications, are now in
force. 2 In each of the three provinces spirituous liquor is made in
private licensed distilleries under official supervision. After payment
of duty it is supplied to local licensed vendors under officially con-
trolled arrangements and at regulated prices. Out-still areas have
been reduced to a minimum in the United and the Central Provinces,
and entirely abolished in the Panjab. Separate licences, containing
many desirable prohibitions and restrictions, for the retail vend of
liquor at specified shops are issued on fees which are generally deter-
mined by auction. The duty is enhanced from time to time with the
object of increasing the proportion borne by its yield to that of vend
fees; but the risk of stimulating illicit distillation hampers the process.
On all foreign liquor, spirituous or fermented, import duty is levied,
* Report of the Excise Committee, 1905-6, and Government of India Resolutions
thereon, in Parl. Papers, 1907, LVIII, 645 599.
• Provincial Excise Administration Reports for 1907-8 and subsequent years.
## p. 289 (#327) ############################################
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
289
2
and sale is controlled by licences; while the production of beer, mainly
for European consumption, is also subject to excise regulations. The
general Excise Act has been replaced by separate provincial enact-
ments.
Opium was extensively grown in the Panjab before its annexation,
but its cultivation, manufacture and sale were soon brought under
control. 1 The first was gradually restricted and is now prohibited
except in a few small hill tracts, very little opium being at present
locally produced. For public consumption opium manufactured by
government agency is issued at a monopoly price to vendors licensed,
on fees usually determined by auction, to sell at specified shops. In
the United and the Central Provinces the supply is confined to such
government opium.
In 1893 a commission investigated the production, sale and con-
sumption of drugs made from the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). ? It
did not recommend prohibition, but control and restriction. The
control is enforced by a system of licences for sale similar to liquor
licences. Cultivation has been greatly restricted, most of the supply
being imported from Central Asia.
Local excise administration is one of the more important duties of
the collector. The work has grown greatly in volume and complexity
in the present century; the total net revenue of the three provinces
in 1917–18 being 2. 2 millions sterling.
Important developments connected with agriculture, with rural
indebtedness, and with the closely allied subject of co-operation have
taken place within recent years. As has been already stated the
provincial departments of land records and agriculture, instituted in
1880, had little concern with technical agriculture. In 1901, as a first
step towards its more scientific organisation, the Indian Government
appointed an inspector-general of agriculture with a small staff of
experts. During the next few years the subject of agriculture was
separated from land records and provincial departments in:stituted,
each under a director with a small staff, subsequently increased by
the addition of trained officers.
and Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882-3, p. 132.
## p. 280 (#318) ############################################
280 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
above lines in 1860 and completed in 1873. In about one-third of the
province, there being no talukdars, settlement was made with the
village communities in the usual way. Certain special incidents of
the talukdari tenure were regulated by legislation in 1869.
The land-revenue administration of the North-Western Provinces
was placed on a statutory basis by Act XIX of 1873 and that of Oudh
by Act XVII of 1876. They were replaced by Act III of 1901,
which
applies to the present United Provinces (of Agra and Oudh). The
corresponding enactments for the Panjab were XXXIII of 1871 and
XVII of 1887. All these deal with the powers and functions of revenue
officers of all grades, with the principles and procedure of land-revenue
assessment, and with the maintenance of records of rights; but the
subjects of tenancy and rent are regulated by separate enactments.
In the newly constituted Central Provinces most of the villages were
of the ryotwari type. Under the oppressive rule of the Marathas very
many of them had been farmed, commonly to their own headmen,
who were termed patels. Over groups of others various classes of
persons, local tribal chiefs or their relatives, grantees of state revenue,
and others, had acquired a proprietary status on quasi-feudal con-
ditions as jagirdar or talukdar. Prior to . 1861 summary settlements
of various kinds had been made. It was decided at the regular settle-
ment, which began in 1863 and was completed in 1870, to recognise
all the above classes as proprietors, under the common designation of
malguzar, or revenue-payer, and to make the settlement with them. 1
This arrangement, however, in strong contrast to the Bengal system,
was combined with an ample measure of tenant-right, by which a
large majority of tenants received substantial protection. This form
of settlement is known as malguzari. In the first regular settlement the
assessment of land-revenue followed generally the "aggregate to
detail" method already described. 2 Tenants whose claims were based
on length of time or on the expenditure of capital on improvements
were recognised as full proprietors of their holdings, practically
independent of the malguzar. Others with weaker claims were allowed
an occupancy tenure, varying in its incidents, but in all cases affording
security in respect of ejectment and rent, the latter being fixed at
settlement but liable to periodical revision. The tenancy law was
codified on the above principles by acts passed in 1883 and 1898,
which also gave a measure of similar protection to ordinary tenants
without occupancy right. The land-revenue "law of the Central
Provinces was embodied in Acts XVIII of 1881 and XII of 1898. 4
In consequence of the special position of tenants rents have ceased to
be the direct result of economic forces, so that the assessment of land-
1 Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, 385-8; Adm. Rep. Cent. Provs. 1911-12, pp. 22, 23; Moral and
Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882–3, p. 137.
2 Baden Powell, op. cit. II, 390.
· Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, 478-99; Adm. Rep. Cent. Prous. 1911-12, p. 26.
• Baden Powell, op. cit. 17, 501.
## p. 281 (#319) ############################################
TENANT RIGHT
281
revenue is primarily the assessment of such rents as the settlement
officer may consider reasonable in the circumstances of the tract
concerned. The actual method employed, known as the “soil unit"
system, is complex. Its main object is the equalisation of rent incidence
with reference to the quality of soil, which is minutely classified by
means of a proportionately numerical valuation in terms of an
assumed common unit, known as the "soil unit". Having regard to
certain general considerations a fair rent rate per unit is determined,
and by a discreet application of this rate, more or less modified
according to local circumstances, a fair rental for each holding and
village is framed. 1 The land-revenue due to the government is about
one-half of the sum thus obtained. The land-revenue of Berar, which
is not legally British territory, though it is attached to the Central
Provinces, has been settled on the ryotwari system in force in the
Bombay Presidency. 2
In all three provinces assets due to agricultural improvements
effected by private labour and capital are exempted from assessment
for a period of years sufficient to yield a remunerative return; while
the rigidity of the fixed land-revenue demand is mitigated by its
suspension or, when necessary, by its ultimate remission, on occasions
of widespread agricultural calamity.
For many years after the Mutiny tenant right constituted a very
intricate problem in the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, and the
Panjab. The Bengal Act X of 1859 applied only to the first, but it was
replaced by the successive North-Western Provinces Acts XVIII of
1873 and XII of 1881, though neither effected any change of prin-
ciple. These acts protected certain tenants of long standing in the
permanently settled Benares districts as well as tenants who had once
been proprietors, and they maintained the twelve-years rule which
has been already explained in another chapter. A certain measure of
protection was also accorded to the interests of all tenants, while
collectors and subordinate revenue officers were empowered to dispose
judicially of suits between them and landlords. The later Act II of
1901 effected no radical changes. In Oudh the first tenancy law was
the Rent Act XIX of 1868. In view of the wide protection afforded
to sub-proprietors under the talukdari settlement, occupancy right was
allowed only to those tenants who had lost proprietary right within
the thirty years preceding annexation, but this being found to be
insufficient, a subsequent act (XII of 1886) went further by ensuring
to all non-occupancy tenants a tenure for seven years without increase
of rent; and even this measure has been found to be inadequate.
In the Panjab in 1863 a controversy arose as to the propriety of the
1 Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, 415-31; Adm. Rep. Cent. Prous. 1911-12, pp. 30–2.
: Adm. Rep. Cent. Provs. pp. 27, 33.
• Baden Powell, op. cit. 11, p. 175; Adm. Rep. Unit. Provs, 1911-12, p. 19.
• Baden Powell, op. cit. n1, 246-9; Adm. Rep. Unit. Provs. p. 19.
## p. 282 (#320) ############################################
282 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
methods by which tenant right had been treated in the first regular
settlement. It led to a lengthy enquiry into the actual status of tenants
throughout the province, of which the ultimate outcome was the
Panjab Tenancy Act XXVIII of 1868. 1 While saving, subject to a
few exceptions, all rights previously conferred, it abolished, for the
future, acquisition of occupancy right by mere lapse of time. On the
basis of existing custom and with reference to considerations of equity,
five classes of cultivators were defined as eligible for such a right, its
incidents varying with each class. The act also regulated the rents of
occupancy tenants, and afforded some measure of protection to all
tenants. It was considerably amended and amplified in details by the
existing Act XVI of 1887.
Mainly as a result of the famine of 1860–1 the question of the
extension of the permanent settlement to Upper India was revived
after the lapse of fifty years. 2 An influential official school inclined
to the view that such a measure would foster economic prosperity, and
in 1862 the secretary of state, Sir Charles Wood, went so far as to
accept it in principle. But further prolonged discussion of methods
and details showed not only its impracticability but also its essential
unwisdom, and in 1882 it was finally abandoned after it had been
established that in permanently settled tracts prosperity was no
greater than elsewhere. In recent years short-period settlements have
been avoided as far as possible, and a general term of thirty years
adopted, except in tracts where specially rapid development due to
the construction of state canals is foreseen.
Special measures for the organised collection of reliable information
regarding the economic condition of a vast agricultural population,
coupled with the maintenance of correct records of landed rights, were
initiated in the last quarter of the century. 3 Previous efforts in this
direction had been confined to the occasion of a settlement of the
land-revenue, so that by the expiration of its term, many years later,
the statistics and records had necessarily become hopelessly out of
date. In 1875 reform was initiated in the North-Western Provinces,
and five years later a Famine Commission strenuously recommended
the establishment of special departments in each province. These
were constituted in 1880 under the designation of departments of land
records and agriculture, each under a provincial director. Originally
they had little concern with technical agriculture: their function was
to secure the two main objects alrcady indicated. Of the first the
primary purpose is to obtain the earliest possible information of the
premonitory symptoms of famine, though many other useful ends are
also secured. By the continuous maintenance of correct records of
1 H. of C. Papers, 1870, vol. Lui; Panjab Sett. Manual, p. 100 sq. ; Baden Powell, op. cit.
II, 705-22.
2 H. of C. Papers, 1887, vol. 2; Baden Powell, op. cit. 1, 340–9; Panjab Sett. Manual, p. 254;
Moral and Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882-3, pp. 117-19.
3 Baden Powell, op. cit. 1, 349-60; Report of Famine Commission, 1880; Imp. Gaz. IV, 24.
## p. 283 (#321) ############################################
IRRIGATION
283
a
rights it was hoped to shorten the settlement operations periodically
undertaken in each district, a hope which has been realised. The
introduction of more scientific methods of cadastral survey has greatly
promoted progress in this direction, while all transfers of right are
promptly attested and registered, correct record being thereby facili-
tated. As the result of the policy adopted, the three provinces now
possess up-to-date land records probably unrivalled in the world, and
containing detailed information about each one of several millions of
fields and holdings and many thousands of villages; while the usual
duration of settlement operations in a district has been reduced from
six years to little more than three.
The importance of irrigation is indicated by the fact that the total
area of crops irrigated by state canals in the Panjab and the United
Provinces increased from seven and a half million acres in the first
years of the present century to nearly eleven million acres in 1917-18,
while the entire capital cost of the works in the latter year was approxi-
mately twenty-two millions sterling. The greatest progress has been
in the Panjab where the area irrigated quadrupled during the forty
years ending 1918. It was in 1866, when Lord Lawrence, as viceroy,
inaugurated the policy of financing productive public works from
loan funds, that the modern development of irrigation began. The
first-fruits were the Sirhind Canal in the cis-Satlej-Panjab, which,
originally proposed in 1841, was sanctioned in 1870 and opened in
1882, with a total length, inclusive of branches and distributaries, of
3700 miles; the Lower Ganges Canal in the southern part of the Doab
of the North-Western Provinces, sanctioned in 1872 and completed
in 1878, and the Agra Canal, opened in 1874, which provides irriga-
tion on the west of the Jumna. Between 1870 and 1876 the Upper
Bari Doab Canal, and fifteen years later the Western Jumna Canal
were greatly improved and extended.
But the colony canals of the Panjab have been the most striking
irrigational development of the period under review. Their primary
object was not to serve areas already cultivated, but to make possible
the colonisation and development of the immense areas of waste
crown land which existed in the province within recent years and on
which large numbers of colonists selected from congested districts
have since been settled on specific terms as lessees of the state. The
encouraging results of two experiments made on non-perennial canals
in the 'eighties led to more ambitious schemes. In 1890 work began
on a perennial canal, with a head weir from the river Chenab,
designed to irrigate the waste tract-termed Bar-lying between it
and the Ravi. Now known as the Lower Chenab Canal, it has proved
1 Imp. Gaz. II, 331; Statistical Abstract relating to British India, 1917-18, p. 150.
Imp. Gaz. IV, 329; H. of C. Papers, 1866, vol. Lii; 1867, vol. i.
• Triennial Review of Irrigation, 1918-21, Calcutta, 1922, pt , chap. v.
• Idem, pt m, chap. vi.
## p. 284 (#322) ############################################
284 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
to be one of the most successful irrigation systems in India, if not in
the world. Its total length is nearly 2700 miles. Colonisation began
in 1892, with the aid of a defective "inundation" canal, but the new
canal was not complete until 1899. By 1901 the population of the
tract had increased from practically nil to 800,000, while the area
now annually irrigated exceeds two million acres. The yearly net
revenue from the canal is nearly 40 per cent. of its capital cost of more
than two millions sterling. The headquarters of the colony are at
Lyallpur, one of the most flourishing towns in Upper India. The
second Colony Canal, the Lower Jehlam, in the tract between the
rivers Jehíım and Chenab, though sanctioned in 1888 was not begun
until 1898 and was opened in 1902. Its results have been satisfactory.
At the beginning of the century a project was on foot for the irrigation
of the lower portion of the Bari Doab from the river Satlej. Meanwhile
a commission’ was appointed in 1901 for the formulation, after full
enquiry into past results and existing needs, of a definite irrigation
policy for India as a whole. It reported in 1903. It found in the
Panjab one of the few tracts in which there was scope for the execution
of large productive schemes, which would both be financially re-
munerative and also augment the food supply of the country. It
supported the proposal to irrigate the lower part of the Bari Doab
while recommending the examination of an alternative scheme,
suggested by Sir James Wilson, a distinguished civil servant, and
Col. Jacob, an eminent irrigation officer, which substituted for a canal
from the Satlej a chain of canals which would successively convey the
water of the river Jehlam across the intervening Chenab and Ravi
rivers to the lower Bari Doab. This scheme, now known as the Triple
Projects and comprising the Upper Jehlam, Upper Chenab and
Lower Bari Doab canals, was ultimately approved. Its construction,
which cost seven millions sterling, took ten years, from 1905 to 1915.
The first two canals supply water to the third while irrigating extensive
areas in the tracts through which they pass. The total length of the
canals with distributaries is 3400 miles and the area irrigated nearly
two million acres.
Colonisation was still in progress in 1918.
In the United Provinces the Betwa Canal, a protective work for
insecure districts in Bundelkhand, was opened in 1885 and proved its
value in the later famines. The Irrigation Commission recommended
other protective but non-remunerative works, of which the Ken Canal,
also in Bundelkhand, was opened in 1908. Up to 1907 there were no
state irrigation works in the Central Provinces. Until 1896 a com-
plete failure of rain had been unknown, but in the following famine
years the tract suffered severely. The commission, holding that pro-
tective irrigation was necessary, recommended the construction of
i Triennial Review, p. 137.
: Imp. Gaz. II, 351 sq. ; Triennial Review, pp. 109-10; Report of Indian Irrigation Commission,
3 Triennial Review, pp. 131 599.
Calcutta, 1903.
## p. 285 (#323) ############################################
FAMINES
285
small canals, and also of reservoirs for the storage of local rainfall and
of the comparatively precarious river supply. Up to 19181 several of
the latter had been completed, the most notable being the Ramtek
tank in the Nagpur district with a capacity of 4000 million cubic feet,
while three fairly large canals were still under construction. In 1918
several large new schemes for the Panjab and the United Provinces
were being considered. Some of these have since matured, the most
noteworthy being the Satlej valley project, with an estimated capital
cost of nine and a half millions sterling.
As a result of the extensive development which has been sketched
above irrigation had by 1918 become an important branch of district
administration. Local work is in the hands of officers of the irrigation
branch of the provincial public works department, but the collector
is intimately concerned with its success and is generally consulted in
all important developments. Moreover, he and his superiors, as land-
revenue officers, have a preponderant voice in the determination of
the rates charged for the consumption of canal water, while he is also
responsible for the collection of the resulting demand, though its
actual assessment at harvest time is usually made by irrigation officers.
In 1917-18 net revenue from state canals in the Panjab was 1. 8 millions
sterling, in the United Provinces £580,000, while in the Central
Provinces there was none. 3
Modern famine policy has been treated in another chapter, but a
few facts may be added here. In 1860-1 severe famine affected an
area of 50,000 square miles containing a population of twenty millions.
It comprised the south-eastern Panjab and the west of the present
United Provinces. The policy of relief on public works, initiated in
1837-8, was retained and expanded, while poorhouses for the gra-
tuitous relief of the incapable were opened for the first time. Remis-
sions of revenue were comparatively small but considerable advances
were made. Gratuitous relief appears to have been liberal: in the
Hissar district of the Panjab, for example, its recipients were treble
the number of persons on relief works. The same tract was again
severely attacked in 1868-9 by a famine which was far more wide-
spread than the last. Distress was extreme, mortality great, and the
destruction of cattle immense, while a heavy influx of starving multi-
tudes from the feudatory states, which were without famine organisa-
tion, greatly aggravated the situation and in fact broke down the
relief system. In the United Provinces the state spent nearly Rs. 30
lakhs in addition to heavy expenditure in the Panjab. In 1896–7 the
same areas again suffered from intense famine, and the Central
Provinces were for the first time affected. But on this occasion the
1 Triennial Review, p. 128.
2 Idem, p. 170.
3 Statistical Abstract, 1917-18, p. 150.
Imp. Gaz. II, 485; Rep. of Fam. Comm. 1880, p. 12; Adm. Rep. Unil. Provs. 1911-12, p. 12;
H. of C. Papers, 1862, vol. XL.
s Gazelleer of Hisar District, 1892, p. 23.
• Imp. Gaz. 111, 487; Rep. of Fam. Comm. 1880, p. 12; Adm. Rep. Unit. Prous. 1911-12,
p. 22.
## p. 286 (#324) ############################################
286 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
organisation, as testified by the subsequent Famine Commission of
1898,- was far more efficient than it had been previously, while the
agricultural population generally showed a power, hitherto unknown,
of meeting the disaster. In the Panjab Hissar was again the most dis-
tressed district, and it accounted for more than one-half of the total
number relieved in that province, at one time as many as 15 per cent.
of its total population being in receipt of relief. Rs. 167 lakhs were
spent in the United Provinces and Rs. 23 lakhs in the Panjab in addi-
tion to heavy suspensions and remissions of land-revenue. Once more
in 1899–1900 the south-eastern Panjab and the Central Provinces
were very severely attacked. Distress was more intense than in 1896-7
and cattle mortality, owing to a complete failure of fodder, enormous. 3
In the Panjab the death-rates of the affected districts rose considerably
but mortality from actual starvation was prevented. Relief operations
in that province cost Rs. 48 lakhs, most of which was incurred in the
Hissar district. The great development of irrigation and of communi-
cations which has been achieved in recent years, the elaboration of
a complete famine organisation, not only in British territory but also
in the feudatory states, and, last but not least, the growth of general
economic prosperity have gone far to vanquish one of India's direct
and most persistent scourges.
The forests of India are of the first importance, not only for their
natural products but also through their influence on climate, rainfall,
and water supply. As has been truly said they are "the headworks
of Nature's irrigation scheme in India". Under native rule unchecked
destruction and wasteful misuse did untold damage. Up to 1855
British attempts at management were sporadic and dominated by
considerations of revenue, but in that year Lord Dalhousie inaugurated
a policy of scientific conservation and regulated exploitation. An
inspector-general of forests was appointed nine years later, but it was
not until 1869 that an organised forest department with a staff of
trained officers came into existence. Indian forest lands are the
property of the state, though generally more or less burdened with
public or private customary rights of user, largely grazing, in favour
of village communities or individuals; a fcature which mainly decides
the degree of conservation which can be applied. Those classed as
reserved” are important for purposes of scientific forestry. Forests
are “protected” with a view to later reservation or in order to increase
their direct utility to the agricultural population; while in “unclassed”
forests very few, if any, restrictions are enforced. The first legal basis
for forest administration was the Indian Forest Act of 1865, which
was replaced by the existing Act VII of 1878. It prescribes, inter alia,
1 Rep. of Fam. Comm. 1898.
* Adm. Rep. Unit. Provs. 1911-12, p. 23; Adm. Rep. Panjab, 1911-12, p. 24.
; Adm. Rep. Panjab, 1911-12, p. 25;
• Imp. Gaz. m, 107sq. ; Moral and Mat. Prog. Rep. 1882–3, pp. 202 sqq. ; H. of C. Papers,
1871, vol. LII.
66
9
## p. 287 (#325) ############################################
FORESTS
287
a procedure for the adjudication and record of public and private
rights in forest lands and for their extinction in the reserves, if necessary,
by compensation or exchange; the entire operation being known as
a forest settlement. Each provincial government has a forest depart-
ment under a conservator of forests. For executive purposes there are
deputy-conservators, or district forest officers, each in charge of a
division, corresponding to a civil district, with an assistant and a
subordinate staff. The collector is not concerned with technical forest
work, but the deputy-conservator is under his control in all matters
which directly concern the people, such as grazing in forests, levy of
fees, and supply of forest produce. The collector, or a specially deputed
officer, carries out forest settlement operations, often a lengthy and
intricate business. Up to 1921 the Government of India controlled
forest administration through its inspector-general. The main objects
of the department are scientific improvement and regeneration of the
forests, and, as subsidiary measures, protection from fire and from
illicit grazing. Produce of various kinds is commercially extracted in
accordance with prescribed working plans, which regulate this as well
as other branches of forest technique. The United Provinces and the
Panjab are not of great importance as measured by the proportion of
forest to total area, which is 7 per cent. in each. In the Central
Provinces, however, the figure is 20 per cent. , the forest area consisting
of 20,000 square miles of “reserves " 1 Former large areas of unclassed
forest in the Panjab plains have been entirely colonised in recent
years. The reserves in all three provinces are chiefly in the hills.
Smuggled importation from feudatory states together with the wide
prevalence of illicit distillation of alcohol, facilitated by the abundance
of suitable material supplied by the cultivated sugar-cane and by the
wild mahua tree (Bassia latifolia), long hindered progress in excise
administration. But by 1918 much had been accomplished through
restriction of supply to supervised distilleries and by improving the
quality of the preventive establishment. ? An excise law, applying to
the North-Western Provinces, was passed in 1856, which provided
for central distilleries. But in view of their previous failure, it was not
until 1863 that they generally displaced the system of farms and out-
stills in the North-Western Provinces, though in Oudh they had been
introduced in 1861. A duty was levied on all spirituous liquor pro-
duced, and the right of vend at specified shops was leased separately.
By 1870 it became clear that the change had been too extensive, and
in 1873 illicit traffic was found to be very prevalent. Again there was
a reversion to farms and out-stills in many districts. Matters remained
thus in the United and the Central Provinces until the early years of
this century, farms and out-stills prevailing in one-third and nearly
1 Statistical Abstract, 1917-18, p. 157.
• Imp. Gaz. II, 235; Parl. Papers, LXII, 609 sqq. ; Moral and Mal. Prog. Rep. , 1882-3, pp.
170-1; Papers relating to Excise administration in India, Government of India Gazette,
i March, 1890.
## p. 288 (#326) ############################################
288 ADMINISTRATION IN U. P. , C. P. , AND PANJAB
three-fourths of their respective areas. Throughout the Panjab, where
previously there had been no excise restrictions, the farming system
was in force for some years after annexation, but in 1863 it was en-
tirely replaced by central distilleries, with separate licences for sale at
specified shops. Under this system, which continued for nearly forty
years, taxation was substantially increased, so that by 1890 illicit
traffic was more rife than in the rest of India. In the early years of
this century central distilleries gave place throughout the province to
a few private distilleries of modern type located at selected places.
Under direct official supervision and in mutual competition, they
supplied spirituous liquor, after payment of duty, and at prices liable
to government control, to local vendors, who were separately licensed
for specified shops. The system was known as the “free supply"
system. Only in two small areas, peculiarly situated, were out-stills
allowed.
With the passing of an Excise Act in 1896 matters had developed
thus far when in 1905 the government referred the whole question of
excise administration in India to a committee for review and for
advice. In doing so it declared definitely that, while refusing to inter-
fere with the moderate use of alcohol, its settled policy was to minimise
temptation for the abstainer and to discourage excess among others;
and that no considerations of revenue could be allowed to hamper
this policy. It held that the most effective means of pursuing this
was as high a taxation of liquor as was possible without stimulating
illicit production and resort to harmful substitutes. While recognising
that uniformity of method was impossible, it regarded the continuance
of extensive farm and out-still areas, of crude distillery systems, and
of low rates of taxation as defects to be remedied as soon as possible.
After a lengthy enquiry the committee in 1906 submitted with its
report detailed recommendations for the future course of excise ad-
ministration, most of which, with some modifications, are now in
force. 2 In each of the three provinces spirituous liquor is made in
private licensed distilleries under official supervision. After payment
of duty it is supplied to local licensed vendors under officially con-
trolled arrangements and at regulated prices. Out-still areas have
been reduced to a minimum in the United and the Central Provinces,
and entirely abolished in the Panjab. Separate licences, containing
many desirable prohibitions and restrictions, for the retail vend of
liquor at specified shops are issued on fees which are generally deter-
mined by auction. The duty is enhanced from time to time with the
object of increasing the proportion borne by its yield to that of vend
fees; but the risk of stimulating illicit distillation hampers the process.
On all foreign liquor, spirituous or fermented, import duty is levied,
* Report of the Excise Committee, 1905-6, and Government of India Resolutions
thereon, in Parl. Papers, 1907, LVIII, 645 599.
• Provincial Excise Administration Reports for 1907-8 and subsequent years.
## p. 289 (#327) ############################################
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
289
2
and sale is controlled by licences; while the production of beer, mainly
for European consumption, is also subject to excise regulations. The
general Excise Act has been replaced by separate provincial enact-
ments.
Opium was extensively grown in the Panjab before its annexation,
but its cultivation, manufacture and sale were soon brought under
control. 1 The first was gradually restricted and is now prohibited
except in a few small hill tracts, very little opium being at present
locally produced. For public consumption opium manufactured by
government agency is issued at a monopoly price to vendors licensed,
on fees usually determined by auction, to sell at specified shops. In
the United and the Central Provinces the supply is confined to such
government opium.
In 1893 a commission investigated the production, sale and con-
sumption of drugs made from the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). ? It
did not recommend prohibition, but control and restriction. The
control is enforced by a system of licences for sale similar to liquor
licences. Cultivation has been greatly restricted, most of the supply
being imported from Central Asia.
Local excise administration is one of the more important duties of
the collector. The work has grown greatly in volume and complexity
in the present century; the total net revenue of the three provinces
in 1917–18 being 2. 2 millions sterling.
Important developments connected with agriculture, with rural
indebtedness, and with the closely allied subject of co-operation have
taken place within recent years. As has been already stated the
provincial departments of land records and agriculture, instituted in
1880, had little concern with technical agriculture. In 1901, as a first
step towards its more scientific organisation, the Indian Government
appointed an inspector-general of agriculture with a small staff of
experts. During the next few years the subject of agriculture was
separated from land records and provincial departments in:stituted,
each under a director with a small staff, subsequently increased by
the addition of trained officers.
