Third Regular Settlement, 1888-93 :- Prinsep’ settlement was sanctioned for twenty
years but ran for several years more. The third regular settlement was carried
out by J.A. Grant between 1888 and 1893. The feature of this settlement was the
introduction of a differential soil rate known as nahri parta to represent the advantage conferred on unirrigated
land by the canal. This method of assessing irrigation has held the field ever
since. Apart from this, J.A. Grant seems to have followed the general
principles of assessment then approved without any special orders for the
district, except a bias on moderation. The assessment actually imposed
increased the demand which, for various reasons, had by this time risen to Rs.
1026681, i.e. by 22 per cent and was :
|
Tahsil |
Demand in rupees |
Cultivated per cultivated acre |
|
|
Rs. |
Rs. As Ps |
|
Tarn Taran |
400483 |
1 - 3 - 10 |
|
Amritsar |
538644 |
1 - 14 - 6 |
|
Ajnala |
317088 |
1 - 14 - 9 |
|
Total District |
1256215 |
1
- 10 -
1 |
This
settlement, which was sanctioned for a term of twenty years, worked smoothly in
the Tarn Taran and Amritsar tahsils and in the Nahri Circle of thee Ajnala
Tahsil. Some of the weaker village in the Uthar Circle found occasional
difficulty in paying their demand and, in the Hithar and Sailab Circles, it was
constantly in arrears. This tract experienced a series of misfortunes, which it
was impossible for the settlement officer to forsee but it appeared that even
in a normal year their demand was relatively severe. It is, however, only fair
to J.A. Grant to point out that the assessment he proposed was considerably
lighter than that actually announced as his rates were substantially enhanced
by the higher authority.
Fourth Regular Settlement, 1910-14 :-
It was carried out by Mr. ( afterwards His Excellency Sir Henry) Craik between
1910 and 1914. He came to the settlement armed with very definite instructions
from the Central government about the enhancement he should make and, as he
implies in one of his assessment reports, the Government’s share of the net
assets was so much more than he was permitted to take that his only problem was
the equitable distribution of this smaller enhancement over the three tahsils.
Unfortunately, a misinterpretation of the orders of the Government of India,
which was not corrected until the demand in Tarn Taran had been announced, left
the other two tahsils (and in particular Amritsar) to bear rather more than
their fair share of the increase, though not by any means nearly as much as
could have been taken, had the settlement officer’s discretion been restricted
by the letter of the law alone. The Government of India had directed that
whatever enhancement the net assests might justify, the old demand should be
increase by more than 25 per cent. The misunderstanding arose about the figure
to which this enhancement was to be related and, when the Government of India
ruled that it might be calculated on the initial and not on the ultimate new
demand, provided that the total assessment did not exceed Rs. 1607000, the
Punjab Government naturally did not wish to lose the additional revenue which
this decision gave them and directed that Rs. 11000 more be taken in the
Amritsar Tahsil (which craik regretted) had been a factor in determining the
pitch of his reassessment of this tahsil. The ultimate demand imposed on the
district was in increase of 26 percent on the expiring demand distributed as
follows :
|
Tahsil |
Demand in rupees |
Cultivated per cultivated acre |
|
|
Rs. |
Rs. As Ps |
|
Tarn Taran |
539816 |
1 - 11 - 3 |
|
Amritsar |
707721 |
2 - 8 - 5 |
|
Ajnala |
350394 |
2 - 4 - 6 |
|
Total District |
1597931 |
2
- 2 -
1 |
The
settlement, sanctioned for twenty years, worked well. The moderation of the
demand in the Tarn Taran Tahsil was always recognized and the revenue was paid
with ease so long as agricultural prices remained above the level of
communication prices. In the Amritsar Tahsil too, until the exceptional fall in
agricultural prices, no remissions were required on account of the severity or
faulty distribution of the demand. In the Ajnala Tahsil, the real test of the
working of the settlement was suspensions and not remissions. These were more liberal
than in the other tahsils but, for Ajnala, comparatively light. There is,
however, reason to suspect that more flexibility, or failing this, a lighter
assessment is expedient in the weaker parts of this tahsil. The people are
reluctant to accept suspensions even at some hardships to themselves, because
their recuperative ability is so slight that the subsequent addition to their
liabilities will be intolerable.
Fifth Regular Settlement, 1936-40 :-
The term of the Fourth Regular
Settlement of 1910-14 was for 20 years and it was due to be completed in
1932-33. However, a forecast report was prepared in 1929 on the basis of which
Government found some temporary conditions which required consideration in
determining when to start reassessment : “the first of these is the fact that
the district has recently passed through a series of bad or sub-normal
harvests; and from this point of view the present time is inopportune for
starting reassessment operations. The second feature is the fact that the pitch
of the occupiers’ rates, which was light in the schedule formerly applying to
this district, was substantially raised in 1924-25. This change has naturally
reacted in the rental arrangements of
irrigated lands in the district, which from the point of view of reassessment
is an important class of soil in this district. These two factors combine to
point out the desirability of allowing some further period of time to elapse so
as to allow rental arrangements to become more stabilized and to give surer
data for determining the amount of additional advantage which the landholder
derives from the higher range of prices.” Political opposition to resettlement
was also a formidable factor from landowners. Resettlement should have
commenced in 1930 when the reasons for postponement were not appreciated by the
people and it was thought that further agitation would lead to indefinite
postponement. Every settlement had increased the assessment of the district and
it was assumed that this would be no different. It was, therefore, decided to
postpone reassessment for five years; and operations were actually not begun
until October 1936. Caution was perhaps never quickly justified of her child,
for agricultural prices broke badly soon after these orders were passed and were
still low when settlement operations started.
The
Fifth Regular Settlement, which still continues to be in force, was begun in
October 1936 and completed in December 1940 by A. MacFarquhar, I.C.S.,
Settlement Officer.
The
assessment of the Amritsar urban, Amritsar suburban and Tarn Taran urban
assessment circles which were remeasured but not reassessed at the time of the
Fifth Regular settlement of the Amritsar District by A. MacFarquhar, although
between 1936 and 1940, was done during 1955-56. The Amritsar urban and suburban
and Tarn Taran urban assessment circles comprise 23 estates in 112.64 sq. km.
These circles were demarcated by A. MacFarquhar although he retained the
arrangement of assessment circles approved in the Fourth Regular Settlement, 1910-14,
except insofar as he found it necessary to provide for urban circles at
Amritsar and Tarn Taran and to extend suburban circle in conformity with
development in the neighbourhood of the Amritsar city. These assessment circles
constitute the most valuable part of the district. It is well connected, by
both rail and road, with the interior of the district and other parts of the
State. The Amritsar city continues to be an important cienre okf trade in
wheat, rice cotton and cloth inspite of its proximity to the Indo-Pakistan
border. The assessment imposed, which is subject to a sliding-scale remission
when the prices fall, in the Amritsar urban and suburban and the Tarn Taran
urban circles id Rs. 82327, Rs. 70164 and Rs. 4946 respectively. The percentage
of true net assets absorbed is 19.4, 5.8 and 22.8 respectively. There is an
increase of Rs. 71928 over the previous assessment in these three circles. The
assessment came into force from rabi
1958. The term of the new assessment is 40 years from rabi 1958.
Mechanics of Assessment
The
assessment of land revenue is bases on the average value of the net assets of
the unit under assessment. These net assets are defined by statute as the
estimated average annual surplus produce remaining after the deduction of the
ordinary expenses of cultivation, as ascertained or estimated. The explanation
appended to this definition leaves no doubt that these assets are determined
not on the profits of cultivating occupancy but on rentals. The rules require
that two estimates of net assets shall be framed, one based on grain rents and
the other on cash rents. Before the stage is reached, two preliminary points
have to be settled- the units to be recognized for estimates and the classes of
land within those units whose return in grain or cash is sufficiently different
to require separate ascertainment.
Assessment Circles
The unit is the assessment circle, a group of estate sufficiently homogeneous to admit of a common set of rates being used as a general guide in calculating the land revenue to be assessed upon them.
The
revenue law permits urban assessment circles to be created within the
administrative boundaries of local bodies. These authorities, however, have had
no regard for field boundaries in determining their own limits, which
frequently do not even coincide with the boundaries of the revenue estate.
It
is not practicable or convenient to show the built-up areas in a continuos
series with agricultural land either on the maps or in the records. At the same
time, it is necessary to preserve for the built-up areas the presumption of
truth which the revenue record carries and to have them readily traceable in
the agricultural record. In the urban areas of the Amritsar District,
therefore, the revenue maps carry field numbers and boundary outlines in proper
sequence for all residential and industrial areas. Similarly, the
record-of-rights includes these numbers and a description of the abadi by its name or other
distinguishing designation. Subdidiary records for each of these areas contain
all necessary details for assessment under their own series of numbers which
are linked to maps carrying the same series of numbers and attached to the main
map of the estate as insets.
The
usual unit of measurement (the Karam)
has been used, as far as possible, e.g. in measuring large bungalow or factory
sits and only in congested areas has measurement in feet been done. These small
plots are often very valuable. In addition to the usual agricultural classes of
land, the subdivision of uncultivable land (ghair
mumkin), into bungalows, houses, factories, shops, combined houses and
shops, potential building plot (qabil
tamir), and other buildings such as hospitals and schools, was recognized
for purposes of assessment.
Some
difficulty was caused by the dissection of ten estates which fall partly within
the urban circle and partly in the suburban circle. Each of the separated
portion has been furnished with a complete genealogical table ( shajra nasab) and notes have been given
under the names of owners who do not happen to hold land in the separate estate
but are still shareholders in its common land (shamlat). For rights in the latter, a reference has also been made
to the record-of-rights of the last settlement.
These
remarks are directed to the Amritsar urban area but are more or less true of
the Tarn Taran urban area as well. These include the whole of the estates of
Tarn Taran and the Municipal parts of the estates of Muradpur and Jodhpur which
have been shown in the record-of-rights of the new estate as separate units (tarfs).
The
following table gives the assessment circles and the estates in them :
|
Tahsil |
Assessment Circle |
Number of estates |
|
Tarn Taran |
Upper Majha |
160 |
|
|
Central Majha |
167 |
|
|
Bet Bangar |
28 |
|
|
Tarn Taran Urban |
1 |
|
|
Total, Tahsil`` |
356 |
|
Amritsar |
Bet Bangar |
86 |
|
|
Jandiala Guru |
124 |
|
|
Nahri |
128 |
|
|
Mirankot |
27 |
|
|
Suburban |
12 |
|
|
Amritsar Urban |
10 |
|
|
Total, Tahsil |
387 |
|
Ajnala |
Sailab |
78 |
|
|
Hithar |
79 |
|
|
Uthar |
117 |
|
|
Nahri |
73 |
|
|
Total Tahsil |
347 |
|
|
Total, District |
1090 |
Classes of Land
Within
these circles, it is necessary to determine what classes of land should be
recognized. Distinctions based on irrigation or lack of it have always been
recognized as suitable in this district and the definitions approves for this
settlement followed tradition. These are :
Chahi :-
Land regularly irrigated from a well. In case of doubt, if a field is shown by
the khasara girdawari to have been so
irrigated in two or more out of the last eight harvests and a permanent source
of irrigation exists, it will be recorded as chahi.
Nahrii :- Land
regularly irrigated from the Upper Bari Doab Canal. In case of doubt, if a
field is shown by the khasara girdawari
to have been so irrigated in two or more out of the last eight harvests, it
will be recorded as chahi, provided
that in no case will land be recorded as nahri
if it comes within the definition of chahi.
Abi :- Land
watered from tanks, jhils, ponds or
drainge channels.
Sailab :-
Land usually flodded in the rains by the Beas, the Ravi or the Sakki, or their
branches, or the land near these rivers and is always moist.
Barani :-
All cultivation not included in the above classes.
Land
in the Hithar Circle of theAjnala Tahsil regularly irrigated from the Kiran
Canal has been shown in the record as nahri-kiran,
but this distinction is of no practical importance for assessment, as the small
area involved has always been rated as barani.
The usual uncultivated classes – banjar
jadid, banjar quadim, and ghairmumkin as defined in rule 2(2) of the Land
Revenue Assessment Rules 1929-also appear in the record.
Estimate of Net Assets Based on Gross Rents
The
estimate of the net asset of each class of land in each assessment circle
depends on the average acreage of each crop on it, the average yield per acre
of such crops, the average price obtainable for them, and the share of the
gross produce taken by the landowner.
The
average acre is determined by using the cropping statistics of a selected
period of years, of which the harvests are a fair sample of the ordinary
fluctuations characteristic of the agriculture of the tract. Other things being
equal, the longer the period the more likely is the average to be fair one and
to neutralize the abnormalities of the seasons. In this district, thee
uniformity of other factors was lacking, for since the last settlement of
1910-14 there has been a progressive expansion of artificial irrigation. This
development became important about ten years after the last settlement and,
after a further five years of uncertainty, settled down to a comparative stability
in the decade ending 1935-36.
From
the acreage, the yield and the price, gross assets are ascertainable. Before
the value of the owner’s share can be determined, a deduction has to be made on
account of the menials’ dues which are taken out of the common heap of grain
before its division between the landlord and the tenant. Taking all these
aspects into account, true net assets are calculated.
Assessment of the Tarn Taran Tahsil
(1) General Considerations :- The operation of section 51(3) of the Land Revenue Act, 1887,
restricted the permissible new demand to 14.1 per cent of the net assets. The
tahsil had advanced considerably in security, with 81 per cent of its
cultivated area protected by irrigation and considerable miscellaneous
resources, but there were unmistakable signs of a recession from prosperity.
Ten thousand acres had gone out of cultivation since the settlement of 1910-14,
rainfall had dwindled and canal supplies had been reduced. The population had
increased by 35 per cent.
(2) Upper Majha Circle :- This circle is, on the whole, the strongest in the tahsil. It is
advantageously situated on the canal channels; wells are generally sweet; and
communications are good. The effect of the reasessment will be clear from the
following figures :
Old demand Rs.
246956
Proposed Rs. 305052
New demand Sanctioned Rs.
305052
Imposed Rs. 299020
Incidence per old Rs. 1 – 15 annas
– 11 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
2 – 7 annas – 1 pie
Percentage of increase 21
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 15
(3) Central Majha Circle :- This circle is not so well situated in respect of canal irrigation or
rainfall. It shows a grater decline in its cultivated area and a greater
deterioration from kallar than the
Upper Majha. Well water is very brackish in parts of the circle. The following
statistics show the result of the reassessment :
Old demand Rs.
262425
Proposed Rs. 319044
New demand Sanctioned Rs. 319044
Imposed Rs.
321950
Incidence per old Rs. 1 – 9 annas –
9 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
2 –0 anna – 3 pies
Percentage of increase 23
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 13
(4) Bet Bangar Circle :- This circle is
much weaker than the rest of the tahsil. The river makes agriculture unstable
and the soil on the cliffs immediately above is distinctly inferior. A little
more than half of the cultivated area received irrigation; wells were deep; the
pressure of population was heavy; and the proprietary body was weak. A lenient
assessment was obviously desirable and has been given, as the following figures
show :
Old demand Rs.
39952
Proposed Rs. 40630
New demand Sanctioned Rs. 40630
Imposed Rs.
41305
Incidence per old Rs. 1 – 6annas –
9 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
1 – 10 annas – 1 pie
Percentage of increase 3
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 12
Assessment of the Amritsar Tahsil
(1)
General Considerations :- The incidence of assessment in the
Amritsar Tahsil has always been heavier than that in Tarn Taran. The difference
in prosperity between Amritsar and Tarn Taran does not justify the perpetuation
of this inequality in assessment and its elimination was one of the major
considerations affecting the pitch of the new demand. There were other
indications of the necessity for a cautious assessment. Some part of the
addition of one hundred and sixty-four lakhs of rupees to the mortgage debt of
tahsil since the last settlement of 1910-14 represented greater economic
embarrassment. The cultivated area, including the new follows, had contracted
by some 3500 acres since the previous settlement. Of these, in the absence of
scientific reclamation, some fifteen hundred acres could be regarded as a
permanent loss. Regular and adequate rain was essential in a tahsil where other
considerable areas, irrigated by wells and kharif-channels,
needed some supplementation from nature. Population had increased by 19 per
cent and had brought with it a contraction in the average size of the holdings.
An upheaval in the system and agency of rural credit also dictated caution. On
the other hand, the tahsil had considerable investment in land in the Punjab
Colonies (now in the Punjab, Pakistan) and outside the province, and a steady
income from pensions and remittances. The section 51(3) of the Punjab Land
Revenue Act, 1887, would have permitted the taking of 17.3 per cent of the true
net assets. An assessment of Rs. 694990, absorbing 15.3 per cent of the true
net assets, was recommended. All the proposals were accepted by the Government.
The new demand was to be introduced with effect from kharif-1945.
(2) Bet Bangar Circle :- This circle had lost twelve hundred cultivated acres since the previous
settlement and nearly a quarter of what remained was unirrigated. Its
population shows the highest rate of increase and its holdings were smallest in
the tahsil. On the other hand, the soil, though light, is generally fertile.
The irrigated cropping was nearly half as much again as it was at the last
settlement. The proprietary body was strong and the statistics of transfers
showed a smaller area of land mortgaged than in any other circle and revealed
the greatest improvement in the value of the land since the settlement. A
fairly full assessment was possible. The following figures show what was done :
Old demand Rs.
141317
Proposed Rs. 154442
New demand Sanctioned Rs. 154442
Imposed Rs.
154485
Incidence per old Rs. 2 – 2annas –
8 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
2 – 6 annas – 3 pies
Percentage of increase 9
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 17
(3) Jandiala Guru Circle :- The soil of this circle varies from a good sandy loam to very poor
sand. Only twelve estates received canal water, and as much as 41 per cent of
the cultivated are was unirrigated. Agricultural results were, therefore, apt
to be uncertain. The circle was sparsely populated, but even so a cautious
assessment was expedient. The following statistics show that the necessary
moderation was exercised :
Old demand Rs.
192868
Proposed Rs. 197592
New demand Sanctioned Rs. 197592
Imposed Rs.
198150
Incidence per old Rs. 2 – 3annas –
6 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
2 – 4 annas – 5 pies
Percentage of increase 3
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 16
(4) Nahri Circle :- Defective drainage is the bane of this circle and considerable
stretches of land are impregnated with kallar.
Thirteen hundred acres had gone out of cultivation since the settlement and
further deterioration was possible. The pressure of population was heaviest in
the tahsil. On the other hand, only out of 128 estates were without canal water
and only 10 percent in cropping, and the value of land as a commodity was well
ahead of anything obtainable elsewhere. The circle was, on the whole, strongest
in the tahsil and a fairly full demand was possible. The following statement
shows the actual results of
reassessment :
Old demand Rs.
250510
Proposed Rs. 299638
New demand Sanctioned Rs. 299638
Imposed Rs.
297325
Incidence per old Rs. 2 – 13annas –
0 pie
cultivated acre new Rs.
3 – 4 annas – 10 pies
Percentage of increase 19
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 14
(5) Mirankot Circle :- This is by far
the poorest circle in the tahsil. Where the soil is not light and sandy, it is
often not sour and kalrathi. Half of
the estates received no canal water and a quarter of the cultivated area was
unirrigated. There had been no improvement in agricultural results. Holdings
were compratively large, but sales and mortgages had been very considerable.
The value of land was low and the expiring assessment, tested by the
consideration paid for mortgages, relatively heavy. A lenient assessment was
necessary and, as the following figures show, the demand took account of this
state if affairs :
Old demand Rs.
40817
Proposed Rs. 43318
New demand Sanctioned Rs. 43318
Imposed Rs.
43050
Incidence per old Rs. 2– 5 annas
– 8 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
2 – 6 annas – 9 pies
Percentage of increase 5
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 15
Assessment of the Ajnala Tahsil
(1) General Considerations :- The assessment of Ajnala Tahsil has always been the most difficult
problem in the fiscal arrangements of the district. Nature’s caprice has time
and again falsified man’s mathematics and taught him how little he knows of
moderation. The demand which over a series of seasons is well within the
capacity of the people to pay may prove so harsh in a single bad year that a return
to solvency is almost impossible. Such distress is not universal, for certain
areas are comparatively prosperous, but the cogent arguments of experience
requiring an abandonment of the soothing theory are concerned with broad
practical issues. The cultivated area had increased by some eight thousand
acres since the last settlement, but was at that time of the new settlement no
more than it was fifty years ago; and half of the increase since the last
settlement had to be discounted in assessing the permanent progress, for it
depends on the whim of the river. With some 65000 acres (24 per cent of the
total area of the tahsil) still “available for cultivation”, it might be
imagined that there was a margin of safety in potential development. But this
fallacy was exposed in Prinsep’s settlement of 1862-65 and his severe
assessment on “backward” village (i.e. estates in which there was much
uncultivated land) were unlikely to be repeated. Much of the land which still
awaited the plough is inferior stuff and scientific advice should have preceded
its reclamation. There were other weaknesses. The tahsil was less protected by
artificial irrigation than its neighbours and its ability to do without
artificial supplies of water. Communications were poor and the access to
markets difficult for the trans-Sakki tract. The pressure of population was
heaviest and the holdings smallest in the district. Where agricultural
conditions were least favorable, the proprietary body was least able to cope
with them. More land had been sold and mortgaged than in each of the other
tahsil; more of it had passed into the hands of the non-agriculturists and
prices were much lower. The mortgage debt had increased threefold since the
settlement. A considerable measure of leniency was thus expedient in
determining the assessment of the tahsil as a whole with a considerable
discrimination between the strong cis-Sakki portion and the wretched
trans-Sakki circles. An assessment of Rs. 409973 was recommended, and it would
have absorbed 15.6 per cent of the true net assets against a permissible of
17.9 per cent. As explained in the assessment report, some of the figures were
provisional, as the measurement had not been completed when the report was
submitted. On the final figures, the permissible demand under section 51(3) of
the Punjab Land Revenue Act (Rs. 474350), i.e. 18 per cent of the true net
assets, and the demands brought out by the proposed soil rates became Rs.
146084 in the Nahri circle, Rs. 158458 in the Uthar, Rs. 55883 in the Hithar and
Rs. 54437 in the Sailab- a total of Rs. 414862 for the tahsil.
It was recognized that
the proposals involved a considerable sacrifice of revenue- they took for the
State only 87 per cent of the permissible demand- but with the adoption of the
produce estimate as the true net assets (and their consequent reduction by some
Rs. 15000) even grater generosity was thought to be demanded by the condition
of the tahsil and its comparative taxable capacity. Instructions were,
therefore, given to work to a demand of Rs. 399000 round, and complete
discretion was given in the distribution of the reduction. In consequence of
these orders, soil rates were not altered, but their advantage was taken to
reduce the provisional demand in peculiarly weak estates and in the estates
where the enhancement would otherwise have been steep. The new demand was to be
introduced with effect from the kharif
of 1945.
(2) Nahri Circle :- This was strongest
circle in the tahsil. The cultivated area had increased since the settlement
and there were nearly three thousand more irrigated acres. As much as 94 per
cent of the cultivated area was protected by canals or wells. The proprietary
body was strong and the holdings were larger than those in other circles. On
the other hand, the pressure of population exceeded anything found in any other
circle of the district. The effect of reassessment will be clear from the
following figures:
Old demand Rs.
120025
Proposed Rs. 146084
New demand Imposed Rs.
140600
Incidence per old Rs. 2 – 12annas –
8 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
3 – 1 annas – 5 pies
Percentage of increase 17
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 15
(3) Uthar Circle :- The circle is
somewhat inferior to its eastern neighbor. The soil is lighter. The facilities
for irrigation were not so good. The wells, on which half of the cultivated
area relied, were deep and part of the canal supply was non-perennial. The
pressure of population was lighter, but still heavy. The following statement
shows what was done:
Old demand Rs.
130456
Proposed Rs. 158458
New demand Imposed Rs.
149055
Incidence per old Rs. 2 – 7annas –
2 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
2 – 9 annas – 7 pies
Percentage of increase 14
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 15
(4) Hithar Circle :- This is a much
weaker circle. There was no regular canal irrigation. One-third of the
cultivated area was barani. Much of
the soil is inferior and kalrathi.
The sown area had declined and there was little or no variety in the cropping
pattern. Holdings were small and the stocks was poor. The proprietary body was
neither strong nor homogeneous. It would not have been prudent to go too near
the permissible demand and actually the soil rates were all lower than those of
the last settlement. The increase in demand, which the following figures show,
was due entirely to an increase in the cultivated area- the incidence per
cultivated acre was actually less than before:
Old demand Rs.
51569
Proposed Rs. 55883
New demand Imposed Rs.
54425
Incidence per old Rs.1 – 14annas –
7 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.1
– 14 annas – 3 pies
Percentage of increase 6
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 17
(5) Sailab Circle :- This was
unquestionably the weakest circle in the district. A few estates were strong
and fairly prosperous, but the majority were poor places where existence was
precarious and poverty obvious. More than half of the cultivated area relied
for moisture on the river which is unfettered by any natural embankment in this
district. The sown area was four thousand acres less than it was at the last
settlement; failure was heavy and there was no variety in the pattern of
cropping. Communications were poor, the proprietary body was weak and the
holdings were small. The only error in assessment should have been leniency.
As
regards the fixed system of assessment in force, no change was recommended.
The
result of reassessment is shown by the following figures, from which it will
appear that the new demand is lighter than the old one in its incidence on
cultivation:
Old demand Rs.
52857
Proposed Rs. 54437
New demand Imposed Rs.
53500
Incidence per old Rs. 1 – 11annas –
2 pies
cultivated acre new Rs.
1 – 9 annas – 5 pies
Percentage of increase 1
Percentage of true net
assets absorbed 16