Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/197

 SIZE OP LHND HOLDING$ drain off the surplus wser when rain is excessive. With the present distribution of the land in tiny plots amongst numerous is becomes impossible, results to all concerned. undertaken; actual tillage holders and with divergent interests consequently great loss Improvements cannot be operations become very ments depend embankment and i often difficult; fencing is out of the question; no man can live on his farm when it is scattered into many plots, nor can he guard more than one plot at the same time; causes of friction between neighbors inevitably arise and often develop in standing feuds. These are some of the necessary attendant ex'ils to which, I think, anyone who is closely connected with the country-side' will bear witness. In the case of elaborate improve- such as the reclamation of salt lands, which on the maintenance of a substantial outer a system of sluice gates and drains, happens that t. he work undertaken by one man when the original holding was it. tact (s allowed to go to pieces for want of repair when the holding becomes sub-divided, so that everyone concerned is a loser. In Oujarat the problem differs greatly in different tracts. In the parts that grow cotton and jowari the stuation is not usually acute, as is shown in cases Nos. 7 and 8, but in actual or potential garden lands the position is very bad. (ases Nos. 9 and 10 are admittedly selected as extreme cases, but they illustrate what is common in large areas all over Gujarat. Such conditions inevitally reduce production, and in extreme cases put the land out of cultivation, as is shown. They put a shop to all permanen improvements, and produce an uneconomic situation which reacts most unfavourably on the cultivators. The Deccan is divided into West Deccan and East Deccan. In the West Deccan the pressure of the