Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/378

 86 C. MEHA rather than an object o! social amelioration, or a cause worthy of any special enthusiasm. It is in the preparation of the register of as. sets--hiya registers as they are termed selection of the first steps And not on loans; regarding the in the United members future of OVOll put the Provinces--in the that the mos fatefid a society are taken. here the foundations are not laid, emphasis is on the moral duties and obligations, but exaggerated benefits of but the new co-operator these advances are not so coming as he hoped, and then his to be llncomfortably insistent on of loans. One cheap and plentiful soon discovers that generously forth- new creditor seems punctual repayment of the indisputable results ascribed to co- operation with a glow of satisfaction is the diminished rble of the moneylender in the village economy. But it is no wonder that with the priority of debts, the unlimited pledging of resources and various legal and official favors shown to co-operative bodies the mahajar does not hink highly of the credit of members o. rural societies. Aud yet the mahajan remains as indispensable as ever. The needs of the indigent peasant are manifold and inexorable. He wants money for marriage and .mourning celebrations, the importance of. which looms larger than even the re- curring needs of his holding. After all if. God be willing, the crops will be all right. There is gen- erally available a sufficient supply of some sort of seed and always the unstinted labor of. the cultivator; and these suffice to provide for the irreducible mini- mum of agriculture in India. And then the reckless joy of wedding and funeral feasts relieves the mono- tonous tedium of the peasaut's existence, and none but the moneylender is prepared to finance him adequately for the purpose. Co-operation aims at