Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/189

 AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY 137

At the end of 1920 the reorganisation of the British garrison of India was completed, the establishment being 75,896 men, but. the demobilisation of the Indian Army generally had been retarded both by trouble on the north-west frontier and by the delay in settling the Treaty of Peace with Turkey. Throughout 1920 operations continued on the north-west frontier, mainly against the Waziris ami the Mahsuda, At the end of the year, how- ever, the prospect that order would be at length restored in this disturbed district was good. During the summer of 1920 it l>ecame necessary to dispatch from India to Mesopotamia reinforcements equivalent to two Indian divisions, and at the end of 19^0 there were approximately 130,000 Indian troops serving outside India, mainly in the occupied areas of Turkey.

In accordance with the reform of the constitution of the government of India, a number of substantive commissions in the Indian army are now granted to Indian officers who have done distinguidied service during the war, while honorary commissions are also given to Indian officers, who, though they have rendered distinguished service, are not eligible for substantive commissions through age or lack of education. Forty Indian genrlemen are now nominated annually to the Royal Military College, Smdhurst, to enable them to qualify for commissions in the Indian army, while 44 candidates are appointed to the training college at Indore, where thej are able to qualify for temporary commission*.

Agriculture and Industry.

Agriculture, Land Tenure, ttc- The chief industry of India has a] been agriculture. The total number of the population supported by agri- culture, including forestry and raising of livestock, was, according to the census of 1911, nearly 225 millions (178 millions in British India and 47 millions in the Native States) out of a total population of 313 millions 244 millions in British India and 69 millions in the Native States). In every province of India there is a Department of Land Records and a Department of Agriculture. There are staffs of experts in the provinces and there is an Imperial staff of experts with a fully equipped central station, Research Institute and College for post graduate training of those who have completed the Agricultural Course iu provincial colleges. There is also a Civil Veterinary Department for the prevention and cure of cattle diseases and for the improvement of the breeds of cattle, horses, &c. There is an Imperial Laboratory for research and the preparation of sera and antitoxins.

In provinces where the zaminddrl tenure prevails (i.e., where single pro- prietors or proprietary brotherhoods possess large estates of several hundreds or thousands of acres), the State land revenue is assessed at an aliquot part (usually about one half) of the ascertained or assumed rental. The revenue is payable on each estate as a whole, the assessment remaining unchanged for the period of settlement. In the greater part of Bengal, and Bihar and Orissa, and in parts of the United Provinces and Madras the settlement is a permanent one and not liable to revision. In provinces where the raiyaticari (or ryotvari) tenure prevails (i.e., where each petty proprietor holds directly from the State, as a rule cultivates his own land, and has no landlord between himself and the Government), the revenue is separately assessed on each petty holding, and land revenue becomes payable at once (or after a short term of grace in the case of uncleared lands) on all exten- sions of cultivation. The raiyatwdri proprietor may throw up his holding, or any portion of it, at the beginning of any year after reasonable notice, whereas the zamindar or large proprietor engages to pay the revenue assessed upon him throughout the term of the settlement.