Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/94

 BANKURA.

84

no control over their services, the ghdtwdls were taken over by the Government, the revenue paid by the Raja to the State being reduced by the amount he had received from them. Spare land fit for tillage ,

is

Tenures, however, are not unfavourable to

scarce in the District.

and that there is a certain quantity of surplus cultivable land is shown by the fact that a class of peasants, known as sdjds, only hold their lands on a yearly lease, and lead a wandering life from village to village, settling down for the time wherever they can get their temporary holdings on the best terms, and paying their rent in kind. The peasantry are almost invariably in debt, and almost all are tenants-at-will. Very few cases occur of small proprietors who own, occupy, and cultivate their hereditary lands, without either a superior landlord above, or a sub-tenant or labourer below them. A holding exceeding 17 acres in extent is considered an exceptionally large farm, while one below 3^^ acres is exceptionally small. A peasant with a the cultivators



small farm of 5 acres keeper, or a

not so well off as a respectable

is

man drawing

a pay of Rs.

8,

or i6s. a month.

retail

shop-

Wages and

prices have considerably increased in the District of late years.

i860, the price of the best cleaned rice was it

had

1871,

risen to 4s. 3d. IS.

labourers



is

No marked

3d. per

io|d. a cwt.



In

in 1871,

the price of sugar-cane in i860 was 8|d., and in

The

8d. a cwt.

2s.

diem



present wage of coolies and agricultural day-

formerly they received about half that sum.

change has taken place in the

rates of rent since the

nent Settlement; the present rates for rice land are from acre; for inferior land, 3s. to 12s.



Permaan

qs. to i8s.

the rates for land suitable for the culti-

vation of cotton, sugar-cane, and other superior crops are of course

and ^2, 14s. two crops. Natural Calamities The District is subject to drought, occasioned by a deficiency in the rainfall, which is attributed to the indiscriminate higher, ;£i, 17s. 6d. an acre being given for such land, for land yielding

.

clearing of jungle.

—

As

there are very

few patches of low marshy

land in the District which retain moisture for a considerable time, a Inundations occur year of general drought results in serious calamity. every year, owing to the suddenness with which the rivers and streams rise in the

rainy season,

accordingly,

—so

much

and the lands bordering on the so that in

many

rivers suffer

places they are permanently

Drought in Bankura allowed to remain waste and uncultivated. District arises solely from a deficiency in the local rainfall, and not from the failure of the rivers or streams to bring

dowm

their usual supply of

Nothing has been done to guard against the calamity of drought. The famine of 1866, which followed a season of drought, affected Bankura principally in the w'estern portion, the tract adjoining Bardwan water.

not suffering at

all seriously.

The number

of paupers relieved during

the months of July, August, September, and October 1866, was 33,216;