INDEBTEDNESS OF tfHE LAND-HOLDING CLASSES. & 



debt, and the miras title would have no value for a 

 non-agricultural landlord. 



o 



3rd. Rates of interest were very high, and much of the debt 

 consisted in accumulations of interest. 



4th. The causes of indebtedness were chiefly the revenue system, 

 and sometimes expenditure on marriages or such 

 occasions. 



5th. The amount of individual debt was usually moderate. 



6th. The sowkars were usually men of substance maintaining 

 establishments employed in dunning and looking 

 after debtors. 



7th. The creditor received little or no assistance from the 

 State in recovering debts, but had great license in 

 private methods of compulsion. 



Causes of Debt. 



The estate of an ordinary Kunbi ryot, exclusive of his land and 

 its produce, has been estimated by competent 



Poverty. . J 



authority to be of little more than Rs. 200 in 

 selling value ; it will be somewhat as follows : 



Rs. 



Live stock 125 



Implements and utensils 20 



House 50 



Miscellaneous 20 



Total 215 



The recorded results of personal enquiry by the Commission 

 prove how many of the population are possessed of less than the 

 above average. With the exception of the land all the items 

 of the estate are subject to depreciation, and imply yearly 

 charges for maintenance and renewal. The people being thus 

 possessed of very little beside their land, what kind of income 

 does that yield them ? The two crops bajri and jowar form 

 the great bulk of the agricultural produce; in a large portion 

 of the area under report they constitute -j^-ths of the whole. 

 Supposing that the rainfall was sufficiently constant to ensure a 



