GRANT OF LOANS AND ADVANCES TO AGRICULTURISTS. 97 



available, non-official agency might be employed to aid in making 

 enquiries and disbursing loans ; and where the number of such loans 

 is large, it will often be found advisable to make the necessary 

 enquiries well beforehand, and to arrange for the immediate disburse- 

 ment of the money when the loan is actually required, as, for instance, 

 when rain falls at seed-time. 



12. The foregoing considerations are applicable to the case of 

 loans made in ordinary times ; and, it remains to consider the case 

 of loans made to agriculturists in anticipation of scarcity or 

 during the currency of famine. As regards such loans, the Government 

 of India agree with the opinion expressed by the Famine and Irriga- 

 tion Commissions, that loans to agriculturists are especially required 

 in the very early stages of famine as a measure of moral 

 strategy, and to put heart into the people, and that a system of 

 advances when made in good time and with prudent forethought, 

 is a most efficient form of relief, and one which can to a very 

 great extent be freed from the pauperizing influences of State 

 charity. These principles have been incorporated in the revised 

 Famine Codes and will no doubt be acted upon when occasion arises. 

 It has been usual in most Provinces to make advances in famine times 

 on low interest or free from interest altogether, and to remit them 

 with great generosity. The Government of India however agree 

 with the Famine Commission that this is mistaken charity, likely to 

 demoralise the people. They are of opinion that these advances 

 should always carry interest at the usual rate, and that while due 

 regard should be paid to the subsequent seasons and the circums- 

 tances of the borrowers, repayment of these loans should take 

 precedence of the recovery of arrears of land revenue. If it is 

 necessary to grant some remission, it should take the form of a 

 remission of land revenue, and the loan with interest should be 

 recovered ; or, if this will involve great hardship, a portion of the 

 loan itself, and not merely the interest, should be remitted. In 

 times of famine, in place of granting loans free of interest, the 

 system of making free grants in addition to repayable loans, already 

 alluded to, may be freely utilised. Advances may be made to land- 

 > owners for the construction of private works to enable them to give 

 employment to the poor, a portion of the advance being made in the 

 form of a loan repayable with interest on ordinary terms, and the 

 remainder in the form of a free grant-in-aid from famine funds, to be 

 13 



