THE PUNJAB ALIENATION OP LAND AMENDMENT BILL, 1906. 

 Statement of Objects and Reasons. 



The first and most important amendment contemplated by the 

 present Bill is the abolition of the statutory agriculturist. This is 

 effected by the repeal of section 2 (1) and of section 3 (1) (V) and the 

 proviso thereto. 



The experience gained of the working of the Act has shown that 

 there are grave objections to his existence. The fundamental objection 

 is that the so-called agriculturist is in many cases not an agriculturist 

 at all, and that when he is not a member of a notified agricultural 

 tribe he frequently belongs to the bania class whose acquisition of 

 the lands of agricultural tribesmen it is the primary and avowed 

 object of the Act to prevent. In every village where there are agri- 

 culturists who are not members of an agricultural tribe, there is a 

 standing menace to the successful working of the Act. If a bania 

 has held land for 30 or 40 years in a village, he does not cease to be 

 a bania ; and if he is a land-owner, it does not follow that he is not 

 also a money-lender. There is nothing in the structure of rural society 

 in the Punjab to separate banias who have held lands since the first 

 Regular Settlement from others. At present such a bania is iu a 

 position of great advantage, because the door closed upon the mass of 

 the money-lending classes is left wide open to certain members of 

 those classes who in the absence of competition of their class have 

 better opportunities now of permanently acquiring the lands of zamin- 

 dars than they had before the Act was passed. 



Agriculturists who are not members of notified agricultural tribes 

 will be found to belong to one or other of the following groups, 

 namely, I bantas, that is, village shop-keepers, grain-dealers and 

 money-lenders, whatever their caste or tribe ; II Hindu settlers who 

 are not money-lenders ; III village menials ; and IV tribes practising 

 agriculture, but usually having also various other avocations, such as 

 trade, money-lending, military or other service, and the like. The 

 cases of individuals falling under groups I, II and III could, it is 

 considered, be quite adequately met by the power to sanction per- 

 manent alienations conferred on Deputy Commissioners by section 3 (2) 

 of the Act. As regards groups of persons falling under group IV, 



