240 THE INTERRUPTION OF INDUSTRY 



evitable result: the labourer is thrown out of work; 

 his means of livelihood are taken from him, and he 

 and his family suffer acute distress for a longer or 

 shorter period, according to the duration of time that 

 he is out of work. 



The agricultural industry of India is no exception 

 to the general rule of liability to interruption. If the 

 rains do not fall in due season, all agricultural opera- 

 tions are inevitably suspended ; the baked ground 

 remains as hard as a metalled road, and the agri- 

 culturist cannot drive his ploughshare through it. 

 The processes of agriculture cannot even be begun, 

 / and all who depend upon the agricultural industry are 



necessarily thrown out of work. There are two facts 

 peculiar to India which make this suspension of 

 industry especially serious. The first is that the 

 failure of the rains in July and August entails the 

 almost complete suspension of agriculture throughout 

 the year. The kharif or autumn crop is planted as 

 . soon as the monsoon rains have saturated the earth, 



I and matures quickly in the warm months of July, 



August and September. During these months the 

 land is prepared for the rabi or winter crop, which 

 follows the kharif. This crop provides such work as 

 watering and weeding throughout the winter months, 

 and it is finally reaped in March or April. Thrashing 

 and garnering this harvest afford agricultural employ- 

 ment during the hot weather, until the return of the 

 rainy season in July begins the agricultural year anew. 

 Thus it is evident that if the rains fail in the months 

 I of July, August and September, agricultural opera- 



i, tions are suspended for a whole year, and those who 



\ depend upon the agricultural industry are thrown out 



of work for a whole twelvemonth. The interruptions 

 which normally occur in the industries of other 

 countries are not of such long duration, and therefore 

 we have to bear in mind, as peculiar to India, the 

 length of time for which the labouring classes are 



