170 



Kurnool and Kistna districts when the Bellary-Kistna Rail- 

 way was under construction, large numbers of labourers 

 having had to be imported from Poona in the Bombay Presi- 

 dency. In Tanjore diflBculty is now felt in finding labour for 

 the construction of the Mayavaram-Mutupet Railway. There 

 are many tracts, even in the river-irrigated parts of the 

 Nellore and Kistna districts, where the extension of irrigation 

 is held in check, owing to the paucity of labourers for carry- 

 ing on cultivation. On the whole, therefore, it seems clear 

 that it is not so much the pressure of population as the 

 precariousness of the seasons, which keeps down the econo- 

 mic condition of the ryots, especially in the districts situated 

 on the tableland between the Eastern and the Western Gh§-ts. 

 The Kurnool district contains a population of about 818,000 

 persons. The area of ryotwar land under occupation is 

 about 1,135,000 acres, and the extent of inam lands is 906,000 

 acres or 2 millions in all. This gives on an average 2^ 

 acres per head of the population. The average assessment 

 of ryotwar land is nearly 1 rupee per acre corresponding 

 to an outturn in dry grains, after deducting 25 per cent, on 

 account of vicissitudes of seasons, of 600 lb. or 10 bushels 

 according to the settlement calculations. Allowing even as 

 much as IJ lb. per head of men, women and children — a very 

 high all-round-rate — the produce of one acre per head ought 

 to be sufficient to feed the entire population, leaving 1-| acre 

 per head for seed, for fallows, for purchasing the other 

 necessaries of life such as clothing and condiments and for 

 payment of Government revenue. There is besides an addi- 

 tional acre per head of inferior land assessed at 8 annas 10 

 pies available for occupation, and there is very great scope 

 for extension of irrigation under the Cuddapah- Kurnool 

 canal, should intensive cultivation in the form of application 

 of irrigation in those sparsely-populated tracts become neces- 

 sary. The Anantapur district, which is the driest and the 

 poorest in the Presidency, contains a population of 708,000 

 persons. The area of ryotwar land under occupation is 

 933,000 acres, besides inam lands 608,000 acres, or about 1^ 

 million acres in all, which gives rather more than 2 acres per 

 head. The poverty of the soil is shown by the fact that the 

 average assessment is only 10 annas, while the average for 

 the whole Presidency is 1 rupee. The ryot's condition is 

 consequently more precarious in this district than in Kurnool. 

 Nevertheless, even here the outturn in all normal years is 

 more than sufficient to feed the population. There is a large 

 area of unoccupied land amounting to 1 acre per head of 

 the population, available for cultivation. The ayerage assess- 



