326 



teaching them to provide in prosperous seasons against 

 contingencies of this kind, it would, on the other hand, be 

 inhuman to refuse help to the suffering population when 

 large tracts are distressed. It is, therefore, an extremely- 

 difficult and delicate task to determine in any particular 

 case at what stage of the distress the Government ought to 

 intervene and provide relief at the expense of public funds 

 instead of leaving cases of distress to be dealt with as in 

 ordinary years by voluntary private charity. Whenever, 

 therefore, distress owing to failure of crops is apprehended, 

 large establishments have accordingly to be employed to 

 be in readiness to start measures of relief in case the 

 distress, that is beginning to be felt, should grow in intensity. 

 The offi.cers employed are generally men who know little 

 about the circumstances of the localities in which distress 

 prevails, and, often, a favorable turn in the season renders 

 any measures of relief unnecessary. For instance, during 

 the last drought a considerable portion of the expendi- 

 ture on famine relief represented the cost of the additional 

 establishments employed to watch and report on the state 

 of the country. In spite of all precautions it would be futile 

 to expect to ensure that all cases requiring relief in all 

 parts of the country had been sought out and provided 

 for and deaths by starvation were completely prevented. It 

 seems to me that this is a duty which should be performed 

 by local unpaid non-official agency and that, instead of 

 Government being made responsible for deaths by starvation, 

 the Local Fund Union Panchayats should be made responsible 

 and placed in funds in order that they might be enabled to 

 discharge this duty efficiently except in times of dire famine, 

 when the whole power of the State will, of course, have to 

 be applied to it in grappling with so serious a crisis. A cer- 

 tain percentage of the land revenue might be assigned for 

 this purpose, and to ensure its economical administration, 

 the Local Boards should bo asked to supplement it with funds 

 at their disposal. The administration of relief should also be 

 regulated by rules laid down by Government, and questions 

 as to the circumstances under which, and the persons to whom 

 it should be dispensed should be determined by Local Fund 

 Union Panchayats. 



116. There is another important direction in which the 

 Necessity for ntiiiz- uscfulness of local bodics might be de- 

 ing Local Boards as volopcd, viz., in ascertaining by their 

 S""'ir?egl3 means when legislation affecting social 

 afifecting social i^sages, usagcs and laws of inheritance can and 

 *"■ should be undertaken for the benefit 



