SUMMAUY 3 



are now being preached in India ; but not at present those of 

 Marx. Consequently we have a breathing space. Yet we 

 must not underestimate the immediate growth of unrest due 

 to two distinct groups of causes : the one purely economic ' 

 and the other political. The economic cause is mainly the 

 growth of population and a commercialized land system ; but 

 the political is more complex. The constitutional reforms, 

 especially the grant of the franchise to tenants, and the 

 speech-making which has followed, are specially responsible ; 

 but the return of soldiers and men of the labor corps from 

 their service in foreign lands is also an important factor. At 

 last the idea is abroad that men have rights. This is an 

 element of progress, and should be a matter of congratula- 

 tion ; but it is also an element of danger. That danger 

 can only be averted by such changes as will adjust the 

 economic fabric to the awakened political consciousness. 

 It is impossible for India to continue much longer with a 

 mediaeval land system. In Europe the transition to modern 

 conditions came about more or less gradually ; in India, 

 on the other hand, the most advanced civilization of the 

 West impinges upon a social fabric and corresponding land ^ 

 system having many of the economic characteristics of the 

 feudal period. The situation is for this reason all the more 

 difficult. 



It may arouse your interest in the economic problems- 

 which I am about to discuss if at the beginning of this 

 course I give a brief general statement of the conclusions to 

 which I have come, and which I shall proceed to justify. 

 The most fundamental question is, what point of view should 

 be adopted ? What is to be the general object of our land 

 policy ? I answer without hesitation that it is the duty of 

 the legislature to look forward to the distant future, and not 

 merely to apply temporary palliatives. It is necessary so to 

 reform the land system that it may conduce to the benefit of 



