CULTIVATING CLASSES ANALYSED 59 



Class 1 have obtained the advantage of enhanced 

 rents due to rising prices of agricultural produce, and 

 in many cases where they formerly used to cultivate 

 their own lands with hired labour, the increased cost 

 of labour has driven them to let their lands for rent. 

 As a whole this class is more prosperous than it 

 formerly was. 



Class 2 includes the best cultivators and the most 

 hard-working men in the country-side. It is the men 

 of this class who make permanent improvements to 

 their land, and, where climatic conditions or irrigation 

 facilities permit, will work steadily and continuously 

 throughout the year, and at certain seasons extremely 

 hard. "With a suitable holding a man has the means 

 and the incentive to work, and he tends to develop 

 the characteristic of dogged and persevering labour 

 without which peasant farming can hardly be success- 

 ful. These men have on their side the causes that 

 make for progress and are immune to the opposing 

 causes which have been noted. 



Class 3 comprises the men whose holdings are not 

 sufficient to support them, and who spend part of their 

 time working for others. They are the victims of the 

 conditions which arise from pressure of the population 

 on the land, the Hindu law of inheritance and the 

 customs arising out of it. Where a man can find 

 employment for his spare time in his own village, it 

 is possible for him to keep his holding in a thrifty 

 condition ; but where he has to go farther afield in 

 search of work this becomes a matter of greater 



