FUNDAMENTAL OBSTACLES 185 



place in a holding which is the wrong size and shape 

 and which has no stability. The fact that this is 

 true not only in theory bat in practice can be verified 

 by anyone who will take the trouble to do so. Not 

 only is the land totally undeveloped, as development 

 is known in other countries, but the idea of progressive 

 development is hardly understood by the land-holders. 

 To develop and improve a permanent 10 or 20 acre 

 farm is an intelligible proposition ; but to develop a 

 10 or 20 acre farm which must in the near future be 

 split up and fragmented is not an intelligible pro- 

 position to anyone ; and since this is the proposition 

 which confronts the Indian farmer, it is not surpris- 

 ing that he does not consider it seriously. 



Now let us turn to the farmer. The farmer owns 

 his small and fluctuating area of land, it may be 

 15 acres of land in three plots in one generation, and 

 5 acres in six plots in the next generation. The point 

 is that the farmer is fixed and permanent. His farm 

 may fly into fragments and grow steadily smaller, but, 

 generally speaking, he himself persists, whether he 

 be a good, bad or indifferent farmer. In highly in- 

 dividualistic and competitive countries efficiency is 

 secured largely by the elimination of the unfit, who 

 are squeezed out of the race by keen competition, 

 coupled with a high standard of living. This law is in 

 constant operation in England, and there have been 

 periods of agricultural depression there when unpro- 

 gressive farmers have been ruined and squeezed out 

 wholesale, while on some kinds of soil it is recognised 



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