GOVEKNMENT ACTION 187 



a large amount of personal liberty. He appreciates 

 the liberty and would resent its loss. Nor could any 

 permanent basis of progress be laid by such measures ; 

 for without economic liberty, enterprise is not possible, 

 and without enterprise progress will not take place. 

 Great emphasis has been laid on the necessity for 

 checking excessive subdivision and fragmentation of 

 the land, and it is shown in Appendix II. what drastic 

 legislation has been taken in some countries to achieve 

 this object. But the measures suggested (Chap. IV. 

 and Appendix III.) as desirable for western India 

 make no suggestion of compulsion. They amount to 

 no more than giving the land-holder a chance of 

 freedom from the operation of laws and customs 

 which impede his progress. Public opinion is not 

 ready for more, and any attempt at this stage to 

 coerce the cultivator along lines contrary to his 

 traditions and inclinations would only serve to defeat 

 its object. In India, as elsewhere, circumstances 

 arise where the interests of individuals must give way 

 to those of the community in order that some great 

 public benefit may be secured. Some such instances 

 have been mentioned. They are the exception not 

 the rule. 



Leaving the sphere of Government action we may 

 turn to the domain of social and religious customs. 

 Social reformers in India have much to say regarding 

 the tyranny of caste and the oppressive working of 

 the joint family system, and it has already been in- 

 dicated that there are many customs of a religious 



