Indigo in Meerut. 115 



INDIGO IN MEERUT. 



THE relations between cultivator and factory in 

 these parts is somewhat different to that which ob- 

 tains in Behar. Here we have indigo either by the 

 advance system, badni or by khaskreed, that is, pur- 

 chase in the open market of indigo plant, grown by 

 the cultivators as a speculation. In Tirhoot and 

 Behar generally the assamiwar or ryothi system to 

 some extent prevails, but the khaski system now 

 more generally obtains. The cultivators living in 

 the villages within what is called the factory dehdt 

 take advances to sow indigo for the factory at a cer- 

 tain price. This price may be anything from twelve 

 rupees to four annas per maund, and is a matter of 

 mutual agreement. The seed is generally given to 

 the cultivator. This is not the case in the North- 

 West Provinces, there the cultivator generally grows 

 his own seed. In Sarun the khaski system has be- 

 come very popular, and the cultivators look forward 

 to their indigo advances more eagerly than they do 

 for the opium advances. The advances given are, in 

 some instances, heavy, and the conditions on which 

 the money is given are not, in most cases, half as 

 harassing as those inserted in the badni agreements 

 of the North- West Provinces. By the term factory 

 dehdt is meant the circle of villages within which a 

 particular factory claims the monopoly of growing 



