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APPENDIX XIV. 



RAVINE RECLAMATION AND FAMINE RELIEF. 



Being a note on the experience gained in the Etawah district 



in the 1919 famine. 



Introduction. 



1. In the autumn of 1918, when the complete failure of the 

 monsoon had made it clear that there would be severe scarcity in 

 the ravine tracts of the Etawah district, Government decided that 

 the principal form of famine relief in those tracts should be ravine 

 reclamation work. This was a form of relief that had not been 

 tried previously to any appreciable extent, and the Famine Code, 

 comprehensive as it is, does not in many ways cover this type of 

 work. Moreover, few Forest Officers in these provinces know 

 much about the Famine Code, or have had occasion in the past to 

 study it intimately in its actual working. With the probable ex- 

 tension of afforestation and ravine reclamation work in the province 

 and with the certainty of recurrence of famine operations (in the 

 Jumna-Chambal ravine tract especially), at fairly frequent inter- 

 vals, the need of some guide or record for this type of work becomes 

 apparent. This note has, therefore, been drawn up on the experi- 

 ence gained in the 1918-19 famine in the Etawah district. Although 

 primarily from the Forest point of view, and to serve as a guide 

 to the Forest Officer, it will, it is hoped, also prove of some value 

 to Collectors and Famine Officers within whos, charge this type of 

 famine relief work is adopted. 



The absence of all previous experience of famine relief work in 

 ravine reclamation led inevitably to a few mistakes in the begin- 

 ning. The accounts procedure was new to the Forest staff, \vhile 

 the standardization of tasks, the organisation of gangs, the check- 

 ing of continually shifting work, and many other points had to be 

 ascertained by practical experience before the work could run 

 smoothly and properly. This note will, it is hoped, help to smooth 

 over the initial difficulty when ravine reclamation work is again 

 carried out by famine labour. 



Chapter I- 



PRELIMINARY WORK. 



* ^' * n or ^ er * understand what follows, a brief description of 

 objects 1 and methods of ravine reclamation is desirable. The 

 courses of the Jumna and Chambal rivers (and several of their 



