Gazetteer of the gurdaspur District,1891-92

· 1892 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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3CHAP. V.—ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE. 167

4: : shi chief grounds for an enhancement may be summarised

5a3 [OLoOwWws -— .

6Increase in prices as assumed ) ,- —

7* for eument. } 95 per cent.

8» " Jn cultivation 3 s

9be inwella ... oo |)

10» mm Chéhi area one | a

11a in private canal area 3 ve

12‘. in population over 1868 4 Ji

13The merease in the revenue taken therefore is mainly due

14to re-casting of the revenue rates based upon a revision of esti-

15mates of prices and outturns per acre and the rise in cash rents,

16and that there has not been much real increase in cultivation,

17Chapter V:

18Administration

19and

20Finnocial resolia

21of the re-assegement.

22while o great deal of the increase in well-irrigation is dne to a*

23difference in the system of classification of soils, and the State

24Canal area has actually decreased by 31 per cent., owmg to the

25policy of sending the Biri Doib Canal water down to the more

26arid tracts further south. :

27The system of Huctuating asseesment has been retained in

28the case of the 37 villages in which it was introduced by Sir J.

29Lyall in 1878, and in the other 29 it has been set aside at the

30wish of the people and a fixed assessment announced, but power

31has been retained to reintroduce the fluctuating systemat any

32time should this be necessary ; and the revenue of these estates,

33_ except Athwalin Batdla with 92 other villages mainly in the Kiran

34valley in Gurdaspur, and Batila has been announced subject to

35revision whenever a detailed annual record is prepared for an

36estate. In this way it is hoped that the risk of any serions de-

37terioration in quality due to swamping or floods from the Ravi

38into the Kiran valley will be safe-guarded and the possibility

39of any great improvement in the condition of the villages from

40drainage works or protective embankments, now in contemplation

41or under construction, will be satisfactorily met.

42The assessments were introduced with effect from kharif

431289 in Batdla kharif 1890 in Gurdaspur, rabi 1891 in Shakar-

44_ garh and kharif 1891 in Pathankot. There were only 6 appeals

45against the assessment out of 2,005 estates, and the new revenue

46has been collected with ease and without much friction, though

47two of the seasons since its announcement have been exception-

48ally poor, viz., rabi 1890 and kharif 1891. In the Bharrari in

49Shakargarh and Hill and Kandi Cireles in Pathankot, which are

50entirely dependent on the rainfall and are held by an improyi-

51dent set of poor Rajpits and semi-Ra)pit farmers, the working

52of the settlement will have to be watched with care during the

53first few years at any rate, and ready suspensions and even

54remissions should be granted in the event of a serions failure of

55two harvests in succession, such as nowseems probable, _

56The assessment has under the orders of Government been

57announced in each case for a term of not less than twenty years,

58and the actual period will be settled when the orders on the

59Final Report are issued, | /

60i

61System of foctunt-

62ing and qvadrennia

63revision of paca.

64ment.

65Period of Settle-

66ment and working

67of assessment. .