Report On The Administration Of The Punjab And Its Dependencies For 1890-91

· 1891 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

16 PUNJAB ADMINISTRATION REPORT, 1890.91.

221 lakhs of rupees in each of the two first mentioned districts. Inthe Ferozepore

3District the new demand will give a large enhancement, but part of this

4will not come into effect until the year 1892-93. Good progress has been

5made in the five central digtricts of Amritsar, Lahore, Gujrdnwdla, Sidlkot

6and Gujrat now under settlement, and the new assessments of at least one

7tahsil in each district have been reported and sanctioned. The Kangra and

8Shahpur Settlements are in an advanced stage. In both districts the Deputy

9Commissioner is in charge, and the cost of settlement is therefore kept

10comparatively low. The Montgomery District will be the next to which

11settlement operations will be extended. Here, too, it will be necessary to

12utilize the Deputy Commissioner for the work of settlement in order to limit

13the expenditure as much as possible; for the financial results of re-assessment

14in Montgomery will probably be inconsiderable. The question of the early

15‘re-assessment of the Peshawar and Dera Ghazi Khan Districts is under

16consideration.

179. The re-settlement of these five important districts in the Central

18Punjab is the most important measure of revenue administration undertaken in

19recent years. The Lieutenant-Governor was connected with more than one

20of these districts at the outset of his career, and he is glad, before he resigns

21the charge of the Province into other hands, to have been able in each one of

22them to indicate what in his opinion should be the general character and amount

23of the new assessments. To fix the land revenue of an Indian district properly is

24not amere fiscal operation which can be cffected arithmetically upon statistical

25returns. Ina peasant proprietary country like the Punjab in particular a wise and

26moderate land revenue demand well adapted in its form to the circumstances of

27the people by whom it 1s paid is of all administrative mcasures the most important

28for the good of the people and of the Government. _ It is not only harsh, but foolish,

29to attempt to press up unduly the demand upon land. Moderation, combined with

30a fair regard to the interests of the State Exchequer, will secure in the long

31‘run both greater general well-being and a greater Government revenue.

32- 10. LAND REVENUE.—The fixed land revenue demand of the year was

33Rs. 1,40,657 in excess of that of the previous year, but, owing to the character of

34the seasons, the collections fell from 99'1 per cent. to 98°6 per cent. of the demand.

35There was also a falling-off in the collections on account of former years. The

36increase in the fixed land revenue demand was due chiefly to the gradual effect of

37re-assessments in the Gurgaon and Rohtak Districts and to lapses of land revenue

38assignments. emissions of revenue sanctioned during the year were trifling in

39amount, the total being Rs. 23,032 only. Suspensions, however, amounted to

40Rs. 2,00,816 as compared with Rs. go,800 in 1888-89. Of this sum Rs. 1,20,000

41were suspended in the Delhi Division, which suffered from a very deficient rabi

42harvest. With favourable seasons, however, the balances in this Division will no

43doubt be recoverable. This, however, is not so in the case of the Thal tract of the

44Dera Ismail Khan District, where the greater part of the Rs. 90,000 now outstand-

45ing will have to be foregone. Owing to good floods in the Indus, Chenab and |

46Sutle}, there has been a considerable increase in the collections from land subject

47‘to fluctuating assessments in the Mooltan, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ismail Khan

48Districts. No extension of the fluctuating system has been made during the, year,