Abstract:
THIS is primarily a study of agricultural debt in the
Punjab. But it is also something more, for debt, when
as wide-spread as it is in this country, touches the whole of
economic life, and to understand the causes of the one we
must know something of the conditions of the other. This
explains the method and scope of the book, which, in examining
the main problem of the Punjab peasantry, seeks to give
some idea of the peasant himself in all his varying conditions
of heat and cold, drought and flood, river and waste,
abundance and want. If I have been over-bold, I would
shelter myself behind the words of Malthus, that That,When a
man faithfully relates any facts which have come within the
scope of his own observation,however confined it may have
been,he undoubtedly adds to the sum of general knowledge
and confers a benefit on society. This is indeed the only
claim that I can make, that I have endeavoured faithfully to
relate the facts which have come to my knowledge, and have
set them down with no more comment than seemed necessary
to their understanding. If further justification is needed, it
is that, though the indebtedness of the Indian cultivator is
a fertile theme for politician and journalist, 'the sum of
general knowledge' on the subject is small: how small will be
seen from the opening pages of the first chapter
