ADMINISTRATION
A more detailed account of the administration may now be given.
Kashmir Proper, that is, what is known as the valley of Kashmir, is a
province of the Jammu and Kashmir State, which has a total area of
about 80,000 square miles, and a population of 2,905,578, while the
province, which includes for administrative purposes the valley of the
Jhelum River from Baramula to Kohala, as well as the district of
Gurais on the far side of the North Kashmir Range, has a population of
1,157,394.
Kashmir itself is administered by a Governor, and the whole State is
ruled over by a Maharaja. It is one of what are known as the Native
States of India,--States which are ruled by their own Chiefs, but
feudatory to the British Government, whose interests are represented
by a British Resident at the capital.
The present ruler, who succeeded his father in 1885, is Maharaja Sir
Pratap Singh, G.C.S.I., a major-general in the British Army, and a
Chief of strong religious tendencies, who is much respected in India
and loved by his own people. He is advised by a chief minister, his
very capable and business-like brother, Raja Sir Amar Singh, K.C.S.I.,
and by three subordinate ministers--one in charge of the foreign
relations of the State, of the Public Works, the Forests, and several
minor departments; another in charge of the Land Revenue
administration; and the third in charge of the Home Department,
including the Police, the Customs, Medical and other branches. The
Judiciary is presided over by a Judge of the High Court.
All of these officials are natives of India, and, except one, belong
to the British service, and have been trained in British provinces.
None are Kashmiris. They have been lent by the British Government to
the Maharaja for a specified number of years, and draw salaries of
from Rs. 1200 to Rs. 1500 a month, or L720 to L800 a year.
Under them, again, are the governors of Kashmir and of Jammu; and the
wazir-i-wizarats of Ladak (including Baltistan) and Gilgit, of whom
all except the latter are also Indian officials lent by the
Government of India.
Besides these, in the departments of the State where special technical
knowledge is required, European and American specialists are employed
under the ministers. The finances of the State are controlled by an
Accountant-General from the British service. The operations for
assessing the land revenue are under a Settlement Commissioner, a
member of the Indian Civil Service. The public works are under the
charge of a retired engineer from the Public Works Department of the
Government of India. The forests are controlled by a Conservator of
Forests from the Indian Forest Department. And under the State
Engineer is the Chief Engineer of the Electrical Department, a Royal
Engineer Officer, who in his turn has under him a large staff of
Englishmen, Americans, Canadians, engaged in carrying out the great
schemes for converting water power into electric power, and by means
of the latter draining the water-logged portions of the valley,
reclaiming land, and preventing floods.
This, in brief outlines, is the administrative system in the State. At
the head is an hereditary ruler. Immediately responsible to him are a
group of Indian officials mostly born, educated, and trained in the
adjoining British province of the Punjab. The local executive is
likewise chiefly presided over by Government of India native
officials; and in charge of technical departments are European and
American specialists.
What is chiefly remarkable is the very small number of Kashmiris who
are employed. Though the majority of the inhabitants are Mohamedans,
very few Mohamedans are employed in high positions. Though the
Kashmiris are very intelligent, extremely few have posts in the State
service; and this anomaly, though remarkable, is paralleled in many
other native States. They are most of them dependent on officials
trained or at least educated in British provinces. The Maharaja of
Kashmir realises, however, the necessity of educating and training his
own subjects, and most of the smaller officials and many of the clerks
in the offices are State subjects.
And these are the men with whom visitors to Kashmir come mostly in
contact. Immediately under the Governor of Kashmir are officials known
as tehsildars, in charge of tehsils or small districts, and under them
again are naib-tehsildars in charge of groups of villages; and,
finally, we come to the lumberdars, or head-men of the villages.
These officials with their attendants collect revenue, keep order, and
administer justice in small cases. But for the administration of
justice there is also in the Kashmir provinces a Chief Judge holding
his court at Srinagar, and minor judges known as munsiffs.
The chief revenue is derived from the land, and is assessed according
to a system which will presently be described. Out of a total revenue
for the whole State of one hundred lakhs of rupees, the revenue from
land amounts to over forty lakhs.
Customs is another principal source of revenue. The receipts for the
Kashmir province for the last three years were--
Rs. 3,99,155 = L26,610
Rs. 4,84,235 = L32,282
Rs. 5,51,102 = L36,740
and for the whole Kashmir State--
Rs. 7,62,582 = L50,839
Rs. 8,93,438 = L59,562
Rs. 10,09,647 = L67,243
In describing the history of the people we have seen that one of the
greatest reforms effected in the reign of the present Maharaja has
been in the system of assessing and collecting the land revenue--a
reform which was carried into effect mainly by Sir Walter Lawrence,
who in his work on Kashmir has described at length both the old system
and the one which has given it place. Of every village, with its
village lands, a map was made on a scale generally of 24 inches to the
mile--that is large enough to show every field accurately, and even
the trees on the fields. Then in the village registers all necessary
facts relating to each field were recorded, such, for instance, as the
area, the class of soil, the source of irrigation, the number and
description of trees on it, the name of the owner, the name of the
person who cultivated it, and the amount of rent payable by the
tenant, if any.
Of these entries the most important, as regards assessing the amount
of land revenue to be paid, was that regarding the class of soil. This
is now classified as A, irrigated land, (1) producing rice regularly;
(2) producing rice occasionally, but not in every year; (3) producing
other crops than rice; and B, unirrigated land, (1) manured; (2) level
unmanured; (3) sloping unmanured.
The name of the "owner" was entered, but "owner" is really an
incorrect term, for all land in the Kashmir valley is "owned" by the
State. The actual holders have a right of occupancy as against
the State as long as they pay its dues, and are practically
sub-proprietors; but they have no right of alienation or mortgage.
At each harvest an official called a patwari, made a field to field
inspection, and recorded in a Register the crops found in the fields.
These proceedings gave the assessing officer a record of crops which
formed an aid to assessment. The officer then estimated by
observation, inquiry, and experimental cuttings, the yield of average
fields of each class. The following are examples of some of the rates
of yield:--
Per Acre.
_a._ Unhusked rice-- lbs. lbs.
1. In villages affected by floods 1240 to 1520
2. In villages above the floods but not
too near the mountains 1760 " 2600
3. In villages close to the mountains
and affected by cold winds and
cold water 1360 " 1800
_b._ Maize on unirrigated land--
1. By river 1200 " 1600
2. Between river and mountains 1100 " 1500
3. Near mountains 800 " 1200
_c._ Wheat on unirrigated land--
1. By river 640 " 720
2. Between river and mountains 560 " 640
3. Near mountains 500 " 560
All this information furnished the basis on which the amount of
revenue could be fixed. In old days the State claimed half the gross
produce as it was stacked on the field at harvest time, and various
perquisites of officials reduced the share left to the cultivator to
only about one-third. Moreover, in collecting the revenue in kind
there was much room for abuse and loss to both the State and the
cultivator, and endless vexation. It was therefore the object of the
new settlement to have the revenue paid as much as possible in cash
rather than in kind, so that the occupant of a field would be able to
know for certain what he would have to pay, and would not have
cormorant officials hanging over his field at harvest time; and also
so that the State on its side might know precisely what amount of
revenue to expect in a year, and not have the trouble of collecting in
kind with all its attendant risks and cost. What had to be fixed,
then, was the money value of the grain which the State would otherwise
have taken from the cultivator.
The settlement of this amount in the case of every single field in the
whole of Kashmir was, necessarily, a gigantic operation and took six
years to carry out. But the information collected regarding its area
and bearing capacity showed, with considerable degree of accuracy,
what each field could produce. The average cash value of this amount
of produce in an ordinary year was then determined, and the State had
then to say what proportion--whether two-thirds as before, or an half
or a third--they would take. Lastly, had to be decided for how many
years they would agree with the occupier to take this fixed amount of
cash--whether for ever, as in Lord Cornwallis' settlement of Bengal,
or for thirty, twenty, or ten years.
Mr. Lawrence, though making very great changes, had naturally to also
use caution. He could not at once fix the whole revenue in cash. Some
had still to be taken in kind. And he could not safely make his
settlement for more than ten years, for his calculations of the
produce of a field and of the money value of that produce might at
this first settlement often be unfair, either to the State or the
occupier.
At first even the villagers, who were most to be benefited, distrusted
the settlement and hampered the operations, and the old style petty
official, now happily extinct, encouraged them in their distrust. But
gradually, under Mr. Lawrence's influence, the attitude of the
villagers changed. When they saw that for ten years to come the amount
the State was to take was to be fixed and at a diminished rate, that
only a small part was to be taken in kind, and enough was to be left
to them for food, and that thereby the ever-present sepoy was to be
removed from the villages, the people began to realise that some good
was to come of these operations for settling the revenue. Ruined
houses and desolate gardens were restored, absentees returned, and
applications for waste land came in faster than was for the time
convenient.
At the end of the ten years a second settlement was made, and this
time with much diminished troubling, for not only were people and
officials better disposed, but there were now available much more
reliable statistics as to the produce of the fields. The yield of each
field and the money value of the yield could now be fairly accurately
known; and the proportion of this money value of the yield which the
State should take had now to be fixed. Formerly, exclusive of
perquisites for local officials, the State would take half the yield.
But it was now decided to take only 30 per cent of the gross yield,
and to take the money value of it instead of the actual produce in
kind as in old days. Each occupier was then given a small book
containing a copy of the entries in which he was interested, the area
of the field, the rate he had to pay, and so on.
The all-round incidence of the new land revenue proper is Rs. 3. As.
2. (or 4s. 2d) per acre cultivated; and the rates varied from Rs. 12
(16s.) per acre on some of the less irrigated (market garden) land, to
ten annas (tenpence) per acre on the poorest unirrigated land in the
coldest part of the province.
The period of the settlement was fixed at fifteen years.