CHAPTER VI.
The Land.
Natural Divisions.
The Census for Hyderabad State, published this year, says : — "While in relation to those of the Indian continent the geological and meteorological characters of the Deccan plateau (the Nizam's Dominions are situated almost in the centre of the Deccan tableland) are sufficiently distinctive to constitute a single natural division. Taken by itself they fall naturally into two groups dividing the area into two natural divisions."
And the Report of the Census of India, 1901, says : — "The north-west portion, forming nearly half of the natural division, is covered with basaltic lava flows (Deccan trap); the remainder is composed of granites, gneisses, and schists with a basin of Paleozoic limestones, quartzites, and igneous rocks in the Caddapah area. The dry season extends from December to May. The rainfall of the wet season is chiefly due to the West Coast humid current from June to August, but occasionally in September and almost entirely in October and November it accompanies the course of storms coming up from the Bay of Bengal. The wet season is hence considerably longer than in the Konkan and usually lasts until the middle of November. As the rainfall in the large area of the west Deccan is less than 30 inches "the dry zone of the division is very liable to drought and famine."
These observations describe exactly the geological and meteorological differences between the western and eastern halves of the Nizam's Dominions.
The division to the north-west is a trappean or black cotton soil country — a land of wheat and cotton, while the division to the south-east is a granitic region — a land of tanks and rice.
"These differences of physical nature are associated," says the Census, "with social, economic, and linguistic differences in the two natural divisions of the State, which are designated as Marathwara and Telingana, owing to Marathi and Telegu being the principal languages spoken in these two tracts respectively." And here it will be useful to give the following figures : Hyderabad State : Area, 82,698 sq. miles. Population, 13,374,676. Density per sq. mile, 162. Telingana division : Area in sq. miles, 41,320. Population. 6,724,964. Density per sq. mile, 163. Marathwara division : Area in sq. miles, 41,378. Population, 6,649,712. Density per sq. mile, 161.
Thus it will be seen that His Highness's Dominions are not very densely populated when compared with other parts of India, a fact worth noticing, because density of population has, no doubt, much to do with unrest and discontent among Indians.
When I asked a Hindu in the Warangal division why people appear to be more contented in the Hyderabad State than in British India, he replied : — "Because they are not so crowded."
The following figures as regards density of population are of interest: —
Presidency of Bengal : Area in sq. miles, including Cooch Behar and Hill Tippera, 84,092 sq. miles. Population, 46,305,642 persons. Density per sq. mile, 551.
Presidency of Bombay : Area in sq. miles, 186,923. Population, 27,084,317 persons. Density to the sq. mile, 145. Mysore State : Area in sq. miles, 29,475. Population, 5,806,193 persons. Density to sq. mile, 197.
Travancore State : Area in sq. miles, 7,594. Population, 3,428,975. Density to sq. mile, 452.
Bearing in mind the two natural divisions of the State that are very strongly marked and must impress anyone who travels in the districts, we notice with interest that of the whole forest area in the Nizam's Dominions — 18,000 sq. miles — no less than 16,000 sq. miles are in Telingana. Yet, owing to the cultivation of rice, the density of population is greater in Telingana than in Marathwara. This division has a better rainfall than Marathwara, but the ryot in Telingana is less painstaking than in the sister division. The Marathwara ryot is hard-working and industrious, and although irrigation is inconsiderable in his division, he is blessed with a soil that is retentive of moisture and in which his principal cereal crop— wheat — will flourish. And it must be noticed that although rice and wheat — and more especially rice — occupy in the agricultural industries of the State a position of importance unapproached by any other crops, jowari, bajri, and cotton cover a larger area.
The following figures are important : —
State of Hyderabad : Percentage of total area cultivated 53.7. Ditto of cultivated area which is irrigated 6.2. Under rice 4.4. Wheat 3.7. Pulses 7.4. Other crops 84.5. Normal rainfall 30.2 inches.
Telingana : Percentage of total area cultivated 38*8. Ditto of cultivated area that is irrigated 13.0. Rice 10.3. Wheat 0.4. Pulses 5.5. Other crops 83.8. Normal rainfall 32.7 inches.
Marathwara : Percentage of total area cultivated 68.6. Ditto of cultivated area that is irrigated 2.4. Rice 1.1. Wheat 5.5. Pulses 11.1. Other crops 82.0. Rainfall 27.7 inches.
The Census tells us that during the past decade Telingana has increased in wealth and population, while Marathwara has decreased as regards prosperity and inhabitants, and it suggests that in the Census for 1911 the wild and nomadic tribes in the forest districts of Telingana have been more accurately enumerated than was the case in 1901. Large tracts of land have been reclaimed from the jungle in Telingana during late years, and that division has suffered less from drought, plague, and famine than Marathwara. While the percentage of increase of population during the past ten years has been in Telingana 24.0, in Marathwara it has been only 16.4. The writers of the special articles that are printed with the Census are of opinion that practically all the cultivated area in Marathwara has now come under cultivation, and that this division is already supporting a population much nearer to the maximum capacity of its agriculture than Telingana.
Rice cultivation, which has the capacity to support a proportionately larger population than that of any other crop, is inconsiderable in Marathwara, and the scanty and uncertain rainfall there is opposed to a rapid growth of population. Large areas, and, as a rule, the more fertile ones, have been transferred to the production of non-food crops, which bring higher prices. Between the years 1902 and 1910, the area under cotton in the State increased by 21 per cent., and most of this cotton land is in Marathwara.
The Census suggests the substitution of more paying crops, improved methods of cultivation, and the establishment of new industries, but it says nothing about more money being spent on roads and irrigation works.
The soils of the two divisions are very different. Those of Telingana are sandy, the plains there are covered with brushwood, the hills show no vegetation, and fantastic-shaped rocks and crags give to the scenery a wild and, in some places, weird appearance. The rivers run dry in the hot weather, and if water were not stored in tanks, little or no agriculture could be carried on. There are rive crops, but the light soil requires little ploughing and harrowing, and rice seems to be the only crop to which the cultivator pays much attention. The principal crops are rice, jowari, bajri, castor-oil seed, sesame, and pulses; and the ryots live on rice, jowari, and bajri — also goat flesh.
The Marathwara soil is very fertile — heavy and rich in the hilly parts and light and loamy in the valleys. Two crops only are raised. The Marathwara ryot weeds his wheat, cotton, linseed, and pulses crops carefully, and his food is bajri, jowari and wheat, varied with fish and goat flesh. Strong ploughs and harrows are used in Marathwara, and the work to be done in the fields is heavy and constant. Rather more than one-half of the population of the State is supported by agriculture, and the Census gives the following figures as regards the cultivators of the soil : —
Rent receivers . . 731,803
Ordinary cultivators . . 4,064,950
Agents, managers, etc. . . 34,540
Farm servants and farm labourers . . . . 2,788,212
There has, during the past ten years, been an extraordinary increase in the number of rent receivers, the Census says, and this shows that the pressure on the land is increasing, and the ownership and profits thereof are being increasingly appropriated by rent receivers. The number of farm labourers and field servants has been swollen by peasant proprietors who have lost their holdings and by indigenous artizans thrown out of employment by cheaper imported articles. The bania, or money-lender, seems to be increasing in power in the Nizam's Dominions, as well as in other parts of India.
Concerning the wages received by farm servants and farm labourers, nothing definite is known, because such people are largely paid in kind, and are more or less the slaves of the cultivators. "To sell into slavery" is a criminal offence in Hyderabad State, but there is no doubt that in remote places farm labourers still sometimes sell their children to their employers, and sometimes bind themselves to work for a certain number of years, and even for a life-time in return for money given to defray marriage expenses, and little girls are sometimes bartered for food, clothes, and sandals.
The common system of land tenure all over the State is ryotwari, and by this system each field is considered a holding, and the right of occupancy depends on the regular payment of the assessment. Non-payment of rent means forfeiture of the right to the land, which is then sold to pay the arrears.
If the rent is paid regularly, the ryot, although the period of holding is nominally for one year only, retains his land indefinitely. He may sell, sub-let, or transfer his right to the land and relinquish his holding by giving due notice.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Hyderabad State (Provincial Series), says : —
"The average area of a holding in the whole State is 20¾ acres, varying from 28½ acres in Marathwara to 12½ acres in Telingana. In the Maratha districts the government assessment on 'dry' lands ranges from Rs. 3-0-1 to Re. 0-10-2 per acre, the average being Re. 0-12-9, while for 'wet' and baghat (garden) lands the average is Rs. 4-5-6 per acre, the maximum being Rs. 15 and the minimum Re. 1-2-0. In the Telingana districts the average assessment on 'dry' lands is Re. 0-13-5 (maximum Rs. 4, minimum Re. 0-1-0) and on 'wet' lands Rs. 9-4-2, the maximum and minimum being Rs. 24 and Rs. 3 respectively. The average rate per acre for the whole State is Re. 1-3-8, but for Marathwara and Telingana it is Re. 0-14-3 and Re. 1-13-10 respectively, the high rate of assessment and the smallness of holdings in Telingana being due to the prevalence of 'wet' cultivation. No reliable figures are available to show the gross produce, and it is impossible to say what proportion of the land revenue demand bears to it. No difficulty is experienced in collecting the revenue, and there is very little resort to coercive measures. The general principle of assessment is to take half the net profits, after paying cost of cultivation, etc., as the State's share."
In times of scarcity and famine the demand is suspended and recovered in the following year, and remissions are also granted when distress is severe or when the ryot has lost his cattle. In Marathwara and in the settled Telingana districts, remissions are not granted for "dry" land, as the assessment is very light. But in the unsettled Telingana districts, remissions are given on "dry" lands affected by bad seasons, including excessive rain, and on "wet" lands for want of water, including breach of tanks and decay of wells. These remissions are granted in ordinary years. Remissions are also given for "wet" lands in settled districts when the water supply fails.
The land revenue derived by His Highness's government from khalsa or government lands (two-thirds of the State) was, according to the administration report for the two years 1320-21 Fasli (1910-1912 A.D.) 4,92,45,280 O.S. rupees; and during the same period the total cultivated area rose from 19,216,662 acres to 20,261,443 acres.
The State, which is an extensive plateau, has an average elevation of about 1,250 feet above the level of the sea, and summits rising here and there to 2,000 and 3,500 feet. The principal mountains are the Balaghat, the Sahyadriparvat, the Jalna, and the Kandikal Gutta ranges, but there is no hill resort, and the chief sanatorium of the State is at Bolarum in the Secunderabad cantonment.
The principal rivers are the Godavari and the Kistna, with their tributaries the Tungabhada, the Purna, the Manjra, the Bhima and the Maner; and among the smaller rivers are the Musi — a dangerous stream that flows below the wall of Hyderabad city — the Windi and the Munair.
Gold and diamonds are still found in the State, but mining for these things has not proved a success of late years. The only gold mine that is now being worked lies about fifty miles from Raichur, and is reached by a cart road. The output of gold at this mine — called the Hutti mine — was during 1912 16,993 ozs., and the royalty paid to His Highness's government during the same period was 48,110 B. G. rupees. Speaking of gold mines in the preface to his Budget Note for 1323 Fasli (1913-1914 A.D.) the Finance Minister says : —
"It is believed that as soon as railway communication enables the mining companies to get cheaper coal there will be a considerable extension of gold mining in the Deccan. There are many old workings in the Raichur district but none of these go down further than 700 feet. The experience of Mysore and of the Hutti mine in this State is the same, that the lower levels which the old workers never reached are the richest, but to reach these levels in the absence of railway communication is at present very expensive, and the industry has hitherto been unable to expand."
The Singareni coal fields will be noticed in a separate chapter.
Laminated limestone is largely quarried at Shahabad, in the Gulbarga district, and promises to become an important export.
The Nizam's Dominions abound with wild animals and feathered game, but the rules for shooting are very strict, and for full information concerning these things, the reader is referred to the monthly Directory published at the Garrison Military Printing Press, Secunderabad. Nowhere in India, except in Mysore, perhaps, will a greater variety of wild animals and birds be found.
The present Nizam is a keen sportsman, but so far he has been too much occupied with State affairs to spend much time in his large preserves.