Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/165

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labor on it properly even nnder conditions that I have already pointed out, viz., small ontput of a day's work ?ud small number of working days in the year. Hence, putting these three causes together, we may say that the Indian agriculturist suffers in an extreme degree from wha? the English economist calls "chronic under- employment "; and that they necessarily result in very low income, not only for the agriculturist, but also for the bulk of non-agrienlturists who are in the main dependent upon agriculture. This it appears to me is the 'most important cause of the lowness of income which prevails in South India. We now come to the conclusion of possible remedies. The general line of policy it appears to me to be in- dicated is that the people themselves should be stimu- lated to think about their econo?nic condition and form their own plans for improving their status. The first s?ep in this direction, which is a purely preliminary one, should be the expa?nsion and improvement of elementary education, the employment of much better teachers at a higher remuneration who should aim not merely at leaching reading, writing and arithmetic, but at developing the general character of the children, Next it appears to me intelligence, initiative and that it is ?'ery desirable tha? without in any way interfering with the develop- ment of the University sys[em of education which is based, and in my opinion rightly based, on the study of English, there should be continual development of side by side with this a [ethnical education given through the. medium of the vernacular, and that this form of education should be as fully and rapidly as the The ground having been thus allowed to demand prepared expand' just for it grows. it should be po?ible to make a direct economic advance through the fos?ering o! scientific agriculture, o! village indu?-