M. K. Gandhi
indigo is grown, has been received, and action has already been taken to prohibit the levy of illegal cesses, and, in the case of the Bettiah Raj, to review the terms of the leases on which the villages concerned are held. As regards the complaints of the raiyats in other parts of the district, the final report of the Settlement Officer has not yet been received, but recent events have again brought into prominence the whole question of the relations between landlords and tenants and in particular the taking of agreements from the raiyats for compensation or for enhanced rent in return for the abandonment of indigo cultivation. In these circumstances and in deference to representations which have been received from various quarters that the time has come when an enquiry by a joint body of officials and non-officials might materially assist the Local Government in coming to a decision on the problems, which have arisen, the Lieut.-Governor in Council has decided, without waiting for the final report of the Settlement operations, to refer the question at issue to a committee of enquiry on which all interests concerned will be represented.
272
