Vol. 17, Part I · pages 336–340

311REPRESENTATION..........MANGS ETC. the Register, although not one-tenth of the registered number was ever before required for service. The Taluka Officers sided with the Village Patil and demanded the whole number of Mahars, specified in the Register to be their duty for all time. This practically meant a conscription of the whole Mahar population of the village for Government service. The Mahars refused to submit to this extortionate and unjust demand, as it was impossible for the whole lot of the Mahars mentioned in the Register to be on duty for all time as the income of the Inam land assigned to them was not adequate for the maintenance of them all and a large majority were obliged to eke out their livelihood by doing odd jobs. The Watandar Mahars therefore carried on an agitation for the correction of the Watan Registers by a reduction in the number of Officiating Mahars. In this, they succeeded and the number of Mahars was reduced. But as I have said this is no reduction in the number of Officaiting Mahars. It is only a correction of a wrong Record. To call it a. reduction is either to forget facts or to misunderstand them. What has happened is the correction of an incorrect Watan Register. That being the case I cannot understand how Government can, on that account, justify their policy of making reduction in the remuneration of the Mahars by the levy of a Judi or an increase in the Judi. 10. Assuming, however, that there has been a reduction in the number of Officiating Mahars an assumption not justified by fact I respectfully submit that it is not easy to understand how Government can, on that account, proceed to reduce their remuneration by the levy of Judi or by an increase in the Judi. In adopting this course it appears to me that no or little consideration has been given to an important circumstance which has a great bearing on the question at issue, namely, that Watan property falls in a special class and although it may be called remuneration, the rule of “no work no salary” or “so much work, so much pay” has never been applied by Government in dealing with Watandars and their Watans. 11. In this connection I wish to draw Your Excellency’s attention to the following facts showing how other Watandars have been treated by Government under similar circumstances. When the British took possession of this part of the country they found

312 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES that the Maratha Government had made a very prodigal use of its power of alienating the right of the State to claim assessment in favour of private individuals and had created a very large class of alienated lands popularly called Inams, the holders of which were designated as Inamdars and Watandars. These Inams fell into four classes namely (1) Personal, (2) Devasthan, (3) Political and (4) Non-Political and were all hereditary Inams. From the point of view of service these Inams fell into two classes : (A) Inams which formed a remuneration for service to the State and (B) Inams which were gifts and for which no service was required to be rendered to the State. The Personal and Devasthan Inams belonged to the class of non-service Inams, while Political and Non-Political Inams belonged to the class of Service Inams. 12. During the first 23 years of the British Rule (1818-1841) the enormous extent of the claims made by individuals to hold lands as Inam was not realised by the British Government. It was in 1941 that the question of examining these claims was taken up. In 1943 a Committee of two was appointed to inquire into the alienated lands of the Southern Maratha Country. The inquiry by the Committee appointed in 1843 proceeded for a period of nine years, till 1852, when the Committee was transformed into the Inam Commission and its proceedings were given a legal status by Act XI of 1852. By this Act, Government were empowered to appoint Inam Commissioners with Assistant Commissioners “to investigate the titles of persons holding or claiming against Government the possession or enjoyment of Inams or Jahagirs, or any interest therein, or claiming exemption from the payment of land Revenue.” The operations of the Commission were very slow and did not extend to Gujarat. It was finally decided to abolish the system of inquiry by the Commission and to substitute for it a system of “Summary Settlement” to be extended over the whole Presidency. This system of Summary Settlement was carried into effect by two Acts, namely, Act II of 1863 which applied to the so-called “New Provinces” of the Deccan, Khandesh and Southern Maratha country, and Act VII of 1863 which was applied to the so-called “Old Provinces” of Gujarat and the Konkan,

313REPRESENTATION..........MANGS ETC. (A) NON SERVICE INAMS 13. The terms of the Summary Settlement Acts applied only to two classes of Inams (1) Personal and (2) Devasthan Inams, i.e., to Non-Service Inams. The main principles underlying the Settlement Acts were as follows :— (a) The conversion of all Personal Inams (also spoken of as Warshasans) whether adjudicated by the Inam Commission or not, into transferable freehold. (b) The imposition of a quit rent or Nazarana upon such lands on account of such conversion the amount of which was fixed : (i) By Act II of 1863 at 4 annas for every rupee of the full assessment, plus a Nazarana equal to an additional one anna in the rupee, and (ii) By Act VII of 1863, at 2 annas in the rupee without Nazarana. 14. The extent of the annual loss which Government has suffered on account of the relinquishment of its right to full assessment by the settlement effected by these Acts was by no means small as will be clear from the following figures :Annual Loss to Government on Non-Service Inam Lands held as Personal and Devasthan Inams Division Assessment on alienated lands less quit rents ( Judi) Rs. a. p. I Northern Division … 1,26,529 15 1 II Central Division … 2,86,292 2 3 III Southern Division … 2,02,827 3 6 Total : Rs. 6,15,649 4 10 15. As stated before the terms .of the Summary Settlement Act applied only to Non-Service Inams, i.e., to Personal Inams, and Devasthan Inams only. They did not apply to Service Inams, i.e., the Political Inams and Non-Political Inams. They were expressly excluded from their operation and reserved for separate treatment.

314 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES (B) SERVICE INAMS 16. (I) Political Inams : These Inams comprised the class of Inams called “Jehagirs” and “Saranjams.” They were grants made by the State for the performance of Civil and Military services, or for the maintenance of the personal dignity of nobles and high officials who had rendered services to the State in the past. A settlement of these Political Inams was effected by the British Government on the principle of settlement in the case of Personal Inams, viz., they were continued hereditarily for one or more generations according to the date at which the original grant had been made, although they were exempted from the obligation to render service to Government. The result is that these Saranjamdars are receiving grants in the form of Cash Allowances from Government Treasury without rendering any service whatsoever to Government. The loss sustained by Government on account of Saranjams is represented by the Cash Allowances paid to the Saranjamdars annually from the Government Treasury. The following table shows the annual loss suffered by Government on this account : Annual Loss to Government on Account of Saranjams District Cash Payment to Saranjamdars Rs. a. PPoona .. .. .. .. 34,091 11 11 Sholapur .. .. .. .. 10,651 13 9 Ahmednagar .. .. .. 30,590 12 5 Satara .. .. .. .. 25,447 9 3 Khandesh .. .. .. .. 38,714 5 5 Bijapur .. .. .. .. 11,738 12 1 Nasik .. .. .. .. 47,037 10 4 Belgaum .. .. .. .. 32,875 12 4 Ratnagiri .. .. .. .. 1,079 2 3 Kolaba .. .. .. .. 1,655 10 6 Dharwar .. .. .. .. 30,091 0 3 Southern M.C. .. .. 3,378 15 1 Satara Political Agency .. 158 8 0 Total .. 2,67,501 11 7

315REPRESENTATION..........MANGS ETC. 17. There are altogether 104 Saranjamdars in the Presidency. This means that each Saranjamdar is receiving annually Rs. 2,500 on an average without rendering any service to Government. I might mention that out of the 104 Saranjamdars, 54 are Brahmins, 38 are Marathas, 7 are Musalmans, 3 are Kayasthas. 1 is a Paradeshi Rajput and 1 is a Mahar. 18. (II) Non-Political—The holders of Non-Political Inams, included (1) the District Officers and (2) Village Officers, who were employed by the Peshwas in the matter of Revenue collection and Administration. (1) DISTRICT OFFICERS : 19. The District Officers formed a class which comprised the old hereditary officials known as Desais, Deshmukhs, Deshpandes etc; who constitued the Taluka agency of the Peshwa Government for the collection of the Revenue and which was replaced by the British Government by the agency of Mamlatdars and Mahalkaris. The principle adopted for making a settlement with them was that of “Commutation of Service” by which they were allowed to retain the greater part of their allowances, a levy of some amount varying from 3 to 8 annas only in the rupee being made as commutation and also as a cure for possible defect of title. 20. The annual loss sustained by Government on account of this settlement with the District Officers is given below :— Annual Loss to Government on Service Inam Lands held by District Officers whose Offices have been abolished Division Assessment on lands less quit Rent Rs. a. p. I Northern Division Rs. 1,04,753 1 9 II Central Division Rs. 3,16,602 7 9 III Southern Division Rs. 3,93,189 15 8 Total Rs. 8,14,545 9 2