472 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
that the existing holdings, small as they are, are too big for the available instruments of production other than land ? Facts such as these interpreted in the light of our theory force upon us the conclusion that the existing holdings are uneconomic, not, however, in the sense that they are too small but that they are too large. Shall we therefore argue that the existing holdings should be further reduced in size with a view to render them economic in the sense in which we have used the term ? Unwary readers might suppose that this is the only logical and inevitable conclusion— a conclusion that is in strange contrast with the main trend of opinion in this country. Contrary, no doubt, the conclusion is ; but it is by no means inevitable. For, from our premises we can with perfect logic and even with more cogency argue for increase in agricultural stock and implements which in turn will necessitate enlarged holdings which will be economic holdings as well.
Consequently the remedy for the ills of agriculture in India does not lie primarily in the matter of enlarging holdings but in the matter of increasing capital and capital goods. That capital arises from saving and that saving is possible where there is surplus is a commonplace of political economy.
Does our agriculture—the main stay of our population—give us any surplus ? We agree with the answer which is unanimously in the negative. We also approve of the remedies that are advocated for turning the deficit economy into a surplus economy, namely by enlarging and consolidating the holdings. What we demur to is the method of realizing this object. For we most strongly hold that the evil of small holdings in India is not fundamental but is derived from the parent evil of the mal-adjustment in her social economy. Consequently if we wish to effect a permanent cure we must go to the parent malady.
But before doing that we will show how we suffer by a bad social economy. It has become a tried statement that India is largely an agicultural country. But what is scarcely known is that notwithstanding the vastness of land under tillage, so little land is cultivated in proportion to her population.
Mulhall’s figures for the year 1895 clearly demonstrate the point. Acres per inhabitant in 1895
Great Ireland France Germany Russia Austria Italy Spain Britain and Portugal
U.S.A. India
0.91 3.30 2.30 1.70 5.60 2.05 1.75 2.90 8.90 1.0