Memoir on Thar and

assessment about October of each year; every field is inspected, and the produce thereof
estimated; the Government share is then fixed, and after the assessment of the whole
Kardarate is concluded, the Government share of the produce is converted into money, at
the market price of grain at the time, and collected. As, however, the fields are much
scattered, and the labour of traversing up and down the sand hills very great for man and
beast, the assessment duties are unavoidably prolonged during three and even four
months. It is of course impossible to keep the corn standing till assessed; the cultivators
are therefore allowed to gather * it in when ripe, and thus some of the fields are assessed,
with the standing corn in them, at the commencement of the assessment season, while
others are assessed after the corn is gathered previous to being thrashed, which it is after
being gathered in the field; and others again, towards the close of the season, are assessed
by the standing stalks alone, the grain having been both gathered in, and consumed or
disposed of.
“By this system—theoretically perhaps the most fair that could be devised, if the fields
could all be assessed as soon as ripe,—many of the cultivators of the Desert are kept in.
suspense as to the amount that their fields will be assessed at till they have either
consumed or disposed of the produce, so that, let never so exorbitant an assessment be
made, no means are at hand for refuting the justness of the levy, or convincing the
assessors that they are exacting an undue share of the produce. It may be urged that all
the cultivators should be obliged to keep the grain till assessed in the fields, where it is
usually prepared for consumption or sale in the Desert. This is done as far as it can be; it
is, however, hopeless to expect that poor people will keep the produce of their fields for
two or three months till the Kardar can assess it, firstly, because they would have to
remain idle, watching it all that time; secondly, because they would in the mean time be
obliged to purchase grain for consumption, while their own was lying idle. In Parkur,
even where the grain is collected in grain-yards close to the villages, and ordered to be
kept untouched, it is found impossible to prevent the cultivators taking portions of it
away for consumption before it is assessed.
“Another serious objection in the present system of assessment, is the impossibility of
obtaining anything beyond an approximation to an equal levy, if even that can be
attained. The case of over assessment in the Deepla district lately brought to notice, is
evidence of the practical objections to the present system, inasmuch as that any system
for the assessment of the land revenue that admits of deviations from a given standard,
corresponding to the caprice or variations in the capacities of the different native revenue
officers, cannot be expected to give satisfaction to the agriculturists, or to elicit their
confidence, both of which are more or less indispensable to stimulate agriculture.
“The assessment for the present season commenced in October last, and is only lately
concluded (April 1853); the difficulty of making a proper assessment, and the chances of
an equal levy being made after such a lapse of time, will be obvious. Formerly, that is up
to 1849, the assessment duties were generally concluded by the end of December or
* Picking off the heads of the grain is the usual mode of gathering in the corn in the Desert, leaving the stalks standing;
while in Parkur, it is usually cut and carted to the grain-yards close to the village.
<strong>Memoir</strong> on the Thurr and Parkur Districts of Sind. Copyright © www.panhwar.com
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