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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 15, p. 238.

238 KHJINDES'H DISTRICT provement was the withdrawal from the hereditary officials of powers the possession of which by them was found to be a source of oppression to the people. The settlement of the revenue was then made direct with the cultivators and not with the headmen of the villages. The revenue was fixed on the average payments of ten previous years. Gradually, inequalities of measurement were reduced to a common standard. About 1830 it was found that the assessments were too high, leaving no margin to the cultivator for improvements. Great reductions were then made in the rates on irrigated lands ; the rates on `dry-crop' lands were also reduced, wherever this was found to be necessary, and liberal remissions were made. Still progress was slow; and no attempt was made until 1852 to introduce a survey, which, it was felt, would be very costly. In that year, as it appeared that the rates in Khândesh were higher than in other Districts, it was determined to carry out a survey on a plan suited to a country where so much of the land was waste. The objects of it were misunderstood, and troops had to be called out. But, on the leaders being seized, the opposition died away and the work was carried out between the years 1854 and 1870. Since then the District has made a most marked advance. Its popu- lation has largely increased and the area under cultivation has nearly trebled. Cultivation has been pushed to the base of the hills; and only in a few parts can good land now be found untilled, while wild beasts have been driven from the plain to the hills and the ravines. This remarkable development is, no doubt, in great measure due to the facilities offered by the railway for the export of produce to better markets, and to the great demand for cotton, which Khândesh is in a position to satisfy. The revision survey settlement was commenced in 1886 and completed (with the exception of a small area, chiefly in Nandurbar, originally settled in 1901-3) in 1904. The new survey found an increase in the cultivated area of 4 per cent. over the amount shown in the accounts, and the settlement enhanced the total revenue from 31 to 40 lakhs. The average assessment per acre of ' dry' land is Rs. 1-6 ; of rice land, Rs. i-i o ; and garden land, Rs. 2-14. Collections on account of land revenue and revenue from all sources have been, in thousands of rupees:- 1880-i. 18go-i. 1900-1. I 1903-4- Land revenue . 34,13 39,76 50,32 48,60 Total revenue 46,27 57,40 64,72 67,59 The District has 21 municipalities: namely, AMALNER, PAROLA, ERANDOL, DHARANGAON, BHADGAON, CHOPDA, SHIRPUR, SINDKHEDA, BETWAD, SAVADA, YAVAL, BHUSA1VAL, JALGAON, DHULIA, SONGIR,