January 16, 1954
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY
Book Review
. . . As
a
Mode
of
Living
A g r i c u l t u r a l Economics. By D S C h a u h a n , M A , P h D , D i r e c t o r , T h e B R School of Economics a n d
Sociology, A g r a . Published by L a x m i N a r a y a n A g a r w a l , A g r a . 1953. Pp 354. Rs 12
wool and mutton " (p 29).
44
Productivity ordinarily means the
capacity of yielding a certain amount
of output as a result of investing a
certain amount of labour and capit a l " (p 43).
" M o d e r n Concept of Famine:
The conception of a modem famine
is a state of emergency in which the
government recognises the existence
of unemployment on a scale, which
in the absence of general poor law,
requires special measures of relief"
(P 175)" In order to understand the
nature and scope of natural resources
one thing has to be taken for grantOn going through the book one
ed
that the earth is the home of
cannot help wondering for whose
particular use the book has been man " (p 202).
" Rivers have wandering habit,
written. The author certainly docs
not intend to propose this book as and thus are by nature disorderly
a text book for agricultural econo- and destructive forces " (p 265).
mics, for several important subjects
The reviewer certainly owes an
like land tenure system, tenancy apology to the author for selecting
problems, agricultural credit and some sentences out of context. In
marketing are left practically un- several cases, the author later distouched and to this extent, it would cusses in detail the concepts he has
be far from truth to state that the in mind but a reader is generally
book " provides a clear and full left with the impression whether it
understanding of the subject of agri- would not have been more fruitful
cultural economics." Further, if the for the author to avoid some of the
problem of development of electric half-baked concepts of his and walk
power is within the purview of agri- on more firmer grounds.
cultural economics, then the issues
The only important contribution
arising out of the proposed ' Atomic which the author makes in this book
Pool " should certainly deserve a
is his discussion on " Famines and
detailed discussion.
Famine relief ". Though the mate
If the book is intended for a
rial presented and concepts discussed
' specialist ', then the question arises could have possibly been treated in
as to what sort of a 'specialist' did
a more systematic way, it would not
Dr Chauhan have in mind while be far from truth to say that his is
writing the book. The reviewer one of the first books in agricultural
;
"would prefer to leave the question economics which discusses at length
unanswered. This would be appre- the problems of famine which have
ciated on reading some of the sen- always been the problem number
tences from the book that are re- one before the country.
produced below:
Secondly, it is evident on going
. *' . . . though agriculture is not through the book that the author
very encouraging as an occupation has taken considerable pain in colfrom the pecuniary point of view, it lecting and presenting diverse types
is.quite stable and is less susceptible, of data relating to availability of
industrial resources, pattern of land
to disturbance
in the financial
world (p 22). . . . Even if the crops utilization, different classes of forests,
mature well, the timelag between extent of area irrigated, irrigation,
investment and return being pretty power and multi-purpose developlengthy, business fluctuation bring ment projects. In this respect, the
about considerable variations in book can usually serve as a handy
reference to the students of planfarm incomes " (p 27).
44
Nature of Agricultural Out- ning so far as the statistics relating
p u t : Farm products are generally to certain aspects of landuse planjoint products, eg, cereals and straw ning are concerned.
Thirdly, though a reader may not
or stock, lint and cottonseed, and
I
N this book Dr Chauhan discusses several subjects relating
to ' Agricultural Economics.' The
subjects covered range from the
" law of diminishing returns",
famines, and soil conservation to
river training mid development of
power resources. The book is divided into eight chapters, three of which
relate to a theoretical discourse on
the nature and subject of agricultural economics. Three other chapters cover subjects like types or farming, rural sociology and the famine
problem. The remaining two chap, ters deal with land, water and power
resources.
69
agree with the author as regards
certain statements, some of which
have been reproduced above, it
must be conceded that* the author
makes a fairly good (though probably not very successful) attempt at
interpreting the socio economic changes that have been taking place in
the rural areas. In this respect, the
Chapter No V covering about
61 pages in which lie discusses
'' Rural Fife and Economic Transition " deserves special mention.
On the whole, the book is a useful contribution to the scant literature on agricultural economics. A
reader may find it difficult however
to agree with Prof Radhakamal
Mukerjee who in his foreword
states that the work is of a pioneering nature. All would certainly
appreciate the statement made by
the author that the '' attempt is
made in a collaborating rather than
in a competitive spirit, and neither
in the approach nor in the scope it
is claimed to be of a pioneering
nature."