THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY October 30, 1951 statesmen, it is upto a body like the ment, man-power utilisation, pro­ series and help students of economics Indian Society of Agricultural Eco­ blems of measurement and fore­ feci that agricultural economics nomies to highlight the purely eco- casting in agricultural economics could be as worthy of their attention nomic problems and familiarise etc. will be included. The Indian as any other branch of applied econo­ students of agricultural economics Society of Agricultural Economics mics. with the work done elsewhere on will, perhaps, add further to the Ks. these problems. It is the merit of the volume on Karachi Letter rehabilitation of low-income groups in agriculture that it focuses atten­ Behind the Clenched Fist tion on work of this nature. Sec­ tions 111 and IV of this volume, ETHODS of bringing about in the absence of political stability dealing respectively with " Problems M political and social change or cohesion, political assassination of Farm Indebtedness and Inflated vary from country to country'; parti­ being an one-man show, is subject Land Values" and '' Land Re­ cular people have developed parti­ to no such 'limitations. forms " contain a wealth of informa­ cular means of achieving the desired The Middle East seems to have tion regarding agricultural finance transformation. In Britain one looks developed a special flaire for the and land utilisation in various coun­ to the Press and Parliament, and latter. During die last three years, tries. Two articles of Dr. G. Cos- in the case of larger and more funda­ when the Muslim world has been tanzo on agricultural indebtedness mental issues, to the ballot box for in a turmoil, evident from the un­ and on small holdings are worthy the overthrow of a government or usual political effervescence in the of special notice. They are both the reversal of a policy. Gandhiji different Muslim countries, at least models of essays in applied econo­ developed the peaceful, though a dozen of their prominent, public: mics, placing in proper analytical extra-constitutional, technique of men have- fallen at the hands of perspective the questions of supply Satyagraha or non-co-operation to assassins. and demand for agricultural invest­ answer a slightly different purpose. There is a single thread running ment, and the problems of small through them. Starting with the Pre-war Japan had developed holdings; and wherever factual in­ assassination of the Egyptian Prime political assassination with the corol­ formation is provided, it is always Minister, Nokrashy Pasha, in De­ lary, hara kiri, as an integral part concise and to the point- cember 1948, whenever Muslim of the political machinery of that While the second volume does nationalism of tin extreme type has militarist State. The coup d'etat, some justice to problems of rural been dissatisfid with the policies though an essentially Western wea­ indebtedness and land reforms, it is pursued by the men at the helm of pon in origin but much used in disappointing so far as the sections affairs, it has sought the short cut Latin America has found successful on " Principles of Economic Deve­ of doing away with the men to bring imitations in Siam. lopment " and " Rehabilitation of about the desired change of policy. Backward Regions'' are concerned. The coup or the " minority revolu­ Hassan al Bana, the head of the There are only two items under the tion ', as it is sometimes described Egyptian Moslem I brotherhood was first head, an article on " Spatial by this contradictory phrase, cannot the second victim from Cairo in Organisation of Agriculture " by succeed unless it is backed up by early 1949. Teheran, capital of tur- Dr Pavlovsky and the ILO's state­ organised force of some sort. bulanl Iran, saw the end of three—- ment on economic policies for Asian Though neither can flourish except Abdul Hajir and General Razmara countries. Neither of these touches the basic questions of development; Dr Pavlovsky is concerned with pro­ blems of location in agriculture; while the ILO statement is little more than a list of objectives to be sought and studies to be undertaken. It would have been more to the point to give selections dealing with the dynamics of investment and income in agriculture from the writ­ ings, for instance, of Dr Rosenstein- Rodan, Dr Mordecai Ezrkicl and Dr Mandelbaum. Similarly, the section cm rehabilitation of back­ ward areas is confined to US expe­ rience only. Articles on measures taken in some of the: European coun­ tries, in the USSR and elsewhere would have enhanced the value of this section. It is to be hoped that the forth­ coming volumes in this series will fill some of these gaps. In the series contemplated, it is not clear where certain allied topics like rehabilita­ tion of rural industries, the role of the state in agricultural develop­ 1041 October 30, 1951 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY (Premiers) and Dr Zanganah (a fully alive, he had to hold back the the pre-Pakistan days but it was Minister in Razmara's Government) over-enthusiasts. But in the latter more an emotional opposition than between the latter part of 1949 and capacity, he could not be positive anything else. Allama. a Pa than the earlier half of this year, besides for fear of falling out of favour with hailing from Amritsar, started in the the attempt on the present Premier the fanatic section. Pulled in two Indian Educational Service and rose Mussadcq's life. In Syria, the head opposite directions, he could not to be an Assistant Secretary to the of the Nationalist Party Anton disarm the Right wing but on the Government of India. He relinquish­ Saadoh, President Zairn and Premier other hand played into their hands ed his job and took to politics which Berazi were all murdered in Damas­ by launching an onslaught against ultimately landed him in jail. But cus during the months of July and the Leftists. Ultimately, he fell a he was never serious about what he August 1949. prey to the venomous serpent whom said or did. At times, he was even This year, Riad Beh Solh, ex- he led. however reluctantly though talking as a Communist, threatening President of the Lebanon Council he did not raise it. to seek Soviet help to drive the first fell a prey to the assassin's Pitted against him was an assort­ British away. bullet, followed by King Abdullah ed group of opportunists, as unscru­ After Pakistan became a reality, of Jordan and, last but not least, pulous as one can be in politics. On he had no more causes to champion Liaquat Ali Khan of Pakistan. one side, Fatima Jinnah with the and so became an advocate of pan- While King Abdullah of Jordan purse strings of the Muslim League Islamism. He planned to re-unite was a staunch supporter of the Bri­ intact in her hands gave him no India and Pakistan under Islamic: tish who broke away from the Arab peace. She assailed him I from right rule. League and was contemplating a and left and charged him with de­ In this welter of confusion whose separate Middle Eastern bloc which viating from the Quaid-e-Azain's only characteristic is an absence of would collaborate with the West, path. Her recent broadcast partly ideology and an abundance of leisure- Gen. Razmara of Iran was a mode­ blacked out by Radio Pakistan, was class opportunism, it is difficult to rate who could not ask the British a broadside against the Liaquat Ali unravel the motive behind the to quit Iran. It was in short extre­ Government for being soft towards murder. It is undoubtedly a politi­ mists discontent with moderation India, especially on the Kashmir cal murder and is an attack from the which found expression through ter­ and evacuee property issues. Be­ Right, however much the Pakistan roristic violence against individuals hind Miss Jinnah were others like authorities may try to present it as thought to be responsible for the Khaliquazzaman, powerless by them­ a foreign-inspired crime. The. no­ alleged pale-facedness. selves, hut bent on unseating Liaquat mination of Khwaja Nazimuddin, In Pakistan, particularly, Liaquat Ali, through hook or crook. to succeed Liaquat Ali, however, is Ali was a sobering influence which, A llama Mashriqui, whose disciple an indication that moderation will according to the more fanatic ele­ the assailent is said to be, is another not be thrown to the winds. What ments, was a drag on the progress adversary on the Right. His Khak- this will mean to the future of lndo- of the State towards pure pan-Isiam- sar organisation was anti-British in Pak relations only time can show. isim A zamindar from the United Provinces, the ex-Nawabzada, not­ Calcutta Letter withstanding the fact that his lore- fathers had migrated from the land American Protest Against Jute Export Duties of five rivers, was out of caste with the Punjab Pakistan. N. R. Gopalakrishnan Liaquat's additional disqualifica­ VERY possible argument has doubtless, protestations that reti­ tions were that he passed through E been brought forward by those cence on his part would be mis­ the portals of Aligarh without get­ connected with jute to explain to understood for satisfaction; he was ting ton laminated with communal- the Government that the current particularly urged to make his voice ism and that he cast wistful glances level of export duty cannot be main­ heard when the antics of the export towards Dr Ansari and the Nationa­ tained without seriously affecting control department became intoler­ list Muslims during the days when India's overseas trade. Lest it be able, late in 1950. But till now it Pakistan was not a creed with the mistaken to be an agitation by the has been to the good fortune of Muslim League. local industry to increase its profits, jute goods that they were accepted The. Quaid-e-Azam knew him to there is sufficient evidence also to without much question, and the in­ be a middle-of-the-road man and show that consumers abroad them­ tractable conduct of control stoically made use of him to sugar his bitter selves are much concerned over what put up with. But the patience of pills for the Congress. The. Bhula- appears to all to be an endless almost all consuming countries seem bhai-Liaquat Pact was an instance down-hill movement of burlap. to have been exhausted, and New in point: none but Liaquat could This new-found voice of the con­ Delhi is now left with no doubt how have achieved it. Similarly when sumer in matters of jute is a signifi­ their mind is working. the League had to work in a Gov­ cant development. Over a number Thus it is that the Textile Bag ernment along with the Congress, of years when he was tossed about Manufacturers' Association of the. Liaquat was chosen to head their between different shades of control United States issued a long and team leaving the Quaid-e-Azam live and put to considerable difficulty closely reasoned statement on what to pull strings from behind. otherwise, he held his patience. He they thought would be the inevitable Alter Jinnah's death, Liaquat had still bought burlap, without much fate of burlap if the present rate of to play a dual role. To steal the outward sign of agitation, in the the duty was maintained any longer. extremist thunder, he had to flaunt hope that with the return of normal The argument was not whether the the clenched fist; to avoid the cata­ conditions, which, he thought, duty by itself was high or low. It strophe of an Indo-Pak military would not take long, these aberra­ was that, to the consumer, burlap, showdown, to the disastrous effects of tions would automatically cease and with the present duty, was uneco­ which on both the countries he was bother him no more. There were, nomic in relation to cotton and 1042