Die Fabriksparkasse

The agrarian system of Moslem India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1005178828

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-18208

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Altenrath, Johannes http://d-nb.info/gnd/1023399458

Title:: Die Fabriksparkasse

Place of publication:: Berlin

Publisher:: Carl Heymanns Verlag

Year of publication:: 1914

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (VIII, 96 Seiten)

Digitisation:: 2017

Collection:: Economics Books

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36 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA was found that the accumulated treasure of the kingdom would very soon be exhausted if the necessary forces were maintained. To meet this difficulty, Aliuddin determined on his famous policy of reduction and control of prices, so that the resources of the kingdom might be able to bear the expenditure deemed to be necessary for its security. A little must be said on the general aspects of this policy, because on the one hand its possibility has been questioned, while on the other hand its extent has been exaggerated. It seems to me that the chronicler’s account must be accepted in substance, to the extent that, in and near Delhi, prices were in fact reduced, and were stabilised at the lower level for a period of about twelve or thirteen years, a period which was not marked by anything like serious dearth, though some seasons were unsatisfactory! Ziya Barni had no motive for inventing such a story, and, what is more significant, he obviously did not possess the power of economic analysis which would have been needed for its invention. The long and detailed price-regulations (Pp. 304 ff.) can be summarised very shortly. Their essence was, (1) control of supplies, and (2) control of transport, with (3) rationing of consumption when necessary, the whole system resting on (4) a highly-organised intelligence, and (5) drastic punishment of evasions. This summary, it will be seen, applies almost precisely to the system of control which was elaborated in England during the years of war, and which was proved by experience to be effective. It is quite inconceivable that a writer like Ziya Barni could have invented these essential features out of his head; but it is quite conceivable that, in the economic conditions of the time, a King like Alauddin, aided, as he certainly was, by competent Ministers, should by degrees have arrived at the essentials of the policy he was determined to enforce. He Barni implies (p. 308) that there were seasons which would otherwise e meant famine in Delhi, but his language shows that he was straining effect, and consequently it requires to be discounted. Other references o “famine” indicate that the word meant for him a scarcity of provisions in the city, rather than a deficiency of production throughout the country; and we should not be justified in inferring from his language that there was a famine in the ordinary sense during the period, though there were seasons when, without Alauddin’s regulations, a rise in prices would have been needed to draw adequate supplies to the capital

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