10. Mr. Astorasked the Secretary of State for India what restrictions on the mortgage of agricultural land are in existtence in India; and whether he can give any details as to the principles on which they are based and the methods by which they are enforced.
§ The President of the Board of Education (Mr. Butler)I have been asked to reply. A full statement of the position, which varies greatly in different parts of India, is contained in Chapter XII of the Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture in India (Cmd. 3132 of 1928). There is some more up-to-date information in Chapter VII of the Report of the Land Revenue Commission Bengal, 1940, of which a copy is in the Library of the House. Existing legislation is generally directed either to ensure that possession by the mortgagee for a limited number of years suffices to clear the mortgage or to prevent alienation of land by agricultural classes to non-agriculturists.