The Board of Economic Inquiry Punjab. Punjab Villages during the War. An enquiry into twenty villages in the Ludhiana District

In studying the effects of war all the major aspects of the economy were covered and the enquiries ranged from the changes in areas under different crops to the diet and dress of the people. [...] Twenty villages lying in the Bet and the Upper Dhaia (usually called the Dhaia or upland) assessment circles of the Tahsil and representative of the social economic and agricultural conditions in the tract were selected: The main difference between conditions in the tract surveyed and the lower Dhaia assessment circle (popularly known as the Jangal) which has not been covered by the inquiry is [...] Population.-A census of population of the twenty villages was taken at the time of the inquiry (June-August 1944) and the following table gives the number of males and females a column having been added under the former to show the number of men' between the ages of 15 and 50 i.e. [...] The curtailment of the imports of ordinary consumers' goods the aquisition of a steadily rising proportion of the products of Indian industries for the prosecution of the war continuous addition to the currency in circration the laxity in the administration of price control and a woefully inadquate organisation to meet the requirements of an abnormal situation—all these factors were re [...] Chamars and the Mochis (Shoemaker and Cobbler).—Until the intrduction of control on the price of hides and skins the incomes 8f the chamars and the mochis had been increasing due to the heavier demand for and the higher price of shoes which in turn was due to larger employment and the greater influx of money into the village.