Hissar District, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Hissar District
Physical aspects
{Hisar). — District in the Delhi Division of the Punjab, lying between 28° 36' and 30° N. and 74*^ 29 and 76° 20' E., with an area of 5,217 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Ferozepore District, and by the State of Patiala; on the east by the Jind nizamat of Jind State, and by the District of Rohtak ; on the south by the Dadrl nizamat of Jind, and the territory of the Nawab of Loharu ; and on the south-west by the State of Bikaner. Situated on the borders of the Bikaner desert, it has in many conects respects the characteristics of Rajputana rather than of the Punjab ; its general aspect is that of a plain or prairie, unbroken except by some detached peaks of the Aravalli range in the extreme south-west, the highest of which is Tosham hill with an elevation of 800 feet. The only river, the Ghaggar, enters the District in two branches, known as the Ghaggar and Johiya, meeting below Sirsa.
With the exception of some small ouThers of gneiss at Tosham, there is nothing of geological interest in the District, which is otherwise entirely of alluvial formation.
The north-eastern part resembles as regards its vegetation the upper Gangetic plain, while the southern border is botanically akin to Rajput- ana. The Sirsa subdivision resembles the desert and the Western Punjab. The fodder-grasses of the tracts round Hissar and Hansi (largely species of Paniciim and Pcmiisefinn) are celebrated. A stunted kind of zizyphus (Z. manmularia), common in the drier tracts of Northern India, is conspicuous in this District, and its leaves are valued locally for cattle.
Wild animals are comparatively rare, owing to the absence of water, but antelope and 'ravine deer' (gazelle) are common, and hog are plentiful in parts, ^^'olves are also fairly numerous. Nilgai are sometimes met with near Hissar.
Owing to the extreme dryness of the climate, the District is healthy. Even the canal-irrigated tracts, where there used to be a great deal of fever and the people presented a striking contrast to the inhabitants of the dry region, have been healthy since the cultivation of rice was stopped about ten years ago. Both the heat in summer and the cold in winter are extreme, and epidemics of pneumonia are not uncommon in the winter months.
As the District lies on the edges of both the Bengal and Bombay monsoon currents, the most striking feature in the rainfall is its extreme variability, and the partial manner in which it is distributed. The yearly average varies from 14 inches at Sirsa to 16 at Hissar, where 14 inches fall in the summer and 2 in the winter. The greatest annual rainfall recorded during the last twenty years was 37-4 inches at Bhiwani in 1885-6, and the least 3-1 inches at Sirsa in 1899- 1900.
History
A large part of the District is, with parts of Rohtak, better known to history as Hariana. The once fertile tract watered by the Ghaggar had its capital at Hansi, which was the ancient capital and southernmost point of the Siwalik territory, and which archaeological investigations show to be one of the oldest towns in India. The numerous architectural remains of Hindu origin, found built into the walls of Muhammadan tombs and mosques throughout the District, testify to its having been the abode of an ancient and vigorous Hindu civilization. The most interesting of these are to be found at Hissar, Hansi, Fatahabad, and Tosham. An inscription at Tosham seems to commemorate a victory over Ghatotkacha, the second known member of the Gupta line {circa a.d. 305), and it appears probable that Hansi was a stronghold of the Kushan rulers of the Punjab.
The District is said to have been overrun in the eighth century by the Tomar Rajputs, and afterwards to have fallen under the dominion of the Chauhans. In 1036 Hansi was captured by Masaud, son of Mahmud of Ghazni ; but in 1043 it was retaken by the Delhi Raja, probably a Tomar vassal of the Chauhans. After the defeat of Prithwi Raj by Muhammad of Ghor in 1T92, the Jats laid siege to Hansi, but were defeated by Kutb-ud-din. Hansi then became a fief of the Delhi kingdom. The districts of Delhi, Ajmer, Hansi, and Sirsa fell into the hands of the conqueror ; but no settled rule seems to have been at first established in this tract, which in the ensuing anarchy was dominated by the Jatu Raj[)uts, an offshoot of the Toniars. Muhammadan power was, however, gradually consolidated; and about 1254, in the reign of Mahmud Shah I, the District, including Hansi, Sirsa, Barwala, and jTnd, was assigned as a fief to Ulugh Khan-i-Azam, afterwards the emperor Balban.
Until the eighteenth century the tract remained a flourishing division of the Muhammadan empire, and Sirsa or Sarsuti was in the fourteentli century, according to Wassaf, one of the most important towns in Upper India. The towns of Fatahabad and Hissar were founded in 1352 and 1356 respectively by Firoz Shah III, and canals were dug from the Ghaggar and Jumna for their use. After the capture of Bhatner, Timur marched through the District via Sirsa, Fatahabad, Rajabpur, Ahruni, and Tohana. It is evident from his account that these towns were wealthy and prosperous, for he took much booty in Sirsa, Fatahabad, and Ahruni, and drove the Jats of Tohana into their sugar-cane fields and jungles.
During the eighteenth century the country appears to have been held by Muhammadan tribes claiming Rajput origin, of whom the chief were the Johiyas round Bhatner (Hanuman(;arh) and the Bhattis about Rania, Sirsa, and Fatahabad, from whom the western part of the District took its name of Bhattiana. The Blkaner annals tell of the incessant struggles of the Hindu Rajputs of that State with the Johiyas and Bhattis for the possession uf Bhatner and sometimes of Sirsa; and the chronicles of Patiala are full of raids and counter- raids between the Sikh Jats and their hereditary foes, the Bhattis.
On the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 we find Nawab Shah Dad Khan, a I'athan of Kasur, ndzim of the sarkdr of Hissar ; and under his rule, from 1707 to 1737, the people and country appear to have prospered exceedingly. He was succeeded by the Nawabs of Farrukhnagar, in Gurgaon, who ruled till 1761. But Nadir Shah ravaged the land in 1739 ; and with the disintegration of the Delhi empire Hissar became the scene of a sanguinary struggle between the Sikhs of the north-east, the marauding Bhattis of the north and north-west, and the imperial power of Delhi. In 1731 Ala Singh, the founder of the Patiala State, had already commenced a struggle with the Bhatti chiefs of Bhatner and Fatahabad which lasted during his lifetime ; the Bhattis, though supported by imperial troops, were defeated in 1754 and 1757, and Hissar was sacked in 1757 and Tohana in 1761.
In the latter year Nawab Amin Khan, the Bhatti chief of Rania, was appointed ndzim of Hissar; but he had no better fortune, and by 1774 Amar Singh, successor of Ala Singh, had become master of the whole of the Hansi, Hissar, and Sirsa territories. On Amar Singh's death in 1781, an agreement was made whereby Hissar, Hansi, Tosham, Rohtak, and Maham were assigned to the empire, Sirsa and Fatahabad to the Bhattis, and the rest of their conquests to the Sikhs ; but the great famine of 1783, which entirely devastated the District, compelled the latter to retire to their own country. The territories thus left derelict were in 1797 occupied by the adventurer George Thomas, who for three years maintained an independent kingdom in Hansi and Hissar. However in 1802, after an obstinate defence of Hansi, he surrendered to an army under Bourquin sent against him by Perron, Sindhia's French general ; and the country was for a brief space under the Maratha dominion.
In 1803 Hissar and Sirsa, with the territories ceded by Sindhia, passed nominally to the British ; but although a military post was maintained at Hansi, and ndzims or native superintendents were placed in civil charge, little was done towards enforcing order until 1 8 10, when an expedition was rendered necessary by the continued raids of the Bhatti chiefs. In consequence of these the territory of Fatahabad was annexed, and a second expedition in 1818 secured the rest of the territory held by the Bhattis. Thus the whole of the Sirsa Tahsil was brought under British rule. Most of the present District was in 1820 included in the ^^'estern District of the Delhi territory. During the years that followed, the Sikh Rajas, taking advantage of British neglect and the waste condition of the dry tract beyond the Ghaggar, began a series of irregular colonizations, which continued uninterrupted till 1837, The British Government, after a long boundary contention with Patiala, asserted its supremacy over the dry tract, which was resumed, and, together with the valley of the Ghaggar, made into a separate District under the name of Bhattiana, in which all the present Tahsil of Sirsa was included. Additions were made to the territory by other resumptions from encroaching Nati\e States in 1844, 1847, and 1855.
In the Mutiny of 1857 the troops at Hansi were the first to rise, followed by those at Hissar and Sirsa ; all Europeans who did not fly were murdered, and Hissar and Sirsa were wholly lost for a time to British rule. The Ranghars and Fachhadas of Hissar and the Bhattis of Sirsa, followed by the majority of the Muhammadan villagers, rose in insurrection ; but before Delhi had been recovered a force of I'unjab levies, aided by contingents from Patiala and Bikaner, under General van Cortlandt, utterly routed them. After the Mutiny Hissar and Bhattiana Districts were transferred from the North-Western Provinces to the Punjab, and the latter became the Sirsa District. In 1884 tliat District was broken up ; the Sirsa Tahsil and 126 villages of Dabwali were transferred to Hissar, while Fazilka and the remain- ing 31 villages of Dabwali were amalgamated with Ferozepore District. The small Budhlada tract was transferred from Karnal to Hissar in 1889. In 1904 two villages of the District were transferred, with a cash payment of Rs. 25,000, to the Bikaner State, in exchange for a few villages held by the I )arbar in the Deccan.
Population
Hissar contains 8 towns and 964 villages. Its [)opulation al each of the last three enumerations was: (r88i) 672,569, (1891) 776,006, and (1901) 781,717. It increased by less than 7 percent, during the last decade, the low rate being chiefly due to emigration during the famine years of 1S97 and 1900.
The District is divided into the five tahslh of Hissar, Hansi, Bhiwani, Fatahabad, and Sirsa, the head-quarters of each being at the place from which it is named. The chief towns are the municipah"ties of Bhiwani, Hansi, Hissar, and Sirsa, Hissar being the head-ciuarters of the District.
The following table shows the distribution of population in 1901 : —
Hindus number 544,799, or more than 70 per cent, of the total, Muhammadans 202,009, ^"^d Sikhs 28,642. Owing to the large areas of sandy soil, the density of the population is only 150 persons per square mile, and even on the cultivated area it is only 194, the pre- carious nature of the cultivation forbidding it to support more. The vernaculars are HarianI, Bangru or Deswall in the south, Punjabi in the north, and Bagri in the soutli-east. Bagri and HarianI run very much into one another ; to a less extent Punjabi blends with Hindi and Bagri through Pachhadi, the Punjabi dialect of the Muhammadan Pachhadas.
Most important of the land-owning tribes are the Jats or Jats, who number 195,000, and comprise one-fourth of the population. They may roughly be divided into four classes : the Deswali Jats of Hariana, some of whose ancestors appear to have inhabited the District in ancient times : the Bagri Jats, immigrants from the Bagar country of Bikaner ; the Sikh Jats of Sirsa, who came from the Malwa country and from Patiala ; and the Muhammadan Jats, who form part of the nondescript collection of tribes known as Pachhadas. The Deswali and Bagri Jats are practically all Hindus and intermarry.
The Rajputs number 70,000, or 9 per cent, of the population; three-fourths of them are Muhammadans. The oldest clan is the Tonwar or Tomar, who first entered the District during the ascendancy of the Tomar dynasty under Anang Pal at Delhi. Other important clans are the Jatu, Bhatti, Wattu, Johiya, Chauhan, Ponwar, and Rathor. As a rule the Rajput, retaining the military traditions of his ancestors, is a lazy and inetificient agriculturist, somewhat prone to cattle-stealing. The Pachhadas (30,000^ as they are termed liy (jthers, are a congeries of iNIuhammadan tribes, many of which claim to be Rajputs, though the claim rests on but slender evidence. Their name and tradition point to their having come from the west {pachhim), and their facial type suggests a connexion with the tribes of the Western Punjab.
They are indifferent agriculturists, lazy, improvident, and sometimes cattle- thieves ; in physique inferior to the Deswali and Sikh Jats, though perhaps superior to the Bagri. The Mails, chiefly market gardeners (13,000), are entirely Hindu, the Arains (5,000) Muhammadan ; Brah- mans (43,000) are chiefly Gaur, vSarsut, Khandehval, Dahmla, Gujarati, Acharj, and Chamarwa in order of status. The great majority of the Gaur and Sarsut Brahmans are agriculturists, but all are fed on various occasions and venerated, though disliked. Pushkarna Brahmans from Ajmer are also found. Of the commercial classes the most important is that of the Banias (61,000), who are divided into three subdivisions — Agarwal, Oswal, and Mahesri — who neither smoke, eat, nor intermarry with each other. Of artisan and menial tribes may be noted the Ahirs (10,000), a vagrant tribe who claim Rajput origin, the Tarkhans, carpenters (20,000), the Lobars or blacksmiths (10,000), the Chamars or leather-workers (69,000), the Dhanaks (20,000), and the Chuhras or scavengers (25,000). Of the total population of the District, 72 per cent, are agricultural, and practically the whole of the rural population is dependent on agriculture.
Agriculture
Two lady missionary doctors are stationed at Bhiwani, where the Baptist Mission of Delhi maintains a girls' school. The District is also visited by missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel from Delhi. In 1901 it contained 53 native Christians.
The District is divided into four natural tracts. Of these, the Rohi of the Sirsa tahs'il stretches from the northern boundary to the Ghag- gar. Its soil is a soft loam with a reddish tinge, interspersed with sand and clay ; the spring-level in the wells varies from 40 to i<So feet, the crops depend entirely on rain- fall, and vegetation is sparse. vSouth of the Rohi lies the western extremity of the Nali tract, stretching from east to west through the Fatahabad and Sirsa tahsi/s, and traversed by the Ghaggar and Johiya. Its characteristic feature is a hard iron-clay soil, whicli periuits of no cultivation until well saturated by the summer floods.
Here The harvest dei)ends on inundation from the Ghaggar and Johiya, heli)cd in some parts by well-irrigation. The Bagar tract stretches from the S(»uth and south-west of Sirsa along the western border of the District, thrcnigh Sirsa, Fataliabad, Hissar, and lihiwani, gradually widening towards the sotith. Here the prevailing features are a light sandy soil and shifting sandhills, interspersed in parts with firmer and even loamy bottoms ; the spring-level is more than loo feet below the surface, and the water frequently bitter. Practically the autumn crop is the only one sown, and that depends entirely on a sufficient rainfall. The Hariana tract stretches from the tract watered by the Ghaggar to the south-east corner of the District ; it comprises the whole of Hansi and the eastern portions of Fatahabad, Hissar, and Bhiwani, and is traversed by the Western Jumna Canal.
The leading feature of this tract is its firm clay soil ; sandhills are found, and in low-lying parts hard clayey soil. The spring-level is generally below loo feet, except in canal villages, where it rises to 30 or 40 feet. Apart from the canal tract, agriculture is practically confined to the autumn crop. The small jungle tract of Budhlada, consisting of 15 outlying villages in the north of the Fatah- abad tahsl/, is sometimes classed as a fifth tract, but resembles the Rohi. Taking the District as a whole, only 9 per cent, of the cultiva- tion is irrigated, and the rainfall is therefore of the utmost importance ; on the rain of June and July depend the sowings of all the autumn crops, and on that of August and September the ripening of the autumn and the sowing of the spring crops. Until recently the autumn harvest was the mainstay of the District ; but of late years, owing to the good prices obtained for wheat, the spring harvest has taken the leading place, and the best season is one in which there is heavy rain at the end of August and all through September.
The area for which details are available from the revenue records of 1903-4 is 5,180 square miles, as shown below : —
The principal staples of the spring harvest are gram and barley, the areas under which in 1903-4 were 478 and 168 square miles respec- tively. Wheat covered only 109 square miles. The chief food-grain of the autumn harvest is spiked millet, which occupied 929 square miles. Great millet comes next with 381 square miles, and then pulses with 175. Practically all the sugar-cane and cotton grown is irrigated, with four-fifths of the maize, three-fifths of the rice, and two-fifths of the wheat. No other crop is irrigated to any appreciable extent.
The cultivation of rice has of late years been prohibited in canal lands, and its place largely taken by cotton. Experiments are being carried on chiefly with the object of introducing cotton of a longer staple. There is great room for improvement in the methods adopted by the people for utilizing the canal water at their disposal.
Large advances are given both under the Land Improvement Loans Act for digging and clearing wells, and under the Agriculturists' Loans Act for the purchase of bullocks and seed. During the five years ending September, 1904, a total of Rs. 73,000 was advanced under the former and 18 lakhs under the latter Act, of which Rs. 43,627 and 10-5 lakhs respectively was advanced during the famine year 1 899-1900.
Hariana was always famous for its cattle, which were the chief support of its former pastoral inhabitants. The breed is still good, though cattle-breeding is somewhat on the wane owing to the spread of cultivation. The Hissar Government cattle farm was started in 181 3, and now covers 66 square miles. The pure breeds of cattle maintained are the Gujarati, Ungoli, Nagaur, and Mysore, which are also crossed with Hariana cows. Of late years mule-breeding has been commenced. Large cattle fairs are held at Hissar and Sirsa, at which it is estimated that animals of the total value of 6i lakhs are sold annually. The camel is used in all parts for riding and carrying loads, and where the soil is light does a large part of the ploughing. The local breed of horses is in no way above the average. The District board maintains 5 horse and 4 donkey stallions.
Of the total area cultivated in 1903-4, 383 square miles, or nearly 9 per cent., were classed as irrigated. Of this area, 6 square miles were irrigated from wells and 377 from canals. In addition 83 square miles, or 2 per cent., are subject to inundation from the Ghaggar and other streams. The Hansi branch of the Western Jumna Canat. irrigates the Hansi, Hissar, and Bhiwani fa/isils, while the Sirsa branch irrigates Ijarts of Fatahabad, .Hissar, and Sirsa. The Ghaggar Canals supply part of the Sirsa tahstl, and the Budhlada tract and a portion of Sirsa are watered by the Sirhind Canal. The area under canal-irrigation increased from 120 square miles in 1891 to 377 in 1904. The area supplied by wells is insignificant, owing to the great depth to water, and the chief use of well-irrigation is to enable sowings to be made for the spring harvest. Tlu' total number of wells in use for irrigation was only 854 in 1^03 4i ^'" being worked by cattle on the rope and Inicket system.
The greater part of the cattle farm, known as the Hissar Bir, is a 'reserved' forest, measuring 65 scjuare miles, under the Civil Veterinary department, the income from whic h in 1903-4 was Rs. 4,379- The Blr at Hansi is an unclassed forest under the same dci)artment. Three pieces of grazing-ground are managed by the Deputy-Commissioner at Hissar, Sirsa, and Hansi for the town cattle. The total area of forest land is : ' reserved,' 65 square miles ; and unclassed, 5 square miles. Trees have been extensively planted with the aid of canal water by the District board in and around the civil station of Hissar and the town of Hansi, and the Bir at Hansi is also being planted with trees to make a fuel reserve.
Kankar or calcareous limestone is found in many localities. Saltpetre is manufactured from saline earth in the villages, and refined in the licensed refineries at Bhiwani, Hansi, and Sirsa.
Trade and Communication
The District has no manufactures of importance. Coarse cotton cloth is woven almost everywhere; and there are 10 cotton-ginning factories, 3 cotton presses, and 3 factories where Trade and ,communications. gi"i^i"g ^nd pressmg are combmed. Hansi is the industrial centre, but four of the factories are at Bhiwani, and one at Narnaund, while the cotton-ginning and pressing ftictory of a native firm at Hissar is the largest in the District. These industries employed a total of 2,061 hands in 1904. Bhiwani is known for its plain brass and bell-metal work, and for its carved doors. The District produces cotton phTilkdris embroidered with silk, which are of exceptional excellence, and embroidered woollen phu/kd}-is are also made. The carpenters' work is above the average.
The chief centres of trade are Bhiwani, Hansi, Hissar, Budhlada, and Sirsa on the railway ; but a good deal of local trade does not pass through these places, being brought direct to the consumers by individual speculators, generally Bishnoi or Bagri Jats. Hissar town and Hansi are chiefly distributing centres for local requirements ; but Bhiwani and Sirsa are important as centres of through trade to Rajputana, wheat, flour, sugar, and cotton goods being largely exported.
The Rewari-Bhatinda branch of the Rajputana-Malwa Railway runs through the District for 122 miles, while the Southern Punjab Railway passes through Budhlada, Jakhal, and Tohana, and the Jodhpur- Bikaner Railway runs through part of Sirsa Tahsil. The District has 26 miles of metalled and 949 of unmetalled roads, of which 1 7 miles of metalled and 90 of unmetalled roads are under the Public Works department and the rest under the District board. The unmetalled roads are fit for cart trafific, except in the sandy tracts where camels are used. The Hansi branch of the Western Jumna Canal is navigable as far as Hansi.
Famine
Hissar has always been nicest liable to famine of all the Districts of the Punjab, owing to the fact that, while pre-eminently dependent on the autumn harvest and very little protected by irrigation, it suners irom a most capricious monsoon, and also receives the first rush of starving wanderers from Bikaner. The chalisa famine of 1782-3, as has been related, laid waste the District ; and in all the famines that have since visited the Punjab, Hissar has always suffered in a pre-eminent degree. Both in 1896-7 and in 1 899-1900 the whole of the unirrigated area, or 3,763 square miles, was affected. In 1896-7 the greatest number relieved on any one day was 82,505 persons, and the highest death-rate in any one week 81 per 1,000. The amount expended by Government was 12-3 lakhs in 1896-7, and 25-7 lakhs in 1899-1900. The severity of the famine of 1899-1900 was accentuated by the fact that the people had not recovered from the preceding famine.
Administration
The District is in charge of a Deputy-Commissioner, assisted by three Assistant or Extra-Assistant Commissioners, of whom one is in charge of the Sirsa tahsil and subdivision. Each of . , . . the five Tahsils is in charge of a tahsilddr, assisted by a 7iaib-Tahsilddr. Dabwali in Sirsa and Tohana in Fatahabad are ^wh-tahsils under 7iaib-tahsilddrs.
The Deputy-Commissioner as District Magistrate is responsible for the criminal justice of the District. Civil judicial work is under a District Judge. Both officers are supervised by the Divisional Judge of Ferozcpore. The District Judge has a Munsif under him at head-quarters, and there are four honorary magistrates. Cattle-theft is the principal crime of the District, for which its position, surrounded by Native States, affords peculiar facilities. It is practised chiefly by the Muhammadan Rajputs and Pachhadas.
The revenue history of Hissar proper is quite distinct from lliat c^f the Sirsa tahsil, which was only added to the District on the disru[)tion of the old Sirsa District in 1884. The greater part of Hissar was occupied by the British in 18 to, and underwent three summary settle- ments for ten, five, and ten years between 1815 and 1840. The main feature of these assessments was a demand so high that full collections were the exception, and the frequent remissions demoralized both the revenue officials and the people. A rush of immigrants had taken place on the establishment of settled government; and when disturb- ances occurred in the neighbouring Native States, Hissar formed a convenient refuge. The land revenue, however, was fixed and collected with such a comi)lete disregard of the chances of bad seasons, that when the cultivators were pressed for ])aymenl They moved off into the Native States whence they had come. The demand of the first settlement (1815-25) was so high that it exceeded by 20 per cent. the revenue fixed in 1890 for the same villages. High though this assessment was, it was increased in the two settlements that followed, until between 1835 and 1839 the demand was 4-9 lakhs for a tnict which in 1890 was assessed at only about two-thirds of that sum.
The amount fixed at the regular settlement of 1840 was 37 per cent. below the old demand. Thc' canal \illages were assessed at irrigated rates for the first time in 1S39. The reduction came as a new lease of life to the impoverished landholders, and the progress made since has been steady, interrupted only by famine. A revised settlement was made in 1863, which resulted in a further reduction of half a lakh. The second revised settlement was carried out between 1887 and 1892. Cultivation had more than doubled, while prices had risen 60 per cent., and the result was an increase of 58 per cent, to 6 lakhs. The rates varied from 3 to 8 annas an acre, exclusive of canal rates. About 90 per cent, of the tenants pay rent in cash.
The Sirsa tahs'il, with the rest of the old Sirsa District, was summarily settled in 1829 and regularly in 1851. In 1 881-2, the last year of the regular settlement, the demand stood at 1-4 lakhs, which was raised by the new assessment to 1-9 lakhs. The assessment was revised for the second time between 1901 and 1903, and a fixed assessment of 2 lakhs was announced. The area subject to the very precarious Ghaggar floods was placed under fluctuating assessment, fixed rates for the various crops grown being applied to the area actually cropped every harvest. It is estimated that the yield from this fluctuating assessment will be Rs. 39,000 per annum.
The collections of land revenue alone and of total revenue are shown below, in thousands of rupees : —
The District contains four municipalities, Hissar, Hansi, Bhiwani,
and Sirsa ; and three notified areas, Fatahabad, Tohana, and
Budhlada. Outside these, local affairs are managed by the District
board, whose income amounted in 1903-4 to i^ lakhs. The expendi-
ture in the same year was 1-3 lakhs, education and public works forming
the principal items.
The regular police force consists of 681 of all ranks, including 180 municipal police, under a Superintendent who is usually assisted by 4 inspectors. The village watchmen number 1,474, and 42 chauklddrs are directly under the Superintendent. There are 19 police stations, 4 outposts, and 6 road-posts. The District jail at head-quarters has accommodation for 252 prisoners.
The District stands twenty-fifth among the twenty-eight Districts of the Province in respect of the literacy of its population. In 1901 the proportion of literate persons was 2-7 per cent. (5 males and o-i females). The number of pupils under instruction was 1,753 " 1880-1 \ 3,568 For the District as then constituted. in 1890-1, 3,803 in 1900-1, and 4,258 in 1903-4. In ihe last year there were 6 secondary and 73 primary (public) schools, and 3 advanced and 46 elementary (private) schools, with 167 girls in the public and 91 in the private schools. The Anglo- vernacular schools at Hissar town, Bhiwani, and Sirsa are the most important. Two girls' schools at Bhiwani are maintained by the Baptist Zanana Mission. The total expenditure on education in 1903-4 was Rs. 40,000, to which Provincial funds contributed Rs. 2,000, municipalities Rs. 11,000, fees Rs. 10,000, and District funds Rs. 16,000, while the rest (Rs. 1,000) was met from subscriptions and endowments.
Besides the dispensary at Hissar the District possesses eight out- lying dispensaries. In 1904 at these institutions 71,314 out-patients and 2,216 in-patients were treated, and 6,027 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 20,000, the greater part of which was met from municipal funds.
The number of successful vaccinations in 1903-4 was 18,038, or 23-7 per 1,000 of the population.
[J. Wilson, General Code of Tribal Custom in the Sirsa District (1883); P. J. Fagan, District Gazetteer (1892, under revision); A. Anderson and P. J. Fagan, Settlement Report of Hissar (1892); C. M. King, Settlement Report of Sirsa and Fdzilka Tahsils (1905).]
