Efficiency and Equity in Irrigation

client relationships. For instance, is the village moneylender good or bad? Is he to be continued, regulated or eliminated? On p 124, he is portrayed almost as a benefactor: "However usurious and exploitative the moneylender may be, he is not an outsider; he does not demand security or ask applicants to fill in forbidding forms in triplicate. Moreover, rathei than confiscate land or take them to court on defaulting, he usually accepts payment in the form of labour!' Later on, the recommendation is to replace the moneylender by replicating him: the institutionalisation of repayments- through-labour is suggested "to get the poor out of the moneylender's clutches"! On p 134, a via-media is struck which is to regulate the moneylender by a "a suitable mixture of incentives for thjqprwho give credit to the poor at low rates andbeterrents for those who charge usurious interest".