Chapter 4 Change and Development in Rural Society

Agrarian Structure: Caste And Class In Rural India

In rural India, agricultural land is the primary resource, but its distribution is highly unequal. This inequality shapes the rural class structure, with landowners generally enjoying higher incomes and status, while landless laborers often face low wages, insecure employment, and underemployment. Women are frequently excluded from land ownership due to the patrilineal kinship system, despite legal provisions for equal shares.

The agrarian structure exhibits a complex interplay between caste and class. While upper castes often dominate land ownership and wield economic and political power (termed 'dominant castes' by M.N. Srinivas), marginalized groups, particularly Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), are disproportionately represented among the landless and poor. Traditional caste occupations and the historical practice of untouchability further entrenched these inequalities, although modern changes have weakened the direct link between caste and occupation.

Box 4.1 illustrates the link between agricultural productivity, agrarian structure, and caste, noting that regions with assured irrigation and more unequal land distribution often developed more exploitative labor relations.

Activity 4.2 encourages students to reflect on the relationship between caste and rural class structure.

The Impact Of Land Reforms

The Colonial Period

During the colonial era, British policies significantly altered land ownership and revenue systems. The Zamindari system, where landlords (zamindars) held extensive control over land and extracted high rents from cultivators, was widespread. While some areas under direct British rule had the Raiyatwari system, where cultivators had more direct responsibility and incentives, the overall impact often led to stagnation or decline in agricultural production due to oppressive land revenue demands and peasant exploitation.

Independent India

Post-independence India prioritized agrarian reform to address low productivity and rural poverty. Key legislative efforts included:

• Zamindari Abolition: Successfully removed intermediaries, weakening the power of top landlords and strengthening the position of actual cultivators in many regions. However, landlordism and tenancy systems persisted.
• Tenancy Regulation Acts: Aimed to abolish tenancy or regulate rents to provide security to tenants, though implementation was often weak, except in states like West Bengal and Kerala, which saw more radical reforms.
• Land Ceiling Acts: Imposed limits on land ownership per family, with surplus land intended for redistribution to the landless. These acts were often ineffective due to loopholes and 'benami' (fictitious) transfers used by landowners to circumvent them.

Despite reforms, agrarian structures remain highly unequal across India, hindering agricultural growth and poverty alleviation.

Activity 4.3 suggests researching the Bhoodan movement, Operation Barga, and discussing the impact of land reforms.

The Green Revolution And Its Social Consequences

The Green Revolution, introduced in the 1960s-70s, involved providing high-yielding variety seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, primarily in irrigated regions for wheat and rice cultivation. It significantly boosted agricultural productivity and achieved food self-sufficiency for India.

However, it had notable social consequences:

• Increased Inequality: Medium and large farmers benefited more due to the high cost of inputs, leading to increased wealth disparity.
• Displacement: Tenant cultivators were often displaced as landowners took back land for direct cultivation. The introduction of machinery also displaced traditional agricultural laborers and service castes.
• Economic Changes: A shift from subsistence farming to market-oriented cultivation increased farmers' dependence on markets, raising livelihood insecurity, especially with mono-cropping. Payment shifted from grain to cash, often worsening the condition of rural workers.
• Regional Disparities: The benefits were concentrated in agriculturally advanced regions (Punjab, Western UP, etc.), widening the gap between developed and underdeveloped areas.
• Environmental Impact: Increased use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides raised concerns about ecological sustainability.

Box 4.2: Farmers’ Suicides links farmer suicides to agrarian distress caused by structural changes, policy shifts, increased costs, market instability, debt, and changing rural consumption patterns.

Activity 4.4 encourages tracking media coverage of rural issues to understand their public portrayal.

Transformations In Rural Society After Independence

The post-independence period, particularly with the Green Revolution, brought profound changes to rural social relations. These include increased demand for agricultural labor (though often replaced by machinery), a shift from payment in kind to cash, a loosening of traditional patron-client bonds (like bonded labor), and the rise of 'free' wage laborers. The move from patronage to exploitation in labor relations signifies a transition towards capitalist agriculture, characterized by the separation of labor from land ownership and the use of free wage labor.

Commercialization of agriculture integrated rural areas into wider economies, increasing monetary flow and business opportunities. However, this also led to increased livelihood insecurity for farmers dependent on market prices and mono-cropping. While dominant farmer groups diversified into businesses and formed new rural elites, less developed regions with feudal structures saw fewer changes. Kerala, conversely, underwent transformation through political mobilization and external economic linkages.

Circulation Of Labour

The commercialization of agriculture has led to increased migrant agricultural labor. Workers often migrate seasonally from poorer, less productive regions to prosperous areas (like Punjab, Haryana) or urban centers (construction sites) for work, leaving families behind. This migration is often driven by increasing rural inequalities and lack of job security. Migrant workers, often from marginalized groups, face poor working and living conditions, receive lower wages than local laborers, and lack rights, making them vulnerable to exploitation.

The feminization of the agricultural workforce is also occurring as men migrate, but women continue to face lower wages and exclusion from land ownership due to patrilineal systems.

Globalisation, Liberalisation, And Rural Society

India's liberalization policies since the late 1980s, including joining the WTO and opening markets, have integrated agriculture into the global economy. This exposes Indian farmers to international competition, affecting prices and traditional support systems like minimum support prices and subsidies. Contract farming, where companies dictate crops and provide inputs, offers market security but increases farmer dependence and can lead to ecological issues and the displacement of indigenous knowledge.

The entry of multinational corporations as sellers of agricultural inputs (seeds, pesticides) has reduced state support and increased farmers' reliance on expensive, often ecologically harmful, products, contributing to debt and distress. The phenomenon of farmers' suicides is seen as a "matrix event" resulting from the convergence of these structural and policy changes, coupled with increased social pressures for higher incomes.

The decline of state support for agriculture and the decreasing political influence of farmers as a collective force exacerbate these crises. Government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana aim to provide support, but addressing the deep-rooted structural issues remains a significant challenge.