Introduction
- Indian society is primarily a rural society but urbanization is increasing here
- The majority of India's people (68.8%, as of 2011) live in villages and make their living from agriculture-related occupations.
- Land is an important means of production for many Indians.
Importance of land
1. A factor of production
2. A type of property
3. It is a type of livelihood
4. There is a way to live
Importance of agriculture in Indian culture
1. Agriculture has importance in many of our cultural rituals.
2. New Year festivals in different regions of India
- Pongal in Tamil Nadu,
- Bihu in Assam,
- Baisakhi in Punjab,
- Ugadi in Karnataka
3. All these are celebrated at harvest time, and announce the advent of a new agricultural season.
Occupations in the rural cultural and social structure
- Both the cultural and social structure of rural India are closely linked to agriculture and the agrarian way of life.
- Agriculture is the only important source or means of livelihood for most of the rural population.
- Villagers perform many jobs that are vital to support agriculture and rural life, and they are the source of livelihood for people in rural India!
- Many artisans or craftsmen like potters, weavers, blacksmiths and goldsmiths live in rural areas.
- They have been slowly decreasing in numbers since the colonial period.
- The advent of machine-made goods has replaced their hand-made items.
- The diversity of occupations in rural India is reflected in the caste system here
- Due to the interrelationship between rural and urban economy many businesses are coming to the villages.
- Many people live in villages, work in jobs or their livelihood depends on rural non-agricultural activities.
distribution of land in rural society
- The division of land is very unequally among households.
- In some parts of India most people have some land - often a very small piece of land.
- In some other areas 40 to 50 percent of families do not have any land. A few families are in very good condition.
- A large number of people live either above or below the poverty line.
- Because of the patrilineal system, women do not own land in most parts of India.
- Land ownership in rural areas shapes the rural class structure.
- Your role in the agricultural production process is primarily determined by your authority over the land.
Uneven distribution of land in rural society
- The owner of the land has a high status and used to earn good income from agriculture
- Labourers are of low status , they are paid low wages , have low income, employment is insecure, many days they do not have any work which is called unemployment.
1. Tenant or lessee
- a farmer who leases land from a landowner
- Income is less than that of owner farmers.
- Because he pays rent to the land owner
- 50 to 75 percent of crop income.
2. Agrarian society
- The caste system is created by
- In rural areas, caste and class relations are very complex.
- They think that people of higher castes have more land
- In many places the highest caste Brahmins are not big landowners
- In most parts of India the landowning groups are from other castes.
- Only people of one or two castes are landowners, they are also very important in terms of numbers.
3. Dominant caste
- The dominant caste group is very powerful and dominates the local people economically and politically.
2. Vokkaligas and Lingayats of Karnataka,
3. Kammas and Reddys of Andhra Pradesh
4. Jat Sikhs of Punjab
- People of higher caste used to make people of lower caste work and earn their profit
- These people worked as agricultural labourers for the dominant caste groups.
- The good land in the society was with the upper and middle castes
4. Bonded labour system
- Members of the lower caste groups work as labourers for the village landlord or landowner for a certain number of days in a year.
- Such arrangements have since been abolished, but they still continue in many areas.
- Known as Halpati in Gujarat
- In Karnataka it is called Jita
Results of land reform
1. Pre-colonial period
- The local king or landlord controlled the land.
- the farmer or cultivator who worked the land
- He used to give them a substantial portion of the crop.
The British come to India
- In many areas he got the work done through these local landlords.
- He also gave property rights to the landholders.
- The administration of many districts in India was run by the Zamindari system.
- One result of the Zamindari system was that agricultural production began to decline during the British period.
2. Agricultural situation in independent India
- Hopeless situation
- Dependence on imported food grains
- reduction in yield
- Poverty prevails among a large section of the rural population
- A series of land reform laws were introduced between 1950 and 1970
- It was run at the national level as well as at the state level with the intention of bringing about these changes.
Important Changes
- Three important changes were made
1. Abolition of Zamindari system
- Zamindari system was abolished
- reducing their economic and political power
- Strengthened the position of landowners and local farmers
2. Leasing Abolition and Regulation Act.
- tried to abolish tenancy completely
- Made rent rules so that the lessee gets some protection.
3. Land Ceiling Act.
- A maximum limit was fixed on the amount of land that a particular family could hold.
- Redistribute it among landless families as per prescribed categories like Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe.
- There were many loopholes and devices through which families and clans avoided giving away their land to the states.
- The names of his servants were also changed in the so-called benami manner giving them the right to control the land
Impact of land reform
- Land reforms are necessary not only to increase agricultural production but also to eradicate poverty from rural areas and provide social justice.
- This has indeed changed since the colonial period, but much inequality still remains.
green Revolution
- The Green Revolution refers to the period of agricultural transformation that took place during the 1960s and 1970s in which modern agricultural techniques and technologies were adopted.
- The Green Revolution was a government program of agricultural modernization.
- Its main objective was to increase agricultural productivity and achieve food self-sufficiency in the country
- It played a vital role in reducing hunger and poverty, improving rural livelihoods and boosting agricultural production.
- The Green Revolution is credited with transforming the country from a food-deficit country to a food-rich country
- This includes the introduction of high-yielding seed varieties for wheat and rice developed through research
- It focused on providing pesticides, fertilizers and other inputs to farmers.
Green Revolution Areas
1. Punjab
2. Western Uttar Pradesh
3. Coastal Andhra Pradesh
4. Parts of Tamil Nadu
Some drawbacks of the Green Revolution
1. Environmental degradation
2. Chemical Dependence
3. Social inequality
4. Disadvantages of traditional farming methods
5. Water scarcity
social inequality
1. Access to resources
2. Credit access
3. Market Access
4. Land concentration
- Those areas where technological change took place became more developed while other areas did not see any change
- The Green Revolution was implemented in the eastern, western and southern parts of the country and in Punjab-Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
second phase of green revolution
- Implemented in dry and partially irrigated areas of India.
- There has been a significant shift from dry agriculture to irrigated agriculture in these areas
- Besides, there has been a change in the crop patterns and types also.
- Farmers who once produced food for their own use are now dependent on the market for their income
Changes in rural society after independence
- Many impressive transformations took place in the areas where the Green Revolution was implemented
- Increase in number of agricultural labourers due to intensive agriculture
- Payment in cash instead of goods (grains)
- Deterioration of relations between landowners and farmers
- The emergence of a class of 'free' wage labourers
Where were these changes taking place?
- This happened in all those areas where agriculture was more commercialized
- Where crops are produced primarily for sale in the market.
- Farmers in the more developed regions were becoming more market-oriented.
- Due to increased commercialization of agriculture, these rural areas were also becoming integrated into the broader economy.
- Farmers of dominant castes started investing agricultural profits in other types of businesses.
- This led to the emergence of new entrepreneurial groups who migrated from rural areas to towns
- This led to the emergence of new regional elites who became economically and politically dominant.
- The expansion of higher education in rural and semi-urban areas. The establishment of private professional colleges made it possible for the new rural elite to educate their children.
- In eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, due to the means of redistribution, there were comparatively few changes in the agricultural structure and the living conditions of most of the people.
Circulation of workers
- The traditional relationships between workers and landowners began to break down
- The demand for agricultural labourers started increasing in the prosperous areas of Green Revolution
- A form of seasonal migration emerged in which thousands of workers moved from their villages to more prosperous areas.
- where there was greater demand for workers and higher wages
- Men migrate from time to time in search of work and better wages
- Women and children are often left behind with their elderly parents in the villages.
- Migrant workers mainly come from drought-prone and low-productivity areas
- They work for parts of the year in the fields of Punjab and Haryana, in the brick kilns of Uttar Pradesh,
- In cities like New Delhi or Bangalore, they go to work in construction work.
- These migratory workers, whom Jan Breman refers to as 'nomadic workers', are often not even paid the minimum wage.
- Wealthy farmers prefer migrant labourers over local working class for agricultural activities
Why ?
- Migrant workers can easily be exploited and may be paid low wages.
- Lack of migration and job security worsens the working and living conditions of these workers.
- In poor areas, where male members of the family spend most of the year working outside the villages, agriculture has become primarily a woman's occupation.
- Women are also emerging as the main source of agricultural labour, leading to the 'feminisation of agricultural labour'.
- Insecurity is greater among women because they receive lower wages than men for the same work.
Globalisation, Liberalisation and Rural Society
- Globalization of agriculture means making Indian agricultural products competitive in the international market
- The process of globalization affected the farmers
- In areas like Punjab and Karnataka, farmers have contracted with companies to sell certain crops
- Crops grown under contract farming system by multinational companies are identified
- Multinational companies buy crops from farmers
- These companies assure to buy the crop at a predetermined price.
- Due to this the farmer is not worried about the market
- Apart from this, under the globalization of agriculture, multinational companies enter the market as sellers of agricultural products such as seeds, pesticides, manure and fertilizers.
Suicide by farmers
- Farmers in India have been suffering for centuries due to drought, crop failure or debt.
- Matrix events where a series of factors combine to form a single event. Farmers committing suicide due to different reasons are called matrix events
- Many of the farmers who committed suicide were 'marginal farmers' who were essentially trying to increase their productivity by using Green Revolution methods.
Reasons for suicide by farmers
- Rapid increase in production costs
- The market is not stable
- borrow too much
- absence of farming
Why was there a need for more income
- Lack of market prices leaves farmers unable to afford debt or support their families.
- The changing culture of rural areas, including marriage, dowry and other new activities, and the costs of education and health care
corrective measures
- Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme
- Bharat Uday Abhiyan from Gram Uday
- National Urban Mission
- These programs have opened up avenues of assistance for farmers across the country.
- The lives of rural people have improved through these programs.
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