Change and Development in Rural Society — Land, Labour, Reform and the Green Revolution

For most of India's history, and for a large part of its population still, life has been organised around land and agriculture. Who owns land, who works it and on what terms are therefore among the most important facts about rural society, and they are closely tied to caste. This chapter describes the agrarian structure of the Indian village, the land reforms attempted after independence and why they achieved less than intended, the Green Revolution and its uneven consequences, the transformation of labour relations and the movement of rural workers, and the new pressures of liberalisation and globalisation on Indian farmers.

Agrarian Structure — Land, Caste and Class

In rural society land is the most important productive resource and form of property, and its distribution is very unequal. The term agrarian structure describes this distribution of land and the relations among those who own it and those who work it — landowners, tenants, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers. In much of India, caste and class are closely linked: the major landowners usually belong to the upper or locally dominant castes, while a large share of agricultural labourers belong to the Dalit and other lower castes, many of whom were historically denied the right to own land. Agrarian culture also carries the rhythm of cultivation: many of India's festivals mark sowing and harvest.

Relations between landowners and labourers were often relations of dependence. In parts of north India, members of lower castes were forced to provide begar — unpaid labour — to landlords. In several regions labourers were tied to landowning families through debt or custom across generations, in systems of bonded labour: the book names the halpati system in Gujarat and the jeeta system in Karnataka. Such arrangements were also patron–client ties, in which the landowner was expected to provide some security — grain in bad years, help at marriages — in return for the labourer's loyalty and work. Bonded labour has been abolished by law, but forms of dependence persist.

Land Reforms after Independence

  • Abolition of zamindari: removed the layer of intermediaries — the zamindars — who stood between the state and the cultivators and collected rent. It was the most widely implemented reform, but many former zamindars kept large holdings by claiming land for "personal cultivation", and the results varied greatly between states.
  • Tenancy abolition and regulation: aimed to give tenants security of tenure or ownership of the land they tilled. The most radical tenancy reforms were carried out in West Bengal and Kerala; in West Bengal, Operation Barga recorded the names of sharecroppers so that they could not easily be evicted.
  • Land ceiling acts: set an upper limit on the amount of land a family could own, so that surplus land could be redistributed to the landless. In most states they achieved little, because landowners evaded them through loopholes — above all benami transfers, registering land in the names of relatives, servants or others while keeping control of it.
⚠️ Reform on paper, inequality in practice
A statement that land reforms "ended inequality in landholding" is always false. Zamindari abolition removed intermediaries; tenancy reform protected some tenants, most of all in West Bengal and Kerala; ceilings were widely evaded. Landholding in rural India remains highly unequal, and the book stresses the gap between the laws and their implementation.

The Green Revolution and Its Social Consequences

The Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s was a government programme of agricultural modernisation, supported by international agencies, based on high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds together with chemical fertilisers, pesticides and assured irrigation. In its first phase it was concentrated in areas with assured irrigation — Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu — and it greatly increased the production of wheat and rice, making India self-sufficient in food grains. A second phase later extended new technology to dry and semi-arid regions.

  • Unequal gains: the new inputs were costly, so medium and large farmers benefited most in the first phase, and inequality within villages often increased.
  • Tenants evicted: as cultivation became more profitable, many landowners took back land from tenants to farm it themselves with hired labour.
  • Service castes displaced: mechanisation and the shift to cash payment undermined the traditional ties through which service castes — carpenters, potters and others — had been paid in grain at harvest.
  • Regional inequality: the irrigated regions that adopted the new technology pulled ahead of the rest, widening the gap between regions.
  • Commercialisation: farmers became more dependent on the market — for seeds, fertilisers and credit, and for selling their crops — and more exposed to its risks.

Changing Labour Relations, Migration and Globalisation

In the regions of agricultural development, relations between landowners and labourers changed. Payment in kind gave way to payment in cash, and long-term ties gave way to casual, daily or seasonal wage contracts. Labourers became "free" of the old obligations, but they also lost the security the patron had been expected to provide. The sociologist Jan Breman, writing on south Gujarat, described this as a shift from patronage to exploitation. At the same time the circulation of labour became a marked feature of rural India: large numbers of workers migrate seasonally from poorer regions to work in agriculture, construction and industry elsewhere — what Breman called "footloose labour". As men migrate, more of the work on the family farm falls to women, a trend described as the feminisation of agricultural labour.

Liberalisation and globalisation since the 1990s have drawn Indian agriculture further into national and international markets. Under contract farming, companies identify a crop to be grown, supply seeds and other inputs and know-how, and guarantee to buy the produce at a pre-agreed price — often for specialised items such as cut flowers, certain vegetables or cotton for industry. Supporters see this as security and access to new markets; the book notes the concerns — farmers' dependence on companies, the shift away from food crops, and exposure to price falls. It also records the growing agrarian distress of recent decades, including the tragic phenomenon of farmers' suicides, linked to debt, crop failure and price uncertainty.

Key takeaways

  • Land is the key productive resource in rural society; landownership is unequal and closely tied to caste.
  • Begar was unpaid labour for landlords; halpati (Gujarat) and jeeta (Karnataka) were bonded-labour systems.
  • Land reforms: zamindari abolition removed intermediaries; tenancy reform was most radical in West Bengal and Kerala; ceilings were evaded through benami transfers.
  • The Green Revolution (HYV seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation) began in irrigated areas such as Punjab, western UP and coastal Andhra.
  • It raised output but benefited larger farmers first, displaced tenants and service castes, and widened regional inequality.
  • Jan Breman: a shift from patronage to exploitation; circulation of labour and the feminisation of agricultural labour followed.
  • Contract farming ties farmers to companies that supply inputs and guarantee purchase; agrarian distress and farmers' suicides mark recent decades.

Practice questions (8)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

  1. "Halpati" in Gujarat and "jeeta" in Karnataka, mentioned in the book, were names for:

    1. Forms of shifting cultivation practised by tribal communities
    2. Cooperative farming societies
    3. Systems of bonded labour
    4. Harvest festivals
    Show answer

    Answer: C — Systems of bonded labour

    Halpati and jeeta were systems in which labourers were tied to landowning families, often through debt, across generations — bonded labour, now abolished by law. They were also patron–client arrangements, which is why a candidate might mistake them for cooperative institutions; but the relationship was one of dependence, not of equal partners.

  2. The first phase of the Green Revolution was concentrated mainly in:

    1. The dry and semi-arid districts of Rajasthan and the Deccan plateau
    2. Irrigated areas such as Punjab, western UP and coastal Andhra
    3. The hill regions of the North-East
    4. The forest regions of central India
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Irrigated areas such as Punjab, western UP and coastal Andhra

    The HYV technology needed assured irrigation, so the first phase was concentrated in Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu. Dry and semi-arid regions are the trap: they were reached only in a later, second phase, and their exclusion at first is one reason regional inequality widened.

  3. Jan Breman described the change in relations between landowners and agricultural labourers, as payment in kind gave way to cash wages and casual contracts, as a shift:

    1. From patronage to exploitation
    2. From exploitation to patronage
    3. From class to caste
    4. From market to custom
    Show answer

    Answer: A — From patronage to exploitation

    Breman argued that labourers, freed from old obligations, also lost the security patrons had been expected to provide, so the relationship moved from patronage to exploitation. The reversed phrase is the obvious trap. The change ran from custom towards the market, so "market to custom" also points the wrong way.

  4. Land ceiling acts achieved little in most states mainly because landowners evaded them through:

    1. Operation Barga
    2. Contract farming agreements
    3. The abolition of zamindari
    4. Benami transfers to relatives and others
    Show answer

    Answer: D — Benami transfers to relatives and others

    Landowners registered land in the names of relatives, servants or others while keeping control of it — benami transfers — so little surplus land was found for redistribution. Operation Barga is the trap: it was a tenancy reform in West Bengal that recorded sharecroppers' names to protect them, the opposite of an evasion.

  5. Consider the following statements about the social consequences of the first phase of the Green Revolution:
    1. In many areas tenants were evicted as landowners took back land to cultivate it themselves.
    2. It reduced inequality between regions.
    3. Service castes lost traditional ties as mechanisation spread and payment shifted to cash.
    Which of the statements given above are correct?

    1. 1 and 2 only
    2. 2 and 3 only
    3. 1, 2 and 3
    4. 1 and 3 only
    Show answer

    Answer: D — 1 and 3 only

    Tenants were evicted as cultivation became profitable, and service castes lost the grain payments that had bound them to landowners, so statements 1 and 3 are correct. Statement 2 is false: because the first phase was confined to irrigated regions, those regions pulled ahead and regional inequality widened rather than narrowed.

  6. Under contract farming, as described in the book, a company typically:

    1. Takes over farmers' land on long leases and farms it with machines
    2. Supplies inputs and guarantees to buy the crop at an agreed price
    3. Grants farmers ownership titles to the land they till
    4. Buys only food grains for the ration shops
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Supplies inputs and guarantees to buy the crop at an agreed price

    Under contract farming the company identifies the crop, provides seeds, inputs and know-how, and guarantees to buy the produce at a pre-agreed price; the farmer keeps the land and does the cultivation. Taking over the land is the trap — that would be corporate farming, not contract farming. The book notes concerns about dependence and the shift away from food crops.

  7. Assertion (A): The abolition of zamindari removed a layer of intermediaries between the state and the cultivators. Reason (R): Zamindari abolition ended inequality in landholding throughout rural India.

    1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
    2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
    3. A is true, but R is false
    4. A is false, but R is true
    Show answer

    Answer: C — A is true, but R is false

    Zamindari abolition did remove the intermediaries who collected rent between the state and the cultivator, so A is true. R is false: many former zamindars retained large holdings by claiming land for personal cultivation, ceilings were widely evaded, and landholding remains highly unequal. A reform that changes who collects rent need not equalise ownership.

  8. The "feminisation of agricultural labour" refers to:

    1. A growing share of women in farm work as men migrate
    2. A legal guarantee that women inherit an equal share of agricultural land
    3. The replacement of women workers by machines
    4. A rise in women's ownership of farms
    Show answer

    Answer: A — A growing share of women in farm work as men migrate

    As men migrate in search of work, more of the labour on family farms and in agricultural wage work falls to women — the feminisation of the agricultural workforce. It describes who does the work, not who owns the land; ownership of farms, and inheritance of land, remain heavily male, which is why the ownership options are traps.