Agrarian Structure

The Model of Agrarian Classes in India

Agrarian Structure: Network of relations among the various groups of persons who draw their livelihood from the soil

In what form income from the soil is obtained Rent/ Fruit of cultivation/ Payment for labour What type of rights in the soil are enjoyed, and how much land is held under these rights To what extent the individual actually performs the required fieldwork, or whether others are hired to do it for him

 By malik we will refer to a There are three family whose agricultural principal groups income is derived primarily 1. Proprietors or from property right on soil Malik Kisan are those villagers 2. Working who live primarily by their own toil on their own lands peasants or Kisan Mazdur comprises those villagers who gain their 3. Labourers or livelihood primarily from Mazdur working on other peoples land
Common pattern -

The Model of Agrarian Classes in India

1)MALIKS
Common interests is to keep level of rents up while keeping the wage-level down. They collect rent from tenants, sub-tenants and share-croppers

a) Big landlords, hold rights over large tracts extending over several villages; they are absentee owners rentiers with absolutely no interest in land management or improvement b) Rich landowners, proprietors with considerable holdings but usually in the same village and although performing no fieldwork, supervising cultivation and taking personal interest in the management and also in the improvement of land if necessary

The Model of Agrarian Classes in India

2) KISANS,

working peasants having property interest in the land but actual rights, whether legal or customary, inferior to those of maliks

a) Small landowners , having holdings sufficient to support a family, who cultivate land with family labour and who do not either employ outsider labour (except in harvest) or receive rent. b) Substantial tenants, tenants holding leases under either 1 a) or 1 b); tenurial rights fairly secure; size of the holding usually above the sufficiency level. The rest is as 2 a).

The Model of Agrarian Classes in India

3)MAZDOORS, those earning their livelihood primarily from working on others lands

a) Poor tenants, having tenancy rights but less secure; holdings too small to suffice for a familys maintenance and income derived from land often less than that earned by wage labour b) Sharecroppers, either tenets-at-will, leases without security; cultivating land for others on share-cropper basis, having at least agricultural implements c) Landless labourers .

Agrarian Classes in India

MALIKS Big landlords Rich landowners
Small landowners Substantial tenants

KISANS

MAZDOORS Poor tenants Sharecroppers Landless labourers **