RESPONSE PAPER

Response Paper towards Fulfilment of The Assessment

HS527

Indian Social Structure and Development

Theme:

Whither the Indian Village: Culture and

Agriculture in Rural India

Author: Dipankar Gupta

Publisher: Economic and Political Weekly
Publication Date: February 2005
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Feb. 19-25, 2005,
Vol. 40, No. 8 (Feb. 19-25, 2005)

No of pages: 09

Submitted To: Dr. Nilamber Chhetri Submitted By: Awantika Singh

Roll No.: B18163
Branch: Mechanical Engineering
Whither the Indian Village: Culture and Agriculture in Rural India
- Dipankar Gupta

The author Dipankar Gupta in this article conceptualised the changes in the ‘Rural’ Indian
villages. Supporting the article with different surveys, facts and articles by different writers
the author highlighted the changes in the culture of villages in India. It can be observed
through facts that the caste factor and agriculture is disappearing in these rural villages.
These facts and studies are still not accepted by some intellectuals. They still believe that
rural people resist the changes and they still prefer the lives that they preferred earlier.
Internal as well as external factors are responsible for these changes. Internal factors like
the changes in the village landholding structure which is impacting agriculture and External
factors like Urbanization are impacting the villages.
Indian villages have lost their centrality. One of the reasons for this is the Urban World
which is influencing the people of rural India. Village economy has lost its sustaining power.
People are not getting economic gains from agriculture. This is because of the bad monsoon
patterns and undesirable climate changes. Benefits of Green Revolution is not distributed
equally in all regions. Wealth is distributed unequally in closed agrarian economy. Land
reforms and redistribution of land is another such reason. Many field investigations and
works have highlighted the expanding relations between rural people and cities. Scarlett
Epstein’s work demonstrated the growing relationship between the town and country.
Many of the old practices no more exist in villages. Like the dominant castes: This is now the
thing of the past. The ‘Jajmani System’ was most notably found in villages was also a thing of
the past. People of lower castes are no more controlled by upper caste people.
Every caste is now claiming some elevated status in Indian villages. They are no more
pressurised by upper caste people and they themselves are claiming higher economic
status. In Punjab, the low caste chamars are now identified as ‘Adi – dharmis’. They refuse
to do any kind of menial work and also refuse to work in the fields of Jats. Adi-dharmis
consider it very humiliating to work in the fields owned by Jats. They rather preferred to
work as coolies and rikshaw pullers. In Talhan village Adi- dharmis are developing. 3 beauty
salons developed there. Also, Mazhabi Sikhs who were scavengers by profession earlier are
now employed as agricultural labourers. The author mentioned a statement said by a
Mazhabi Sikh: "At the end of the day I know how much I am taking home as a mazdoor. If I
work in the fields of jat landowners I am not sure how much I will be paid and when. This’
way as a construction labourer or as a rickshaw-puller I am more secure." In U.P. Jatavs
refuse to be agriculture labourers and Valmiki’s have taken their place. In Maharashtra
Mahars are now employed in different services. Harijans and Adi-dharmis of UP and Punjab
are no more labouring on other’s fields.
Many initiatives by Indian government like the reservation for SCs (Scheduled Castes) and
STs (Scheduled Tribes) in jobs and educational institutions. The Mandal Commission [1] of
1990 recommended 27% reservation for other backward classes in government jobs and
public universities. The National Sample Survey (NSS) observed through surveys that

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandal_Commission_protests_of_1990
number of rural people working in urban areas have doubled. In 2000, the National
Agriculture Policy recognised that agriculture has become “a relatively unrewarding
profession”. Indian farmers are facing many difficulties. There are many alternatives to
improve agriculture like: Horticulture, Viticulture, Floriculture, Sericulture, growing of
different cash crops and oil seeds, Animal Husbandry, etc. There are certain limitations in
Infrastructure and farmers find these alternatives as risky. There is lack of facilities like cold
storages, logistics, marketing, etc. Because of these critical situations suicide rates among
farmers is increasing especially in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. Reasons for alarming suicide
numbers are Farmers have taken huge amount of loans and they are unable to repay and
fallen in a debt-trap. Farmers have grievances against government regarding Subsidies and
the price they get for their agricultural produce.
The author has provided some data regarding the Rural Non-Farm Employment (RNFE). The
data highlights that sectors other than agriculture are attracting people. In 50th round of NSS
held in 1993-94 32.9% of rural household were outside agriculture which rose to 35.2%
during 2000-02. In Punjab, Haryana, Kerela over 50% of rural households are non-
agricultural in 57th round of NSS during 2000-02. The factors affecting the growing numbers
in RNFE are decrease in agricultural employment due to mechanisation of agriculture,
increase in post-agricultural activities which involves transportation, increasing aspirations
of people to lead a better life. The poorer the person is the more he seeks off-farm
employment to earn more. There is also a huge increment in jobs available outside
agriculture. But the landowning castes are still involved in agriculture especially in the
regions of Punjab and UP.

The author concluded that from rich to poor there is a trend developing to leave the village.
Many people are still living in villages but villages are in a way vanishing in India. This is due
to changing rural culture and decline in the caste dominance. Untouchability is almost
abolished in Indian villages. People find a safe and secure future outside village.
The article is very well describing the changes in Indian villages. There is a demographic
transition in Indian villages from Rural, Agrarian to Urban, Industrial kind of economy.
Dominance of high caste people over backward castes people is declining. Instead, the
dominance of other castes like SCs, STs and others is increasing because of the different
government policies. They are now getting equal opportunities as the people who
dominated them in past. Still because of lack of awareness some of the people are not able
to avail these opportunities in villages. Only a small section of farmers changed their
patterns of cropping from food to commercial crops, a large section of small farmers still
doesn’t have adequate resources and incentives for the same. Indian monsoon is also very
unpredictable. Situation of floods, cyclones, etc disturbs the cropping patterns of farmers.
Still for purchasing new technology the farmers take loans from their friends and relatives
and they may fall in debt trap.
The work is very well related to the problems in our present-day world. In India with the
advent of Industrial revolution more and more people are getting involved in manufacturing
and services like teaching, lawyers, politicians, doctors, etc. In agriculture sector also
development is increasing as newer technologies are coming from west and through
different Agrarian reforms. But still there are many challenges faced by farmers. We can
easily relate all this from our real-life experiences as some of our own relatives are involved
in agricultural sector. Also, different government policies are for the benefit of the farmers
but this benefit is not distributed equally among all. One such example is the Three
contentious Farm Laws 2021 which were resisted by many farmers especially from Punjab
and Haryana. This shows that people are very active now as compared to past and
understand what is good or bad for them. And obviously still India is highly dependent on
agriculture, so steps must be taken to ensure this sector transforms and growth is increased.
Merit and Demerit of work: The author has very well explained the reasons responsible for
the vanishing importance of the villages in India. The author used proper facts to highlight
that more and more people are now moving towards urban cities and are seeking non-farm
jobs. I found that some of the statements of the author are contradictory and he didn’t
explain those contradictions. Like employment in agriculture is decreasing but even today
many people are involved in Agriculture in India. The author mentioned that one of the
growing incidences of RNFE is that there is an increase in post-agricultural employment. But
this will also imply that agricultural activities would also be increasing in a way. The facts
mentioned are also not taken equally for all the regions of India.