Introduction
Indian society is primarily based on villages on agriculture and craft production rather than industrial production. In simpler terms it can be called an agricultural society or an agrarian society. It is a society where about 75 percent of the population lives in villages, and so per cent of the working population is engaged in agriculture and related occupations for their livelihood. It is a society whose members are very much involved in the production, distribution and consumption of agricultural goods and services.
As an agricultural or agrarian society, Indian society has a structure which can be called agrarian structure. Structure refers to arrangement of parts Similarly, agrarian structure refers to the arrangement of parts concerned with agriculture. The parts concerned with agriculture are the institutions. To be brief, agrarian structure means the institutional framework of agriculture. The instiutional framework relates to:
(a) The distribution of land
(b)The control of land, and
(c) The use of land.
In other words, agrarian structure is related to
(a) Land tenure
(b) Forms of agricultural employment
(c) Social organisations
(d)Trade unions
(e) Credit or advisory services, and
(f) Infrastructure of agriculture like the irrigation marketing and transport facilities.
Thus, agrarian structure refers to the systematic arrangement of all parts of an agricultural society into a totality.
Meaning of agrarian social structure
The study of the whole agrarian structure is not the concern of social-cultural anthropology; the interest of social –cultural anthropology is limited only to an examination of the social aspects of the agrarian structure, otherwise known as agrarian social structure.
Agrarian social structure denotes the inter-relationships obtaining among the groups engaged in agricultural operations. It is the sum total of the ways in which each group operates in relation to other groups. As each group operates in relation to its members and in relation to other groups in accordance with established procedures or institutions, study of agrarian social structure involves not only the complex totality of inter-relations of groups but also the complex standards, procedures or rules of institutions responsible for the formation of that totality of inter-relations of groups.
Definition of agrarian social structure
Daniel Thorner defines agrarian social structure as: “The network of relations among the various groups of persons who draw their livelihood from the soil and the consequences of their pattern of relationships” Keeping this definition in view, one may define the agrarian social structure of India as the sum total of the ways as mediated by the four elements of village, caste, class and Jajmani system. Some of the relations are defined and enforced by law and others by custom, tradition and values.
Phases of development of agrarian social structure
According to A.R. Desai, Daniel Thorner, C.B. Mamoria, P.C. Joshi, Andre Beteille and a few others, the agrarian social structure in India has grown in different phases: (i) the Pre-British phase, and (ii)the British phase, (iii) the PostIndependence phase.
Agrarian classes and social structure
An agrarian class is stratum, classified as such on the basis of its position in the social organisation of production. In India, peasantry has always been a part of broad historical process. Their position in the organisation of production has altered tremendously in these historical processas. Hence, in examining the agrarian class relations in India, one should begin with the nature of organisation of production in agriculture and the broad historical processas that have affected the organisation of production in Indian agriculture.
The nature of the organisation of production in agriculture has not been uniform in India. The socio-economic composition of the agrarian social classes, in India vary from one region to another. The diverse agro-climatic situation, politico-administrative set-up and the socio-cultural matrix have contributed significantly towards this variation. The pattern of ownership, control and use of land also varies from region to region. Again, the introduction of new technology viz. improved seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides, commercialisation of agricultural product and integration of agrarian economy with the national and international market widely affected the composition of the agrarian classes. Besides, land reform legislations and the political and administrative will for the implementation of these legislations, and the rural development strategies of the state also influenced formation of the agrarian class structure.
The organisations of production of agriculture and its class structure have been part of a long historical and politico-administrative process. Hence to understand the class structure of the contemporary agrarian society, one should know the aspects related to continuity and change in the organisation of production and class of the earlier periods.