The Concept of “agrarian class structure” refers to the type of the class structure that prevails in an agricultural society or set up. Scholars such as S. Bhargava, D.R. Gadgil and others have stated in their studies that the agrarian classes did exist in pre-independent India. The agrarian social structure consists of agrarian classes which represent different social groups in rural india. An analysis of the post-independent Indian rural set up reveals the existence of four classes. They are-(i) landowners, (ii) tenants, (iii) labourers, and (iv) non-agriculturists.
As A.R. Desai has stated (i) the landowners constitute about 22% (ii) tenants about 27% (iii) Agricultural labourers about 31% and (iv) nonagricultural about 20%. It is also found that a large majority of the cultivators [about-60%] are marginal cultivators with less than 2 hectares of land, followed by small cultivators [about –16%] with 2 to 5 hectares land; medium cultivators [about 6%] with 5 to 10 hectares land, and big cultivators [about 18%] with more than 10 hectares land.
Daniel Thorner’s Classification of Rural Classes into Three Social Categories.
Daniel Thorner’s classified rural classes into three social categories namely; (a) maliks, (b) kinsans, and (c) mazadoors, on the basis of three criteria which are as follows:
(i) Income Obtained from the Land that is, through rent, one’s own cultivation or wages.
(ii) The Nature of Rights that is, ownership rights, tenancy rights, sharecropping rights, or no rights at all.
(iii) The Extent o Field Work Actually Performed that is, doing no work at all, doing partial work, doing total work, and doing work for others to earn wages.
The three agrarian classes which Daniel Thorner spoke of are (a) Malik, (b) Kisan, and (c) Mazadoor. According to Thorner, the prevalent agrarian relations can also be analysed in terms of three specific terms.
(a) Maliks or Landlords
The term “Maliks” refers to the big landlords and considerably rich land owners who constitute the relative affluent class in the village set up. The Malik obtains his agricultural income mostly, but not solely, from property rights in the land. It means, a share of the produce of land, [i.e., the land over which he has his rights] is realised by him either in cash or in kind, or sometimes both. The Maliks sometimes cultivate lands personally by making use of hired labourers.
They may employ mangers to supervise the cultivation of land.
The Maliks can be grouped into group, namely, the big absentee landlords, and the rich resident land owners.
- (i) Absentee Landlords, that is, those who do not stay in the village but in a far away town or city and get the cultivation done through the managers or supervisors. These Maliks are normally big landlords who have their rights over lands spread over several villages. They are absentee landlords for they do not have any personal interest in the land, and get it managed by supervisors.
- (ii) The Rich Resident Land Owners, that is, those Maliks who reside in the village in which they own land. These people also do not work in the land personally but get the cultivation work done by others.
- (ii) Kisans or Working Peasants
The term “Kisans” refers to the working peasants. They occupy the intermediary position in the three-tier agrarian class structure. This class consists of small landowners or tenants. In comparision with the Malik, the Kisan owns land which is smaller in size and unlike the Malik, the Kisan and his family members actually take part in the cultivation work that goes on in the field. Some of these Kisan secure relatively poor income and hence in order to compensate it they, along with their family members often work as agricultural labourers. They very rarely employ outside labourers, but often invite others to work in their fields on exchange basis. It is also probable that most o the Kisan belong to what are known as “intermediary castes”. - (iii) Mazdoors or labourers: The term “Mazdoors” refers in the rural context to the landless villagers who work as labourers on wage basis. They obtain their livelihood primarily from working on other people’s land. The class of Madoors may consist of poor tenants, share croppers and landless labourers. The Mazdoors receive wages in cash and sometimes in kind also. These Mazdoors are often forced to migrate to the neighbouring villages, t o other districts or states, particularly when they fail to find enough work in their own villages. Some of them even turn out as construction or industrial or industrial workers.
Dhanagare’s Model of Agrarian Classes
Prof. D.N. Dhanagare has commented that Thoener’s classification of agrarian classes suffers its own limitations for it is not based on any specific theoretical assumptions. Dhanagare himself has suggested yet another model of agrarian classes. Dhanagare’s model consists of five categories or classes which are as follows:
- (i) rich peasants,
- (ii) rich peasants,
- (iii) middle peasants,
- (iv) poor peasants,
- (v) landless labourers.
Agrarian Classes Based on the Size of the Cultivated Land
On the basis of size, the land possessed by the peasants and the other sources of income which they obtain, one can speak of a five-fold classification of agrarian classes. It is as follows:
- Big-farmers who hold more than four hectares of land.
- Medium –farmers owning 2-4 hectares of cultivable land.
- Small-farmers possessing 1-2 hectares of land.
- Marginal-farmers having land whose size is less than one hectare.
- Agricultural-labourers who may [or may not] posses a small piece of land, and who mainly relies on wage labours as their sources of income.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned classifications of agrarian classes signify that a few more classifications are possible. It is very difficult to make a clear identification and analysis of agrarian classes in the Indian set up for it is highly varied and complex.