Page 4 - Lessonnote_Change and Development in Rural Society

➢ Lack of resources and dependence on the landed class for economic, social, and
political support meant that many of the working poor were tied to landowners in

‘hereditary’ labour relationships (bonded labour) such as the halpati system in
Gujarat and the Jeeta system in Karnataka.

The Colonial Period

➢ The agrarian structure has changed over time, from the pre-colonial to the colonial
and after independence.
➢ In the pre-colonial period, the dominant castes were the cultivating castes but were
not the direct owners of the land.
➢ The local kings or zamindars who were politically powerful and belong to Kshatriya
caste, controlled the land.
➢ The peasants who worked in the land had to give a portion of the produce to the
zamindars.
➢ When British colonised India, they granted property rights to the zamindars. They
were given more control over the land.
➢ As the colonisers imposed heavy land revenues on agriculture, the zamindars
exploited the cultivators by extracting as much produce or money from them.
➢ Consequence of zamindari system was that the agricultural produce declined as the
peasants fled away from the oppressive landlords and frequent wars and famines
affected the population.
➢ Apart from zamindari system, rayatwari system of land settlement was there in
other areas which were directly under the British rule.
➢ In this system, the actual cultivators who were themselves landlords, were
responsible for paying taxes rather than the zamindars.
➢ As the colonial government dealt directly with the farmers or landlords, and there
were no middle men, the burden of taxation was less and cultivators had more
incentives to invest in agriculture. As a result, these areas were productive and
prosperous.

Independent India

➢ After independence, Nehru and his advisors started a programme of planned
development that focused on agrarian reform and industrialization.
➢ The policy makers were responding to the gloomy agricultural situation in India at
that time.
➢ This led to low productivity, dependence on imported food grains and intensive
poverty of a large section of the rural population.
➢ From the 1950s to the 1970s, a series of land reform laws were passed both at the
national level and the state level.
➢ The first important legislation was the abolition of the zamindari system which
removed the middlemen who stood between the cultivators and the state.