Agrarian structure: caste and class

The agrarian structure is the pattern of land ownership and relations among those who work the land. In India, land is very unequally distributed: a few own much, many own little, and in some areas 40–50 per cent of families own no land at all.

Women are largely excluded from owning land, because of patrilineal inheritance: land passes from father to son.

The rural poor face hard conditions:

• Agricultural labourers are often paid below the minimum wage, and suffer underemployment: having no work for many days of the year.
• Tenants who rent land may have to pay 50–75 per cent of their crop as rent.

Caste and class: in most regions, caste and class broadly correspond (though not exactly everywhere). The landowners usually belong to the dominant castes, as M.N. Srinivas called them: castes that are numerous, own land, and dominate their region politically. Examples:

• Jats and Rajputs in Uttar Pradesh;
• Vokkaligas and Lingayats in Karnataka;
• Kammas and Reddis in Andhra Pradesh;
• Jat Sikhs in Punjab.

Dalits were often not allowed to own land and supplied labour to the landowners. Old forms of unfree labour, such as begar (free labour owed to a landlord in north India) and hereditary labour ties, still exist in places.

Inequality is often greatest in the richest farming areas: the irrigated regions, where land is most valuable.

So landlessness and caste together keep agricultural workers poor.