MRD 101 e B1 PDF

Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Continuing Education

MRD-IOl
Rural Development
Indian Context
Rular Society and Economy 1

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" Education is a liberating force, and in

our age it is also a democratising force,
cutting across the barriers of caste and
class, smoothing out inequalities imposed
by birth and other circumstances"
- Indira Gandlli
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V "dim Gandhi
National Open University
MRD-IOl
. School of Continuing Education Rural Development:
Indian Context
Block
1
RURAL SOCIETY AND ECONOMY
UNIT 1
Introduction to Rural Society 7
UNIT 2
Rural Demography 23
UNIT 3
Rural Social Structure 47
UNIT 4
Rural Economic Structure 66
IUNIT 5
Rural Poverty 84
.,
1
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Expert Committee (Origmal)
. ( ,. ~ ,
Late Prof. G. Ram ReCldy Prof. A.B. Bose Smt. Sarala Gopalan
Ex-Vice-Chancellor Ex-Director Ex-Joint Secretary (Training)
IGNOU, New Delhi SOCE,IGNOU Ministry of Rural Development
Prof. B.S. Sharma New Delhi
Shri R.P. Kapoor
Ex-Director General Ex-Pro- Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU Dr. Samir Chowdhry
NIRD, Hyderabad Dr. N.K. Bansal Ex-Director
Formerly with Centre of Child in Need Institute W. Bengal
Prof. Kanta Ahuja
Energy Studies, lIT New Delhi
r-ormerly with DOt: Dr. P.B. Mathur
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur Prof. C. Gopinath Ex-Assistant Director General
Formerly with IIM, Ahmedabad ICAR, New Delhi
Prot: A. W. Khan
Dr. R.P. Aneja
Ex-Director Prof. B.N. Koul
Ex-Director
Communications Division Ex-Director
IRMA, Guj arat
IGNOU School of Education, IGNOU
Prof. Suresh Goel
Dr. K.R. Ranganathan Formerly with SOS, lGNOU Prof. C.S. Murthy
Ex-Member, CBPCWP, Formerly with SOET, IGNOU
Prof. A.P. Barnabas
New Delhi
Ex-Consultant, lGNOU Prof. Iqbal Narain
Dr. D.? Singh Shri R.N. Kaul Ex-Member Secretary
Ex-Director Ex-Consultant (Forestry) ICSSR, New Delhi
IPA, University of Lucknow New Delhi
..Expert Committee (Revision)
Mr. Wlilfred Lakra Prof. Vinay Kumar Srivastava Dr. B.K. Thapliyal
Joint Secretary Delhi University Director (CAS)
MORO, New Delhi Prof. Gracious Thomas NIRD, Hyderabad
Dr. Nagesh Singh Director (SOCE) Prof. M. Aslam
Director (Rural Development) IGNOU, Professor of Rural Development
Planning Commission, New Delhi New Delhi & Convenor, IGNOU, New Delhi
Block Preparation Team

Prof. Vinay Kumar Srivastava Dr. Pararnita Majumdar Dr. Vikas Rawal
Delhi University, T nstitute of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University
Delhi (Unit I & 3) New Delhi. & New Delhi.(Unit 4)
Prof. M. Aslam, IGNOU (Unit 2 )
Dr. Nagesh Singh
Planning Commission, NeW Delhi.(Unit 5)
PRINT PRODUCTION
Mr. Rajiv Girdbar Mr. Hemant Kumar
Asst Register (Pub.) Section Officer (Pub.)
MPDD,IGNOD MPDD,IGNOU
December. 2016 (Reprint)
© '.rdlra Gandhi National Open University, 1994
):t::BN: 978-81-2&6"-1674-1
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any
other means, without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Further information about the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained
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COURSE MRD-IOl
Rural Development: Indian Context
Block 1 Rural Society and Economy
Unit 1 Introduction to Rural Society

Unit 2 Rural Demography
Unit3 Rural Social Structure
Unit4 Rural Economic Structure
UnitS Rural Poverty
Block 2 Rural Development: Concepts, Strategies and Experiences
Unit I Development - An Overview

Unit2 Rural Development: Concepts and Strategies
Unit3 Rural Development: An Asian Perspective
. Unit4 Rural Development in India
Block 3 Rural Development - Agrarian Issues
Unit 1 Agrarian Movements

Unit2 Land Reforms
Unit3 Green Revolution
..
Unit4 Agricultural Extension Services
Block 4 Rural Development Administration
Unit 1 Administrative Structure

Unit2 Panchayati Raj
Unit 3 Cooperative in Rural Development
Unit4 Rural .redit and Banking
Block 5 Dynamics of Change in Rural India
Unit 1 Social Change: Mobility & Mobilization

Unit2 Empowerment
Unit3 IEC
Unit4 Information Technology & Rural Development
MRD-IOl RURAL DEVELOPMENT- INDIAN
CONTEXT
Introduction to the Course
Dear Learner,
Welcome to the course MRD-1 0 I, Rural Development=-Indian Context.
This is the first course in the series of courses being offered under the study programme
in Rural Development. You are aware that rural development has received the
attention of social scientists, planners, policy makers and administrators for several
decades now. After independence, the subject has assumed greater importance because
of the realization that in a country where approximately three-quarters of the population
lives in villages, the development of the country is inextricably linked with the
development of its rur.al areas and also with the improvement in the quality of life in
uch areas.
It was in 1991 that TGNOU offered a study programme in Rural Development which
was generic in character and covered a wide range of concerns. It was expected
to expose the learners to different alternatives. choice and approaches. 'Initially, it
consisted of five courses, out of wh ich one was the Project work. The present course
MRD-101 was the first course in that series.
As a programme of tudy, the subject of Rural Development needs regular updating

from time to time. This assumption was further strengthened by the outcome of the
field study carried out by the School of Continuing Education to get feed back both
from the students as well as the potential user organizations. It wa further reinforced
by the fact that most of the rural development programmes offered by the Central' ,
Government, details about which form a part of the print material, have been subjected
to complete repackaging and revamping in the recent past. It was, therefore, decided
to undertake a comprehensive revision of this programme of study.' The strategy
adopted included expert review of the various courses to facilitate preparation cif a
modified course structure. In the process new areas were identified and in some
cases it warranted complete re-writing of some of the Blocks/Units apart from
adding new ones.
In its revised form. this first course namely Rural Development-Indian Context now
consist of five Blocks. It aims at providing the learner an integrated view of rural
development covering social and economic aspects, the concept of rural development,
strategies and experiences, agrarian issues, rural development administration and
dynamics of changes in rural India. The basic aim of the course is to impart an
integrated understanding about the crucial dimensions of rural development to the
learners. Starting with introduction to rural society in Block-I through concepts,
strategies and agrarian issues, the course reaches to its logical conclusion in details
about social change, empowerment and information technology in its fifth Block. This
is a compulsory course which is considered necessary to provide you with the
foundations in and clarify the basic aspects of rural development in India. We hope
that this course will prove helpful to you in doing so.
...... ~'
BLOCK 1 RURAL SOCIETY AND ECONOMY
Block Introduction
This is the first Block of the course MRD-IOl on 'Rural Society and Economy'. The
block consists of five Units with focus on the concept of rural society, rural demographic
scenario, rural socio-economic structure and the concept of rural poverty. Unit-I, on
introduction to rural society. will introduce you to the basic features of rural society
vis-a-vis other kinds of society such as tribal and urban societies. It also lists various
important rural studies conducted in India. Unit-2, on rural demography, will provide
you an overview of rural popu lation in our country - its size, composition, distribution,
growth and migration. After viewing the population scenario in rural India, we shall
proceed to study the rural social structure in Unit-3. In this Unit, we will discuss
some important components of the rural social structure viz. caste in villages, caste
and class, social-mobility in Indian villages apart from that within families and the
nature of distribution of power in rural lndia. Then, we will come to rural economic
structure in Unit-4. This Unit will familiarize you with the structure of rural economy
and the main issues affecting it with a focus on agriculture and other related aspects
of rural economic structure. We will also be discussing animal husbandry and allied
agricultural activities, rural credit, markets, rural employment, agricultural labour and
so on. Finally, we will be introducing you to the concept of poverty in general and
rural poverty in particular in Unit-5 of this Block. We will elaborate on themes like
poverty in the global context, concept and measurement of poverty, estimation of
poverty and strategy for poverty alleviation.
We hope that this Block will provide you with a broad picture of the socio-economic
and demographic setting for rural development and the rural poverty situation as it
, prevails now. This Block forms the foundation which is essential for the comprehension
or'the topics and issues that will be dealt with in the subsequent blocks of this
programme of study.
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UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO RURAL SOCIETY
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 'Introduction
1.2 The Concept of Rural Society
1.3 The Ideal Model of the Rural Society
1.4 Tribes and Peasants
1.5 Rural and Urban Societies: Difference and Relationships
1.5.1 Characteristics of Villages
1.5.2 Characteristics of Cities
1.6 Little and Great Traditions
1.6.I Characteristics of Little and Great Traditions
1.6.2 Critical Assessment
I .7 Types of Vi Ilage
1.8 Important Rural Studies Conducted ill India
1.9 Let Us Sum Up
1.10 Key Words
1.11 Suggested Readings and References
1.12 Check Your Progress: Possible Answers
1.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this lesson, you will be able la:

• define rural society;
• differentiate between tribal, peasant, and urban societies;
• identify the types of village in India; and
• talk/write knowledgeably about a few important rural studies conducted in India.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
•
This is the first unit of the course, 'Rural Devclopment=-Indian Context'. The purpose
of this unit is to acquaint you with the concept of rural society. According to 2001
Census, 72.22 per cent of Indians live in about 6,38,691 villages. You know that in
190], 89.2 % of Indians resided in villages and by 1961 this percentage had reduced
to 82.03. It shows a declining trend which is bound to continue. There is, however,
. no doubt that even today a significant proportion of Indians lives in and derives
livelihood from villages. Thus, 'rural society' assumes a considerable significance in
any form of discussion on development.
In this unit we discuss the concept of rural society; we will also attempt to answer
some questions like what is meant by the terms like 'village', 'countryside', or 'folk
society'? The unit will also discuss the distinctions between different types of rural
society, relationships between rural and urban societies and also some of the important
rural studies conducted in India. In the remaining units of this block we will discuss
rural demography, rural social and economic structures and finally rural
poverty.
7
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I
Rural ocietyand
Economy 1.2 THE CONCEPT OF RURAL SOCIETY
The Bureau of the Census of the United tates define a rural community on the
basi of the size and the density of population at a particular place. In India, on the
other hand, the term 'rural' i defined in terms of revenue: the village means the
'revenue village'. It might be one large village or a cluster of small villages. According
to the Census Commission of India, a village is an entity identified by its name and
a definite boundary.
You may have observed that the Indian villages exhibit a great deal of diversity.
Different states in India have different numbers of villages. According to the Census
of India>- 1991. the largest number of villages (1,12,566) is found in undivided Uttar
Pradesh, followed by undivided Madhya Pradesh (71,352), undivided Bihar (67,546),
Orissa (46,553), and Maharashtra (39,354). The smallest villages having the smallest
populations are in the states of Sikkim (440) and Nagaland (1,112).
We see that on the onc extreme are the 'affluent villages' of Punjab, where many
families receive handsome amounts of money regularly from those of their young
members who live and work abroad. Some writers have preferred to call these
villages 'gray villages' because they have large populations of old people whose
children are away. At one tim many of these old people also were away working
in foreign lands, and after making sufficient wealth, they returned to their soil to lead
retired lives or to work as commercial farmers.
On the other extreme we have the extremely poor vi 11ages of Bihar, Orissa, or
Chhattisgarh, where for one square meal, the parents are sometimes forced to sell
their children to liquor vendors or moneylenders. Several villages in arid parts of
Rajasthan are now uninhabited because of inhospitable environment. Villages at the
outskirts of towns and cities are usually known as 'fringe villages', which undergo
gradual transformation a they lose their identity by and by, and eventually become
parts of the urban world. Take the example of New Delhi, where many residential
colonies, such as Wazirpur, Patpar Ganj, Moharnrnad Pur, Chandrawal, etc., are
named after the villages that used to exist there earlier, but have now been completely
assirn ilated with in the expand ing un iverse of urban Iife. Some vi Ilages have now
grown into towns, such as Kohima. All this points to the diversity of Indian villages,
In other words, while speaking about the Indian village, one has in mind several types
of communities, some multi-caste, some having the members of just one caste. Some
are close to the centers of civilization, the towns and cities. while some are situated
in remote backward areas, and some are more developed than others in terms of
material posse sions and facilities (such as electricity, schools, dispensaries, etc.). If
you move from one region to the other. from one state to the other, you wi 11come
across immense diversity in the lifestyles and material conditions of villages.
Notwithstanding the huge variations, which are bound to take place in a vast country
like India, there are certain general features that all rural communities have in common.
The term 'rural' is used in contrast with the term 'urban'. Some scholars think of
a continuum, i.e., a kind of continuity from the rural to the urban. The left end of the
continuum consists of the rural. whilst the right of the urban. Societies having all, and
also 'pure', characteristics of the rural or urban are found at the poles. In between
are placed societies, which are in bulk, having a mix of the characteristics that are
attributed to the rural and urban worlds. Societies ti Ited more to the rural end of the
continuum have more of the rural characteristics; similarly, societies placed more
towards the urban end display more of the urban characteristics. Change takes place
from rural to urban, rather than in the other way. This change is called urbanization,
which is defined as the almost permanent migration of populations from rural areas
to the urban. The changes that result because of urbanization are irreversible; so,.
8
when 'urban people' migrate to rural areas, as has happened and is happening in the Introduction to Rural
villages of Punjab, because of one or the other reason, they carry with them the Society
stamp of urban influence.
What then is the ideal nature of a rural society? As a consequence of the constant
interaction between the rural and the urban societies, most of the societies deviate
considerably from the ideal models of either the rural or the urban society. Thus, the
societies that are designated as rural bear the influence of urban areas invariably.
Check Your Progress I

Note: a) Write your answers in the space provided.
b) Check your answers with the possible answers provided at the end
of the un it.
1) Define the concept of the degree of urbanization?
1.3' THE IDEAL MODEL OF THE RURAL SOCIETY
You might have noted earlier that the term 'rural society' is used almost interchangeably
with terms like 'village', 'countryside', or 'folk society'. Of these, the term most
commonly used in sociological literature on rural society is the village. The term
'countryside' is chiefly popular in the western world. It primarily denotes a quiet
place, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, where one is in close proximity
to nature. One chooses to retire to the countryside. It is not a place bereft of
facilities, as villages are in the developing world. There are 'pubs' and recreational
centers in the countryside. What it lacks is the 'fast life of the city'.
Let us now look at the term 'folk', which attained popularity through of the works
of Robert Redfield. It implies a person or persons belonging to a small traditional and
homogeneous community. By implication, a folk society is traditional and homogeneous.
This category is best understood in terms of culture and stands in contrast with the
fast-changing and heterogeneous urban society. As we spoke of the rural-urban
continuum earlier, in the same way, Redfield has written about the folk-urban continuum.
A folk society is 'past-oriented', so said Redfield, in the sense that its members are
content with their lot, with what they have, and they proudly hold their tradition high.
By tradition, sociologists mean the 'conventionalized modes of social behaviour and
thought', i.e. the behaviour and thought that were established long time back are
considered valuable and applicable at all times, present and future.
In comparison with a rural society, we find that an urban society is 'future-oriented'.

Here, people are not satisfied with what they have, and they unceasingly want to
change virtually everything they have. If urban dwellers are 'forward-looking', the
folks are 'backward-looking'. If.change is the catch phrase of urban living, stability
is that of the folk society. Let \15 now turn to the term, 'rural society.'
From sociological point of view, the term 'rural society' implies the following:
• In comparison with the urban society, it is a small society, meaning thereby that
it has a small population and extends overa shorter physical area. Various 9
•• ,,' • I, , •• R •••••• : •• "11
Rural Society and institutions (such as police stations, hospitals, schools, post-offices, clubs, etc.)
Economy mayor may not be there, and if existent, they are not available in plenty.
• Density of the rural population is also low, and it may be clustered according to
the criteria of social status. In other words, people occupying the same status
may share the same neighbourhood, and may observe considerable social, and
sometimes physical, distance from others, especially those lower in hierarchy.
• A sizable number of rural people are engaged in agriculture, which is the

mainstay of their lives. In addition, a rural society has several other groups,
engaged in various other occupations of arts and crafts, usually known as
artisans and craftsmen, who regularly supply their services to agriculturalists in
exchange for grains and cereals.
• Rural society has some full-time and a large number of part-time specialists.
Craftsmen and artisans also indulge in agricultural pursuitsespecially duri!lg the
monsoon and the agricultural produce of such specialists and small agriculturalists
is mainly for domestic consumption.
Rural society is regarded as the repository of traditional mores and folkways.

It preserves the traditional culture, and many of its values and virtues are carried
forward to urban areas, of which they become a part after their refinement.
When scholars say that' India lives in vi llages', they mean not only that vi 1\ages .
constitute the abode of three-quarters of Indians, but also that the fundamental
values of Indian society and civilization are preserved in villages, wherefrorn
they are transmitted to towns and cities. One cannot have an idea about the
spirit of India unless her villages are understood.
Check Your Progress 11

of the un it.
1) What is an 'affluent' village'?
2) Give three salient characteristics of a 'rural society'
19
Introduction to Rural
1.4 TRIBES AND PEASANTS Society
The term 'rural society', as we said previously, includes a wide variety of people and
villages of differing sizes and compositions. Generally, a rural society is an agrarian
society, which includes agriculturalists, artisans, craftsmen, and other occupational
groups, and they are all dependent, in one way or the other, upon agriculture, but
these are not the only people who live in villages. Communities of people, who are
called 'tribals', also live in villages, and some of them have been having long-standing
relations with other non-tribal communities. Then, there are villages exclusively of
tribespersons. To bring out this distinction clearly, sociologists have introduced the
concepts of 'tribes' and 'peasants'.
According to the recently circulated Draft of National Policy on Tribal Populations

of India, there are 67.8 million Scheduled Tribespersons, constituting about 8.08 per
cent of India's population. There are 698 Scheduled Tribes spread all over India
barring the States of Haryana and Punjab and the Union Territories like Chandigarh,
Delhi and Pondicherry. Orissa has the- largest number (sixty-eight) of Scheduled
Tribes. By definition, the Scheduled Tribes are those people who are notified as such
by the President of India under Article 342 of the Constitution of India. The first
notification, in this regard, was issued in 1950. The President considers several
characteristics such as the primitive traits of the tribe, its distinctive culture, its
geographical isolation and social and economic backwardness before notifying it as
a Scheduled Tribe. Seventy-five of the 698 Scheduled Tribes are identified as Primitive
Tribal Groups. They are more backward than the Scheduled Tribes. They continue
to live in a pre-agricultural stage of economy and have very low literacy rates. Their
populations are stagnant or even declining.
It is clear from the foregoing that in defining a tribe, emphasis is laid on the isolation
of its members from the wider world. Because a tribe has almost negligible relations
with the other communities, it tends to develop its own culture, which has little
resemblance with the culture of those communities that have enjoyed long-term
interaction among themselves. That is the reason why tribal communities in
anthropological literature are known as 'cultural isolates'. The implication of this
metaphor is that one can understand a tribal society without bothering to study the
external world, of which the tribe may be an 'island'. A tribal society is characteristically
a 'holistic' (i.e. complete) society.
The term 'peasant' also shot into prominence with the works of Robert Redfield. For
the first time, however, the term was defined in the writings of the American
anthropologist, A.L. Kroeber. His oft-quoted definition of peasants is as follows:
"Peasants are definitely rural - yet live in relation to market towns; they form a class
segment of a larger population which usually contains also urban centers, sometimes
metropolitan capitals. They constitute part-societies with part-cultures. They lack the
isolation, the political autonomy, and the self-sufficiency of tribal populations; but their
local units retain much of their old identity, integration, and attachment to soil and
cults."
If tribes are isolated, peasants are not. They are agriculturalists - attached to soil,
as Kroeber observes - who intend to produce primarily for their subsistence, but they
have to produce a little more, because they do not manufacture and produce everything
they need for their survival. They have to transfer and sell whatever little surplus they
have to the markets located in urban areas so that they acquire the things they do
not produce. Peasants are dependent upon urban markets, the consequence of which
is that they are constantly in touch with urban societies. Therefore, for understand ing
them, we need to look at their relationship with the outside world of which they are
a part. Kroeber 's words that peasants are a 'part-society with part-culture' imply
their constant interaction withother communities. The impact of v= interactions 11
Rural Society and can be seen on all the aspects or their life, Along with Kroeber, one remembers
Economy George Foster's words: 'Peasants constitute a half-society.'
Now let us try to find out as to whether the tribal societies, which were isolated, exist
in India? We infer that they might have existed in the distant past, but whatever
historical material we have been able to garner indicates that there have always been
relations of exchange between communities of tribespersons and others, Do you
know that tribals supplied honey, medicinal plants, toys, baskets, nets, rnedico-religious
knowledge and supernatural healing to other communities, In exchange, they got salt,
grains, cereals. clothes, etc. In fact, their isolation Increased when harmful external
contacts with moneylenders, land-grabbers, Iiquor vendors, and other usurpers of
resources led to devastating effects on tribes. The only option for tribes to escape
from these exploiters was to move to isolated areas, so that they could have a
temporary respite from their exploiters and oppressors.
Several tribal communities in India practice settled agriculture, with the result that it
i~ difficult 10 (ii5ti"),!lIisil tl.crn I'ml'll peasants, Some sociologists propose the term
'1' .oa: peasants' to designate them. for they combine the characteristics of both the
triba] and peasant societies. In several cases, tribes or their sections have settled
down close to villages, and started supplying certain services to other communities.
With the passage of time, they have become inseparable parts of those villages. That
i" how tribespersons have got incorporated into villages.
111 India. tribes are associated with other 1110des of production as well, such a h,'llli:lg
and food gathering. shifting cultivation, fishing, horticulture, and the practice of arts
and crafts Instead of relying on just one way of acquiring food, they combine various
economic activities. The combination of different economic pursuits is dependent
upon the ecological cycle of the area they inhabit, as their habitat provides them with
the seasonal economic avenues that condition their practices such as hunting, fishing
and/or gathering. 111 comparison with full-fledged agrarian villages, tribal habitations
are small and spread over large areas. Each habitation is a cluste Q{\l'w huts
inhabited by people related by the ties of kinship. For such clusters, thelcr111 generally
used ill sociological literature is 'hamlet". A hamlet may be a part ota.large village,
or ;~ group of several hamlets spread over a large area may be administratively
classified as a village.
Check Your Progress III

r) Check your answers with the possible answers provided at the end
of the unit.
I) Define the term Scheduled Tribe.
1.5 RURAL AND URBAN SOCIETIES: DIFFERENCES

AND RELATIONSHIPS
After having learnt about the various characteristics of the rural society, it will now
be easier for us to compare it with the urban society . Just to revise: rural and urban
12 societies. or the village ,111\1 the \:ilY_ constitute two ends of the coutinuum. Over a
period of time, rural societres underg-o a variety of changes. Some of them are Introduction to Rural '.
assimilated into urban societies; some start resembling urban societies in certain Society
material and social terms, but retain their identity as a village; while some remain
less affected by the forces emerging from cities. It may be so because of their
location. Villages closer to the centers of urban growth are likely to change appreciably
and faster than their counterparts located in interior areas. With the passage of time,
villages may grow into towns, which later on grow into cities. Continuity may, thus,
be unmistakably noticed in the transition from the village to the city.
For cities, which grow from the village, the term used by Robert Redfield and Milton
Singer is 'orthogenetic cities'. These cities 'emerge from below', i.e. from the village,
rather than get imposed on a population from outside. When a city is imposed on a
populace, as happened during the colonial period in India, it is called 'heterogenetic
city'. Such a city, 'emerging from above', does not have its origin in local villages.
The social consequences of these two types of city are not alike. In an orthogenetic
city, the migrants coming from villages will have less of a 'culture shock' on
encountering the city and will not suffer much from any sort of 'cultural inadequacy'
while dealing with the city dwellers. By contrast, both the experience of a culture
shock and the feeling of cultural inadequacy will be tremendously high for rural
migrants in a heterogenetic city. It is so, because an orthogenetic city carries forward
the traditions of the village and the villagers can identify the segments of their culture
in it and can relate with them easily. In a heterogenetic city, by contrast, members
will feel completely out of place, because such a city contains the elements of a
tradition which grew somewhere else, with which the local people have no familiarity.
Consequently, they will feel out of place in it.
The point that has been stressed through out this lesson is that generally rural and
urban areas are dependent upon each other. There is a mutually supportive relationship
between them. Sociologists have analyzed these relations in economic, political, social,
and cultural terms.
Check Your Progress IV

of the unit.
I) List three main differences between a rural and an urban society .
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0
1.5.1 Characteristics of Villages

Villages are principally food-producing units and they are agriculture-based. They
pro-duce not only for their own subsistence but also for the urban societies, which are
Don-food producing units. An urban society is not an agrarian society. A tribal society,
in theoretical terms, has subsistence economy; people produce primarily for their own
consumption. Tribal economy does not generate surpluses. A peasant society, in
contrast, has to generate surpluses not only for acquiring things that it does not
produce, but also for the city. Those who produce on a commercial basis, on a mass
scale, with the basic objective of multiplying their gains, are known as farmers.
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13
.
Rural Society and Whether the producers are peasants or farmer, they all supply food to cities. City
Economy dwellers, once their economic needs are met with, devote themselves to the
development of arts and crafts, and other non-agricultural pursuits. The innovations
that take place in cities diffuse to villages. Thus, in economic terms, land i's the'
primary means/unit of production in rural societies, which is not the case in urban
areas. In industrial-urban cities, however, the production and distribution of industrial
goods and services becomes the primary resource base. So, the occupational structure < .,
is highly diversified in cities. Also, there is a greater degree of occupational'

specialization needed there. Thus, full-time specialists, whose occupations require" .
higher education and skills, characterize urban societies invariably. In addition, semi-
skilled and unskilled workers who support specialists in various ways are also found
in cities.
Economic interaction is closely linked with the political. Although each village has its
own council (called a panchayat in India), which takes up and resolves disputes
between/among the people and communities in the village, the ultimate seat of authority,
controlling villages, is situated in urban areas. The political power centered in cities
controls villages. Prices of goods that villagers bring to city markets to sell are
decided by urban political powers. Often, villagers protest against such controls. We
are familiar with the protests made by Indian farmers when the prices of sugarcane
or oil-seeds are fixed much below the expectation of their producers. When the
prices of furs were reduced sometime back, the agro-pastoralists (those who practice
agriculture as well as rear animals for profit) also launched protests.
The practice of internal mobilization for achieving their objectives is not unknown
among village communities, but sometimes it does not build up enough strength
because ofa lack of support or poor publicity. The result is that villagers' exploitation
at the hands of the .city powers continues unabated. Marshall Sahlins has called
peasants 'underdogs', who are not able to muster enough revolutionary fervour to
bring about a change in their state of existence. Along with economic dependence,
villages are also politically dependent upon cities. In both economic and political .\
terms, the city enjoys supremacy over the village.
Let us now come to the third aspect dealing with the social and cultural factors
pertaining to rural societies. We have learnt previously that rural societies are relatively
more homogeneous in terms of their social and economic characteristics. Their
technological and organizational aspects are also simpler, in the sense that they can
be learnt easily. Also, changes among rural societies occur at a slower pace. The
geographical, social and economic areas of interaction of the villagers are restricted:
That is why some people call rural societies 'small-scale societies'. The role of
tradition in controlling the behaviour of people is very strong. Religion also plays a
significant role in governing the lives of people and individuals have limited freedom
to choose their occupations or mate'. In other words, the range of choice among the
rural people is highly restricted. Their territorial, occupational, and upward social
mobility also is limited.
1.5.2 Characteristics of Cities
In contrast, urban societies are characterized by, as Louis Wirth noted. large size, high
density of population, and heterogeneity. Cities have a large population. and its growth
is much faster because of the migration of people from rural to urban areas. In
villages, the rate of growth of population is slower, and the population mostly increases
as a result of high birth rate. Migration of people to villages is comparatively much
less. Surely, there have been cases of tribal people migrating to villages in search of
subsistence, but their number is too negligible to bring about any significant change
in the village. Cities are 'cultural mosaics'; they have people from different cultures
and backgrounds. Thus, the way of life of people shows a wide variety. The range
14 . with respect to inco~~, housing, e9ucati(;m, etc., is quite large. Technology is quite
_. _ .._-, T
complex, and its knowledge cannot be acquired at home, as happens in rural societies. Introduction to Rural
The son of a blacksmith, for example, in a village learns the art of smithy at home, Society
observing his father and other male relatives at work and holding apprenticeship
under them. In urban societies, these crafts become highly sophisticated, and their
teaching and learning is transferred to specialized institutions. As technology becomes
complex, so do the organizations and the societies that use them.
You know that change in urban societies takes place at a fast pace. Urbanites have
a larger area of interaction. They interact with people who Iive in different territories,
and work in different organizations. In a nutshell, they come in contact with people
who hail from different walks of life. For regulating such a wide variety of interaction,
the urban society needs to impose, as Wirth said, formal mechanisms of social
control. Mechanical time, records, and formal rules become essential for purposefully
regulating the urban living. This is in sharp contrast to villages, which have face-to-
face relationship. Here, the same people meet everyday, time and again, with the
outcome that each adult knows most of the aspects of the life of the other. Relationships
in villages are informal, by comparison to formal and specific relationships in urban
societies. The same urban dwellers may meet everyday for business, but will not
achieve the kind of intimacy that villagers possess because of regular and socially
intense interaction. Relationships in villages are not of the means to ends type, as
they are in cities. Mobility, both in space and occupations, is highly pronounced in
urban societies as compared to the rural ones.
To sum up: rural and urban societies can be distinguished in terms of a number of
variables, each of which exercises its impact on the other. Cultural features. from
villages are carried forward to cities where they are refined, systematized, and
developed. They are then sent back to villages. Similarly, innovations taking place in
cities percolate down to villages.
Check Your Progress V

Note:-
. , a) Write your answers in the space provided.
of the unit.
1) Elaborate on the meaning of the phrase 'folk-urban continuum'.

,
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
......................................................... : , .
1.6 LITTLE AND GREAT TRADITIONS
For analyzing the' relationship and the ceaseless interaction between rural and urban
societies, the concepts of little and great traditions, which Redfield proposed on the
basis of his study of Mexican communities, have been found to be quite useful.
Redfield proposed the concept of 'little community', which may be imagined to be

like a village. A little community has the following characteristics: small size, largely
self-sufficient, homogeneous, and relatively isolated. Its members are generally
unlettered, i.e. their tradition is not based upon reading and writing. They accept their
tradition as it is, without subjecting it to any critical scrutinr If there are contradictions
15
Rural Society and and paradoxes in their tradition, they continue to remain. People make no attempts
Economy to remove or reconcile them, or to answer questions that have remained unanswered
in their tradition. In a little community, the tradition is accepted as infallible and
transcendental, and it forges and maintains unity among the people.
1.6.1 Characteristics of Little and Great Traditions
The tradition of the little community is known as 'little tradition'. It may be defined
as:
• the tradition of the unlettered (i.e.. non-literate and illiterate) many people
inhabiting a particular area,
• who are unreflective, i.e. they do not critically examine or comment upon it, and
accept it as it is;
• this tradition is cultivated at home; and
• is transmitted from one generation to the next as part of the process of
soc ialization.
The type of society with which the little community unremittingly interacts is the city.
Redfield, and many other scholars, have viewed city as the center of civilization. In
fact, both these words - city and civilization - come from the same root in Latin.
City is also the abode of a group of intellectuals whom Redfield calls 'Iiterati', whose
job is to create the tradition of a higher level by refining and systematizing the little
trad ition. The tradition of the Iiterati is known as the' great trad ition ', wh ich has the
following characteristics:
• It is the tradition of the lettered people who are few in number.

• They are reflective, i.e. they think about the tradition, make it sophisticated and
systematize it, thus making it universal.
• This tradition is cultivated in separate and distinct institutions, such as temples,
mosques, churches, synagogues, etc.
• It is transmitted as a part of the specialized. rigorous, and long learning, in
which the individual is expected to internalize the tradition correctly.
If the little tradition is of vi Ilagers and the unlettered people of cities, the elites and
scholars, such as the Brahmins, Imams, priests, rabbis, etc., guard the great tradition.
The tradition of these scholar-elites is universally held. At the same time it is to be
realized that little and great are ideal types, while in reality the situation is complex.
Let us now analyse the whole concept critically.
1.6.2 Critical Assessment
Redfield's approach is popularly known as the 'cultural approach', because he looks

at the interaction of the lifestyles of the two communities, the village and the city.
This interaction is an outcome ofthe relative dependence (economic and political) of
one 011 the other. Little traditions and great traditions interact constantly, as a result
of which continuity is established between them. Cultural traits from the little tradition
are carried forward to the great tradition where they are systematized. As great
traditions have universal applicability, the cultural elements they systematize also
become universal. Accordingly, the process whereby cultural features of the little
traditions become parts of the great traditions is known as universalization, a term
proposed by Redfield. The reverse process of the mobility of cultural traits from the
great tradition to become parts of the little tradition is also possible. A little tradition
has a narrow coverage and is confined to a local area. When it accepts elements I'
from the great tradition, it might modify them so that they are compatible with the
characteristics of the soqiety in gen~[al. As the incoming cultural traits are changed
16
and coloured to suit local conditions, 'knowledge and thoughts, the-process is termed Introduction 'to Rural
localization or parochialization. These terms were used for the first time in McKim Society
Marriott's famous article on the village of Kishangarhi in Aligarh.
Many scholars think that Redfield's analysis is extremely simple for understanding the
complexities of Indian civilization. Some propose the idea of multiple traditions in
India, rather than just two traditions. But, the concepts of little and great traditions
help us greatly in understanding the cultural continuity between villages and cities in
India. In this context, certain observations of Milton Singer, which are given below,
are highly relevant:
• The Indian civilization has evolved out of the folk and regional cultures. The
local stories and folklore have evolved into great epics such as Ramayana,
Mahabharata, and other religious scriptures after being refined and systematized
over a long period of time.
• Cultural continuity is a major feature of the great traditions. It is based on the
~~., idea that people throughout the country share common cultural consciousness.
• Consensus exists in India about sacred books and sacred objects. It is one of
the major bases of a common cultural consciousness that people in India share.
• Cultural continuity with the past is a major feature of the Indian society. As a
result most of the modernizing thoughts and ideologies of progress do not lead
to a linear form of social and cultural change. Rather, the modern institutions are
'traditionalized' in India. They adapt to the social organization of communities
instead of constraining them to adapt to modernity.
Check Your Progress VI

of the unit.
I) Enumerate three salient characteristics of the great tradition .
...............................................................................................................
1.7 TYPES OF VILLAGE
You know that villages have been classified on the basis of size. According to the
Census of India - 1991, 94.7 per cent of villages had less than five thousand people.
According to the size of population, the villages were divided into three categories:
• 26.5 per cent villages were inhabited by less than five hundred people;
• 48.8 per cent villages had a population falling between 500 and 2000; and
• 19.4 per cent villages had a population falling between 2000 and 5000.
It is clear that villages of the medium-size were almost fifty per cent of the villages
in India .
. Another classification of India villages divides them into nucleated and dispersed
villages. It is well known that villages comprise homestead land (abddf) and cultivable
land. In nucleated villages, all thehouseholds are-clustered
.. together in a compact unit, ,
17
Rural Society and surrounded on all sides by cultivable land. When households are distributed over a
, Economy large area, and each cluster of a few houses is separated by cultivable land, it is
known as a dispersed village. Most of the villages in India are of compact nucleated
type. Dispersed villages are found in the coastal areas of Kerala in south India, in
Bhil settlements to the ea~t and north of Gujarat, and in Coorg and w~stern Mysore.
M.N. Srinivas proposes that detailed studies of these two types of village need to be
carried out to see differences in their respective organizational patterns. For example,
he notes that in nucleated villages the responsibility of defending the village from
robbers and wild animals falls on all the inhabitants. In dispersed villages, each farm
hasto protect itself against the enemies. The kin group owning the farm must have
enough people to defend itself when the need arises. It is quite likely that houses in
dispersed villages are built with an eye to defense. One may hypothesize that dispersed
villages are associated with large kinship groups and martial traditions.
1.8 IMPORTANT RURAL STUDIES CONDUCTED IN

INDIA
The year of 1955 is of tremendous significance for village studies in India. For the
first time, in that year, four books and several papers on the Indian village were
published. The four books were: S.C. Dube's Indian Village, D.N. Majurndar's
s
Rural Profiles, McKim Marriott's Village India, and M.N. Srinivas' India Villages.
In the same year, a conference on the state of Indian society was held in Madras
under the chairpersonship of Irawati Karve in which Robert Redfield also participated.
In this conference, village studies and their scope were discussed. The proceedings
of this conference were disseminated in the form of a book titled Society in India.
The late 1950s produced certain monographs on villages, and they are still regarded
as of crucial importance. They were: G.M. Carstairs's Twice Born (1957), S.C~
Dube's India s Changing Villages (1958), D.N. Majumdar's Caste and
Communication in an Indian Village (1958), F.G. Bailey's Caste and the Economic
Frontier (1957), and 0 car Lewis's Village Life in Northern India (1958). Albert '
Mayer's book titled Pilot Project India (1958) summarizes the main achievements
of the Etawah project. In 1959 came A.R. Desai's edited volume titled An Introduction
to Rural Sociology in India. Adrain Mayer's work Caste and Kinship in Central
India (1960) was the first book length study of kin relations in an Indian village.
Andre Beteilles Caste. Class and Power (1964) was a study of the changing
dimensions of rural stratification. A general description of a village in Rajasthan was
provided in B.R. Chauhan's 1967 book titled A Rajasthan Village.
Since then, there have been a number of monographs on villages. Among the recent
books, one may look at G loria Goodwin Raheja's The Poison in the Gift (1988),
which is an examination of the nature of caste system in a village of Saharan pur. For
students of rural history, A.M. Shah's Exploring India's Rural Past (2002) will be
of tremendous value. One of the most recent anthologies on the rural society in India
is Vandana Madan's The Village in India (2002).
Check Your Progress VII

of the unit.
I) Define a nucleated village.
18
Introduction to Rural
1.9 LET US SUM UP Society
This unit intends to introduce the basic features of the rural society in relation to other
;',kinds of society, such as tribal and urban societies. Their relationship has been
"'analysed in terms of the concepts of folk, urban societies, little traditions and great
traditions. It has been shown that rural/folk and urban societies are characterized by
, significant differences of attitudes and values. However, while using this differentiation
we have shown that villages in India are of many types. A major distinction is made
between nucleated and dispersed settlements. We also discussed the useful idea of
a continuum, where we conceptualized one of its ends consisting of rural societies
and the other of urban societies. These two types of society have always been
interacting. An Indian village was never a self-sufficient unit, as many British colonial
officers tended to believe. It was always dependent upon the outside world - other
_villages and cities - for various things. As a result, the rural society was always
absorbing various types of changes that were being introduced in it from outside.
Though with the passage of time the. rural population in India has reduced, yet
seventy-two per cent of our people live in villages. Towards the end of the unit, we
have also made a mention of some important rural studies conducted in India.
1.10 KEY WORDS
Rural Society This term is used for a small society, which comprises only
a few hundred households, who mostly produce their own
food. Agriculture is the mainstay oftheir life. In this society,
/'
the number of people engaged in non-agricultural pursuits I,
is small, but these members also practice agriculture.

Tribal Society This term is used for a small society, smaller than the
typical agriculture-based society. It is largely isolated from
other societies and the centers of civilization. The tribal
communities practice a large number of economic pursuits,
ranging from hunting and food gathering to settled
agriculture. There are many villages in lndia where tribes
and non-tribal people live together.
Urban Society This term is used interchangeably with two terms-towns
and cities. Characterized by a much larger area and
population, an urban society grows faster because of the
migration of people from villages to cities. An urban society,
whether pre-industrial or industrial, is basically a non-
agrarian society. It is heterogeneous, complex, and future-
oriented.
Great Tradition It is the tradition, of the intellectual class called 'I iterati'
who live in cities.
Little Tradition It is the tradition of the unlettered people in villages and
cities.
Universalization The process, by which cultural traits from the little tradition
get carried forward, reflected upon, and systematized to
become a part of the great tradition, is called universalization.
Parochialization The process, by which cultural traits from the great tradition
get carried downwards to the village where they become
a part of the little tradition, is called parochialization.
_Fringe Villages These are the villages that are found at the meeting
points of typical rural and urb~n areas. They depict the
19
rhllrllcteristics of horh the tvoes of social organization.
Rural Society and
Economy 1.11 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES
References
Epstein, Scarlett. 1973. South India: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Mysore
Villages Revisited. London: Macmillan.
Freed, S.A. and R.S. Freed. 1959. 'Shanti Nagar '. The Effects 0/ Urbanization in
a Village in North India. American Museum of Natural History.
Madan, Vandana (ed.). 2002. The Village in India. Oxford University Press.
Potter, Jack M., May N. Diaz, George M. Foster. 1967. Peasant Society, A Reader.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Redfield, Robert. 1956. Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach

to Civilization. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Srivastava, Y.K. )996. On the Concept of Peasant Society. In Vijay Kumar Thakur
and Ashok Aounshuman (eds.) Peasants in Indian History: Theoretical Issues
and Structural Enquiries. Patna: Janaki Prakashan (pp. 19-50).
Suggested Readings
Beals, Alan R. 1962. Gopalpur: A South Indian Village. New York: Holt, Rinehart
& Winston.
Bharucha, Rustom. 2003. Rajasthan: An Oral History, Conversations with Komal

Kothari. Penguin Books.
Chauhan, Brij Raj. 1967. A Rajasthan Village. New Delhi: Associated Publishing
House.
Kantowsky, Detlef. 1995. An Indian Village through Letters and Pictures. Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Marriott, McKim (ed.) )955. Village India, Studies in the Little Community. Chicago: .
University of Chicago Press.
Orenstein, H. 1965. Gaon: Conflict and Cohesion in an Indian Village. Princeton:

Princeton University Press.
Rao, Aparna. 1998. Autonomy: Life Cycle, Gender and Status among Himalayan
Pastoralists. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Srinivas, M.N. 2002. Collected Works. Oxford University Press
1.12 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE ANSWERS
1) The degree of urbanization is arrived at by dividing the number of people living

in towns and cities by the total population of that country, and then, multiplying
the fraction thus obtained by one hundred. If a country has a large population
dwelling in villages, then its degree of urbanization will be low, whatever the
absolute number of people living in urban areas. India has a low degree of
urbanization in comparison to Austral ia, although the number of people living in
20 . Indian cities is far more than their counterparts in Australian' cities.
,
• r
Check Your Progress 11 Introduction to Rural

Society
1) The general impression of an Indian village is that it is a conglomeration of mud-
and thatched houses inhabited by people of different castes who struggle to
make both ends meet with highly limited resources. Although scarcity and poverty
are differentially distributed in Indian villages, on the whole they are rampant,
that is why, the programmes of poverty-alleviation and development are urgently
needed for them. Contrary to this image are the 'affluent' villages in Punjab and
Haryana where, speaking in relative terms, there is no scarcity, resources are
in plenty, and facilities generally found in cities are easily available. Out-migration
from these villages is usually to the developed world, where people wish to go
with the sole intention of maximizing their assets and affluence.
2) The three salient characteristics of a rural society are:
i) It is small in size with a low density of population.
ii) Members of the rural society are engaged in agriculture, which IS the
mainstay of their life; and
iii) A rural society is 'tradition-bound', i.e. the same way of life, norms and
folkways, customs and practices, and beliefs and values, tend to perpetuate
over time, and the extent of change among them is considerably low. That
was the reason why Robert Redfield characterised a rural society as 'past-
oriented'.
1) 'Scheduled Tribe' is a constitutional.term. There is an all-India list of Scheduled

Tribes. Each of the Scheduled Tribes is a community of people that has been
relatively isolated, because of which it is backward, less developed, and sometimes
suffers from acute poverty and scarcity. In order to bring it at par with other
developed communities, it is essential that its interests are protected and taken
care of. All the states provide such protection and the needed extra support
under the policy of what is known as 'compensatory discrimination', 'protective
discrimination', or 'positive discrimination'. The list mentioned above lists the
names of the tribes/communities that need such discrimination and each of the
listed communities is called a Scheduled Tribe.
1) The three main differences between rural and urban societies are:
i) Villages are primarily food-producing units, while urban society is non-

agricultural.
ii) Villages are small in size and their growth rate is slow. In their case, out-
migration is higher than in-migration, which in many cases may touch zero.
Cities are larger in size and their growth rate is high. In-migration is
considerably higher than out-migration, because of which cities keep on
growing.
iii) Villages are relatively homogeneous. They have some kind of cultural
uniformity. The extent of cultural variation among communities inhabiting a
village is not discernible. By comparison, cities are heterogeneous. They
comprise communities with different cultures, where each one of them
tries its best to maintain its identity and cultural purity. City is a cultural
mosaic.
21
Rural Society and Check Your Progress V
Economy
1) Continuum means 'continuity'. By folk-urban continuum is meant 'continuity
from the village to the city'. One end of this continuous scale is the village; the
other is the city. Both these social formations are in ceaseless interaction. ThaJ
is the reason why villages show the profound impact of city life on them, and"
certain cultural traits from villages are developed in cities. The continuum also ,
shows that the development is from the village to the city. Over time, villages',
are transformed into towns and cities.
Check Your Progress VI
1) The three salient characteristics of the great tradition are:
i) It is the tradition of the literate people.
ii) It is the tradition of the people who are fewer in number.
iii) It is the tradition of the people who are reflective. They critically think
about the tradition, remove the glaring contradictions it suffers from and
make it sophisticated by systematizing it.
Check Your Progress VII
1) A nucleated village is one where all the households are clustered together
forming some kind of a nucleus, and all around it are the fields that belong to
those households. It is distinguished from a dispersed village where the houses
are distributed over a large area, in which each cluster of a few houses is
surrounded by fields generally belonging to them. Most of the villages in India
are nucleated vi lIages.
22
UNIT 2 RURAL DEMOGRAPHY
Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Meaning of Demography
2.3 Demographic Data Base
2.3.1 Census
2.3.2 Civil Registration System (CRS)
2.3.3 Sample Registration System (SRS)
2.3.4 Sample Surveys
2.4 Size, Growth and Distribution of Rural Population
2.4.1 National Picture
2.4.2 Picture in the Major States
2.4.3 Distribution and Density of Rural Population
2.5 "Sex Composition of Rural Population
2.6 Age Composition of Rural Population
2.7 Marital Status of Rural Population
2.8 Fertility and Mortality Patterns
2.9 Migration Patterns
2.10 Size 'of Rural Settlements
2.11 Literacy Rate
2.11.1 State-wise Variations in Literacy Rate (the rural scenario)
2.12 Demography and Development
2.13 Let Us Sum Up
2.14 Key Words
2.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:

• define demography and explain how it is related to development;
• outline the growth and distribution of rural population in our country;
• explain how sex and age compositions of the rural populations and their
marital status have undergone changes;
•. outline and explain the patterns of internal migration;
"' .
• explain the implications of the size of rural settlements for development; and
• describe the state of rural literacy.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The basic objective of development is to improve the quality of life. We know that
building a modern nation depends on the development of people and the organization
of human activity. It is the development of human resources that unlocks the "door
to modernization and is one of the necessary conditions for all kinds of growth -
social, political, cultural or economic. This principle applies to India as well, particularly
.
as she is poised to emerge as a worl9sp:~¥~l~1
'9r.:'"--r:~~.~'-'-."'"
~t
e~~~,?!~ic power.
.•.. ~
23
Rural Society and A country therefore plans for its people only. While planning for overall development.
Economy and for providing services to the people, information regarding the size, growth,
composition and quality of population plays an important role. Suppose schools or,
hospitals are to be opened in an area. To decide as to how many to set up, information .
regarding the total population of the area, their age and sex is needed. It is in this
context that the study of demography assumes significant importance.
This unit is aimed at familiarizing you with the population scenario of rural India. An
attempt has been made to give you an overview of the rural population in our country,
so that you may have a reasonable idea about its size, composition and growth as well
as the related phenomena like migration and the size of rural settlements.
2.2 MEANING OF DEMOGRAPHY
Now let us understand the term demography. Demography is the scientific and
statistical study of population and in particular the size of various types of population,
their development and structure.
There are various branches of Demography like Historical Demography, Social

Demography, Economic Demography, Mathematical Demography, Medical
Demography and so on. Though it is not the practice among demographers to study
the Rural and the Urban Demography separately, it is useful to consider the
demographic characteristics of the rural population separately, as it will help in providing
a better understanding of the issues in rural development. This is important in a
country like India, which is predominantly rural in character and will continue to
remain so for several decades to come.
2.3 DEMOGRAPHIC DATA BASE
Let us now discuss the different sources of demographic data available in India and
their usefulness in making developmental decisions. The various sources of data
commonly utilized for demographic analysis are presented briefly as follows.
2.3.1 Census
You know that Census is generally a decennial affair. The first census in India was
conducted in 1872 and since 1881 it has been undertaken regularly every ten years.
Census is a valuable and authentic source and can provide information at the lowest
possible aggregation. In addition to the age-sex-marital status of the various types of
population, it provides information about their socio-economic characteristics such as
literacy and education, religion of the head of the household, occupation and industrial
classification of the labour force, the available household and community amenities
(health facilities, post offices, banks, schools etc.) and housing conditions. The
compositions of the scheduled caste and the scheduled tribe households are also
made available. This information with varying degrees of elaboration at the village
level is thus available to decision maker.
2.3.2 Civil Registration System (CRS)
Civil registration is the continuous recording of vital events such as births, deaths,
marriages etc. It is generally a compulsory recording done according to the
legal requirements of the country as per the provisions made by official orders or
rules.
24
2.3.3 Sample Registration System (SRS) Rural Demography,
This system was initiated by the Registrar General of India in 1969-70. Conducted
on a regular basis at the national level, it is in essence a demographic survey based
on a dual recording system. It provides estimates for both rural and urban areas at
the state (major states) as well as the national level. Both the estimates of birth and
mortality are made available on an annual basis. But the problem is that SRS does
not provide estimates at lower levels of aggregation and the sample units selected
remain fixed for a long period of time.
2.3.4 Sample Surveys
Surveys, in which information is collected on a sample basis, are particularly suitable

for providing a variety of information with a fair degree of precision. Sample surveys
have become a major means for collecting information on a variety of demographic
and health related indicators.
In India, since 1990 there has been a noticeable change in the availability of large-
scale surveys in the field. Two rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)
have been conducted on the lines similar to Demographic Health Surveys (DHS).
NFHS -I was conducted in 1992-93 and NFHS-2 in 1998-99. They provide information
on fertility, family planning practices, mortality including infant and child mortality,
utilization of maternal and child health care services, nutritional status of children,
apart from the usual socio-economic and demographic characteristics of a household.
Information from NFHS has been widely used by planners, policy makers and
academicians.
Having learnt what demography is and what the different sources of demographic
studies are, let us take up for discussion the size, growth and distribution of the rural
population.
2.4 \ SIZE, GR9WTH AND DISTRIBUTION OF RURAL

POPULATION
2.4.1 National Picture

According to the 2001 census, the total population of our country was 10,27,015,247
in 2001, of which 7,41,660,293 or 72 per cent was rural (see Table 2.1). Though the
percentage of the rural population shows a moderate decline over the years, the
absolute number shows a large rural base even during the last census. Obviously, no
development policy in India can succeed unless it centers around rural development.
Table 2.1: Rural Population of India, 1901 -2001
Year Total Population Rural Population % of Rural Population

1901 238,396,327 212,544,454 89.16
1911 252,093,390 226,151,757 89.71
1921 251,321,213 223,235,046 88.82
1931 278,977,238 245,521,249 88.01
1941 318,660,580 274,507,283 86.14
1951 361,088,090 298,644,156 82.71

1961 439,234,771 360,298,168 82.03
1971 548,159,652 439,045,675 80.09
1981 683,329,097 523,866,550 76.66
1991 846,387,888 628,836,076 74.30
2001 1,027,p 1_5]247 741,660,293 72.22
Source: Cehsus of India 1981, 1991 and 2001

25/
•• I, .!~
Rural Society and Let us now look at the growth rate of rural population. The growth of population is
Economy often used to connote the change in the number of people living in a particular area
during a specific period of time. It is positive if there is increase in population and
negative if there is a decrease in population between any two given points in time ..
. Table 2.2 presents the growth of rural population in India over a period of ten years.
Table 2.2: Growth of Rural Population 1901-2001
Year Rural Population Decennial Variation % Decennial

in Population Variation
1901 212,544,454 - -
1911 226,151,757 13607303 6.40
1921 223,235,046 -2916711 -1.29
1931 245.521.249 22286203 9.98
1941 274.507.283 28986034 11.81
1951 298.644,156 24136873 8,79
1961 360,298,168 61654012

,''-'f:,:
~,,';;
20,64
~t'~
1971 439,045,675 ·78747507 21.86
1981 523,866,550 84820875 19.32
1991 628.836,076 104969526 20.04
2001 741.660,293 112824217 17.94
Source: Census of India 1981, 1991 and 2001
If you look at the table carefully, you will find four distinct phases of population growth from
1901 to 2001.
i) Phase I: 1901-1921 Very Slow Growth
ii) Phase 11 : 1931-1951 Steady Growth
iii) Phase Ill: 1961-1981 Rapid High Growth
iv) Phase IV : 1991-2001 High Growth with definite signs of
slowing down.
Population Growth leads to

Overcrowding in Living Space Fragmentation of Land
26 Fig. I
2.4.2 Picture in the Major States Rural Demography
Population growth needs to be viewed not only in the context of increase in numbers
but also within the broader perspective of its patterns in the different states of India.
An analysis of the population growth patterns at the state level in India will help in
understanding the regional contrasts in the growth pattern. Table 2.3 presents the
state- wise growth of rural population.
You may also look at the variations in the growth rate as depicted in Map I. The
highest growth rate has been recorded by Nagaland (63.37%) and the lowest by
Madhya Pradesh (-12.90%). Of the 28 states in the country, as many as seven
recorded growth rates higher than the national average (19.08%). From the table you
may also note that the so-called four BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh) states belong to two different categories. Bihar and Madhya Pradesh
show negative growth rates, indicating out migration from their villages. Of course,
Madhya Pradesh has also lost some of its rural population due to the formation of
Chhattisgarh. Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, however, have recorded positive growth.
Table 2.3: Statewi~;~Gr~\J\hR}'(,~ of Rural Population
, < •.•
','
" ':
State / UT* "','Ruriil ~opOlil,tM\I'l:growth per cent
1991 -"20'0'1 1991-2001

Nagaland 1001323 1635815 63,37
Lakshadweep * 22593 33647 48,93
Chandigarh * 66186 92118 39,18
Manipur 1331504 1818224 36,55
Dadra & Nagar Haveli * 126752 169995 34.12
" Sikkim 369451 480488 30.05
Meghalaya 1444731 1853457 28.29
Rajasthan 33938877 43267678 27.49
Mizoram 371810 450018 21.03
Haryana 12408904 14968850 20.63
INDIA 622812376 741660293 19.08
Uttar Pradesh 111506372 131540230 17.97
Gujarat 27063521 31697615 17.12
West Bengal 49370364 57734690 16.94
Assam 19926527 23248994 16,67
Andaman & Nicobar Islands * 205706 239858 16.60
Himachal Pradesh 4721681 5482367 16.11
Arunachal Pradesh 753930 868429 15.19
Maharashtra 48395601 55732513 15.16
Orissa 27424753 31210602 13.80
Andhra Pradesh 48620882 55223944 13.58
Tripura 2335484 2648074 1338
Punjab 14288744 16043730 12.28
Karnataka 31069413 34814100 12.05
Pondicherry * 290800 325596 11.97
Kerala 21418224 23571484 10.05
Delhi * 949019 963215 1.50
Bihar 75021453 74199596 -1.10
Goa 690041 675129 -2.16
Tamil Nadu 36781354 34869286 -5.20
Madhya Pradesh 50842333 44282528 -12.90
Jammu & Kashmir N.A 7564608 -
Uttaranchal** N.A 6309317 -
Iharkhand** N.A 20922731 -
Chhattisgarh** N,A 16620627 -
Daman & Diu * 54043 100740 -
Source: Census of India 1991, 2001 27 .
L,:':"::::::':-:::;'::-=: -. s:r:
I lA
DENSITY OF POPULATION 2001
(STATES/UTs)
PAKI TAN CHI (Tt T)
/:.'
ARABIAN
SEA BAY
OF
~ GAL o I'
V
e (>
2A.3 Distribution and Density of Rural Population Rural Demography
Now, you have a clear idea about the growth of rural population in the various states
and union territories as well as the country as a whole. Why do some states have
more population than some others? Let us address this question in some detail. ,
It is the unevenness of distribution, which is a significant feature of India's rural

population. The factors that have guided the distribution pattern of population are the
. availability of cultivable land, depth and fertility of soil, depth of the underground
water table, availability of water for irrigation, etc. Depending on these factors, the
density of population varies from place to place. As per the 2001 census, India has
an average density of 324 persons per square kilometer, but the rural population
density is 254, which has increased from 214 in 1991. Table 2.4 shows the density
of population in some of the major states ofIndia and Map 2 brings out the variations
in density. Though there are variations in density, the overall increase in the density
of population is a matter of great concern as it puts immense pressure on our natural
resources (see Fig. 1).
Table 2.4: Density of Rural Population

States Density of Rural Population
1991 2001
INDIA 214 255
Andhra Pradesh 180 205
Assam 257 300
I
Bihar* 441 436
Gujarat 142 166
Haryana 287 346
Karnataka 166 186 .
Kerala 603 664
Madhya Pradesh** 117 102
Maharashtra 161 185
Orissa 179 204
Punjab 292 328
Rajasthan 101 128
Tamil Nadu 297 281
Uttar Pradesh*** 386 455
West Bengal 576 674
* 1991 density includes both Bihar and Jharkhand while 2001 is only for Bihar and excludes
.Tharkhand
** 1991 density includes both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh while 200 I is only for
Madhya Pradesh and excludes Chhattisgarh
*** 1991 density includes both Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal while 2001 is only for Uttar
Pradesh and excludes Uttaranchal

of the unit.
1) What is the reason for the decline in population in Bihar and Madhya
Pradesh in contrast with the situation in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in
2001?
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
. to
29
.,
Rural Society and .\
Economy 2) Why is the density of Kerala or West Bengal higher than Madhya Pradesh
or Rajasthan? ,. ,\
2.5 SEX COMPOSITION OF RURAL POPULATION
This section provides details that should help you in understanding the various aspects
of demographic dynamics, which influence the growth of population and its distribution.
The most significant aspect of demographic dynamics is the sex ratio. It is an
important social indicator used to measure the extent ofthe prevailing equity between
males and females in a society at a given point in time. It is an outcome mainly of
the interplay of sex differentials in mortality, sex-selective migration, sex ratio at birth'
and at times the sex differential in population enumeration.
According to the 200 I census, the sex ratio in India stands at 933 females per 1000
males, which is an improvement of 6 points over 927 recorded in the 1991 census.
Though it has been improving since 1901 (see Table 2.5), it continues to be the lowest
in the world. Let us see why? Some of the important reasons for this declining trend,
specific to our country, are: i) neglect of the girl child resulting in their higher mortality
at younger ages, ii) high maternal mortality, iii) sex selective female abortions, and iv)
female infanticide.
Table 2.5: Sex Ratio in India 1901-2001
Year Combined Rural Urban
1901 972 979 910

1911 964 975 872
1921 955 970 846
1931 950 966 838
1941 945 965 831
1951 946 965 860
1961 941 963 845
';
1971 930 949 858

1981 934 951 878
1991 927 948 935
2001 933 935 903
Source: Census of India, 1991 and 2001
Viewed in its regional perspective there is a phenomenal diversity in the sex ratio (see
Table 2.6) in India. The highest sex ratio (1058) has been reported in Kerala, mainly
because Kerala has been experiencing male-selective out migration to other parts of
. the country for employment since long, and the high literacy rates contribute to a low
female mortality rate. The states that display more or less balanced sex ratio include
Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Himachal
30
Pradesh. Haryaiia on tHe other hand has reported the lowest sex ratio. It is so mainly Rural Demography
because of the increasing trend offemale foetal abortions guided by sex determination
tests as well as a strong preference for the mail child at the cost of the female child.
The other states with fairly large paucity of females are Punjab, Sikkim and Uttar
Pradesh.
Table 2.6: State-wise Sex Ratio 2001
States Total' Rural Urban
Kerala 1058 1059 1058

Uttaranchal 964 1007 850
Chhattisgarh 990 1005 932
Tamil Nadu 986 992 980
Himachal Pradesh 970 991 797
Pondicherry* 1001 990 1006
Goa 960 988 933
Orissa 972 986 895
Andhra Pradesh 978 983 965
I Karnataka 964 976 940

Meghalaya 975 972 985
Manipur 978 969 1009
.Iharkhand 941 963 870
Maharashtra 922 959 874
Lakshadweep 947 957 936
West Bengal 934 950 893
Tripura 950 948 962
Gujarat 921 946 880
Assam 932 940 878
Nagaland 909 932 809
Rajasthan 922 932 890
Madhya Pradesh 920 927 899
Jammu & Kashmir 900 927 822
Bihar 921 927 869
Mizoram 938 925 951
Arunachal Pradesh 901 915 850
Uttar Pradesh 898 904 879
Punjab 874 887 848
Sikkim 875 881 828
Haryana 861 867 847
Andaman &Nicobar Islands* 846 862 815
Dadra &Nagar Haveli* 811 850 691
Delhi* 821 806 822
Chandigarh 773 621 792

Daman &Diu* 709 585 983
Assam 932 940 869
Source: Census of India 2001
31
Rural Society and Child Sex Ratio
Economy
To understand the imbalances it is necessary to have an idea of the child sex ratio
in India. In contrast to the overall sex ratio, the sex ratio of the child population
(0-6 age group) fell from 945 in ]99] to 927 in 200] (see Table 2.7). The sharpest
decline in the sex ratio of the child population has been observed in Hirnachal
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra and Chandigarh.
Table 2.7: hild Sex Ratio 1991 - 2001

Child sex ratio
State/ UT Rural Urban
1991 2001 1991 2001
India 948 934 935 ,- 903
.Jammu & Kashmir NA 952 NA 872
Haryana 877 824 884 809
Punjab 878 795 866 789
Delhi 900 853 917 866
Chandigarh 910 852 897 844
Rajasthan 919 914 909 886
Gujarat 925 905 908 827
Uttar Pradesh 927 922 928 880
Daman & Diu 933 920 996 935
Madhya Pradesh 944 941 931 905
TarnilNadu 945 931 955 951
Lakshadweep 951 1,010 932 920
Uttaranchal 952 914 936 874
Bihar 953 940 949 924
Maharashtra 953 923 934 908
Kerala 958 964 958 958
Karnataka 963 954 951 939
Pondicherry 963 971 962 951
Himachal Pradesh 966 900 904 858
Sikkim 967 991 936 925
Tripura 968 978 959 948
West Bengal 969 967 955 948
Orissa 969 954 949 927
Goa 972 948 953 919
Mizoram 973 978 965 961
Andaman & Nicobar Islands 973 976 970 940
Manipur 975 956 972 980
Assam 977 967 955 931
Andhra Pradesh 979 965 962 958
Arunachal Pradesh 986 957 946 981
lharkhand 986 973 950 931
Chhattisgarh 988 982 960 941
Meghalaya 989 977 968 964
Nagaland 1001 983 959 935
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1015 995 977 885
Note: The table excludes Jarnmu and, Kashmir

,
where census was not held in 1991.
...
The above table shows that in 1991, Punjab and Haryana registered a child sex Rural Demography
ratio below 900 in their rural areas. At the 2001 Census, Delhi, and Chandigarh
were the two new entrants in this category. The number of states recording a
child sex ratio above one thousand has reduced from two to one. Map 3 shows
the distribution of the child sex ratio in the country at present.
<-799
800 to 849
850toS99
900to~
9SOto999
I'. >-1000
D8~ not 8vailsbl
.';. ,.
Map 3
Check Your Progress II

of the unit.
,
I
1) The decreasing sex ratio can be attributed to several factors. In what way I'
do you think would the data on sex ratio at birth have helped us in judging
the situation better?
2) Name three states, which have low sex ratio. Please state the reasons?
3) What does the decline in the child sex ratio indicate?
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• : ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I •• ~. I. I. I •• I. I ••••• I I •••••
T, .,
.
',"
......................................................................... (:';::.:,:...•.:.:;:.: ~ :
33
Rural Society and
Economy 2.6 AGE COMPOSITION' OF RURAL POPULATION
The age composition is another basic characteristics of a population. It not only

influences the rate of growth but also enables us to determine the proportion of
labour force in the total population as well as the dependency ratio.
Basically the age composition of a population is determined by three factors, i.e.

fertility, mortality and migration. These factors are interdependent and any change in
one of these may influence the other two.
Table 2.8: Age Composition
Age Group Percentage
2002 2003
o- 14 32.7 32.2
15-64 62.6 63.0
65 and over 4.7 4.8
Source: CIA The World Fact Book 2002. 2003
Table 2.8 shows the age composition of the population of India. It shows a broad
base and a tapering top indicating a higher population growth and also an increasing
number of unemployed.

of the unit.
/'
:,;
I) What is the relation between the age at marriage and the birth rate in a
.<.
country?
. .
2.7 MARITAL STATUS OF RURAL POPULATION
In India, one of the most important factors responsible for the present high population
growth is the persistence of markedly low level of age at marriage in many of the
Indian states. In India, the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1978 has laid down 18 years
as the minimum age at marriage for females. Yet, even today the age at marriage
remains quite low-in certain cases below 15 years. Variations in the age at marriage
are shown in Table 2.9.'
34
Table 2.9: Percentage of Women Ever Married before the age of 15/18 in Rural and Urban Rural Demography
areas, 1992-93
Region State Per cent of women ever married before 15/18

years of age
Rural Urban
20-24 40-44 20-24 40-44

North Haryana 20.2 (65.4)* 42.1 16.8(54.4 ) 25.0
Himachal Pradesh 4.7 (25.4) 23.8 1.2 (12.2) 14.4
.Jammu IS- Kashmir 5.7 (236) 32.6 1.7 (7.3) 16.5

Punjab 1.9 (15.7) 6.2 3.0 (12.5) 6.0
Rajasthan 41.4 (77.0) 54.7 21.8 (42.4) 33.0
Central Madhya Pradesh 52.3 (82.8) 68.7 19.7 (42.7) 42.3
Uttar Pradesh 42.5 (73.3) 61.1 9.5 (30.5) 22.3
East Assam 21.0(46.4) 34.5 14.8 (31.0) 19.3
Bihar 43.6 (738) 65.3 16.9 (442) 40.1
Orissa 13.6 (48.0) 35.0 8.7 (32.5) 24.0
West Bengal 27.7 (64.1) 54.3 15.8 (34.6) 33.7
West Gujarat 13.7 (40.6) 20.8 5.3 (20.6) 13.2
Maharashtra 37.6 (70.8) 58.5 9.7 (35.3) 29.4

-of
South Andhra Pradesh 45.7 (77.8) 59.9 14.2 (44.2) 34.6
Karnataka 28.4 (590) 41.7 12.1 (359) 23.5
Kerala 4.0 (20.7) 9.0 0.09 (16.0) 4.4
Tamilnadu 9.1 (42.2) 20.7 4.5 (26.2) 20.3
Source: NFHS India, 1992-93
* Figures within brackets indicate the % age of women aged 20-24 married before attaining 18 years
and the figures outside the brackets indicate the % age of women married before attainng the age
of 15 years.
There is a clear trend of rising age at marriage in all the states. As expected the
incidence of early marriages is much higher in the rural areas than in the urban areas.
Only a few states like Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir
are more homogenous in terms of lower incidences of marriage at younger ages. In
these states early marriages are waning away in both the rural and the urban areas.
2.8 FERTILITY AND MORTALITY PATTERNS
Vital rates include mainly fertility and mortality of a group of population. Table 2.10
summarizes the decline in the vital rates in India from 1971 to 20,01.
Table 2.10: Vital rates for India - 1971 - 2001
Year Crude Birth Rate Crude Death Rate Infant Mortality Rate
1971 36.9 14.9 129

1976 34.4 15.0 129
1981 33.9 12.5 110
1986 32.6 1 I. I 96
1991* 29.5 98 80
1996 27.5 9.0 72
2000 25.8 8.5 68
2001 25.4 8.4 66
Source: Sample Registration System, Office of the Registrar General, India.

* The table excludes .Jammu and Kashmir where census was not held in- 1991. 35
Rural Society and It shows that with an improvement in the general health conditions the death rate has
Economy also declined. Since the decline in the birth rate is more than that in the death rate,
the rate of growth of population has shown a rapid increase.
At the state level, however. the trend in the decline of vital rates shows a' mixed
pattern (see Table 2.11). In the Hindi speaking heartland compri ing Rajasthan,
Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, where
about 44% of the population of the country live, significant decline in the vital rates
is still a far cry with the sole exception of Himachal Pradesh.
able 2.11: Birth Rate, Death Rate and Infant Mortality Rate, 2001
India/State/Union Birth Rate Death Rate Infant Mortality Rate
Territory Total Rural Urban Total Rural Urban Totlll Rural Urban
INDIA 27.5 27.1 20.2 8.4 9.0 6.3 66 72 42

Andhra Pradesh 20.8 21.3 19.6 8.1 8.9 5.6 66 74 39
Assam 26.8 27.8 18.5 9.5 9.8 6.6 73 76 33
Bihar 31.2 32.3 23.4 8.2 8.5 6.3 62 63 52
Gujarat 24.9 26.6 21.5 7.8 8.8 5.6 60 67 42
Haryana 26.7 27.8 22.8 7.6 7.6 7.4 65 68 54
Karnataka 22.2 23.6 19.0 7.6 &.2 6.4 5& 69 27
Kerala 17.2 17.4 16.6 6.6 6.8 6.1 II 12 9
Madhya Pradesh 30.8 32.8 23.0 10.0 10.8 7.2 86 92 53
~
Maharashtra 20.0- 21.0 20.1 7.5 8.5 5.9 45 55 27
Orissa 23.4 23.9 19.6 10.2 10.7 6.8 90 94. 60
Punjab 21.2 22.1 18.7 7.0 7.2 6.4 51 55 37
Rajasthan 31.0 32.3 24.7 7.9 8.3 6.2 79 83 57
Tamil adu 19.0 19.6 17.8 7.6 8.4 6.0 49 54 35
Uttar Pradesh 32.1 33.2 170 10.1 10.6 7.8 82 86 62
West Bengal 20.5 22.8 13.8 6.8 7.0 6.4 51 53 38
Arunachal Pradesh 22.0 22.9 12.8 5.5 5.9 2.3 39 41 11
Chattisgarh 26.3 29.0 22.4 8.8 10.1 7.0 76 88 56
Goa 13.9 14.0 13.9 7.5 8.1 6.5 19 21 16
Jharkhand 26.3 283 19.5 &.8 9.7 6.0 62 67 40
Himachal Pradesh 21.0 21.3 16.8 7.0 7.1 5.3 54 -5 32
.I & K 20.1 21.1 16.3 6.1 6.1 6.0 48 50 39
Manipur 18.2 19.0 15.9 5.1 4.8 6.1 20 19 23
Meghalaya 28.3 30.7 15.0 9.0 9.9 3.9 56 57 41
Mizoram 15.7 17.7 13.2 4.4 5.2 3.4 19 23 12
Nagaland NA NA 12.4 NA NA 2.6 NA NA 13
Sikkim' 21.6 21.8 16.7 5.1 5.2 3.2 42 43 31
Tripura 16.1 16.6 13.5 5.6 5.6 5.2 39 40 30
Uttaranchal 1&.5 21.1 16.6 . 7.8 10.0 6.1 48 69 26
Andarnan & Nicobar 16.8 17.8 14.2 4.7 5.0 4.1 18 21 8
islands
Chandigarh 16.1 20.6 15.6 3.5 2.2 3.7 24 28 23
Dadra & Nagar 29.3 30.1 20.0 6.5 6.8 2.9 58 62 9
Haveli
Daman & Diu 22.3 22.6 22.0 6.7 7.6 5.9 40 44 35
Delhi 1&.7 23.2 18.1 5.0 5.4 5.0 29 34 28
Lakshadwccp 20.4 22.1 18.7 5.0 4.7 5.2 33 34 33
Pondicherry 17.9 18.7 17.3 7.0 7.7 6.6 22 31 15
Source: Sample Registration System Vol 36, No. I, April 2002 .

. 36
So, by now you know what factors influence the growth and the' distribution of the Rural Demography
population. They are low age at marriage, high birth rate and distorted sex ratio.
All of them have a bearing on the rural population of India.
Now, let us try to understand the migration patterns as they obtain in rural India.
2.9 MIGRATION PATTERNS
According to some economists migration is considered to be a function of labour

reallocation in response to market demands. Others explain it in terms of the push
and pull caused by higher man-land ratio, underemployment at the place of origin
and the pull of higher wages, opportunities for education and training, etc. Of the
different streams of migration in India, rural 10 rural and rural to urban are
important in the present context. Table 2.12 shows that according to 1991 census
81.76 per cent of the rural-rural migrants were females, who moved from one rural
area to the other mostly due to marriages. \
Table 2.12: Stream and Volume of Migration 1991
Last Residense Total Migrants ('000) Percentage

elsewhere in India
Total Male Female Total Male Female
Rural - rural 145045 26452 118593 100 18.24 81.76
Rural - urban 39910 18237 21673 100 45.70 54.30
Source: Census of India, 1991, Migration Tables. Vol. 11. Part l.
Rural to Urban Migration Migration Leading to Slums
Fig. 2
On the other hand, only 18.24 per cent of the migrants who moved from one rural
area to the other were males. They may be labourers or some service castes. The
number of male migrants who moved from rural to urban areas was more and they
moved mostly in search of jobs. If you look at Table 2.13, the reasons for migration
become very ciear, It is not difficult to see that the lack of employment opportunities
in rural areas is pushing more and more migrants to cities or towns resulting in the
rise of slums. and overall urban explosion (see Fig. 2). 37.
Rural Society and Table 2.13: Reasons for Rural to Urban Migration 1991
Economy
Reasons Male/ Within the Within the state Between states
'.':
Female district in other districts 1"
..
Employment Male 37,73 3 \,82 5 I ,RI
Female 3,96 3,55 4.45
Business Male !U9 8.46 12.55

-
Female 0,90 0,82 1.24
Education Male 7,91 8,99 3,37
Female 2,25 2.40 138
Family movement Male 24,19 26,21 19,29
Female 22.29 2(),14 34,17
Marriage Male 2,53 2,99 1.12
Female 59.42 61.88 48.57
Natural Calamities Male 0,56 0,61 0,27
Female 0,26 0,25 0,23
Others Male 18.48 20,93 11.59
Female 10,92 10,97 9,96
Source: Census of India. 1991. Migration Tables. Vol. 1I1. Part L
2.10 SIZE OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS
In the census, rural settlements have been divided into seven categories according to
the population size of villages. These range from hamlets with less than 200 persons
to large villages with more than 10,000 inhabitants.
Table 2.14: Inhabited villages classified by population size, 1991

Size Groups Villages in the Size Group Population living in those villages
by population
Number Per cent Number (Millions) Per cent
1981 1991 1981 1991 1981 1991 1981 1991

Less than 200 120073 103952 21.5 17,9 12,17 1053 2.4 1.7
200 - 499 150722 141143 270 24,3 51.19 48.46 I(},O 7,8
500 - 999 13592R 144998 24.4 25,0 97,10 104,36 19, I 16,8
1,000 - 1,999 94486 114395 16,9 19,7 131.54 160,29 25,9 25,7
2,000 - 4,999 46892 62915 8.4 10,8 137,30 185,57 270 29,8
5,000 - 9,999 7202 10597 1.3 1.8 47,14 69,84 9.3 11.2
10. 000 and above 1834 2779 0.3 0,5 31.17 4376 6.1 7,0
Total 557137 58(}779 100,(} 100.0 507.61 622,R I 100.0 100.0
• Excludes figures for .Ial11lT1L1

and Kashmir where the 1991 census could not be conducted due
to disturbed conditions.
Source: Table A3. Census of India 1991. Part 11 A (i) General Population Tables
Accord ing to the 1991 census more than 55 per cent of the rural popu lation was
concentrated in 30 per cent of the villages with populations ranging from 1000 - 4999
inhabitants (see Table 2.14). The corresponding figures for 1981 were 53% and 25%
respectively. The inference is that population concentration in the larger villages is
increasing while the number and the population of small villages and hamlets are
decreasing. Also notice that in 1991 more than 60 per cent of the villages had less
than 1000 inhabitants. This is a very important observation, because many rural
38
development schemes do not reach such small villages where accessibility is a serious Rural Demography
problem. Therefore, a consideration of the distribution of population is equally
important in formulating plans and programmes for rural development.
Table 2.15: Average Size of Villages by Population
State No. of Villages Rural Population Average pOPulat~

per Village
1991 2001 1991 2001 1991 2001
INDIA 634321 638,691 622812376 741,660,293 981 1161
Hirnachal Pradesh 19388 20118 4721681 5482367 244 273
Punjab 12795 12729 14288744 16043730 1117 1260
Haryana 6988 6955 12408904 1.4968850 1776 2152
Rajasthan 39810 41353 33938877 43267678 853 1046
Uttar Pradesh 107327 107452 111506372 131540230 1039 1224
Bihar 45077 45113 75021453 74199596 1664 1645

Assam 25590 26247 19926527 23248994 779 886
West Bengal 40889 40793 49370364 57734690 1207 1415
Orissa 51057 51349 27424753 31210602 537 608
Madhya Pradesh 55842 55392 50842333 44282528 910 799
Gujarat 18509 18544 27063521 31697615 1462 1709
Maharashtra 43025 43722 48395601 55732513 1125 1275
Andhra Pradesh 28000 28123 48620882 55223944 1736 1964
Karnataka 29193 29483 31069413 34814100 1064 1181
Kerala 1384 1364 21418224 23571484 15476 17281
Tamil Nadu 16780 16317 36781354 34869286 2192 2137
Source: Census of India. 1991 & 2001
Notes: The Number of Villages in both the 1991 & 2001 Censuses includes uninhabited villages.
The Number of Villages indicated for each State/Union Territory for 200 I is provisional.
Table 2.15 shows the average size of villages in some of the major states. In Kerala
the average size of the village is 17281 as per the 2001 census while in Himachal
Pradesh it is 273 and in Orissa 608. In such a situation particular rural development
programmes launched on an all-India basis are bound to fail because of the problems
of physical accessibility as well as cost-effectiveness, as generally the small villages
tend to be in difficult and remote areas. Therefore while planning for rural development
adequate attention needs to be given to these factors. <,
/

of the unit.
1) Illustrate how the distribution of rural population in relation to the size of
rural settlements is an important factor in the implementation of rural
development programmes.
39
. .u:1'~ .••.
Rural Society and
Economy 2.11 LITERACY RATE
Literacy is an important driving force behind economic and social development and
it is a powerful influence that tends to reduce the birth rate, thereby reducing the
pressure of population. According to 200 I census, the literacy rate in the population
seven years and above stands at155:3"8 per cent for the country as a whole. The
corresponding figures for males and females are 75.85 and 54.16 per cent respectively
(again, these figures are for the country as a whole).
2.11.1 State-wise Variations in Literacy Rate (the rural scenario)

As .you can see from Table 2.16, and Map 4, the literacy rate varies considerably
across the states. Kerala continues in the top position followed by Lakshadweep and
Mizoram. Bihar on the other hand has recorded the lowest literacy rate. The rural
male literacy is more than 70 per cent in 24 states/UTs of India. It is only if we
consider the male-female differential that our rural literacy rate comes to be as
low as 59 per cent. The only positive sign seen in the 2001 census is that the gender
gap has decreased, though marginally, in comparison with that shown in the earlier
two censuses.
ITER CY AJE
.~.~ .
J
OF
Map4
40
Table 2.16: Rural Literacy in India Rural Demography
State/UT 1981 1991 2001
Male Female Persons Male Female Person Male Female Persons
Andhra Pradesh 38.72 16.80 27.85 47.28 23.92 35.74 66.13 44.36 55.33
Arunacha1 Pradesh 32.12 11.89 22.81 47.00 25.31 37.02 58.09 37.56 48.34
Assam NA NA NA 58.66 39.19 49.32 69.02 52.25 60.92
Bihar 42.37 12.39 27.70 48.31 17.95 33.83 57.70 30.03 44.42
Goa 73.00 50.40 61.63 81.71 62.87 72.31 87.69 71.55 79.65
Gujarat. 57.76 28.80 43.57 66.84 38.65 53.09 70.71 45.75 58.53
Haryana 53.35 18.78 37.26 64.78 32.51 49.85 76.13 49.77 63.82
Himachal Pradesh 62.39 35.29 48.89 73.89 49.79 61.85 83.58 65.23 74.38
.Iammu & Kashmir 38.97 13.08 26.86 NA NA NA 60.34 3509 48.22
Karnataka 51.11 23.84 37.63 60.30 34.76 47.69 70.63 48.50 59.68
Kerala 86.73 74.17 80.31 92.91 85.12 88.92 93.54 86.79 90.05
Madhya Pradesh 40.77 17.29 29.33 51.04 19.73 35.87 72 10 42.96 58.10
Maharashtra 61.71 29.49 45.65 69.74 40.96 55.52 82.17 59.12 70.84
Manipur 59.66 30.03 45.09 67.64 43.26 55.79 7450 55.88 65.33
Meghalaya 38.59 30.00 3439 44.83 37.12 41.05 59.90 5402 57.00
Mizoram 74.89 62.92 69.17 77.36 6703 72.47 8438 76.17 80.46
Nagaland 54.15 35.95 45.62 63.42 50.36 57.23 67.73 57.87 62.99
Orissa 53.54 21.99 37.77 60.00 30.79 45.46 73.57 47.22 60.44
Punjab 49.64 32.73 41.77 60.71 43.85 52.77 71.70 57.91 65.16
Rajasthan 36.97 6.78 22.47 47.64 11.59 30.37 72.96 37.74 55.92
Sikkim 4901 22.52 36.94 63.49 43.98 5438 75.11 59.05 67.67
Tami1 Nadu 6008 29.80 45.00 67.18 41.84 54.59 77.47 55.84 66.66
Tripura 57.76 33.02 45.78 67.07 44.33 56.08 78.89 61.05 70.23
Uttar Pradesh 43.42 11.70 28.53 52.05 1902 36.66 6801 37.74 53.68
West Bengal 52.76 26.77 40.18 ·62.05 38.12 50.50 73.75 53.82 64.06
Andaman & 65.79 47.59 58.12 75.99 61.99 69.73 83.90 72.23 n.55
Nicobar Island
Chandigarh 6135 40.79 53.24 65.67 47.83 59.12 81.54 67.17 76.23
Dadra & Nagar 42.22 1808 30.29 50.04 2330 37.00 67.13 34.08 52.24
Haveli
Daman & Diu 66.90 35.50 50.60 ·75.23 46.70 61.55 86.48 63.31 78.31
Delhi 72.55 39.14 57.83 78.46 52.15 66.90 87.15 68.23 7fU5
Lakshadweep 78.69 52.16 65.47 88.66 68.72 78.89 92.56 79.86 86.39
Pondicherry 69.83 42.19 56.17 76.44 53.96 6536 83.87 64.63 74.28
Uttaranchal NA NA NA NA NA NA 82.74 55.52 68.95
Jharkhand NA NA NA NA NA NA 51.57 3033 46.26
Chhatisgarh NA NA NA NA NA NA 74.58 47.41 60.93
India 49.59 21.70 36.01 57.87 30.62 44.69 71.18 46.58 59.21
Notes:
1) Census was not held in Assam and Jammu & Kashmir in 1991
2) Literacy Rate is defined as the proportion of literates to the population in the age group 7+.
3) For the 1981 census. Literacy Rate was defined as the proportion of literates to the
population in the age group 6+. To ensure comparability in this exercise it has been re-
estimated for the age group 7+.
4) For 1981 and 1991, the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also include data
from Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh respectively.
Source: 1981- Census of India-social and Cultural Tables: 1991-Paper2 of 1992. series 1. Census
41
of India 1991; 200 I-Based on Preliminary census 200 I estimates.
Rural Society and In Rajasthan, Jumbish and Shiksha Karmi projects, and in Madhya Pradesh, the
Economy Education Guarantee Scheme, the District Primary Education Programme and
programmes like Mahila Samakhaya have made some visible impact.
In respect of female literacy, Bihar and Jharkhand, are at the bottom. Even though
the states with very low female literacy have made good progress in bridging the
gender gap over the years, they require some more concerted efforts to reduce the
gap further in the years to come. The enrolment and retention of girls in these states
must increase and there should be more emphasis on adult literacy programmes for
females.

Note: a) . Write yo~r answers in the space provided.
of the un it.
1) How does literacy rate affect the growth of population?
2.12 DEMOGRAPHY AND DEVELOPMENT
The developmental problems related to the growth of population will not end with
migration. An increasing population in the face of an already low supply of resources
and land can only result in diminishing returns in the absence of other re~uirements
such as more capital, better trained labour and technological innovations.
Let us understand how the growth of population retards the betterment of our material
conditions.
1) It increases the pressure of numbers on a nation's land resources.

2) It tends to accelerate this pressure through time by accelerating the rate at
which the store of exhaustible and non-replaceable natural resources are used
up and the costs of their use are jncreased.
3) It diminishes the rate at which capital can be accumulated, and this diminution
is greatly accentuated when much of the potential capital is utilized in maintaining
the children who eventually die before they reach a productive age.
4) Given the rate of capital formation, the rate at which the labour force can be
increased is reduced.
Fortunately while the demographic problems are formidable, the solutions are not so
difficult as to be unmanageable or impossible. In India, the states of Goa, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have shown that education particularly of the
girl child, reduction in infant mortality, reasonable health care, information about
and adequate supply of family planning services and empowerment of women are
some of the effective means which reduce the birth rate in a relatively short span
of time.
42
Rural Demography
Pressure on Services
'{
Health Education
'"\
{
c= SCHOOL
Food Supply Availability of water
Fig. 3
2.13 LET US SUM UP
In this unit, we have learnt the meaning of demography and about the different
demographic data sources that are commonly utilized for understanding the various
-aspects of Indian demography. We have also studied that even though the proportion
of rural population in our country has gradually decl ined over the years, from 82 per
43
....-_............ -:1
Rural Society and cent in J 95 I to 7'2' per cent in 200 J, ·there has been a considerable increase in the
Economy absolute number of people living in rural areas. This is indicated by the fact that the
number of people living per square kilometer has increased from 214 in 1991 to 254
in 2001. The sex ratio in India is of great concern as it shows continuous decline both
in the rural and the urban areas. The child sex ratio is particularly shocking as it
reveals a strong preference for the mail child throughout the country and more so in
the northwestern states. Coming to the age composition of population, not much
difference has occurred. As of now the base is quite broad with the productive age
group gradually swelling out with a tapering top. The only silver lining is that the age
at marriage of females is rising, though very slowly, all over the country. This will
perhaps be able to arrest the birth rate and hence the growth of population.
Unfortunately, however, this positve change is not uniform and particularly in the
Hindi speaking heartland the decline in vital rates is very slow which is adversely
affecting the overall efforts for growth in this region. Analyzing the migration data,
we have seen that rural to urban migration mostly for employment purposes is
significant. This highlights the lack of employment opportunities in the villages. We
can assume that the size of the villages also guides this process, as in comparison
with large villages such as those in Kerala development is slow in small villages and
hamlets, which are inaccessible. Development is directly related to awareness and it
comes only through literacy as we have seen it in Kerala. Though there are huge
gaps between male and female literacy rates in both the rural and the urban areas,
the gender gap has decreased as is indicated by the 200 I census, which brings some
hope for population stabilization and overall development. In the last section we have
also seen how development is related to demography, which if not favourable can
retard it.
2.14 KEY WORDS
Crude Birth Rate Number of births in a year per J 000 population.
Crude Death Rate Number of deaths in a year per 1000 population.
Demography Science of population basically concerned with the

statistical study of the size, distribution, characteristics,
growth and structure of population over time.
Dependency Ratio The number of children (aged under 14) and old people
(aged 60 or 65 and over) in a' population as a ratio of
the number of adults (aged 15-59/64).
Depopulate The decline in the total population of an area.
Infant Mortality Rate Number of deaths of infants (below one year) in a

year per 1000 live births.
Migration Migration is a shift in the residence for some length of

time. While it excludes short visits and tours, it includes
different types of both voluntary and involuntary
movements.
Population Density Persons per square kilometer at a particular place.
Population Growth Rate: The rate at which a population is increasing (or

decreasing) in a given year due to natural increase/
decrease and net migration, expressed as a percentage
of the base population.
Sex Ratio Number of females per 1000 males in the population.
44
Rural Demography
2.15 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES
References
Agarwal, S.N. (1977), India's Population Problems, McGraw Hill, New Delhi.
Bose, Ashish (1988), From Population to People, Vols 1 & 2, B. R. Publishing

Corporation, New Delhi.
Cox, Peter R. (1976), Demography, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Ganguli, B.N. (1973), Population and Development, S.Chand & Co. (Pvt) Ltd.
New Delhi.
Ragini Sen (2003), We the Billion: A Social Psychological Perspective on India's

Population, Sage Publications, New Delhi.
Goodall Brian (1987), Dictionary of Human Geography, Penguin, England.
Panandiker, y.A. Pai (ed.) (2000), Problems of Governance in South Asia, Konark
Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
Roy, T.K. (2003), Alternative Data Sources for Demographic and Health Statistics
in India, International Institute of Population Sciences, Workshop on Enhancing
Social and Gender Statistics, Bangkok, Thailand.
(www.adb.orglStatistics/reta_files/6007/TK_Roy.pdt)
Suggested Readings
Bose, Ashish (1988), From Population to People, Vols 1 & 2, B. R. Publishing

Corporation, New Delhi.
Chandna, R.e. and Sidhu, M.S. (1980), Introduction to Population Geography,

Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi.
Chandna, R.C. (1992), A Geography of Population: Concepts, Determinants and

Patterns, Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana.
Agarwal, S.N. (1977), India's Population Problems, Mcfiraw Hill, New Delhi.
I) According to the 2001 census, the BIMARU states, excluding the new states
formed recently, accommodate 39.54 per cent of the rural population of India
and if the rural population of the new states is also included the figure comes
to 45.45 per cent. Moreover, if the population of all the four states including the
new three states is added together, the growth rate registered between 1991 and
2001 was 24.26 per cent, i.e. above the national growth rate of 19.08 per cent.
The rural demographic situation has thus not changed dramatically in Bihar and
Madhya Pradesh. It is only because of the new states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh
and Uttaranchal carved out from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
respectively that the picture is distorted. The fact is that the growth of rural
population in these states is still a cause of concern.
2) The land available for agriculture, fertile soil, irrigation facilities, and proper
transportation networks have contributed significantly to the density of population
in Kerala and West Bengal. On the other hand, thickly forested areas and rocky
uplands unsuitable for agriculture in Madhya Pradesh and the extreme climate
. 11 ';
~'- . 45
Rural Societyand of Thar Desert in Rajasthan have restricted settlements and thus the populatioa
•• Economy density in these states. Rural development policies should therefore address the
needs of these areas differently.
.·.t Check Your Progress 11
1) Data on sex ratio at birth would have enabled us to find out whether the number
of girls is more than, equal to or less than the number of boys at birth in our
country. With this knowledge, we would have been able to assess the reasons
for adverse sex ratio more realistically by ascertaining the extent to which the
sex ratio at birth is carried forward. For instance, if the numbers of male and
female children at birth were about the same, then the adverse sex ratio is likely
to be due to the neglect of the girl child resulting in premature deaths of more
girls than boys.
2) According to the 200 I census, Haryana (861), Sikkim (881) and Punjab (887)
reported the lowest sex ratio among the major states. In Haryana and Punjab
the important reasons behind this decline are sex selective abortions in favour
of the mail child, female infanticide, neglect ofthe girl child resulting in their high
mortality at younger ages and high maternal mortality. In Sikkim, which is
dominated by tribals, low sex ratio is mainly due to sex selective migration into
Sikkim.
3) The decline in the child sex ratio between 1991 and 2001 is due to a very
definite social bias against the girl child causing female foeticide and infanticide.
The only solution to this problem is social awareness, which can be brought by
education.
1) Low age at marriage implies that the reproductive span of girls is comparatively
longer, and so the birth rates are quite high. This is particularly true for the rural
areas where contraception is not practiced, resulting in a high growth rate in
these areas. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where educational attainments of males
as well as females are high, the age at marriage also is high and, as a consequence,
the birth rates are in transition, leading to population stabilization.
1) In most of our Rural Development programmes there are provisions for facilities
and services to be made available per unit size of population. Suppose, one
facility center (whatever type) each is to be provided for every set of 1000
persons. If, in a particular area, the size of rural settlements is large, just one
village may have 1000 inhabitants. In such a situation, one center would be
located in that village itself, rendering the services easily accessible to the people
of that village. On the other hand, if in some other area, the rural settlements
were generally around 250 persons strong, four villages would be entitled to one
center, which would be located in one of these four villages. As a result,
because of the distances involved, the services provided through this center
would not be readily accessible to the people of the other three villages. Thus,
the distribution of rural settlements by size emerges as an important factor that
influences the extent to which the intended beneficiaries make use of the services
provided.
l) Literacy is an important driving force behind economic and social development
and also a powerful influence that tends to reduce the birth rate, thereby controlling
the growth of population. Kerala is the best example in this regard. Education
in Kerala has resulted in a favourable sex ratio, rise: of age at marriage, declining
birth rate and improved health and hygiene, which collectively have provided
46 ---
better living conditions for the rural population.
. UNIT 3 RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Caste System
3.2.1 The Concept of Caste
3.2.2 Caste in Villages
3.2.3 Caste and Class
3.2.4 The Jajmani System
3.2.5 Social Mobility in Indian Villages
3.3 Families in Rural India
3.4 Nature of the Distribution of Power in Rural India
3.5 Let Us Sum Up
3.6 Key Words
3.0 OBJECTIVES
The aim of this lesson is to introduce you to the different aspects of rural society in
India. After having worked through this unit, you should be able to:
• Describe the organization of Indian villages;
• Describe the nature of castes and classes, and the cases of upward social
mobility;
• Define jajmani system;
• Talk/write knowledgeably about the family system in rural India; and
• Analyse the nature of power in villages.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Village community, family and caste are the basic components of the rural social
structure and they bind the economic and social life of people in rural areas.
In order to understand this social structure, it is necessary to understand the nature

of society. Each society consists of different parts, such as individuals, groups,
institutions, associations, and communities. The simplest analogy one can think of at
this point is that of an organism that has different components working together as
a whole. Society is a system like any other system, such as the solar system, the
chemical system, a mechanical system or an organic system. Of these the most
, suitable analogy for elaborating the concept of society is that of an organism. This
is usually known as the 'organic analogy'.
You are perhaps aware that the basic unit of an organism is the cell; similarly the
basic unit of a society is the individual. As cells combine, a tissue is formed. In the
same way, an individual exists in relationship with other individuals. A collection of
individuals is called a group, and the smallest group comprises two individuals; it is
known as the dyad. In an organism, the tissues aggregate and the resultant entity is
an organ. In the case of human society, like the individual, no group exists in isolation.
The collectivity of the groups is termed the community. In an organism, the organs
~-,.. ·-1 47
Rural Society and combine to form the organism, which is the whole. In a similar fashion, the aggregation
Economy of several communities makes the whole called society.
What is social structure? Sociologists use the word 'social structure' to refer to the
inter-relationship, inter-connectedness, and inter-dependence of the different parts of.
society. In terms of their form, all societies have the same parts. Thus, there are
groups and COll1mUI1ities in all societies, but the nature and substance of these groups
and communities differ from one society to another. For instance, an Indian village
is unthinkable without the caste system, while a Chinese village does not have castes.
Its units are the people of different families and occupational groups. The sense of
identity that the people of different groups have is also seen at the level of the people
of different families and occupational groups in Chinese villages. The inter-relationship
of the different units constitutes the structure of the society.
All the units of a society are supposed to be important, for each one of them makes
a contribution to the functioning of society. In other words, none of them can be
dispensed with. But, in each society, some of its elements are regarded as crucial,
because the society is structured around them. Sociologists think that for defining an
Indian village, its population, physical structure, and modes of production are definitely
important. Usually, a village has less than five thousand individuals. As a physical
entity, it is an aggregation of houses of mixed architecture (some of mud and thatch
and some of cement) in the midst of surrounding agricultural fields-the mainstay of
village life is agriculture. Of course, there may be some exceptions to the image of
village that is presented here: for instance, a village may have more than ten thousand
people, as is the case in Kerala. Or, the village may be a conglomeration of beautifully
built cement houses inhabited by people who may predominantly be in service or may
be self-employed non-agriculturalists, as is the case in a number of villages situated
near towns and cities in Himachal Pradesh.
In addition to these indices, sociologists think that the social structure of an Indian
village is understood best in terms of the interrelationship of different castes, as a
common proposition is that the caste system has weakened in urban areas, but not
in the rural areas, where even the members of non-Hindu communities, which have
opposed the caste system, have continued to be treated as 'castes'. In the section
that follows, we shall discuss the caste system in detail.

of the un it.
1) Define the term social structure.
2) Where do you find the most populous vi Ilages in India?
48
~.
Rural Social Structure
3.2 CASTE SYSTEM
3.2.1 The Concept of Caste
Caste is the main social institution of Indian villages. Referred to as jdti, jdt, zdt or
various other local terms, it is a collectivity of people, related also by the ties of
kinship and marriage, which has a 'monopoly' over an occupation. It provides its
specialized services and the products of its occupation to other caste groups. Harold
Gould characterizes caste as a 'monopolistic guild'. The occupation on which a caste
has monopoly may be very simple. It may 110tinvolve any elaborate technology and
skill. and may be learnt easily without much arduous work, such as the occupation
of the caste of messengers, or drurnbeaters, or vegetable-peelers. But no caste will
ever venture to usurp the occupation of any other caste howsoever simple and less
specialized it may be.
Under the ideology of caste, one's merit lies in subscribing as conscientiously and
diligently as possible to the duties prescribed for one's caste. The political bodies of
the village strictly deal with any case of usurping the occupation of other castes.
Among other things, the occupation related to it gives identity to a caste. Sometimes,
the castes are also named after the corresponding occupations. For example, those
who 'supply oil (ler)' belong to the teli (oil-man) caste; those who beat drums (dhols)
are dholis; and those who dye (rangndi clothes belong to the rangrez caste. The
occupations are hereditarily transmitted.
Members of a caste marry within their own caste, but usually outside their own
village. In other words, the village is exogamous, while the caste is endogamous.
At one time, in some upper caste communities of Bengal (such as the Rarhi Brahmins)
and Gujarat (such as the Patidars), the men had the privilege of obtaining spouses
from lower castes in addition to spouses from their own caste. Such a system of
marriage, in which the men of upper castes marry women of lower casts allowing
the lower caste women to move up the hierarchy, is known as hypergamy (anuloma).
The contrary system, where women of the upper stratum marry men of the lower
stratum (i.e. where women move down in the hierarchy), is called hypogamy
(pratiloma).
That the classical Hindu tradition permits hypergamy, but not hypogamy, is clear
from Manusmriti, the Hindu law book authored by a sage known as Manu. It allows
a Brahmin man to have spouses from Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra castes in
addition to a spouse from his own caste. Kshatriya men are permitted to have three
wives: one of their own caste and the other two from Vaishya and Sudra castes
respectively. A Vaishya can have two wives: one from his own caste and the other
from Sudra caste. A "';udra can have only one spouse belonging to his/her own caste.
Children born out of hypergamous marriages are legitimate but they do not have the
same rights over the property of their father, as do the children from endogamous
marriages. One of the consequences of hypogamy is the excommunication of the
couples concerned. With the passage of time, such couples established new castes.
A person acquires the membership of his or her caste by birth, i.e. caste is ascriptive
in nature, and theoretically, it cannot be changed, i.e. it is immutable. The chief good
of a person lies in living according to the culture and duties (dharma) of his caste.
According to this ideological system, leading a life according to the dictates and
commands of one's caste not only ensures one's existence in this world, but also the
world hereafter, as one will have an improvement in one's caste status in the following
,; births. Why one is born in a particular caste is explained in terms of the deeds
; (karma) one had done in his or her previous birth. It may be noted that basically
, caste system is a 'system of ideas' derived from the classical tradition of Hinduism.
M.N. Srinivas once wrote: 'The structural basis of Hinduism is the caste system.' 49
Rural Society and 3.2.2 Caste in Villages
Economy
A village may be conceptualized as an aggregate of castes, each traditionally associated
with an occupation. Members of a caste are generally clustered together, occupying
a particular physical space in the village, which may come to be known after the
name of the caste like dhobibdrd (i.e. the settlement of the laundrymen), jdton ka
gudd (i.e. the habitation of the Jats) or raikon ri dhdni (i.e. the hamlet of the
Raikas). Each caste has its own style of living, its own types of clothes, its own
distinct pattern of houses, and mutually acceptable common grounds for existance.
It also has its distinct dialect, folk deities, lore, and ceremonies. The members of a
caste are spread over a region in more than one village. The members of a caste
living in nearby villages have matrimonial relations among them. Each caste has its
own council (panchayat), which is a collective body of the members of that caste
living in different villages, but situated close to each other. This body takes up all
disputes between the members of the caste and discusses all instances where the
identity of the caste is abrogated and is in danger. Thus, for political purposes, social
control and matrimony, the members of a caste in a village are dependent upon their
eo-caste fellows in other villages. These relations result in the unity of the members
of a caste spread in different villages. M.N. Srinivas has called this type of unity
'horizontal solidarity'.
In Rajasthan, a common saying is that generally there are thirty-six castes (chatris
quam) in a village. But, in actual fact, no village is found to have all the castes.
Moreover, the total number of castes far exceeds thirty-six. Two points need to be
remembered here.
First, since all the occupational and service castes are not stationed in one and the
village, the members of a caste in a village depend upon the services of castes
situated in other villages. In such a context, the village market (hat) plays a significant,
role, because a large number of artisan castes come to it with their specialized
products. For instance, Surajit Sinha studied the weekly market at a village called
Bamni in Singbhum district of Jharkhanda. He found that the average number of
castes in a village of this district is about six. In these weekly markets, however,
goods and services of some sixteen artisan castes are available in addition to the
products handled by specialized traders of some other castes. All this substantiates
the point that the Indian village was never a self-sufficient unit. In a village, different
castes depend on one another for various services. Such dependency relationships
(i.e. those among the various castes living in one and the same village) result in what
M.N. Srinivas has called 'vertical solidarity'.
Secondly, when Indian villagers talk of 'thirty-six castes' or 'thirty-three crore Hindu
gods and goddesses', what they imply is that there are 'many' and 'very many'
things of which they are speaking. These numbers should not be taken literally. As
for the castes, their number is not stable; it keeps on increasing over time and in some
cases small castes get merged into bigger ones. As noted earlier, often in the past,
sections and sub-sections of tribes moved to multi-caste villages, adopted an occupation
and acquired monopoly over it, and with the passage of time came to be known as
a 'caste' in their own right. Thus, all along there has been a continuum from a tribe
to a caste.
3.2.3 Caste and Class
Caste, as we have seen, is the fundamental principle of social organization in the

Indian village. As Louis Dumont said in his work titled Homo Hierarchicus, castes
are arranged in a hierarchy based on the principles of purity and impurity, which
in fact give/distinctiveness to the caste system, because no other system of ranking
in the world makes use of these principles. The caste occupying the highest position
50
is ritually the purest, and as one goes down the hierarchy, purity decreases while Rural Social Structure
impurity increases. Those placed at the bottom of the hierarchy, the people who at
one time were called 'untouchables' (now they are called Harijans or Dalits) are
considered to be the 'permanent carriers of impurity' within the idiom of the caste
system. No other social system in the world incorporates the notion of 'permanent
impurity' with such rigidity as the caste system. There may be notions of 'temporary
impurity' (such as, impurity incurred by menstruation, death, or birth), which is overcome
with the performance of rituals, but no ritual can neutralize 'permanent impurity'.
In the caste system, the styles of li·'ing are ranked. The way in which, for instance,
the Brahmins are expected to live is regarded the most superior, and those who are
Brahmins by birth have to follow only this lifestyle and no other. Ranking in this
system is not based on economic facts, i.e. the ownership or non-ownership of the
means of production. It is also not based on control over political power. Thus, both
economy and polity are subordinate to the ideology of caste, according to which
ranking is facilitated. The classification based on economic facts is called the class
system. Class is an indicator ofthe distribution of economic inequality in the society.
The term 'power stratification', on the other hand, is used for inequality in terms
of the decision-making ability, by which some, as Max Weber says, are able to
impose their will on others and seek compliance from them.
Ideally, class and power, as said previously, are subordinated to caste. A Brahmin,
even if poor, occupies the highest position in the caste hierarchy and commands
unlimited respect from other castes. At one time, the Kshatriya kings wielded power,
but the Brahmin priest officiated in the ritual that accorded them legitimacy to rule.
The producers of economic wealth, the merchant caste.s (the Vaishyas) pursue different
wealth generating occupations, and are placed just above those whose jobs are
principally menial, i.e. 'to serve the other three upper castes', as the classical texts
put it. In some parts of India, there was a clear overlapping of the three ranked
orders of caste, class, and power. For instance, both Andre Beteille and Kathleen
Gough, in their respective studies of villages Sripuram and Kumbapettai, found that
the Brahmins, who numbered around four per cent of the total population of South
India, owned around ninety-eight per cent of the land, which they abstained from
till ing because of religious injunctions that did not allow Brahm ins to touch ploughs.
The Brahmins, who lived in their separate quarters called agraharam, were also in
control of political power. Therefore, being a Brahmin also meant occupying the
highest position in class and power hierarchies. This was an example of what after
Robert Dahl one would call 'cumulative inequality'. In this case, social status together
with economic and political power are all concentrated in one group, the Brahmins.
The typical 'Brahmin villages' of South India have also been locally called
agraharavada i.
Surely, not all the villages in India followed the pattern charactristic of villages in
South India. In many other parts, the caste that controlled economic resources was
certainly not of Brahmins, nor even of Kshatriyas. In Rampura, the Mysore village
that M.N. Srinivas studied, the landowners were the peasants, the members of the
caste called Vokkaligas. In North India, the principal landowners were and are the
Jats. In such cases, economic stratification is independent of the other principles of
ranking, and can in fact influence them. Thus, those who control political power may
also be the landowners. In this case, different ranked orders do not overlap; they
rather exist independently. For such a system, one can use the term 'dispersed
inequality', for the group that occupies the highest position in one ranking system is
placed lowly in the other. Keeping this in mind, many sociologists make a distinction
between 'ritual status' and 'secular status' - the former emerges from the caste,
which is essentially a 'ritual hierarchy', while the latter emerges from the ownership
of economic and political power. When these two statuses exist independently, it is
a case of dispersed inequality; and when they overlap, it is cumulative inequality.
51
,
- _.~-_ ... \
Rural Society and Although myriad varieties of social change have affected social stratification in Indian
Economy villages, perhaps one will not be wrong in saying that at one time, South India
generally had 'Brahmin-centred villages' whereas North India had 'non-Brahmin
centred villages'. For the villages where non-Brahmin castes control economic
resources, the term pandaravadai is used in contrast to agraharavadai, the 'Brahmin-
centred villages'.
3.2.4 The Jajmani System

,
Earlier, it was observed that th'e various castes living in a village are interdependent
because each one of them has a monopoly over an occupation. If some occupational
caste is not found in the local area, then some other caste may take up its occupation,
and develop specialization in it. For instance, the blacksmiths of Senapur, a village in
Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh, also worked on wood because there were no
carpenters in that area, and so they made and repaired agricultural implements for
the landowner-peasants, the Thakurs. The interdependence between castes obtains
in two ways:
i) A caste provides its goods and services to other castes in exchange for payment
in kind or cash, but this payment is done instantly, and if deferred, it is for the
shortest period oftime. A lot of haggling also enters this exchange. The relations
here are largely contractual and impersonal. They are quite like the relations one
will expect to find in cities and towns. In villages, such relations may exist
between the merchant caste and the other castes. The latter buy goods and
commodities from the shop of the local merchant, a man of the Vaishya caste,
and pay him instantly. If instant payment is not made, the shopkeeper may
advance credit, but before further merchandise is acquired, the buyer will have
to settle all the previous accounts. In some cases, the merchant may charge
interest for the amount on credit.
ii) By contrast to the first type of interdependence, the second type comprises
relations that are broadly supportive, group-oriented, long-term and continuing,
and they involve multiple bonds between people involved in the exchange. These
relations are durable, unlike the relations between the shopkeepers and the
buyers, where after one has bought the product and paid for it, the relation
comes to an end.
In villages, durable relations obtain mainly between food-producing families and the
families that supply them with goods and services. These relations are calledjajmani,
the Hindi word for them as used in William H. Wiser's study of a village in Uttar
Pradesh. In other parts of India, they are known by other names. For instance, in
Maharashtra, they are known as balutdari. Notwithstanding the differences in the
terms used, certain features of the system are common throughout India. Although
the jajmani system is regarded as a characteristic of rural India, it has also been
reported from urban areas. Sylvia Vatuk described the jajmani system that was in
operation in Meerut City.
In the jajmani system, at the center is the family of the agriculturist (zamindar). It
receives services from the families of occupational castes. One who receives services
is known as jajman, the patron. The families that provide services are known as
kamin, kam karne waley, or kamgars (workers). In other parts of India, terms such
as parjan, pardhan, balutedar, etc., are also used for the providers of goods and
services. All these words literally refer to the same people, i.e. those who 'work'
for others, and one may call them clients. The implication is that those who do not "
'work' (like zamindars, the big landowners) occupy the highest position in the secular
ranking; those who 'work' for themselves, the self-employed workers, come next;
and at the bottom of the system are placed those families that 'work' for others,
52
carrying out various menial jobs. The castes, which happen to provide services to the Rural Social Structure
. fl
agriculturalists, vary from one village to another. And, not every caste in the village
happens to be a part of the jajmani system. The simplest definition of the jajmani
system can be: it is a patron-client relationship.
Although thejajmani relationship seems to be between castes, in reality, it is between

particular families belonging to particular castes. It is the relationship between families
that continues to exist over time. Jajmani ties are hereditary, i.e. various families
(belonging to various castes) keep on providing their specialist services to particular
agriculturist families generation after generation. The latter do not have the right to
discontinue the services of the families of serving occupational castes. If they are not
satisfied with the quality of the service, or they notice slackness on the part of the
service-providers, they are expected to bring this matter to the attention of the council
of the caste to which the erring family belongs.
These relations are not like wage-relations, which can be terminated after the transaction
is over. They are durable, in the sense they continue over generations. They are
exclusive, in the sense that one family will carry out its relations with only one
particular fam iIy of the particular occupational caste. Because of whatever reasons,
if a family is to move out of an area, it is its moral duty to find an alternative service
provider for its patrons. Many sociologists have found that jajmani rights are also
sold. The point is that no family (whether of the jajman or kamin) will move out of
the relationship unless it has provided an alternative to the other.
;'•\. .r ~~
Earlier, it was noted that there are multiple bonds between the patron and the client.
The patron looks after all those families that work for him. He advances loans or gifts
to them at the time of festivals and other similar occasions. He safeguards their
interests and saves them from exploitation at the hands of others, i.e. the jajmani
system is based on the ideology of paternalism.
The clients continue to provide services throughout the year to their patrons. At the
time of the harvest, the patrons give their clients a portion of the produce, which in
North Indian villages is known as phaslana. The jajmani system is an example of
'deferred payment', which is entirely different from that in the wage labour. Further,
there is no bargaining on the amount of crop/produce given to a client. If the season
is lean, all suffer, be he the patron or the client. And, if there is a bumper crop, then
all are equally benefited. Generally, jajmani payments are made quietly, but there can
always be situations where the patrons publicize the size of payments they are
making, or the clients may show their unhappiness on receiving not-so-satisfactory
payments.
Some sociologists think that the jajmani system is exploitative. The agricultural
castes, which are invariably upper castes, seek the services of occupational castes,
which are generally lower castes, without reciprocating adequately. The exploitation
of lower castes continues under the garb of paternal ties. The opposite argument is
that the jajmani system is functional. It gives security to lower castes that they will
never go hungry. For the upper castes, it ensures a regular and uninterrupted supply
of services. Because of these relations, the village emerges as a unified body, where
the patrons organize rituals and activities that symbolically effect the unity of the
village. For instance, it is believed that some deities (known as Bhumia, Kshetrapal,
etc.) guard the boundaries of the village. The patrons regularly organize collective
worship of these deities. The overall picture is that those who receive the largest
number of services are the ones who are expected to care the most for the welfare
of the village.
In the last fifty years, the jajmani system has undergone many significant changes.
It has already been said that not every caste of the village participated in this system.
In addition to the jajmani relation, there has always been contractual, wage-labour
, - 53
Rural Society and type of ties between the providers of goods and services and their buyers. Further,
Economy with the- rise of the backward class movements in the recent past, certain castes that
were a part ofthejajmani system have withdrawn themselves from it. The introduction
of cash economy has also brought about changes, because payments in the jajmani
system were always in kind rather than in cash. With the ever expanding commercial
frontiers, new opportunities have come up in towns and cities, and many occupational
castes have sought to take advantage of this situation. They move to participate in
these opportunities after seeking withdrawal from the jajmani ties.
3.2.5 Social Mobility in Indian Villages
As discussed earlier, a person born into a caste is expected to live according to its
lifestyle and perform duties that characterize it. Thus, being allocated by birth, one's
caste cannot be changed. A person born into a caste will always belong to it as a
life-long member. In his/her future births, because of good deeds, he/she may be born
into a superior caste.' In other words, theoretically, upward mobility is not possible
within the caste system, except for women who may move' up by means of
hypergamous marriages. Similarly, downward mobility results from hypogamous
marriages.
Economic opportunities are considerably limited in villages. Agricultural surplus is not

significant either. Virtually nothing is left with the peasants after they have made the
jajmani payments. Barring the big landlords, others in villages live rather precariously,
often hand to mouth. Those, who have been able to move out to towns and cities for
work, have been able to make some money, which they have invested in buying
agricultural land, but the number of such families is not large. The point to be
emphasized here is that class mobility was also non-existent in the village. Power
hierarchy in villages depends on the control over economic resources. Therefore,
those who lagged behind economically would never hope to get any significant place I
in political bodies. By considering the factors of caste, class, and power, one may say
that the Indian village was a 'closed system', i.e. it did not provide any avenues for
anyone to move up in the caste, the class, or the power hierarchy.
Undoubtedly, it is true that in villages the position of an individual is fixed once and
forever. This is in sharp contrast to urban areas where the individual is mobile, and
upward mobility is a cherished value. In spite of the formidable restrictions on one's
mobility in the rural areas, there have been cases of the sections of lower castes
moving up in the hierarchy. There are cases of individuals becoming rich after their
having participated in the newer economic activities emerging in towns and cities.
Mobility from villages to urban locales has always been there. Whether this mobility
was triggered by rural poverty or the concentration of lucrative opportunities in urban'
contexts is a different question.
The first person to show that the caste system was not truly immutable and that it
was not as stagnant as it was made out to be, was M.N. Srinivas. In his study of
Coorgs in Karnataka, he showed that originally they were tribals. With the passage
of time, they were able to find a place in the caste system, where they rose to the
position of the Kshatriyas. Srinivas termed this process of upward mobility in the
caste system 'sanskritization '. It can be defined as the process of ritual mobility
whereby a lower caste or a tribe (wholly or partially) emulates the customs and
practices of the upper caste with an explicit intention of improving upon its own
status. It envisages its eventual merger with the caste whose customs and practices
it endeavours to follow.
Srinivas shows that the evidence for the existence of the process of sanskritization
is available in the ancient as well as the medieval literature, but it became an
important process of upward mobility. with the advent of the British. A significant
..
r-
54
~: .
change that occurred in the Indian society under the British regime was that land Rural Social Structure
became a marketable commodity; it could be sold and acquired in the market. Earlier,
it was inherited through the ties of kinship; it passed down in the family line, but could
not be sold and bought.
The other change that took place was the emergence of towns in the vicinity of
villages. These towns provided several opportunities, offering caste-free and class-
free occupations. The only occupation that happened to be caste-free in villages was
agriculture. Further, the pressure of population in villages, along with the emergence
of opportunities in towns, was sending people out to towns and cities, where they
participated in cash economy. Within a space of few years, they were able to earn
substantial amounts of money with which they could buy agricultural land in their
native villages. And, once they had attained economic power, they claimed a higher
ritual status, which they would certainly achieve, provided originally they were above
the line of pollution. There have been cases of castes below the line of purity,
which claimed upper caste status, but could not succeed in acquiring it mainly because
of their 'polluting status'. Srinivas wrote that 'Sanskritization does not help the
untouchables' .
Thus, changes have occurred in the position of castes by means of sanskritization.

It may be noted, however, that sanskritization was of no consequence to the upper
castes, such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas, for they were already
sanskritized, i.e. they already followed what Srinivas has called 'sanskritic Hinduism'.
These castes were the first ones to opt for a Western way of life that came along,
with the advent ofthe British. Srinivas has called the process of adopting the Western
lifestyles 'Westernization'.
The castes below the line of purity tried, from time to time, their level best to move
up in the ritual hierarchy. They also had the pre-requisites for sanskritization, such
as control over the local economic resources. But, being below the line of purity,
they failed to establish marital and commensal (i.e. eating together) relations with the
. castes whose lifestyles they were trying to emulate. Once their attempts to move
upwards failed, they had no option but to adopt the political path for bringing about
changes inlheir status. In other words, their mobil ity was not along the' axis of caste
status', but along the 'axis of political power'. Initially for these castes, but later for
all the castes, the route of politics grew in importance for purposes of upward social
mobility. All the castes realized that in a democratic setup each one of them constituted
a 'vote-bank', and they could exercise their pressure on the state for a better deal.
Thus, the caste became 'an interest and a pressure group' and politicization, i.e. the
process of adopting various political values, became a functional alternative to
sanskritization.
Thus, sanskritization was meaningful only for castes lying in the middle level of the
hierarchy, but then, these castes constituted the majority of them. In addition to the
cases of upward ritual mobility, sociological literature also acquaints one with the
cases of downward mobility in ritual hierarchy. In the study of a village in Haryana,
S.K. Srivastava found that the Brahmins were gradually assimilating the lifestyles and
occupational aspects of Jats, with the explicit intention of becoming one with them.
This case was the converse of the process of sanskritization, and Srivastava termed
. it 'de-sanskritisation '. In Udaipur villages, S.L. Kalia found that some castes were
!' adopting the lifestyle of the Bhils, a tribal group. This was also a case of downward
ritual mobility. Kalia called this process' tribalization '.
To sum up, the Indian village was never a self-sufficient social or economic unit. It
had relations with the outside world. Benefiting by the changes emerging in it, many
people were able to find respectable places in villages. As a consequence, different"
units of the village were able to move up. Upper castes adopted the Western way
of living and institutions. Castes below the !in,}; o/ljfrilf had nt.?option but to follow
....•. .•..•~-.-...•-... '-- ...•.•.~
'~"" •..•..
Rural Society and the political path for ameliorating their status and conditions. Middle castes followed
Economy the process of sanskritization. Also, some upper castes tried to seek their identification
with lower castes. In terms of these four processes (viz sanskritization, Westernization,
politicization, and de-sanskritizationy; one may formulate a composite model of
social mobility in India.
Check Your Progress II

of the unit.
1) Write briefly about the concept of caste .
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •• • ••••••••••••••• 0
2) What do you mean by a class in the context of an Indian village?
3) What do you understand by the jajmani system?
4) Do you think that sanskritization is still a relevant process of upward

mobility for lower castes in contemporary rural India?
3.3 FAMILIES IN RURAL INDIA
Family is the cornerstone of human society. It is a universal social institution. Of the

many functions, the most important and non-transferable function it performs is thy
socialization of children. Along with the changes occurring in the human society, the
functions of the family have also undergone change. In traditional societies, the family
performs many economic, political, and religious functions; thus, it is not a specialized
entity. With the passage of time, however, these functions are transferred to other
56
specialized institutions. The family, which is the unit of production in simple societies, Rural Social Structure
ceases to be so when the market and the other specialized institutions take over the
function of production. In modern societies, the family becomes a unit of consumption.
During the course of its evolution, the family has shed many of its function in favour
of other institutions, and so, it has become a truly specialized institution in modern
societies. Talcott Parsons says that its first function in the contemporary American
society is to carry out the task of providing basic learning to children; this is the
function of 'primary socialization'. Its second function is to help in the process of
stabilizing adult personalities. As the family is a primary group, resting on the sentiments
of affinity, love, and concern, it combats the strains and stresses that are generated
in the modern society, which is pivoted on means to ends relations.
Writing about India during the colonial times, Henry Maine stated that mainly two
cultural traits characterized India: the caste system and the joint family. The latter
was described as being found predominantly in villages. It was also considered an
ideal - a supreme value - to which every family aspired to approximate. In many
surveys, it was found that people preferred to live in joint families because of several
advantages that it offered. For example, both the old and the young could be looked
after well in joint families.
..•
A joint family, is defined as an aggregate of kinspersons who share a common
residence, a common kitchen, a common purse including property, and a common set
of religious objects. Generally, a joint family has a name, which in many cases is
given/taken after the name of its founder. It has a depth of more than two generations.
It is not uncommon to come across joint families that have members of four generations
living together. Joint families in India are patrilineal (i.e., descent is traced in the
male line, from father to son), patrilocal (i.e., all the males ofthe family live together,
while the females born in the family move out when they get married), and patriarchal
(i.e., men exercise authority).
The chief textbook of Hindu law, written in the twelfth century, the Mitakshara, has
. codified the most significant characteristic of the joint family. Under this code. each
male is entitled to an equal share of the household property from the time of his birth.
Thus, all the male members of the family have equal rights in relation to the family
property. The oldest male called karta, however, has the exclusively right to manage
it on behalf of others. One of his main duties is to see that the family property is not
divided. The equal rights that all males have on the property are known as coparcenary
rights, which constitute the prime characteristic that defines the Indian joint family.
When speaking of an extended family, one's emphasis is on the size of the family.
An extended family is a conglomeration of two or more nuclear families. On the
other hand, when one speaks of the joint family, one's emphasis is on the fact that
all brothers/males are coparceners.
Although joint families are found more in the rural than in the urban areas, where
most of the families happen to be nuclear, one should not conclude that all castes in
a village have the tradition of joint families. It has been observed that upper castes,
which are also land owners in many cases, have a higher proportion of joint families
than the lower castes, the less propertied as well as the non-propertied ones, which
tend to have a higher number of nuclear families. Undoubtedly, there is a direct
relationship between the ownership of land and the joint family, because property
remains one of the important unifying forces.
The ideal of a joint family, as an institution in which each individual surrenders his
or her personal interests for the sake of the family and its unhampered continuity, is
hardly ever achieved. Till the time the head of the household is alive, he can succeed
in keeping all his sons together and the family property may continue undivided. After
57
Rural Society and his death, his eldest son would succeed him by the right of primogeniture, but it might
Economy
become difficult for him to keep all the brothers and their wives together. Sooner or
later. they would all separate, each getting an equal share of the fam iIy property, and
each nuclear family, thus formed, would start its process of expansion, becoming a
joint family in course of time, and then breaking up once again and so on.
This process of 'expansion-depletion-replacement' of the family is known as its

developmental cycle. One of the suggestions that emerge from this analysis is that
a family should be studied as a process, as this approach promises a better understanding
of the, issues at hand.
As in cities, the forces of modernization have also affected village societies, leading
to both occupational differentiation and geographical mobility. Members from the
same family take up different occupations, Once this occurs. it becomes extremely
difficult for brothers to live together; and being in different occupations, there is
bound to be inequality in their respective earnings. Such a situation does not arise
when they are all working as agriculturists on the same land, as whatever is produced
is for the consumption of the entire family. This system works well in situations that
do not have individualism and 'individual consciousness' is subordinated to 'collective
consciousness'. With occupational differentiation crystallizes individualism and inequality,
making it difficult for the joint family to continue undivided for years and years.
Geographical mobility fits quite well with the nuclear family. When a married son gets
a job abroad or away from the village, he moves to his new locale alone, leaving
behind his wife and children under the care of his joint family. When he gets a place
to live, or is allotted family accommodation, he takes with him his wife and children,
rather reluctantly, because it is the beginning of the disintegration of the joint family
and the establ ishment of a nuclear family. This explains the preponderance of nuclear
families in urban areas.
Lastly, it should be kept in mind that the nuclear families emerging in India because
of the break up of joint families are very different from the nuclear families in the
Western world, where the expression 'nuclear family' implies a family that is
'structurally isolated', i.e. a family that has no dependency relations with any other
family whatsoever. Indian nuclear families are still embedded in strong kin bonds;
• they are not isolated as are their counterparts in the West. In India people may live
in nuclear families, but they are dependent on their relatives, living in different types
of families, for varieties of help.
Thus, the Indian nuclear family is not 'structurally isolated'. If 'structural isolation'
is the main characteristic of nuclear families, then the Indian phenomenon needs to
be designated differently. Some sociologists are using the term 'nuclear households'
to differentiate Indian nuclear families from their Western counterparts. They say
that so far 'structurally isolated' nuclear families have not emerged in India; instead
what has emerged here is a variety of 'nuclear households'. Each one of them
comprises a man, his wife and their unmarried children. And each of these units has
long-term, stable, and multiple relations of interdependence with their kinspersons.

of the unit.
I) Give three salient characteristics of an Indian joint-family.
58
, 2) Rural Social Structure
Explain one of the major reasons behind the break up of the joint family in
rural India.
3.4 NATURE OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWER IN

RURAL INDIA
The popular image of an Indian village is that it is free from conflicts and thefts.
During the course of their fieldwork, scholars have noted invariably that villagers
nostalgically remember the days when they did not need to lock their houses, for each
one respected the dign ity and the goods of others. Consensus prevai led on almost all
issues, but if disagreements cropped up, they were amicably sorted out with the
intervention of the elderly. The rich parted with their excessive wealth for the welfare
of the poor. In some cases, people praised their villages for having never been visited
by policemen. Women were safe in all respects, and people adhered to religious
values and led a god-fearing existence.
Although it is an idealized version, which of course is far being exact, there undoubtedly
is a grain of truth in much of what has been and is being said about the village. In
comparison with the situation in towns and cities, inter-personal conflicts are fewer
in villages. The rich may not part with their wealth in favour of the poor, but they
certainly display a guardian-like supportive attitude towards them. General consensus
prevails with respect to the norms and values, which in any case are largely uniform
and hardly contradictory, and this is one of the reasons why there are fewer cases
of dissent and conflict in vi lIages. Certainly, the hold of religion on traditional societies
is greater than it is on complex societies.
The conclusion one reaches from a comparison of the idealized view of the village
held by its inhabitants and the reality that exists, is that the village is not a stable,
stagnant, and changeless entity.
Conflicts emerge between the members of a caste and also between different castes,
and the contending parties do not always find it easy to solve them. Villagers in North
India say that conflicts between different people pertain mainly to the matters of land
(zamin), wealth (zar) and women (zanani). For reaching a solution to these conflicts,
each vi lIage has a council called panchayat, consisting of knowledgeable and upright
people, who pronounce impartial judgements, supposed to be binding on all.
In addition, as has been noted earlier, each caste has its own panchayat, which takes
up matters it is confronted with. For the sake of distinguishing one from the other,
one may call the village panchayat a gaon panchayat, and the caste panchayat, a
jati panchayat. The functions of each one of them are different, for they serve
different bodies. Besides resolving the conflicts between different families, a gaon
panchayat is also entrusted with undertaking the collective tasks of the vi lIage, such
as performing rituals for the welfare of the entire village, or organizing programmes
-pertaining to the donation of voluntary labour (shramdana) for building a road or a
granary. A jati panchayat deals exclusively with the issues pertaining to the caste
concerned. Fr : example, it may further the interests of the caste or, in some literate
contexts, it may publish a caste periodical.
59
, " '",1'''''',
Rural Society and A traditional caste council called panch (i.e. five) comprises a small but always an
Economy odd number of members. It listens to the cases of dispute and takes decisions
democratically. The odd number of its members helps in deciding cases by the rule
of majority when they do not reach a consensus. It is not necessary that a panch
will always have just five members, as is sometimes proverbially said. The idea of
five implies that the council is a small group and that the number of its number is
always odd.
Srinivas says that in villages, it is invariably the members of one particular caste who
exercise their dominance on others. To explain this phenomenon, he introduced the
concept of the 'dominant caste', which is defined in terms of the following criteria:
• numerical predominance;
• control over economic resources;
• control over political power;
• high ritual status; and
• the first-ones who have taken advantage of the Western education system.
It is not necessary that all these criteria have to be met for designating a group as
dominant. A dominant caste may not have numerical preponderance or it may not tilt
towards Westernization. The more important criteria, it has been emphasized, are
control over the factors of production and political power. In villages, the dominant
caste is usually associated with agriculture. Let us refer to Jan Breman's data on
peasants and migrants belonging to Surat (Gujarat). He says that in the whole district
of Surat, the Kanbi Patidars occupy the highest status in the field of agriculture. They
own large portions of land, and with the passage of time, they add more and more
land to their already massive land holdings. Consequently, in this area, lower castes
have been reduced to a marginal status. In Rajasthan, even after the land reforms,
the ex-landlords (jagirdar) continue to own vast tracts of land and remain dominant
socially. It has also been seen that the dominant castes resort to violence to keep the
other castes in a state of submission.
Take an example to illustrate this. In Wangala, a village in Mysore that Scarlett

Epstein had studied, in the plays that the Harijans of the village organize, the actor
playing the role of a king does not sit on a prop throne but squats. The idea is that
his head should not appear at a level higher than that of the dominant caste members
among the audience. On one such occasion, their drama company announced that in
their forthcoming production, a stage throne would be used, and the king would sit
on it. There was a strong reaction to this idea. The Vokkaligas, the dominant caste
of Wangala, stopped employing Harijan labourers. Eventually, the Harijans had to
tender an apology and pay a fine for their assertion. Only after this expression of
submission peace came to prevail. Similarly, in Madhopur in Uttar Pradesh, when the
lower caste people (ofNoniya caste) started donning the sacred thread, the dominant
caste adopted violent methods to make them stop assimilating the traits of upper
castes. The point being made is that the dominant castes do adopt methods of all
descriptions in order to maintain their status unassailed.
Often, the dominant castes display uniformity in terms of their behaviour and interests.
Although with the emergence of Panchayati Raj and land reforms, the nature of
dominance has changed in rural India, there is no doubt that certain castes still
exercise decisive dominance in villages. In many cases, the studies point out that "
people have become disillusioned with their traditional councils. Thc.e was a time
when the council members were compared to gods (the idea of panch parmeshwari,
and it was said: 'Where there is a panchayat, there is god.' But now, people prefer
to approach formal institutions (such as the courts, police, and other administrative
bodies) for the settlement of their disputes.
60
Rural Social Structure ;
of the unit.
1) What are the different types of the traditional council (panchayat) found
in Indian villages?
...... ~.'.: .
2) Define the concept of 'dominant caste'.
3.5 LET US SUM UP
An Indian village is composed of endogamous units, each following its own occupation
traditionally associated with its caste, locally known as jati. The number of castes
a village has varies from one context to another. Large villages have more castes
than small villages, but no village has all the castes. rhus, the members of one village
depend upon others in their neighbourhood for various services. The Indian village
was never self-sufficient as some colonial officers believed. Each village has its own
dominant caste, which has very high representation in the political bodies of the
village. Often, the decisions they take serve their own interests. At the local level,
each caste comprises a set of families, and it has been noticed that there is a close
relationship between caste and kinship. Generally the upper, propertied castes usually
have joint families, whilst lower, non-propertied castes have nuclear families. With
changes occurring because of urbanization and modernization, the families are becoming
smaller all over India, but it does not imply that joint families have disappeared.
3.6 KEY WORDS
Ascriptive This term means 'by birth'. Ascriptive status is that social
position which one acquires by birth.
Caste System Practised in India, it is the main traditional system of social
stratification, which is ascriptive and based on the notion of
mutually opposing characteristics-pure and impure.
Client While translating the words, jajman and kamin, the terms
used are 'patron' and 'client'. The meaning of the word
'client' in this context is 'one who provides the services of
an occupation to the other caste.' The term 'client' can be 61
used interchageably with the term 'occupational caste'.
Rural Society and Panchayat It is a small body of elders that takes up the cases of
Economy dispute among people, and pronounces its judgement, which
the contending parties are expected to follow.
Horizontal Solidarity: It is the unity of the people who belong to the same caste
or social stratum.' but are spread across a number of
neighbouring villages.
Vertical Solidarity It is the unity of the people who belong to different castes
or hierarchical social strata, but belong to one and the same
village.
.' .~3.7 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES
References
Atal, Yogesh. 1968. The Changing Frontiers of Caste. Delhi: National Publishing
House.
Beteille, Andre. 1965. Caste, Class and Power: Changing Patterns of Stratification
in a Tanjore Village. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bliss; C. and N. Stern. 1982. Palanpur: The Economy of an Indian Village.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brernan, J., P. Kloos, and A. Saith. (eds.) 1997. The Village in Asia Revisited. Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Chauhan, Brij Raj. 2003. "Village Community" in Veena Das (ed.) The Oxford India
Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Mandelbaum, David G. 1970. Society in India. Berke1ey: University of California

Press.
Sharma, K.L. (ed.) 2001. Social Inequality in India. Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat
Publications.
Srinivas, M.N. 1996. Village, Cas!e, Gender and Method. Delhi: Oxford Universit~
Press.
Suggested Readings
Chakravarti, Anand. 1975. Contradiction and Change: Changing Patterns of

Authority in a Rajasthan Village. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Dasgupta, 8. (ed.) 1977. Village Studies in the Third World. Delhi: Hindustan
Publishing House.
Gough, Kathleen. 1981. Rural Society in South India. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.
Gould, Harold A. 1990. Politics and Caste. Delhi: Chanakya Publications.
Jha, Hetukar. 1991. Social Structure of Indian Villages: A Study of Rural Bihar.
New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Leaf, Murray. 1972. Information and Behaviour in a Sikh Village. Berkeley:

University of California Press.
62
.) .
·- J --:-. ..' •• I.:{~~:- ~
Mayer, Aarian'C. 1960. Caste and Kinship in Central India: A Village and its Rural Social Structure
Region. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Pocock, David F. 1973. Mind, Body and Wealth: A Study of Belief and Practice
in an Indian Village. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Srivastava, Y.K. 1999. "Some Characteristics of a 'Herding Caste' of Rajasthan"
in M.K. Bhasin and Veena Bhasin (eds.) Rajasthan: Ecology. Culture and
Society. Delhi: Kamla-Raj Enterprises.
I) The term 'social structure', originally coined by Herbert Spencer, refers to the
inter-connections of different parts of society, such as individuals, groups,
institutions, associations, organizations, communities, etc.
2) The most populated villages in India are found in Kerala; some of them have
above ten thousand individuals
I) Caste is a system of social hierarchy found in south Asia, especially India, and
all those countries where Hindus have settled down, such as Fiji, Trinidad,
Mauritius, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America, etc. In this
system, the society is divided into clearly bounded units called castes, locally
called jatis, each exercising monopoly over a particular occupation. A person
becomes the member of a caste by being born into it. In other words, caste is
ascriptive. The members of a caste share a common lifestyle - they live in
houses that look alike, they dress up in a similar manner, they speak the same
dialect, they repose faith in the same set of deities, they have the same set of
rituals, and in a village, they are generally clustered together. Each caste is
endogamous, i.e. each one of its mernebers seeks its spouse from the families
of its own caste that are settled in other villages. Each caste has its own
p.olitical body called panchayat, which is entrusted with the task of amicably
resolving the conflicts that surface between the members of the caste. In
running the systems of production in a village, each caste is dependent upon
other castes. It is because of the inter-caste dependence that a village develops
bonds of social unity.
2) By comparison with caste, class has an economic referent. Classes pertain to
the system of production and there are basically three classes that make an
Indian village:
i) those who own the means of production (i.e. land, livestock and/or capital);
ii) those who lease the needed resources from the first class and use them
on condition that in return they would pay the relevant rent or.a .part of
their produce; and
iii) those who do not have any resources at their command, nor do they enter
any economic arrangement to procure resources, but work as labourers
. to earn wages for the service they render.
The first class is of the owners (malik), the second of the tenants (kisan)
and the third of the labourers (mazdur). Theoretically, class relations are
independent of caste, but it has been seen that in Indian villages, there is
often an overlapping between the two. Those who happen to own land also
happen to be from the upper castes, and those who are landless labourers
are from the lower castes. . . -.... -e 63
'1 .••
Rural Society and 3) William Wiser introduced the term jajmani system in his study of a village in
Economy Uttar Pradesh. It is a system of patron-client relations. At the center of the
system are the agriculturist communities, which are served by various occupational
castes, such as the carpenter, the barber, the laundryman, the potter, the blacksmith,
etc. These occupational castes provide their services to the agriculturist caste for
the entire year but are paid in kind at the time of harvest. These relations are
hereditary and happen t6 be between families belonging to different castes.
Sometimes, a family has jajmani ties with the entire viliage. For instance, the
family of the village guard (chowkidar), who serves all the different castes of
the village, receives payments in kind from only some of them. as it may not
receive any payments from the castes below the line of purity.
4) The impact of the process of sanskritization as a process of upward mobility

has considerably reduced because backward castes have found the political route
to upward mobility far more effective in the present-day India. Mobility along the
axis of status (i.e., sanskritizationi has been replaced by mobility along the axis
of power (i.e., politicization). It is so mainly because sanskritization has not
helped the castes below the line of purity to move up the caste hierarchy.
I) The three salient characteristics of the joint family in India are:
i) Kinspersons belonging to the joint family share common religious beliefs,

common property and a common residence.
ii) All the descendants ofthejoint family (male and female), recognized by the
principle of descent, have an equal right on the family property. These rights
are called coparcenary.
iii) The head of the household in a patrilineal family is usually the eldest male,
who is called karta. His main job is to work towards the unity and integrity
of the family. He is the manager of the property and is supposed to supervise
it well and keep it together by saving it from all forces that try to break it.
2) Many reasons have been given to explain the break up of the joint family in India.
'Occupational differentiation'. however. seems to be the strongest of them all.
When members of a joint family follow the same occupation, it is easier for them
to live together than when they branch out into different occupations. When in
different occupations, they are also differentially placed in terms of their respective
incomes. This inequality at the level of economy does not create viable conditions
for different members of the household to live together and pool in their resources.
Occupational differentiation is also closely connected with geographical mobility.
Occupations take individuals away to different places. Obviously. in such migrations;
it is the nuclear family that travels together instead of the entirejoint family which
goes on losing its sub-groups by and by.
I) Indian villages have two types of traditional council. The first to which an individual
is affiliated is the council of one's caste, called the jati panchayat; and the
second is the council of the village, which is known as gram/gaon panchayat.
Caste councils extend beyond the boundary of a village. They comprise members
of the same caste distributed over the region in neighbouring villages. In other
words, a caste council cuts across the villages in the neighbourhood. [t is one of
the principal factors contributing to solidarity among members of the same caste,
called horizontal solidarity. A village council, as the name suggests, is of the
village. Its jurisdiction is confined to the village concerned. It takes up matters
pertaining to the village, thus contributing to the solidarity between the members
of different castes living in one and the same village. This type of solidarity is
64 called vertical solidarity.
2) It was M.N. Srinivas who introduced the concept of dominant caste. This term Rural Social Structure
is used for the caste that has numerical preponderance in a village. It also
exercises control 'over economic resources, such as land, livestock, houses,
instruments and implements of production, etc., because of which it has political
power. Its members constitute the best represented group in the village council.
In other words, in the case of the dominanr caste, there is a close association
between economic and political factors. Also, it enjoys a high ritual status, and
has often been the first to take advantage of the education system that the British
introduced in India.
65
UNIT 4 RURAL ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Agriculture: Basic Characteristics
4.3 Cropping Pattern
4.4 Trends in Agricultural Growth
4.5 Animal Husbandry and other Allied Agricultural Activities
4.6 Non-agricultural Activities
4.7 Size and Distribution of Rural Assets
4.8 Rural Credit Markets
4.9 Rural Employment: Key Concepts
4.10 Agricultural Labour in Rural India
4.10.1 Structure of Rural Work force
4.10.2 Incidence of Agricultural Labour
4.10.3 Agricultural Wages in India
4.11 Let Us Sum Up
4.12 Key Words
4.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
• explain the role of agriculture as a sustaining source of economic activity in the

country;
• describe the nature of inequality in the distribution of land and other assets in
rural areas;
• explain the problems of rural credit markets;
• explain and apply the key concepts in defining the employment status; and
• analyse the trends in the incidence of agricultural labour and those in agricultural
wages.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
This unit gives an overall view of the. trends in the growth of rural economy and the
structure of production relations in rural India. In the process of production, rural
workers enter into various kinds of economic relationships with each other. It is
through these relationships that cultivators get access to land, credit, labour and other
resources and landless workers get access to employment. A study of rural economic
structure is essentially a study of these economic relationships.
Due to the great heterogeneity that is inevitable in a country as large as India, the
information provided in this unit will need supplementation from your own regional
context. At different places in the unit, you will find exercises to help you check how
much of the material presented in this unit you have understood. In addition, two
small activities have been suggested to help you further develop your understanding
66 of the theme presented here.
Rural Economic Structure
4.2 AGRICULTURE: BASIC CHARACTERISTICS
Let us start by discussing the importance of agriculture in Indian economy. After over
five decades of planned economic development, India continues to have a predominantly
rural economy. In 1950-51, the primary sector contributed nearly 60 per cent of all
the goods and services produced domestically, which is called Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) in economic terms. By 1999-2000, this had declined to 29 per cent. In 1951,
cultivators and agricultural labourers accounted for 69 per cent of the country's total
work force. In 200 I, the percentage was 58. Thus, the share of the value of goods
and services produced by the agricultural sector has diminished much more than the
decline in the number of people depending directly on the activities of this sector.
Table 4.1 shows the share of cultivators and agricultural labourers in the rural and
the total labour force in 2001. Cultivators and agricultural labourers accounted for
about 70 per cent of the rural male labour force in 2001. In the case of rural female
labour the percentage was even greater - amounting to about 80 per cent. As a
percentage of the total labour force in the country, agricultural labourers and cultivators
accounted for 52 per cent of male and 71 per cent of female labour, respectively.
This illustrates the continuing importance of the agricultural sector in the lives of the
Indian people.
Table 4.1 Cultivators and agricultural labour in the workforce (main and marginal), 2001
(in millions)
Rural Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total
Cultivators 84.0 40.6 124.7 86.3 41.3 127.6
(422) (36.5) (40 I) (31.3 ) (325) (317)
Agricultural labour 54.7 48.4 103.1 57.4 50.1 107.4
(27.5) (43.4) (33.2) (20.8) (39.4) (26.7)
All workers 199.2 111.5 310.7 275.5 127.0 402.5
(100.0) ( 100.0) ( 100.0) ( 100.0) (100.0) (100.0)
Note: Figures in parentheses indicate per cent of total.
Source: Census of India, 200i, provisional results. http://www.censusindia.net/results/wrk

statement I.html
Indian agriculture depends upon the monsoon, which provides 74 per cent of the
country's annual rainfall and is the chief source of water. The distribution of this
rainfall, however, is uneven both with respect to time and with respect to region. This
is an important determinant of a very large diversity in agricultural cropping systems
in different parts of India. Dependence on the mon soon also exposes Indian farmers
to vagaries of the weather.
4.3 CROPPING PATTERN
What are the major crops grown in India? To answer this question, it is necessary
to understand the concepts of net sown area, gross cropped area and the index
of multiple cropping.
Net sown area refers to all the land under cultivation. Since the late 1960s, the net
sown area in the country has not changed significantly as there has been little scope
for bringing additional land under cultivation. However, expansion in availability of
irrigation has made it possible to increase the area on which more than one crop is
grown in a single year. Gross cropped area refers to the total land under cultivation, 67
Rural Society and counting each field as many times as the number of crops grown on it in a single
Economy year. The ratio of gross cropped area to net sown area is the index of multiple
cropping. By the end of 1990s, the index of multiple cropping or cropping intensity
was about 135 per cent, which indicates that there is substantial potential for extending
double cropping to areas that are still single-cropped. In 1999-2000, only about 41 per
cent of gross cropped area was irrigated. Extending the availability of irrigation to
areas that are still under rainfed agriculture is crucial for the further expansion of
double cropping.
Table 4.2 shows the importance of different crops in Indian agriculture. Rice accounts
for about 24 per cent of the gross cropped area and wheat for about 14.6 per cent
of the gross cropped area. The share of area under millets (or coarse cereals) and
pulses has fallen over the last three decades. In 1999-2000, all millets accounted for
about 15.6 per cent and pulses accounted for about 11.6 per cent of the gross
cropped area:
Table 4.2: Percentage distribution of gross cropped area across various crops, India, 1998-99
Crop Per cent
of area
Fibres Fooderains
Rice 23.93
Wheat 14.62
Millers (jowar, bajra, ragi and others) 15.61
Pulses 11.61
Total food-grains 65.77
Other non· Non-foodgrains

~-foodgrain Oilseeds 14.13
crops Fibres (cotton, jute and others) 5.32
Other crops 14.78
Pulses Total Non food-grain crops 34.23

All crops
Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, AIt crops lOO
2003, Ministry of Agriculture.
Gross cropped area in million hectares 189.74
4.4 TRENDS IN AGRICULTURAL GROWTH
To understand the path of agricultural growth in modern India, let us first recognize
that agricultural growth can occur:
• on account of the growth of cropped area (which might be because of extending

agriculture to uncultivated areas or because of the increase in multiple cropping),
or
• because farmers produce more on a unit of land (that is, improvement in per
hectare yields).
Once we understand these two possibilities, we can divide the progress of agricultural
growth in India into four distinct phases.
The first phase, or what can be called the pre-Green Revolution phase, starting from
the onset of the Second Five Year plan in 1952 through the mid-1960s, was a period
in which agriculture was largely treated as a "bargain sector", a sector that could
grow without any significant public investment in technological change and capital
formation. Agricultural policy in this period was directed to two major areas: land
reforms (a policy that largely remained confined to paper) and government-financed
68 major and medium irrigation schemes. While the long-term growth in production of
food-grains in this period was not unimpressive - 2.9 per cent per annum between Rural Economic Structure
1949-50 and 1964-65, it was largely on account of the increase in cropped area rather
than any improvements in agricultural yields.
The growth of agricultural production, however, decelerated towards the mid-1960s

as the area available for expansion declined. A series of. severe droughts between
1965 and 1967 brought to the fore the intrinsic vulnerability of Indian economy to food
shortages caused by the expanding' demand for food and/or the dependence of
agriculture on the vagaries of weather. Food shortages necessitating an import of
about 19 million tonnes of food-grains made it clear that self-sufficiency in the
production of food was of paramount importance for national sovereignty.
India achieved the goal of self-sufficiency in the production of food-grain mainly

through the Green Revolution, which was introduced in the mid-1960s. Green Revolution
was based on the introduction of new technology in agriculture in selected areas with
relatively higher levels of productivity. In this period, the focus of official policy
shifted from attacking institutional impediments and removing inequalities in the
distribution of land to promoting the growth of marketed surplus generated by relatively
large farmers. The new technology was based on the use of new biochemical inputs,
most importantly high yielding varieties of seeds and fertilisers, together with increased
and controlled irrigation.
The second phase (the early Green Revolution phase), from mid-1960s through the
1970s, was a period in which the production of food-grains grew by about 2.21 per
cent per annum and the total agricultural output grew by about 2.29 per cent per
annum. You may note that unlike in the first phase, agricultural growth in this phase
was largely a result of growth in agricultural yields at a time when the scope for
further expansion of area under cultivation was limited.
Given the nature of this developmental strategy, agricultural growth in the second
phase was sadly unequal across regions with the north and the north-western States
growing much faster than the eastern and most of the southern parts of India.
In the 1980s, which constituted the third or the late-Green Revolution phase, agriculture
became more broad-based primarily owing to the spread of Green Revolution to
eastern India. Over 1980s, food-grain production grew at the rate of 2.9 per cent per
annum and total agricultural output grew at the rate of about 3.43 per cent per
annum. In this period while agricultural yields stagnated in most of the early
Green Revolution areas like Punjab, eastern India showed a marked acceleration in
the growth of agricultural output. In particular, in West Bengal, the "agricultural
success story of the 1980s", agricultural output grew at more than 6 per cent per
annum.
It is noteworthy that the agricultural strategy between the mid-1960s and 1980s was
based on public provisioning of infrastructure, credit, agricultural research and extension.
At the same time, institutional mechanisms were built for the government to intervene
in the agricultural markets to ensure that on the one hand the farmers got remunerative
prices for their produce and on the other food prices in the economy remained low
enough to keep inflation in check
In the 1990s, which comprise the fourth phase, agricultural development strategy
shifted to primarily relying on the market mechanism to fuel growth and the
withdrawal of a range of other supports that were provided by the government. Also,
various policy initiatives led to greater integration of the domestic agriculture with the
world markets. These changes, the withdrawal of various forms of support in
particular, resulted in a marked decline in agricultural-growth. In particular, growth in
the production offood-grains
tt,
in the fourth phase was the lowest since Independence.
~
69
Rural Society and Table 4.3: Growth of agricultural production, 1949-50 to 2000-01 (per cent per annum)
Economy
Period Food-grains All crops
Area Yield Production Area Yield Production
1949-50 to 1964-65 1.41 1.436 2.93 1.61 1.30 3.13
1967-68 to 1981-82 0.37 1.85 2.21 0.54 1.74 2.29

1981-82 to 1991-92 -0.26 3.19 2.92 0.49 2.93 3.43
1991-92 to 2000-0 I -0.02 1.88 1.86 0,20 1.59 1.79

Sources: Rao and Storm (1998) and Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, 2003.

of the unit.
1) What does Green Revolution refer to?
2) What is the main difference between the agricultural strategy adopted

during the period of Green Revolution and that employed in the 1990s?
Activity I
I) What are the major crops grown in your state? (Refer to official publications
of the Government like the Indian Agricultural Statistics, Indian
Agriculture in Brief,' etc.).
2) Use Table 4.3 to describe the extent to which agricultural growth in different
periods was dependent 011 growth of agricultural yields and growth of
cropped area.
70
4.5 ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND OTHER ALLIED
AG RI CULTURAL .ACTIVITIES
Let us now look at some other economic activities that take place in the rural areas.
An important part of the rural economy are the activities that are closely linked with
agricultural production. These are called the allied agricultural activities. Take the
case of animal husbandry. Cultivation receives inputs from livestock and in turn
provides outputs for livestock in the shape of animal-feed.
The share of livestock sector in the aggregate national income was about 5.5 per cent
in 1999-2000. India has a large livestock population. About 16 per centof the world's
cattle and 57 per cent of the world's buffalo population is in India. Of the total
livestock population of India in 2000, cattle accounted for about 42 per cent, goats
for about 23 per cent, buffaloes for about 18 per cent and sheep for about 11 per
cent.
Milk is one of the main products of animal husbandry. India is the largest producer
of milk in the world. India produces about 85 million tonnes of milk, which accounts
for about 13 per cent of the total milk production in the world. It is noteworthy that
there has been a very substantial growth in per capita availability of milk from only
about 112 grams per day in 1968-69 to about 213 grams per day in 1998-99. It is
noteworthy that a substantial part of this growth has been from the cooperative
sector and has been a result of what has been rightly called the "White Revolution".
The dairy cooperatives functional in 285 districts of India, comprise 1,03,281 village
level societies and over 11 million members.
Poultry is said to be the most efficient converter of feed into food fit for human
consumption in the shortest possible time. It has become a very important component
of the farm economy in India. This sector also provides employment to a large
number of people in rural areas. The supply of eggs, an important produce of the
poultry farms, has increased from 2,340 million eggs in 1961 to an estimated 29,475
million eggs in 1998-99. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal
and Punjab accounted for more than 60 per cent of the country's egg production
in 1998-99.
Fishing is another important economic activity, particularly in the maritime states. This
sector provides employment to nearly two million people. India has a coastline of
7,517 km. Of this Gujarat and West Bengal account for more than 2,500 km. In
2000-01, the total fish catch oflndia was 5.9 million tonnes of which inland fisheries
contributed 3.1 million and marine fisheries 2.8 million tonnes. The maritime states of
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu. Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal
accounted for about 70 per cent of the total catch.
Check, Your Progress 11

of the unit.
I) What is the importance of livestock in India's rural economy?
71
Rural Society artd
Economy 4.6 NON-AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES
Non-agricultural activities constitute another important component of the rural economy

in India. The share of non-farm rural employment is estimated to range between 26
to 25 per cent of the workforce. The rural non-farm sector is important because or'
the forward and backward production linkages. Agriculture needs implements and
inputs that can be provided either by rural or urban non-agricultural activities ..These
inputs and products are the backward linkages of the agricultural sector. The forward
linkages come into being because of the need to process agricultural produce or
because of the demand for non-agricultural products generated by rising incomes in
rural areas. Sugarcane and oilseed processing industries are examples of such forward
linkages of the agricultural sector.
Rural industries can serve as a means of reducing the burden on agriculture by

providing employment in rural areas. They can also thereby serve as a means of
reducing the inflow of job seeking workers into cities and towns.
According to the 1971 census, the number of workers in rural household industries
was 4.74 million. By 2001 this had gone up to 11.7 million. In 2001, workers i~,:rural
household industries comprised about 3.8 per cent of the total rural work force and
about 3 per cent of the total workforce of the country. As per the National Sample
Survey data for 1999, rurai workers comprised about 49 per cent of all workers
usually employed in the manufacturing sector.
The growth of agriculture over the last few decades suggests that agricultural growth
per se will not lead to better conditions for the rural workforce. Growth of rural
incomes, in the years to come, would depend on diversification of the rural economy
by introducing higher value crops, mixed farming practices and non-agricultural
act-ivities. It would also require development of a large number of small and medium
towns that can provide the basic necessities and infrastructure necessary for the
location of a greater variety of manufacturing activities in what are today called rural
and semi-urban areas.
4.7 SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION OF RURAL ASSETS
Let us now turn our attention to the issue of equity in the rural economy. An
understanding of the agrarian structure and inequalities in the distribution of assets
will enlighten you about the economic problems that confront the rural society in
India. This will also help you to understand the causes of rural poverty.
Land is the most important asset of rural households. In 1991, land accounted for 64
per cent of all the assets of rural households. Households operate the land that is
owned by them or is obtained through various kinds of lease arrangements. In view
of this, it is customary to distinguish between ownership and operational holdings. An
ownership holding refers to the area under the legal ownership (khatedari) title of
the cultivators. An operational holding is the area managed by a single cultivator and
may include own land as well as the land cultivated under a sub-tenancy or other
informal arrangements. The number of operational holdings in India is substantially
lower than the number of ownership holdings. In most states marginal and small
holdings (that is, holdings less than 2 hectares in size) account for the bulk of
landholdings and the share of marginal and small landholdings has tended to rise over
the last three decades. Table 4.4 shows the changes in the distribution of operational
holdings in India during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990-91, marginal and small holdings
accounted for nearly 78 per cent of the total number of holdings.
72
Over the years, the number of marginal holdings has increased rapidly. In 1960-61, Rural Economic Structure
) there were 20 million marginal holdings. Their number increased to 63 million in
1990-91. The growing number of marginal farms creates problems because the farm
size is often so small that it acts as a hindrance for the meaningful improvement of land.
Very often the landholdings are also fragmented into several plots. This inhibits
economies of scale. National Sample Survey of Land and Livestock Holdings for
1991-92 showed that at the national level, average size of a plot of land was about
0.2 hectares and that the total number of plots was about 2.67 times the total number
of holdings.
Since the size of holding is often very small, the cultivator cannot make investments
to improve the quality of land. This is particularly so in the case of investment in
irrigation facilities. If the plots are scattered over a wide area the cultivator finds it
difficult to undertake expenses to irrigate all his plots.
Table 4.4 Distribution of Operational Holdings, 1970-71, 1980-81, 1985-86 and 1990-91
Category of Number (in millions) Area (in million hectares)

Holdings
1970-71 1980-81 1985-86 1990-91 1970-71 1980-81 1985-86 1990-91
Marginal (Less 35.7 50.1 56.1 63.4 14.5 19.7 22.0 24.9
than I Hectare) (50.60) (56.40) (57.80) (59.40) (9.00) (12.00) ( 13.40) (15.10)
Small (1.0 to 13.4 16.1 17.9 20.1 19.3 23.2 25.7 28.8
2.0 Hectares) (19.10) (18.10) ( 18.40) ( 18.80) (11.90) ( 14.10) ( 15.60) (17.40)
Semi-Medium 10.7 12.5 13.3 13.9 30.0 34.6 36.7 38.4

(2.0 to 4.0 Hectares) (15.20) (14.00) ( 13.60) (13.10) (18.40) (21.20) (22.30) (23.20)
Medium (4.0 to 7.9 8.1 7.9 7.6 48.2 48.5 47.1 44..8
10.0 Hectares) ( 11.30) (9.10) (8.20) (7.10) (29.80) (29.60) (28.60) (27.00)
Large (10.0 and 2.8 2.2 1.9 1.7 50.1 37.7 33.0 28.7
above) (3.90) (2.40) (2.00) ( 1.60) (30.90) (23.00) (20.10) (17.30 I
Total 70.5 88.9 97.2 106.6 162.1 163.8 164.6 165.5

(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)
Source: Agricultural Censuses, various volumes.
Table 4.4 above shows that the distribution of land in India is highly unequal. Over
78 per cent of the cultivators belonging to the category of marginal and small operators,
cultivate less than one third of the land. In contrast, less than two per cent of the
cultivators having holdings of more than J 0 hectares each cultivate about 29 per cent
of the land.
The number of large holdings has declined marginally and the area controlled by them
has decreased from 31 per cent in 1970-71 to 17 per cent in 1990-91. Table 4.5
shows the average size of operational hofdings across the states in 1990-91. The table
shows that the average size of holdings is bigger in states such as Punjab, Haryana
and Gujarat. On the other hand, in eastern states like Bihar and West Bengal, the
operational size of these holdings is relatively small. It may be remembered that the
regional differences in the structure of holdings are related to the pressure of population
on the land, soil, agro-climatic conditions and the extent of irrigation. It is also
noteworthy that the economic value and productive potential of small holdings in
irrigated areas might be higher than relatively large landholdings in areas where
agriculture is largely dependent on rains.
73
Rural Society and Table 4.5 State-wise average size .of operational holdings, 1990-91
Economy
States
. Average Size (Hectare)
Andhra Pradesh 1.56

Arunachal Pradesh 3.72
Assam 1.27
Bihar 0.83
Goa 0.93
Gujarat 2.93
Haryana 2.43
Himachal Pradesh 1.21
.Iammu & Kashmir 0.83
Karnataka 2.13
Kerala 0.33
Madhya Pradesh 2.63
Maharashtra 2.21
Manipur 1.23
Meghalaya 1.77
Mizoram 1.38
Nagaland 6.82
Orissa 1.34
Punjab 3.61
Rajasthan 4.11
Sikkim 2.09
Tamil Nadu 0.93
Tripura 0.97
Uttar Pradesh 0.9
West Bengal 0.9
India 1.55
Source: Agricultural Census, 1990-91
Cultivation of land under tenancy and crop sharing arrangements is common in most'
parts of India. These tenancies are often oral tenancies and therefore escape the
provisions of the land reform legislation. The status of sharecroppers is worse than
that of labourers-as they bear the risks of an uncertain agriculture and high rents. In
most states, such tenants can be evicted by landowners at will. In most parts of India
they do not qualify for the support provided to those who cultivate their own land
under legal rights provided by the land reform legislation. Land reforms have had little
effect on this category of the rural population.
Recent official statistics clearly bring out two trends in land lease arrangements over
the last two decades: first, the incidence of reverse tenancy, that is, small landowners
leasing out land to large landowners, has been on the rise, and secondly, related to
the rise of reverse tenancy, there is an increase in tenancy under fixed rent contracts
while crop share tenancy has tended to decline.
NSSO does a survey of rural assets for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) once in
ten years - the last being the survey of 1991. The survey shows that the land and
building is the most important category of assets in rural areas, accounting for 85
per cent of all the assets of rural households (Table 4.6). Durable household goods
and Iivestock and poultry are the next in importance. The distribution of assets
remained almost the same between 1971 and 1991. One noteworthy change, however •.
is the declining share of livestock and poultry in the total asset holding of rural ~
74 , .'
households. This is likely to be primarily a result of increasing mechanisation of Rural Economic Structure
agriculture and progressive decline in the use of draught animals.
Table 4.6 Composition of the assets of rural households, 1991 (per cent)
Assets 1971 1981 1991

Land and building 84.6 82.8 85.6
Livestock and poultry 6.5 5 3.4
Agricultural machinery 1.8 2.5 2.2

Non-farm business equipment 0.2 0.3 0.3
Transport equipment 0.8 I 1.2
Durable household assets 4.6 7.1 5.9
Financial assets 1.1 1.2 L3
Dues receivable 0.4 0.1 0.1
Total assets 100 100 100.0
Source: National Sample Survey Organisation, All India Debt Investment Survey, 1991: Household
Assets and Liabilities, Report No. 419.
Table 4.7 shows that the distribution of assets in rural India is highly unequal. About
50 per cent of the assets are concentrated in the hands of 10 per cent of the richest
households while the poorest 60 per cent of the households have less than 15 per cent
of assets.
Table 4.7 Distribution of assets by percentiles of rural households, 1991 (per cent)
1981 1991
Poorest 60 per cent

- 14.5 15.0
60-90 per cent 35.8 35.5
Richest 10- per cent 49.6 49.5
All households 100.0 100.0
Source: National Sample Survey Organisation, All India Debt Investment Survey, 1991: Household
Assets and Liabilities, Report No. 419.
Growth and equity have been the principal goals of planned development. While the
record on the growth front has been fairly satisfactory, the record on the equity front
is not so. Inequalities have not declined. They have become far more visible. Quite
naturally, therefore, the focus of rural development pol icy must continue to be on the
poor, the weak and the disadvantaged.
4.8 RURAL CREDIT MARKETS
Let us start by asking why do rural households need credit? Any productive enterprise
needs capital. Next to land, capital is necessary for farm investments which enable
a farmer to increase production. This problem is particularly more serious in the case
of agriculture because there is a time lag between ploughing, harvesting and sale of
produce which lasts at least six to eight months. The farmer needs credit support for
long term investment in land improvement and irrigation as well as for short-term
needs while waiting for the harvest. In addition, the rural poor need credit for a whole
range of consumption requirements given seasonality and inadequacy of employment,
low wages, and the lack of access to free education and health services.
If credit is such an important requirement of rural households, we should know

something about where they get the credit from and on what terms they borrow.
75
Rural Society and Traditionally, this support was provided by the landlord-trader-money lender who
Economy often combined as the same source. This led to an inter-linking of the labour, credit
and product markets in exploitative relationships. For instance, a small or marginal
farmer borrowing funds from his landlord has to pay a high rate of interest and also
agree to work for him on very low remuneration or without receiving any remuneration
in the process. This system of credit relations imposes a heavy burden on the
borrower. Indebtedness of farmers leading to dispossession of land and other assets
or debt bondage of the landless has been widely reported in official as well as non-
official documents. The growth of formal-sector banking in the rural areas, both
through commercial banks and cooperative banking institutions, therefore acquired a
great deal of importance.
Starting with nationalisation of banks in the late 1960s, there was a very substantial
growth of rural banking. The number of the rural branches of commercial banks
increased from 1443 in 1969 to 19453 in 1981 and 35216 in 1991. The share of credit
disbursed by the rural branches increased from 3.3 per cent in 1969 to 11.9 per cent
in 1981 and i"4.7 per cent in 1991. Banks were asked to provide 40 per cent of the
credit to the priority sector, which included, most importantly, agriculture and small-
scale industries sectors. In the decade of 1980s, rural banking was also combined
with poverty alleviation programmes.
The data, however, show that there was a decline in the supply of rural credit in the
1990s. The number of the rural branches of commercial banks fell to 32673 in 2000.
Correspondingly, the share of credit disbursed through the rural branches has fallen
to 10.3 per cent in 2000. Also, most banks did not meet the priority sector lending'
targets in the 1990s. The evidence suggests that this situation led to an increase in
the hold of informal sources on rural credit markets, as the decline in the availability
of rural credit contributed to the intensification of rural distress in the 1990s.

of the unit.
1) Why do you think it is necessary for banks to provide credit to rural

households?
2) Explain briefly in your own words the extent of inequality in the distribution
of rural assets in India.
-"-!,., ..••••••••••........•....••..•.••.•.•••.•.•.••.•.•..•.•.••.•.•••••••••••.•••.......•..••.•.•••••.••••.••••.
Activity Il
If you, live in a village, find out the extent of inequality in the distribution of
landholdings there. What is the proportion of the landless among the households
that live in your village? How much land does the largest landowner have?
If you do not live in a village, visit a nearby village and try to collect this
information about the village visited.
76
4.9 RURAL EMPLOYMENT: KEY CONCEPTS
Unemployment is obviously one of the most serious problems in rural areas. Let us
first start by going through the concepts that are important for understanding the
problem of unemployment in a developing country where the bulk of employment is
in the unorganized sector.
In fact, most economic activities in rural India are organized on household basis. As
a result, distinctions between workers and non-workers, and between economic and
household activities, are not always clear. Women and children perform many essential
tasks in activities such as agriculture, upkeep of livestock, household crafts and
industry. Nevertheless, they are often excluded from the category of workers because
their involvement is neither fulltime nor regular. The system of national accounting
also has a bias against such work. The traditional national accounting methods do not
recognize them as productive activities. Whatever work is done by women and
children at home is described as household work and gets excluded from economic
activity on account of the bias in reporting. As a result, estimating the number of
workers or the unemployed in rural areas is difficult and the number of female
workers is under-estimated in most official census and survey reports.
Unemployment and Under-employment

Under-employment and seasonal unemployment is a characteristic feature of rural
labourmarkets. Under-employment refers to the existence, on the one hand, of idle
time, and on the other of low productivity levels. Low productivity is related to the
low asset base of workers and idle time is tHe result not only of lack of assets, but
also of the fact that available work gets distributed among a larger number of
workers. The pressure of population and the unequal distribution of land and assets
are responsible for the existence of this situation. As the land-man ratio goes down,
the capacity of land as a supporting asset to rural population is threatened. The only
alternative in such a situation is the growth of the non-agricultural sector.
Official estimates of unemployment are made on the basis of surveys carried out by
NSSO. Estimating rural unemployment is a difficult task. The following are some of
the problems in estimating unemployment:
a) It is difficult to distinguish work or economic activities from household activities;

b) Involvement in economic activities may not be full-time; and
c) There are large seasonal variations in work patterns.
As a result, it is difficult to give one estimate that can be regarded as an average

estimate of the year round situation. Currently, three different concepts/criteria are
used to measure unemployment. Before measuring unemployment, it is important to
distinguish persons who were not available for work from those who either worked
or were available for work. Those who actually worked and those who did not get
any work but were available for work constitute the total labour force. This clarification
helps us in outlining the three criteria used for measuringemployment in rural India.
I) A person is considered employed by the "usual employment status criterion" if

he/she was working for more than half of the days in the previous year.
Unemployment rate by the usual status refers to the percentage of persons in
the labour force who were available for work but were unemployed for more
than half of the days in the previous year.
2) A person is considered employed by the "current weekly status criterion" if he/

she worked for at least one hour during seven days preceding the date of the
survey.Tlnernployment rate by the weekly status refers tet the percentage of
' .. '; ,
, ~, \
Rural Society and persons in the labour force who did not work' for even one hour out of the days'
Economy they were available for work in the last 7 days.
3) "Current daily status employment" refers to the total number of days in the last
seven days that a person (or a group of persons) was employed. Work of less
than half a day is regarded as an unemployed day. Unemployment rate by the
daily status refers to the proportion of person days when the population was
available for work but did not find any work.
Let us now use these three criteria to look at the trends in employment generation
in rural India over the last two decades. Between 1983 and 1993-94, rural employment
grew annually at the rate of 1.75 per cent by the usual status criterion, 2.53 per
cent by the current weekly status criterion and 2.38 per cent by the current daily
status criterion. During the 1980s, government expenditure was the main source of
employment generation in the rural areas. During this period, government not only
undertook employment generation programmes on a large scale, but also provided
various other kinds of subsidies, credit and other transfers to rural areas, which
contributed to the generation of employment, particularly in the non-agricultural sectors.
In the 1990s, the rates of employment generation declined in the rural areas largely
because of decline in government interventions. The rate of growth of rural employment
declined between 1993-94 and 1999-2000 and was 0.66 per cent by the usual status
criterion, 0.92 by the current weekly status criterion and 0.69 per cent by the
current daily status criterion.
Table 4.8 Annual growth of rural employment (per cent)
Period Usual status Current Weekly status Current daily statu
1977-78 to 1983 1.89 1.50 1.76
1983 to 1987-88 1.23 1.41 2.79
1987-88 to 1993-94 2.14 3.40 2.09
1983 to 1993-94 - - 1.75 2.53 2.38
1993-94 to 1999-2000 0:66 0.92 0.69
Source: Sen. Abhijit (2002)
Check Your Progress IV >
Note: a) Write your answers , in the space provided.

of the unit.
A weekly work schedule fer four persons - A, B, C and D - is given below:
Duration of work
Days of the Week
Person 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A 0 FULL Y2 0 NA NA FULL
B FULL 0 FULL NA Y2 30 minutes Y2
C 0 0 0 0 0 1/3 1/3
D NA 0 0 0 0 0 0 ,
Note: NA denotes not available for work.
Which of the above persons can be classified as unemployed by the current weekly
status criterion? What are the unemployment rates by the current weekly and curren
daily status criteria? Give reasons to support your answer.
78 ..
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• i • .-.' •.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Please note the difference in unemployment rates measured by different criteria.

The exercise illustrates how important it is to know the definitions correctly for
interpreting what statistics say.
4.10 AGRICULTURAL LABOUR IN RURAL INDIA'
4.10.1 Structure of Rural Workforce
Economic development involves a process of specialization and diversification in

which a trend towards a decline in the share of the agricultural workforce and an
.. increase in the non-agricultural employment is to be expected. However, avai lable
evidence does not present a very clear picture of whether the increase in the non-
agricultural component of the workforce is the result of diversification resulting from
..higher productivity or whether it is merely an increase in the residual category of
workers that engage themselves in very low productivity occupations which neither
require much capital rior any special skill. There is no doubt that there are considerable
regional differences in this respect which need to be studied in greater detail.
The two major changes as shown by the recent data are:

i) a reduction in the share of workers in agriculture particularly in the number of
self-employed cultivators.
ii) An' increase in the share of casual labourers.
The trends in the composition of the rural labour force along with the trends in wage
rates and those in the extent of unemployment tell us a great deal about rural reality.
In spite of reg.ional diversity in these trends, the overall picture is not very encouraging.
Notwithstanding the increase in money wages, real rates have remained more or less
stagnant in most parts of the country since the early sixties. Where wage rates
increase, the number of the days of employment often falls, as a result actual
incomes do not increase.
4.10.2 Incidence of Agricultural Labour
Agricultural labour represents the most deprived of all occupational categories in .,

Indian society. This is particularly so given the fact that the Scheduled Castes make
up a great majority of agricultural labour.
In 200 I, agricultural labourers comprised 33 per cent of the rural workforce and 45
per cent of the agricultural workforce at the national level (Table 3.9). The share of
agricultural labourers in rural and agricultural workforce is among the highest in
Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and is the lowest in North-Eastern and Hilly
states.
Official statistics suggest that the incidence of agricultural labour has been on the
", ,
rise. At the national level, the share of agricultural labour to rural.workforce increased
.... 79
Rural Society and from about 30 per cent in 1981 to about 33 per cent in 2001. The NSS data suggest
Economy that the share of the landless in the total rural households increased from about 35.4
per cent in 1987-88 to 40.9 per cent in 1999-2000. The evidence suggests that as a
result of increasing mechanisation, shifts in cropping pattern and increasing
concentration of operational holdings, agricultural growth was less employment intensive \
in the 1990s than in the 1980s.
It should also be noted that female labour is a very important part of the agricultural
workforce in India. Table 4.9 shows that at the national level, 43.4 per cent of the
rural women workers worked as agricultural workers. In contrast the share of the
agricultural workers in the male workforce was only 27.5 per cent. This indicates that
a greater proportion of working women in rural areas depend on agricultural wage
employment for their livelihood than their male counterparts.
Table 3.9 Agricultural Labourers in Rural India, 2001
Number Percentage of agricultural workforce

(in millions) total workforce Percentage of
Male 5475 27.5 39.4
Female 48.37 43.4 54.3
Persons 103.12 33.2 45.3
Note: Union Territories have not been included in the table. Hence state totals will not match the
national total. The workers in this table include both the main and the marginal workers.
Source: Census of India, 2()()1, provisional results. http://www.censusindia.net/results/
wrk statement I.html
4.10.3 Agricultural Wages in India

Collection of statistics on agricultural wages is very poor in India. There are serious
problems of consistency between the data available from the two main sources,
Agricultural Wages in India and the Rural Labour Enquiries. Primary data based
studies have often presented facts that are quite different from what is borne out by
the official statistics.
Keeping all the limitations in view, however, it is possible to make some broad
observations regarding the trends in agricultural wages.
First, agricultural wages remain very low in most parts of the country. The low wages
together with the massive underemployment among agricultural workers provide them
incomes that are absolutely inadequate even for minimal subsistence.
Second Iy, agricultural wages in most parts of the country were stagnant through the
1970s. In the 1980s, real agricultural wages grew in many part of the country. It has
been argued that agricultural wages were driven upwards during this period because
of the large expansion in non-agricultural employment in this decade. But the data
from both Agricultural Wages in India and Rural Labour Enquiries suggest that
the growth of agricultural wages slowed down in the 1990s.

of the unit.
1) Which States have a relatively high rate of incidence of agricultural labour?

You may refer to data from 200] Census to answer this question.
80
4.11 LET US SUM UP
Agriculture continues to be the main sustaining force for the vast majority of India's
population even after four decades of development. In this unit we concentrated our
attention on the characteristic features of Indian agriculture and its performance over
the years. The natural resource endowments obviously vary across the country but
the fact remains that performance of the Indian economy in general and of agriculture
in particular depends heavily on the vagaries of the monsoon.
Sections 4.2 and 4.3 discussed some basic features of agriculture in India. In Section
4.4, attention was focused on the crucial issueof productivity increases in agriculture.
It was pointed 'out that since there is virtually no scope for further increase in the
net sown area, rise in productivity and extension of multiple cropping through the
provision of irrigation are the only means of increasing production in the agricultural
sector.
In Sections 4.5 and 4.6, we took a closer look at some of the economic activities
related to agriculture- animal husbandry, poultry, fishing, etc.- and non-agricultural
activities. We also saw that all these activities are linked to agricultural production.
Over time, however, because of the changes in technology, these activities are also
witnessing a phaseofcommercialisation. This has led to a break in their direct link
with the agricultural.sector,
In Section 4.7, we looked at one of the most disquieting aspect of the rural economy,
the uneven spread of rural assets. The fact that economic growth has not been
accompanied by equitable distribution of incomes and assets is a cause for worry. In
particular, distribution of landholdings continues to be extremely unequal because of
the poor implementation of land reforms in most parts of India.
Rural households need credit for productive activities as well as for shortfalls in
consumption. In Section 4.8, we learnt that there was an impressive growth of rural
banking in India in the 1970s and 1980s. Although the growth was unequal across
regions and across classes, it did contribute to at least partially loosen the control of
informal moneylenders on the rural credit markets. The available data suggest that
there has been a decline in the provision of credit to rural areas in the 1990s. This
has emerged as one of the most serious problems in recent years.
In Section 4.9, we covered some ofthe key concepts employed in defining employment
status and looked at the trends in growth of rural employment. In Section 4.10, while
outlining some major changes in the distribution of rural workforce in the country, we
saw that the number of casual labourers has increased over the years even as the
number of workers involved in non-agricultural occupations has increased. A look at
the composition of the rural labour force shows that the-concentration of agricultural
labour is more pronounced in certain states. We have also seen that the prevailing
wage rates in agriculture in most parts of the country are very low.
4.12 KEY WORDS

Cash Crops Crops grown for sale in the market and not for self
consumption.
Cropping Intensity: The intensity of the use of land, i.e. the number of crops
grown in the same plot of land within the same crop year.
Fallow Lands Land that is left uncultivated for a few seasons so that the
soil may recoup itself.
81
Rural Societyand Gross Cropped Area Net Sown Area plus the area that is sown more
Economy than once in a single year.
Gross Domestic Product : Value of all goods and services produced within the
country in a year.
Marginal Holding A landholding of less than one hectare.
Net Sown Area Cultivated area in the country.
Operational Holding Area managed by a cultivator household. It includes
sub-tenancy.
Ownership Holding Area under legal ownership.
Suggested Readings
Rao, Mohan J. and Storm, Servaas (1998), "Distribution and Growth in Indian
Agriculture" in Byres, Terence J. (ed.), The Indian Economy: Major Debates
since Independence, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Chandrasekhar, C. P. and Ghosh, Jayati (2002), The Market that Failed: A Decade
of Neoliberal Economic Reforms in India, Leftword Books, New Delhi.
References
Ministry of Agriculture (2003), Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, 2003, Ministry

of Agriculture, New Delhi.
National Sample Survey Organisation, All India Debt Investment Survey, 1991:
Household Assets and Liabilities, Report No. 419.
-
Sen, Abhijit (2002), "Agriculture, Employment and Poverty: Recent Trends in Rural
India" in Ramachandran, V. K. and Swaminathan, Madhura, Agrarian Studies:
Essays on Agrarian Relations in Less-Developed Countries, Tulika Books, New
Delhi.
J) Green Revolution refers to a strategy of technological change in agriculture

based on the use of high yielding variety of seeds and chemical inputs. Use of
these modern inputs complemented with the provision of controlled irrigation
resulted in substantial increases in agricultural productivity in selected regions of
India since the mid-J960s.
2) The agricultural development strategy in the Green Revolution was based on
public provisioning of agricultural research, formal credit and agricultural extension.
Building national capacity to produce modern farm inputs and national-level
regulation of agricultural prices were an integral part of this strategy. In contrast,
in the 1990s, the focus of agricultural development strategy shifted to a market-
determined process in which the government plays only a minimal role. As a
result, the focus shifted away from government-financed agricultural research
and extension, provision of cheap credit and subsidies. Concerns related to .
international trade have also come to play a greater role in the national policies
on agriculture.
'.. u,rt:
;, I ~, ~
Check Your Progress II Rural Economic Structure
1) Animal husbandry accounts for about 5 per cent of the national income. India has
a large livestock population-about 16 per cent of world's cattle and 57 per cent
of world's buffaloes are in India. India is the largest producer of milk in the
world. India also has a substantial production of poultry products, fish and meat.
Animal husbandry and other allied activities provide employment to a large share
of rura I population.
I) Technological change and growth of production require heavy farm investments
together with investments in buying modern inputs. Given that the returns from
agriculture are seasonal, rural households need credit for such expenses. Also,
given that a large proportion of rural population lives in severe poverty and does
not have access to land, credit is also required for consumption shortfalls in the
lean season.
2) Land is the most important asset for rural households. About 40 per cent of the
rural households do not have any land. Among the cultivators, about 80 per cent
operate small and marginal landholdings. On the other hand, about 2 per cent
(those who are the largest cultivators) operate about 30 per cent of land. Distribution
of other assets is also highly unequal. The richest 10 per cent of the rural
households own about 50 per cent of the assets while the poorest half of rural
households own less than 10 per cent of the assets.
D is unemployed by the current weekly status criterion. The reasons for classifying
each of the four persons as employed or unemployed are given below:
I Person A is classified as employed because he/she has been able to get work for
two and a half days out of five. The remaining two days he/she was not available
for work.
Person B is a classified as employed because he/she has been able to get work for
three days out of six. He/she was not available for work for one day. Work for less
than one hour in a day is counted as an unemployed day.
Person C is employed since he/she worked for more than one hour on two days out
of the seven.
Person D is unemployed since he/she did not work for even one hour on any of the
six days that he/she was available for work.
Unemployment rate by the current weekly status criterion, therefore, is 25 per cent
(i.e. one out of four).
By the current daily status criterion, A worked for three out of five days, B worked
for four out of six days, C did not work on ~ny of the seven days and D did not work
on any of the six days. Any work for less than half a day is counted as an unemployed
day. Therefore, of a total of 24 days that these persons were available for work, they
found employment only on 7 days. Therefore, the unemployment rate by the current
dai ly status criterion is about 71 per cent.
1) The share of agricultural workers in rural workforce is among the highest in
Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh and Gujarat. In some States, for example, Kerala and West Bengal, a
substantial share of rural workforce is engaged in non-agricultural activities.
Therefore, although agricultural workers constitute the majority of agricultural
workforce in these States, their share in total rural workforce is below the
Indian average.
83
UNIT 5 RURAL POVERTY
Structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Poverty in the Global Context
5.3 Concept and Measures of Poverty
5.3.1 Relative and Absolute Poverty
5.3.2 The Dimensions of Poverty
5.3.3 Vulnerability and Poverty
5.3.4 Measures of Poverty
5.4 Estimation of Poverty in India
5.4.1 Estimation of Poverty
5.4.2 Incidence of Poverty in India
5.4.3 Recent Poverty Debate in India
5.4.4 Survey of Population below the Poverty Line
5.5 Profile of the Poor
5.6 Strategy for Poverty Alleviation
5.7 Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Poverty Alleviation
Programmes
5.8 Let Us Sum Up
5.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying the unit, you should be able to:
• Define different concepts of poverty;

• Describe the millennium development goals;
• Describe and apply the measures of poverty;
• Explain the incidence and distribution of the rural poor in India;
• Outline the profile of the rural poor;
• Describe the strategies for poverty alleviation; and
• Describe implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the poverty alleviation
programmes.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Eradication of poverty has been one of the guiding principles of the planning process
in our country. Improvements in the living standards of people and the provision of
a decent standard of living have been prominent objectives of the successive five-
year plans. Identification of the poor and initiation of specific programmes that address
differential needs of people steeped in poverty have been the distinguishing features
of all the five-year plans. The multi-dimensional nature of poverty in India has been
increasingly recognized over time and the issue of poverty has also become a global
concern especially since the last decade of the 20th century.
84
This unit introduces you to the concept of poverty and discusses the various ways Rural Poverty
of measuring poverty, the profile of the poor and the strategy adopted for poverty
eradication in our country. The unit contains a brief description of the poverty in the
global context. The definition of poverty not only covers the income or consumption
measure of poverty but also encompasses other deprivations that the poor generally
suffer from. The Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations
member countries in October 2000 incorporate some of these concerns. The national
governments have defined poverty keeping in view the conditions obtaining in their
respective countries. India was one of the first countries in the world to estimate
people living below a clearly defined poverty line. As over 75 per cent of the poor
in India reside in rural areas, this unit is devoted exclusively to the analysis' of rural
poverty in India
5.2 POVERTY IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT
In every country there are groups of people who are categorized as poor in comparison
to other groups. The discourse on poverty, however, relates to absolute levels of
poverty. Most countries have defined a level of income or consumption which is
necessary for a standard of living that is socially accepted as adequate. Countries
have different notions of a decent standard of living. In such a situation, the need for
a common definition of poverty to facilitate inter-country comparisons becomes
necessary. The World Bank
has estimated poverty based on purchasing power
parity (PPP). The PPP takes into account price differences across the countries and
allows international comparison of real output and income. The World Bank defined
the poor as the people living on less than one US $ per capita consumption per day
at 1993 prices. On this basis 1.3 billion people or 29.6 per cent of the world's
population was poor in 1990. There has been a considerable reduction in the incidence
of poverty during 1990 to 1999. In 1999, 1.17 billion people or 23.2 per cent of the
world's population was categorized as poor. South Asia, to which we belong, accounts
for the majority of the world's poor. In 1999,488 million South Asians, comprising
36.6 per cent ofthe population in South Asia had a per capita consumption expenditure
of less than one US $ per day. In our country in 1999, 34.7 per cent people survived
on per capita consumption expenditure of less than one US $ (World Bank 2002).
The monetary measures of poverty do not capture the deprivations and disabilities
that the poor suffer. The concept of human poverty is, therefore, considered to cover
more than the word poor may convey ordinarily. It includes health, education, sanitation
and other aspects that have an impact on the living conditions of the people/poor. The
international community in the 1990s had committed itself to achieving specific targets
on the provision of health faci Iities, education and eradication of diseases. Conventions
on environmental sustainability were also signed. In October, 2000, the heads of
Governments of the United Nations Member-Countries committed themselves to
eradicate "poverty, promote human dignity and equality and achieve peace, democracy
and environmental sustai nabi Iity".
The world community committed itself to achieve eight goals. These are known as
the millennium development goals (MOG). Each goal has specific targets and has to
be achieved by the year 2015. The MOOs are to:
• eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,
• achieve universal primary education,
• promote gender equality and empower women,
• reduce child mortality,

• improve maternal health,
• combat HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases,
85
Rural Socie~ and • ensure environmental sustainability; and
Economy
• ensure global partnership for development.
As a part of the global agreement, the developed countries have agreed to reduce
debt and increase aid, trade and technology transfers to the poor countries so that .
the MDGs could be achieved. In March 2002 in Monterrey in Mexico and in September
2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the developed countries agreed to a framework
for assistance to the poor countries in their fight against poverty: Itis expected that
the rich nations would facilitate greater resource transfer to the poor countries to
achieve the MDGs.

of the unit.
1) What is the definition of poverty accepted internationally?
.................... 'l'-'··············································································
'., .
2) What are the Millennium Development Goals?
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
, ..
p ••••••••••••••••
5.3 CONCEPT AND MEASURES OF POVERTY
Poverty has different meanings for different people. The perception of poverty differs
from person to person. Let us look at some of the more important concepts of
poverty.
5.3.1 Relative and Absolute Poverty
The discussion on poverty is generally confined to absolute poverty. Absolute poverty

is measured against a pre-determined level of living that families should be able to
afford. Consumption of food grains, vegetables, milk products and other items that
are necessary for a healthy living and access to other non-food items are included
in the absolute minimum consumption basket. These standards are then converted
into monetary units and defined as the poverty line. People with consumption expenditure
below this threshold are considered poor. The relative position of a person or household
does not matter. The one-dollar consumption expenditure per capita in PPP dollars
is an absolute poverty line accepted internationally. In our country the Planning,
Commission works out poverty lines for urban and rural areas respectively every
year. "/ . :"-;'.V-'.. .-. _., .: ,
86
Relative poverty considers the over all income distribution and the position of a Rural Poverty
household within that distribution. The relative position of one group of people is
compared with another group. The concept of relative poverty can be extended to
other countries as well. In fact, in one of the first studies of poverty in India,
Dadabhai Naoroji in his book 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India' published in
1871, indicated that India was a very poor country in comparison with Britain. United
States of America had a per capita income ofUS$ 35060 in 2003. United Kingdom,
on the other hand, had a per capita income of US$ 25250. United Kingdom would
be considered poor in comparison with United States. Relative poverty is more
closely associated with the issues of inequality. The income or consumption of the last
quintile of the population could be compared with the income of the richest quinti le.
The last quintile population would be termed poor even though on absolute poverty
definition none of the people in the last quintile group may be poor. Per capita income
of a country could also be used to identify the poor. Persons with per capita incomes
of half the country's per capita income could be termed as poor even though they
may be in a position to afford the minimum basket of goods and services that may
represent the poverty line. This again reflects concerns of equality. Relative poverty
is thus different from absolute poverty, which looks more at a household's consumption,
or income available for it to meet its minimum consumption needs.
5.3.2 The Dimensions of Poverty
Income or consumption is one of the main determinants of poverty, which, however,

is related to factors other than income or consumption. People who have low incomes
or consumption suffer from other ·deprivations as well which affect their well-being.
The health status of the poor, their poor nutrition, illiteracy, social exclusion, vulnerability
and laok of opportunities to develop their abilities all form parts of the broader picture/
meaning of poverty. Without-these basic amenities, peoples' ability to participate in
the economic process and contribute to their own well-being and the welfare of the
isociety is adversely affected. Studies show that the poor are more prone to diseases,
~hich adversely affect their earning capacity. Lack of education compels people to
'take up low paid 'menial jobs. The poor, therefore, get caught in a vicious cycle. As
'they are poor, they cannot afford health care when they fall ill. And when they fall
. ill, they cannot work. Their incomes go down and their poverty becomes deeper. The
World Development Report 2004 (World Bank 2004) identified freedom from illness
and freedom from illiteracy as the two most important ways the poor can escape
poverty. The poor are excluded from political decision making processes and subjected
to exploitation and discrimination. They do not possess the ability to fight the entrenched
groups. Any strategy that seeks to address long-term poverty, therefore, has to take
into account these dimensions of poverty..Mere provision of income or consumption
would not make a major impact on the status of the poor if they continue to be
subjected to social and economic discrimination. The Governments have recognized
the multi-dimensional nature of poverty. The millennium development goals discussed
in Section 5.2 reflect different dimensions of poverty. In India, the State Governments
and the Central Government have stepped up substantially the allocations for the
provision of health, education and other facilities to the poor. Role of education in
promoting the welfare of the poor has been recognized by enacting the right to
education as a fundamental right in our country. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched
in the year 200 I is a pointer that other dimensions of poverty are considered as
important as the monetary measures of poverty.
5.3.3 Vulnerability and Poverty
Vulnerability refers to the possibility that a person or a family that may be non-poor
today could fall into the trap of poverty in future. Even within the groups of poor
people, persons who may only be marginally poor may fall into chronic poverty. The
concepr of'vulnerability can be analyzed at different levels. It could be studied at the
87
Rural Society and level of single households. Also, the analysis could be area specific, or extended to
Economy the national and international levels. A family's ability to tide over external shocks
determines whether the family is vulnerable or not. For example, in a household,
which may be marginally above poverty line, illness or death of the primary breadwinner
of the family could have severe implications for the family's standard of living. At
the regional level, people residing in the drought prone, flood prone and the desert
areas could be termed as vulnerable. A drought could wipe out the productive assets
of a family and push it into poverty. Vulnerability could arise from both expected and
unexpected quarters. Agricultural labourers experience vulnerability in the lean
agricultural season when employment opportunities are limited. This is an example of
expected vulnerability situation. Sudden floods, droughts or earthquakes represent
unexpected shocks. At the international level, vulnerability is associated more
with the political and economic developments than any other factors. Many countries
that depend exclusively on single crops have experienced large fluctuations in
their income. Such fluctuations have led to impoverishment of people whatever the
country. The poor are much more vulnerable to such external shocks than the non-
poor.
Vulnerability analysis enables communities and Governments to devise approaches to

reduce the risk of vulnerability. Social security schemes and public works programmes
are some of the major strategies adopted by the Governments to provide protection
to the people.
5.3.4 Measures of Poverty
The most common measure of poverty is to count the number of persons below the
poverty Iine and express it as a percentage of total population in the country (or
region). This is known as the head-count measure of poverty or head count ratio
(HeR). While this measure is simple and readily understandable, its main weakness
is that it gives equal weight to all the poor irrespective of their distance from the
poverty line. The marginally poor and the very poor are treated equally in the head-
count ratio.
Arnartaya Sen has suggested a measure

(popularly knows as Sen s measure of
poverty), which removes the above weakness of the head-count measure. His measure
takes into account not only the number of the poor, but the intensity of poverty as
well. The intensity of poverty is reflected by a concept known as the poverty gap,
which shows how far a poor person falls short from the poverty line. In other words,
it is the difference between the poverty line and the income of the poor, Sen's index
is a weighted sum of the poverty gaps of all the poor, the weights being such that
less poor persons get lower weight than those who are poorer. This measure is
normalized so that it lies between 0 and I. This means that the index is on an
ascending scale between 0 and I, A higher value of Sen's index implies a higher
incidence of poverty. This index can be higher or lower for the same head-count
measure of poverty depending upon the distribution of the poor between less and
more poor.
Illustrative Examples: Let us now take up some illustrative examples pertaining to

various measures of poverty.
Example 1: Head Count Ratio
The following data relates to the distribution of persons by monthly per capita income
classes. If the poverty line for two hypothetical cases A and B is Rs. 100 and
Rs. J 05 per capita respectively, the percentage of the poor can be estimated as
follows:
88
• Rural Poverty
Per Capita Income class (Rs.) Percentage of persons
0-40 1.7
40-60 8.4
60-80 10.9
80-100 17.3
100-1,~0 16.0
120-150 12.5
150-200 15.1
200-400 11.8
400 & above 6.3
In case A, when the poverty line is Rs. 100, the first four income classes will be
below the poverty line. The percentage of the poor in the population or the HeR
would be 38.3 (1.7 + 8.4 + 10.9 + 17.3).
In c~se B, when the poverty line is Rs. 105, while the first four income classes will
clearly be below the poverty line, a part of the fifth class wiJl also be below the
poverty line. If we know how the per capita income is distributed in this class, we
can directly find out the proportion of persons below the poverty line in this class.
This information, however, is not available to us. Therefore, we make a simple

assumption that per capita income is evenly distributed within this class. This
means that 10 per cent of the difference between Rs. 100 and Rs. 120 (i.e. Rs. 2)
corresponds to 10 per cent of the persons in the class, 20 per cent of the difference
(i.e. Rs. 4) would correspond to 20 per cent of the persons in the class and so on.
In this manner a poverty line at Rs. 105 includes Rs. 5 from the income class
Rs. 100-120 or 25 per cent of the range. The corresponding proportion of the
poor in the class Rs. 100-120 will be 25 per cent of 16 per cent, i.e., 4 per cent.
Now, the proportion of population below the poverty line comes to be 38.3 + 4.0 =
42.3 per cent.
Example ll: Poverty Gap Ratio (PGR)
The HeR does not distinguish between persons below the poverty line with different
incomes or consumption levels. In a situation where consumption of every person
below the poverty line increases but still remains below the poverty line, the HeR
.would not register any change even though the income/consumption of the poor has
improved. This can be captured by the Poverty Gap Ratio (PGR) which reflects the
depth of poverty. PGR can be obtained by multiplying Income Gap Ratio (IGR) by
the HeR. Income gap ratio is the average distance of the people below the poverty
line expressed as a percentage of the poverty line. It indicates the depth of poverty.
In the above example, we do not have any information about the per capita. income
of each individual under different income classes. We could take the midpoint of the
class interval as the average income of that class and compute the average income
of people below poverty line. If we take the poverty line as 105, the average income
of people below the poverty line would be (Rs.20 x 1.7 + Rs.SO x 8.4 + RS.70 x 10.9
+ Rs.90 x 17.3 + Rs.I02.5 x 4),' 42.3 = Rs.75.27.
The IGR would be I - XP/X* = (105 - 75.27)/105 = Rs. 28.JI
Where XP the average income of the poor
And X* = the poverty line
The IGR would, therefore be 28.31 per cent. If we multiply this by the HeR of 42.3
per cent, we would get the poverty gap ratio (PGR), which would be 11.98 per cent. 89
Rural Society and
.
-
This indicates that on average, incomes of the persons below the poverty line would
Economy have to be increased by 11.98 per cent if they have to move out of poverty.
Example Ill: Sen's Index
, . The PGR also does not fully reflect the severity of poverty. This is best captured by
,.','
Sen's Index. For simplicity let us consider a society with only 6 persons with monthly
income as given in column I below. It may be pointed out that we will not actually
derive Sen's index but only point out its relevance through this example.
Monthly Income Poverty gap Weight Weighted poverty gap

(Rs)
(I) (2) (3) (4)
70 30 3 90
80 20 2 40
90 10 1 ". 10
130
ISO
200
It can be easily seen that if the poverty line is Rs. 100, three persons or 50 per cent
of the population will be below the poverty line. But from column 2 one finds that
the gap between the poverty line and the income of each of the three poor persons
is widely different, which reflects the relative intensity of poverty experienced by
them. It is this difference that Sen's index attempts to incorporate in the measure of
poverty. It is done by simply not treating all the three persons as equal, but rather
by giving more weight to the poverty of the person who is the poorest and the least
to the one who is only marginally poor. Thus, in our example the poorest person has
a weight of 3 and the least poor of 1 (column 3). Now multiplying the poverty gap
with the weight, one obtains the weighted poverty gap. In our example the sum of
weighted poverty gaps is 140.
If we were now to change the income of the poorest person from Rs. 70 to Rs. 60,
the head-count measure will still show that 50% of the population is below the
poverty line, but Sen's index will change. The poverty gap for the poorest person will
increase from 30 to 40 and the weighted poverty gap from 90 to 120. The sum of
weighted poverty gaps for the three persons will correspondingly rise to 170. Thus,
contrary to the head-count measure, Sen's measure will indicate an increase in
poverty.
5.4 ESTIMATION OF POVERTY IN INDIA
In the previous section, you studied the various measures of poverty. Let us now look
at the estimates of poverty that are made in our country.
5.4.1 Estimation of Poverty
Planning Commission estimates the incidence of poverty based on National Sample

Survey Organisation's (NSSO's) consumer expenditure surveys. The NSSO has'
..
'
been conducting yearly surveys on different themes since 1951-52. Close to 1,30,000
) \ sample households are surveyed every year, A consumer expendin..e schedule to
)
I obtain timeseries data on consumer expenditure is canvassed every year for around
25,000 households out of the total households surveyed. This is referred to as 'thin
sample'. The Government of India does not use the data collected from thin samples
for estimating poverty, as the sample size at the State level is too small for any
90 meaningful poverty estimates. Beginning 1973-74, however, ev~ry fi,~e years detailed
j
consumer expenditure schedule is canvassedfor all the J ,30,000 sample households. Rural Poverty
The Planning Commission brings out data on the proportion of population below the
poverty line and also the depth and severity of poverty based on the consumption
expenditure reported in these quinquennial surveys.
Estimation of poverty has evolved over the years. Refinements in estimation procedures
have been made. The Task Force set up by the Government in 1979 defined poverty
line as per capita expenditure level which provides average daily calorie requirement
of 2400 kcal in rural areas and 2100 kcal in urban areas. These requirements were
based on age and sex specific calorie and nutritional requirements worked out by the
Indian Council of Medical Research. There is some provision for non-food expenditure
as well. Health, education and other facilities are treated as public goods to be
provided by the State. The poverty line does not provide for expenditure on these
services. The monetary equivalent of the poverty line consumption basket was worked
out by using the 28th round (1973-74) NSSO data relating to household consumption
expenditure. And Rs.49.09 per capita per month in rural areas and Rs.56.64 per
capita per month in urban areas were defined as the poverty line in 1973-74.
Two important steps in estimating incidence of poverty are: i) the identification of the
basket of goods and services that constitute the minimum consumption to be above
poverty, and then ii) the computation of the cost of this food basket at current market
prices. The per capita consumption in money terms that would allow a person to
access the basket of goods and services that is defined as minimum requirement
constitutes the poverty line. The Task Force used a uniform poverty line for all the
States. The Planning Commission also felt the need to adjust NSSO consumption
distribution to bring it in line with consumption estimates obtained from National
Accounts of Statistics (NAS) released by Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).
Many economists regarded the Task Force methodology as inappropriate and misleading.
Also, the adjustment procedure, the choice of price deflators and application of the
same poverty line for all the SJates were specifically questioned.
In September 1989, the Planning Commission constituted an Expert Group to examine

the methodology used for estimating the extent of poverty and to redefine the poverty
line. The Group submitted its Report in 1993 (Planning Commission 1993). It was
accepted by the Government in 1997. The Expert Group did not redefine the poverty.
line. The poverty line recommended by the Task Force in 1979 was left unchanged.
However, it made two major departures in the estimation procedures. Adjustment
ef NSSO Consumption Survey estimates to the per capita expenditure obtained from
NAS was given up. The Expert Group also recommended the use of State specific
poverty lines as against national poverty line for rural and urban areas as prices differ
considerably across the States. Consumer Price Index for agricultural labourers and
Consumer Price Index for industrial workers were used for updating rural and urban
poverty lines. The incidence, depth and severity of poverty based on Expert Group
recommendations were estimated for earlier quinquennial surveys as well.
The basket of goods and services that constitute the poverty line in our country is
very limited. Our poverty line is one of the most narrowly defined poverty lines.
Studies show that many households regress back into poverty because of the
expenditure that they hgve to incur on health facilities. The definition of poverty line,
therefore, requires modification as the present poverty line expenditure barely takes
care of the survival needs of the population.
Incidence of poverty is estimated for rural and urban .areas separately. Incidence of
poverty among vulnerable groups such as the scheduled castes and the scheduled
tribes is also calculated State-wise with rural-urban breakup. The Government of
. Indi~aoes not release gender-disaggregated data on incidence of poverty, though
many researchers have used the survey data to work out estimates of poverty among
female-headed households. 91
Rural Society and 5.4.2 Incidence of Poverty in India
Economy
The first attempts at estimating poverty in India were made by a Working Group set
up by the Planning Commission, which quantified the minimum food and non-food
consumption expenditure necessary for healthy living in 1962. Dandekar and Rath in
their pioneering study of Poverty in India in 1971 estimated per capita expenditure
ofRs. 15 per month in rural areas at 1960-61 prices as the poverty line. As mentioned
earlier, the Government of India adopted Expert Group methodology for estimating
poverty in 1997. This methodology was adopted by Ozler et. al. (Reported in Dev,
1997) to calculate the incidence of poverty in India since 1951. These estimates are
based on household consumer survey expenditure data. Incidence of poverty in
rural areas fluctuated greatly during the 1950s and 1960s. Poverty increased from
47.37 per cent in 1951 to 64.24 per cent in 1954-55, dropped to 45.40 per cent in
1960-61 and rose again to over 64 per cent in 1966-67.
Table 5.1: Indices of Poverty and Inequality
HeR Ratio Poverty Gap Squared Lorenz

Index Poverty Gap Ratio
Year Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
1983 45.7 40.8 12.32 10.61 4.78 4.07 0.2976 0.3303

1987-88 39.1 38.2 9.11 9.94 3.15 3.60 0.2983 0.3537
1993-94 37.3 32.4 8.45 7.88 2.78 2.82 0.2819 0.3394
1999-2000 27.1 23.6 5.20* 5.20* - - 0.2595 0.3420
Source: Planning Commission, and
(*) Deaton and Dreze, Economic and Political Weekly, September 7. 2002
The official estimates of poverty are available from 1973-74. As mentioned earlier,
the Expert Group set up in 1989, revised the methodology for estimating poverty in I
India. The estimates of poverty were reworked on the basis of expert group's
recommendations for the NSSO consumer survey expenditure survey rounds of
1973-74, 1977-78, 1983-84 and 1993-94. Table 5.1 above shows the official estimates
of poverty since 1983.
Analysis of the incidence of poverty indicates two broad developments. The proportion
of the poor in the urban areas has increased in the last 30 years. The urban poor
accounted for 18.67 per cent of the total poor in 1973-74. This proportion had
increased to 25.7 per cent in 1999-2000. This indicates that people have been migrating
from rural areas to the urban areas in search of employment opportunities. They are
forced to reside in urban slums under inhuman conditions. Secondly, though the
proportion of rural poverty has marginally declined, the rural poverty is increasingly
getting concentrated in the Central and the Eastern parts of the country.
The States of Bihar (including Jharkhand), Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh (including
Chhattisgarh), West Bengal and Orissa accounted for 54.27 per cent of the rural poor
in 1973-74. This proportion has gone up to 68.81 per cent in 1999-2000. Rural poverty
has declined rapidly in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala, Rajasthan
and Tamil Nadu. The distribution of the rural poor across the States is indicated in
Bar Chart-I. Though the proportion of the poor has decl ined marginally during the
period 1973174 -1999/00, the number of people below the poverty line has actually
increased in many States in the Central and the Eastern parts of the country. Bihar
and Orissa have witnessed an increase in the total number of the poor during this
period. In Madhya Pradesh 23.1 million people were identified as poor in 1973-74,
but this number fell to 21.7 million in 1999-2000. The above chart provides information
on the decline in the incidence of poverty for major states during the period
1993-2000.
92
.....•.•. ~ .~,'
\ .
Bar Chart-I Rural Poverty
Ineide nee of Pove rty in India
01993·94
70.00
1!Il1999·2000
60.00
r-t-
5000
~ 40.00 , f-- ~
~ - e-
~
0. 30.00 - - f-- f--
r+
i
r-
" e
20.00 - - r-- r-- - - -
";
rrrt
r-
10.00 - - r-- r-- - - '-- w

,
0.00
I' ~
L_
- - ~ ~I I
States
The analysis of the incidence of poverty even at the State level does not reveal the
complete picture of rural poverty in India. Even in the States, which have experienced
significant reduction in poverty over the last 30 years, there are areas and regions,
which are extremely poor. Maharashtra, which is considered one of the most developed
States in the country, has pockets of extreme poverty in Vidharbha and Marathwada
areas. On the other hand, in the poorer States like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh, there are regions, which are fairly well developed. The analysis of poverty
has to be carried out at the sub-state levels for formulating an effective poverty
alleviation strategy.
The States, which have shown significant decline in poverty, have followed different
approaches to poverty alleviation. In Punjab and Haryana, rapid agricultural growth
has contributed to poverty reduction. In Kerala, investment in human development
has enabled the population to move out of poverty. Effective public distribution systems
in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadp are considered central to the performance of
these States in poverty reduction. .
5.4.3 Recent Poverty Debate in India

The concept and the measurement of poverty in India have been widely researched
and commented upon. The present debate centers on the estimation of price deflators,
reference period for survey and also the very basis of the poverty line. Growth of
over 3 per cent per annum in per capita income during 1990's and increasing divergence
in the per capita expenditure reflected in NSSO schedules and the national accounts
system have been cited to point out that NSSO consumer expenditure surveys under-
estimate consumption expenditure. As a result, the incidence of poverty is said to be
over estimated.
On the other hand a fierce debate on the incidence of poverty took place after the
Planning Commission released the official estimates of poverty for 1999-2000. They
show that between 1993-94 and 1999-2000, poverty declined by close to 10 per cent
overall and by more than 10 per cent in the rural areas. Many scholars have questioned
the comparability of the 1993-94 and 1999-2000 estimates because of the changes
in the method of data collection. They are of the view that the incidence of poverty
has been under-estimated as there was over-reporting of expenditure by the surveyed
households because of the changes in the survey design. Sundram and Tendulkar
(2003} and Sen and Himangshu (2003) argue that the decline in the incidence of
poverty between 1993-94 and 1999-2000 would be in the range of 7 per cent to 4.5
per cent respectively as against 10 per cent es.tio!1<1ated
officially. 93
Rural Society and 5.4.4 Survey of Population below the Poverty Line
Economy
The estimates of poverty made by the Planning Commission are used for making
allocation of resources to the State Governments for poverty alleviation programmes.
Approximately over 25 per cent of the budgetary support is allocated to the States
on the basis of the incidence of poverty. The data on the incidence of poverty
available at the State level, however, does not meet the requirements of planners and
administrators at the district level for providing assistance to the poor under the
poverty alleviation programmes. The estimates of the incidence of poverty at the
State level have to be supplemented by the identification of the poor at the village
level. This is accomplished through a detailed mapping the Below Poverty Line of
(BPL) households through a census operation every five years. The census is carried
out at the beginning of the every five-year plan.
The number of the poor identified through the BPL surveys conducted for the Ninth
Five Year Plan (1992-97) and the official state-wise estimates of poverty made by
the Planning Commission based on NSSO expenditure surveys, showed a great deal
of divergence. It was felt that the BPL survey included many of the non-p~or as
well. There was a clamour for getting included in the BPL list as it was considered
a passport to various government programmes. The emergence of PRls at the
village and block levels and the politics of patronage further exacerbated the probl~m
of wrong identification. Evaluation studies commissioned by the Government indicated
inclusion of non-poor farn iIies as programme beneficiaries. The Government, therefore,
set up an Expert Group in 200 I to evolve a proper framework for identifying BPL
Table 5.2: Identification of BPL Families: Tenth Plan Approach
SI. Characteristic Scores

No. 0 1 2 3 4
I. Size group of Nil Less than I ha. of I ha. - 2ha. of 2 ha. - 5 ha. of More than
operational un-irrigated land unirrigated land (or un irrigated land 5 ha. of un irrigated
holding of (or less than 0.5 ha. 0.5 - 1.0 ha. of (or 1.0 - 2.5 ha. of land or 2.5 ha. of
land. of irrigated land) irrigated land) irrigated land) irrigated land
2. Type of house Houseless Kutcha Semi-pucca Pucca Urban type
3. Food Security Less than one One square meal Two square meals Enough food
Normally, one
square meal per day throughou per day, with throughout the year
square meal per
per day for the year occasional
day but less than
major part of shortage
one square meal
the year occasionally
4. Sanitation Open Group latrine with Group latrine with Clean group Private latrine
defecation irregular water regular water latrine with regular
supply supply water supply and
regular sweeper
5. Literacy Illiterate Up to primary Completed Graduate/ Pro- Post Graduate/ Pro-
Status of the (class V) secondary (Passed fessional fessional Graduate
highest literate Class X) Diploma
adult
Female & Child Only adult females Adult males only Others
6. Status of the Bonded
Household Labour Labour & no child labour
Labour Force Artisan
Subsistence Training and Skill Salary Others

7. Means of Casual labour
cultivation Up-gradation Housing
livelihood
Self Employment Loans/ Subsidy

8. Preference of Wage
more than Rs. One
Assistance Employment /
lakh orNo
TPDS
assistance needed.
(Targeted
Public
Distribution
System)
94 Source: Expert Group Report on Identification of Families Below Poverty L1I1e, August 2002.
families that would be provided support under anti-poverty programmes during the Rural Poverty
Tenth Plan (2002-07). The Expert Group recommended a score based ranking of
each household. Thirteen parameters that capture different dimensions of poverty
have been identified and households are ranked on a scale of zero to four on these
parameters. (The table given below summarizes some of the main parameters used
in the identification exercise.)
Families below a pre-determined score are identified as poor, and only those identified
as poor by the BPL survey are eligible for coverage under anti-poverty programmes.
In the previous Sections, you read about the concept, the measurement and the
estimation of poverty in India. The figures indicated there, however, do not tell us
anything about the attributes of the poor. Who are the poor? What are their disabilities?
These are some of the questions which are important from the viewpoint of policy
and planning. Let us now look at the people who constitute the majority of the poor.

of the unit.
1) Poverty Gap Index refers to:
a) The percentage of people below the poverty line;
b) The average distance of the poor from the poverty line;
c) Relative position of the poor below the poverty line.
2) For updating the rural poverty line in India, Consumer Price Index that is
used is:
d) Whole sale price index
e) Consumer price index. for industrial workers
f) Consumer price index for agricultural workers
3) Sen's index of poverty gives:
a) More weight to the relatively better off people
b) Same weight to all the poor people
c) Less weight to the relatively better off people.
5.5 PROFILE OF THE POOR
The question 'Who is poor?' needs to be answered before making any plans for
poverty alleviation. The incidence of poverty is closely related to employment, ecological
setting and ethnic profile of the population. The availability of employment determines
to a large extent whether a person would be poor or non-poor. In Indian Context,
however, this relationship does not hold true. The data on unemployment shows that
unemployment rate in the country on the Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status
(UPSS) basis is only about 2 per cent. Even on the current daily status basis, which
! captures unemployment and under-employment much better than the UPSS,
unemployment rate was only 7.3 per cent in 1999-2000. The incidence of poverty 011
the other hand in the rural areas during the same period was 27.09 per cent. It is
obvious that people who are otherwise employed are also not in a position to provide
for the minimum basket of foods and services that represents the poverty line. The
box below identifies groups that are more likely to be poor.
95
Rural Society and Box: 1
Economy'
Who is poor?
• Landless or marginal farmers cultivating low value products, inostly for

family subsistence;
• Self employed artisans / service rendering people catering to low income
customers / markets;
• Women headed households and groups with large families but limited assets
and earn ing opportunities;
• People with limited skills and education engaging in seasonal casual work;
• Socially excluded, depressed groups (e.g. lower castes), tribals, nomads,
etc.
• Victims of the side effects of development of infrastructure and other
changes which disintegrated their past sustenance strategies (e.g. people
affected by breakdown of traditional occupations, collective sustenance
systems, etc.
Where do the poor live?
Under this category (closely related to the above in some cases) of people one
can include the following:
• Urban slums, peripheries of towns;
• Fragile, low-productivity, high risk, isolated areas such as deserts, mountains,

small islands, etc.
• Poor, backward and underdeveloped administrative units (e.g. provinces,

districts, etc.) in the countries, where due to several natural, socio-political
and economic reasons, the pattern and the pace of development have failed
to keep up with the rest of the country. These areas lack in both social
sector facilities and the earning opportunities. In several of such areas,
rich natural resources exist and are extracted for the mainstream economy
with little gains for the locals. In sLlch situations migration is one option
people choose to sustain their families.
• Poorly governed and politically invisible areas also fall under this category.
Source: SAARC Regional Poverty Profile 2003
The incidence of poverty is greater in certain communities in India. Scheduled Tribes,

who reside in the more fragile areas of the country, exhibit higher incidence of
poverty. The other social indicators of health, education and related facilities are also
very poor in these areas. Even though tribals may have access to land, the poor
quality of land contributes to their poverty. Scheduled Castes who are dispersed
across the country also show a hjgher incidence of poverty. Most of the agricultural
labourers in the country are landless scheduled castes. Their educational and skills
levels are also limited. As a result, they show higher incidence of poverty than the
general population. The table below provides information on the incidence of poverty
among the SCs / STs.
96
Table 5.3: Poverty by Social Groups Rural Poverty
(%)
Rural 1993-94 1999-2000

STs 51.96 45.86
SCs 48.32 36.25
All Population 37.32 27.09
Urban
STs 40.74 34.75
SCs 49.84 38.47
All Population 32.28 23.62
Source: Planning Commission (2002)
5.6 STRATEGY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION
The anti-poverty strategy adopted by the country has three broad components. The
role of economic growth in the alleviation of poverty has been important. Growth in
the sectors, which provide avenues of livelihood to the rural poor, is critical. The
second component relates to the provision of basic services such as health, education,
clean drinking water, sanitation, electricity, rural housing and connectivity through the
provision of rural roads. Thirdly, the directly targeted anti-poverty programmes cater
\to both the transient poverty as well as the long-term poverty. The Tenth Five Year
Plan (2002-07) has set specific goals to be achieved in the Tenth and the subsequent
plans. These goals, known as monitorable targets, relate to reduction of poverty,
creation of employment, reduction in infant and maternal mortality, increase in forest
cover and other aspects that affect quality of life in the country. In your Course
MRD-I0l, Rural Development: Indian Context, you will read about the Poverty
Alleviation Programmes, Programmes for Self and Wage Employment and Social
Security, Programmes which provide basic infrastructure in rural areas and schemes
that seek to conserve natural resources and our environment. All these programmes
are bound to make an impact on rural poverty, provided they are implemented
effecti ve Iy.
5.7 IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND

EVALUATION OF THE POVERTY ALLEVIATION
PROGRAMMES
Successful implementation of poverty alleviation programmes depends on the ability

of the delivery agencies/mechanisms to plan sound projects and implement them in
a cost effective manner. The commitment of the officials dealing with the poverty,
alleviation programmes, their motivation and integrity have been highlighted as one of
the pre-requisites for the successful implementation of anti-poverty programmes by
the Government. The reform in governance structures to make governance more
responsive and people friendly has emerged as one of the key aspects in the
development debate.
District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) were created in the 1980's to

r implement the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) and wage
employment programmes. However, many shortcomings were noticed in the
implementation of the schemes for economic and social development. Lack of people's
97
Rural Society and participation and a top down approach to local pr~blems. were identified as the major
Economy . drawbacks in the process of programme implementation. To encourage people's
participation in development and improve implementation of poverty alleviation
programmes, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were provided Constitutional status
in 1992. PRIs have been set-up at the district, taluka (block) and at the village levels.
The programmes implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development are now
implemented through the PRIs only. The monitoring of poverty alleviation programmes
has been given greater attention. Gram Sabhas have been empowered to exercise
effective control on programme implementation through social audit. The Gram Sabha
verifies the projects and monitors the quality of project execution. The enactment of
the right to information and the association of non-Governmental organizations in
delivering programmes have further strengthened the monitoring mechanism. The
specific Task Forces set-up by the Government from time to time also monitor
projects. Evaluation of wage employment programmes has shown that they are more
effective in reaching the poor, as they are self-targeting in nature. Only the very poor
register themselves for work under wage employment programmes, which require
physical labour. These programmes have also helped in putting an upward pressure
on agricultural wage rates. The related evaluations, however, indicate that the number
of man-days generated has been inadequate in relation to the demand for wage
employment. Since 2001, wages have been paid partly in kind (in the form of food-
grains) in view of the comfortable food-grain stocks with the Food Corporation of
India. The programme has ensured nutritional security of the poor during droughts,
floods and other external shocks. Self-employment programmes, which have been
revamped, have also contributed to the empowerment of the poor. Women have been
the focus of group formation. The Self-help Group (SHG) movement has been more
successful in the Southern States of the country. In the Central and the Eastern
States, which account for the majority of the rural poor, the SHG movement is weak
and needs to be strengthened. In the Southern States, however, the SHGs have
enabled women to participate in the social and economic decision making with greater
vigour and effectiveness.

of the unit.
1) The monitorable targets in the Tenth Five Year Plan relate to:
a) Growth in per-capita income;
b) Reduction in the infant mortality rate
c) Reduction in the child mortality rate
d) All the three.
2) The strategy for poverty alleviation in India comprises:
a) Economic growth
b) Provision of basic minimum services
c) Directly targeted anti-poverty programmes
d) All the three.
3) Match each item in column A with the corresponding 'item in column B.
A B
i) SGSY a) Area specific Programme
ii) SGRY b) Self employment Programme
• '<.
iii) DPAP c) Wage employment Programme
98
Rural Poverty
·5.8 LET US SUM UP
In this unit we have discussed the concept, the measurement and the incidence of
poverty and the strategy adopted by the Government for poverty alleviation. The
question of poverty became one of the major global concerns in the last decade of
the 20th century, when the international community committed itself to eradicating
poverty in its different forms by adopting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The incidence of poverty in Ind ia has been a matter of intense debate especially after
the publication of the 1999-2000 poverty estimates. Many have questioned the extent
of decline in the incidence of poverty. There is, however, an agreement among the
scholars that there has been a decline therein. One of the disturbing features, however,
is the concentration of poverty in certain pockets of the country. The Central and the
Eastern States in India account for the majority of the rural poor. The Government
has taken up a number of programmes to eradicate poverty. Economic growth,
provision of basic infrastructure and directly targeted anti-poverty programmes, all
contribute to poverty alleviation. It is expected that with better targeting and
implementation of these and similar schemes, India would be able to achieve fairly
substantial reduction in poverty by the end of the Eleventh Plan (2007-2012).
Suggested Readings
Ahu1uwalia, M.S. (1978): "Rural Poverty and Agricultural Performance in India",

Journal of Development Studies, 14: 298-323.
Datta, K.L. and Sharma, Savita (2002): Facets of Indian Poverty. Concept Publishing
Company, New Delhi.
Fan. S., P. Hazell and S.K. Thorat (2000): "Impact of Public Expenditure on Poverty
in Rural India", Economic and Political Weekly, September 30, 2000.
Krishna, A. (2003): "Falling into Poverty: Other side of Poverty Reduction", Economic
and Political Weekly, February 8, 2003.
Planning Commission (2000): Mid-Term Appraisal of Ninth Five Year Plan 1997-
2002. Government of India, October 2002, New Delhi.
Planning Commission (2001): National Human Development Report 2001.

Government of India, New Delhi.
Sundram, K. and S. Tendulkar (2003): "Poverty Has Declined in the I990s: A

Resolution of Comparability Problems in the NSS Consumer Expenditure Data",
Economic and Political Weekly, January 25, 2003.
,
References
Deaton, A. and J. Dreze (2002): "Poverty and Inequality in India: A Re-examination",

Economic and Political Weekly, September 7, 2002 .
.Bev, Mahendra S. (1997): "Growth, Employment, Poverty and Human D~velopment:

An Evaluation of Change in India since Independence with Emphasis on
Rural Areas", Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai (print No.
264 - 1997).
99·
.....••.. ..:..; ..
Rural Society and Ministry of Rural Development (2002): Expert Group Report on Identification of
Economy Families below Poverty Line, August 2002.
Planning Commission (1993): Report of the Expert Group on Estimation of

Proportion and Number of Poor, Government of India, July 1993.
Planning Commission (2002): Tenth Five Year Plan: 2002-2007. Government of

India, New Delhi.
SAARC (2003): SAARC Regional Poverty Profile 2003. SAARC Secretariat,

Kathmandu, September 2003.
Sen, A. and Himangshu (2003): Poverty and Inequality in India: Getting Closer
to the Truth, mimeo, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
Sundram, K. and S. Tendulkar (2003): "Poverty in India in the 1990s: An Analysis

of Changes in 15 Major States", Economic and Political Weekly, April' 5, 2003.
World Bank (2002): World Development Report: Poverty Reduction and-the World
Bank: Progress in operationalising the WDR 2000 / 2001: Oxford.
World Bank (2004): World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for
Poor. Washington, 2003.
1) The per-capita consumption expenditure of one US $ at 1993 prices in purchasing

power parity terms has been used by the World Bank as the international
poverty line for making country specific estimates of poverty.
2) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are specific targets to be achieved by"

all the countries by 2015. These relate to reduction in Head Count Ratio, reduction
in Infant and Maternal Mortality Rates; targets for environmental sustainability
and other related parameters, which have an impact on the living conditions of
the poor.
1) (b)
2) (c)
3) (c)
1) (d)
2) (d)
3) (i) and (b); (ii) and (c); (iii) and (a)
100
MPDD/IGNOU/P.O. 1.5K1Dec., 2016 (Reprint)
.' ..
ISBN-978-81-266-1674-1

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Indira Gandhi National Open University

School of Continuing Education

Rular Society and Economy 1

fClqqdlaU CflT ~ ~ ~ ~ CflT l'i ~ ~

" Education is a liberating force, and in

Block Preparation Team

Block 1 Rural Society and Economy

Unit 1 Introduction to Rural Society

Block 2 Rural Development: Concepts, Strategies and Experiences

Unit I Development - An Overview

Block 3 Rural Development - Agrarian Issues

Unit 1 Agrarian Movements

Block 4 Rural Development Administration

Unit 1 Administrative Structure

Block 5 Dynamics of Change in Rural India

Unit 1 Social Change: Mobility & Mobilization

Welcome to the course MRD-1 0 I, Rural Development=-Indian Context.

As a programme of tudy, the subject of Rural Development needs regular updating

After reading this lesson, you will be able la:

Check Your Progress I

1) Define the concept of the degree of urbanization?

1.3' THE IDEAL MODEL OF THE RURAL SOCIETY

In comparison with a rural society, we find that an urban society is 'future-oriented'.

• A sizable number of rural people are engaged in agriculture, which is the

Rural society is regarded as the repository of traditional mores and folkways.

Check Your Progress 11

Note: a) Write your answers in the space provided.

1) What is an 'affluent' village'?

2) Give three salient characteristics of a 'rural society'

According to the recently circulated Draft of National Policy on Tribal Populations

Check Your Progress III

I) Define the term Scheduled Tribe.

1.5 RURAL AND URBAN SOCIETIES: DIFFERENCES

Check Your Progress IV

I) List three main differences between a rural and an urban society .

1.5.1 Characteristics of Villages

is highly diversified in cities. Also, there is a greater degree of occupational'

1.5.2 Characteristics of Cities

Check Your Progress V

1) Elaborate on the meaning of the phrase 'folk-urban continuum'.

1.6 LITTLE AND GREAT TRADITIONS

Redfield proposed the concept of 'little community', which may be imagined to be

1.6.1 Characteristics of Little and Great Traditions

• It is the tradition of the lettered people who are few in number.

1.6.2 Critical Assessment

Redfield's approach is popularly known as the 'cultural approach', because he looks

Check Your Progress VI

1.7 TYPES OF VILLAGE

1.8 IMPORTANT RURAL STUDIES CONDUCTED IN

Check Your Progress VII

I) Define a nucleated village.

1.10 KEY WORDS

is small, but these members also practice agriculture.

Redfield, Robert. 1956. Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach

Bharucha, Rustom. 2003. Rajasthan: An Oral History, Conversations with Komal

Orenstein, H. 1965. Gaon: Conflict and Cohesion in an Indian Village. Princeton:

Srinivas, M.N. 2002. Collected Works. Oxford University Press

1.12 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE ANSWERS

Check Your Progress I

1) The degree of urbanization is arrived at by dividing the number of people living

Check Your Progress 11 Introduction to Rural

2) The three salient characteristics of a rural society are:

i) It is small in size with a low density of population.