The growth of Agricultural Labor during British Rule

The growth of Agricultural Labor during British Rule

The revolutionary changes in agrarian property relations, rigid execution of an exorbitant land revenue policy, decline of the Handicrafts sector, commercialization of agriculture, and rise in the population were in effect, responsible for the growth of agricultural labor in India.

The introduction of the new agrarian relations largely stripped the peasants of their customary and hereditary rights to cultivate land. This forced many of the poor peasants to become agricultural labourers.

Under the British rule in India, land revenue rates were not only exorbitant but were payable only in cash terms. This often forced the poor peasant to mortgage his lands, in order to borrow money to meet his land revenue and rent obligations. On default of payment the land was confiscated reducing the peasant to a landless labourer.

The decline of the handicrafts sector was largely an outcome of the penetration of cheap manufactured goods from Britain, into the Indian market, with the development of railways, the village self-sufficiency was pierced through and rural artisans were dislocated. Many of the urban handicraft artisans and rural artisans had to fall upon the agricultural sector for their livelihood.

The commercialization of agriculture was also responsible for the growth of agricultural labour in India. It brought about capitalistic farming on a large scale and thereby led to increased demand for agricultural labour, especially in the plantation estates. The rising trend in population growth was also partly responsible for the growth in agricultural labor.

The major impact of the growth of agricultural labour was deterioration in their living standards. With excess availability of agricultural labor in relation to their demand, the net result was that of a downward trend in wages of agricultural workers. The government did not take significant steps to improve the working conditions of agricultural labor. In fact, law permitted forcible prevention of plantation workers from fleeing. Thus their position was none better than that of the bonded labor. It was only in the 1920s that the Provincial governments made some efforts to improve the working conditions of the agricultural labor, but even this was largely symbolic. Only after the attainment of independence, concrete steps have been taken for the betterment of agricultural labor, by implementing land reforms, introducing minimum wages in the agricultural sector, etc.

The problem of rural indebtedness is linked with the larger issue of rural poverty. Poverty alleviation measures have to be taken up on a war footing to augment the income of the ruralites. Mobilization of local, social and economic resources, an equitable distribution of benefits of new agricultural strategy and establishment of a good number of co-operatives and commercial banks will go a long way in mitigating the magnitude of rural indebtedness from the rural social matrix.

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