Before Independence, the fields of a village in the plains were held by a landlord family living in the city. The family visited the village only to collect rent and played no other part in farming. Soon after Independence, a land reform law of the state took away the family's rights over these fields, and the rights passed to another group in the village. Over the years, the village saw new patterns of power and work.
On whose labour did the new holders of land rights in such villages depend for tilling and tending the land?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The lower castes, specially the 'untouchable' castes
Option (1) Migrant labourers from the cities, hired through middlemen — Incorrect. The new landholders drew their workers from the lower castes of the same village. Migrant labour hired through middlemen has no place in this account of village farming.
Option (2) Poorer members of their own caste working as hired hands — Incorrect. The intermediate caste was itself the landholding group and only managed the farming. The hands that tilled its fields came from the castes below it in the caste order.
Option (3) Poor upper-caste families who had lost their land rights — Incorrect. The upper castes who lost their rights were absentee landlords living in towns and cities. Their only link with farming had been collecting rent, and they stayed away from village work.
Option (4) The lower castes, specially the 'untouchable' castes — Correct. The rights passed to intermediate castes who managed agriculture but were not cultivators. To till and tend the land, they depended on the labour of the lower castes, especially the 'untouchable' castes.
NCERT (2026-27): “Caste in the Present … |