Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on it.
Another significant change in rural society that is linked to the commercialisation of agriculture has been the growth of migrant agricultural labour. As 'traditional' bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and landlords broke down, and as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour increased in prosperous Green Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a pattern of seasonal migration emerged in which thousands of workers circulate between their home villages and more prosperous areas where there is more demand for labour and higher wages. Labourers migrate also due to the increasing inequalities in rural areas from the mid-1990s, which have forced many households to combine multiple occupations to sustain themselves. As a livelihood strategy, men migrate out periodically in search of work and better wages, while women and children are often left behind in their villages with elderly grandparents. Migrant workers come mainly from drought prone and less productive regions, and they go to work for part of the year on farms in the Punjab and Haryana, or on brick kilns in U.P., or construction sites in cities such as New Delhi or Bangalore. These migrant workers have been termed 'footloose labour' by Jan Breman, but this does not imply freedom. Breman's (1985) study shows, to the contrary, that landless workers do not have many rights, for instance, they are usually not paid the minimum wage. It should be noted here that wealthy farmers often prefer to employ migrant workers for harvesting and other such intensive operations, rather than the local working class, because migrants are more easily exploited and can be paid lower wages. This preference has produced a peculiar pattern in some areas where the local landless labourers move out of the home villages in search of work during the peak agricultural seasons, while migrant workers are brought in from other areas to work on the local farms. This pattern is found especially in sugarcane growing areas. Migration and lack of job security have created very poor working and living conditions for these workers.
What kind of process is the above passage reflecting?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Circulation of Labour
Option (1) Capitalisation of Agriculture — Incorrect. The passage links migrant labour to the commercialisation of agriculture, that is, farming for the market. That change is the background; the process the passage goes on to describe is the movement of workers.
Option (2) Green Revolution — Incorrect. The Green Revolution made regions such as the Punjab prosperous and raised their seasonal demand for labour. The passage mentions it as a cause, not as the process it describes.
Option (3) Circulation of Labour — Correct. Thousands of workers circulate between their home villages and more prosperous areas where there is more demand for labour and higher wages, and return home when the work is over. This back-and-forth movement of migrant agricultural workers is called the circulation of labour.
Note: The concept in Option (1), ‘Capitalisation of Agriculture’, is not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students. It means putting capital (machines, purchased inputs and hired labour) into farming so that it is run as a profit-making business.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.5 Circulation of Labour … Another significant change in rural society that is linked to the commercialisation of agriculture has been the growth of migrant agricultural labour. As ‘traditional’ bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and landlords broke down, and as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour increased in prosperous Green Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a pattern of seasonal migration emerged in which thousands of workers circulate between their home villages and more prosperous areas where there is more demand for labour and higher wages.…” “…The large scale circulation of labour has had several significant effects on rural society, in both the receiving and the supplying regions.…” |