Read the passage and answer the following questions.
Agricultural land is the single most important resource and form of property in rural society. Further, agrarian structure is often used to refer to the distribution of landholding which is highly unequal among households. Some families own land, while many family do not own any land at all. In most regions of India, women are usually excluded from ownership of land because of the prevailing patrilineal kinship system. Access to land shapes the rural class structure. Medium and large landowners are usually able to earn sufficient income from cultivation. But agricultural labourers are able to earn very little. They are mostly daily-wage workers and their incomes are low. Agrarian society in rural areas have a complex relationship between caste and class. In each region there are usually just one or two major land owning castes who are also numerically very important. Sociologist M.N. Srinivas termed them as dominant castes. Example of dominant land owning groups are Rajputs of U.P., the Lingayats of Karnataka and Kammas of Andhra Pradesh. While dominant landowning groups are usually middle or high ranked castes, most of the marginal farmers and landless belong to lower caste groups. Also, in most regions of the country, a proprietary caste group owns most of the resources and labour who work for them. Until recently, practices such as begar or free labour were prevalent in many parts of north India. Although such practices have been abolished by law, they continue to exist.
Most of agricultural labourers are:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Daily wage workers
Option (1) Daily wage workers — Correct. Agricultural labourers are often paid below the statutory minimum wage and earn very little. Most of them are daily-wage workers, hired and paid by the day, and they do not have work for many days of the year, which is called underemployment.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.1 Agrarian Structure: Caste and Class in Rural India … The term agrarian structure is often used to refer to the structure or distribution of landholding. Because agricultural land is the most important productive resource in rural areas, access to land shapes the rural class structure. Access to land largely determines what role one plays in the process of agricultural production. Medium and large landowners are usually able to earn sufficient or even large incomes from cultivation (although this depends on agricultural prices, which can fluctuate greatly, as well as other factors such as the monsoon). But agricultural labourers are more often than not paid below the statutory minimum wage and earn very little. Their incomes are low. Their employment is insecure. Most agricultural labourers are daily-wage workers. And do not have work for many days of the year. This is known as underemployment.…” |