Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Sociology

Chapter

Social Change and Development in India: Change and Development in Rural Society

Question:

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:

The term agrarian structure is often used to refer to the structure 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. 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. Similarly, tenants have lower incomes than owner-cultivators. Because they have to pay a substantial rent to the landowner - often as much as 50 to 75 per cent of the income from the crop. Agrarian society, therefore, can be understood in terms of its class structure. But we must also remember the structure is itself through the caste system. In rural areas, there is a complex relationship between caste and class. We might expect that the higher castes have more land and higher incomes. And that there is a correspondence between caste and class as one moves down the hierarchy. In many areas this is broadly true but not exactly. For instance, in most areas the highest caste, the Brahmins, are not major landowners, and so they fall outside the agrarian structure although they are a part of rural society. In most regions of India, the major landowning groups belong to the upper castes. In each region, there are usually just one or two major landowning castes, who are also numerically very important. Such groups were termed by the sociologist M.N. Srinivas as dominant castes. In each region, the dominant caste is the most powerful group, economically and politically, and dominates local society.

Who are the tenants in the agrarian class structure?

Options:

Cultivators who have migrated in other areas.

Labourers who work against daily wages.

Cultivators who have access to land through lease.

Cultivators who are bound by 'hereditary' labour relationships.

Correct Answer:

Cultivators who have access to land through lease.

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (3) → Cultivators who have access to land through lease.

The passage describes tenants within the agrarian class structure: "Similarly, tenants have lower incomes than owner-cultivators. Because they have to pay a substantial rent to the landowner - often as much as 50 to 75 per cent of the income from the crop."

This implies that tenants are cultivators who do not own the land but work on it by paying rent to a landowner. This is essentially accessing land through a lease arrangement.