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2012 42: 69Social ChangeArun Kumar Ghosh

A Diachronic Study of the Political Economy of Ranikhera Village in Delhi

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Legitimacy, Power and Subversion 69

A Diachronic Study of the Political Economy of Ranikhera Village in Delhi

Arun Kumar GhoshFormer fellow of the Council of Social Development [email protected]

AbstractThis article highlights the changes that have taken place in the political economy of Ranikhera village between 1953 and 2008. Urbanisation is the key factor in transforming the village life. Agriculture has lost its traditional importance as a major source of livelihood. The social relations of production between the land-owning Jajmans and landless servicing castes have been affected by opening up of new employment opportunities in the metropolitan city of Delhi. Many Dalits have ‘emancipated’ themselves from their earlier dependence on their Jajmans. The growth of unauthorised colonies adjacent to the village has led to the emer-gence of new economic and political relations between the migrant population and the villagers. Recent acquisition of agriculture land by the Delhi government has further affected the village life.

Keywords Jajmani system, subsistence economy, power structure, domination, dalit, urbanisation, migrant labourers, literacy, employment

Introduction

During the colonial period of British India, many rural villages in Delhi state were relatively closed with a certain degree of self-sufficiency based on subsistence economies. The social relations of production in the village operated within the framework of Jajmani system in which the landowning caste was the principal jajman (patron) for the servicing castes. Most of these servicing castes were land-less and poor belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The jajman, on the other hand, was ritually higher and economically bet-ter off than the servicing castes. The servicing castes were traditionally related to the jajman through mutual obligations of rendering services or providing goods in

Article

Social Change 42(1) 69–91 CSD 2012

SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London,

New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC

DOI: 10.1177/004908571104200105http://socialchange.sagepub.com



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91

70 Arun Kumar Ghosh

exchange of periodic receipts of food grains from them. W. H. Wiser was the first to describe how goods and services were exchanged under the Jajmani system in a rural Indian village (Wiser, 1936). According to Wiser, the major function of Jamani system is to ensure a stable labour supply to dominant agricultural caste. The labour supply other than family labour is generally provided to jajmans by landless who belong to lower castes. Wiser emphasised the integrating and the social security aspects of the system that provided ‘peace and contentment’ for the villagers. Opler and Singh, as cited by Oscar Lewis (Lewis, 1958), have made a similar emphasis:

Not only does everyone have some place within the Hindu system, but it is significant that every group, from the Brahman to the Chamar caste, has been somehow integrated into the social and ceremonial round of the community and has been given some oppor-tunity to feel indispensable and proud. (see Lewis, 1955)

According to them, the Jajmani system is perceived to be based on the principle of reciprocity which operates without bargaining and with little or no exchange of money. Bargaining and exchange of money are the characteristics of trade and market. There is an absence of bargaining in the exchange of goods and services in the Jajmani system (Neale, 1957). The mutual interdependence between the jajmans and the servicing castes with principle of reciprocity suggests a subsis-tence guarantee model of the system. However, those who have viewed Jajmani system a subsistence guarantee model have missed the underlying form of oppres-sion and exploitation which is inherent in the structure of the system. The Jajmani system has also been viewed as the relations of patronage that makes the system exploitative and unequal. Some scholars believed that it is conflict ridden, driven by market rationality (Biedelman, 1959; Gough, 1960; Hjejle, 1967). However, the system is not based on forced labour. It is sustained through mutual inter-est of both parties taking the form of interpersonal relations of patron and client (Breman, 1974).

The functioning of Jajmani system was not independent of the local political system. The caste panchayat of the landowning caste played a dominant role in regulating the social relations between the landowning jajmans and the landless servicing castes. It decided how much quantity of food grains to be paid to each of their servicing castes. The servicing castes had always accepted the decisions and had never protested against the rulings of the panchayat. The Jajmani system became ‘conflict ridden’ with gradual exposure to outside forces. The social and the political movements of the Arya Samaj and the Indian National Congress in the 1920s and the 1930s of the last century challenged the untouchability and rigidity of caste system. These movements had made a profound impact on the Jajmani system in this part of rural India. The Dalits were made aware of their rights. It was during these periods they started taking the cases of dispute with their jajmans to the courts. These movements had given them a new hope to rise



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91

The Political Economy of Ranikhera Village in Delhi 71

above the subjugation of the caste system and raise their voices of protest against any kind of oppression. Thus, there had been a loosening of social and economic ties between the jajmans and the servicing castes during the last three decades of colonial rule.

After independence, new employment opportunities were generated in the city. The positions at the lowest level bureaucracy of the government were largely occupied by the villagers. Some villagers with a certain level of education also joined clerical services in the government. It is not only the higher caste people of the villages who availed of the employment opportunities provided by the govern-ment but the educated lower caste people like Chamar also joined the government service through reserved quotas. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) recruited the people of Balmiki caste for the posts of safai karamcharis for which no educational qualification was needed. The posts of safai karamcharis were exclusively reserved for Balmiki caste. When Delhi Transport service (now Delhi Transport Corporation) came into being, it was largely the Jats who were recruited for the posts of drivers and conductors. Besides these jobs, new jobs were also generated in private organisations as well as in trades, commerce and industry. Thus, availability of urban jobs in the city attracted a large number of villagers to take up these jobs. The reason for gradual shift from agriculture to service and other non-farm jobs cannot be attributed simply to ‘urban inputs’. Dipankar Gupta has rightly argued that ‘village land holding structure is such that that there are few jobs available in the fields that can engage the rural population on a sustained, albeit, suboptimal, basis’ (Gupta, 2005: 751). Over the years since independence the size of holding per household has been reduced due to fragmentation of hold-ing coupled with breakdown of joint families. It has become extremely difficult for many landowning households to earn a living solely on agricultural income. It is for this reason some members of these households have joined service or any other occupation while other landowning households have leased out their land to their kinsmen and earn their livelihood on service. Those who pursue agriculture as their main occupation depend on land taken on lease.

Jajmani system broke down with increased employment opportunities in the city and technological change in the production of agricultural crops. Increase in mechanisation of agriculture has reduced the number of hired labourers in farm activities. Since many Dalits whose families were traditionally attached to the landowning castes have now joined services or taken up new occupations, the landowning cultivating castes have started depending upon migrant labourers particu-larly during the time of harvesting. The traditional production relations based on Jajmani system was replaced by contractual and interpersonal relations between patrons and clients.

With the breakdown of Jajmani system, the power of the caste panchayat and village panchayat dominated by landowning castes has diminished to a great extent. After independence, the rural villages of Delhi came under the jurisdic-tion of MCD. The ward councillors of MCD became responsible for development



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72 Arun Kumar Ghosh

activities of the village while the village panchayat was mainly entrusted to look after the common land of the village.

With the spread of education and improvement in roads and transport, the link-age between rural and urban space was established. As more and more villagers started joining services and taking up new occupations, the villagers became more and more dependent on the city for their livelihood. The breakdown of the Jajmani system and decreasing role of village panchayat have affected the economic and political relations within the village. Internal rural dynamic is linked to the macro level changes that are occurring in economic and political environment of the wider region of which villages form a part. It is more so in the case of rural villages of Delhi than any other villages closer to small and medium towns. Delhi being the national capital and also the biggest business centre of North India it has grown phenomenally. In the last one decade or two with the growth of National Capital Region, urban development of the city has been taking place at a greater pace and the rural fringes of Delhi are increasingly coming under urbanised zone.

Ever since the task of urban development of the city was entrusted to Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the Delhi Development Act, 1957 and the publication of its first Master Plan for Delhi in 1961, the Government of Delhi started acquiring agricultural land from the farmers for planned development of the city. The processes that underlied urban development in the metropolitan city has led to a physical integration of urban and rural space through incorporation of villages in urbanised zone. In 1961, only 22 per cent of the total area of Delhi was urban which increased to 46 per cent in 1991 and 62 per cent in 2000.

The rural fringes of outer Delhi in the north-west comprising mainly rural settlements across the agricultural fields were relatively free from urban agglo-meration of the city.1 The process of urbanisation in this region began in 1980s when some unauthorised factories and unauthorised colonies started coming up on the peripheries of rural settlements. The inhabitants of the unauthorised colonies are generally migrant population from different states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Kashmir. They came to Delhi in different points of time. They are mostly low and lower middle income groups who are forced to move out the city to settle in unauthorised colonies because of increase in the cost of living in the city. The growth of unauthorised colonies and establishment of factories have also attracted rural poor from Bihar, Jharkhand and UP who have left their native village and came to Delhi in search of employment. These migrant labourers either have insufficient lands with cor-responding income level or they have insufficient income to earn their living or have virtually no employment in their native village (Majumdar, 1983; Singh and D Souza 1980; Sinha and Ghosh, 1988).

The process of urbanisation and industrialisation of rural fringes of outer Delhi in the north-west became rapid after acquisition of agricultural land from the farmers for reallocating industrial units and development of industrial estate. In 1998–99, the government acquired agricultural land in Bawana for development



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91


of industrial area. Bawana industrial area developed by Delhi State Industrial Corporation is the largest in Asia and is spread over 1,900 acres of land. In 2005, the government acquired a huge area of agricultural land spread over 13 villages for extension of residential and industrial area under Rohini project. In 2006, the government started acquiring agricultural land from the farmers in Kanjawala and Karala for development of industrial estate; protests and agitations spread over the acquisition of their land in September 2008. The net cultivated area of this region started declining ever since the government started acquiring lands from the farmers.

The population of this region has increased due to migration of population in unauthorised colonies. The resettlement sites selected for rehabilitation of Jhuggi Jhompri (slum dwellers) have further added to the growth of population. The Jhuggi Jhompri resettlement colony located in Bawana is one of the largest resettlement colonies in Delhi. Increase in demand for plots in unauthorised colo-nies and recent announcement of regularisation of 1639 unauthorised colonies by the government has increased the cost of the land. Increase in the cost of the land has attracted a large numbers of property dealers to set up their own offices in unauthorised colonies. Most of the property dealers are outsiders. Some villagers an involved in purchase and sale of plots.

There has been an increase in demand for migrant labourers for construction and renovation of houses both within the villages and unauthorised colonies. There is also a demand for skilled workers like masons, electricians, mechanics and plumbers. Though some rural youths are developing these skills but it was mainly the migrant population who are providing these services.

There has been rapid commercialisation of the area on the peripheries of rural settlements due to increase in demand for goods and services. It is not only the outsiders who are running their shops or business but also many villagers who have started their own business. Increase in commercialisation of the area is reducing the rural–urban differences. The villages in the rural–urban interface are in transitional stage where they are gradually coming under the urban exten-sion area with increase in migrant population accompanied by declining trend in cultivated area and increasing trend in the cost of the land.

All these have affected the material relations between the landowning castes and the landless castes within the village, and new contractual relations between the villagers and migrant population have emerged which cut across the boundary of the village. The dependency of villagers on the migrant population and vice versa is gradually increasing. This dependency is not only confined to economic sphere but also has entered into political sphere. The leaders of political parties seek the support of both villagers and the migrant population at the time of elec-tion. Those who are affiliated to various political parties like Congress, Bharatiya Janta Party and Bahujan Samaj Party work with the villagers and migrant popula-tion in support of their respective candidates. The meetings organised by the local political leaders are participated by the villagers as well as the migrant population.



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74 Arun Kumar Ghosh

The importance of migrant population as vote banks has increased with the rapid growth of its population.

The present article is a diachronic study of a village Ranikhera in north-west Delhi. It is only one among many rural villages (about 90) in this region. It is located in Delhi state about 25 kilometres north-west of metropolitan city of Delhi. It seeks to analyse the internal rural dynamic of landholding structure as well as the macro level changes in the economic and political environment of the region in order to show how both these factors have affected the material and political relations within the villages, and how the various segments of population have responded to the changes in macro economic and political environment.

In other words, the present article seeks to address the following issues with respect to Ranikhera village.

1. In what respect does the political economy of the environment affect mate-rial and political relations within the village?

2. What are the ways in which the political economy of the environment either limits or makes possible new opportunities for economic and politi-cal mobility?

Data and Methods

The data on which this article is based was primarily obtained from a census and a survey conducted in Ranikhera village in 2008 by the Council for Social Development, New Delhi. Since it is a diachronic study, the results of Oscar Lewis study of the same village in 1953 have used as base to compare the socio- economic data at two points of time.

The census was conducted in all the 590 household of the village, followed by sample survey of 30 per cent households based on stratified random sampling method with due weightage to landless households. The total sample size was 180, of which 80 were landowning households and 100 landless belonging to all castes. Apart from the quantitative data, narratives from elderly people were col-lected to understand the nature of economic and political transformation that has taken place over the last five decades.

Ranikhera is a Jat dominated village. The two sets of data at two different times reveal that the total number of households in the village has increased from 150 in 1953 to 590 in 2008. The total population of the village has increased from 1,080 to 3,077 during the same period (Table 1).

The caste composition of the village has almost remained the same as it was in 1952–53. The major caste groups are Jats, Brahmins, Chamars (SC), Sweepers (SC), Kumhars (BC) and Jhimars (BC). Other caste groups are small in number. They are Nai (BC), Khati (BC), Chipi (BC), Lohar (BC) Dhobi (SC) and Baniya. There are very few migrant families belonging other caste groups who have settled in this village during the last two decades.



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91


Change in Land Utilisation Pattern

There has been a significant change in land utilisation pattern over the years. The total area of the village is about 784 acres. In 1952–53, about 93 per cent of the total land in the village was cultivated. The inhabited area constituted only 2 per cent. After consolidation of holdings in 1954, the lal dora area of the village was extended to accommodate the rising population. It was during this period the landless servicing castes were given the ownership of homestead lands which earlier belonged to landowning Jats. Due to increase in population, many poor households belonging to Balmikis, Chamars, Dhobis and Kumars were allotted 125 square yard plot each in the south-west of the village. The inhabited area of the village gradually extended beyond lal dora. When the coloniser started pur-chasing agricultural land from the farmers in the late 1980s in the east of the vil-lage across the main road, the cultivated area started declining. As per the patwari records, in 1999–2000, the cultivated area had declined to 72 per cent and the inhabited area had increased to 19 per cent which also included the areas under roads. The cultivated area had further declined to 43 per cent following the acquisition of 189 acres agricultural land by the government in 2005–06 for resi-dential and industrial purpose under Rohini extension project. The land utilisation pattern for 1952–53, 1999–2000 and 2007–08 is given in Table 2.

Breakdown of Jajmani System and Change in Social Relations of Production

In 1952–53, all the Jat households owned all agricultural land in the village with average holding of nine acres. One-third of the Brahmin households were occu-pancy tenants of the Jat households. As many as 85 per cent of the Jat households

Table 1. Population Distribution by Sex and Castes 1953 and 2008

1953 2008

No. of hhs M F T

No. of hhs M F T

Jats 78 343 305 648 338 960 804 1,764Brahmin 15 59 51 110 62 170 150 320Chamar 20 53 54 107 56 155 130 285Balmiki 10 28 24 52 30 83 84 167Others 27 86 77 163 104 289 252 541

Total 150 569 511 1,080 590 1,657 1,420 3,077*

Notes: *A number of migrant households have settled on the periphery of the village. They have been included in the village censuses of 1991 and 2001. Hence, the total population is more than the lal dora area of the village. For our comparative analysis we have confined ourselves to lal dora area of the village.

Source: Lewis (1958).



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76 Arun Kumar Ghosh

depended upon the cultivation of land and 15 per cent leased out their land to their own kinsmen. The Jajmani system was still the prevalent mode of exchange of goods and services. The Jats were the principal jajmans for the landless servicing castes. About 68 per cent of the landless servicing castes depended upon the Jat households, at least to some extent, upon grain payments made through the Jajmani system. The servicing castes were landless and poor. ‘In the past the potential contradictions between interests of the farm and non-farm populations in the village was held in check by power of landholders and lack of alternatives for the untouchables and other low caste people’ (Lewis, 1955).

It seems evident that the relationship between the Jajman and servicing caste lends itself to the exploitation of the latter. Landownership is the basis of power in Rampur (Ranikera). All the village land, including the house sites, is owned by the Jats; the other castes are thus living there more or less at the sufferance of the Jats. It was this crucial relationship to the land, with the attendant of power of eviction, which made it possible for the Jats to exact begar service from the Chamar in the past, and still enables them to dominate the other caste groups. Moreover, some of the latter, like the Bhangi (Balmiki), are deeply in debt to their jajmans. This gives the Jats an additional hold over their kamins. (ibid.)

Thus, the relationship between the jajmans and the servicing castes was not free from conflict. There was a growing hostility between the Jats and the Chamars over removal of dead cattle and the unpaid begar services which the Chamars had rendered generation after generation. The hostility between the Jats and the Balmikis started when they were asked to stopped rearing pigs and poultry birds. It had provided additional income to them. The Balmikis who did not have outside source of income were affected by the ruling. They were forced to obey the rul-ing without any kind of protest. Since they lost their supplementary income they became indebted to Jats.

Table 2. Land Utilisation Pattern (in acres)

1952–53 1999–2000 2007–08

Total geographical area 784.00 782.00 782.00Abadi area and roads 15.80 151.18 151.18Barren land – 38.40 82.76Common land including grazing and waste land pond 41.20 – –Ponds – 11.4 11.4Orchards – 5.66 5.66Cultivated land 716.80 574.00 340.45Cremation ground – 1.10 1.10Land acquired by government – – 189.15Other land including canal 9.80 – –

Source: Lewis (1958).Patwari records for 1999–2000 and 2007–08.



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Some of the servicing castes like Nai and Kumhars also suffered at the hand of the Jats. Lewis described how the position of the Nai households had become worse a few years before he made a study of this village. The Jat panchayat of Bawana reduced the fee from ̀ 15/ to ̀ 6/ for arranging the marriage of a girl. This job was traditionally assigned to the Nais by the girl’s parents. However, the Nais received this amount from groom’s parents. This ruling became also applicable to the Nais of Ranikhera. When the Nais protested and stopped shaving and cut-ting the hair of the jajmans, they dispensed with their services. The Jats bought their razors from the city and started saving on their own. When they took up this trade again, many of them had lost their jajmans. Similarly when the collec-tion of cow dung was prohibited by the Jats, the Kumhars were worst affected. They required plenty of fuel for firing the vessels. Since they were prohibited to collect cow dung they had no other option but to purchase fuel from the market. It became very costly affair. They had to borrow money from the Jats. All the Kumhar households were heavily in debt when Lewis made a study of this village (Lewis, 1958).

With the increase in employment opportunities after independence, the ser-vicing castes started becoming less dependent on their jajmans. In 1952–53, as many as 32 per cent of lower caste households were not tied to their jajmans. They worked outside the village and depended on outside income. The major-ity of them were engaged in low-paid jobs or self-employed. The jajmans them-selves a became less dependent on the servicing castes because of technological change in agriculture initiated in 1950s of the last century. Lewis described how the trade of carpentry was affected when the wooden wheels were replaced by iron wheels (ibid.). The Jajmani system had already started breaking down when Lewis made this study. The monetary transactions began to operate side by side without replacing the non-monetary transactions. ‘Jajmani payments for services in kind survived into the 1950s in less commercialised areas of the countryside, yet even traditional relationships of this sort were linked to market conditions’ (Tomlinson, 1993).

The Jajmani system had completely broken down by the end of 1950s of the last century due to increase in employment and technological change in agriculture. With increase in employment, most of the landless castes no longer depended upon landowning caste for their survival. The landowning caste also did not depend so much upon the landless castes for labour service because of improved technology in agriculture. Despite increase in per acre yield, there has been continuous pressure of population on land. This led to decline of per capita food availability from agriculture. The fragmentation of holdings has made agri-culture a less preferred economic activity. Since agriculture is losing its hold in the villages, it is often argued that landowning dominant castes no longer exercise dominance over the lower castes (Gupta, 2005). As per the census conducted by the Council for Social Development in 2008, as many as 79 per cent of the Jat households have land with average holding of 1.7 acres. Of those who own land, only 34 per cent are engaged in cultivation of land and 66 per cent have given land



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78 Arun Kumar Ghosh

to their kinsmen, primarily to their own brothers for cultivation with an under-standing that they will get some quantity of wheat in return.

In 1952–53, one-third households of the Brahmins were engaged in cultivation of land as occupancy tenants of the Jat households. The Brahmins did not own any land till the Delhi Reform ACT was passed in 1954. In 2008, 58 per cent of the Brahmin households owned land with average holding of 1.2 acres (Table 3). Only 17 per cent are engaged in cultivation of land.

Table 3. Landholding Status among Different Castes: 2008

Landowning status Jat Brahmin

Leather worker Sweeper Kumhar Jhimar Other Total

Landless 71(21.0)

26(41.9)

56(100.0)

30(100.0)

33(100.0)

33(100.0)

38 (100.0)

287(48.6)

Landowner 267(79.0)

36(58.1)

_ _ _ _ _ 303(51.4)

Total 338(100.0)

62(100.0)

56(100.0)

30(100.0)

33(100.0)

33(100.0)

38(100.0)

590(100.0)

Source: Village census conducted by CSD.

In the past all the agricultural operations were done through traditional agri-cultural implements. At every stage of the operation the landowners required a number of labourers which were provided by Chamar and Balmiki castes. Before independence some Chamars were traditionally attached labourers to jajman households. They not only helped in agricultural operations but also did other household works. After independence the Chamers had liberated themselves from the attached labours. Very few became simply agricultural labourers of the landowning castes. Most of them joined service or pursued any other low-paid occupations.

At present, most of the agricultural operations are done through improved technology such as tractors and threshers. The landowners now cultivate their land with their mechanised agricultural implements or hired ones. Generally they engage labourers during the harvesting time. Even the harvesting can be done by mechanised implements, which is cost effective and less time consuming. However, they prefer to hire labour because they get fodder (busha) from manual harvesting which is required for their own livestock. The excess quantity can be sold at higher price at a latter period when there is great demand for it. Most of the labourers are migrant labourers from UP and Bihar who live in rented rooms on the periphery of the village. These migrant labourers are easily available to them whenever they are required. Very few landowning households depend upon the traditional labour force of the village. Moreover the traditional labour force prefer to work elsewhere than work on the land of their former jajmans. Landowning households also hire labour for non-agricultural purposes such as house construc-tion. The construction labourers are mostly migrant labourers.



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The agricultural land continues to be an important asset for the Jat community. The SCs and OBCs were landless in the past and they are landless even now. There has been no transfer of agricultural land to any of the servicing caste except the Brahmins. The landless servicing castes do not have purchasing capacity to buy land. Moreover landowning Jats always sell their lands to their own caste.

Change in Power Structure

Though the creation of statutory multi-village panchayat came into existence in 1949 as an impartial tribunal, it was mainly dominated by the landowning Jats who exercised economic and political domination over the landless servicing castes. The panchayat was an elected body. The majority of its members were Jats because they were numerically preponderant in this region. The Village Pradhan was inevitably a Jat. Although there were some representatives from landless sec-tions of population they did not have much say in the village panchayat. In the past the decisions regarding development work in the village and settlement of disputes were taken by the representatives from the Jat community. Though vil-lage panchayat continued to be dominated by the landowning Jats till early 1960s, the power of the dominant landowning Jats has gradually diminished due to breakdown of Jajmani system and increasing role of MCD in development in the village. The panchayat ceased to exist since 1995. Today the Jats no longer exer-cise any power over the landless servicing castes. Although the power of the land-owning caste has reduced, but some of them have become powerful. The MLA and the Municipal Councillors are elected representatives of political parties. The BJP and the Congress have strong hold in this region. This time BJP candidate has won the election for the post of MLA. Since the Jats are numerically preponder-ant, all the political parties including the Bahujan Samaj Party put up their candi-dates from the Jat community for contesting the election. They are, however, more or less impartial in carrying out the development activities, such as construction of mettled road and drainage supply of water pipeline, in different hamlets within the village. There is no evidence of caste discrimination in carrying out the devel-opment activities.

Change in Occupation and Income

It is true that the landless servicing castes no longer depend upon the traditional Jat jajmans for their livelihood. Most of them are engaged in non-farm sector. They are either employed in service like factory workers or self-employed. Many of them have now realised the importance of education. They are sending their children to schools. The educational and employment opportunities have enabled them to improve their own socio-economic status and empowered them to partici-pate in the village affairs. Literacy and education is critical input to employment



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80 Arun Kumar Ghosh

and income. The educational achievement of disadvantaged groups like SCs and OBCs can enhance their ability to improve their economic and social status. Hence, there is a need to look into changes in literacy and education before we analyse changes in occupations, income and asset position of the landowning and landless castes of landowning and landless castes.

Change in Literacy

Over a period of five decades there has been significant improvement in literacy. As per the census reports of the government, the literacy rate has increased from 34.1 per cent in 1961 to 73.4 per cent in 2001. What is striking is that the literacy rate among female has increased at faster rate than that of male. The male literacy rate has increased from 50.6 per cent to 79.9 per cent while the female literacy has increased from mere 15.3 per cent to 65.6 per cent during the same period. The percentage gap between male and female literacy has been gradually decreasing (Table 4).

Table 4. Literacy Level of Villagers (in percentage)

Year Total literacy Male literacy Female literacy Literacy gap

1961 34.1 50.6 15.6 35.31971 46.9 62.3 28.9 33.41981 55.8 69.9 39.7 30.21991 60.9 71.0 48.4 22.62001 73.4 79.9 65.6 14.3

Source: Census of India, Delhi (1961–2001), Government of India.

Ranikhera village was exposed to education before independence. The first government primary school for boys in this village was established in 1908 and a private primary school for girls was established in 1950. It was taken over by MCD in 1958. One of the reasons for growing literacy rate among female is the establishment of a primary school for girls in the village. The boys used to go to neighbouring areas for middle and high school. The girls’ education was limited to primary level till the high school for girls was established in 1962. A new wave of enthusiasm for education for girls came in with the establishment of high school for girls in 1962. In 1952–53, among the Jat, more than 91.9 per cent male children and 40.2 female children belonging to 6–15 years of age were attending school. Among the Brahmins, 84.2 per cent male children and 30 per cent female chil-dren were attending school. Among the Chamars, the percentage of male children attending the school was as high as 85.7 per cent and it was as low as 6.2 per cent for female. Among the Jhinwars, the percentage of male children attending the school was 66.2. However, none of the female children were attending the school.

Similarly all the male children among the Khatis, Nais and Chipis, 50 per cent among the Lohars and 25 per cent male children among the Kumhars were attending



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91


the school but none of the female children were attending the school. Among the Balmikis, neither male nor female were attending the school. Today 100 per cent among the Brahmins and 99 per cent among the Jat male and female students belonging to same age group are attending the school, followed by Chamars with 90 per cent. Even among the Balmikis and Kumhars a high percentage of children are now attending the school. In both cases female children have surpassed the male children. It is 90 per cent for female as against 83 per cent for male in case of Balmikis and 100 per cent for female as against 97 per cent for male in case of Kumhars. The overall percentage of children (6–15 years) of the village attending school is 96 per cent both for male and female as against 81 for male and 29.7 for female in 1952–53.

During the last one decade, many children of Brahmin and Jat households of this village are going to reputed public schools like Jindal Public School and Ganga International. They are now able to afford school fees which are high. Most of the low caste children are attending government schools.

Change in Occupation

In 1952–53, the total number of persons among the Jat households engaged in dif-ferent kinds of service such as teachers, armed forces, police, clerks, peon, drivers and workers in ordinance factory was 52. Among Brahmin households 12 persons were engaged in services such as teachers and workers in ordinance factory and Delhi cloth mill and petty business such as milk seller. Among the landless servic-ing castes, as many as 24 persons were engaged in different occupations, mostly in low-paid jobs. Thus, 88 persons of this village had outside income. It is esti-mated that the two-thirds of the total workers were engaged in farm and non-farm sectors within the village and the one-third were engaged in service and other occupations outside the village.

Today there are 875 earners in 590 households. Out of 875 earners, 18.2 per cent are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. Agricultural labour from the village constitutes less than 1 per cent. This indicates that the farmers depend more upon the migrant labour than the traditional labour force. As many as 28.5 per cent earners are engaged in government services and 17.6 per cent are in private services, 6.4 per cent in teaching, 13.6 per cent in business including transport, 4.5 per cent in petty business like small shop-keeping, cycle repairing and tailor-ing, 7.4 per cent as non-agricultural labour and 3.2 as factory workers (Table 5). Thus, as many as about 80 per cent are engaged in non-farm sector. Today, hardly any household can survive on his own land. The size of the landholdings is usu-ally too small to be economically viable. Only those households who lease in land can depend on agriculture. While substantial number of workers among the Jat and the Brahmin households are engaged in better off services, the majority of landless castes were engaged in low-paid jobs. Occupational mobility among some Chamar earners can be observed. The Chamars among landless SCs were the first to receive education. Today, many of them have opted for teaching and



82 Theotonio Dos SantosT

able

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10Pe

tty

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keep

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)5 (4.9

)1 (1.5

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5 (8.3

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4 (8.2

)21 (2

.4)

11O

wn

busi

ness

82 (16.

4)18 (17.

6)5 (7.5

).1 (2.0

)8

(13.

3)2 (4.1

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(16.

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4(1

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15 (22.

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2 (4.1

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dor

–2 (2.0

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1 (2.1

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us c

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by

CSD

.



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91


government jobs. Among the Balmikis, the majority of them are engaged in Municipal Corporation as safai karamcharis.

Change in Income

Except some Jat households who had sizeable holdings, there was a little market-able surplus for majority of those households. After making grain payment to the servicing castes and keeping the rest for household consumption there was hardly any surplus left with them, particularly those who had small holdings. So they depended upon the outside income. As many as 20 per cent of the Jat households with small holdings without outside income were poor. The economic position of the Jat and the Brahmin households were better only when some members had jobs outside. It was stated ‘over 80 percent of the total outside income of the vil-lagers is earned by two castes—the Jats and the Brahmins. They have higher pro-portion of employed families and a higher average monthly income than do the lower castes. The only exceptions to this general trend are the Khatis and Nais’ (Lewis, 1958: 89). The economic position of 90 per cent of the servicing castes was poor. Most of the payments to the servicing castes by the jajmans made in grains were not sufficient enough to have a two square meal. Some of them were indebted. The jobs they had managed to get outside were mostly low-paid jobs. The economic position of the 80 per cent of the landowning caste including the occupancy tenants were much better than the landless SCs and OBCs.

The relative positions of various castes in 2008 with respect to income reveal that the average household monthly income is highest among the Brahmins with ` 16,036, followed by the Jats with ` 14,705. It is lowest among the Balmikis with ` 7,256. The average household monthly income of Jhimars is low at ` 8,028. The household income position of Kumhars and Chamars is also low but is better than the Balmikis and the Jhimars. The average monthly household income of the remaining households is ` 7,936. The average per capita income follows almost the same pattern. It is highest among the Brahmins with ` 3,207, followed by the Jats with ` 3,007. The average per capita income of the remaining households belonging to different castes is ` 1,736 (Table 6).

However, some of the low castes like the Lohar have the highest monthly per capita income of ` 3,625. It is lowest among the Dhobi with ` 600. But number of households belonging to these castes is very small. With respect to distribution of households as per income range, only 10 per cent of the Jat households and 14 per cent of the Brahmin, about 30 per cent of the Chamar and the Kumhar each have per capita income less than ` 1,000. This percentage is as high as 58 among the Balmiki and 44 among the Jhimar.

Among the landowning and the landless Jat and Brahmin, there is a difference in per capita income. The per capita income of landowning Jat is ̀ 3,253 as against ` 3,159 for the landless. However, the difference is not even ` 100 between land-owning Brahmin and landless Brahmin. The per capita income of landowning Brahmin is ` 3,238 as against ` 2,349 for the landless.



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91

84 Arun Kumar Ghosh

Change in Type of Housing and Movable Assets

In the past, as many as 66 households, out of 150 households, constituting 44 per cent had pucca or semi-pucca houses. About 58 of these houses belonged to land-holding caste like the Jats. Only five belonged to the Brahmins, and three belonged to lower castes like Khati and Chippi who had good outside source of income. The remaining 84 households constituting 56 per cent had kuccha houses. Today, almost all castes including landless have pucca houses. Out of 180 sample, only two households have kaccha houses. This indicates that landless and lower castes have better housing status than they had in the past.

During 1952–53, the Jat households did not have anything at their houses except charpai and wooden cots. Many other low caste groups did not even have charpai. The position remained almost same in most of the households till mid 1980s. Over last one decade or so the asset position has improved not only of the Jat households but also of the other low caste households.

The asset position of the Jat households is much better than any other caste groups because many of them have received lakhs of rupees from the government for acquisition of their agricultural land for public purpose. As many as 41 per cent of the Jat households have motor cars, 82 per cent have motor cycles or scooters, 17 per cent have air conditioner and 16 per cent have computers. More than 80 per cent have refrigerator, gas chulla, sewing machine, TV, wash-ing machine and mobile telephone. Among the Brahmins 15 per cent have cars, 64 per cent have motor cycle or scooter. But none of them have air conditioner. If we look at the position of the low caste households we find that all the sample households of Chamar, Balmiki, Kumhar and Jhimar have consumer items like Television sets and gas chulla. With respect to other consumer items like motor cycle 50 per cent of the Kumhar households own motor cycle or scooter, fol-lowed by Chamar with 33 per cent and Balmiki with 25 per cent. None of the Jhimar households have motor cycle or scooter. As many as 60 per cent of the Kumhar, 57 per cent of the Chamar, 33 per cent of the Jhimar and 17 per cent

Table 6. Average Monthly Household and per Capita Income (2008–09)

Sl. No. CasteNo. of

householdsNo. of

membersHousehold income (`)

Per capita income (`)

1. Jats 100 489 14,705 3,0072. Brahmin 14 70 16,036 3,2073. Chamar 21 115 9,248 1,6894. Balmiki 12 77 7,256 1,1315. Kumhar 10 56 10,490 1,8736. Jhimar 9 57 8,028 1,2687. 0thers 14 64 7,936 1,736

Total 180 928 12,581 2,440

Source: Household survey, CSD: 2008.



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91


of the Balmiki households have refrigerators. With respect to washing machine, 24 per cent of the Chamar and 20 per cent of the Kumhar and 8 per cent of the Balmiki households have washing machines while none of the Jhimar households have washing machine. With respect to agricultural implements, 11 per cent of the landowning Jat households have tractors,12 per cent have thresher, 41 per cent have fodder chopper and 54 per cent have pump set. Among the landowning Brahmins none of the households have thresher or tractors. Only 29 per cent have fodder chopper and pump set.

Over the last three years, there has been a radical change in the lifestyle of many Jat households, particularly those who have received monetary compensation from the government for acquiring their lands. The majority of them have spent a part of their compensation in renovation of their houses, purchase of movable assets such as motor cars, air conditioners and other luxurious goods. Some of them have invested in purchase of flats in the city, agricultural land in Haryana while others have invested in transport and other business. The economic disparities between the Jats and the landless servicing castes are distinctly visible after they received compensation in 2006.

Impact of Urbanisation on Village Life

As already stated the government has acquired 189 acres of agricultural land of Ranikhera village in 2005 for allotment of industrial plots as a part of Rohini extension project. It lies in the east of Ranikhera. This land belonged to 75 per cent of the landowning Jat households. Since all these households have agricul-tural land in other areas of Ranikhera village, none of them became landless. Though the acquired land is under possession of the government, the work has not been started. Agriculture is still practised in the area which has not been acquired. As stated earlier as much as 43 per cent of the area of Ranikhera village is still under cultivation. Though agriculture is still practised, acquisition of land will lead to further changes in village life when new industries will come up on this acquired land.

A number of unauthorised colonies and unauthorised factories have come up within the range of two to three kilometres covering three adjacent vil-lages Madanpur, Mubarakpur and Rashulpur (besides Ranikhera) which form chaugama—a four village unit. As a result, these villages have lost their distinct physical identities separated each other by agricultural field. These villages are fast becoming a part of wider political economy of the region.

The origin of unauthorised colony adjacent to Ranikhera can be traced back to 1989 when one Mr Jain, an outsider, purchased a few acres of land from some farmers of Ranikhera and its neighbouring village Madanpur Dabas and estab-lished a settlement by selling plots to those who were unable to afford to buy any flat or live in rented accommodation in the city. This unauthorised colony is known as Bhagya Vihar Jain colony. It is located in the east of Ranikhera village



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91

86 Arun Kumar Ghosh

across the main road connecting National Highway No. 10 (Rohtak Road). With the establishment of the unauthorised colony, a number of unauthorised factories have also come up in this area.

The inhabitants of unauthorised colonies are migrant population of Bihar, UP, Haryana and West Bengal with diverse socio-economic backgrounds. The total population of the unauthorised colony is estimated to be no less than the total population of the village which is a little over 3,000. Most of these migrant popu-lations are low and lower income groups. Along with the migrant population, a number of labourers from eastern UP, Bihar and Jharkhand have settled on the periphery of Ranikhera village. They are mostly construction labourers engaged in construction and renovation of houses both in the village and unauthorised colony. Some of the migrant labourers are workers in unauthorised factories. The migrant labourers are rural poor who have insufficient land or insufficient income or no income to earn in their native villages. Most of these migrant labourers have come from Bhagalpur and Samastipur of Bihar. They are mostly adult males who usually come alone leaving their families behind. They stay in groups in rented rooms and are related to one another by kinships and regional ties. One Jat house-hold of the village has rented out eight rooms to 40 migrant labourers. Each one is paying ` 200 per month. Those who are engaged in construction and renovation of houses earn ` 150 per day which is four or five times higher than what they earn in their native village. Some of these construction labourers also work in the fields of landowning castes for two or three weeks during the time of harvesting. They work in group of four or five on contract basis and earn more.2 The migrant labourers are employed for eight to 10 months a year in construction and renov-ation of houses. Their earnings are more than any other casual workers in the village. They send remittances to their families at regular intervals. They visit their native villages once or twice a year during Holi or Chat Puja. Those who have small piece of agricultural land also visit their native village during harvest-ing to assist the family labour. Their earnings have certainly provided economic security to their families.

The landowning caste like Jats are spending a substantial amount of money on construction of two or three storey buildings after receiving compensation from the government. Apart from houses, some are spending money on construction of shops for rental purpose. At least 50 per cent shops have been rented out to the outsiders. Some members of the landowning caste are running their own shops like grocery, stationery, chemist hardware, tailoring, saloon, cycle repairing, scooter/motor cycle repairing, car repairing and electric repairing. There is not only a great demand for unskilled labourers but also there is a demand for masons, plumbers, electricians, etc. These demands are generally met by the migrant labourers. Recently some unemployed village youth including Dalits have taken up trades like repairing of electric goods.

Increased commercialisation of the area on the periphery of Ranikhera village has not only created employment opportunities for landowning caste who are run-ning the shops or business but also the landless castes of the village as well as the



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91


migrant poor who are working as employees to their owners. Establishment of unauthorised factories has provided employment mainly to the migrant labourers. Very few Dalits of this village are working in unauthorised factories which are run by the outsiders. The socio-economic position of the Dalits of Ranikhera villages is not uniform. It varies a great deal in terms of income, housing, education etc. Kumhars and Chamars are relatively better off than many other landless castes. Those who are accommodated in lower level positions in the government bureau-cracy are economically well off than those who are working as non-agriculture labourers. The socio-economic position of the landless labourers of the village is in no way better than those of migrant labourers.

As the cost of the land in unauthorised colony has increased, some landowning castes are involved in purchase and sale of plots. It is highly profitable business. There are five property dealers offices in Bhagya Vihar Jain colony which are run by the villagers. During the last five years interactions between villagers and the migrant population of unauthorised colony have increased.

Conclusions

This village is still a Jat dominated village. They are numerically preponderant and own most of the agricultural land. Though there has been a decline in the per-centage of households owning land from 100 per cent to 79 per cent and a decline in average holding from nine acres to 1.7 acres, land continues to be a major source of livelihood for one-third of the Jat households. As many as 34 per cent of the landowning households are engaged in cultivation. The other caste which own land is Brahmins who were once occupancy tenants of the Jats. About 58 per cent Brahmin households own land with an average holding of 1.2 acres. Only 17 per cent landowning households depend mainly on land for livelihood.

There was a time when all the landless servicing castes belonging to SCs and OBCs depended upon their traditional Jat jajman households for their livelihood. Since the landless servicing castes were dependent upon the landowning Jat households, the Jats exercised not only economic domination but also political and social domination over them. Even today all the servicing castes are land-less. There has been no transfer of land to any of the servicing castes. In fact they do not have the purchasing capacity to buy land. However, most of the landless people do not depend upon the landowning Jats for their livelihood.

There has been a gradual shift from the farm sector to non-farm sector when the employment opportunities in the city increased over a period of time since independence. With the increased employment opportunities, the servicing castes became less dependent on their jajmans. Many of them have managed to get employment in the city. But they are mostly engaged in low-paid jobs.

Similarly, the technological change in agriculture made the jajmans less dependent upon servicing castes. Over a period of time, agriculture has lost its traditional importance because of the fragmentation of holdings due to increase in



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91

88 Arun Kumar Ghosh

population coupled with breakdown of joint families. Agriculture became a less preferred economic activity. In the mid 1980s many landowning Jat households stopped cultivating land and joined service. Today, quite a substantial percentage of the Jat and the Brahmin households are in service. Many of them are in the government sector. While some of the Brahmins have joined teaching profession the Jats are engaged in business, mainly in transport.

Since land has not passed on to the traditional servicing castes, it is expected that the power equation between landowning caste and landless castes has not altered drastically. Though the landless castes are placed in an unequal position with respect to landowning caste in the village, the Jats are no longer able to exer-cise economic domination over them.

Those who are pursuing agriculture as their main occupation, not only do they cultivate their own plots but also the plots of their kinsmen, mainly their own brothers because they can hardly survive on their own plots. Since they cultivate the plots of their kinsmen, there is no formal leasing out of their land. There is a mutual understanding between the two parties that the cultivating household will give some grains to non-cultivating households for their household consumption. The non-cultivating households are unable to cultivate their plots because they are engaged either in service or business or any other occupation.

There has been increased dissociation of SCs and other low caste people from productive activities of the land. Very few Chamars or Balmikis are now work-ing as labourers to the Jat households for agricultural and other allied activities. The farming households who always depended upon Chamars and other low caste households during the harvest are now engaging more and more migrant labourers. They are becoming less and less dependent on traditional labour force. This is because of non-availability of adequate number of labourers in the vil-lage. The majority of the migrant labourers are either from UP or Bihar. They are mainly engaged in construction work such as housing work in the village or in the unauthorised colonies nearby. Whenever the Jats required their services for agricultural work especially during harvesting season, they are easily available.

The village panchayat dominated by the landowning Jats used to exercise polit-ical and social domination over the landless servicing castes. With the abolition of village panchayat in mid 1990s and increasing role of the MCD, the power of the dominant caste as a group has greatly reduced. But individually some of them have become powerful. The present Municipal Ward Councillor elected representative of BJP is from a Jat background. Since the Jats are numerically preponderant in this region, all political parties including Bahujan Samaj Party put up candidates from the Jat community. There is contest among Jats of different political parties for winning the election. The Municipal Ward Councillor, involved in develop-ment activities of the village, generally does not show any caste discrimination in the implementation of development programme in the village.

There has been a significant improvement in literacy level among the SCs and OBCs, especially among the females. In 1952–53, none of the children among the



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91


Balmikis in the age group between six and 15 years were attending the school. Today 90.3 per cent among the male children and 87.3 per cent among the female children are attending the school. Among the Kumhars, only 25 per cent of the male children were attending the school but none of the female children were attending the school. Today, 100 per cent among the male children and 98.3 among the female children are attending the school. With respect to Chamars, the literacy position was better than any other lower castes. It was as high as 85.7 per cent among the male children. However, the percentage of female children attend-ing the school was only 6.2. Today, 90 per cent of the Chamar children—both male and female—are attending the school.

During 1952–53, the economic position of 90 per cent of the households belonging to landless servicing castes was poor as against 20 per cent of the land-owning households. The poor households among the landowning households were those who had small holdings without any outside source of income. Today, the economic position of the landless castes is better than what it was in the past. But the number of households having very low per capita income is more than those of landowning castes. Only 10 per cent of the Jat households and 14 per cent of the Brahmins, about 30 per cent of the Chamars and the Kumhars each have per capita income less than ` 1,000. This percentage is as high as 58 among the Balmikis and 44 among the Jhimars.

Over the last three years, there has been a radical change in the lifestyle of many Jat households, particularly those who have received monetary compensa-tion from the government for acquiring their land. The majority of them have spent a part of their compensation in renovation of their houses, purchase of mov-able assets such as motor cars, air conditioner and other luxurious goods. Some of them have invested in purchase of flats in the city, agricultural land in Haryana, while others have invested in transport and other business. The economic dis-parities between the Jats and the landless servicing castes are distinctly visible after they received compensation in 2006. There is also a growing disparity in the sphere of education. The children of many Jat and Brahmin households are attending good public schools while those of lower castes are attending govern-ment school.

With the growth of migrant population, new contractual relationship between the villages and migrant population has emerged. Most of the migrant labourers are engaged in construction and renovation of houses. Some of them also work as agricultural labourers during the time of harvesting. Some of the villagers are involved in sale and purchase of land.

With the growth of population, there is an increase in demands for goods and services. A number of shops have come up. These shops are owned by the land-owning castes. As many as 50 per cent of the shops have been rented out to the outsiders, while the remaining 50 per cent of the shops are run by the members of the landowning castes. There is an increase in commercialisation of the area on the periphery of Ranikhera village. This has provided employment opportunities not only to the villagers but also to the migrant population. The dependency of



Social Change, 42, 1 (2012): 69–91

90 Arun Kumar Ghosh

villagers on migrant population and vice versa is not confined only to economic sphere but also extended to political sphere. The villagers and migrant population cooperate one another at the time of election of councillors or MLAs when they seek the support for candidates of their respective political parties. The political economy of the village not only cut across the boundary of the village, but also it is increasingly becoming a part of the wider political and economic environment.

Acknowledgement

The author is grateful to the anonymous referee for his valuable suggestions and comments on the earlier draft of this article.

Notes

1. This particular region falls under Zone N of DDA. It is situated in the north-west part of Delhi and mainly constitutes rural settlements and industrial area of Bawana, with total area of 13,975 hectares. It is bounded by western Yamuna canal in the north-east, Rohtak railway line in the south, existing H.T. line (High tension line) in the south-east, Haryana state boarder in the west and north-west.

2. The migrant labourers are generally paid in kind for harvesting the crops. They get one quintal wheat per acre which they can generally harvest in one day. The cost of one quintal wheat is `1,100 (as per whole sale price, 2008).

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