explain the life of agricultural labourers
Answers
Agricultural labourers are those persons who work on the land of others on wages for the major part of the year and earn a major portion of their income as a payment in the form of wages for works performed on the agricultural farms owned by others.
Answer: Agricultural labourers are the most exploited unorganised class of the rural population of the country. From the very beginning landlords and zamindars exploited these labourers for their benefit and converted some of them as slaves or bonded labourers and forced to continue the system generation after generation.
It led to wretched condition and total deprivation of the rural masses. After 50 years of independence, the situation has improved. But they remain largely unorganised, and as a result their economic exploitation continues. Their level of income, standard of living and the rate of wages have remained abnormally low.
Agricultural Wages and Income:
In India, the agricultural wages are very low. The First Agricultural Labour Enquiry Committee in its report mentioned that the per capita annual income of agricultural labour families was as poor as Rs 104 in 1950-51 and the annual average income of the household was Rs 447.
The average annual income of the household then declined to Rs 437 in 1955-66 and then it increased to Rs 600 in 1963-64 and then increased significantly to Rs 1,671 during 1974-75.
After the introduction of improved farming methods and mechanisation of the level of income of middle and rich farmers increased but at the same time due to fall in the demand for labour real wages declined. As per the study conducted by Prof. Pranab Bardhan during the period 1960-61 to 1967-68, it was revealed that the agricultural production rose by 6 per cent but the agricultural wages declined in all the states excepting Kerala where the labourers were to some extent organised.
G. Parthasarathy estimated that in 1984-85, the daily money wages varied between Rs 6 and Rs 11 in all the states excepting Punjab, Haryana and Kerala where the level of wages is little bit higher. But the minimum daily wage required for maintaining a minimum subsistence standard of living is Rs 22.
Thus, the level of agricultural wages prevailing in India is very poor and thus the living conditions of agricultural labourers in India are indeed pathetic.
Employment and Other Working Conditions:
In India the agricultural labourers are facing severe unemployment and underemployment problem as there is no alternative sources of employment. Although the system of bonded labour is abolished but according to NSS (32 round) about 3.5 lakh bonded labourers still exist in India.
Workers will have to work from dawn to dusk as there are no fixed hours of work and there is no provision for leave and other benefits.
Growing Indebtedness
As the level of income of the agricultural labourers is very poor, thus, they are seeking loan from village moneylenders continuously. There is growing indebtedness among the agricultural labourers as the debt per agricultural labour household has increased from Rs 47 in 1950-51 to Rs 347 in 1974-75.
Moreover, the landlord-labourer relationship is also not so healthy in India.