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Wage Labour and Unfreedom in Agriculture

An Indian Case Study

This book addresses the question of how so much growth and technical change has occurred in Indian agriculture while the position of agricultural workers has remained relatively unchanged. Focusing on the employees, this study describes an area in Southern India which is known for agricultural development. The author discusses the increase in numbers and proportion of agricultural workers, the stagnation and marginal decline of wage rates and earnings, the property-less status of agricultural workers, consumption, and indebtedness. An original contribution to the study of markets and development studies, this work shows how limited the changes in agriculture are in India.

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Author

V. K. Ramachandran

Details

April 1991

Clarendon Press Oxford,

© UNU-WIDER

Country

India

Region

South Asia

Table of contents
  1. Introduction
    V. K. Ramachandran
  2. Some Features of the Agrarian Economy of the Cumbum Valley
    V. K. Ramachandran
  3. Classes and Property Inequality in Gokilapuram
    V. K. Ramachandran
  4. The Labour Force: Sources of Expansion
    V. K. Ramachandran
  5. The Demand for Labour and Sources of Employment
    V. K. Ramachandran
  6. The Deployment of Labour Time
    V. K. Ramachandran
  7. Some Aspects of the Material Conditions of Life of Agricultural Labourers
    V. K. Ramachandran
  8. Labour Services and Unfree Labour
    V. K. Ramachandran
  9. Aspects of the Labour Process in Agriculture
    V. K. Ramachandran
  10. Resurvey 1968
    V. K. Ramachandran
  11. Summary and Conclusions
    V. K. Ramachandran
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Endorsements

'The book is fascinating, the author is highly pragmatic and the effort is pioneering ... Mr. V. K. Ramachandran has done a laudable job. It is no exaggeration to say that this book will prove a valuable asset to libraries and research institutes. Dr. Ramachandran deserves a Nobel Prize for this book.' - C.S. Mahadevan, The Hindu, May 5 1992

'The book should be a good resource to any serious student of development in Asia. It contains a wealth of information, is crammed full of tables and has sufficient detail to really explore the complexity of different forms of labour in India. It also raises questions that have an importance well beyond the geographical boundaries of the study and hopefully the material in it will be carefully considered by those involved in development policy.' - Community Development Journal

`This volume is of critical importance.' - The Economic Times New Delhi

'... important micro-study.' - Peter Robb. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Vol LVII

'Ramachandran's case that contemporary commercialised labour bears vestiges of its past in unexceptionable. His close and painstaking research provides a comprehensive and compassionate picture of the immediate world of workers in the historically-contextualised Valley.' - Journal of Peasant Studies

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