Abstract
The study attempts to examine the employment pattern among agricultural labourers in rural Punjab. The impact of the agrarian crisis on peasants in Punjab is more widely known, but it has also had a grievous impact on agricultural labourers. Economists seem to give more emphasis to the problems of farming communities and less to the problems of agricultural labourers who constitute 47 per cent of the total working population in 2012, as it becomes the general trend among the economists. Though the Land Reforms, Green Revolution and New Economic Policy in India may have contributed to some sections of the society, but nothing to the betterment of the conditions of agricultural labourers. The study concluded that the agricultural labourers are victims of social, political and economic exploitation and discrimination. Their earning is so low to meet basic requirements for livings. More than three-fourths of the households are indebted. Despite the government’s claims of initiating a number of employment programmes and aids to the agricultural labourers for uplifting their levels of living, a large proportion of them still lack basic amenities for decent living standard, demanding a better implementation of these schemes. The most important suggestion came in the form of cooperative farming and the abolition of forces of discriminations on the basis of caste, class, gender etc. is necessary to provide conditions for dignified living to agricultural labourers.
Introduction
Punjab with its predominantly agricultural economy was one of the states of India in which adopted the New Agricultural Model in the 1960s. After that the northern Indian state made tremendous progress in the production of food grains leading to increased levels of self-sufficiency. Today agriculture still plays a dominant role in Punjab’s economy providing employment to 39 per cent of the state’s working population, indicating their high level of dependence on agriculture for their income (Government of India (GoI), 2001). Despite this fact, however, agricultural labourers still receive the lowest share of the national income, living often in impoverished conditions.
Since Independence, the state has been aware of the challenges being faced by agricultural labourers. Even though the primary aim of the planned economy in India, initiated in 1951, was to raise standards of living amongst the weaker sections of society, especially agricultural labourers, who constituted socially and economically the weakest sections of society, their impoverished conditions continued. Various surveys were conducted to assess this issue but the basic problems were not properly studied, analysed or understood (Ghosh, 1969).
Agricultural labour forms the second largest category of workers in Punjab. The share of this category in the total workforce of the state, as well as its number, has consistently increased from 20.10 per cent in 1971 to 22.16 per cent in 1981 and 23.81 per cent in 1991 (Government of Punjab (GoP), 2004). According to the Census of India 2001, a majority of the agricultural labourers belong to the Scheduled Castes category constituting 66.97 per cent of the total of 14.90 lakh of agricultural labourers in Punjab state. With land reforms not being implemented efficiently land remains in the hands of a few, with the majority of the working population being completely dependent on agriculture, remaining as agricultural labourers. Even though the much touted Green Revolution’s technological leaps in the 1960s ushered in prosperity and fortune for some, agricultural labourers remained excluded from this new found well-being.
The expected hike in wages due to an increase in demand also did not take place because of the migration of labour from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar into Punjab, increasing supply and effectively suppressing levels of wages. Despite their significant contribution to the Green Revolution, Punjab’s agricultural labour did not reap any benefits or see an improvement in their living conditions (Bharti, 2011). There were other setbacks, too. Due to the increased use of farm machinery such as combine harvesters, and the use of weedicides, the demand for human labour in the farm sector decreased significantly since the late 1980s (Sidhu & Singh, 2004). Unorganised and mostly illiterate, agricultural labourers were not in a position to partake in a just share in Punjab’s agricultural prosperity (GoP, 2004). Unemployment among agricultural labour households constitutes 60 per cent of the total rural unemployment (Parthasarathy, 1991). The debt trap is so vicious that more than 70 per cent of agricultural labourers of Punjab are in debt.
The farming community in Punjab, however, is not the sole bearer of the current agrarian crisis. With reduced workdays, stagnant wages and a constant state of indebtedness the lower caste, landless agricultural labourers too are committing suicides along with the farmers. But their plight has hardly been studied or noticed by the media, academicians and rural activists and has unfortunately never become the stuff of headlines. In Bathinda and Sangrur district alone 2,890 suicides were committed by farmers and agricultural labourers during 2000–08, out of which 1,133 (39.20 per cent) were agricultural labourers (Singh, 2009).
While the impact of the agrarian crisis on the peasants in Punjab is comparatively more widely known, less well known is the grievous impact it has had on agricultural labourers as well. The bulk of local labourers are able to get work in agriculture for only 8–10 days a month. About 64 per cent labourers have to work between 8 and 12 hours in a day, only 0.48 per cent earn more than ₹100 a day and nearly 52 per cent labourers have a family income below ₹1,000 per month. In the Malwa region, due to the high cost of tap water, labourers are left with only two options: either drink contaminated land water and most probably get cancer or take loans from the rich who charge 4–5 times more interest than banks to install water taps (Ghuman, Singh, & Singh, 2007). It is by using labour-saving machinery, pesticides and shifting from grain production to cash crops reducing jobs and increasing the workload that landlords have been able to squeeze out a higher profit. In the process, they are squeezing the already miserable income of agricultural labour and attacking their subsistence levels (Chopra, 2005).
Although agricultural labourers form a large section of the Indian workforce, they are least protected and uncared for. Ironically, this situation exists despite rising agricultural trade and labour productivity worldwide. They are assigned the lowest place in the social ladder: belonging to the depressed classes, socially handicapped they never have the courage to assert themselves. Exploited because of their caste, economically subservient because of their low wages and indebtedness, struggling with long hours of work their penury is evident (GoI, 1956–57). Generally conservative, tradition-bound, resigned to the insufferable lot to which, according to them, fate has condemned them, the level of bondage among local agricultural labour is high in Punjab.
The labourers in debt bondage in Punjab are known as siri. They generally belong to the Scheduled Castes besides enduring long working hours they have no freedom to choose employment, to the right of movement, to use the village commons and so on. Cattle shed cleaners are usually the wives of the siris and they, too, suffer from indirect bondage.
Sepi, sanjhi and siri are some of the traditional forms of bondage which have received legitimacy from the dominant social structure and which survive even today. Punjab has nearly 100,000 bonded agricultural labourers and nearly three-fourths of them hail from a single caste, namely the Mazhabi Sikh (Singh, 2006). Working for negligible wages, they sometimes wash dishes, clean cattle sheds of rich farmers in the hope of getting two meals a day and some used clothes. The agricultural labourers have to undertake all kinds of menial work, farm and domestic, at the bidding of the landlord. Their life is unimaginable, a form of hell (Barst, 2009). With lower wages being paid to them than male labourers, the conditions of female agricultural labourers are much worse than their male counterparts. The difference between the average wages of male and female agricultural labourers have widened over the years. Protests from this community, including attempts to release them from bondage, have been met with physical violence and social boycotts in a number of cases (Srivastva, 2005: 13).
Objectives
The present study is an empirical analysis of the employment pattern among agricultural labourers in rural Punjab. The study relates to 2008–09. To fulfil the most important objective of study, we have mainly concentrated on economic and demographic features, levels and pattern of income and consumption, nature and pattern of employment, incidence and magnitude of poverty and indebtedness among agricultural labourers and to estimate their wealth by examining the assets structure of agricultural labourers.
Methodology
For the purpose of study, following a random sampling method, one village each from all the development blocks of Patiala District, was selected. Thus, in all, eight villages, that is, Lang (Patiala block), Takhtu Majra (Rajpura), Jand Mangholi (Ghanaur), Gunike (Nabha), Atalan (Patran), Rajgarh Saundhewal (Samana), Bhankhar (Bhunerheri) and Karhali (Sanaur) were selected for study. In total, there are 143 households of agricultural labourers, including 38 agricultural labour households in Lang, 7 in Takhtu Majra, 14 in Jand Mangholi, 8 in Gunike, 21 in Atalan, 9 in Rajgarh Saundhewal, 17 in Bhankhar and 29 in Karhali, respectively. All agricultural labour households were selected for the study. A detailed schedule was prepared for collecting data from sampled households through personal interviews.
The whole study contains nine sections. The first section introduces the problem, indicates the relevance of the present study, highlights its main objectives and gives a database and methodology. The second section outlines the profile of agricultural labourers in terms of characteristics. The third section is devoted to the analysis of levels and pattern of income and consumption. The fourth section deals with the nature and pattern of employment. The next fifth and sixth sections bring under focus the incidence and magnitude of poverty and indebtedness, respectively. The seventh section estimates the assets owned by agricultural labour households. The next section describes in detail the social conditions, that is, their position and rank in society. The last section sum up main findings, make some suggestions emerging from our findings and draw attention to further areas of research.
Overview of Social and Economic Features
This section presents an overview of social and economic features. In this section gender, age, size of the family, caste and basic provision for subsistence level of living are taken as the indicators of social features. There are 705 persons in total, in 143 sampled agricultural labour households, out of this 51.77 per cent are male and 48.23 per cent are female. Overall the sex ratio is found to be 931.51. The average family size is 4.93 constituting 51.72 per cent male and 48.28 per cent female. 59.29 per cent of the total population falls in the working age group of 15–59 years. The main source of drinking water is tap water and 53.15 per cent households have water taps. For drinking water about one-third households depend upon neighbours and relatives as they do not possess any source of water. Around 85.31 per cent of the households have the facility of electricity, and 82.52 per cent belongs to Scheduled Castes category.
Further, the education level, conditions of house and number of earners in the family are taken as indicators of economic features. Around 42.98 per cent of the total population is illiterate and among the literates only one person has been educated up to graduation. 23.55 per cent of the total population come under the category of earners and 47.09 per cent as dependents. Further 89.16, 9.04 and 1.81 per cent, male, female and children, respectively, constitute total wage earners. It is very interesting to find out that only 14.69 per cent households have pucca houses. A majority of them belong to Scheduled Castes, less than half of the population is literate and far away from basic provisions for decent living like drinking water, electricity, pucca houses and sanitation.
Analysis of Income and Consumption
In this section, levels, patterns and per capita income and consumption of agricultural labour households are analysed. On an average, an agricultural labour household earns ₹47,154.49 annually, of which 88.70 per cent comes from the agriculture sector and remaining 11.30 per cent from the non-agricultural sources as shown in Table 1: there are considerable variations in the income earned from different components of income sources. The income is 67.82 per cent and 20.88 per cent from hiring out permanent and casual labour in agriculture, respectively. The average annual income from hiring out casual labour is further classified into rabi (10.17 per cent) and kharif (10.70 per cent) seasons. Non-agricultural sources such as hiring out labour in the non-agriculture sector, income from dairying, piggery and poultry, salaries, pensions, sale of manure and other activities also contribute to the average annual income with their meagre share of 11.30 per cent. Further, the annual average per capita income is ₹9,564.68, comprising ₹8,483.45 from the agriculture sector (that is, ₹6,485.60 and ₹1,997.85 from hiring permanent and casual labour) and the remaining ₹1081.23 is from non-agricultural sources.
Consumption is an important economic variable that determines and shows the living conditions of any section in society. For the purpose of analysis, the consumption basket is presumed to constitute consumer non-durables, consumer durables, services and for social-religious ceremonies. The average annual consumption of an agricultural labour household is ₹56,895.44. However, there are considerable differences in the level of consumption expenditure on different items. A sizeable chunk (76.21 per cent) of overall average consumption expenditure is spent on non-durables, followed by social-religious ceremonies (12.83 per cent), services (7.67 per cent) and durables (3.29 per cent). Among non-durables, food grains (33.09 per cent) account for the largest proportion of total consumption expenditure, followed by milk and milk products (15.40 per cent). The per capita consumption expenditure is ₹11,540.49 which is the maximum for non-durables items amounting to ₹8,794.63 followed by social-religious ceremonies, services and durables items amounting to ₹1,479.87, ₹883.90 and ₹382.09, respectively.
Levels and Pattern of Household Income
Average propensity to consume comes to 1.21 per cent which shows an annual deficit of ₹9,740.95 incurred by them. It appears that they have tried to maintain a minimum level of consumption whether they can afford it or not with their present income which means that they end up borrowing from different agencies.
The levels of earning in this community are too low to meet their basic needs. The main reasons being the seasonal employment nature of agriculture and a lack of alternative employment opportunities in rural areas. They spend a major share of their income on non-durables, especially on food grains, not on luxuries. It is should be emphasised that even after that back breaking, hard work they are not able to fulfil their daily consumption needs. The reason for this deficit is the unequal distribution of gains in agriculture. Landlords keep a major share of the gains as they claim their ownership on the means of production while labourers get a meagre share for their physical labour.
Pattern of Employment
This section is devoted to the analysis of the nature and pattern of employment of agricultural labourers. The nature and pattern of employment of agricultural labourers depends upon many factors, that is, the economic status of the agricultural labour households, the average family size, the average number of wage earners, the number of persons in the working age group (15–59 years), the distribution pattern of male, female and child labour used in agriculture, the average man-days of hiring out labour in agriculture and the pattern of prevailing wage rate according to male, female and child labour used in agriculture.
The economic status of the agricultural labour households, the average family size, the average number of wage earners, the number of persons in the working age group (15–59 years), have already been discussed in the previous sections. Table 2 exhibits the number of persons employed as agricultural labourers (i.e., both as permanent and casual labourers) and also depicts the distribution pattern of male, female and child labour used in agriculture. The table reveals that 31.07 per cent are male, 33.33 per cent are female and 35.60 per cent are children (below 14 years), constituting the total population of agricultural labour households. Out of the total of 197 agricultural labourers, 62.44 per cent are employed as permanent and 37.56 per cent as casual agricultural labourers. The table further reveals that 60.41, 1.52 and 0.51 per cent male, female and child, respectively, constitute the permanent agricultural labourers. In only one village, Gunike, child labour is used as permanent agricultural labour. The use of casual labour is further divided into the rabi and kharif seasons. The number of casual agricultural labour is the same for these two seasons. Out of it, 20.30 per cent are male, 16.24 per cent are female and 1.02 per cent are children. Only in two villages, Lang and Karhali, child labour is used as casual agricultural labour and the proportion of female casual agricultural labour is close to male casual agricultural labourers.
On an average, a permanent and casual labourer got work for 354.49 and 178.80 man-days annually (88.15 and 90.65 man-days in the rabi and kharif seasons, respectively) as shown in Table 3. Whereas, on an average, a permanent male, female and child agricultural labourer in the entire sampled villages got work for 355.03, 342.33 and 338.00 man-days, respectively, a casual male, female and child agricultural labourer hired out labour for 217.00, 135.41 and 109.00 man-days, respectively. The share of male, female and child casual agricultural labourers for rabi and kharif seasons is 49.59, 48.72 and 49.54 per cent, and 50.41, 51.28 and 50.46 per cent, respectively.
Pattern of Male, Female and Child Labour Use in Agriculture
It is important to note here that the number of man-days comes close to the number of days in a year for agricultural labourers because here we take the man-day to be eight hours a day, even though they end up working more than eight hours a day. Most of the permanent agricultural labourers reported that they have to work almost 12 hours in a day.
Wages constitute an important component for determining the material conditions of agricultural labourers. In the case of permanent agricultural labourers, on an average, an agricultural labourer gets a wage rate of ₹104.92 which consists of 60.09 per cent as cash and 39.91 per cent as kind wages (i.e., 0.38, 32.01 and 7.51 per cent as corn, meals and tea and milk, respectively) as shown in Table 4. Almost 40 per cent of the total wage rate paid to permanent agricultural labour comes in the form of kind wages and out of it almost one-third is occupied by meals only.
Average Labour Man-days Hired Out by Per Man, Woman and Child Labourer
The prevailing wage rates for casual agricultural labour are different for the rabi and kharif seasons. In the rabi season, on an average, a casual agricultural labourer gets ₹105.38 which consists of 79.00 per cent as cash and 21.00 per cent as kind wages (i.e., 1.41, 13.38 and 6.21 per cent as corn, meals and tea and milk, respectively). In the kharif season, on an average, a casual agricultural labourer gets a wage rate of ₹107.63 which consists of 80.68 per cent as cash and 19.32 per cent as kind wages which consist of 1.09 per cent as corn, 12.17 per cent as meals and 6.06 per cent as tea and milk.
Table 4 also further exhibits the pattern of prevailing wage rate for permanent and casual agricultural labourers according to the male, female and child labour use in agriculture. On an average, a male permanent agricultural labourer gets ₹105.87 per day which consists of 60.55 per cent as cash and 39.45 per cent as kind wages, whereas a female permanent agricultural labourer gets a wage rate of ₹74.84 which consists of 42.17 per cent as cash and 57.83 per cent as kind wages. Only in three villages, females are used as permanent agricultural labourers and more than half of their income comes in form of kind. A child permanent agricultural labour gets a wage rate of ₹78.26, which comprises 36.51 per cent cash and 63.49 per cent as kind wages.
Further in the rabi season, on an average, a male casual agricultural labourer gets ₹114.57 per day which consists of 80.79 per cent as cash and 19.21 per cent as kind wages and a female casual agricultural labour gets a wage rate of ₹66.47 which consists of 65.32 per cent in cash and 34.68 per cent in kind. A child casual labourer gets a wage rate of ₹46.54 which consists of 60.06 per cent in cash and 39.94 per cent in kind.
In the kharif season, 83.71 per cent in cash and 16.28 per cent in kind wages constitute the total wages for the male casual agricultural labourer, whereas a female casual agricultural labourer gets a wage rate of ₹67.31 consisting of 70.02 per cent in cash and 29.98 per cent in kind wages. A child casual agricultural labourer gets a wage rate of ₹47.06 consisting of 56.91 per cent in cash and 43.09 per cent in kind wages.
Pattern of Prevailing Wage Rates
The employment in agriculture is seasonal, the demand for labour increases in the peak season and decreases during the lean season. Permanent labourers are employed throughout the year because they are on a contract with landlords. The contract valid for a year, but agricultural labourers generally attach themselves to a particular landlord for years.
Incidence of Poverty among Agricultural Labourers
One of the primary aims of the nation’s economic planning is to raise standards of living of the weaker sections of the population, both absolutely and relatively, to that of other sections. However, poverty continues to persist in India, even after almost six decades of planned economic development. And much of the poverty is located in rural areas. The term ‘poverty’ is defined as the inability of an individual to meet certain minimum desirable levels in living conditions. All those people who live below this minimum desirable level are said to be living below the poverty line. In this analysis, we have used the state-specific poverty line given by the Planning Commission of India in 2004–05, that is, ₹4,924.56 per capita, per annum for the rural areas of Punjab (GoP, Planning Commission, 2004). All the agricultural labour households with a per capita income or per capita consumption below this are considered poor households. The commonest measure of overall poverty is the head count measure, given by the proportion of the total population that happens to be identified as poor, that is, falling below the specified poverty line income. In the most recent literature on the incidence of poverty, by following World Bank methodology of $1 per day, we have worked out a poverty line of ₹17,680.60 per year per person ($1 = 48.44) (Reserve Bank of India, 2009). Another method to define poverty is the nutrition norms in calories by using the NSSO(—) 61th Round Data, that is, the inability to access 2,400 calories per day per capita in the rural areas. The state-specific, official poverty line given by the Planning Commission for the Punjab state is just sufficient to access only 1,700 calories per month per capita. The required monthly and annual per capita expenditure to access a nutrition level of 2,400 calories is ₹795.00 and ₹9,540.00, respectively. People with an expenditure below this benchmark are considered poor (Patnaik, 2007).
Incidence of Poverty
As per the Head Count Measure, 38.58 and 13.90 per cent of the agricultural labour households’ population live below the poverty line on the basis of a per capita income and expenditure level, respectively, as shown in Table 5. According to the World Bank’s definition of the poverty line, that is., US$ 1/day/person, as many as 98.60 and 97.20 per cent of households live below the poverty line on the basis of per capita income and consumption level, respectively.
Different Measures for Measuring Poverty
Sen’s ‘P’ Measure of Poverty
Sen’s ‘P’ measure of poverty is a measure which is akin to the Gini measure (Sen, 1976). It uses rank order weight in a manner which is sensitive to the gap between the below the poverty line income of the poor and the poverty line itself. Thus, it gives more weight per unit to the incomes farthest below the poverty line. To overcome the problems of the head count procedure, Sen made two changes: first, the ‘P’ measure of poverty is concerned not merely with the number of people below the poverty line but also with the amount by which the incomes of the poor fall short of the specified poverty level, and secondly, the bigger the shortfall from the poverty level, the greater should be the weight per unit of that shortfall in the poverty measure (Sen, 1973). For estimating the ‘P’ income, differences are calculated from the poverty line and not from the mean income of the distribution. The ‘P’ measure of poverty is given by:
where ‘P’ is the measure of poverty, q is the number of the people at or below the poverty line, n is the population size, Z is the poverty level and yi is the income of the individuals arranged in an ascending order of magnitude. The poverty measure ‘P’ for the agricultural labourers is given in Table 6 and this is depicted through Figures 1 and 2.
Sen’s ‘P’ Measure of Poverty
Source: Field Survey, 2008–09.
Source: Field Survey, 2008–09.
Measuring Poverty by Nutrition Method
It is clear from Table 6 that on the basis of a per capita income level, the proportion of poor persons is 38.58 and the average per capita income of persons below the poverty line is ₹4,317.27. The value of the ‘P’ measure of poverty is 0.05926 for all the agricultural labour households. On the basis of the per capita consumption level, the proportion of poor persons is 13.90 and the average per capita consumption of persons below the poverty line is ₹4,494.09. The value of ‘P’ measure of poverty is 0.01543. A comparison of ‘P’ measure of poverty on the basis of income and consumption expenditure reveals that the ‘P’ measure of poverty on the basis of consumption expenditure is considerably lower than that of the income-based poverty.
Table 7 shows that as many as 71.33 per cent of agricultural labour households live below the poverty line on the basis of a nutrition method, that is, 2,400 calories per day, per capita.
Despite the government’s claims of initiating a number of employment programmes and aids to the agricultural labourers for uplifting their levels of living, a large proportion of agricultural labourers still remain poor, both in absolute and relative terms, and continue to demand a better implementation of these schemes.
The Debt Trap
The low level of income coerced agricultural labourers to borrow loans from various institutional and non-institutional agencies to meet their day-to-day expenses. About three-fourths (74.83 per cent) of agricultural labour households are under debt. The average amount of debt per indebted household is ₹33,581.08, while the average amount of debt per sampled household is ₹25,127.10.
Non-institutional agencies are playing a greater role in providing loans to them. They get 84.90 per cent of their total debt from non-institutional agencies and remaining 15.10 per cent from institutional agencies. Amongst non-institutional agencies, they are found to be more indebted to large farmers and landlords who represent 68.06 per cent of the total loan and amongst institutional agencies, commercial banks provide 10.62 per cent of the total loans. They find it easy to get loans from non-institutional agencies and hesitate to take loans from institutional agencies because of the time-consuming formalities and cumbersome procedures. Moreover, generally institutional agencies do not advance loans to them because of lack of security.
The purpose for which a loan is taken is an important indication of its potential to be repaid. Agricultural labourers spent 40.26 per cent of their total credit on marriage and other social-religious ceremonies followed by the purchase of livestock (18.36 per cent) with the least share being attributed to education (1.07 per cent). Agricultural labourers take the maximum amount, that is, 49.47 per cent of the total debt at a rate of interest ranging between 24 and 36 per cent. They get 6.86 per cent of their total debt from large farmers and landlords without any interest. Except from relatives and friends, non-institutional agencies charge very high rates of interest, ranging from 0 to 40 per cent and above, whereas institutional agencies provide loans at relatively low rates of interest, ranging from 8 to 16 per cent. The maximum number of indebted households (14.95 per cent) fell in the debt range of ₹35,001–40,000. Agricultural labour households have to take loans at a high rate of interest from non-institutional agencies because they are not able to give adequate security or surety for getting loans from institutional agencies.
Ownership of Assets
Ownership of assets plays an important role in determining levels of living conditions in any section of the society. The possession of productive assets directly affects their income, consumption and place and position in society. The share of different components that constitute total assets is shown in Table 8. The value of household assets is ₹157,552.41 and per capita value of assets is assessed at ₹31,957.41. The table depicts that the dwelling house accounts for 73.38 per cent of the value of total assets followed by cattle (10.03 per cent). The least share is occupied by means of communication accounting for 0.12 per cent of the total assets. The average value of assets does not show the actual economic status of the respondents because of the variations in the family size, so it becomes relevant to examine the per capita value of household assets. The per capita value of household assets for dwelling house is ₹23,451.67 followed by cattle assets (₹32,06.48).
Components-wise Distribution of Household Assets
Further, the total number of cattle possessed by all the agricultural labour households is 143. Out of this 62.94 per cent are milch animals. Buffaloes (43.36 per cent) prove to be the most preferred cattle as compared to other any other cattle. Among these cattle, 46.85 per cent have a value up to ₹15,000, followed by 24.48 per cent with a value ranging between ₹15,001 and ₹25,000 and further followed by 28.67 per cent having the value ranging between ₹25,001 and above. On an average, an agricultural labour household possesses cattle worth ₹15,808.17 and 2.38, 4.71, 0.64 and 0.037 numbers of electronic gadgets, wooden goods, means of conveyance and communication, respectively.
Dwelling houses constitute a major share that accounts almost three-fourths of total assets value and the remaining assets account only one-fourth. Dwelling house and livestock combined claim about 84 per cent of the total assets of agricultural labourers representing a degrading condition of them as they posses hardly any asset for a better life like motorcycle, gas, TV, refrigerator, furniture, bedding etc.
Social Conditions of Agricultural Labourers
In this section an attempt has been made to throw light on the social conditions of the agricultural labourers, on their position and rank in the society. In any social system, the ownership of means of production determines one’s position in society. One, who dominates the means of production, acquires the higher position in the society. In Punjab, land is the most important mean of production. As they are landless, agricultural labourers are assigned the lowest position in society. They depend on land for their earnings, but they get nothing from it because of the unfavourable distribution of gains in agriculture. A major share of the gains is kept by the landlords/farmers themselves because of the ownership of means of production. This study also reveals some important facts about the social condition of agricultural labourers which is not explained in figures nor neglected as these represents the clear cut picture of their position in the society. In the society, the lowest place is assigned to them. Agricultural labourers live in one corner of the village. Their homes are located on the banks of the ponds in the villages. The streets to their homes are so narrow and are always full of water as there is no drainage facility. Their homes generally constitute single room, or in some cases a couple of rooms with no facility of bathroom, toilet, kitchen, water or electricity, all essential for a decent standard of living. Even the number of beds in the house is not adequate to for number of family members. The utensils in the houses hardly meet their needs. They tie their cattle as well as keep the fodder in the same house where they live. The size of the households of all agricultural labourers in a village is equivalent to the area of houses owned by three or four big landlords. Even government housing schemes, have tended to reinforce caste segregation as most of these housing schemes are located at a distance from the village and houses under these schemes are allotted exclusively to dalits. The question of housing is very important to the dalit agricultural labourers and it is tied up with issues of their dignity as well as their practical needs (Ghuman et al., 2007).
The situation of agricultural labourers, employed as permanent labourers, is much worse. Victims of economic-bondedness as they have taken credit from their employers they cannot leave their job until they repay the full debt. Should they change their employer, then the new employer has to pay the entire debt of the permanent agricultural labourer to the old one. This never improves the situation for the labour because it is only a mutual transfer of the employer, they still remain economically bonded. Famers treat the labour badly, typically being rude and using filthy language while talking to permanent agricultural labourers, as well as their children. The utensils in which the labourers taking their meals and tea are keep separate from the family utensils of a farmer’s.
Normally, a permanent agricultural labourer has to perform two tasks simultaneously, one as agricultural labourer and the other as a house servant. Young female agricultural labourers are inevitably sexually exploited, the brunt of vulgarities spouted by the land owners. Should they dare to demand a minimum humane treatment, they can be forbidden to use village fields to defecate and urinate in. The class of agricultural labourers is the most exploited and oppressed class in the rural hierarchy. Being Scheduled Castes contribute to their degrading condition even further because Scheduled Castes population is already a victim of social discrimination in our society.
Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
This study has attempted to examine the employment pattern among agricultural labourers in rural Punjab from 2008 to 2009. After more than six decades of planned economic development, the class of agricultural labourers remains the most exploited and oppressed class in the rural hierarchy. Some land reforms, the Green Revolution and the New Economic Policy in India may have contributed to the improvement of sections of society, the conditions of agricultural labourers remain abysmal. They are victims of social discrimination and economic exploitation.
The study has concluded that almost 43 per cent of the total population of agricultural labour households is illiterate and 82.52 per cent belong to Scheduled Castes category. Almost one-third households do not have any source of drinking water. Their income is too low to meet even the basic requirements for decent living. To meet their basic needs or to bridge the consumption–income gap, they fell into a vicious debt trap leading to about three-fourths of the households are indebted. More than 62 per cent of agricultural labourers are employed as permanent agricultural labourers. On an average, a permanent and casual agricultural labourer gets work for 354.59 and 178.80 man-days, respectively. Almost one-third of the total wage rate paid to permanent agricultural labour is taken up by meals only. In case of woman permanent labourers, the share of kind wages is more than half of their earnings. The majority of them are living below poverty line. Dwelling houses and livestock make up about 84 per cent of the total assets representing a degrading condition of them.
In words of Alfred Marshall (1919: 199), ‘Every agricultural problem has peculiarities of its own; and some side of it can be mastered by shrewd, experienced, alert, instinctive judgement better than by systematic reasoning based on ordered knowledge.’
To overcome these problems effective measures should be taken by government and its institutions, such as agricultural growth is one of the important components for productive inclusion. The global experience has shown that GDP growth originating in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as GDP growth originating outside agriculture. Discrimination on the basis of caste still exists in society and because of the fact that this job is simply assigned to the lower castes by the prevailing social system, proper legislation and ensured penalty on any type of caste-based discrimination is needed. For providing them land for houses and cultivation, government should use village common land as well as provide financial at low rate of interests and technical assistance. With the development of subsidiary occupations like dairying, poultry, fishery, piggery and repairing and other shops, employment will generates and it will lead to an increase in their earnings. Establishment of agro-based industries in rural areas must be given top priority to provide them employment opportunities at the village level itself. Government should launch more employment generation programmes like MGNREGA and Atta-Dal schemes to provide them daily consumption items on very nominal rates, to fulfil their consumption needs in the existing income level. Adequate steps towards a revision and implementation of a minimum wage act will be prove helpful in improving their conditions. The most important suggestion comes in the form of cooperative farming, which definitely will improve the conditions of agricultural labourers and the abolition of forces of discriminations on the basis of caste, class, gender, necessary to provide conditions for dignified living.
In the given socio-economic and political structure of the Punjab economy some of these policy measures can help in minimising problems faced by the agricultural labour households.