Q. ‘The transfer of land from cultivating to the non-cultivating owners is bringing about transformation in Indian society.’ Justify your answer by giving suitable illustrations.

Model Answer:

The transfer of land from cultivators to non-cultivators signifies de-peasantization driven by neoliberal agrarian distress. It fundamentally alters the traditional caste-class nexus (Andre Beteille), deeply restructuring rural power dynamics.

Class and Caste Restructuring

• Proletarianization: Daniel Thorner highlights the shift from the independent Kisan (owner-cultivator) to the Mazdur (landless laborer).
• New Landlordism: Utsa Patnaik identifies rising corporate landownership, while traditional Dominant Castes increasingly transition into urban absentee rent-seekers.
  

Societal Consequences

• Migration and Gender: Dispossessed lower-caste peasants become “footloose labour” (Jan Breman). This triggers the feminization of agriculture (Bina Agarwal), as women are left to toil as laborers on alienated land.
• Voluntary Exit: Nuancing this, Surinder S. Jodhka argues that rural youth often willingly sell land to escape the stigma of agriculture for non-farm employment.

The 2020-2021 Farmers’ Protests reflected profound anxieties over corporate land capture. Conversely, Amaravati’s land-pooling illustrates cultivators voluntarily transitioning into commercial shareholders.

Conclusion

This land transfer shifts rural sociology from traditional patronage to modern resource-contestation, dynamically transforming India by intertwining distress-driven proletarianization with emerging capitalist aspirations.