RSP-12 Friday, 25 September 2020

TRIBAL SOCIETY
- Tribes are oldest people with Newest history (to start with everyone was in a tribe).
- Till recently, much was known about them or there was lack of knowledge about them that’s
why they were called people with newest history.
- Tribes are closed society.
- They are now part of modern society (those tribe who were open to modern policies,
education etc.) E.g. Tribes in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar: Oraon, Marandi, Birsa Munda
- They are given exclusive policy benefits. Some tribes think there are problems they have to
face if they become a part of our society.
- Jungle/Forest is the way of life and resource for these tribes.

Tribal Transformation Process

- In 1881 census: Britishers gave them a name forest tribe to account their population.
- In 1911 Census: They were listed in a category called Animists (people who believe in
superpower, rituals).
- In 1921 Census: They were referred as Tribal.

- In 1941 Census: They were termed as Adivasis.

- Britishers definition of Tribes - People who live in primitive and barbaric

conditions.

Govt of India definition of tribes (Given by Ministry of Tribal affairs in 2007)

- There were 4 identified criteria if any group fulfill these criteria then were considered as
tribes.
 Primitive Traits - Used to follow fundamental traditional practices, Lack of Human
development, Education etc.
 Distinctive culture – they have very different culture.
 Shyness in contacting other social groups
 Geographical isolation

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 RSP-12 Friday, 25 September 2020

- Tribes are not necessarily part of a specific caste groups.

- Transformation of tribes: why we bind tribes with a particular caste?
Special deities similar to those mentioned in Hindu traditional texts.
- To induct tribals into the caste system they have to be brought under the fold of Hindu
religion
- Why we clubbed them together then? In simple talk it's easy to club them together.

How and why transformation of Tribes took place in Lower caste?

1. Hinduisation: For tribes there was no organized religion (they trusted on nature n forest)
but their religious practices or concept of faith in God matched with Hinduism. So, multiplicity
or plurality of Hindu religion matched with Tribal culture. (Kul devta and Kul devi – Jal: Vayu:
Indra devta etc.) The basic idea of rituals, superstitions, faith matches. So, it was easier for
Hindu society to align tribal with Hinduism.

2. Outsider Treatment (due to lack of information): They were insiders but considered
as outsiders(new) because information about them was known to us. Due to social
isolation and reluctance to interact with rest of the society- it was convenient to bring
them under Hinduism and put under category “untouchables” or “shudras”. They could
not be brought in the upper layer of caste system as it was strongly protected. So, they
have been ostracized under the caste system. Thus SC/ST were put under same
basket.

Caste v/s tribe

- Basic demand in Caste System – Inclusion. Basically, we want no discrimination or exclusion.

Tribes demand - Isolation. They want to protect their culture, way of life.
- Caste demands benefits and basic rights as enjoyed by other section of society.
Tribe asks for others not to take away their rights to their livelihood/way of life. Example
forest produce and resources. They share negative characteristics (underdevelopment).

3. SC/STs share negative attributes: Negative attributes means characteristics which

indicate that they are underdeveloped. Both the categories are linked with idea of
underdevelopment: lack of modern health and education. (for STs by choice but for SCs
never given choice)
4. Governance convenience: Both need similar intervention policies (access to education,
health, reservation, basic infrastructure and others) for their holistic development. So, govt.
kept them together for ease of administration.
- Tribes are shifting from Homogenous society to Heterogenous society. Earlier they used to live in
their own specific society (though they have some form of stratification in their society/community)
and now they have been clubbed/merged with ST & outer world where differences between and
within the group/society are more as compared to theirs. So, there is shift but this shift is not
radical.

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 Session 12 - JAJMANI SYSTEM

Jajmani System
- Certain services and rituals are provided only by specific castes to other people. It is
continuous feature. Example: barbers, brahmin, washer man, etc.
- A person to whom service is provided is called Jajman. Jajman came from Sanskrit word
“Yajman”.
- Yajman: A person who performing ritual activity like Yajna (yagya) or a religious activity.
- Brahmin who provides service are called service provider. They are also called Specialist.
So, specialists are service provider who provides service to other people who are called
Jajman.
- So, Jajmani System is a system where a specialist provides certain economic and ritual
services to land-owning class. It is very specific system.
- Payment is not done in cash typically; paid in terms of grain (man = roughly 20 kgs or 40 kgs
bag depending on totally produce; a local unit) once or twice a year.
- Cash payment is not included in jajmani system.

Components of Jajmani System

 (1)Caste:
Certain people has to do certain jobs (occupation affiliated with caste).
 (2)Land:
Ensures ability to pay. Cash is not considered an element of jajmani system.
 Kamins = specialists in particular occupation.
 Jajmani is therefore an institution of social relations in India, which also explains of
livelihood.
 It is mutual acceptance and understanding. It is also reciprocal (because Jajman is
morally bound to pay no matter what is his economic situation).
 It was moral responsibility on jajmans to ensure remuneration of services of kamins;
service providers are morally obliged to facilitate those services to the jajmans.
 These specialists are usually a group of 10-12 person in village.
 During wedding, Brahmin used to get highest share of payment followed by barber and
followed by other service provider.
 Mutual responsibilities and understanding between service providers and jajmans;
give- and-take relationship; mutually convenient
 Hereditary in nature
 Informal consensus regarding remuneration terms; not contractual.
 Jajmani should not be confused with caste like social stratification; though foundation is
based on caste and heredity, Jajmani system is a moral understanding rather than a
compulsion imposed by caste.
 Jajmani system arised due to lack of choices as regards where to obtain those services.
Write about jajmani system as a reciprocal system in 100 words?
Jajmani system translates to a mutual, symbiotic relationship between service
providers (Kamin) and the beneficiaries, typically of the land-owning class (Jajmans).
Here, the specialist provides certain economic and ritual services to land-owning class
for remuneration in the form of grain or goods. The terms of remuneration are informal
and consensual between Kamins and Jajmans. This exchange of services and
remuneration is morally obligatory for both parties. Though the relationship involves
recognition of the caste system, it is a mutual understanding of roles rather than the
imposition of caste. Thus, Jajmani system is reciprocal.
Session 13 - LAND REFORMS IN INDIA
Objectives of Land Reform
- Major objectives:
1. Removing intermediaries
2. To Redistribute land from rich to poor.

- Other Objectives
- Political objectives:
1. To bring equity between the rich and poor, in terms of land ownership
2. Development – Govt need land to carry out various development projects like for different
Industries, Infrastructure, dams etc.
- Economic objectives:
1. Principle of inverse farm size productivity relationship: smaller the farm size is, more
productivity it could be. During that time, due to lack of Mechanization it was easy hiring family
labour, easy to plough, input cost was low if farms size were low.

2. Owner cultivated land produce more than the sharecroppers - tenants were leased
tracts of land (adhiya system= 50/50 sharing of input cost between landowner and tenant;
varies from states to states or within the states);
why produce was higher?
Reasons were –
 Tenants try to minimize input cost; landowners will do everything in their control to increase
productivity.
 Another was that if owner cultivate the land then it can do in more efficient way. He was
considered as more sensitive while farming the land.
- Absentee landlord - used for Zamindar; someone who owns large property but could not do
tillage, so he rents land to tenants and at the end of year sharing of produce was done on pre-
decided terms.
- Chakbandi = land consolidation (happens in UP, Haryana, Punjab)
 Scenario of Pre-Independence
Land Reforms under British System

1. Zamindari/Permanent Settlement
- Introduced in 1793 by Lord Cornwallis.
- Implemented in colonial Bengal (Bengal-Bihar-Orissa)
- Attempt to reduce administrative costs of tax collection from many individual farmers, by
assigning this task to zamindars (typically upper caste)
- British auctioned land among zamindars and they were asked to collect the tax (say ‘x’) from
farmers and pay to administration, i.e. the right to collect tax from specified (administrative units
of lands) villages.
- Land rights given to zamindar rather than the original cultivator even if the farmer had been
cultivating on the land for generations (highly discriminatory and unfair); zamindars asked to
collect taxes from the farmers
- 1/11th portion of total tax collected to be retained by the zamindars
- Zamindars would try to collect more than the auctioned tax value (say ‘x + y’), so that
they could retain more after paying tax.
- To reduce his workload Zamindars used to have his sub-ordinates who used to collect taxes
from farmers for him. He also used to collect more than desired tax to retain from him (say he
used to collect ‘x + y + z’)
- So, in this way poor peasants ended up paying up to 90% of the total revenue as tax

2. Ryotwari System

- Introduced in 1820 by Thomas Munroe.

- Implemented in Madras and Bombay presidencies; some part of Assam
- Direct tax collection by British officials from peasants
- Tax rates = 50% for dry land; 60% for irrigated land.

3. Mahalwari System
- Introduced in 1833. It was mix of above 2 System.
- Introduced in central province MP, Punjab, Rajasthan, entire north-west India.
- Ownership rights were given to peasants, but tax collection done by village committee.
- Villages were organized under unit mahal (around 10-20 villages were organized)
- Tax rates were up to 60-70%.
Post-Independence Land Reforms
There were 4 types of following reforms
1. Elimination of Zamindari (intermediaries)
- 1951 to1956
- Zamindars had to give away excessive land other than the homeland they defined for
themselves.
- Partially successful—2.5 Cr tenants became landowners as a consequence.
- Reform was partially unsuccessful — because zamindars could still retain large tracts of land
under pretext of “homeland”. So, the purpose of the law was defeated.
- Reasons were - Govt had not defined what is homeland?
- Another reason was Govt had not defined upper limit of land holdings for these zamindars.
- Why it was not defined -Lack of political will—zamindars had power and prestige even in
politics, so policymaking was biased in their favour.
- 1st Adverse Effect - Poor peasants working on zamindars’ lands became unemployed and
were evicted as an immediate effect of the land reforms act. They lost their livelihood.
- 2nd Adverse Effect – Zamindars were able to retain their land.

2. Tenancy reform
- It was implemented in 1960s-70s.
- To improve contractual terms for the tenants
- Reforms were:
(1) Sharecropper will have to pay minimum one- fifth of the total produce in a year as a rent to
landowner. This ratio varied from 20- 25% in different states.
(2) Land cannot be taken away from tenant as long as they can pay the govt-mandated rent.
- Landowner has right to own the land; right of cultivation remains with the tenant Relationship
between landowner
(3) Landowner could evict the tenant on ground of non-payment or tenant is making the land
unsuitable for cultivation. Landowner can also take land for personal use but part of land
(which varies from state to state) has to be given to tenant for his livelihood security.
(4) In case if landowner and tenant relationship were to be ended then land rights were to be
given to tenant.

- Adverse effect – Pushed Landowner evicted tenant forcefully.

- These reforms could only be implemented recorded administration had land recorded but usually
this is informal relationship. So, there were no records available for tenant relationship in major
states. So, when reforms came followings things happened:
(1) Landowners forcefully taken back the lands and the left it uncultivated. So national production
went down
(2) Share of cultivated area and tenant relationship was 55% when reforms were implemented it
came down to 15%
 - Presence of tenancy and land records=> better implementation of tenancy reform could have
been done.

3. Land Ceiling
- To take away excess land from landowners or old zamindars and Distribute among to landless
peasants (esp. SC/STs) Patta land - land given by govt. It cannot be sold.

4. Consolidation of fragmented landholding

- This land was about bringing patches of land together of one owner.
- Objective was to merge or consolidate fragmented land holding so that landowner can manage
their land effectively and ultimately productivity can be increased.