Caste, diversification, and the contemporary agrarian question in India: A field perspective
Srishti Yadav
Abstract
Abstract This paper seeks to analyse agrarian class relations in Sangli, a village in Rewari district, southern Haryana, in light of the linkages of agricultural households with non‐agricultural economic activities. I find that better‐off households that are primarily dependent on agriculture are the most likely to re‐invest in agriculture. Agricultural surpluses allow upper caste landowning households to diversify into businesses or formal employment; alternatively, landownership provides a failsafe against precarious daily wage work, which is the only type of work available to lower caste landless households who lack economic and social capital. This segmentation of diversification opportunities is understood as conjugated oppression resting on caste and land ownership.