THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

(Organ of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics)

Vol. XII APRIL—JUNE 1957 No. 2

CONFERENCE NUMBER

YPROCEEDINGS of the SEVENTEENTH CONFERENCE held at Cuttack, December 1956

SUBJECTS

I. PATTERN OF EMPLOYMENT OF HIRED LABOUR IN AGRI- CULTURE IN .

2. EFFECTIVENESS OF PROVISION IN THE TENANCY LEGISLA- TION FOR (I) SECURITY OF TENURE AND (ii) IMPROVE- MENT IN TENURIAL STATUS OF TENANTS.

3. TRENDS IN THE OPERATION TECHNIQUES AND ORGA- NISATION OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING IN INDIA.

Rs. 6.50 C ON'T ENTS PAGE

WELCOME ADDRESS—DR. P. PARIJA • • • • 1 INAUGURAL ADDRESS—r:SHRt RADHANATH RATH • 3 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS—PROF. D. G. KARVE • • • •'• 6

PATTERN OF EMPLOYMENT OF HIRED LABOUR IN.: AGRICULTURE IN INDIA

(1) S. BHATTACHARYA AND CHITTA MITRA' • • • • • • • . • • 14.3 (2) A. S. KAHL9N AND M. L. BHARDWAJ • • • • 23 (3) D. D. JENA .. • • • • • • • • • ." 28 (4) G. D. AGRAWAL • • • • • • .. 34 A..MUJUIVIDAR N. • • (5) • '' '' a. • .. .. • . • 37 (6) V. StJNIjARA RAJAN . .. • • • • • • • • • '- .-. 43 (7) SHRIDHAR MISRA AND PREA.I BEHARI LAL VAISH • • 48 (8) R. C. PATNAIK .. • • .. • • • • • • • • 58 (9) P. K. MUKHERJEE • • • • • • • • • • 66 (10) M. S. PRAKASA RAO .. • • • • • • • • 72 (11) J. K. PANDE .. • • • • .. • • 77 (12) DANIEL AND ALICE THORNER • • • • • • 84 (13) M. SRINIVASAN • • • • • • • • • • • • 97

DISCUSSIONS • • • • • • .• • • • • 109

EFFECTIVENESS OF PROVISION IN THE TENANCY LEGISLATION FOR (i) SECURITY OF TENURE AND (ii) IMPROVEMENT IN TENURIAL STATUS OF TENANTS

(1) MAIIESH CHAND .. • • • • .. • • • • 114 (2) B. MISRA AND B. JENA • • • • • • • • • • • • 117 (3) P. N. NARASINGA RAO • • • • • • • • • . • . 121 (4) M. K. SHINGAREY • • • • • • • • • • • 126 (5) D. D. JENA • • • • • • • • • • 135 (6) M. BALASUBRANIANIAN • • • • • • • . 142 (7) C. H. SHAH AND TARA SHUKLA . • • • • • • 151 (8) B. S. MAVINKURVE •. • • .. • • • • • • • 156 DISCUSSIONS • • • • • • •. • • • • .. 168

TRENDS IN THE OPERATION TECHNIQUES AND ORGANISATION OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING IN INDIA

(1) M. L. DANTWALA •. .• • • •• •• •• •• 182 (2) E. T. MATHEW .. • • • • • • •• •• •• •• 186 (3) A. VENKATESWARLU •• •• •• .• • • • • 196 (4) A. V. RANGACHARI •- • • • • • • • • • • • • 201 (5) M. B. GHATGE AND R. V. S. RAO • • • • • • • • .. 211 (6) N. P. PATIL • • •• •• •• • • • • • • • • 222

.. a• (7) SALIM • • 0, ABU •• • •• • • • 229 DISCUSSIONS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 233 APPENDICES

PAGE

SUBJECTS FOR THE NEXT CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY . • • • 239 CONSTITUTION OF THE SOCIETY • • • . • • • • .. 239 REPORT OF THE HONORARY SECRETARY AND TREASURER FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31ST DECEMBER 1956 .. • • • • • • 240 BALANCE SHEET AND INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 1956. .. • • • • .. 244 LIST OF DELEGATES AND MEMBERS WHO ATTENDED THE CON- FERENCE .. .. • • • • .. • • • • • • .. 250 LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY AS ON MARCH 31, 1956. • • 252 LIST OF SUBJECTS DISCUSSED AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES OF THE SOCIETY 1940-1956. • • • • • • • • • • • • 260 ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PRIZE AWARDS 1956 AND PRIZE AWARDS FOR 1957. • • • • • • • • • • . • 262 PREFACE

The current issue of the Journal GB contains the Proceedings of the 17th Annual Conference of the Society held in December 1956 at Cuttack. The Conference was attended 39 by nearly 130 members from Central and State Governments, Universities 39 and Research Institutions. The subjects chosen tO for discussion at the Conference were : 1) Pattern of Employment 14 of Hired Labour in Agriculture in India. 2) Effectiveness of Provision 50 in the Tenancy Legislation for (i) Security of Tenure and (ii) Improvement 52 in Tenurial Status of Tenants. 3) Trends in the Operation 50 Techniques and Organisation of Agricultural Marketing in India. 52 An unusually large number of papers were received and read on Subject I, while on the other two subjects also there were select contributions. The level of discussions was maintained at the usual high level.

Unlike the previous Conference, it was not possible to arrange for a tape- recorder to record the discussion. Instead, arrangements were made to take down notes of the discussion by stenographers. However, notes have not been taken of the speeches of all the participants in the discussion. Hence, the dis- cussion part on the respective subjects contain only reports which could be made available.

We take this opportunity of thanking the Utkal University under whose auspices the Conference met. We specially record our grateful thanks to Dr. S. Misra, the Local Secretary of the Conference, who had made excellent arrangements and to the Members of the Reception Committee for their generous hospitality.

15th May, 1957 Manilal B. Nanavati President 48 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

It will be seen that five families derived the entire income from work in the fields, one family got nearly the entire income from farm labour. Of the other, one family derived 25 percent of the total income from work in the fields while the other 75 percent was obtained by the sale of milk and farmyard manure; of the remaining five families the income which accrued from work in the fields ranged between 60 and 75 percent. In the case of families Nos. 9 and 10 the heads of the families served as Wartanias' and obtained a regular monthly pay which swelled up the total income.

The conclusions may be briefly stated. The agricultural labourers without land mostly because of the lack of adequate opportunities for gainful employ- ment outside agriculture, do not obtain regular employment all the year round. On an average the number of days for which an agricultural labourer was em- ployed was 141.2 in the case of men. Of these agricultural work alone provided employment for 112 days and for the remaining days they were employed in other occupations. The average number of days for which the women were employed was 73.2 of which agricultural work accounted for 68 days. In spite of the enter- prising efforts of the labourers they were not gainfully employed all through the year. The solutions to the problem of unemployment of agricultural labour and under-employment in agriculture lies not merely in speeding up land reforms and reorganisation of agriculture but in quickening the tempo of industrial develop- ment in the country, with a particular emphasis on village and small scale indus- tries.

,/ ,-EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS IN WESTERN U.P.'

\ Shridhar Misra and Prem Behari Lal Vaish

University ofLucknow,

INTRODUCTION Agriculture is the oldest and the largest industry. In India it accounts for nearly half of the national income ; and agricultural labour forms the largest single sector of India's labour force. Unfortunately, most of the agricultural labourers are "poorly paid, precariously employed and poorly housed; among all, poverty is chronic, and though destitution is certainly rare, the dread of it is seldom absent." 2 It is the ill luck of the country in general and of the agricultural

1 The paper is based on a research enquiry being conducted at the Department of Economics, University of Lucknow. 2 Lord-Emle.--- - PATTERN OF EMPLOYMENT OF HIRED LABOUR IN AGRICULTURE 49

he labourers in particular that the latter could not come in the fore-front of the country's economy till 1947. However, after independence, microscopic activities lie undertaken by the Central and State governments, such as the enforcement he of minimum wages on large farms of 50 acres and more and the institution of ed Agricultural Labour Enquiry provide some rays of hope. he ed The Western U.P. extending over an area of 29,581 sq. miles is the largest region of the State. Broadly, the Western U.P. is divided into three administrative ut divisions viz., (i) Rohillkhand (ii) and WO . The total number of 3r- districts comprised in this region is 17.3 According to the Census of 1951, the d. total population of the region was 2,00,11,578 out of which the rural population was 1,59,19,936 i.e., about 73 percent of the total population. The total number of cultivating labourers and their dependants was 11,10,241 i.e., 6.8 percent of er the total rural population. 301 he AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS id id For the purpose of this paper the term 'agricultural labourer' includes all. those persons who are employed in the fields for wages, in cash or kind, for carry- Ls- ing on agricultural operations on a temporary or permanent basis; and such persons may or may not own any land to be cultivated by them on their own account. It thus includes even those petty tenants and sub-tenants who possess only a fractional area of land which hardly returns them enough for their main- tenance and are; therefore, forced to work as agricultural labourers in the fields of others to supplement their petty earnings from their own land.

The facts and figures are based upon the field enquiries made in 25 villages in the Western region. The total number of families investigated is 850 consisting of 4,800 persons, out of which 2,565 or 53.4 percent are males and 2,235 or 46.6 percent are females. The average size of the family comes to 5.6 persons. The actual number of earners is 1,095 or 22.8 percent and the dependents form the total force of 3,705 or 77.2 percent of the total population.

The agricultural labourers are drawn from all castes but most of them belong to lower and intermediate castes.4 The distribution of agricultural labourers according to castes is given below :- )r 1.e 3 Rohillkhand Division Meerut Division Ts 1 1 1 Dehra Dun ty 2 2 Agra 2 Meerut 3 13adaiun 3 3 Bulandshahr al 4 4 4 5 Rampur 5 5 6 7 50 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

TABLE I

Castes Total Percentage to the total Upper .. 75 1. 6 Intermediate .. .. 2,429 50.6 Lower i • • •. 2,296 47.8 Total .. .. 4,800 100.0

The percentage of lower caste labourers is higher in the Meerut division in com- parison to other divisions.

Out of 4,800 persons, the active labour force consisting of persons belonging to the age group of 16 to 50 years consists of only 2025 or 42.2 percent of the total number. The children and the old persons having crossed the age of fifty years form the total number of 2775 or 57.8 percent of the total number of persons under enquiry. The distribution of population and the earners according to age groups is given below :—

TABLE II

Age Group Below 6-12 13-15 16-20 21-40 41-50 51-60 Above 6 years 60 years Total

Persons • • 1445 640 210 330 1470 225 390 180 4800 Percentage to the total .. 30.1 13.3 4.3 6.8 30.6 4.6 6.5 3.8 100 Earners • • 10 130 740 115 84 16 1095 Percentage to the total in the group 4.7 39.3 50.3 51.1 28.0 8.8 22.8

The broad classification of agricultural labourers may be made into landless labourers and land-owning labourers. The latter category of labourers own very small parcels of land which they cultivate on their own account but the income from such lands is very small and therefore, they are forced to work on the farms of others in order to supplement their meagre income. The landless labourers

4 Dr. Radha Karnal Mukerjee in his article on 'Caste, Distance and Tension in Villages' published by the J. K.Institute of Sociology, Ecology and Human Relations in the book 'Inter- caste Tensions' has divided the rural castes of India into these three grades: (i) Upper (ii) Intermediate (iii) Lower. 1 Upper Castes include Brahmans (priests, learned professions), Thakurs (), Khattiri and Vaishyas (Traders). 2 Intermediate Castes: Kurmis, Ahirs (Cattle breeders), Kachhis (Vegetable growers), Jatas, Gujars, Lohars (Black Smiths), Kumhars (Potters), Gadarias (Shepherds), Nais (Barbers) Telis (Oil pressures). 3 Lower Castes: Chaniars (Tanners and leather workers), Dusadhs, Doms, Koris, Pasis (Toddy drawers), Dhanuk and Bhangis (Scavengers) and Muslim Julahas (Weavers). PATTERN OF EMPLOYMENT OF HIRED LABOUR IN AGRICULTURE 51

have very pitiable position. They depend solely upon the mercy of land-owners. The landless labour families form 75 percent of the total agricultural labour families. Thus only one-fourth of the labourers have some land.

NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT

According to the tenure of employment the agricultural labourers can be divided into two categories :—(i) Permanent and (ii) Temporary.

Permanent labourers, again, may be divided into (i) Farm-servants employed on a permanent basis and (ii) Ploughmen or Ralpatis' employed for a particular season.

Temporary labourers may also be classified into : (i) Floating labourers who have no other occupation, (ii) Casual workers who work as hired labourers to supplement their small income from other means of their livelihood. They are generally petty tenants and artisans.

The agricultural labourers according to other conditions of employment in the region under enquiry can be broadly divided into five types : First, there are workers who are employed on a yearly basis. Under this system a labourer gets wages every month for the actual period he works on the employer's farms. Besides, he gets a certain amount of cereals every year during the harvesting season. In some places these labourers get some coarse cloth also every year, e.g., 12 yards of cloth is given to permanent agricultural labourers in Barotha, in . These labourers also get some perquisites such as gram, Sattu, bidi, tobacco etc. A few employers also serve meals to their workers but they adjust the wages according to the prevalent market price of the agricultural commodities. Women and children are not employed under this type of employment.

The second group is of labourers who are employed permanently for an in- definitely long term by big land-owners or on the farms: of the State Government. Their wages are higher than those of other permanent or seasonal agricultural labourers. But they are not given any kind of perquisites, etc.

The third type of workers are those labourers who are employed like domestic servants. They work mainly on.the farms of the employer but are also asked to do domestic jobs. The labourers are given food and clothing and an annual payment either in cash or kind. Harijans are not engaged for this type of em- ployment. Women also are not employed for this type of'work. The boys above 10 years of age are employed mainly for purposes of tending cows, assisting in agriculture and for watching the fields.

The fourth type of employment is employment on daily basis. The labo- urers make no contracts with any body and are free to work wherever they like. Those having some other sources of income and the women of low castes generally work under this employment system.

Fifthly, most of the labourers work on piece wage contracts. The piece- wage workers generally do harvesting and weeding. 52 . THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

Evidently agriculture is a seasonal industry. Therefore, the labourers do not find employment in agriculture for all the months of the year. Only 15 to 20 percent of the agricultural labourers including permanent labourers get employ- ment in agriculture almost for the whole year. The rest of the labour force con- sisting of nearly 80 percent of the total labour force has to seek employment out- side agriculture also. It is not so that they may get such employment outside agriculture in their own village. Often they have to go to distant towns and cities. In villages the scope of employment outside agriculture is very limited. The following table gives an idea of the days of employment in and outside agticulture. TABLE III •

Division Average No. of Days Average No. of Days Total Days of Employed in Agriculture Employed outside Agricul- Employment ture

Men Women Children Men Women Children Men Women Children

Rohillkhand 243 13 6 42 17 23 285 30 29 Agra 280 4 21 47 39 301 51 39 Meerut 287 13 14 24 23 311 13 37

All agricultural operations are not equally important. Some jobs such as ploughing, harvesting and weeding give more employment than others. The following table shows the average number of days of employment in each agri- cultural operations. TABLE IV

Ploug- Prepa- Sow- Trans- Weed- Irri- Harve- Thres- Other Total Division hing ratory ing plant- ing gation sting hing Opera,- Opera- ing tions- tions

Rohillkhand Men .. .. 64 12 22 3 17 23 55 31 31 258 Women • • . 41 ...... 41 Children • • 28 ...... _ 28 { Agra Men 42 31 18 2 29 23 46 26 63 280 Women • 7 16 6 29 Children • •

Meerut •. Men .. 68 33 18 . 14 29 26 33 30 36 287 Women ...... _...... 2 — 25 — —. 27 Children • • 55 55 PATTERN OF EMPLOYMENT OF HIRED LABOUR IN AGRICULTURE 53

- Like the agricultural jobs, the twelve months of the year are not equally impor- tant in respect of the amount of work that each month allows. For example, the months of March, April and November are very busy. In sugar.cane area-. and particularly in the Meerut Division, the months of December and January are also busy. The months of May, June, October and February are to some extent idle. The Table No. 5 gives an idea of work done during the various months of the year.

The hours of work of agricultural labourers are uncertain and irregular. This is so because of the uncertain weather conditions upon which agriculture is largely dependent. Longer hours of work during summer and shorter hours during winter are the general rule. Most of the work is generally done between sun-rise and sunset. Generally, the day's work is finished before the nightfall but during the harvesting season, the moonlit night and early cool hours of the day are also used for work.

But there is diffeience between the hours of work of permanent and tem- porary agricultural labourers. The temporary labourers generally work for 8 to 10 hours whereas the working hours of permanent labourers vary from 10 to 12. When the temporary labourers are asked to work for long hours they are given some compensation in the form of bread, gram or sometimes over-time wages.

As a matter of custom, the workers are allowed during mid-day about two hours' break. But there is no guarantee of 2 hours' break for permanent labourers. During busy season they may be allowed only one hour's break. In the Meerut Division the temporary daily-wage labourers generally do not enjoy lunch hours. They finish their work by 1 or 2 p.m. Thus they work for not more than 7 to 8 hours per day.

The question of holidays with pay does not arise with the casual labourers. As regards permanent labourers, they too have no claim. It is upon the will of the employer that he may grant leave for two or three days with wages. On the occasions of festivals the labourers do little work on the fields but they have to attend their employers at their residence and in return they get free meals.

WAGES AND EARNINGS

Agricultural wages always have been, and still are very low. This becomes only too obvious when they are measured against industrial wages. It is a fact of the greatest significance that "agricultural wage rates seldom attain much more than one half, or often only one half and occasionally even only one third, of an average industrial wage. In all wage tables agricultural wage rank at the bottom of the tables."5

The wages of agricultural labourers are low because the earning power of agriculture is low. "By comparison with industry agriculture is far behind in its productive capacity because it is often less equipped, financed and organised."°

5 Howard: Labour in Agriculture. 6 ibid. TABLE V

Average Number of Days for which Work is Available during Total Division Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.

Rohillkhand

Men • • .. 29.8 28.0 18.4 20.2 27.1 22.8 20.4 24.9 16.4 13.6 13.5 22.9 258.0

Women .. .. 28.0 •• 12.5 40.5

Children .. .. 20.0 7.5 27.5

Agra

Men ...... 27.3 25.8 20.6 20.9 23.3 22.3 20.4 25.6 23.5 23.7 . 23.6 22.7 279.7

Women ...... 12.5 3.5 __ __ 2.5 5.0 __ 4.2 1.2 __ __ -- 28.9

Children • • • •

100.00*

Meerut Men .. 29.0 28.5 20.5 17.8 28.6 17.6 14.8 20.6 23.0 25.9 25.3 25.8 287.4

Women .. 18.8 2.2 6.5 27.5 55.0 Children .. 0* 00 12.5 30.0 '12.5 PATTERN OF EMPLOYMENT OF HIRED LABOUR IN AGRICULTURE 55

The systems of wage payment are not uniform. The wages are paid in cash, kind and partly in cash and partly in kind. The rates vary widely from place to place and are determined mainly by the fertility of the soil, situation of the place, risks in agriculture, supply of labourers and of course, the price-level.

Farm servants are employed by big tenants and the State Government. These farm servants are paid generally in cash and they are paid on a monthly basis. Their wages generally range between Rs. 25 and Rs. 35 p.m. but on some govern- ment agricultural farms their wages are comparatively higher. They are paid upto Rs. 45 per month. These labourers generally do not get any perquisite etc. They get rather dry cash wages. Halpatis or seasonal labourers are generally employed for one year. Their wages differ from division to division, district to district and tahsil to tabsil. During the course of this enquiry it was observed that in the wages are the lowest. There, the permanent labourers get cash wages which vary from Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 per month plus one or two meals a day. In the three divisions under enquiry, wages are the lowest in Rohillkhand and highest in Agra Division. Except where wages generally range between Rs. 25 and Rs. 35, in the rest of the Rohillkhand Division wages generally range between Rs. 15 and Rs. 20 plus one or two meals. In the Agra Division wages generally vary between Rs. 25 and Rs. 35 and in the Meerut Divi- sion between Rs. 25 and Rs. 30.

The temporary labourers usually get cash wages and they are not given meals. But in the Meerut Division two loaves of bread and a little mattha is very common- ly given to the labourers. The cash wages of the casual labourers differ from place to place and from one operation to another. The wages of daily-paid labourers are higher by 20 to 25 percent than those of permanent labourers. In Rohillkhand they vary from 10 annas to 16 annas, in Agra Division they vary between 16 annas to 24 annas and in Meerut between 12 annas to 16 annas per day depending upon the slack or bUsy season and the relative labour supply. The following table shows the average daily cash wages paid to casual labourers for different agricultural operations :

TABLE VI Cash Wages shown in annas for each Division

• Rohill- Agra Meerut Agricultural Operations khand

Ploughing .. • • • • • • • • 14 16 16 Preparatory work • • • • • • • • • • 14 16 16 Sowing • • • • • • • • • • 13 18 16 Transplanting • • .. .. • • 12 16 12 Weeding • • • . • • • • 12 16 12 Irrigation .. • • .. .. • • 15 19 16 •

• • ...... Harvesting 7 • • • • • • • • Threshing • • • • • • • • .. 12 16 16 Other Operations • • • • • • .• 10 16 15

•••••••••••• 7 Cash wages are not paid for harvesting. 56 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

The system of paying wages in kind was greatly in vogue before the introduc- tion of money economy. But with the growth of trade in agricultural produce and rise in agricultural prices, the system of kind wages is disappearing day by day. At present harvesting is the only main operation for which the wages are generally paid in kind. In some districts of the Agra Division women are sometimes paid in kind for jobs like threshing of bajra, maize, rice and for weeding and trans- planting. They are generally given two seers of grain per day. In sugar-cane harvesting also the wages are generally paid in kind. The labourers get Angola. The following table shows the proportion of income from kind wages to the total agricultural wages. TABLE VII

Percentage which kind wages bear to total Division wages

Rohillkhand ...... 00 18.4 Agra •• •• •• •• •• 16.9

Meerut 00 00 00 00 00 21.2

The Halpatis or the seasonal labourers are generally given mixed wages i.e., partly in cash and partly in kind particularly during the harvesting season because they are not expected to do harvesting work but to supervise it and assist the employer in his work. Hence they are paid in kind also. The payment in kind generally varies between 1,1 to 2 maunds of cereals (which costs—Rs. 15 to Rs. 20) per year. During the course of the enquiry the authors found on the Neuli farm in that the employer was kind enough to allow his labourers to get Angola harvested by them between 4 to 5 p.m. daily at the time of sugar-cane harvesting besides cash wages. This practice has certainly increased the efficiency of the labourers. However, the system of mixed wages is also disappearing gradually.

The perquisites as a part of wages present a very complex situation. It is very difficult to find out the real money value of the perquisities given to agricul- tural labourers. Almost 60 to 70 percent labourers get perquisites in the form of bread and Mat-tha, gur, grain, bidi, tobacco, meal and clothes etc. It must be borne in mind that when an employer gives one or two meals to a labourer he generally adjusts the wages according to the current prices of cereals. The ratio of the value of perquisites to the total annual income of agricultural labourers is given below : TABLE VIII

Percentage which the value of perquisites Division bears to the total

Rohillkhand •• •• •• .• •• 16.3 Agra •. •• •• •• •• 9.9

• Meerut 00 00 00 00 00 22.2 PATTERN OF EMPLOYMENT OF HIRED LABOUR IN AGRICULTURE 57

The value of perquisites is found to be the highest in the Meerut Division because there the labourers get two breads and Mattha which are costlier, whereas in the Agra and Rohillkhand Divisions, only gur, bidi, and gram which are cheaper are given as perquisites.

It has been pointed out before that the agricultural labourers cannot rely on agriculture only for their livelihood and therefore, they seek employment outside agriculture also. The proportion of earnings from non-agricultural jobs is quite large. The non-agricultural jobs generally include house repairing before the rainy season, dairy and brick making etc. In cities they generally get work in road repairing, brick making etc.

The following table shows the percentage of annual income from different sources. TABLE IX

Division Agricultural Cultivation of Non-agricultural Total Wages Own Land, if any Jobs

R.ohillkhand • • 79.8 3.6 16.6 100

Agra • • 84.1 2.3 13.6 100

Meerut • • 80.8 1.2 18.0 100

The share of income from non-agricultural jobs is the highest in the Meerut Divi- sion and lowest in the Agra Division.