Labour Tying Arrangements: an Enduring Aspect of Agrarian Capitalism in India
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Labour Tying Arrangements: An Enduring Aspect of Agrarian Capitalism in India Taneesha Devi Mohan Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD December, 2015 Department of Geography and Environment London School of Economics and Political Science University of London i Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 1,06,044 words. I can confirm that parts of my thesis were copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Meredith Whitten and Harsiman Gill. ii Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................. vi List of Tables and Boxes .................................................................................................. vii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... xi Glossary .......................................................................................................................... xiii Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Theoretical Constructions ............................................................................................................... 3 Chapters .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Unfree Labour and Agrarian Neoliberalism ..................................................... 13 1.1 The Agrarian Question of Capital and Labour .................................................................. 14 1.2 Unfree labour under Capitalism ....................................................................................... 18 1.2.1 Theoretical Constructions within the Indian Context ............................................... 22 1.2.2 Changing Unfree Labour Relations in India .............................................................. 29 1.2.3 Providing explanations of Unfree Labour through Interlocking Transactions in Agriculture ................................................................................................................................ 38 1.3 Using Gillian Hart to Understand Tied Labour Arrangements .......................................... 45 1.4 Indian Agriculture and Development................................................................................ 48 1.5 Women in Agriculture ....................................................................................................... 55 1.5.1 Labour relations and Labour Resistance: .................................................................. 65 1.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 2: An Account of Methods ................................................................................. 70 2.1 The Area of Enquiry .......................................................................................................... 72 2.2 Making Field Choices ........................................................................................................ 74 2.3 Getting down to Fieldwork ............................................................................................... 79 2.3.1 Accessing the field .................................................................................................... 80 2.3.2 Data Collection .......................................................................................................... 88 2.4 Ethical dilemmas ............................................................................................................... 99 2.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter 3: An Overview of Aranthangi and Chinsurah .................................................. 102 3.1 Aranthangi: A Description ............................................................................................... 102 3.1.1 Physiology and Agriculture ..................................................................................... 103 3.1.2 Socio-economic descriptions of Aranthangi ........................................................... 109 3.2 Hooghly: A Description ................................................................................................... 121 iii 3.2.1 Physiology ............................................................................................................... 125 3.2.2 Socio-economic Background of Chinsurah ............................................................. 128 3.3 Labour Relations in Aranthangi and Chinsurah .............................................................. 141 3.3.1 Tied labour relations ............................................................................................... 144 3.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 148 Chapter 4: Tenancy as a Route to Tied Labour? .............................................................150 4.1 Land Reforms and Land Ceilings in Tamil Nadu .............................................................. 152 4.1.1 Tenancy Reforms in Tamil Nadu ............................................................................. 153 4.2 Tenancy Arrangements and Land Transactions in Aranthangi ....................................... 155 4.2.1 Ensuring Production and Controlling Land through Tenancy Arrangements ......... 156 4.2.2 Capitalist Farmers and Multiple Tenancy patterns ................................................. 161 4.2.3 Tenants and Labourers ........................................................................................... 165 4.2.4 Survival and Exploitation ........................................................................................ 174 4.3 West Bengal Land and Tenancy Reforms ....................................................................... 176 4.3.1 Left Rule and Land Distribution .............................................................................. 179 4.4 Tenancy patterns in Chinsurah - Controlling Ownership of Land ................................... 180 4.4.1 Tenancy patterns in Chinsurah ............................................................................... 185 4.5 Conclusion: ...................................................................................................................... 190 Chapter 5: Labour Tying and Credit Relations: Interlinkages of Land Labour and Credit194 5.1 Credit Institutions forging Credit relations ..................................................................... 197 5.1.1 Rural credit Societies .............................................................................................. 198 5.1.2 Accessibility to Banks .............................................................................................. 200 5.1.3 Informal Rural Credit .............................................................................................. 202 5.2 Credit Interlinkage and Indebtedness............................................................................. 205 5.2.1 Loans and Rising Indebtedness ............................................................................... 207 5.3 Informalisation of Credit and Increasing Indebtedness.................................................. 212 5.3.1 Money Lenders, Credit and Indebtedness .............................................................. 217 5.3.2 Credit relations and Pannaiyals .............................................................................. 219 5.3.3 Dadan and the Bandha Kishen ................................................................................ 222 5.4 Self-Help Groups: An Alternative Livelihood Apparatus ................................................. 224 5.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 230 Chapter 6: National Rural Employment: Transformative Impact on Female Labour Relations ....................................................................................................................... 236 iv 6.1 MGNREGA and Labour Relations: ................................................................................... 238 6.1.1 MGNREGA, Labour Benefits and Labour Control: .................................................. 239 6.1.2 Obstacles to MGNREGA: 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