Cooperative Farming and Family Farming in the Punjab: a Comparative Study
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This dissertation has been 6 3—70 microfilmed exactly as received MANN, Harbans Singh, 1917- COOPERATIVE FARMING AND FAMILY FARMING IN THE PUNJAB: A COMPARATIVE STUDY, The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1962 Economics, agricultural University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan COOPERATIVE FARMING AND FAMILY FARMING IN THE PUNJAB: . A COMPARATIVE STUDY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Harbans Singh Mann, M.A., M.A., M.Ed. The Ohio State University 1962 Approved hy Adviser Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology ACKIT OWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to those who have contributed toward the completion of this study and especially to: The Council on Economic and Cultural Affairs, Inc., New York for the award of a fellowship for advanced studies in the United States of America. The Department of Education, Punjab Government for grant of leave _of absence for advanced study at the Ohio State University. My adviser, Dr. John H. Sitterley, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Ohio State University for his wise counsel, leadership and guidance in the preparation of the study. Dr. Russell 0. Olson, Chief Land Use and Farm Management Branch, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations for his wise counsel and leadership in the conduct of this study between January i960 and August 19&1 as my adviser at the Ohio State University and earlier during his assignment in India as Group Leader of the Ohio State Agricultural Education and Research Mission to India. Members of my advisory committee Dr. George F. Henning, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Ohio State University and Dr. Guy W. Miller, Professor (Emeritus) Agricultural Extension, Ohio State University for very useful suggestions. Dr. 2>fervin G. Smith, Chairman, Department of Agricultural Economics and Dr. Robert W. McCormick, Associate Professor of Agri cultural Education and Assistant Director of Extension, Ohio State ii University for constant encouragement and advice. Dr. Selmer A. Engene, Professor of Agricultural Economics University of Minnesota and Dr. William David Hopper, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Chicago for their interest in the study and useful suggestions at the Research Seminar at the University of Minnesota in Summer i960. Dr. Carl C. Taylor, Visiting Professor df Rural Sociology at the Ohio State University in Summer i960 for his interest in the study and suggestions about its sociological implications. Members of the Farm Management Research Group at the Tenth International Conference of Agricultural Economists at Mysore, India for their interest in the study and valuable suggestions. Dr. Arjan Singh,,Director of Agriculture Punjab for his advice and guidance. The Registrar of Cooperative Societies Punjab, Assistant Registrars, Inspectors of Cooperative Societies for their cooperation in making this study. The officials and members of the cooperative farming societies and the Operators of the family farms for giving information about the accounts and working of their farms and their hospitality. The late Dr. Ajaib Singh, Professor of Agriculture, Government College of Agriculture Ludhiana and Supervisor Studies in the Economics of Farm Management in the Punjab for his advice and guidance. Dr. Jaswant Singh, Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Punjab for his advice in the early stages of the study. iii Mrs. Bonnie Lowery for her excellent work in typing the manuscript. My wife, Mohinder, for her assistance in the preparation of the manuscript and encouragement and inspiration. My children Ripdaman, Purshottarn, Karamvir and Balrup who had to stay hack in India during the period of my studies in the United States. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I INTRODUCTION........... I II REVIEW OF LITERATURE............................... 26 III SENA NAGAR COOPERATIVE SOCIETY...................... 57 IV GAGRA COOPERATIVE FARMING SOCIETY.................... 88 V JALLOWAL AND KZNGRA COOPERATIVE FARMING SOCIETY. 102 VI GILL CHOWGAWAN COOPERATIVE FARMING SOCIETY........... 113 VII SANJIWAL KAFURE COOPERATIVE FARMING SOCIETY.......... 138 VIII KOTLA COOPERATIVE FARMING SOCIETY.................... l68 IX BAJWA, GHUMMAN, SANDHU COOPERATIVE FARM SHAHABFURA......................................... 193 X UNDATA FAZALFUR COOPERATIVE FARMING SOCIETY.......... 222 XI MODEL COOPERATIVE JOINT FARMING SOCIETY, KHAI FHEMEKE............ 232 XII EX-SERVICEMEN COOPERATIVE TENANT FARMING SOCIETIES IN KARNAL.......................................... 251 XIII COOPERATIVE FARMING AND LAND RECLAMATION............. 270 XIV COOPERATIVE FARMING IN GARDEN COLONIES................ 290 XV SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS............. 302 APPENDIX.......... *.... 328 BIBLIOGRAPHY............... .................................. 331 AUTOBIOGRAPHY....................... ..... .................... 33^ v & MAP OF THE PUNJAB Showing Locotion of the Farms SIMLA 3 JULLUNDUR Qill^lnwgowa #K a ... _ • L y allpur C.F DELHI RGAON 4n 30 2p lft-4up 20 30 y MILES Chapter I INTRODUCTION Need for the Study An important problem facing the developing countries which are engaged in the task of planned economic development is the decision about the future pattern of their agrarian economies. In India this question has engaged the attention of the government and the people for the last 15 years since the independence of the country. The necessity for improving our agricultural production for the supply of food for our growing population and raw material for our growing industries can hardly be over emphasized. Small and fragmented hold ings being a great hurdle in the way of agricultural improvement, cooperative farming has been thought of by same people as a possible way out of the difficult situation. Others hold that pooling of land in cooperative farms will create more problems than it will solve. Por the last few years there has been a controversy about the desira bility and feasibility of introducing cooperative farming as a general pattern of our agrarian economy. While the Planning Commission has recommended the organization and study of a large number of experi ments, most of the discussion on cooperative farming has been more or less on a theoretical plane. Most of the writers on the subject start with the presumption that cooperative farming is good or bad, and base their arguments on the theoretical advantages of hig farms and small farms to support their point of view. There are others who have recommended a policy for our country in the light of the experience of cooperative farming in other countries, without giving due weight to the "basic differences in our economic, social and political conditions. The Planning Commission, the Indian Cooperative Union and others have made studies of some cooperative farms, but there are few comparative case studies of cooperative farms and family farms under more or less similar conditions, which could bring out the relative merits of the two types of farm organization. The Problem There is an imperative need to increase agricultural production and farmers' income in India. Although the index of agricultural production increased by 1+1 per cent between 1950-51 and 1960-61, food grains of the value of Rs 1,500 crores were imported in India between 191*8-19 and 1958-59 to feed the growing population. In the year 1955" 56 the average production of paddy per acre was about two-sevenths that of Japan, per acre production of wheat and corn was less than one-third that of the United States, while per acre production of sugar cane was about one-sixth that of Hawaii.The national income at 1960-61 prices has increased by 1*1 per cent between 1950-51 and 1960-61, while per ^Report of the Working Group on Cooperative Farming. Department of Cooperation, Ministry of Community Development and Cooperation, Government of India (Hew Delhi, December, 1959)> Vol. I, pp. 7-8 . capita income has increased by 16 per cent from Rs 2&k to 330*^ According to Baljit Singh, income from agriculture at constant prices has improved by less than 1.5 per cent per year, while population has increased at the rate of about two per cent between 1950-51 and 1957-58* Estimates of per capita rural income for India are not available for the whole of India but the estimates for the State of Uttar Pradesh reveal that the per capita rural income in terms of 1918-1+9 prices has remained constant at Rs 197 since 19^8-49 •~) Can the problems of Indian agriculture responsible for its backwardness, like small holdings, lack of capital, weak bargaining power of the farmer, and the problems of livestock, farm equipment, seed, manure, irrigation, credit and crop pests be better solved by pooling of land in cooperative farms or the organization of service cooperatives helping the farmers operating family farms? Decision-maker The problem will be studied in terms of the decision-maker being (a) the farm operator (b) the Government of India and the Government of the Punjab. All the policy statements of the Government of India and the Planning Commission on the subject of cooperative farming emphasize that the organization of cooperative farms will be entirely voluntary. The decision to organize a cooperative farm or to join or not to join a 2 Third Five Year Plan, Planning Commission, Government of India (New Delhi, 1961), p. 35* ^Baljit,Singh, "The Ordinary Villager Has Hardly Benefited by Increased Rural Income" Kurukshetra, Vol. IX, No. 5 (New Delhi,