In this presentation you will find info about agrarian society and modes of production in India.

1. SERIAL NO. TITLE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. HISTORY
3. STRUCTURE AND FEATURES
4. TYPES OF AGRICULTURE
5. AGRARIAN ECONOMY IN INDIA
6. CHALLENGES FACED BY AGRARIAN ECONOMY
7. AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE
REFORMS
8. MODES OF PRODUCTION IN INDIA
9. CHANGING MODES OF PRODUCTION
10. CONCLUSION

2. Imagine you planed a garden in your backyard and soon there are ripe tomatoes and
peppers ready to be picked. You realize you have a few options: you can keep the
tomatoes and peppers and eat them yourself, or you can sell them at the local farmer’s
market., or if you turn your small garden into large, multi-acre farm, you could sell
the produce in a bigger market- regional, national. These options represent the main
features of an AGRARIAN ECONOMY.
AN AGRARIAN ECONOMY IS RURAL RATHER THAN URBAN BASED. IT IS
CENTERED UPON THE PRODUCTION,CONSUMPTION, TRADE AND SALE OF
AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, INCLUDING PLANTS AND LIVESTOCK.
THE WORD AGRARIAN MEANS AGRICULTURE RELATED, AND THE
ECONOMY THAT DEPENDS ON THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD CROPS AND
FARMLAND, IS AGRARIAN ECONOMY.
It’s not that in this society all people engage themselves in agricultural practices, but
majorly it is practised and stressed upon while other means of livelihood exist too.
The agrarian economy highly depends on the weather, climate and seasonal factors.
Agrarian economy is a economy where a majority of its population derives its income
from agriculture and related activities.

3. Earlier, men used to hunt and go for fisheries for food. But the
NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION marks one of the greatest changes.
The Neolithic revolution began in the near east and the Nile
Valley about 13,000 years ago. During this period, men began to
polish some of their tools, giving them a sharper edge. During
this period they invented arts of pottery and weaving also. But
these weren’t the most important changes.
It was the domestication of plants and animals which laid the
foundation of AGRARIAN ECONOMY. The development of
agriculture greatly altered the social structure.
The new form of economy made possible a more rapid growth
of population. It also meant a more settled abode.
Man founded villages and thereby created the need for new
forms of social structure and social control.

4. There is a proper structure of a agrarian economy and it have some features, such
as:
 OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE : An agrarian society is generally associated with
the domestication of plants and animals. The domestication of plants means
farming and that of animals means herding.
 FORMS OF LAND OWNERSHIP IN AGRARIAN ECONOMY : Generally, there are
landlords, supervisory farmers, cultivated and share croppers. The landlord
owns the land but do not work on it. They let it out for sharecropping. The
supervisory farmers are those who live by having their land cultivated by hired
labourers. The cultivators cultivate land for themselves. The share croppers are
those who live by tilling other people’s land or, a crop sharing basis.
 VILLAGE COMMUNITY SYSTEM: An agrarian economy is highlighted by the
institution of village community system. The agrarian economy made fixed
dwelling houses necessary. Living close together for protection and co-operation
and living near to the land gave birth to the agricultural villages. It serves as the
nucleus of the society and life operates among completely within the village. The
life pattern of people is very simple.

5. MINIMAL DIVISION OF LABOUR: Another structural feature of agrarian
economy is a minimal division of labour. There is only one predominant type of
occupation and that is, domestication of plants and animals. There isn’t much
division and sub division of work. The people tend to be much alike in body build
as well as cultural patterns.
ROLE OF FAMILY: One striking feature of the agrarian society is the great
importance of the family. Here the individuals and the entire family tills the soil,
plants and harvests the crops, and carries out co-operatively the other necessary
farm functions. The farm family is of the PATRIARCHAL type.
SENSE OF UNITY: The members of an agrarian society exhibits strong-in-group
feeling. Since the whole of their social lives is wrapped up in a society which is
physically, economically and socially homogenous, there is a strong “WE FEELING
”. The relations among the village people are personal. In an agrarian economy,
neighbourhood is one of the important units.
SIMPLICITY AND UNIFORMITY: Life of people in an agrarian society is
marked by simplicity and uniformity. Since agrarian economy depends on
weather, farmers pray and worship deities. An agrarian society is a religious
society. Farmers lead a simple and peaceful life.

6. Based primarily on nature of land, climatic characteristics and available
irrigational facilities , the farmers in India practice different types of farming.
They are as follows:
SUBSISTENT FARMING – This is a widely practiced farming technique and
can be seen all over India . The farmer and/or his family grow grains for
themselves or for sale at the local market.
SHIFTING AGRICULTURE – This farming practice is mostly used by tribal
group to grow tuber and root crops. Land is obtained by clearing a forested area
and planting crops there. When the land is no longer fertile, another area of land
is cleared and the crops are shifted there.
INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE – This farming practice can be seen in densely
populated areas in India. It is an attempt to maximise the output of the land,
through the use of every possible effort. It requires a huge amount of capital in
addition to a great deal of human labour, but more than one crop can be raised
per year. Examples – millets, maize, etc.

7. EXTENSIVE AGRICLUTURE – This is the modern type of farming that can be
seen largely in the developed world and in some parts of India. It relies largely on
machinery as opposed to human labour and raises one crop per year. Examples are-
barley, etc.
CROP ROTATION – This refers to growing of number of crops one after the
other in a fixed rotation to maintain the fertility.
TERRACE CULTIVATION – The hills and mountain slopes are cut to form
terraces and the land is used in the same way as in permanent agriculture.
Examples are- tea, olive, grapevines, coffee and rice.
PLANTATION AGRICULTURE – This style is often used for crops which
require a lot of space and a long growing period such as tea, rubber, cocoa, etc.
DRY LAND FARMING – It is practised in the more arid and desert like areas of
the country for growing crops like bajra , jowar, ragi, etc.
WET LAND FARMING – This type of farming is practised in well irrigated areas
for crops like rice, jute, sugarcane, etc.
COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE – The goal of this type of farming is high yield
so that it can be exported for profit such as cotton, wheat, maize, cashew , etc.

8. INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is the most important sector of Indian economy. Indian
agricultural sector accounts for 18% of India’s Gross Domestic
Product(GDP) and provides employment to 50% of the country’s
workforce. India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, rice, wheat,
spices and spice products.
India has many area to choose for business such as dairy, meat, poultry,
fisheries, etc. India has emerged as the second largest producer of fruits
and vegetables in the world. According to the data provided by
Department of Economics and Statistics(DES) the production of food
grains for the year 2013-2014 is 264 million tons which is increased when
compared to (2012-2013) 257 million tons. This is a good symptom for the
Indian economy from the agriculture sector. India stands at position 3rd
as far as production of different agricultural products like paddy, wheat,
pulses, natural products, sugarcane, tea, jute, cotton, and so on.

9. AGRICULTURE IN INDIAN ECONOMY
India is an agriculture based country, where more than 50% of
population is dependent on agriculture. It is said that agriculture is a
backbone of Indian economy. Agriculture exports constitute a fifth of
the total exports of the country.
Training is an important procedure of capacity building of people as to
enhance the agricultural production more and more. Selective of
intentive and experimental bundling strategies by food industry has
empowered the assembling of sheltered and quality sustenance.
Most of the Indians are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture.
Some are directly involved with the farming and some other people are
involved in doing business with these goods. India has the capacity to
produce the food grains which can make vast difference in Indian
economy. To achieve targeted mark by the government it needs to
provide support in case of land, bank loans and other machineries to the
small farmers with this we can expect some improvements in Indian
economy.

10. Although agriculture contributes to the most of India’s GDP, yet this is the most
under developed sector, technologically and policy wise. Despite being an
agrarian economy, farmers in India face lots of challenges, like low quality input,
difficult access to institutional credit, poor market infrastructure etc. These
constraints cause even much distress to farmers who are having marginal and
small fragmented land holdings making it almost impossible for them to acquire
two meals a day.
Some of the main challenges faced by Indian agrarian economy are as follows:-
1. LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Feeding a billion plus population and still increasing was never an easy task
and needs a consistent yet dynamic long term strategy. To support and catalyse
the food production for such large population requires a good infrastructure
with proper planning, at central as well as state level. Hence, infrastructure
must be improved.

11. 2. USE OF TECHNOLOGY
Technology proved to be a panacea for all ills to farmers across the country.
Specially in arid and semi arid areas, if utilised properly. Weather forecasting,
pest infestation of paddy, land use pattern of the country and other related data
can be collected and that can help policy makers to draft policy accordingly.
This would include generating early warning signals in distressed areas like
Vidarbha, Western Rajasthan, ahead of monsoon season. Technology will help
farmers choosing right inputs and correct farm practices to increase their yields
and soil productivity.
3. PROPER POLICY FRAMEWORK
Many states like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh have framed
farmer’s friendly laws. Reversing proper rights for farmers can go a long way in
providing socio-economic security to the farmers.
In the nutshell, future holds promising aspects for Indian agriculture provided
that effective steps should be taken in the areas of land reforms, better
irrigation and market infrastructure, better us of technology and finally
empowering rural masses to shoulder the responsibility of making the nation
hunger free.

12. Agriculture development implies giving assistance to farmers or crop producers
by providing them various agricultural support. Providing security, helping in
the research area, employing advanced techniques, checking pests and
facilitating diversity, all fall under the category of agricultural development. In
the colonial dominion, there was neither equity nor growth in the agriculture
division. The strategy and rue makers of independent India addressed these
problems through land reforms and advancing the use of ‘ HIGH YIELDING
VARIETY(HYV)’ seeds which guided in a revolution in Indian agriculture.
LAND REFORMS IN INDIA
Land reforms means equity in agriculture, which also means the shift in the
ownership of landholdings. Land reforms normally relates to the redistributing
of land from rich to the poor. More deeply, it involves control of operation,
ownership, sales, leasing, and inheritance of land. In a country like India with
vast deficiency and irregular arrangement, of land, with a huge mass of the
rural people below the poverty line, there are captivating economic and
political disputes for land reform.

13. In recent years the theory of land reforms has expanded in the identification of
the strategic role of land and agriculture development. Therefore , land reform
has become similar to agrarian change or rapid development of the agrarian
structure. This structure includes tenure system, farm organization, the pattern
of cultivation, the scale of the farm operation, the terms of tenancy, and the
system of rural credit, marketing and education, it also deals with advanced
technology.
GREEN REVOLUTION IN INDIA
At the time of independence, 75% of the India’s population was dependent on
agriculture. The production was very less due to old technology. The slack in
agriculture was destroyed by the GREEN REVOLUTION. This means there was
a large improvement in the production of agricultural grains by the use of
HIGH YIELDING VARIETY(HYV) seeds, notably for wheat and rice.
The farmers who started and continued with HYV seeds needed assured
irrigation facilities along with the financial resources to buy manure and
pesticide. The adoption of HYV seeds was limited states like Punjab, Andhra
Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Later, from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s , the green
revolution was shifted to a large number of states. This revolution made India a
self sufficient country in food grains.

14. In the writings of Karl Marx and the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a
MODE OF PRODUCTION(the way of producing) is a specific combination of
following:
1. PRODUCTIVE FORCES: These include human labour force and power and
means of production. For example- tools, productive machinery other
infrastructure, technical knowledge, materials, plants, animals and
exploitable land.
2. SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL RELATION OF PRODUCTION: These include
the property, power and control relations governing society’s productive
assets, cooperative work relations and forms of association, relations
between people and the objects of their work and the relations between
social classes.
Marx told that “ people must consume to survive, but to consume they must
produce and in producing they necessarily enter into relations which exist
independently of their will.”

15. Marx further told that the mode of production substantively shaped the nature
the mode of distribution, the mode of circulation and the mode of consumption,
all of which together constitute the economic sphere.
DIFFERENT MODES OF PRODUCTION
TRIBAL AND NEOLITHIC MODE OF PRODUCTION- Marx and Engels
often referred to the first mode of production as primitive communism. The two
earliest modes of production were those of Tribals and of the Neolithic kinship
group. Along with neolithic revolution, advances in pottery, weaving were also
observed. God of fertility were worshipped in this time, and a move from
matriarchy to patriarchy also took place at this time.
ASIATIC MODE OF PRODUCTION – The asiatic mode of production is a
controversial contribution to Marxist theory. Here, initial form of class society
was observed. Technological advances, standardization of weights, calendar
making were also seen. The forces of production associated with this society
include basic agricultural techniques, massive construction, irrigation, and
storage of gods for social benefit.

16. ANTIQUE OR ANCIENT MODE OF PRODUCTION – Sometimes referred
to as “slave society”. Technological advances in the form of cheap iron tools,
coinage and the alphabet, the division of labour between industry, trade and
farming. Classical Greek and Roman societies are the examples of this type of
mode of production. The forces of production associated with this mode of
production include advanced agriculture, the extensive use of animals in
agriculture, industry. Here, ruling class avoided claims of being direct
incarnation of god and preferred to be a descendants of gods.
FEUDAL MODE OF PRODUCTION- The feudal mode of production,
dominated the systems of the west between the fall of the classical world and
the rise of capitalism. This period also saw the decentralisation of ancient
empires into the earliest nation states. The primary forces of production
include highly complex agriculture with the addition of non-human and non-
animal power devices. During this period, a merchant class arises and grows in
strength.
CAPITALIST MODE OF PRODUCTION- By the close of the middle ages,
the feudal system had been increasingly hollowed out. Capitalist mode of
production is usually associated with the emergence of modern industrial
society and the global market economy.

17. In the capitalist mode of production, the key forces of production
include the overall system of modern production with its supporting
structures of bureaucracy, democracy and above all finance capital.
SOCIALIST MODE OF PRODUCTION- Socialism is the mode of
production which Marx considered will succeed capitalism, and which
will itself ultimately be succeeded by communism. The social relations
of socialism are characterized by the working class effectively owning
the means of production and the means of their livelihood, through one
or a combination of cooperative enterprises, common ownership, or
worker’s self management.
COMMUNIST MODE OF PRODUCTION- Communism is the final
mode of production, anticipated to arise inevitably from socialism due to
historical forces.
Marx didn’t tell in detail about communist society but told that the
highest phase of community society will be achieved when society will
inscribe on its wordings, that are: “FROM EACH ACCORDING TO HIS
CAPACITIES, TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS NEEDS”.

18. In any specific society or country, different modes of production might
emerge and exit alongside each other, linked together economically
through trade and mutual obligations. Old and new modes of production
might combine to form a hybrid economy.
Before independence/ during colonial period India was an agrarian
society. The British Indian agrarian structure was FEUDAL in social
relation and technological application. After independence through
legislative intervention, agrarian structure were transformed towards
productive in economic sphere, with this Indian agriculture became more
CAPITAL intensive in nature.
There are some factors which are responsible to make a change in mode of
production, specially in rural areas, they are: IMPROVED
IMPLEMENTS, NEW AGRICULTURE INPUTS, IMPROVED CATTLE,
ABOLITION OF INTERMEDIARIES, DEVELOPMENT OF MARKET
ECONOMY.

19. India has been the agriculture country from the beginning. Half of the India’s
population is engaged in farming and allied sectors. An AGRARIAN ECONOMY is
rural rather than urban based. It is centred upon the production, consumption, trade
and sale of agricultural commodities, including plants and livestock. The agrarian
economy highly depends upon weather, climate and seasonal factors. Agriculture
sector accounts for 18% of India’s GDP and employs to 50% of the countries
workforce. Agrarian economy includes features such as occupational structure, village
community system, minimal division of labour, sense of unity etc. There are various
types of agriculture such as shifting agriculture, dry land farming, wet land farming,
commercial farming, crop rotation, terrace cultivation etc. Agrarian economy faces
various challenges such as lack of technology, lack of infrastructure, etc.
There were various agrarian movements such as Bardoli movement, Moplah
rebellion, Champaran satyagraha etc.
There were various reforms in agriculture sector such as green revolution,
introduction of HYV seeds etc. There are various modes of production such as
ancient, feudal, socialist, communist etc. Indian agriculture earlier was based on
feudal mode of production but now it is capitalist mode of production.
There still lies need of improvement in Indian agriculture and towards the
development and support of Indian farmers.