The Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011, the first since 1934, identifies landlessness as a major source of rural deprivation, and finds that a majority of rural households depend on manual labour for income. 56 per cent of rural households own no agricultural land, with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal having more than 72 per cent landless.

About 51 per cent of rural India depends on manual labour, including farmwork, for income, and over a third are landless labourers. Bihar is the worst at 71 per cent and Tamil Nadu at 66 per cent. Farming is practised widely, but only 30 per cent say it is their chief source of income. Only 37 per cent of cultivated land has assured irrigation for two crops, less than 10 per cent own irrigation equipment like pump-sets or sprinklers, and just 4 per cent have mechanised agricultural equipment like tractors. Despite Punjab’s high mechanisation, less than 30 per cent of households depend on agriculture as their chief source of income.

This data on deprivation and landlessness has implications for several rural development and poverty alleviation schemes. The NDA would particularly need to consider more thoroughly the proposed Land Acquisition Bill’s effects on landless labourers, says Rohini Mohan.

By Rohini Mohan