In the pre British period the question of rural labour is examined broadly with in the caste framework. The landless groups over a period of time were reduced to serving castes at the farms or related work places of higher castes. The jajmani system, under which hereditary patron-client relationships were maintained, provided minimum security to the serving castes. As the control of land mainly decided the productive relationship among various sections of village population, the low caste groups remained a deprived section of the rural population.

The non-agricultural labourers which were mainly artisans constitute an important segment of rural labour force since ages.  The artisans formed the base of village and urban economy in India during the pre-colonial and early-colonial periods. All members of an artisan family were usually involved in production with specific division of labour for males, females and children. Numerous lower caste families have traditionally been engaging in various crafts and agriculture-related non-farm activities. The main among them were those of carpenter, blacksmith, potter, weaver, leather worker and basket maker.

In addition to these, non-farm labourers used to perform jobs requiring special skills spread in various regions of the country—depending on the availability of particular raw materials or nature of cultivation. All these skills and activities were limited to the extend of either manufacturing articles to meet the local requirements or to provide technical services to the local population. The artisans’ products usually remained out of the modern market economy—confining to the poor village consumers. Most of them worked at subsistence level of economy and usually did subsidiary jobs to supplement their earnings.

Indeed the jajmani system formed the backbone of the rural society of that period. It gave them substantial socio-economic security in daily life.

In spite of many odds, village artisans and craftsmen enjoyed a reasonably good social status in the society.

Therefore, similar to other aspects of society the socio-economic position of rural labourers has changed over the broad historical periods.

British period

For the first time in the history of Indian, rural labour emerged as a new category in the British period.

Agricultural labourers

These traditional relationships in land experienced a steady transformation during the British rule which created class of agricultural labourers. The British rulers in India not only disturbed the age-old self-sufficient village economy but also created land and property relations which proved to be disadvantageous to the rural poor. Another set-back to the village economy was the destruction of the artisan class by colonisers by turning India into a dumping ground for the finished products manufactured in their home land.  

It led to the concentration of land in the hands of a few while many of the poor peasants lost their land. Many of these poor peasants who lost lands, because of poverty etc. were resettled on these lands as sharecroppers. And those who were not resettled joined the army of agricultural labourers. Many of the displaced artisans and craftsmen also joined the army of agricultural labourers. In this period the volume of rural labourers increased enormously.

Thus prior to Independence, Indian agriculture had a large class of poor peasants and landless labourers, the two groups together forming the majority within the agricultural sector. With the deterioration of the rural economy the survival condition of these groups of people became highly precarious. They were exploited by the landowners. Indeed they were under utter insecurity and misery.

Non agricultural

The socio-economic condition of these artisans and craftsmen deteriorated sharply with the introduction of British rule in India. Because of the import-oriented British Policy these artisans and craftsmen lost their traditional market. Many of them also lost these traditional avenues of employment. This displaced labour force was in search of alternative employment. They were extremely insecure in the rural economy. Many of them joined either the army of the agricultural labourers or migrated to the urban areas for the mainstay of their livelihood. Only those who remained in their old occupation tasted the pains of insecurity, exploitation and alienation in the society.

Post independence period

There has been considerable swelling in the  number of agricultural labourers in the wake of the land reform programmes. Resumption of land by landlords for personal cultivation and eviction of tenants from their tenure have been the factors leading to this trend. The process was further accelerated by the Green Revolution. Large farms, being in conformity with the Green Revolution, has opened the way for greater concentration of land by purchase, sale or through eviction of tenants. In the process the rank of agricultural labourers has further increased. At the same time, there is very low rate of transfer of the agricultural labour population to industry. Hence, there is little likelihood of radical change in the social and economic situation of the agricultural labourers in most parts of the country.

The National Commission on Rural labour, set up in 1987, defined rural labour as ‘a person who is living and working in rural area and engaged in agricultural and/or non agricultural activities requiring manual labour, getting wage or remuneration partially or wholly, in cash or in kind or both during the year, or such own account workers who are not usually hiring labourers but are a part of the petty production system in rural areas.’ According to this definition, rural labour comprised 150 million persons or roughly 60% of the total rural workforce in the country during 1986-87. The Commission pointed out that (a) the number of rural labour both in agricultural and non­agricultural operations was increasing at a faster rate than the rate of growth of the rural population, and (b) a number of factors like the uneven and declining labour absorption in agriculture, declining land base, and scarcity of non-farm employment opportunities had led to large scale migration and casualisation of rural labour.

Problems of rural labour

There are other factors too which contribute towards their backwardness. The continuance of the caste system results in a form of patron client relationship. Social backwardness is further enforced by widespread illiteracy. They are therefore unable to organise themselves against the exploitative relationship perpetuated by their masters. However, in spite of all these limitations rural labourers of India are organised under the auspices of various peasant organisation and political parties in various parts of the country. Their organisational ability and strength have been manifested during organised mass mobilisations and peasant movements. These mobilisations are usually directed against the landlords, businessmen and the administrative apparatus of the state.

Policy initiatives

Various policy initiatives have been taken to promote non­agricultural employment in rural areas. Government has intimated a number of schemes through which the artisans and non-farm workers are trained in various trades or skills and are helped financially to improve their earnings. There are efforts to organise them under cooperatives so that they could be freed from the cluches of middlemen. Also, several research and development schemes have been implemented in order to raise their productivity and to make their products competitive in the market. For those non-farm labourers who are engaged in seasonal works, efforts are there to provide them gainful employment during the off-seasons. It is more and more felt that the integration of non-farm manufacturing activity with the farm activity can only create a viable economy absorbing the surplus man power in rural India.

The most exploited group—agricultural labourers was the main focus of the policy of land reforms. The land, being central to village economy, needed redistribution. It was thought that by giving ownership of land to the landless, the condition of the rural labourers could be improved. The benefits of land reforms are no doubt unquestionable , but the problems in its implementation has reduced its effectiveness.

Government also invested heavily on the modernization of agriculture. Several irrigation schemes were taken up and improved seed and technology were introduced in the overall framework of Green revolution strategies. Green revolution no doubt has brought prosperity in particular areas and has led to increase in real wages at the rural areas as compared to pre green revolution period. But limiting factors in the case of rural labourers can not be ignored. For example G. Parthasarthy, an agricultural economist, observes: “It fails to note the unique circumstances particularly the substantial public investments in irrigation in Punjab agriculture, the relatively large size of holdings and relatively low demographic pressures, etc. Technology spreads in high resource areas and on richer farms by sucking the resource of the poor areas and of the poor people.”  It is also worth noting that the higher productivity and more income to big landlords do not necessarily bring better rewards to the farm labourers whose share in the increase is negligible as compared to the gains of landlords.  High-technology cultivation reduces the intensity of labour absorption.

Several experts have brought out the fact that in the early years of agricultural growth, in few prosperous zones like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, wages in real terms had declined over a period of time. Though the situation shows a positive change in the eighties when the real wages increased steadily, the quantum of increase particularly in backward agricultural zones is less than satisfactory.

Legally, rural labourers are covered under the Minimum Wage Act of 1948, it by and large remains on paper. One often sees reports in newspapers about rural workers agitating to get the minimum wages. As compared to industrial workers, only a few labour laws exist for agricultural labourers and those also supply to a few sections of them.

Indian government which committed itself to a democratic system, introduced several programmes or the welfare of rural poor,  [1]particularly the landless labourers and non-farm workers. In order to protect the rural labourers, the government launched several anti-poverty programmes. These programmes, such as the NREP, JRY, TRYSM, Indira Avas Yojana , ( wage employment), Integrated Rural Development Programmes (IRDP) ( self employment). The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) seeks to improve the mental physical growth of the children. It provides for crèches, balwadis, anganwadis nutrition programmes and mother and child care programmes.