1In the coming chapters, it is not necessary to review each round of surveys. It is preferable to indicate the beginning of the main socio-economic and technical changes in the period 1965–1979 and review the latest trends between 2000 and 2012.

Khandoi in the Late 1970s

2Following the consolidation of holdings in 1965 and the progress of electrification, 48 private tubewells (TWs) have been installed, 10 of which belong to owners of less than 2 ha. A number of farmers get loans from the Cooperative Credit Society in Unchagaon. As a result, Persian wheels are disappearing, and most of the land is irrigated better than it would be with traditional wells. Therefore, by a happy coincidence, the village is ready to receive wheat HYV (high-yield varieties) that requires 5 to 6 watering against 3 to 4 for the old varieties.

3In November 1966, the Block Office delivered Mexican wheat seeds and a bag of mixed chemical fertilizers to some farmers. The best of them harvested 2,000 kg/ha instead of around 1,200 kg/ha. Farmers were quick to learn and in the next year HYVs with chemical fertilizers were used on most fields, giving 2,000 kg/ha or more. In our survey of 1978/1979, the average yield amounted to 2,500 kg/ha. Practically all landowners including the smallest ones have adopted HYVs for wheat, the main food grain.

4There is not much change for the other crops: coarse grains, sugarcane, pulses, and some mustard sown with wheat. However, these crops lose some ground to wheat. A few farmers have begun to replace jowar with paddy in the monsoon thanks to better irrigation, a trend that was about to grow. Some plots of potatoes can be noticed. Milk production, for which Bulandshahr district is famous, is expanding: buffaloes supply 4–7 l/day, and some times even 8–10 l.

5Though not yet dominant, tractors begin to replace bullocks and the wooden plough with a piece of iron. Bullock carts with their wooden wheels encircled with iron are being replaced by buggies, which use a set of wheels and tyres from old trucks. The two bullocks are being replaced by one male buffalo. It moves more slowly than a pair of bullocks but it can carry 2 tonnes on a good track (half on a bad track) in comparison to 8 quintals for a bullock cart. The road has been asphalted from Jahangirabad to Unchagaon but the track to Khandoi remains poor.

6Small electric threshers made in Haryana are appearing. As for the kolus, they now resort to electricity for crushing cane. 8 flourmills have been opened, freeing women from the strenuous millstone. One can count half a dozen small shops selling groceries, cloth, batteries, matches, and cigarettes. A young Muslim has opened a workshop to repair pumps and motors. The shift from mud walled houses to brick walled ones is beginning, creating a number of jobs for bricks making, transport, and for masons.

7I recorded the first complaints about the poor supply of electricity. Pilferage of power is quite common. Meters are tampered with. Because of poor maintenance of the network, breakdowns are common and can last a full day. In one year, during the very hot and dry months from April to June, there was no power supply and as a consequence, much of the sugarcane was ruined, and threshing of wheat by machine could not be done.

8Credit is expanding with, in addition to the cooperative society, the opening of a branch of the Punjab National Bank in Unchagaon. The latter begins to look like a small town with 141 shops and workshops: milk collection from villages is dispatched by trucks to Bulandshahr and Delhi, clothes, flour, blacksmiths, saw mills, bicycles, radios, motor and tractor repair workshops, and tea shops can be seen. Eight private doctors have opened their practices next to the small public hospital. Living conditions of many people begin to improve. Family planning is no longer totally absent. Women are at last informed and are quite outspoken with my wife, as they already had been in 1963/1964.

9In spite of these changes, there are still people who are very poor. Manthuri owns an oil press for mustard which requires a bullock. Out of his ten children, only two have survived. He has only one set of clothes. From time to time he earns Rs 5 a day as an agricultural labourer. His standard of living may not go down but it is also not improving. Nan Singh, a Jativ, 50 years old, has lost 4 out of 9 children. He works as a permanent labourer for a large landowner, earning Rs 120 per month. He has debts totalling Rs 1,000. He and his children never drink milk. As for the Bhangis, their lives remain very hard and, on top of that, their houses with mud walls and thatched roofs have fallen down under heavy rains in 1970.

10A number of Jativs are more alert, articulate and better dressed than they were in 1963/1964. In 1978, they are now allowed to sit on the same cot with the Jats and other high caste members. Nandram, a landless Jativ, works in agriculture for Rs 5/day and also as a mason earning double that amount. Out of the 6 l of milk supplied per day by his buffalo, part of it is consumed and the rest is transformed into ghee (clarified butter) and sold. His two elder children are attending school.

11Dalchand, a Bhangi whom we will meet again, has spent six years in the army before returning home. He became the tractor driver of the main ex-zamindar after learning how to use it from the salesman. He sells 2 l of milk out of the 3,5 l supplied per day by his buffalo. He bought pigs with a loan of Rs 600 (at 4% interest from the Punjab National Bank).

12There is clear improvement for the landless peasants, due to growing daily wages in real terms: Rs 5 to 6 in 1978/1979 versus Rs 1 in 1963. At harvest time, labourers receive 10 kg of grain per day versus 5 kg in 1963.

13Tez Singh and his brother, Lodhas, own 0.94 ha, half of which is devoted to wheat in the rabi and coarse grains in the kharif, one half to sugarcane which is then transformed into gur and sold. They have two bullocks and two buffaloes, cumulatively giving 5 l of milk, entirely consumed at home. The two brothers also do some casual labour. Thus the joint-family begins to live better, like other families with 1 ha to 1,5 ha.

14Ram Singh, a Jat, with only a few years of schooling, holds 3,12 ha of land. The eldest of his 6 children are at school when we meet in 1963. In 1978, he is standing in front of his tube well after harvesting 3,200 kg/ha of wheat, part of which is being sold along with all of his gur. He is then experimenting with paddy. Two of his sons are working in Delhi and the third one in Jaipur as a sanitary inspector. Later on he started a poultry farm with a few hundreds hens. Unfortunately, all of them died of disease due to lack of hygiene – a typical example of the complexity of promoting poultry farms, especially in relatively isolated villages.

15From this new survey it was quite clear that most changes were about to either spread or, alternatively, appear: the breakthrough of wheat, rice in the monsoon, the progress of milk, creation of more local non-agricultural jobs, and the appearance of tractors.

Khandoi, 2000–2012

16The cropping pattern has changed with the expansion of paddy in the monsoon as jowar and bajra, giving lower return, have been replaced and more employment has been created. Production of wheat has increased, maize is improving, and potatoes have made some progress and are sold in Jahangirabad where they are kept in recently built cold storages. Mustard sown with wheat is improving and old mango orchards are being replaced with new ones.

17Animal husbandry is expanding fast with mixed bread cows (Frison) supplying 10 to 12 l of milk per day, a large part of which is bought by private agents or cooperatives, carried by truck to Jahangirabad and packed. Some kitchen gardens can be noticed.

18The drive towards building new brick houses has reached nearly the whole village, including houses of the poor built after 2000. A brick kiln has been opened in Unchagaon from which donkeys bring the bricks to Khandoi. There are more hand pumps for drinking water. The track to Unchagaon has been asphalted and one bus service passes through the village every day. Bullocks for ploughing have been totally replaced by tractors, either owned or rented. Cars and trucks are spreading in the region as well as tractors that are transformed locally into some kind of trucks. The production of gur has been discontinued except in a few households, as farmers prefer to supply the cane by truck to sugar mills near Jahangirabad. Local trade and transport keep on creating more jobs opportunities.

19Health is improving. Most women now deliver their babies at the hospital of Unchagaon. There are regular anti-polio vaccinations of children in Khandoi. Education has made substantial progress, bringing an end to generations of illiterate farmers. One primary school is for boys and the other for girls. Both are run rather smoothly and include free mid day meals under a Government project. A high school has been opened in 1985 with 500 students from Khandoi and other villages. Some boys are now attending colleges in Jahangirabad or Bulandshahr.

20The number of small shops has risen to ten. Many villagers commute every day for some work in Unchagaon or Bulandshahr. Others leave their family in Khandoi for jobs in more distant cities. Their savings play a crucial role for the growing number of families owning less than 1 ha – a consequence of the fragmentation of land holdings due to population increase. Such outside jobs are, of course, no less essential for landless families, but are also useful for medium and even upper-rank farmers when several brothers inherit the land of their father. (As one knows, according to tradition women do not inherit land, even if this right is granted by the Constitution.)

21Since around 2000, farmers are worried about having their yields levelling off in spite of using more inputs. Wheat yield is around 4,000 kg/ha, and paddy 5,000 kg/ha. Soils are deteriorating due to the chemical imbalance created by N-P-K fertilizers, a defect widespread in India and in other Asian countries. Proper soil conservation requires, in addition to chemical fertilizers, the use of more organic manure. Farmers have started buying bio fertilizers and making compost. Farm manure has increased because cooking gas cylinders began to replace dry cow dung as fuel. Nevertheless, soil micronutrients and soil testing are also badly needed. In addition, there are complaints about spurious fertilizers, pesticides and seeds in the market.

22After having been engines of growth, electricity (since the late 1970s) and roads (since 2000) have become stumbling blocks due to lack of investments and maintenance expenditure. Electricity is supplied 3 to 8 hours a day when there is no breakdown or low voltage which can damage the motors of TWs. Some farmers have resorted to oil engines, more costly than electric ones. There are now a total of 80 TWs irrigating the total cultivated area of 245 ha. As for the roads, they become congested, and even damaged. It is distressing to see that the weak supply of electricity has not been corrected even after more than 30 years.

23In spite of these shortcomings, poverty alleviation has improved. The Bhangis, the poorest and lowest Dalit caste, are at last becoming less poor, though they lack grazing plots for their pigs. They received pukka (permanent) houses at a subsidised rate from the government, but they had to pay a backshish (donation/bribe) to the concerned officials. When I met them in 2008, they looked better off, and had fewer complaints. Out of 25 families, 12 men work in big cities. Yet, unlike the Jativs, they are still not allowed to sit on the same cot with high castes.

24Daily wages now range between Rs 150 and 160 per day in 2012, an increase in real terms, or 25 kg at harvest (10 kg in the 1980s). The main job opportunities within agriculture and in animal husbandry, ancillary activities, and local or external non-agricultural activities put together do alleviate poverty. On the whole, the slow down in agriculture seems to be compensated by milk and animal husbandry, small scale industries, and trade and transport stimulated by the rather fast growth of industries and services at the national level until 2010/2011.

25More Jativs are educated; some even hold a B.A. degree and get jobs in the administration. A number of their families own some cattle, buffaloes or crossbred cows (now supplying 10 to 12 l per day) allowing the whole family to drink milk and sell part of it. Dev Karan tells me: “Now life is better, I could rebuild my house with bricks and my children go to school.” After learning tailoring in the city of Harpur, a young Jativ has opened a workshop, adding some income to his family. Another one, in 2005, opened a bicycle repair workshop and later on engaged an employee who is paid Rs 500 per month to help him.

26The Dhobis have given up their traditional work under the Jajmani system (working for a number of families in exchange for food grains), an indication of their improved condition of living. Some are engaged in transport using a cart and a horse, while some are busy as agricultural labourers and are raising cattle. The Nais (barbers, a low shudra caste) have also given up the Jajmani system. One family has opened a barber shop in Unchagaon and another has the same in Khandoi – a tiny room with one chair, one table and a mirror. In 2008 he charged me Rs 5 for a haircut, while I had paid Rs 50 in a small barbershop in Bhubaneshwar and it was Rs 500 at the Imperial Hotel in New Delhi.

27Jats, Brahmins and other medium to upper caste farmers live better, in spite of shrinking holdings, again through a combination of activities. Here is Harcharan, a Brahmin. His father owned 3,3 ha of land and had been quick to embrace the Green Revolution. Harcharan, one of his sons, has inherited 1,6 ha. He first worked hard on his father’s land while becoming a teacher. Today he is the head master of one of the primary schools. He also runs a shop and looks after his land with some agricultural workers. One of his sons drives their van which is used to bring pupils to a high school in Jahangirabad everyday. Another one runs a dairy, and the third one works in a bank in Delhi.

28Iqbal Singh, a Jat, and his brother rely on 2,2 ha irrigated by their own TW. They have one tractor; they recently sold their car, but intend to buy another one. In addition to agriculture, they collect 400 l of milk per day in their dairy, which is sent with their own truck to Aurangabad, 50 km away. Jagdish Singh, a Lodha, is living on 1,2 ha, and has 2 buffaloes with a low supply of milk. His daughter, having been married, has left the house. As for the three boys, one works in a shop in New Delhi, another one is in Haryana, and the third is in a factory in Bulandshahr. A young Kumar (ex-potter caste) got in touch with a merchant in Delhi to cultivate glayals for sale in the city on 0.3 ha of rented land. At first it went all right, but later on the whole field was eaten by some wild animal. Another Kumar has also given up his professional job of being a potter. With his donkey and a light cart he makes his living from transport. He lives with his wife, while one boy works outside in a factory. They have been able to rebuild their house with brick walls.

29Since around 2000, the society of consumption, prominent in many cities, begins to appear in Khandoi. In 2008, there were 20 private cars, 40 motorcycles, and a number of vans. In 2012 one could count 50 cars, 100 motorcycles and around 40 tractors, often used for transport in addition to ploughing. Some houses use modern furniture like beds, a bathroom and W.C. While their fathers made fun of “patlun walas” (people wearing trousers), most of their sons and grandsons now wear jeans, western style shirts, canvas shoes, and often American baseball caps. Women from medium and upper-rank families look like women in Delhi, dressed in smart coloured saris, wearing lipstick and makeup. Some of them have as many as ten saris. All these trends keep on increasing between 2008 and 2012. Diet has improved with, in addition to milk, tea and sugar, biscuits, vegetables and fruits.

30TV sets, universal cellular phones, some refrigerators and gas cylinders for cooking have become common. Soft drinks, beer and other alcohol are sold in Unchagaon, while in the 1960s one could not even find Coca Cola in any place smaller than a district town. In 2008, for the first time, I saw in a lane of Khandoi, a man lying down, completely drunk. In Unchagaon, the main street keeps on growing with fairly heavy traffic of motor vehicles.

31Marriage rules remain unchanged, although some educated girls begin to talk of love marriage. Dowries, as elsewhere, are becoming very high and often include semi-durable goods like a refrigerator or a scooter. There are a growing number of couples with 2 to 3 children, provided one is a boy. However, population pressure remains high. It is therefore essential to promote further family planning. The population has reached 3,500 according to the 2001 census and more than 4,000 in 2011. As for the cultivated land 10 ha have been lost to new houses (there are 245 ha for cultivation versus 255 in the 1960s).

32The economic future faces big challenges: the urgent need to improve agricultural techniques, to further increase the number of local and external non-agriculture jobs, to, at long last, improve electricity supply and push for the improvement and maintenance of roads. Last but not least, young people tend to be reluctant to work in agriculture, a feeling that is not particular to Khandoi and is getting strengthened by the expansion of a society of consumption. In the 1980s, farmers were already grumbling about their sons becoming “soft”. As for population, though the growth is slowing down, it has already become very high.

33Finally, corruption and other malpractices keep on increasing. IAS officers are no longer as immune as the ICS/IAS officers of the 1960s. It is no less disturbing to see that between 2000 and 2008 there have been 13 Block Development Officers succeeding one another in Unchagaon – not the best way to improve the extension services. As for the senior IAS officers in UP most of them do not stay in the same post for even one year. Many transfers are provoked by dubious local politicians at the district level and in Lucknow.

34The Panchayat and the village administration have improved: looking after drinking water, village lanes, the delivery of small pensions to lonely old people, and the delivery of cards for people below the poverty line entitling them to some subsidised wheat.

Nahiyan: The Beginning of Changes

35After leaving Nahiyan in 1964 with a feeling of helplessness, I was most pleasantly surprised in 1975 and 1978 to see that the village was coming out of its lethargy. The consolidation of holdings had been completed which, along with the progress of electricity, led to the construction of 47 private TWs, in addition to the state TW, thereby replacing the mot system and widening the irrigated area. Out of the cultivated 370 ha, 250 ha are now more or less irrigated. HYVs of wheat and chemical fertilizers enable a number of farmers to harvest 2,500-3,000 kg/ha, while others get only 1,500 (in the 1960s, the average yield was 900 kg/ha).

36The progress of paddy moves much more slowly, except on high lands. With the help of TWs, farmers get 3,200 kg/ha of paddy, a level that falls to around 1,300 kg/ha in low land, which are usually rainfed, and subject to flooding. Potato and vegetable production for sale are moderately rising. Milk production is hardly increasing. Some farmers are using diesel powered mechanical threshers. Three tractors are used side by side with bullocks. Buggies on tyres that are pulled by a buffalo begin to be noticed.

37In 1978, daily agricultural wages amounted to Rs 2.50–3.00 per day plus some food, which in real terms does not signify an increase compared to Re 1 in 1964. During harvest, wages are rarely above 3 to 4 kg of wheat or paddy per day. These figures are below those of Khandoi at the same time: Rs 5–6 per day or 10 kg of wheat at harvest.

38Kamla Prasad, a Thakur, keeps on improving his crop yields on 15 ha, using two TWs, HYVs, and chemical fertilizers: 3,000 kg/ha of wheat and the same of paddy. His two co-owning brothers are in Benares, one working as a lawyer and the other as a factory manager. A third brother, an agricultural economist, has gone to USA for teaching.

39Saka Narain Singh, a Thakur, is the head of a large joint-family of 24 adults and children, which holds 3,75 ha, 4 bullocks, one cow, and one buffalo. He buys water from a nearby tube well, enabling him to get 3,000 kg/ha of wheat and the same of paddy. He also grows sugarcane and sun hemp, all of which get sold. The family has improved its lot to a large extent because of the three married sons who work as clerks in Benares.

40The Kurmis keep on progressing. They buy water from TW owners, and have turned to the use of HYVs and chemical fertilizers. Barsati Ram, with 1 ha, lives with his wife and four children. He harvests only 2,400 kg/ha of wheat, followed by some paddy, pulses, and sugarcane. He now grows enough food for his family. Two goats supply milk. He has two bullocks, occasionally used for ploughing other people’s land. A small cow he owns does not give milk yet. One of Barsati Ram’s sons has started making carpets, which are sold in Benares. Barsati is now practicing birth control.

41One of the Chamars tells me that “life has improved a bit”, but others complain, as in 1964, of dabao (pressure) by the high castes. Some Chamars must work for Re 1 per day, instead of Rs 3, for a landowner “in exchange for drinking water from his tube well.” As for the Musahars, they remain as miserable as ever and they are paid only Re 1 per day. Their huts are quasi empty.

42Nahiyan still lags behind Khandoi, but upward economic trends are taking root, although the whole region remains less dynamic than Western UP The electric supply is as poor as ever, and local roads are so bad that you can still see camels carrying huge bags of fodder. Tensions persist between Dalits and twice-borns, with the former becoming less subdued. Conflicts between rising Kurmis and Thakurs are far from over.

Nahiyan: The Following Steps

43Since the 1980s, there is a clear acceleration of development in spite of the population doubling between 1961 and 2001 to reach 5,000 inhabitants, i.e. more than 1,000 persons per sq km.

44Agriculture keeps on improving in irrigated areas. Average yields have reached 2,500–3,000 kg/ha for wheat or paddy. Vegetables and potatoes are growing, stimulated by the rising demand in Benares. Farmers get a much higher return from these than from cereals. The same goes for flowers – a new activity. There is also some improvement for coarse grains in the kharif and for sugarcane. Milk and cattle improvements remain far behind those in Western UP. Tractors are, by now, as dominant as in Khandoi. They are also used for transport, although caravans of camels have not disappeared.

45The road to Mangari (the small town with the Block headquarters) has been asphalted and one comes across some cars, and many motorcycles and trucks. Lines of shops are spreading along the road to Nahiyan, selling textiles, semi-durable goods, Pepsi cola, workshop services, bicycles, tractors, and threshing machines. More than 30 workshops are now making saris and carpets that are ordered by merchants in Benares. As for the Lohars, traditionally blacksmiths, they have 15 workshops producing agricultural implements.

46A big change has occurred. The twice-borns, especially when owning little land, have broken their taboo preventing them from ploughing “majburi se” (out of compulsion), a Brahmin landowner tells me. Fateh Singh, a Thakur, lives with his old parents. With his four brothers, he owns 2,8 ha and grows sugarcane, wheat (3,125 kg/ha), paddy with only 2,200 kg/ha and some potatoes. One brother works in Mangari, one is in business in Benares, and one is a lecturer in a college in Delhi - such cases are more and more common among joint-families with work in and outside agriculture.

47Kurmis keep on doing well. One of them stands in front of his new house. He enjoys a second hand Fiat car that he rents out for marriages. This was bought with the savings of his two sons working outside the village, but keeping their families at home. On his 0.8 ha he grows wheat, followed by paddy. Like others, he complains about the lack of electricity, particularly when TWs are needed for irrigation. As for the state TWs it still does not function adequately because of lack of maintenance. He is also vocal about corruption.

48The fragmentation of land holdings keeps on increasing with many of them shrinking to below 1 ha. That is why outside jobs or ancillary local jobs are increasingly necessary, for the rich as well as for the poor. People from the upper castes and with higher education often find a job far away within India or in foreign countries. For others, the impact of Benares is increasingly felt: the growth of the holy city, its industries and its expanding trade, especially in handicrafts, tourists and pilgrims. Men from Nahiyan, often Dalits, commute every day as coolies or rickshaw pullers. Agricultural labourers earn Rs 50 per day in 2002 and 10 kg of wheat at harvest (both figures are the same as in Khandoi at that time) while masons earn Rs 100.

49As in Khandoi, the Chamars here have also not been left out of the process of growth. There are about 200 Chamar families, constituting one-third of the total population. A hundred Chamar men work outside the village and send a part of their earnings to their families, which have been left behind in Nahiyan. Others commute to Benares every day for work. A number of them are employed in local workshops or have established their own. In the village there is a large joint-family of seven couples, fifty adults and kids, who only own 0.2 ha. Their main activities depend on three handlooms with which they weave the brocade saris for which the town is renowned. Their living conditions have improved substantially in the last ten years.

50Bipat Ram owns 0.4 ha, two bullocks and two cows. From June to September, he grows bajra, part of which is self-consumed and part of which is sold as fodder. He also manages to cultivate potatoes, followed by wheat. The cultivation of these crops, which requires remarkably intensive practices, is supported by the Green Revolution and also enables Bipat Ram to lead a decent life. He also works as a casual agricultural labourer. His five children go to school. They drink the milk of the two cows.

51Talking to several Chamars reveals that the depressing scenes I had observed in 1964 have been changing, especially in the past ten to fifteen years. People are now better dressed. Housing has improved to some extent. Many more children attend school. The people are much less subdued and one hears fewer stories of dabao and other abuses. However, caste relations have not changed much. Unlike the situation in Khandoi, Chamars here still cannot sit on the same charpai with a member of a twice-born caste. There have been instances where the latter would not let Chamars use their wells.

52The 270 Musahars face much greater difficulties. Their status is among the lowest. They live in a slightly distant hamlet. Some have received brick houses from the government. They raise pigs, but complain that the market is not so good. They also make baskets out of leaves, which brought in Rs 10 per day in 2000. As agricultural workers, they are not always paid at the standard rates, receiving Rs 40 instead of the Rs 50 paid to the Chamars. It is easier to exploit the Musahars since they are weaker. Several of their huts do not even have a charpai and they possess only a few clothes. Infant mortality is very high among them. One couple has seven dead children compared to six who are still alive. When one discusses the fate of such depressed people with other villagers or with low-ranking officials, the usual reply is, “The Musahars are lazy and spend their money on drinks.” This is a rather simplistic explanation, although it can also be heard for similarly poor people or groups in other regions.

53The end of a long period of sluggish development in eastern UP (as seen in Nahiyan) is no doubt very encouraging, both economically and socially. However, as in western UP, alarm bells are ringing. The supply of electricity is as bad, if not worse, than in Khandoi, so that farmers have to resort to oil engines, which are more costly in terms of investment and operation. In addition, large tracts that could be irrigated are still rainfed. In Nahiyan, as in other villages, there are still low-lying lands suffering from lack of drainage. Problems with seeds renewal and chemical fertilisers still occur. All these factors put together explain why, as in Khandoi, the yields of the major crops have tended to level off, whereas the diversification of agriculture should be expanding more rapidly. Finally, in spite of growing migrations, the population density per sq km had reached 1,000 in 2001, and is certainly more today.

54Under these circumstances, it is obvious that if the rural economy does not expand more rapidly, the first group to suffer will be the Dalits. Among them, could the administration take special measures to assist the Musahars whose lot has hardly improved over so many decades?