Project on Agrarian Relations in India Madhya Pradesh Round 2008

Madhya Pradesh was the fifth State to be studied as part of the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI). Census-type surveys were conducted in May-June 2008 in two villages.

 Two villages were surveyed in the Madhya Pradesh Round:

• Gharsondi, Gwalior district
• Badhar, Anuppur district
  

Gharsondi, Gwalior district

Gharsondi is a village in Bhitarwar tehsil, Gwalior district, western Madhya Pradesh. The village is about 25 km from Dabra town and is connected to it by an all-weather road. In 2008, there were 273 households in Gharsondi.

The village was irrigated by a canal from the Harsi dam and by privately-owned tubewells. There has been a considerable decline in the availability of irrigation water from the Harsi dam over the last ten years. As a result, much of the double-cropped land in the village had been reduced to mono-cropping. Until about ten years ago, paddy was the main kharif crop in Gharsondi. On account of poor irrigation, the cultivation of paddy had completely stopped in the village. The major kharif crops in 2008 were soyabean, sesame and black gram. In 2008, the soyabean crop of most households was destroyed because of a pest attack. The main rabi crops in the village were wheat, rapeseed, chickpea and lucerne grass. In 2008, the yields of rabi crops were very low because of poor irrigation.

Thakurs, as Jats are called in Gharsondi, constituted the socially and economically dominant caste of the village. The major landlord family in the village was a Thakur household. In addition, the village had Jat Sikh households who owned the largest share of landholdings. The village also had households belonging to the Kushwaha, Chauhan, Jatav and Baghel castes, and Sahariya Scheduled Tribe households.

Sahariya Adivasi households were the most deprived community in the village, both economically and in terms of access to basic amenities. Most Sahariya households were landless and dependent on agricultural and non-agricultural wage labour. The school in the Adivasi settlement did not function. There was no sanitation or lavatory in the entire Adivasi settlement

Badhar, Anuppur district

Badhar is a small Adivasi village in Anuppur district. Badhar is about 20 km from Anuppur. Of this, 15 km are covered by State highway. A 4 or 5 km mud road linking the nearest point of the village to the highway was constructed in 2008. The people of this village had to walk long distances to the highway to be able to gain access to public (or any other type of motorised) transport.

In 2008, 128 households lived in Badhar. Of them, 97 belonged to the Gond and Baiga Scheduled Tribes, and 29 to the Nayak caste (OBC).

Households in the village depend on traditional agriculture, forest produce, and public employment programmes for subsistence. One of the most striking features of agriculture in Badhar is the rich diversity of crops cultivated in the village. Households in Badhar cultivated paddy, wheat, kodo millet, little millet, kodaili millet, maize, red gram, black gram, masur, chickpea, cowpea, carpet legume, rapeseed, mustard, niger, linseed, cucumber, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, okra, pumpkin, tomato and a large variety of other vegetables. Agriculture was characterised by low use of modern inputs and hired labour.

Households collected firewood, tendu leaves, mahua, and a number of other commodities from the forest.

There was no electricity in the village, and civic amenities were very poorly developed.

Other PARI Rounds: