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Three villages were surveyed in the Karnataka Round as the part of the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI). Census-type surveys were conducted in May-June 2009.
Alabujanahalli is in Maddur taluk, Mandya district. The village is located at a distance of 15 km from Maddur and Mandya. Our survey covered 248 households resident in the village. A significant fraction of the households are Vokkaliga, the major land owning caste, while many of the remaining households are Dalit households. This is a village belonging to the Cauvery-irrigated region of South Karnataka. Channels leading from a system tank that is fed by canals from the Krishnarajasagar dam irrigate the village. The major crops grown are sugarcane, rice and ragi. The village is located very near to a major sugar factory of the district. The sugarcane produced in the village is procured by the sugar factory as raw material, and the factory and its owners have a substantial hold on the village economy. A large number of households practice sericulture and livestock-raising, which contribute significantly to household incomes.
Siresandra is in Kolar taluk, Kolar district. The nearest town, Kolar, is at a distance of 20 km from the village. Our survey covered 81 households resident in the village. The major caste group in this village is Vokkaliga, which is the major land-owning caste in the village. This village belongs to the semi-dry rainfed region in southeastern Karnataka. Cultivation in the village is mainly rain-fed, supplemented by irrigation by means of borewells and drip irrigation. The cropping pattern includes kharif ragi, followed by vegetables (potato, tomato, carrot, cauliflower, beetroot, radish, fodder maize and fodder grass and other vegetable, condiment and tree crops). Ragi is often intercropped with jowar, red gram, and sesamum. Sericulture and dairying are also important occupations, and contribute substantially to household incomes.
Zhapur is in Gulbarga taluk, Gulbarga district. The village is located at a distance of 13 km from Gulbarga town. Our survey covered 113 households resident in the village. The majority of households are Dalit. The dominant land-owning caste is Lingayat. There are also Kuruba and Scheduled Tribe households resident in the village. This village falls in the dry rainfed region of north Karnataka. Cultivation in the village is mainly rainfed. The cropping pattern followed is that of a single mixed crop of rainfed cereals and oil seeds. Most cultivators grow red gram intercropped with maize, sesamum, bajra and green gram. They also cultivate jowar and safflower either as pure crops or as mixed crops. Bengal gram is also grown as a mixed crop with safflower. Apart from cultivation, many workers are employed as daily labourers in a stone quarry located partially on the boundaries of the village. This is a major source of non-agricultural employment for manual workers from Zhapur.
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