Gaurav Bansal, an intern at the Foundation for Agrarian Studies (FAS), presented a seminar titled, “Patterns of accumulation among dominant class in Post-Green Revolution Punjab,” at the office of the Foundation on July 17, 2018. The presentation was based on his ongoing MPhil. Research at IIT Bombay, Mumbai.

The objective of his study is to identify and analyse how and through what processes the patterns of accumulation change as capitalism penetrates the rural agricultural economy. The study is primarily based on the data collected from the Tehang village in Jalandhar district of Punjab, in 2011, as part of the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI).

Punjab has historically been, and continues to be, a significant contributor to National Agricultural output. The rural economy of Punjab expanded remarkably during the Green Revolution period. The benefits of Green Revolution, however, were not evenly distributed. It was the resource rich land-owning classes, primarily belonging to dominant castes in the State like Jat Sikhs, who could make full use of the opportunities presented to further consolidate their class position.

Gaurav used land-size holding from the PARI data as the initial criteria to represent traditional dominance. He selected the households with land ownership of over 10 acres and presented their socio-economic characteristics.

Strikingly, 24 out of 26 such households in the village belonged to the Jatt Sikh community. The presentation focused on the accumulation pattern of these Jat Sikh households as they traditionally own the largest and best land in the village.

Most of these households cultivate land and are engaged in animal husbandry, which acts as a secondary source of their income. Sharecropping as a mode of contract is not to be seen among this community. Most of the tenancy contracts are in the form of annual fixed rent in cash, and within their own caste.

These households constitute a part of the Punjabi diaspora. The US, UK, and Canada are some of the popular destinations. Remittances constitute a significant portion of the income for these households. Interestingly, the study indicates that the community has not shown any significant diversification towards trade or business and industrial activities.