Socio-Economic Condition of Village Bakrianwali : A Survey

Abstract

In this dissertation, I have examined three main aspects of the aspirations of the population in a village named Bakrianwali in Sirsa district of Haryana, India: agriculture, government schemes for farmers and education. I start by examin- ing whether agriculture is still a sustainable profession according to the current minimum support price of agricultural commodities. To examine this, I calculate the profit from major seasonal crops in the said village. Through an ethnographic fieldwork, I further give an account of the social and economic conditions of the village Bakrianwali. I then study the socio-economic dimensions of the existing credit system of the village. Employment data collected is used to understand and create a socio-economic profile for the village. It was found that most small farm- ers (owning land less than 3 to 4 acres) tend to diversify income beyond agriculture and agricultural labour market. I study their migration to other professions and try to map the emergent patterns in various forms of labour migration. What role do the government schemes play to make agriculture sustainable? Are these schemes really helping farmers? The thesis then moves on to study the impact of various government policies regarding agriculture and farmer welfare in the pop- ulation under survey. If the condition of farmers is not good then what is the situation of education as an alternative? It is also observed that literacy rate in the village is lower than the state literacy rate and I find a correlation between social and educational status. Although the research is based on a single village, an attempt is made to understand the transitions in rural/village life in contem- porary India (what happens to village life when the umbilical relation between agriculture and rurality is cut?). This is done by framing a conversation between micro and macro level qualitative and quotative data.