Highlight the nature and features of peasant movements in India.

Nature and features of peasant movements in India:

1. Agrarian Country or Soceity: India is essentially an agrarian country. Our agrarian system is very complex. Patterns of landownership, tenancy, use and control of land, all reflect the complex nature of India's agrarian structure. The complexity of agrarian structure is also manifested in the agrarian class structure which has existed since long in rural areas. The diversity of land systems and agrarian relations has produced an elaborate structure of agrarian classes.

2. Daniel Thorner has identified these major agrarian classes in our country. They are

(a) Maliks, (b) Kisans, (c) Mazdoors.

(a) Maliks: Big landlords and rich landowners are included under the category of Maliks.

(b) Kisans: They are inferior to Maliks comprising self cultivating owners of land. They are small landowners and tenants.

(c) Mazdoors: They earn their livelihood from working on others lands. This category includes poor tenants, share croppers and landless labourers.

Comment: The above described three classes of the people directly related with agrarian structure broadly reflects the Indian reality before our eyes.

3. There is a need to be recognised that the agrarian hierarchy, as indicated in above paragraphs, corresponds with the caste hierarchy which we find in different parts of India. The rich landowners and moneylenders mainly belong to the upper castes. The middle and small peasants come from the traditional peasants castes. The landless labourers belong primarily to the lower castes. Such a position only indicates a pattern. It does not show to the exact situation in the rural areas of our country.

4. D. N. Dhanagare’s study of peasant movements in our country helps us to know the nature of these movements. According to Dhanagare, the term ‘peasant movement’ refers to all types of collective attempts of different strata of the peasantry either to change the system which they realise was exploitative, or to seek redress for particular grievances without necessarily aiming at overthrowing the system. In brief, we can say that peasant movements include all types of movements -(a) violent and non-violent, (b) organised and sporadic.

5. Peasant movements in 19th century India (a) It is a fact, that our country has very long history of peasant movements. Therefore, the nineteenth century India is regarded a treasure house of materials on peasant heroism.

(b) The most militant peasant movement of nineteenth century was the Indigo Revolt of 1859-60 in Bengal.

(c) In 1872-73 another violent peasant uprising took place in Pabna and Bogra also in Bengal.

Comment: The above mentioned peasant struggles were directed against Zamindars who were the symbols of exploitation and atrocities.

(d) The landowning and money lending classes had regarded their position not only in Zamindari (जमींदारी) areas of the country but also in Raiyatwari (रैयतवारी) areas of the country but also in Raiyatwari (रैयतवारी) and Mahalwari (महालवारी) areas. The small landholders, tenants and sharecroppers were the victims of the moneylenders tyranny. Accordingly, the peasants revolted against the oppression of the powerful agrarian classes. One of such revolts in Raiyatwari area in known as the Deccan Riots of 1875. These revolt took place in western Maharashtra.

(e) A series of Maplah (मापला) uprisings in Malabar (मालाबार) region of southern India also took place throughout the nineteeth century. They were expressions of long-standing agrarian discontent among the poor Maplah peasantry.

(f) It is very vital to note that peasants grievances also became a component of the India's freedom struggle during the early twentieth century.

(i) The Champaran Movement in 1917, (ii) the Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 and (iii) the Bardoli Satyagrah of 1928 were the main non-violent anti-British struggles. Since Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was involved in these Satyagrahas (सत्याग्रह) they are popularly known as Gandhian agrarian movements. Most of these movements took up relatively minor agrarian issues but they got success in arousing political awarness among the masses of India, especially from the rural regions of the country.

Comment: The most import aspect of Gandhi era peasant movements was their simultaneous involvement in the nation-wide struggle for freedom.

(g) Peasant Movements from 1920-1946. Peasants in other parts of India (apart from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Bihar) were not inactive. They were equally restive and raised their grievances, Between 1920 and 1926 several peasant organisations and movements emerged in Bihar and Bengal which protested against the miserable condition of the middle and poor peasants.

(h) Just before Independence of our country, it was the Tebhaga struggle of 1946-47 in Bengal, which was the most effective and widespread of all peasant movements. It was a struggle of share croppers (bargadars) to retain two-third share of the produce for themselves.

The movement was the outcome of the politicisation of the peasantry which was made possible because of the efforts of CPI (i.e., the Communist Party of India) and the Kishan Sabha.

(i) Telengana peasant struggle, which occurred on the eve of India's Independence, was another important struggle of the poor peasants. It developed in the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad State in 1946 and lasted for five years till it was called off in October, 1951.

Conclusion: It is a fact that peasant movements have not have always been successful in achieving their immediate goals but they created the climate which produced post-independence agrarian reforms.