Reverse Tenancy in Punjab Agriculture-Impact of Technological Change

Impact of Technological Change Iqbal Singh The present paper seeks to analyse the impact of technological transformation on tenancy relations in Punjab. The paper is divided into three parts. In Section I the author sets out the broader possibilities of interaction of technology and tenancy structure. In Section II, an attempt is made to analyse the impact of technological changes on lease patterns and tenurial conditions on the basis of field data collected from two technologically heterogeneous regions of the Punjab. Section III deals with the questions of mode of production and future prospects of tenancy It is argued that the nature of tenancy relations is different under different technological conditions and tenants in developed areas, in general, are capitalist tenants. The study concludes that, in the peculiar conditions of industrial development in India where land is still the mainstay of a large majority of people, there is little likelihood for further decline in area under tenancy Introduction SINCE the mid-sixties, some parts of India have experienced a rapid technological change in their agriculture. Certain new material inputs and machines have been introduced. With high irrigation and relatively better institutional and infrastructural facilities, at the time of introduction of HYV seeds, the Punjab experienced very rapid transformation in its agricultural economy. Since 1965-66 till 1982-83, fertiliser consumption increased almost fifteen times, consumption of electricity in agriculture more than six times, and area irrigated by wells and tubewells more than doubled.1 By 1982-83, area irrigated by all sources was 84 per cent of the net sown area. Similarly, there was a tremendous increase in the use of agricultural implements and machinery. The number of tractors increased by 11 times and that of tubewells by about 13 times during tractors and about 146 tubewells per thousand