Socio-Economic Surveys of Two Villages in Rajasthan

This is the second in a series of field reports on village surveys conducted by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies. This report deals with agrarian relations in two villages of Rajasthan: Rewasi in Sikar district and 25 F Gulabewala in Sri Ganganagar district. It presents an analysis of statistical data collected through census-type surveys conducted in both villages. The focus of the study is on differences across socio-economic classes and social groups in respect of a range of variables, including land, assets, incomes, crop production, employment, indebtedness, schooling and housing. The report attempts to contribute to the discussion on agrarian relations and economic distress in contemporary rural Rajasthan and India.

The Foundation for Agrarian Studies is a charitable trust based in India and established in 2003. Its major objectives are to facilitate and sponsor multi-disciplinary theoretical and empirical enquiry in the field of agrarian studies in India and elsewhere in less-developed countries. It does so in association with a wide section of people interested in the agrarian question, including persons associated with academic institutions, social and political activists, members of mass organisations working in the countryside, and other professionals and scholars.

Since 2005, a major activity of the Foundation has been an India-wide programme of village studies, titled the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI). The Project has covered 22 villages across 10 States. It involves description and analysis, and the creation of a detailed database on village India in diverse agro-ecological and socio-economic regions of the country.