Socio-Economic Surveys of Three Villages in Karnataka

This volume is a field report on surveys of agrarian relations in three villages in Karnataka, conducted by scholars associated with the Foundation for Agrarian Studies. The study villages are Alabujanahalli in Maddur taluk, Mandya district; Siresandra in Kolar taluk, Kolar district; and Zhapur in Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) taluk, Kalaburagi district. The report presents an analysis of statistical data collected through the village surveys with a special focus on differences across socio-economic classes and social groups. The report attempts to contribute to the discussion on agrarian relations and economic distress in contemporary rural Karnataka.

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 organizations 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 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.