Class 12 Sociology - Social Change And Development in India : Chapter 4 - Change and Development in Rural Society - Questions and Answers

List of Questions and Answers

Q 1.Explain the transformations in rural society after independence.
(Social Change and Development in India Chapter 4: change and development in rural society)

Ans:

  • an increase in the use of agricultural labour as cultivation became more intensive.
  • a shift from payment in kind (grain) to payment in cash.
  • a loosening of traditional bonds or hereditary relationships between farmers or landowners and agricultural workers (known as bonded labour).
  • and the rise of a class of "free wage labourers".

Q 2.Analyse the negative social effects of green revolution in India.
(Social Change and Development in India: Chapter 4 - Change and Development in Rural Society)

Ans:

  • It was primarily the medium and large farmers who were able to benefit from the new technology.This was because inputs were expensive, and small and marginal farmers could not afford to spend as much as large farmers to purchase these inputs.
  • The farmers who were able to produce a surplus for the market who were able to reap the most benefits from the Green Revolution.
  • Increase inequalities in rural society.
  • The introduction of machinery such as tillers, tractors, threshers, and harvesters led to the displacement of the service caste groups who used to carry out these agriculture-related activities.
  • The ultimate outcome of the Green Revolution was a process of ‘differentiation’, in which the rich grew richer and many of the poor stagnated or grew poorer.

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Q 3.Explain the concept of contract farming.
(Social Change and Development in India - Chapter 4:Change and Development in Rural Society)

Ans:

  • In "contract farming" systems, the company identifies the crop to be grown, provides the seeds and other inputs, as well as the know how and often also the working capital.
  • In return, the farmer is assured of a market because the company guarantees that it will purchase the produce at a predetermined fixed price.
  • Contract farming is very common now in the production of specialised items such as cut flowers, fruits such as grapes, figs and pomegranates, cotton, and oilseeds.
  • While contract farming appears to provide financial security to farmers, it can also lead to greater insecurity as farmers become dependent on these companies for their livelihoods.
  • Contract farming of export-oriented products such as flowers and gherkins also means that agricultural land is diverted away from food grain production.
  • Contract farming caters primarily to the production of elite items, and because it usually requires high doses of fertilisers and pesticides, it is often not ecologically sustainable.

Q 4.Explain the impact of land reforms on Indian agriculture after independence.
(Chapter 4: Change and Development in Rural Society)

Ans:

  • In the year 1950s to the 1970s, a series of land reform laws were passed – at the national level as well as in the states.
  • After independence the first effective land reforms passed was to abolish the zamindari system, which removed the layer of intermediaries that stood between the cultivators and the state.
  • The next land reform law passed was tenancy abolition and regulation acts.They attempted either to outlaw tenancy altogether or to regulate rents to give some security to the tenants.
  • The third major category of land reform laws were the Land Ceiling Acts.These laws imposed an upper limit on the amount of land that can be owned by a particular family. The ceiling varies from region to region, depending on the kind of land, its productivity, and other such factors.
  • Land reforms are necessary not only to boost agricultural growth but also to eradicate poverty in rural areas and bring about social justice.

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Q 5.Land ceiling act proved to be toothless in most of the states.Give reasons.
(Chapter 4: Change and Development in Rural Society)

Ans:

  • Land Ceiling Acts is one of the land reforms law started after india got independence.These laws imposed an upper limit on the amount of land that can be owned by a particular family. The ceiling varies from region to region, depending on the kind of land, its productivity, and other such factors.
  • Very productive land has a low ceiling while unproductive dry land has a higher ceiling limit.
  • According to these acts, the state is supposed to identify and take possession of surplus land (above the ceiling limit) held by each household, and redistribute it to landless families and households in other specified categories, such as SCs and STs.
  • There were many loopholes in the land ceiling act that helped many landowners to escape from having their surplus land taken over by the state.
  • Some very large estates were broken up, in most cases landowners managed to divide the land among relatives and others, including servants, in so-called ‘benami transfers’ – which allowed them to keep control over the land (in fact if not in name).
  • In some places, some rich farmers actually divorced their wives (but continued to live with them) in order to avoid the provisions of the Land Ceiling Act, which allowed a separate share for unmarried women but not for wives.

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