Globalization, characterized by the free flow of capital, technology, goods, and labor across international boundaries, has significantly impacted India’s agrarian class structure. This transformation has been driven by various sociological factors and has resulted in a complex and evolving agrarian landscape.

• Traditional Agrarian Class Structure: The traditional agrarian class structure in India was characterized by distinctions such as landlords (Malik), cultivators (Kisan), and laborers (Mazdoor). Additionally, D.N. Dhanagre’s classification further categorized farmers based on landownership into big, middle, marginal, and small farmers, along with landless laborers.

Impacts and implications of Globalization on Indian Agriculture

• Shift in Agricultural Practices: Globalization has led to changes in agricultural practices in India. The adoption of modern technology and practices, such as the Green Revolution and biotechnology, has created a divide between large-scale commercial farmers who can afford these advancements and small-scale, subsistence farmers who cannot. This has led to a differentiation within the agrarian class.
• Market Integration: The integration of Indian agriculture into the global market has exposed farmers to international price fluctuations and market dynamics. Large-scale farmers who can adapt to these changes and access global markets have prospered, while smaller farmers may face vulnerability and economic challenges.
• The transition from earlier social organizational models like “feudalism” and “peasant societies” to more complex ‘capitalist’ relations of production has led to the disintegration of traditional structures. ‘
• Within the peasantry, various strata and classes have emerged. Mechanization’s benefits are not evenly distributed.For instance, tenants are often evicted from the lands they once cultivated and compelled to work as wage laborers for landowners.
• In many regions of India, formerly known as Maliks have transformed into enterprising farmers, while many landless laborers who were once tenants or sharecroppers have shifted to wage labour.
• Marginalisation and Depeasantisation: Vibha Arora in her article Globalisation and Depeasantisation, puts agrarian class structure under the light of globalisation. Transnational corporations are promoting use of land for cash crops in partnership with large farmers and are also acquiring agricultural land. As a result, subsistence farmers are further marginalised or depeasantised.
• Emergence of new classes: The emergence of a new class of “gentlemen farmers” in India reflects the changing agrarian landscape influenced by globalization. These individuals, often from diverse backgrounds, such as retired civil and military service personnel, are drawn to agriculture as a vocation, signalling a shift towards educated, specialized, and business-oriented farming practices, aligning with globalized trends in modern agriculture and entrepreneurial endeavours.
• Rural-Urban Migration: As agriculture becomes less profitable and industrial and service sectors grow due to globalization, there is a shift of labour from rural areas to urban centres. This migration has implications for the agrarian class, as some rural workers leave agriculture entirely. It has also led to feminisation of agriculture, as migration is usually male dominated.
• Deere and Gunewardena argue that despite the increasing participation of women in agriculture, there hasn’t been a concurrent enhancement in their involvement in household decision-making.
• Socioeconomic Inequality: Globalization can exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities within the agrarian class. Those with access to resources, education, and opportunities are better positioned to benefit from globalization, while those are lacking resources are again reaching to underclass status. Yogendra Singh argues that the sociological process that is undergoing in rural areas is ’embourgeoisement of few and proletarianisation of many ‘.

Globalization has brought certain benefits to the agricultural sector in India, but it has also led to several negative consequences. The changing agrarian class structure, characterized by increasing disparities, marginalization, and dispossession, reflects the uneven and unequal nature of globalization. Therefore, there is a need for more equitable policies that can help small farmers and landless laborers to benefit from globalization.