India: Agrarian Contracts and Rural Poverty in India, 2013

This study investigated to what extent traditional contractual arrangements, which are intertwined with kinship and caste relationships and may have an exploitative character, can explain the comparative lack of economic progress in the rural sector. Also, to what extent have better options outside traditional arrangements, whether in the rural or the urban economy, changed power relations in remote rural areas? Two government interventions were in focus, the rural employment guarantee scheme and the provision of all-weather roads. Particular attention was made to how their effects differ across castes and social groups. The analysis was based on panel data from rural Orissa, whereby a new round was added to surveys previously conducted by team members. Proceeding from the panel, interview both parties of contracts that rule in labor, credit, insurance and related transactions were collected, especially those between the poor and their wealthier neighbors in Indian villages. The data includes a household survey and village survey, and interviews with linked contract partners.