Peasant Movement in India

Indian social structure has been a fertile ground for peasant movements right from the colonial phase.Innumerable peasant movements have widely flared up and been organized throughout the country.

Peasant movements may refer to the united actions or efforts of the various sections of the agrarian population either led by a messianic leader or by peasants themselves for the pursuit of the common interest of the peasant community as a whole.However in empirical situation one or other section of the peasant community may remain aloof from the mainstream of the system or at times the movement may be directed against them as in the case of tenants rising against zamindars or money lenders.In reality the peasant movement gets its numerical strength from the middle class peasants with small holdings and landless agricultural labourers who are exploited in innumerable ways by the big landlords,money lenders,zaminders or even the government.

According to Kathleen Gough ,peasant movement is the attempt of a group to effect change in the face of resistance and the peasants are people who are engaged  in an agricultural or related production with primitive means who surrender part of their produce or its equivalent to landlords or to agents or state.

The emergence of a peasant movement is often based on socio-political factors.By and large the growth of commerce,agriculture and transition from a consumption –oriented economy to a cash or market economy in the countryside seems to be a necessary though not sufficient pre-condition for the growth of peasant revolts.

A social structure that permits the prevalence of both zamindari estates and peasant proprietary areas serve as a suitable condition for peasant uprising. The interest of these two groups are antagonistic to each other.There is always a class distinction between these two along the Marxian lines which serves as a perennial source for peasant movements.Another factor which gives rise to peasant movement is the kind of social system that exerts heavy socio-economic pressure upon a group of people.Indian society which is divided along caste lines always keeps a group of people outside the caste fold.These people are denied of any social or political right.Economically they are very weak earning their livelihood by agricultural labour.They are exploited by higher caste groups which cause a lot of dissatisfaction and tension in them.The Moplah of Malabar,the Pasis,Chamar,Ahirs,Kurmis of Bihar,Hajong,Rajbansi and Santhal tribes of Bengal,Chenchu and Rajghond tribes of Telangana are some of the examples of such category.

Though fundamentally all the peasant movements in India are organized for the sake of protecting the interest of the peasant community all of them are not essentially same.Their goals,ideology and techniques of opposition may differ from each other.The main categories are restorative movements which are organized to overthrow a particular government and to restore the old rules and old types of social relations. Millenarian movement organized by peasants for the liberation of a country or a race from the reign of particular government.Social banditary which refer to the rebellious activities of peasants whom the landlord and the state regard as criminals.