Rural and peasant society

Rural society is not a timeless village frozen in tradition; it is a changing world of caste and tribe settlements, land, labour, migration and protest. A peasant household today may farm a small plot, send a son to work in a city, receive remittances, and join a protest against low crop prices, all at once. To understand rural India, follow land and labour: who owns land, who works it, who leaves, and who can make the state listen.