Andhra Peasants Under British Rule (Agrarian Relations and the Rural Economy 1900-1940)

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A lively debate on the "Colonial mode of production", "external articulation" and the rise of commodity production in India has been going on for some time. However, it is not possible to answer the various questions raised by the debate, unless there is detailed and concrete research into different regions of India. As it is, there are very few systematic regional studies.

The present study seeks to fill this gap to some extent. It breaks new ground by concentrating on the process of agrarian change and class formation in Andhra in a colonial context. Contrary to the prevalent generalizations, it argues that the development of agrarian relations in Andhra was to a significant extent, an internal and dynamic response to India's integration into the world capitalist market. It also examines the emergence of the nascent agrarian bourgeoise and suggests that although agrarian capitalism had not fully come into being, its roots can be traced to the early decades of the present century.

An important contribution to Indian economic history.

A. Satyanarayana (1952- ) obtained his M.A. from Osmania University and Ph.D. from Heidelberg University, Germany. He has published extensively on the peasantry and Andhra Pradesh. He teaches history in a constituent college of Osmania University, Hyderabad.

A lively debate about the "colonial mode of production", "external articulation" and the rise of commodity production in India has been going on for some time. Many authors have contributed to this debate, but they have rarely done specific research work in order to prove their point. However, Dr. Satyanarayana, who has a deep interest in these theoretical issues, has broken new ground by studying a particular region in great detail. Coastal Andhra in the interwar period was an area of intensive commodity production and was severely affected by the fall in prices during the Great Depression. Cash crop production in the fertile delta districts made an impact also on the surrounding districts which had to supply food grains to those who grew mainly cash crops. This pattern of production and interdependence gave rise to increasing demand for agricultural credit and agricultural labor, it also enhanced the prices of land. There was a remarkable differentiation of the peasantry and there emerged a nascent agrarian bourgeoisie that invested in transport and in equipment for the processing of agricultural produce. Dr. Satyanarayana has carefully documented this process of internal differentiation and has thus corrected generalizations about the fate of the peasantry under the impact of colonial rule and the economic depression. His book will be required reading for all those interested in the theoretical debates mentioned above and these debates will be enriched by this important contribution to Indian economic history.