Question

The rural social structure was altered by agricultural development since the 1960s and also contributed to the expansion of the urban middle classes. Illustrate how the rural social structure altered as a result of agricultural development. Demonstrate how it led to the expansion of the urban middle class.

Answer 1

• One way in which rural social structure was altered by agricultural development since the 1960s was through the enrichment of the medium and large farmers who adopted the new technologies.
• In several agriculturally rich regions, well-to-do farmers belonging to the dominant castes began to invest their profits from agriculture in other types of business ventures.
• This process of diversification gave rise to new entrepreneurial groups that moved out of rural areas and into the growing towns of these developing regions, giving rise to new regional elites that became economically as well as politically dominant.
• The spread of higher education, especially private professional colleges, in rural and semi-urban areas, allowed the new rural elites to educate their children – many of whom then joined professional or white-collar occupations or started businesses, feeding into the expansion of the urban middle classes.