Passage Based Questions: Change and Development in Rural Society | Sociology Class 12 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

Passage - 1

Direction: Read the following text and answer the questions based on it:

Passage: “Agricultural land is the single most important resource and form of property in rural society. But it is not equally distributed among people living in a particular village or region. Nor does everyone have access to land. In fact, the distribution of landholdings in most regions is highly unequal among households. In some parts of India, the majority of rural households own at least some land – usually very small plots. In other areas, as much as 40 to 50 percent of families do not own any land at all. This means that they are dependent on agricultural labor or other kinds of work for their livelihoods.

This of course means that a few families are well-to-do. The majority live just above or below the poverty line.”

Q1: What is the primary occupation of people in rural areas?
Ans: The main occupation of rural people is agriculture. Production through the land is their main source of income. 70% of the Indian population directly or indirectly depends upon agriculture.

Q2: What measures are needed to boost farm production?
Ans: Farm production can be increased by many land reforms, use of new technology, new machines, new seeds, new chemical fertilizers, etc.

Q3: What are two reasons for implementing land reforms?
Ans: The first reason for bringing land reforms was to increase productivity in the agricultural sector.

The second reason was to stop the exploitation of poor farmers by eliminating intermediaries so that farmers could get land.

Passage -2

Direction: Read the following text and answer the questions based on it:

Passage: “The harsh working conditions suffered by laborers in Bhagan Bigha were an outcome of the combined effect of the economic power of the maliks as a class and their overwhelming power as members of a dominant caste. A significant aspect of the social power of the maliks was their ability to secure the intervention of various arms of the state to advance their interests. Thus, political factors decisively contributed to widening the gulf between the dominant class and the underclass.”

Q1: Why were the maliks able to leverage the power of the state for their own benefit?
Ans: (i) The maliks being dominant caste were very powerful politically, economically, and socially.
(ii) Because of their power, they were able to use the power of the state for their vested interests.
(iii) They were successfully able to secure the intervention of various arms of the state for their own benefit.

Q2: Why did laborers face severe working conditions?
Ans: The laborers had harsh working conditions because, being Dalits, they were not allowed to own land and were compelled to work in the lands of dominant caste people as laborers.

Passage - 3

Direction: Read the following text and answer the questions based on it:

Passage: “The transformation in labor relations is regarded by some scholars as indicative of a transition to capitalist agriculture.

Because the capitalist mode of production is based on the separation of the workers from the means of production (in this case, land) and the use of ‘free’ wage labor. In general, it is true that farmers in the more developed regions were becoming more oriented to the market. As cultivation became more commercialized, these rural areas were also becoming integrated into the wider economy. This process increased the flow of money into villages and expanded opportunities for business and employment. But we should remember that this process of transformation in the rural economy, in fact, began during the Colonial period. In many regions in the 19th century, large tracts of land in Maharashtra were given over to cotton cultivation and cotton farmers became directly linked to the world market. However, the pace and spread of change rapidly increased after Independence, as the government promoted modern methods of cultivation and attempted to modernize the rural economy through other strategies.”

Q1: What were the outcomes of the integration of rural areas and when did it start?
Ans: This process increased the flow of money into villages and expanded opportunities for business and employment. It began during the Colonial period.

Q2: What significant change occurred in the 19th century?
Ans: In the 19th century, large tracts of land in Maharashtra were given over to cotton cultivation and cotton farmers became directly linked to the world market.

Q3: When did the pace of transformation accelerate?
Ans: The pace and spread of change rapidly increased after Independence, as the government promoted modern methods of cultivation and attempted to modernize the rural economy through other strategies.