UGC NET Sociology Rural and Urban Transformations Syllabus

Rural and Urban Transformations syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Rural and Urban Transformations in UGC NET Sociology, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Rural and Peasant Society

   6 topics

   • Caste-Tribe Settlements
   • Agrarian Social Structure and Emergent Class Relations
   • Land Ownership and Agrarian Relations
   • Decline of Agrarian Economy, De-Peasantization and Migration
   • Agrarian Unrest and Peasant Movements
   • Changing Inter-Community Relations and Violence
2. 2

   Urban Society

   6 topics

   • Urbanism, Urbanity and Urbanization
   • Towns, Cities and Mega-Cities
   • Industry, Service and Business
   • Neighbourhood, Slums and Ethnic Enclaves
   • Middle Class and Gated Communities
   • Urban Movements and Violence

Rural and Urban Transformations flashcards for UGC NET Sociology

23 of 50 cards from the Rural and Urban Transformations deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. In Indian rural sociology, what is the typical settlement-pattern distinction between caste groups and tribal groups?

   Caste settlements are usually nucleated/clustered villages internally segregated by caste, with lower castes (Dalits) living on the periphery; tribal settlements are often dispersed or located in forest/hill ecological zones with relatively egalitarian internal organisation.

2. What term describes the spatial segregation within a caste village where Dalit hamlets are physically separated from the main settlement?

   The separate Dalit/Scheduled Caste hamlet is often called the 'cheri' (Tamil) or generally a segregated 'untouchable' quarter located on the village outskirts, reflecting ritual notions of purity and pollution.

3. How did M.N. Srinivas characterise the village as a unit of study?

   Srinivas saw the village as a vertical unity of castes bound by jajmani (interdependent service) relations, while also stressing its internal hierarchy and tensions; he argued the village was a 'social fact' and a meaningful sociological unit.

4. What is the 'dominant caste' concept and who coined it?

   Coined by M.N. Srinivas, a dominant caste is one that has numerical strength, economic power (especially land ownership), and a relatively high ritual status, enabling it to wield power over other castes in a village.

5. Define 'agrarian social structure' in Indian sociology.

   It is the organisation of social relations around land and agricultural production—comprising the system of land ownership, tenancy, labour relations, and the caste-class linkages that structure access to and control over agrarian resources.

6. What were the three broad classes Daniel Thorner identified in the agrarian structure based on relation to land?

   Maliks (proprietors/landlords who own land and derive income from rent), Kisans (working peasants/owner-cultivators and tenants), and Mazdoors (landless agricultural labourers who earn wages).

7. What is meant by 'emergent class relations' in the post-Green Revolution countryside?

   The shift from caste-based jajmani ties toward capitalist class relations—rise of a class of capitalist 'rich farmers' employing wage labour, increasing differentiation, and a growing landless agricultural proletariat.

8. According to Andre Beteille, how do caste, class and power relate in agrarian society (study of Sripuram)?

   In 'Caste, Class and Power' (Sripuram, Tanjore), Beteille argued these three dimensions were once congruent (Brahmins held all) but were increasingly becoming 'decoupled'/dissociated, so ritual status no longer automatically aligned with economic class and political power.

9. Name the three main types of land tenure (revenue) systems introduced under British rule in India.

   Zamindari (Permanent Settlement, revenue collected by intermediary zamindars), Ryotwari (revenue paid directly by the individual cultivator/ryot to the state), and Mahalwari (revenue assessed on the village/mahal collectively).

10. In which year and by whom was the Permanent Settlement (Zamindari system) introduced in Bengal?

    1793, by Lord Cornwallis.

11. What were the three main objectives of post-Independence land reforms in India?

    (1) Abolition of intermediaries (zamindari abolition), (2) Tenancy reforms (security of tenure, fair rent, right to ownership), and (3) Imposition of land ceilings with redistribution of surplus land, plus consolidation of holdings.

12. What is 'Operation Barga' and where was it implemented?

    Operation Barga (1978, West Bengal) was a tenancy-reform programme that recorded and registered sharecroppers (bargadars) to give them security of tenure and a guaranteed share of produce, preventing eviction by landlords.

13. What is the Bhoodan movement and who led it?

    The Bhoodan ('land-gift') movement, launched by Vinoba Bhave in 1951 (starting at Pochampally), sought voluntary donation of land by landowners for redistribution to the landless; it later extended to Gramdan (village-gift).

14. Define 'de-peasantization'.

    De-peasantization is the process by which peasants lose their means of agricultural livelihood (land, viability of farming) and exit agriculture, becoming wage labourers or migrants—reflecting the decline of the peasantry as a class.

15. What does the term 'agrarian distress' refer to in contemporary India, and what extreme outcome is often cited as its symptom?

    Agrarian distress refers to the crisis of declining farm incomes, rising input costs, indebtedness, and falling viability of cultivation; farmer suicides are frequently cited as its most extreme symptom.

16. Distinguish 'push' and 'pull' factors in rural-to-urban migration.

    Push factors drive people out of rural areas (poverty, landlessness, agrarian distress, unemployment, drought); pull factors attract them to cities (jobs, higher wages, education, services, better amenities).

17. What is 'circular migration' in the Indian context?

    Circular (seasonal/temporary) migration is the repeated movement of labour between village and city/destination—migrants work in cities during lean agricultural seasons and return to villages, maintaining ties to both.

18. What is the Lewis model's relevance to the decline of the agrarian economy?

    W. Arthur Lewis's dual-sector model posits transfer of 'surplus' labour from a low-productivity traditional agricultural sector to the modern industrial sector, explaining structural transformation away from agriculture.

19. What was the Tebhaga movement and its central demand?

    The Tebhaga movement (1946-47, Bengal, led by the Kisan Sabha) was a sharecroppers' agitation demanding that the bargadars' share of the crop be raised to two-thirds (tebhaga = three shares) instead of half.

20. What was the Telangana movement (1946-51)?

    A communist-led armed peasant uprising in the Telangana region of the erstwhile Hyderabad State against feudal landlords (deshmukhs) and forced labour (vetti), seeking land redistribution and abolition of bonded labour.

21. Name the leader and core ideology of the Champaran Satyagraha (1917).

    Led by Mahatma Gandhi, it was a non-violent peasant movement against the oppressive 'tinkathia' indigo cultivation system imposed on Bihar's farmers by European planters.

22. According to A.R. Desai, what distinguished the 'old' peasant movements from 'new' agrarian/farmers' movements?

    Old movements were anti-feudal/anti-colonial struggles by poor peasants over land and tenancy; 'new' farmers' movements (1970s-80s) were led by surplus-producing rich/middle farmers demanding remunerative prices, lower input costs and loan waivers (price politics).

23. Name two prominent 'new farmers' movements' of the 1980s and their leaders.

    The Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra, led by Sharad Joshi) and the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU, North India, led by Mahendra Singh Tikait); also the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (M.D. Nanjundaswamy).

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