Constraints for the growth of Dalit farmers’in Telangana: A South Indian State

Abstract

Many of the legislative acts and land reforms to the Dalits (Schedules Castes) in the state and at the center are unable to reduce social inequalities in the rural as well as in urban societies in India. Dalits shares not more than five percentages in the total cultivable land in our country. Dalitsare treated as workforce to their farm fields by the forward castes in India, without their significant workforce Indian agriculture conditions are unimaginable. Land reforms in our country helped Dalits enter into farm fields as owners’ instead of daily wage laborer as great hope to break their socio-economic barriers in the society. The present study carried out in one of the village in Warangal district of Telangana State in South India by using constructivist methodology by adopting in-depth interviews, actors and actions of Dalit farmers in their farming life. Present paper explains how Dalit farmers are facing different issues and problems in various forms at the cultivation process. Not only increase of input cost in the present day agriculture but also facing constraints from the forward castes in the village.