LAND, LABOUR AND CREDIT RELATIONS 51 2 Prasad conceptualised the semi-proletariat households as follows: "The households who cultivate land mainly with the help of their family labour and at the same time supply labour to the other cultivating class. Some of them own some cultivable land: quite a significant number lease in land mostly on crop-sharing basis; sizeable section is landless agricultural labourer." 3 The survey coveied about 277 randomly chosen villages in West Bengal, Biliar and some of the eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh. The numbers allocated to these three regions were 1!0, 101 and 66, respectively. 4 This point has been emphasised by Bharadwaj (1980) when discussing about the characteristics of the Indian rural situation. 5 For further details regarding the sample selection, see Chattopadhyay and fe Ghosh (1983). ' 6 For a detailed discussion of the point, i e, how the 50-50 shar^cropping system in, this region crystallised over a period of time into an exploitative type, but not always oppressive variety, see Chattopadhyay and Ghosh, "Tenurial Contracts in a Peasant Movement", op city and Chattopadhyay and Chatterjee, "Agrarian Relation in a North Bengal Agrarian Movement Belt", op cif.