62 SOCIAL SCIENTIST during this period female workers increased from 13.44 to 16.49 percent.10 Thus we have found that the percentage of landless labourers has increased sharply in Sultanpur. On the other hand, the percentage of cultivating owners has decreased. This fact clearly shows the process of 'proletarianisation9 of the peasantry, for more and more small farmers are being reduced to landless labourers. As we know, this land-alienation is a salient feature of capitalism where immediate producers are transformed into wage-labourers, an historical process—which Marx termed 'primitive accumulation'—-of divorcing the producer from his means of production. But, on the other hand, we also noted that the percentage of big landholders (holding 10 acres or more) is rapidly declining. Obviously, the concentration' of land in the hands of few landlords is lessening. One may say that the above fact goes against the Marxist theory of 'class polarisation' under capitalism. But we can argue that this may be a temporary phenomenon because Sultanpur is passing through a 'transitory' stage from pre-capitalist to capitalist forms and material conditions like advanced irrigation and mechanisation of agriculture are not yet present to any great extent. Therefore, we call this process, during transition period, one sided 'base-level accentuation', that is, pauperisation of the lower strata without a substantial upper class of bourgeoisie.11 The fact of weakness of landed bourgeoisie and dominance of small and marginal farmers explains the agricultural backwardness as well as the stagnant or very slow industrialisation in the district. And, naturally, the population dependent on agriculture remains almost the same (88 to 87 per cent) even after three decades of planning. Obviously, both internally and externally, Sultanpur's agriculture has not received any innovative momentum of development. Thus Sultanpur is one of the undeveloped districts in India where excessive burden on agriculture due to the absence of development of secondary and tertiary sectors of economy is resulting in a pauperisation of rural masses. Therefor, in our view, there is need for introducing the following interem relief to check the unfavourable emerging patterns: 1. Such highly backward regions of east U P, Bihar etc, should be declared as 'poverty-belts' where preference should be given to the 'poor5 as a class by introducing and advancing rural handicrafts. The village artisans cannot utilise their knowledge and skill in the absence of capital to invest in machinery and to adopt advanced technology. 2. Extra-agricultural production activities, both full-time and part-time, like weaving, matting, sewing etc, should be promoted both at individual and group levels, with an attempt to reduce market competition by arranging government controlled pricing, storing, buying and selling mechanisms. 3. Unfortunately, in this rice-belt the cultivation of rice is not developed. Since the soil is very favourable for rice production, new