SUBSISTENCE TENANCY 53 control and pressure on them. Quite surprisingly, however, in the present study, neither any rent receiver nor any combined owner reported his preference for low caste or scheduled caste tenants. Conclusion The pattern of tenancy, terms and conditions and lessor-lessee relation discussed above in a traditional agrarian setting of North Bihar gives an impression that, in spite of growth in agricultural production and to some extent technological change in Bihar, subsistence tenancy on terms which are extremely unfavourble to the tenants continues to be a prominent feature of the agrarian scene in this region. The condition of the subsistence tenants can be improved only when land goes to the real tiller. But ineffective and poor implementation of the Bataidari Act does not offer much hope. The fact remains that, notwithstanding the ban on leasing except in certain cases, so far as Bihar is concerned, a large number of unrecorded tenancies exist and no ownership rights can be conferred on the tenants. The first thing that may be suggested in this connection is that all tenancies should be recorded because no ownership right can be claimed or given unless the land records show that a particular piece of land is cultivated by a tenant. But the problem is that the moment the lessors will learn that the government is contemplating such a move or has actually asked the revenue officials to record the tenants' names, they will ask their tenants to surrender the land immediately. It is sometimes argued that an open and regulated tenancy may be far better than an ineffective abolition of tenancy. There is something to be said for this view. But even "regulated tenancy" of this kind can have positive effects only if the regulation measures are effectively implemented. But in a situation wheie tenancy is not even properly recorded, an effective implementation of tenancy regulation may be too much to ask for. B,N VERMA R R MISHRA Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar. 1 H Higgs, "Metayage in Western France", Economic Journal, Vol V, 1894, pp 1-13. 2 M V Nadkarni, "Tenants from the dominant class: A developing contradiction in land reforms". Economic and Political Weekly, Review of Agriculture, December 1976 (Nadkarni gives a long list); Pranab Bardhan, "Trends in land relations: A note", Economic and Political Weekly, Annual Number, 1970, p 266; K N Raj^ "Ownership and distribution of land", Indian Economic Review, April, 1970; V S Vyas, "Tenancy in a dynamic setting". Economic and Political Weekly, Review of Agriculture, June 27, 1970; M L Dantwala and C H Shah, "Pre-reform and post-reform agrarian structure", Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, July-September 1971; V M Rao "Two perspectives on redistribution of land". Economic and Political Weekly, Review of Agriculture, March 30, 1974; Krishna Bharadwaj and P K Das, "Tenurial conditions and mode of exploitation: A study of some villages in Orissa", Economic and Political Weekly, Annual Number^ 1975; Ashok Rudra., "Against feudalism". Economic and Political Weekly, December 26, 1981.