NOTE 71 ft The social classes engaged in agriculture have been classified as shown below: (i) Landlords are those families, who are not physically participating (i.e. are not involved in manual labour) in the major agricultural operations and are cither leasing out their land or employing farm servants and wage labour, and are only supervising the work of the latter. In A P. landlord families own more than 10-15 acres wet or more than 20-30 acres of dry land (ii) Rich peasants—Peasants are to be distinguished from landlords by their physical participation in the major agricultural operations. The. rich peasant physically participates in all major agricultural operations on his holding, whether owned or leased. He employs farm servants and wage labour as well, and the mandays contributed by them exceed those of his family during any given year. Alternatively, the rich peasant could be viewed as one whose income derived from family labour is less than that of farm servants. In A.P. such families own between 5-10 acres of wet or 10-20 acres of dry land. (iii) Middle peasants also employ farm servants and wage labour but the mandays contributed by family labour exceeds those of farm servants and wage labour. Alternatively, they could be viewed as those families whose income derived from family labour exceeds that of farm servants and wage labour. Another feature, which distinguishes the middle peasent from the rich peasant is that while the latter has regularly a surplus available with him which could be used for investment, the middle peasant has such a surplus only in good years. Middle peasant families in A P. own between 2-5 acres of wet or 5-10 acres of dryland. (iv) Poor peasants arc those families who do no possess a surplus, and at best either break even or have a deficit which compels them to work cither as wage labour or in some subsidiary occupation to supplement their income The main income therefore is from the plot of land they own. If under certain circumstances they engage wage labour, it is usually less than the wage labour which they themselves offer. Poor peasants in A P. own between 1—2 acres of wet or 2—5 acres of dry land. (v) Agricultural labourers are those who mainly live on wage labour. By and large they are landless, but even if they were to own plots, it would not measure more than an acre, and the main income of such families would be on account of wage labour rather than what is derived from the plot of land. Agricultural labourers and poor peasants constitute 70 per cent of the rural population in A P. but own only 15 per cent of the cultivated lands. On the other hand landlords in A P. constitute 5 per cent of the rural families but own 45 per cent of cultivated lands. P.S. calculated that if all the lands (inclusive of lands below the ceiling) owned by the landlords in A.P. were confiscated and distributed gratis to the poor peasants and agricultural labour, they would end up possessing 2.5 acres