16 SOCIAL SCIENTIST sum, the total exploitation of wage labour exploitation of family labour. is about equal to the usurious TABLE 6 INDEX OF EXPLOITATION OF THE CLASSES INVOLVED IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION Class Index of exploitation Labourers — 1635 Small farmers - 20 Small middle farmers 0 Big middle farmers Big farmers Moneylenders Landlords - 2 + 7 + 18 + 11 Merchants1 + 4 Note I) The net income of merchants have been estimated at 20 per cent of their gross income. It may well be higher. The contribution of the small and middle farmers to the exploitation of the labourers is to be set against the former being exploited by moneylenders, landlords and merchants. Finally, we should note that in terms of personnel there is a considerable, but not complete, overlap among the eight classes enumerated in Table 6. The class of labourers and small peasants overlap, because labourers often own small parcels of land and because small farmers often work as agricultural labourers. The class of labourers and that of middle farmers do not overlap very much, however. Middle farmers seldom take up coolie work. They depend upon incomes from salt field work, dairy production or small-scale commerce. There is also a considerable sense of identity among the four ruling classes, i.e, big farmers, moneylenders, landlords, and merchants. Therefore, we can very well construct a simplified three-class model (Table 7). TABLE 7STRUCTURE OF EXPLOITATION SIMPLIFIED TO A THREE-CLASS MODEL Class Contribution production (per cent) to Share of incomes from production (per cent) 'Degree of exploitation9 1) Agricultural working 78 class (i.e, labourers and small farmers) 2) Middle farmers 14 3) Exploiting classes (i.e. big farmers, money- 8 lenders, landlords, and merchants) 4410 47 - 36— 4 + 40