14 AGRARIAN CHANGE over poor and middle peasants in the case of cumbu and HYV paddy. For a further dis-cusison of this point see Athreya et al 1985b. 6 It is worthwhile to emphasize here that the transition from usury to credit is by no means complete in our study area. Private moneylenders still cater to about half of the credit needs, and the less-usurious rates of interest have by no means benefitted each and everybody. Second, the massive rates of default may bring about a retreat of credit capital, leaving a bigger share of the market to usurious capital and, in the same process, giving it a chance to hike up the interest- rates again. Third, and most important, there is no automatism built into the expansion of credit capital. It is not primarily the result of a self-reproduction of capital. The active agent is instead the State; the whole process is a result of State intervention, a political intervention in the economc the aim of which is to increase the level of commodirixation in the agrarian economy. Athreya, V.B. Gustav Boklih, Goran Djurfeldt and Staffan Lindberg, (1983), "Identification of Agrarian Classes : A Methodological Essay with Empirical Material from South India." Arbe-|dspapir nr 21, Sociologisk Institut, Kobenhavns Universitet. Same authors (1985a), "From Usury to Credit ?" Mimeo, Department of Sociology, Lund. Same authors (1985b), "Economies of Scale or Advantages of Class ? Some results from a South Indian farm economy study," Mimeo, Department of Sociology Lund. Baker, Christopher (1984), An Indian Rural Economy 1880-19')^. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Benaji, Jairus (1977), "Capitalist Domination and the Small Peasantry : Deccan District in the late Nineteenth Century."— Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XII, Nos. 33-34, pp. 1375-1404. Berry, R.A., and W.R. Cline: (1979), Agrarian Structure and Productivity in Developing Countries. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins Press. Bhaduri, Amit: (1973), "A Study of Agricultural Backwardness under Semi-Feudalism,"-77^ Economic Journal, Vol. 83, No. 329, pp. 120-137. Cochran, William G. : (1977) Sampling Techniques. New York : John Wiley. Gough, Kathleen : (1981), Rural Society in Southeast India. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Ludden, David : (1978a), Agrarian Organisation in Tinnevelly District: 800-1900 A.D. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pennvlvania. Same author: (1978b), "Ecological Zones and the Cultural Economy of Irrigation in Tamil Nadu."-South Asia (New Series) I, 1. Patnaik, Utsa : (1976), "Class Differentiation within the Peasantry: An Approach to the Analysis of Indian Agri culture. "—Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XI, No.39, Review of Agriculture, pp. .'82-AlOl. Thorner, Alice : (1982), "Semi-feudalism or Capitalism ? : Contemporary Debate, on Classes and modes of production in Inida."'-Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XVII, Nos. 49-51, Dec, 4, 11 & 18.