LAND, DOWRY, LABOUR 89 Today it may seem that the two issues—land distribution and land circulation such as through the system of sanjh—cannot be equated. They serve different purposes. While distribution is a permanent reorganisation, sanjh is a temporary one. However, in the case of single women who are usually not given land because they hire labourers, the logic seemed, and in practice became, discriminatory. Most of the those who are able to cultivate land on sanjh own a small plot of land. This assures the rent payment in case there is a failure of boro in one season. These households also have a diverse source of income. They have land, work as wage labourers as well as earn a little money from either a small shop set up with government loan, or a rickshaw and other such items for which they receive credit from the government. Credit facility is more accessible to those who have land in their own name and mostly they are men. The cash earned is invested in boro cultivation, and in addition to that they borrow from the local sources and pay back in labour days. Amongst themselves the labour requirement is managed with the system of exchange labour locally known as the badii system. Labour exchange does not involve cash transaction as payment is in kind. And that too is not at any fixed rate. Cooked food is given as wage. All the agricultural labourers resort to this system of production organisation if they are taking land on sanjh. They say boro production along with the production of aman on the khas land takes care of their annual food requirement. These are issues which cannot be discussed here in any detail. But what is obvious is that there is a possibility of improvement in the quality of life of the agricultural labourer households through this system of constant reorganisation and circulation of that essential resource—land. Women have been losers in both cases. They were largely not the beneficiaries of the permanent reorganisation. As a result they could not take equal advantage of the temporary arrangements. Their work load as single women and otherwise has increased but not their control over increased production and resources. As mentioned earlier labour is a major requirement and among the agricultural labourer households, apart from self labour, hiring of labourers on exchange is a major feature. A large part of their investment thus is in the labour day. For example, when they take credit for boro cultivation they return the amount in labour days. For the agricultural labourer woman this is not a hurdle. The only area where she is at a disadvantage is when it comes to the question of exchange ploughing. One of the common problems that they face which affects women more, is delay in ploughing which in turn affects the final output. For agricultural labour, householder, especially women, inability to pay in cash for labour—such as for ploughing which they have to buy, is the major handicap.