18 SOCIAL SCIENTIST budget an allocation of Rs 295 crorcs made as subsidy on food. The sum total of all this can only mean, as indicated clearly by the trends, that free market rice prices will vary between a minimum of Rs 3.50 and Rs 5 per kilogram and those of wheat between Rs 2 and Rs 3.50 per kilogram during the lean months of 1975. While the Finance Minister claims to have presented a budget for arresting inflation, the Prime Minister has been saying recently that the worst of the crisis is over. During and after the Narora Camp of Congress Party leaders, there has been a hypocritical show of concern for the rural poor. Y B Chavan is reported to have said that between the middle and poor peasants, his party will choose the latter for preferential treatment. The Congress President declared: Therefore, at the Narora Central Training Camp, it was decided to organize the agricultural labourers and the rural poor. Nearly half of them belong to the scheduled castes. If the Congress does not take the initiative to organise them, other parties will step in. Already in some states, some parlies have entered the field . . . But the Congress does not wish to encourage class conflict^ (Emphasis added). As we study the food question, the entire field of agrarian relations and allied problems, of which it forms only a part, unfolds itself. Glass character of agrarian relations in turn reflects the class character of the state, the government and the ruling party: state policies regarding pro* duction and distribution of food form a set of useful instruments to trans-late it into the reality of political economy. In this study, special attention is devoted to cereals among food-grains, and within this category, I have singled out certain features and trends relating to wheat and rice. A closer scrutiny of these two major cereals is helpful towards a clear Understanding of certain aspects of the situation. I Fat of the Land Production offoodgrains involves primarily (1) land (2) labour (3) agricultural implements (4) irrigation (5) seeds and (6) fertilizers. The factors of demand, supply and price are also relevant. But in India demand is virtually a constant factor and almost totally inelastic, relative to variations in price or consumer's income. Of the six factors mentioned^ labour is so abundant that its price can be dictated by the wage-hiring landowners. Seeds form a part of the produce. In case of improved variety of seeds, a new element does operate, but for the purposes of our study all the details are not essential.2 We shall however take up land, irrigation, and fertilizers for special treatment. Although agricultural credit comes into both production and distribution, its role in production is especially considerable. Area under production can be expanded in two ways: reclamation of uncultivated land, and increasing the number of crops on a given land surface. Table I shows the increase in the extent of l^,nd under cultivation.