AGRARIAN RELATIONS IN SARAVALI 59 agriculture, these relations cannot be called capitalist. The total amoun-t of land under fruit—if one insists it is capitalist farming—is a measly 272.4 acres^ or less than 7 per cent of the total cultivable area. To sum up, in Saravali one can see the decay which set in under Bntish imperialism, and the Indian bourgeoisie failed to arrest. The latter \v\is neither independent nor bold enough to start the process of agrarian development,, and the institutional devices set up so far appear totally inadequate for the purpose. It has also become clear that only a communist movement is keen on radically changing production relations. In spite of the remarkable work of a Communist Party one sees the slide-back to feudal mode of appropriation of the surplus by the landlords, and exaction of free labour by the landowning classes and owners of industry.84 The various devices used by the property-owning classes combined with the lack of industrial development have prevented the unemployed from becoming o.free proletariat. ' Bombay Gazetteer, vol XIII, pp 671,284 and 302. 2 Ibid., p 672. 8 Decaying is a process and therefore it comes within the ambit of change. 4 Bombay Gazetteer, vol XIII, p 31. 8 J Ovington, Voyage to Surai, p 166. 6 Bombay Gazetteer, vol XIII, p 38. 7 Ibid.,'? 307. 8 Ibid., p 302. 9 Syminsrton, in Report of the Aboriginal Tribes, 1939, also states that the landlords used their tenants' womenfolk to fulfil their lust. 10 This is understandable, as feudalism is a fetter of the capitalist mode of development for which the Indian bourgeoisie was aspiring. 11 S V Parulekar, The Vaili Revolt, p 20. 12 Ibid.,p 21. ( 8 Ibid., pp 5,20 and 41. 14 In this article, we are not concerned with industrial production. ! s Survev conducted by the Agricultural Research Institute of Kosbad in November-December 1975, hereinafter referred to as Kosbad Survey. 16 As a result of a reaction to Abolition of Tenancy Act many large landholders divided their land formally and therefore all non-Adivasis who hold less than 7.5 acres do not necessarily fall under the class of poor peasants. 17 The last available auditor's report was for the year^ 1972-73. It also reports non members taking loans on members'' account, * ® He is a former timber merchant to be precise, now a wholesale grain-dealer. His wife is a member of the panchayat too. He was ousted from office by a Varii—a CPI (M) candidate—by popular vote. Saravali permits only politics ®f power, not democracy. On the pretext of some technical error committed by the new panchayat president, he was deprived of his office. It is looked after by the panchayat secretary, a representative of the government. 2 9 Those who qualify under SFDA, namely, with less than 7.5 acres, are charged 13 and 12 per cent respectively. 20 The manager of Dena Bank even stated tliat there is an internal agreement between the local industries and big landholders. a l All those who liold less than 7.5 acres are straightaway categorized as poor peasants. They raise one crop which lasts for the family anywhere from two to four months. For