42 SOCIAL SCIENTIST
names recorded. Thirdly, bargadars are mostly indebted to the landowners who very often are also moneylenders. If in time of need the landowners refuse to give loans in cash or kind to the bargadars they are left with no other source from which they can borrow. If an indebted bargadar comes forward to get his name recorded, his relations with his landowner immediately get strained and his source of borrowing dries up. Obviously he shows reluctance to have his name recorded.
The government officials involved in the earlier recording operations displayed an attitude of indifference to these constraints as they felt it was not part of their programme to educate the bargadars and make them conscious of their rights. Moreover the officials used to set up the recording camps in the houses of the rich people of the villages. The entry of the bargadars to these camps was very much restricted by the vigilance of the landowners and their henchmen. Under the circumstances it was hardly possible to bring about tangible results in the recording operations.
With the installation of the Left Front government in 1977, a wind of change began to blow. The new government was, of necessity, seized of the problem of hastening the recording operation for which a reorientation of the attitude of the recording officials towards the poor villagers was essential. It was felt that the officials should now play an important role in persuading the bargadars to come forward on a large scale to have their names recorded. This could be done effectively only when the bargadars were properly educated about their rights and an atmosphere was created in which the poor people who had so long been mentally shaken could speak to the officials freely.
Reorientation Camps
For this the land reforms department began to organize reorientation camps in the districts. Each camp was held with the participation of 30 to 40 poor villagers like bargadars, landless agricultural labourers and small allottees of government vested lands and about 15 officials like junior land reforms officers, kanungos [mou^a revenue inspectors), agricultural extension officers, who stayed together for three days in the same premises without any distinction between an official and a peasant. The atmosphere in the camp was congenial for a free exchange of views. The villagers actively participated in the deliberations. They narrated their past experience, discussed the problems of cultivation and made an appraisal of the barga recording system.
At the first reorientation camp3 a suggestion was put