54 SOCIAL SCIENTIST The utilization of fertilizer per acre is also the lowest. In Bharthui it should be the highest because there the utilization of pumpset, tractor and fertilizers per acre is the highest. Further, it is clear from Table III that in Bharthui output per labourer is the highest while in Korea, Saraia and Bharkuian it is the lowest. Other villages arc in the middle category. TABLE III OUTPUT PER LABOURER (Rs) Output Villages Upto 1200 Korea, Saraia, Bharkuian 1201 to 2400 Jafarpur, Parasia, Sonabarsa. Chaphwa, Maharani Ugarsain Above 2400 Bharthui If we accept the neo-classical theory that productivity determines wages, then wage rates should have been the highest in Bharthui but it is not so. The wage rates are the highest in Korea, Jafarpur and Sonabarsa. While the rates should have been the lowest in Maharani Ugarsain or Korea, Saraia and Bharkuian, the rates are the lowest in Chaphwa. In other words, there is only a weak positive relationship between the wage rate and the productivity of labour. In Indian agriculture there are other empirical evidences also which support this view3. It implies that something is missing in the neo-classical theory as it fails to explain the spatial variations in wage rates in agriculture. Here, we try to explain it in terms of the historical evolution of production relations. In Table IV the villages under study have been classified under three categories according to their distinguishing features of production relations. The distance between two categories of villages is not less than 50 km. It is clear from the table that in Chaphwa, landlord-cultivators4 constitute 25.72 percent of households but they own 94.61 percent of land. Only 40 percent of their abour force, and that too only in supervising work, is engaged in agriculture. All landlords and cultivators have leased out land on share-cropping and on labour service. On the other hand, poor peasants and landless labourers constitute 62.85 percent of households who own only 0.30 percent of land. Cent percent of their labour force is engaged in agriculture and all are lessees of land on share-cropping or hire out labour. All households arc in regular consumption debt. Thus, almost all land is owned by the landlord-cultivators. They lease out a substantial portion of it on share-cropping and on labour service and do cultivation on remaining portion under