LAND AND CREDIT REFORMS 5 The population which depends on land for a living can be classified into three broad groups: i) poor peasants/ marginal farmers, ii) small peasants and iii) well-to-do farmers. The category of poor peasants includes landless labourers who work on land as day labourers, attached labourers (or bonded labourers) for particular landlords or as share-croppers. Poor peasants also include those who own small pieces of land which arc not always economically viable, necessitating some members of their families to work as day labourers. This class of poor peasants is numerically strong but commands meagre economic resources. While it comprises 60 percent of rural households, it cultivates only 9 percent of land area, uses 15 percent of irrigation facilities, owns 14 percent of cattle, 16 percent of buffaloes, 10 percent of wooden ploughs, 7 percent of iron ploughs and less than 2 percent of electric pumps (Table I). Due to their weak economic position they also get a low share of credit facilities available to the rural areas (they got only 5 percent of the total term loans advanced by the public sector banks and 4 percent of private sector bank loans in 1973-74). Unequal Distribution The category of small peasants consists of those households who cultivate from one to four hectares of land. They arc, by and large, self-sufficient and are able to sustain themselves without working as agricultural labourers. They comprise 29 percent of the total rural households that cultivate 37 percent of the total land, employ 43 percent of farm workers, use 39 percent of irrigation facilities and 33 percent of term loans provided by the public sector banks. They possess 50 percent of all the cattleheads, 45 percent of buffaloes, 57 percent of wooden ploughs, 47 percent of iron ploughs and 35 percent of the total electric pumps. The well-to-do farmers, who cultivate more than four hectares of land constitute 10 percent of the rural households. They cultivate 53 percent of total land, possess over 62 percent of agricultural machinery and 50 percent of transport equipment. Their command over financial resources is decisive. They control the rural cooperative societies and corner 62 percent of term loans advanced by the public sector banks and 77 percent of loans advanced by the private sector banks. They also control 46 percent of irrigation facilities and the use of fertilizers.1 They possess the best agricultural land and have almost exclusive access to inputs and financial resources needed to improve output.2 These facts clearly show that the distribution of land and also of tools, implements, farm power, water supply and so on are