Agricultural Land Use Changes and Local Communities in Assam :

A Case Study in the Indigenous Non-tribal Hindu Village in Assam

Abstract

This study reveals the emerging trends of agriculture in Assam by focusing the changes in agricultural land use in an indigenous non-tribal Hindu village. In the study village, some parts of the farm lands were converted for other uses than rice cultivation due to the low agricultural productivity, government policy of distributing cheap rice produced in other states, unstable weather condition, shortage of labour, and so on. Farm lands are partly converted as either forest lands or fishponds depending on its size and distance from the land owners’ residential areas. Villagers prefer fish ponds to plant trees because of the lower construction cost and instant cash income. Muslims in neighbouring villages play the important roles in catching and selling fish in the ponds because Hindus in the village are reluctant to do so for religious reasons. At the grassroots level, collaboration with Muslims enables the transformation of the livelihoods in the Hindu village. This reveals little-known aspects of the relationship between the two communities in Assam, which is usually believed to be the cause of social disorder.