Genesis of Agrarian Tension in Thanjavur-Findings of a Research Study

unrest in different parts of India in the period that followed the 1967 General Election. According to a study conducted by the Research and Policy Division, Home Ministry, Government of India, on this subject in 1969, regular movements in the form of satya- grahas and forcible occupation of land were launched in the states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kar- nataka, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Rajas- than, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh.1 While in West Bengal, the unrest took the form of attempts by share-croppers for forcible occupation of the lands of jotedars, in Kerala it took the form of strikes by agricultural workers on the demand for enhanced wages. In Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, agricultural labourers were agi- taring for enhanced wages. In East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh also similar agitations were witnessed. 2 Conflicts between cultivators and agricultural labourers have been also reported from certain parts of Maharashtra3 and Gujarat.