THE RESOURCE FLOW
F. Economic Logic
Incomes from business are still seen as income that unsettle the resource system of Dhankura. Businessmen are seen to appropriate for themselves what should be distributed throughout the society. The businessman's income is seen to he derived at the expense of others, and his wealth no guarantee to benefits for a large number. With his surplus the businessman buys land and products at a cheap price for sale elsewhere. The current ideology in Dhankura about business will change only when the numbers of businessmen increase; when benefits from business begin to trickle in and when money from business begin to trickle down, and when money from business no longer remains in the hands of a few people.
Accumulation of additional capital is a prerequisite for certain other types of businesses as well as for obtaining certain types of employment. Land purchase requires substantial capital. With less capital, one can further activate land through leasing, sharecropping, or mortgaging in. Education requires certain small expenses but is not seen as a secure investment. Very often at the lower levels, education of a third son might be considered only after the first two sons are gainfully employed on the land or elsewhere.
Let us explore the issue of investment in land a bit further. The option to invest in land is viewed from both an ideological and economic perspective. As the productivity of land is low in Dhankura, investment in land does not bring quick returns. So for those in the lower categories, either the surplus they have to invest is too small to have any land-purchasing power or investment in other surer and quicker returns is needed. At the other end the surplus in Dhankura are not heavily in land. Only one inherited land. They are mostly entrepreneurs. They have reached a surplus position through trade and employment not land income. They consider land a good investment for mostly ''political" reasons: that is, one can build up a following by providing work from one's land and some status from the ownership of land. And for the lower categories, from an ideological perspective, paddy subsistence from the land is valued. The lower categories are willing to pay heavily for the first half acre of land once they have a sizeable surplus. The land price in Dhankura has risen, therefore, to a point where it in often not worth it to the upper categories to invest in land except for political reasons. The land situation in Dhankura then is one where most of the land circulates in the lower categories, moving from the hands of those caught in the downward spiral to pursue a line of upword mobility.
The village's view of mobility may be one thing and a villager's options quite another. The villagers usually cannot make the choice to maximise the economic logic of mobility. A villager's choice is most often a function of opportunities. The options taken, given these opportunities, is what we have called in this study the
individual villager's strategy. The principles of economic logic are best seen in operation; that is, as expressed in the strategies individual villagers adopt.
Chapter Four
STRATEGIES
In the preceding sections we have reexamined the resource structure of Dhankura in terms of the institutions and factors which mediate in the distribution of resources in Dhankura. We must now see how the people of Dhankura adapt to and exploit the system and institutions available. So far, that is, we have looked at structures and institutions, but now we will look at the actual behaviour of individuals in Dhankura. We cannot, of course, examine in detail the behaviour of each individual and have, therefore, grouped the individuals of Dhankura into ten categories of strategies. That is, we have classified the behaviour of Dhankura residents into ten lines of strategy in terms of resources.
The strategy any one individual adopts is in terms of an ideal.
And the ideal exists in a particular form which reflects the ideological and economic system of Dhankura. What then is the ideal of the Dhankura community? How does the community define a high status man? A man with high status in Dhankura must possess land; preferably he should have inherited land. He should, if possible, refrain from direct cultivation himself and hire others to work his land. He should not only thereby provide an income to others, but also be willing to intercede on behalf of others in many ways. He is expected to be a surplus farmer earning a good income. And he should be educated, even if he does not necessarily use his education. He will gain added importance and respect from the degree of outside contacts he acquires and maintains.
The ideal of Dhankura community reflects the fact that the value system of Dhankura has remained land-based. Employment incomes are generally rated high, but if land is owned in addition one's status is higher still. Other avenues of income are still not valued highly. The three essentials of the ideal are: land, income, and patronage. Why, if this is the ideal for Dhankura are different people trying to reach the ideal in different ways? Why does everyone not invest directly in land? Everyone aspires to a similar ideal but must act in terms of his or her own starting point, options, add circumstances. It is the difference in these not a diffe- rence in ideal which determines people's strategies.
We have, after examining individual strategies, grouped the residents of Dhankura into ten broad categories. We have classified people into these strategies by asking the following question: given what options and circumstances Table 1: Strategies by Land-Holding Categories
Land-Holding Category
Strategy Sur-
plus
Medium Small Mar- ginal
Land- less
Total
I Labour − − − 3 31 34
II Land-Labour − 2 22 9 2 35
III Land-Education − 3 2 1 1 7
IV Land-Low Status
Buisness − 3 11 3 2 18
V Land-Employment − − 4 − 1 5
VI Land-Statusful
Business 2 3 1 1 − 7
VII Employment
Education − 3 − 3 4 10
VIII Politics-Business 2 − 1 − − 3 IX Business savings
Migration 1 − − 1 15 17
X Land 1 − 7 − − 8
XI Miscellaneous − − − − 1 1
Total 6 14 48 21 57 146
which decision has been taken by individuals at what point in the ascent or descent in the lines of mobility? For each category, we have defined the prototype individual in terms of starting point, intermediate goal, means, and idiom of behaviour. We have grouped together individuals that share a predictability of resource behaviour; that is, people of whom it can be said they generally follow this strategy except in these instances. We have also explained the logic of each strategy; that is, people of this category perceive their options in this way and adopt this strategy for these reasons. The perceptions tie in closely with the logic of economic and ideological factors we discussed above.