Operation Barga, ‘Efficiency’ and (De)interlinkage in a Differentiated Structure of Tenancy in Rural West Bengal

Operation Barga in West Bengal caused a decline in the institution of tenancy over a period of two decades. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the field-level data shows that the tenant households are placed in a highly heterogeneous and differentiated manner in society, which is similar to that of the pattern of distribution of general (tenant plus non-tenant) households. We find that tenant households are less productive than the general category of households and, therefore, less efficient. The yield level of recorded tenant households is also distinctly higher than unrecorded tenant households. Recorded tenants are enjoying lower rental rate than unrecorded tenants. The possibility of interlinked transactions has been remote among tenant households.