AGRICULTURAL GROWTH AND THE STRUCTURE OF CASUAL LABOR-HIRING IN RURALWEST-BENGAL

There are two main arguments in this article. First, if wages and empl oyment are to be used as indicators of changing levels of rural povert y they need to be complemented by micro and meso level studies of how increases or declines in wages and employment are distributed among in dividuals and households. Secondly, if the nature of the relationship between employer and labourer is to be understood, aggregates such as 'casual' labour need to be unravelled. Evidence from a study of two sm all localities in rural West Bengal between 1991 and 1993 suggests tha t the poorest workers receive the lowest remuneration across a range o f informal contracts, including daily time-rate, piece rate, seasonal beck-and-call and migrant labour arrangements. Levels of remuneration are also determined by locally specific ideologies of gender and socia l rank and by party politics.