<特集論文>経済成長下における農村土着制度の残存と変容--インド中西部の59カ村計量分析および3カ村集約調査から

Abstract

本稿は、都市経済の成長が農村貧困層に与える影響について、第一に、農業労賃率を抑制するといわれるカースト制度や農村土着制度の存在を、グジャラート州内59 カ村の一次データから計量的に明らかにすること、第二にそうした農村土着制度が、都市経済の成長によって変容する過程を実態調査から明らかにすることを課題としている。結果、従属変数である各村の農業労賃率が農村土着制度の存在によって低められていること、また多くの村では、非農業就業機会の増加があっても、農村内のカーストを軸とするパトロン・クライアント関係や土着制度が強く残存していること、ただし村の貧困層の6 割以上が非農業部門へ就業するという大規模な労働力シフトが生じ、貧困層の心理的な要素をも含めたパトロンへの依存関係が消滅すれば、農村土着制度も変容・消滅することが明らかとなった。

This paper has the following two aims with regard to the impact of the recent urban economic growth in India on the rural poor. Firstly, to find out the econometrical correlation between low agricultural wage rates and the caste system or rural indigenous institutions by using primary data from 59 villages in Gujarat State. Secondly, to investigate if the kind of rural indigenous institutions which might restrain the rise of agricultural wage rates could be changed or terminated by the growth of opportunities for rural poor to leave farming jobs for the growing urban (or suburban) economies. The results demonstrate that, 1) low agricultural wage rates and rural indigenous institutions have a strongly positive econometrical correlation, 2) even if the opportunities for rural poor to leave farming jobs for work in an urban area near their village increase (and even if these jobs pay a higher wage rate than the agricultural one), the rural indigenous institution and patron-client relationship between landowners and their laborers, which form the background of the indigenous institutions, remain strong in many villages. However, 3) if an extremely large shift of the village labor force occurs, such as when more than 60% of the rural poor in the village leave farming jobs for the urban area, the patron-client relationship, including the rural poor’s mentality, and the rural indigenous institution, collapses.