Here is your paragraph on Jajmani System !

Villages had a self-sufficient economy system called ‘Jajmani System’. This system revolved around the farmers who owned land.

There were various ‘specialist castes’, which provided services to the farmers and to each other. There would be a barber who would provide his services to all the families of the village.

There would be a blacksmith who would provide plough and other agricultural equipment’s to the farmers. Similarly there would be potters who would provide earthen utensils to all the families of the village. All these service providers would receive grains as payments from all the families of the village at the time of harvest.

No payment was made to the service providers each time they provided services. They were paid according to pre-agreed norms only at the time of harvest. Besides these ‘specialist castes’, there were other castes who helped farmers in farming.

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This group of families was attached to particular farmer families, i.e., a family of tillers could work only on the lands of the farmer it is attached to. A particular family would be attached to a farmer for generations. Jajmani system was a cashless, stable and self-sufficient economic system but it is under threat.

The system became exploitative as the farmers who owned the land controlled the whole economy. Some of the service providers did not want to continue to provide their services as they found this humiliating. Some found the payment being made to them dismally low. Urbanization came to the help of these disgruntled service providers. They moved to urban areas and sought employment.

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The village economy is in a transition stage, as some of the service providers have either left the villages, or are refusing to work under the Jajmani system, but the services they provided are still required. It is being believed that the Jajmani system will crumble under the combined pressures of aspirations of the erstwhile providers, and the increasing opportunities that urbanization offers them.

Marketers have to fill these gaps systematically. The rural economy is waiting to be commercialized, i.e., cash payment for products provided and cash rendered in business-like fashion, rather than the obligatory method of Jajmani system.

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