Covers post and pre independence period.

"Why, in the 1917-42 period, did no radical challenge to the social order develop? Why did the peasants of north Bihar seek merely to reform existing social and political arrangements instead of attempting to transform the social structure to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth and power? This book seeks to answer these questions. After portraying the economy and society of north Bihar in the early twentieth century, it examines the peasant movements in detail. It explores their general context and particular setting, their leadership and following, their general characteristics and course of development, and their interactions with the colonial state and with the Bihar branch of the Indian National Congress"--Page 2.

First published in 1982. In this volume we present a collection of original papers, edited by Arvind N. Das, on agrarian movements in the populous Indian state of Bihar. These movements are traced from the early twentieth century through to the Naxalite activity of the recent past; their content and the forces which gave rise to them are examined; and the response of the state — both the colonial state and the post-colonial state — is identified. Believed to be a significant contribution to the literature on agrarian movements, which should be of considerable value to both specialists on India and to those with a more general interest in the agrarian question.