There is a direct correspondence between agricultural productivity and the agrarian structure.
- In areas of assured irrigation, those with plentiful rainfall or artificial irrigation works (such as rice-growing regions in river deltas, for instance the Kaveri basin in Tamil Nadu) more labour was needed for intensive cultivation.
- Here the most unequal agrarian structures developed.
- The agrarian structure of these regions was characterised by a large proportion of landless labourers, who were often ‘bonded’ workers belonging to the lowest castes.