The village life in India is portrayed as `unchanging` and `idyllic`, where the twin shackles of caste and agriculture, are an unchangeable part of the village culture. Indian agriculture has always lurched from crisis to crisis. If the monsoons are good then there are floods, if they are bad there are droughts, if the production of mangoes is excellent then there is a glut and prices fall, if the onion crops fail then that too brings sadness to the agricultural class.

Traditionally, caste and village are considered as synonymous with each other. If the village was said to be tranquil it was argued that caste ideology was responsible for it. Each caste had its specific rules and all castes agreed in the hierarchy, where the brahmin caste were on the top of the caste system. However, this system started as a result of the unequal distribution of wealth and power in a closed agrarian economy. In addition to this caste inequalities, even the assertion of caste identities is becoming much more strident and out in the open. This is also why caste politics has so much purchase in contemporary India.

The reason for the rise of scheduled caste political assertion in recent times is primarily because the propertied classes in rural India can no longer exercise economic domination over the landless peasants. As they cannot employ the landless any more because of the shrinking size of their own landholdings, the power of landowners as patrons and as political leaders has also diminished over time. Caste identity has resurfaced at every level now. Thus while the caste system has collapsed, caste identities are to be seen everywhere in a highly exaggerated form. In fact, because caste as a system is dying in rural India that caste identities can now afford to come up.

There are many rural agitations between agricultural labourers and landlords, where there are a large number of organizations with political allegiance to actively participate in rural India campaigning for the landless labourers. However, certain villages of in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the concerns of the agricultural worker do not get political expression anywhere else. However, in recent times, most of such organizations have lost their initial focus is because agricultural labour is no longer a critical issue that involves masses of rural Indians.

While the owner-cultivators are protected politically, their futures are left unplanned. The National Agricultural Policy formally recognized that agriculture has become "a relatively unrewarding profession," for the villagers and efforts should be made to revive it. Thus, horticulture, floriculture, the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants, over and above animal husbandry and fisheries are some of the alternatives they have presented to improve agriculture. However, these recommendations cannot solve the other infrastructural problems of the farmers. The villages lack basic facilities like transportation systems, cold storages, modern silos and a sound marketing framework. Thus, though the majority of Indians live in villages, the village leaves little impress upon the national culture today.

Just because a majority of Indians live in villages, it would be rather hasty to conclude from this that the village determines India`s national culture. Thus, recently, one can see a changing face of the Indian villages. Old taboos against holding certain kinds of jobs are disappearing. The caste system does not operate, however, yet there is a strong assertion of caste pride and caste identity. Even untouchability is not practiced widely. On the economic front, even prosperous landowners seek a future outside the village or in non-farm enterprises.

Most of the farmers that have grievances against the government for not providing them better amenities are surely raising their voices for their rights. Predictably, wealthy landed people often have considerable political leverage in villages and form a vested interest group. While many of them draw their wealth and esteem from the village, they either live in cities, or hope to recreate an affluent urban ambience in their rural setting. In stark contrast to the poorer villagers with urban aspirations, when the rural rich engage with the outside world they do so from a position of relative strength. Yet, they too see their future outside the village, or in interacting with the town in enterprises that require rural and urban inputs.