This study of the formation of India's rural middle class is undertaken through an extensive case study of two villages, Rahatwade and Nandur, located in Pune District in western Maharashtra. Analysis of the India Human Development Survey II (2011–12) indicates that Maharashtra holds the biggest proportion of the self-identified rural middle classes, that is, 8.5 per cent of self-identified rural middle classes are in Maharashtra. Before arriving at the main body of the book, it is crucial to paint a picture – relevant as a background to rural class formation – of research areas. In what follows, I first briefly familiarise readers with the social and economic composition of Maharashtra. Then, I move on to provide a selective history of each village, their physical and social structure, and a more detailed analysis of their internal arrangements and settlement patterns, hamlets, caste composition, cropping patterns and occupational diversities. The last section offers a brief account of rural household stratification and a preliminary examination of class structure, a background necessity for the arguments in the remainder of the book. Beside its contextual purpose, this chapter will also be useful for readers interested in Maharashtra, and academic researchers and graduate students in social sciences with a focus on class formation in agrarian regions and village studies. Let us now turn to a brief overview of the political economy of Maharashtra.

Maharashtra

In 1960, the Marathi-speaking districts of the Bombay Province, the Central Province, Berar and the princely state of Hyderabad were combined to form the new state of Maharashtra. It is divided into five main geographical regions: Vidarbha, located in the east and consisting of the Marathi-speaking districts from the Central Province and Berar; Marathwada, located in the south-eastern part of the state, which was part of the princely state of Hyderabad; Konkan, which includes the coastal districts from the Bombay Province; Khandesh, situated in the northwest of Maharashtra; and western Maharashtra, the district from the Bombay Province, in which Rahatwade and Nandur are located (Vora, 2009).