After the famine in the Deccan during 1876-78, large numbers of Maratha-Kunbis and other peasant castes from the Deccan arrived in the city.

A small number of Garha or Gada are also found in Sindh, Pakistan, where they assimilated into other Urdu speaking Muslim peasant castes, such as the Rohilla and Ranghar.

Like a majority of Mokhra's residents, he was a Jat, a member of an upwardly mobile peasant caste with a long martial tradition.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which had held the most seats, fell to third place in the election, while the Samajwadi Party, with its base in the peasant castes, won the largest number of seats.

The political parties of the low castes and the peasant castes are competing ferociously for Muslim votes.

The western Uttar Pradesh Gaddi, like other neighbouring peasant castes have benefited from the effects of the green revolution, and many have successfully begun mechanizing their farming, such as buying tractors.

Kapus speak Telugu and are primarily an agrarian community, forming a heterogeneous peasant caste.

The peasant caste's second ranking in the official status hierarchy below the ruling samurai caste, was a formal recognition of the degree to which the economy as a whole was dependent on the products of peasant labour.

The castes were further sub-divided; for example, the peasant caste were labelled as furiuri, tanagari, mizunomi-byakusho amongst others.

In terms of religion, they are fairly orthodox Sunni Muslims, and have customs similar to other neighbouring Muslim peasant castes, such as the Kamboh, Garha, and Muley Jat.