Mr. Sahay, the police commissioner, said tensions had eased because of a Government crackdown on the radical militias and the landlord armies, both of which were officially outlawed last summer. Villagers in Bihar report a drop in violent incidents, but they say they fear bloodshed can resume at any time.

As a result of the crackdown, the leftist leaders have gone underground, some with a price on their heads, peasant groups said.

The surge in violence in the last year has aroused the concern of political leaders in Patna, the state capital, and New Delhi, where aides to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi have been pushing the local government to step up land redistribution and channel investments in irrigation and other plans to increase farm production.

Bindeshwari Dubey, the Chief Minister of Bihar, the state's highest elected official, said in an interview that the Government had begun ''pumping in more money'' since he took office two years ago to try to quell the violence.

''We have certainly tightened our law enforcement,'' Mr. Dubey said. ''We are trying to build houses and put in water pumps so the peasants will realize that we are on their side. We are beginning to see some success.''

But journalists based in Patna said dozens of members of the state legislature had been suspected, and in some cases accused, of various crimes, including murder and association with gangs of bandits.

A senior official in Patna acknowledged that at its heart, Bihar's problems stemmed from indifference by the police and other senior authorities who receive payoffs to look the other way or have simply adjusted to the system with no interest in changing it.

''Any kind of progress is going to touch on the vested interests,'' he said. ''The people who donate funds during the elections are the ones who call the tune. Even our Government bureaucrats are from the landed class. Unless there is a strong political will, we will never have reform.''