The farmers’ movement and agrarian change in the green revolution belt of North‐West India

The politics of markets: Farmer–trader relations under neoliberalism in Punjab, India

“…As in the late colonial period, the relations between farmers and arhtias (the present-day moneylenders) have been found to be differentiated by the class positions of the farmers. However, large capitalists cannot bypass the 17 In recent years, only one faction of the BKU, the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) that is active in the southern part of the state, agitates against the arhtias (see S.S. Gill, 2004b).…”

“…During my fieldwork, in multiple demonstrations at the mandi triggered by some intervention or omission by the state, I witnessed that leaders of the farmers' organization like “Bharatiya Kisan Union” (BKU or Indian Farmers’ Union) made statements asserting the “symbiotic” nature of the farmer–arhtia relationship and how the farmers would not survive without the arhtia. This is a notable shift from the heyday of the Green Revolution when farmer unions unequivocally demanded an end to the exploitation by arhtias (S.S. Gill, ). Within an even longer view of Punjab's history, this “appears” to have dented the legacy of the fundamental political opposition between the agriculturist and nonagriculturist that was consolidated under colonial rule (discussed earlier), although a fuller scholarly exploration of this issue is awaited.…”

Understanding India's New Political Economy

“…hybrid cotton) require high levels of supervision, irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides. 29 Ironically, the Left's strategy to organize agricultural workers separately from peasants in the early phases of green revolution provided an impetus to the farmers' movement in the green revolution belt in North India (Gill 1994). First, farmers with even small amounts of land got access to a marketable surplus.…”

“…(source: India Stat). Also see Misra (2007) and NSS (2005 Haryana and Western UP) some of these are: a long history of politicization of farmers, a discontent fuelled by the drying up of high incomes that farmers saw in the initial phases of green revolution, a caste-based solidarity among farmers due to the fact that they mostly belonged to the Jat community (Gill 1994). This betrays hypocrisy on part of the multilateral agencies, which advocate trade liberalization for the developing countries.…”

to cultivate peace: agriculture in a world of conflict

“…Herring (1983: 2 -3) concludes that the most radical redistributive land reform proposals 22 Chattopadhyay & Spitz (1987: 155 -186), Gupta (1997), Gill (1994), and Varshney (1995). 45 floundered in an administrative and bureaucratic quagmire and were in fact never intended to accomplish their stated objectives.…”