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The months of April, May and June, 2022, have seen us make significant strides forward.
We flagged off our monthly Young Scholars' Seminar Series and conducted three successful sessions. The seminars featured research on diverse topics related to agrarian studies and rural India, including Energy use in Agriculture, Caste and Diversification in the Countryside, and Agrarian Change in West Bengal. These seminars were envisioned to serve the dual purpose of providing young researchers a platform to present their work to a wider audience, and exploring possibilities of future collaborations. The response that the seminars have received so far has been very encouraging. In the coming months, we are looking forward to carrying forth this momentum.
Another important project that we have worked on in the past three months is our book project on Agrarian Relations in the Lower-Cauvery Delta. The book, which is based on FAS village studies in two villages in the Delta, Palakurichi and Venmani (both in the Kilvelur taluk of Nagapattinam district), is now close to completion.
In terms of publications, we just released the latest issue (Volume 12, Number 1) of our journal, the Review of Agrarian Studies.
Sandipan Baksi
Director,
Foundation for Agrarian Studies
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RESEARCH
Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI)
As part of standardising its data matrices, the PARI team is continuing its work on rural credit and indebtedness dataset.
The team has also begun work on homogenising the tenancy and land mortgage data. In that direction, it has organised an in-house session to critically discuss the methodology to be followed to analyse the tenancy data.
PARI is also trying to develop a coursework on the village studies methodology.
Agrarian Relations in the Lower-Cauvery Delta
Initiated in 2018, the Foundation's study, “Agrarian Relations in the Lower Cauvery Delta,” aims to understand the nature and characteristics of agrarian relations in two villages -- Palakurichi and Venmani, in the Kilvelur taluk of Nagapattinam district -- locating them in their unique historical context of agrarian struggle and change.
Palakurichi is a village first studied by Gilbert Slater in 1918, and it is unique in that agrarian relations in the village have been the subject of study for over a century. A detailed study of the village can give a perspective on longer-term change in the region.
In the context of lower Cauvery delta, the Kilvenmani massacre of December 25, 1968, defined the further course of agrarian movements in the region. Analysing the contemporary status of agrarian relations in the village is vital to understanding the condition of the peasantry in the region today.
These villages were surveyed by the Foundation in 2019, and we are now preparing a book on the contemporary agrarian relations in the region based on this data. The book will be available in the coming months.
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PUBLICATIONS
Foundation's Journal
Review of Agrarian Studies Volume 12 Number 1
The latest issue of our open access bi-annual journal, Review of Agrarian Studies, has been published online.
The issue has a special "In Focus" section on Bihar, based on the Foundation's village studies in two villages, Katkuian and Nayanagar.
Other pieces in the issue include the tribute to Mallu Swarajyam, the last link to the leadership of the great Telangana Peasant Uprising, two research notes on the historic farmers' struggle, one on wage rates in agriculture, and an editorial on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) sixth assessment report.
FAS Blogs
Women and the household food economy
by Madhura Swaminathan and Sanjukta Chakraborty
While women’s work in economic activities such as livestock rearing is officially part of national income, the time spent by women in activities around the household food economy is rarely recognised.
In this blog, the authors measure the time spent by women belonging to different socio-economic classes from two Karnataka villages in such unpaid activities that are essential to our basic needs.
Wheat Export and Food Security: Where Does India Stand?
by Madhura Swaminathan and Deepak Johnson
Within weeks of claiming to feed the world, Union government of India banned wheat exports from the country on May 14, 2022.
In this context, the authors have tried to assess the state of India's wheat "crisis," as it was claimed to be at the time, and its implications for food security.
Kharif MSP announcement has to be reconciled with rising costs across India
by N Sujan and Deepak Johnson
The Kharif crop Minimum Support Prices (MSP) announced by the Government of India on June 8 are not what the farmers have demanded over years.
Against this backdrop, the blog argues that the Government should have to take into account the routine underestimation of costs and the current inflationary situation while making its MSP announcement.
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EVENTS
Public Events
FAS Young Scholars' Online Seminar Series 2022-23
Starting April 2022, the Foundation has been organising the Young Scholars’ Online Seminar Series on the last Thursday of every month.
As part of this series, a selected group of young scholars from India and across the world will present their work. Their work broadly covers the areas of Agricultural Production, Agrarian and Labour Relations, Rural Economy, Caste in Rural India, Development of Science and Technology in Agriculture.
Barbara Harriss-White, Professor of Development Studies, University of Oxford, is the Chair for the series. Three seminars have so far been held, featuring Juhi Chatterjee, Srishti Yadav, and Raya Das.
Seminar 1
Energy Use in Agriculture: Potential for Abatement of Emissions
by Juhi Chatterjee
Juhi’s presentation, held on April 28, focused on the estimation of direct and indirect energy use and consumption of various inputs for different crops by the agricultural sector using input-output analysis.
In her presentation, Juhi explained about her research that tries to provide a ‘realistic estimate’ of the reduction of emissions possible in agriculture on the basis of an economy-wide input-output analysis.
Anjali Sharma, Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow 2020-21 and a visiting faculty at the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, acted as the discussant for this session.
Seminar 2
Caste, Diversification, and the Contemporary Agrarian Question in India: A Field Perspective by Srishti Yadav
In May, Srishti Yadav presented her analysis of agrarian class relations in Sangli, a village in Rewari district in southern Haryana, in light of the linkages of agricultural households with non-agricultural economic activities.
Attempting to integrate caste-based framework into the class analysis, she argued that "savarna landowners" are petty commodity producers, primarily agricultural households with small diversifications are agents of capitalist development. In contrast, "avarna labouring" households lack social capital, fail safe of homestead agriculture and are confined to casual daily wage labour in the informal economy.
Paramjit Singh, Assistant Professor, Panjab University was the discussant for this session.
Seminar 3
Conditions of Accumulation and Survival: Development of Capitalism in Agriculture of West Bengal by Raya Das
Last week of June saw Raya Das present her work on the regional dynamics of conditions and processes of accumulation, and survival strategies of peasantry in contemporary West Bengal.
With the help of her survey of three villages from three agroclimatic zones of West Bengal, Raya argued that capitalist development in agriculture does not impact small-scale farmers in a similar manner as it does larger farmers and that the bargaining position and reproduction in capitalist economy depends on the control over means of production by different class groups.
The discussant for this session was Aparajita Bakshi, Associate Professor, R V University, Bengaluru.
In-house Seminars
In-House Training Sessions
We have conducted multiple training sessions for our staff on the usage of various productivity tools during this quarter. These sessions included a workshop on basics of data visualisation and Google Workspace.
In-House Seminar on Methodology to Analyse Tenancy and Mortgage Land Data
In June, the Foundation organised an in-house seminar to critically discuss the methodology employed by the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI) for processing the data on tenancy and mortgage of land.
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OTHER INITIATIVES
FAS Young Scholars' Corner Season 2
We released the second season of our podcast series, "Young Scholars' Corner," in April and May. The series is aimed at bringing to fore, the research of young scholars who have collaborated with the Foundation over time.
As part of this, we spoke to Tapas Modak, Arindam Das, Shruti Nagbhushan, Deepak Johnson and Sandipan Baksi about their research.
Both Season 1 and 2 can be streamed on our website and Spotify.
Coursework on Village Studies Methodology and Data
FAS has for long used the methodology of village studies to study the problems of rural economy in India. We are currently working towards devising a coursework that will introduce the methodology to M.A., M.Phil, and PhD students which can be applied in their research.
In the future, we will explore the possibilities of presenting this coursework in educational institutions .
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MEDIA COVERAGE
Over the past three months, noted media organisations like The Hindu, Gaon Connection and Down To Earth have featured reports and articles based on the Foundation's events and research.
Gaon Connection's report on wheat export ban, featuring our Associate Fellow, Deepak Johnson's quotes.
Madhura Swaminathan and Deepak Johnson's piece in The Hindu on Indian government's wheat export ban and its effect on the country's food security.
Down To Earth's piece on Public Spending on Agriculture in India report.
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