Punjab Peasantry in Turmoil

Contents: Introduction. 1. Class Conflict and Change : Profile of a Village in West Punjab/Ahmad Salim. 2. Impact of Colonial Capitalism on the Peasantry in West Punjab/Lubna Saif. 3. Globalization and Agriculture: Some Propositions/Aijaz Ahmad. 4. India’s Granary Devastated: Punjab under Neo-Liberal Economic Reforms/Utsa Patnaik. 5. Whom and What to Fight?: Indian Farmer’s Collective Action under Liberalization and Globalization/Staffan Lindberg. 6. Farming Crisis and Farmers’ Suicide in Punjab: An Examination of Institutional Dimensions/Sukhpal Singh. 7. Corporate Agriculture Farming in West Punjab: A Serious Threat to Small Peasants/Zia ur Rehman. 8. Anjuman Mazarain Punjab: The Struggle Continues/Aasim Sajjad Akhtar. 9. Punjab Peasantry and the Green Revolution: An Activist’s Perspective/Balkar Singh Dakaunda and Pashaura Singh Sidhupur. 10. Viability Crisis of the Small and Marginal Farmers and Responses of the Farmers’ Movement in Punjab/Sucha Singh Gill. 11. Sikh Militant Violence: A Manifestation of the Economic Crisis in Punjab/Birinder Pal Singh. 12. Burden of Tradition and Vision of Equality: Political Sociology of Jutt-Dalit Conflicts in Punjab/Ronki Ram. 13. Des Hoya Pardes: The Crisis of Punjabi Peasantry and Sikh Emigration Since the 1970s/Darshan Singh Tatla. 14. Johl Diversification Scheme: A Critique/Harjinder Singh Shergill. 15. Beyond ‘Crisis’: Rethinking Contemporary Punjab Agriculture/Surinder Singh Jodhka. Index.

“Over the last two decades thousand of peasants in the Indian Punjab have sacrificed themselves at the altar of the nation, feeding the teeming millions. This state, the harbinger of Green Revolution in the country was the model for the rest of the nation for revolutionizing agriculture in a colonized traditional society. The volume also deliberates upon the critical issues of the erstwhile Punjab, across the border, now called West Punjab. Four papers in this volume reflect upon different aspects of the peasantry there. The two Punjabs are now afflicted with numerous aliments-social, economic and political. The farmers are committing suicides. The economic returns from the over-exploited land are not rising in a proportionate manner to their expectations and expenditures. Globalization has added fuel to the fire. The governments in India and Pakistan are not dealing with these issues protecting the interests of the peasantry. The younger generation is opting out of agriculture and migrating abroad in search of employment and better life. What is the crisis that peasantry in the two Punjabs is confronting? What are its roots and its manifest forms?

In this volume an attempt has been made to bring together ideas and arguments of activists and scholars from different disciplines specializing in sociology, economics, political science, history and literature, all sharing their concern for peasantry. A large canvas of issues that have brought turmoil in the lives of peasantry like agricultural policy, globalization, indebtedness, poverty, suicides, caste conflicts, militancy, violence, migration, etc., have been deliberated upon in this volume.”