Punjab Peasantry in Turmoil - Tapa dura

Throughout the last two decades, thousands of peasnts 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 revoltionizing agriculture in a colonialized, traditional society. The volume also deliberates upon the critcal issues of the erstwhile Punjab, across the border, now called West Punjab. Four papers in this volume reflect upon the different aspects of the peasantry there. The two Punjabs are now afflicted with numerous ailments—social, economic, and political. The farmers are committing suicide. 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.

Birinder Pal Singh teaches in the department of sociology and social anthropology at Punjab University in Patiala.