Postcolonial Developments: Agriculture in the Making of Modern India

421 Pages·1998·50.19 MB·English

by  Akhil Gupta

Agriculture in the Making of Modem India
Akhil GUpla
DUKE UNIVER$IIT PRESS Durham/ Lond"n 19'Jo8
AII'. .... N. . ml
_ in II>< VaMiIe"d" S"o . ... of Arnmro ... ",MI·"" M'<'
-rr- ..
t.r -rr-,;","
~ [f><.
Ubr...,.ofQl,. ..... c·" ........... PWtIiatio. D. .. ...,...,
For my p'-rf:nts
J...-.. la rnMad and M..,na Gupl<l
Prefacr and Ackno.,.,ltdgm<nl. iK
lo",)(III" ;"Q
, Agnlfian Populi.sm in ,I>< o."~lopm<n! of a Modtm Nation ))
o.vel<>pmen ... li.m, SUIte Power,.nd local Poll'i<os in All!"', ,06
~
) "lodigenous" Kno .... kd&"': Agronomv 154
i "Indigenous" Knowkdgts: Ecology ~.H
, PUSlnls,OO Global Em'ironmcnl,Ij'm'
A Form ofGovemmem.lilvl
N~ l~l
no
Epilogue
Notes HI
WOlk, Cjl(d 179
m
Index
T
his book d~monstl"'tt$ what .Itt I'.»uolonl~! condition mea .... for
thc livool rural propl. in....nh India. Since lhe Second World
Wu , tho: nnyday IIv<s of p<><>r pcopk In til<: Thin! World ~
lit"" thoroughly ,ranslormtd by ,h. Age of o.,,,,,lopmtn', during which
has occurred some 01 the most ambitious n>,k",,,l and Im.motional
ul"'rirnents in social cngin<tring that 'M world has tvor ..i mes.wd.
Whal Iuo,'. !host up<rimcnl5 me.1I! 10 .paiM groups of people in
difJ=nt iO,,"lillns woo'T<; both ,he targru and .t." suhjectS of"dtvclop
men!"? In this book 1 allemp' 10 describe and analyu what develop
"",nl has "",.n, to pwplt living in QI>I: villag. In nonh India. Tho: book
explol"fS ,h, ' Dmplu and ronAkI<d fOrJrullion of dtv.lopmcnt instil"
.wns. and PJ1"t;crs in local, T<glonol, n,o.lonol, and global
l<kol<>g~.
'eo«>.
Pos",>lo"i<zl 1X>.lopm",u dllf.rs from much or ,he lil«1OtuTC on
1k,..,lopmcnL in lhal it foc .." ",, primaril)' on how undtrd.vdop. ...m
bct.x>mcs • 10Tm of idcnIily in ,h. postcolonial "",.Id. 1 argue ,hal
und. .t kv.loPffi"nt is not "",. .I y • ,lruclu",llocalioll in ,Itt global com·
munity m na,ions: .... ,1.«. und..-de:,·c!opmcnt Is also a form o! lde:ntlly.
SIIme:,hin, thlt in!onru; pwplc:. ~ of ..I f. Who pwplc: Ihlnk thc:y
.R. 110 ...· ,My ,ot that ""y. and what IMYO In do to Iltt' Iht!. liv~ ha""
been profoundly shapc:d by Ihe Institulions. Ideologlo. and ~'lcd. of
de:vc!optntnl. In ru ....1 northun Indio. a pc:rvasive: fttling of being un·
derdevelopc:d. of being behind the Wcst. aniculalc:d wilh o,M. Idc:ml·
,~of COSle:. (1':15. "'glon. ge:nd«. and SCXli:Ihly. pmdUC"5 ptnple:l ..n sc
of ,hck ..I ,· ... 1 ha"e IOrmod Illis complu articulation of "backward·
n ...." 1M I""I<oIonlal <<>ndilio>l: Ihlls. dtvdopmc:nl "' nc:vc:r. singul. . or
monolithk ".ppar:UUS"lhat imposes itself on Ihe ru .... J poor.
An identity or "undenitv<olopmenl- is thoroughly imbricaled in "".
Ilonalism bcau~ the ""tion is Ilrg<1y assumN ~sthe "nllural" Unil of
. nalysls In the discourse or dcvclopmcnL In the ,..anlng years or the
t,,~nhelh «ntury. ho,...,,,,, •. 'his llS5umption of 1M nalion.o,s.lclQr is
btl", n:visN by 1M aso:endanc. of a ncollberal global « onomic .gonda.
The ncollber:al agenda. In lurn. is being ...,.1s,N b)' g. ....r oo ... 8'''"PS
lhal ob;ect to the form of (maJ)dcv<1opmenl .ncod.d in ncoliberal pol
icies. Resistar.ce 10. globalizing agenda is generating ~ponscs which
partlctpol. in nalionalist discourse in SOIlK rtsp«ts .nd " .. hleh deport
sharply fronl i ... pn:miscs In others. The challen~ 10 ;,leas of Ihe nalion
embodied in globol ncoliber:alism and in th. ~pon ... of grassroots
groups '" It problcml1ius the casy cqu.otion hcr..· •• n "the ~rool$"
and "tht \oCI.1." Grusroo. .. orpnizing has to be con«ptu.tizN in terms
of. _oped sp;I« that is no longer simply "local" or "global" bUI • lillie
bit of taCh. "rod !'oCOli~lism i. ... lf has to be contextu.ohzN within a
much broader pollern or global regula'ion.nd governmenl whIch ex·
tends fa, bcyorod tlte "economic" and ",hich fundamentally .ltus Ih.e
idendti.c5 and cvcryday expcricnttS of people.
A proJCCt such as this. which has lnvolvN ",",ver:al rounds of fieldwork
and which has been WI;,,,n. rewritten. Ind <cvised in many dlff. ...n ' in_
stitullonal contex ... , inV<llve; debts, inld l«lual.nd p. ..s o. ..l , to many
diffcrcnl people. E""n if I could ....,..11 .nlM people whn haw: c<lntrlb
uted 101m. book in diff. ...n t ..... ys, I would be unable 10 ""~no"'INge
my gratitude In them snfficlenlly.
The people to wbem this study ow. . the most are the ...,.lden15 of
AHpur.portlcularly $ur. .h , Sompol, ar>d the Manage" They and thei,
families ...,komed me into the;, hcmc:5 throughoul my woy and in.n
my 5I.I~nl \'bits. I am <specially grat.fu\ to 1M MONlger.nd hi5
family for housing me and 10' looking aller me ... lhe)' would <In. of
their own.
When I first started writing my dissc .... tion. "rjun API""'urai geM •.
""sly shartd drafts of his wo,k on agrarilln questionS in M.h. .... htn.
Mo ... than anything else. it "'os t1tcst p"po:rs th.ol enabled ml: In Stt 'he
i"""",,,,,, p<>65ibitill<s and p<>t.ntial of combining 1 sophistication in
"""ill th",,'J' "";th d. ..I Io,d nnpltital worl< in .grtcultu ....
I h.lw: prc$<nted early Ind I. .. draf ... of some ch.opters 10 audi.nces
In different portS or Nonh Americo. An .arly version of Chapler I was
presented in'994.t the sue wo,kshop --rhe Dynamico Ind Transmi.·
ISion or Dtv<:lopllKnt Ideas" held II th< Un;"". .i ty of Mi~higan, I 1m
gnudul to F~ Cooptr and R:lndy Paclu.rd lor Inviting me to th.t
"'orkshop and to Gillian Han lor Mr imightlul com"",ntS, Sun..,
quen.ly, diff<T<n. PO'" of .1.;. long chof'ler WeT< poaocnte<l.t tho: Center
for International SecurilY .r>d Arms Control. StanFord Unl\-crsUy, al 1M
Soulh ....... Seminar. Unj'-crsily 01 Colilomia, Ikrk.ley; atlhe Center lor
C<>mpa"'tlve Studies in Hiswry. Sockty. and Cul,ure a •• he Unl ••. ,;I.), of
ulilornia. 0.....;.; 31 Ih. South ....... Seminar/Workshop al the Univer
sl.y cf Chicogo; and al lhe Anlhropology Ikpanmtnl Colloquium al
York Uni"ersil)" in ToronlO. An early version 01 In. 1. .1 "Clion of Ch.p
.er J was firs. prescnt<d on a panel en.itled "In.etS«.ions: Minority
SludiesiCultu",1 Sludies" Annual M«llng 01
Discou~I""mo allh,,~
the Ameri<;an An.hwpological "'loS<><i •• u,n In "" o"'ta. I thonk Usa
\'oneyama ror In_Iling me.o bt . pan of that panel. I also Ihank David
Uo)'d f,.,. inviling me to present pan of Ihis ehapter al Ih. Center lor
European Sludles at Ihe LJnl"enity of Caillcrnla. Ilc:rkdey. In '997 . ...
pr<liminary "ersion of • ..."all l"''' of Chople' • "'. . Ii. .. pr. .... nttd on a
panel th •• I co-<Jrpnizcd ,,·I.h .... run Ag",,,.,.1 e",illtd "Environmen.al
o",ni(1S and the Negotiation of IdentitIes In Sou.h and SoUtho:OSt "'sia"
al 1M Annual Mttllng or Ih . .... S"'lOCiallon for .... ian Studits held In
Honolulu. H.".,.II. In ")96. Chapter S hos hod many incarnalions. A
prthmlnary version ....... lirsl pres<:n.ed on a panel organized by Gcorg<:
Collier called "Peasom Cultu. .. and Ihe Global Economy" at the Imer
na.ion;ol CongrtSS of An.hropol<>gi(al amI r;.hnol<>gic.1 Sclen(cs in
Muico City In 1993. OblOlning an ~mllU,iasllc KSpOn .. from an Im ..-
nationol audie""e a<.Surtd .ha. thi5 hod an impon.n. mk to
tnC chapt~r
play in ,hi. hook. Suhscquent ,"" ..i on. ho"e becn presenled al the In
01 Asi.n R. ...r ch 01 of Briti,h Columbia. Van_
slilUI~ Ih~ Unl"~l"'llly
cou,',,: at .he Jaclts<>n S<:hool of Interruttlo ...l Studies. Unh-Cl"'lhy of
"",.,hlnglon. Seank: at Ihe ... g .... ian Sludies Seminar. Yak LJnivcrsil)': at
Ihe Cult"",1 Analys;s Colloquium, LJni'-Cl"'lilr of California. SonlO Bar
bo",: a •• he forum "Scicn<:e and Media In Their Tr.msnational Loxatlons"
br
orpnl.rd Ih. POISldisclpiinary Approaches to Ihe Tcchn"",len=
R. ...r ch Group at .h. R<:s<arch lmtilU.e.
Resid~nl Hum.nit~ Uni~u_
sity of Callforni• . Ir..-ine; at the ... T Anthrop<>l<>8f Prog ... m and the
Cenlcr fOT Inlernalional Sludi. .· Pcopl. . and Stal." ICCIU~ ""ri." on
E.hnic Iden.lty and Omniet: at .n., Dtpanmen' of Environmental Sel·
enee. Pohcy. • nd Managemenl, of California. 6e,kcl.y: .t the
LJni"~rsi.y
Un;,-crslly of Ortgon~ Anlhropology Dtpanmen. colloquium ""ri."
"CultUrt. Pow~r. Hi~'OT)": a' tho: Ma<:Anhur ""'orkshcp on SUS"'n
abilllY held al Ih. Un;verslty of Minn"",. .. , Mlnnupolis; and ot lhe
o.l"'n~nt of UTban I'lanning. UCUI. l.oo Ang.l .... I am gntdul 10
audiences .t .1lthesc places lor lheir COmmen\5 and in ",,"ieul", 10
Hugh Gusunon for hi' discu ..i on of my poper al "'T.
Many people wen: kind ~nough to give me COmments on SOmt cha~
t. ... of Ih~ manuscript or Ihe who" book in 115 <:Illf ~es. I am por.
tkularly indebted to GW'1!e Collier. Do .... ld Moon:. Arjun AppaIlu ... ;'
and Ont anonymous n:v;,:we, I(n' l)uko Unlvc,.,lly I'n:ss for ,h.oir com·
ments on 1M mti. . manuscrip!:. Thtir criticisms and .u&g<:«ions
help«! rn.tko this" much bcttc:r hook. Jim f<:rguson. lilsa Malkki. .nd
Tanya luhrmonn rttd tarly v. ., ,;o,," of ,lit Introduction and &'Ive me
many 5uggcstlons thal p<m-ed invaluable: in revising and rewriting It.
The comments 01 5tX}'1'igg and Pr:abhu Moha""U'lI on an oral presenl.l.
lion of the Ii. .. t clI'p!:" grotly aided in its conccpluaUution. and Re·
""to RosaIdo ptVYidnJ. mony U5tlul $"'&3<:$110,," on lha, chapt. . as "",II.
Inderpal GfCWlOl. Adl!). .. &hl. and uwrcnco: Cohen gave me ,x«llenl
commen\5 on o..pt. . }. aM Sun"" Sawy<:r and Ann Gold provided
detailed f.edb&c:k on Chap!:ers l .nd 4; I'eter Vande'1!ecst offered in·
.lgh'lul criticisms of. talk enlted from and Sanjttv Kh.·
Chapter~;
gram provided utremdydC1.iled and helpful comm.nts on Chapter s.
Tht accoun\5 01 the Kamatllka Farmers Associalion in Chapl. . S aM
Ihe Epiloauc ow<:. gre.1 de.1 to primary matc:ri.1 collected by Mlidula
Udlyagiri, which .hoe was kind enough to .han: .... ilh me.
Despite tM demands for aUlhorshlp im(l'06Cd by accTcdillng ogm·
ck$, 1M production of a work .uch IS Ihis is. nee' '$Orily collabo .. tivc
.nd OOClal ...L I wish to acknow\edg ••l 1thosc: wOO contributed to this
pro,l«l in their role:< as SlUden15 aM colltagu<:$. One group of ~I.
dt:strvc special gratitude. namely. Ihe students who ... rved os """arch
"slst.n\5 during lhe final ""'~ of the manuscripl. Samttr Pandya aM
Aly ikmlulla did an absolutely .muing job of reading th~ manuscript
wllh. fi ...· IOOth comb. making <llC~l1n" suggQtl"rIS r"r ""visl"n and
Iocati", and summarizing n:reron"" material. James K. .. pfl spent many
long boo. .. making tM m.ps. Yoo-Jtan Chi provided S1<ady """'.rch
asoist.ncc that consisted 01. multitude 01 lash. Rohan Chand ... n and
Sandttp Jain ....« 0 n:spo,,"ible lor the charts.
I a~ thank my coll~aguCii, fin". II Ihe Univcrsity of Washington lor
providing me with. wondcrlully suppo"iv. almospl>crc in which 10
btgln my academic ClI'ttr .M. Ilttn. al StlInlord Univc"ity lor helping
advano::c: my ocholarly w(n"k. At ,he Un!ve,.,lty 01 Washinglon, low<:.
,pecial debt 10 tht chairs of the Iwo de""nm.nu when: I worked. Fn.nk
Conlon <Jl South Asilln Studle$ andJotI Migdal of [n ..r nallo .... l Studio:<.
Resat Kasaba, Kalhi( Kasaba, Vicky Lawwn, Mldl2d Toolan, Chtislint
Di Sld"no, Val Dani(l, RUlk FnlllunM'l, Lata Mani, Ttd Swtdtnburg,
.nd Iliff Ke)'U .... "'inc<! me inlen<:<:l .... lly.nd pc"""",lly, Al $lInford,
Gwrg<: Coni<:r was .M kind oJ chai. thaI ,",cry j .. nlo. facuhy n>(mM'
d.eomsofhoving:J'1>( Coni(r, Syl~i:I \'.n.ogisako,Joan Fujimura, P.uu..
Ebron, R<:nalo Rosaldo, Miyoko Inoue, Carol o.lan~, and ""rnhna
M.o"uur h.on providal " vlhr.lnt Intellect .... l home in 'M An.hropol_
ogy o.""nmml, Ot!tcr ~kolars from rdlttd de""nments wlK> hove
(Omribulcd 10 Ihls book by lhel. support and Insights Ind ude Jocl
fleinin, Gordon Cha"" Es,elle Frttdman, G.bri<:11e H<:<:ht, Sharon HoI
bnd, Su,ir Kaul, Da,1d PllumOO-U .., MIry P"'lI, Riclurd Roixns, and
Ikbta Sou. Most impo.tant, I thank the StafT in the Anthropology Dc_
panment, "'00 ha"" hclptd m. Imm",. .l y during the Ii"", that [ luve
lterc, ""nleularl)- fleth II;oshorc, who upl me oonntc1(d during
~n
my )'U' of fidd"'ork: Ellen Christenstn, who ~ bem • rock of support
during SOme Irying limo: and Slun""n Brown.
My carly r",w..-otit was .uppontd by the unler '0. iks(areh in
Inlernalional Siudios al Slinford, whick gave me gnms for both lhe
r. .l dwOTk and the writing StagOS. and the Indian <Auncll ro. Social
Scitnee R. ....r eh (Icon). Substq ...n l field Intareh w. ... fundtd by II",
Friu Endowment for Int ......t lo .... l Siudies at Ih. Uni. ... rslty of W ....h _
Ington. M...c oflhl. book was wri"en .... hil( I was" fellow OI 'M Agrar_
Ian Sludi(s Prog",m al Yale Unlversilf In 19\1l-9<4. [ Iud Ihe pleasure of
spending 'M .cademle yur wilh • superh group of f~IlOW$: Bob 801d_
win, ellMri"" LcGnmd, Prabhu Mahapat"', AI.,. Naly, Dovid Nugml,
Suey Pi", Ri.cordo SoI,..,lore, and Paolo SquOlrili. The aunospkcrc of
COflslruClive cri,ictsm .nd camaraderi<: O! Ag",rlan Studi'" bore !he
Stamp or e"t'}'lhlng IhO! Jim Scoll does: and Ih. program strlk", JuS! Ik.
righl mix of administ .. ti"e minimallsm .nd lomuo.l pmgramming. No
small pan of Its Sucrrs5 0 " '0 10 KIY M.",,6dd, ",hose care for In.
fellows' nttds .,.lCndtd be)'ond her formal dutio:s_ Other peopl. a.
fIT
Yal~ to whom I am intkblcd for intcll<:<:mal and social roml"'nlonsl1ip
are Angelique Haugerud. GilJoscph, Bill Kelly, 1'I.ri(iI Pl5$aro, Nancy
Peluso, Don .... Ptrry, Rukhs,,,,a Siddiqui, Hden Siu, K_ SO ..." ,m,...
krioltna, and ilIl. Si""ram.akri5hna. Finally, wilhoul Alta$h 8ha'l"""\
help, "'e ""ould nol ha"e found 5uch a wond.rful place 10 Stay, "'"
would ou. 51"}' lhere "" ... been ..... ..b le.
n~ "".ts
I also Ihank .llihe studenlS ""1\0 read of Ihis manuscripl in lheir
coursos and g.". ...... ,..lu.blt f«dback. Allhough I cannOl
n,rem~ly
mention 1M namCS of particular indhid""l.s, I am g"'lclullO 1M stu-