Dilapidation of the Rural: Development, Politics, and Farmer Suicides in India

Description

This book explains farmer suicides in India in the backdrop of rural politics as a determining factor. By bringing in politics as a variable the research presented in the book reveals that there are non-farm factors playing critical role in prompting behavioral change amongst the peasantry but haven’t received much academic attention. The book argues that the changing nature of public spaces has significantly altered the perception of self in the rural society of India. It presents indicators of this rural change and how the state policy and political parties led political mobilization that changed the character of community relations in the rural areas. The book shows that other possible manifestations of the large-scale behavioral change in the rural areas and increasing rural distress, those are equally serious but haven’t received much attention, are rising cases of drug-addiction, agrarian riots, or other forms of collective violence. The increasing number of farmers protests also need to be understood in this context. Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures List of Photographs List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 Farmer Suicides in India 1.2 Politics as a Variable 1.3 Field and Methodology 1.4 Scheme of Chapters References 2 Making and Unmaking of Self and Prestige: Rural Distress and Suicides in India 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 Bande di anakh: Masculinity and Self in Rural India 2.1.2 “Embedded” Political Self 2.1.3 Intermediary Caste-Class “Peasant in Transition” 2.2 Conclusion References 3 Changing Public Spaces and Community in Rural India 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Rural Public Spaces: Hallmarks of Community Building 3.2.1 Inclusive Exclusion 3.3 Chaupal as a Public Space 3.4 Rise of Market Actors and Consumerism 3.5 Disappearance of Traditional Public Sites 3.6 Changing Festivals and Ceremonies 3.7 Conclusion References 4 Rural Civic Engagements: Party Politics and Polarization 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Civic Engagements and Farmer Behavior 4.2.1 Ideological Polarization 4.2.2 Deepening of Party Politics 4.2.3 Shifting Caste Equations 4.3 Changing Nature of Rural Collective Action 4.4 Conclusion References 5 Rural and Agricultural Development: Policy and Politics 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Multiple Definitions of Rural: A Policy Challenge 5.3 Evolution of State Policy of Rural Development: Five Phases 5.3.1 Phase One: Developmental State 5.3.2 Phase Two: Green Revolution and Welfare State 5.3.3 Phase Three: New Farmers’ Movements, Liberalization, Crisis of Governability 5.3.4 Phase Four: Neoliberal State 5.3.5 Phase Five: Inclusive Growth and Focus on Rural Building (2000 Onwards) 5.4 Conclusion References 6 New Allies!: Support Prices, Financialization, and Consumerism 6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 Debt and Support Prices 6.1.2 Rising Agricultural Expenditure 6.1.3 Financialization of Agrarian Economy 6.1.4 Consumerism, Market, and Aspirations 6.1.5 New Marriage Culture 6.2 Conclusion References 7 Contemporary Farmer Agitations: Rural Distress and Identity Quest 7.1 Introduction 7.1.1 Farmer suicides or Rural Distress: A Methodological Puzzle 7.1.2 Contemporary Agitations 7.1.3 Agrarian Riots 7.1.4 Drug Addiction, Alcoholism, and Violence 7.1.5 Rural Identity Crisis 7.1.5.1 Crisis of Masculinity 7.1.5.2 Urban Spaces: Unfulfilled Aspirations 7.1.5.3 Education: A Facilitator for Migration 7.1.5.4 The Land Question 7.2 Conclusion References 8 Conclusions 8.1 Methodological Questions 8.2 Policy Inputs Index