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Farmers against Development? A Story from Rajasthan, India

5 June 2015

Travelling with a group of American friends visiting India this spring, I was pondering over an article in a leading daily with the bold caption “Farmers against development”, and of course my mind was racing in several directions trying to figure out what could have prompted this caption and headline?

I know that we have a current logjam and a raging controversy in India regarding the land reform bill that is making every political party in the country jump into the fray and add their two cents to appear pro-farmer.

I was still engrossed in this thought when our driver stopped for lunch at a small unknown town, which is probably just a dot on the map of India, called Jhala Tala in Rajasthan.

A young girl named Neena in the small town of Jhala Tala. Photo by Shilpa Pandey
Neena – a young girl living in the small town of Jhala Tala. Photo by Shilpa Pandey

Next to the farm lands and a harvest in process, I saw many young women in the fields happily going about their daily chores and I wondered what their life would be like if there was a thriving shopping mall here instead of the fields they were working in. After all, is that not how most young people in India picture development?

Living in Delhi, I talk to many friends of mine who believe that India is on the way up and their argument is that the shopping malls now carry all the top of the line brands! They sell everything now in India! We get what you get in the US or Europe now, including the top models of Audi or Mercedes.

With this in the backdrop, the vision of young women almost barefoot, in tattered old clothes going about their daily business felt like a huge contrast. Noteworthy is the fact that the majority of employed women in India are agricultural workers.

Statistics from www.censusindia.gov.in
Statistics from www.censusindia.gov.in

In fact, nearly 98 million Indian women have agricultural jobs, but around 63% of them, or 61.6 million women, are agricultural labourers, dependent on the farms of others, according to 2011 Census data.

There has been a 24% increase in the number of female agricultural labourers, from 49.5 million in 2001 to 61.6 million in 2011. Reflecting growing distress in Indian agriculture, millions of women have gone from being land owners and cultivators to becoming labourers over a decade, according to census data analysed by IndiaSpend.

Over the years the land has continuously been acquired for various projects – in fact Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were created to promote business and touted as economic growth engines. However, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, no more than 62% of  the land for SEZs—much of it acquired from farmers—has been used for its intended purpose: to boost manufacturing, exports and jobs.

Most SEZs are populated with information technology (IT) and IT-related companies, while manufacturing accounts for only 9% of all SEZ projects. SEZs fell short of their job, investment and exports targets by wide margins. For instance, they generated less than 8% of the jobs expected.

With all this information in mind, as I start a conversation with these women, I realise that they work for a paltry sum of Rs 150 a day as agricultural labourers. When I dig further I realise that these women were once land owners, and as the land grabs continue in the name of development these women and their families continue to get displaced.

This is the only occupation that they have known for generations and with the corporate-driven globalisation reaching a new phase that undermines peoples’ self-determination, food sovereignty and survival as never before, we see more of landless labourers than farmers.

Below is Meena Roti-Maker, an example of someone who went from land owner to land labourer. When the government forcibly took the land away from her and her family she was compensated a lump sum amount that was far below the market value. The land was her life line, and the onetime amount was barely enough for her to buy a roof over her head. Seeing as the resettlement options and resettlement assistance of many Meenas is completely disregarded in these situations, I wonder which development and whose development are we talking about?

Shilpa Pandey with Meena-Roti Maker
Shilpa Pandey with Meena-Roti Maker

Aside from doing seasonal work as a farm help, earning Rs 150 a day (approximately $2 a day), she cooks 1,500 rotis (Indian tortillas) a day as a help in a local roadside eatery for the truck drivers that stop by on the highway for lunch.

I took these pictures for my friends in Delhi leading a cushy life, telling me stories about the latest brand of clothing they bought and talking about India that is making great strides as the world’s largest democracy and third largest economy.

I had to remind them that there are more Meenas in my country and that more than ever before it is imperative that our sisters are not left far behind in the mindless race towards development.

 

Shilpa Pandey

Peace Activist
Vice President – WILPF India

 

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Matt Mahmoudi

Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

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Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

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In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

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