Farmers Matter in New India but not the Same Way: Political Settlement, Discontinuous Agrarian Policy and Class-Formations

Sejuti Das Gupta speaks at the South Asia Seminar on 6 March 2018. With cultural nationalism and symbolic politics holding the media attention, the significant transformation of India’s political economy and its contribution to victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014 national elections alongside the changing nature of Indian state has not been adequately written on. The period since liberalisation cannot be regarded as a continuous period as far as its political economy of agrarian policies is concerned. Through an assessment of the political settlement operating in three states, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Karnataka during the decade after 2000, the relevance of proprietary classes in shaping these policies and consolidating their position are established.