the agrarian modern: roads and new rurality in himachal pradesh

7/28/2019 The Agrarian Modern: Roads and new rurality in Himachal Pradesh

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The Agrarian Modern

Running head: THE AGRARIAN MODERN

The Agrarian Modern: Rural Newness in Western Himalayas

Syed Shoaib

MA Development Studies, School of Development Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi


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The Agrarian Modern 1

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................... 2

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3

MAKING THE STUDY ..................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter I: Pathways of Change ............................................................................. 7

1.1 Inheriting Colonial Legacy and Progressive Social Transformations in Himachal Pradesh ...... 10

1.2 Agrarian Landscapes and Introduction to the Field Site ............................................................. 13

Appendix I: The Questionnaire ........................................................................... 21

Appendix II: Some scribbles on crops and cropping .......................................... 24

Chapter II: Mechanisms of Change .................................................................... 27

2.1 Koli: Now And Then .................................................................................................................. 30

2.2 The Kanayt: Then And Now ....................................................................................................... 34

2.3 All in All: The Old and the New ................................................................................................. 46

Chapter III: Conclusion ....................................................................................... 51

Appendix III: Scribbling some thoughts on Livelihood diversification, Industry

and Growth .......................................................................................................... 53

Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 58


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

As young students pursuing social sciences we often recognize our particular interests in

wanting to learn certain paradigms, phenomenon and disciplines. The vastness and depth with

which we are then made acquainted with these in the respective institutions of learning,

further helps in deepening our insight and aspirations (in learning). In this context I made the

conscious choice to pursue MA in Development Studies instead of continuing with

economics. I must express my heart felt gratitude to the faculty at School of Development

Studies (SDS), School of Human Ecology (SHE) and School of Human Studies (SHS) for

having developed an extraordinarily enriching curriculum and pedagogical style for the

program. The environment of interdisciplinary not only satisfied the initial aspirations as a

student but also brought acquaintance with multiple newer perspectives and disciplines that

have both expanded and deepened the purview of my enquiries.

In this context, ethnography has had a really strong influence on me. And so have the studies

in human geography that relate to ever changing meanings of space and how spaces are

politicised. I feel that politicisation is essentially centred around ideas (and /of ethics); and

the evolution of these (ideas/ethics) in the disciplines of political and ethical philosophy have

been an indelible influence in my getting to know the social. Still, jargons can substantially

alter the ways in which we perceive social realities. In this regard, I must thank my professor

and supervisor Dr. Rohit Negi who spent hours with me in the field, and taught me to look

deeply into the rather simplest of social phenomenon. That something as common as

perceptions of people around construction of a road can lead to deep insights on the social

life, was something he introduced me to. Without his guidance I could not have constructed

the research design that goes deeply into the making of this work.

I must thank Dr. Asmita Kabra for her valuable comments since the beginning of this work.

Having spent a meagre of four days at Samrakshan Trust with her, added a plethora of

insights on Indian Agriculture and how it is debated/politicised in the policy making.

I am thankful to Dola, my research assistant in Banjar Valley, whose narratives go deep into

the making of this work. The family I stayed with, for their generosity, hospitality and

everything they shared.


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INTRODUCTION

June, 2011 when I first went to the area for field work I carried a bag load of hypotheses with

me. Not really a coherent set of ideas and arguments that would address questions arising

from the acts of observation, but rather a jumbled medley that made me more puzzled than

solved. As a young student, both provoked and disturbed by the writings around suicidal

musings of Indian Agriculture; I had a case to make against both - the state and the market as

they had crusaded against the rural farmer. The markets were about industry (as against

agriculture) and the state were all about the urban. And the urban was again all about

industry. Although later I came to realise that it was all (or at least very much) about the

Lipton brand (pun unintended) of theorising which was being fed to us quietly. The

'disturbed' however had more to it. During May, 2011 I had been to a semi-arid area of

Madhya Pradesh in central India with Dr. Asmita Kabra. The poignant note albeit still of

poverty but was not as poignantly about farmer suicides. This really disturbed me, as to how

come suicides were such a keen note in the relatively fertile and rain fed area while not in a

semi-arid area with limited possibilities for commercial agriculture. This puzzled me to the

core and I would have my young questions like "well, can then corporations be good things?

or is it corporations that are a bad thing? does state really not think about the farmer at all?

when and why does the state think about the farmer? are markets really bad when agriculture

is concerned (because they are biased in being driven by the industry)" getting more and

more troubled with having singular and simple answers. While I think these are certainly

keen questions for any researchers of my age, this work is ostensibly influenced but not about

answering these questions.

One of the thus keen notes in this work is about the relationship between the local and the

global, starting from the coloniser and the colonised. How is the local subject to the global

and how at times the greater outcome may be subject to the local. What market,

modernisation and progress have meant for the people and the place they have in their

perceptions of poverty and prosperity. The place that state has in these narratives. Sometimes

these notes might be explicit narrations and at others an intuitive musing. The Agrarian

Modern is thus my attempt at looking on what is happening through a rather simple example

of a road being constructed into an array of unconnected villages (or hamlets) in the Banjar


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Valley of Inner Seraj in Western Himalayas; and the musings, the mayhem, the chaos, the

aspirations and the dialogues that flow around the coming of this physical entity that

particularly connects these villages (or hamlets) to a nearby town. How this affects the

profoundly agrarian setting, is the relevant essence of this work.

This work spreads across two chapters. The first looking at the setting this study is based in.

It is about understanding Inner Seraj, Banjar valley and the field site in brief1; and objectively

seeing what the change (to this profoundly agrarian setting) is about. And the kind of

meaning modern agriculture is increasingly having for people. There is an importance which

caste seems to have in this context which through observation is easy to see but not as easy or

straightforward to reason. The second chapter attempts to reason it and do more by trying to

more qualitatively understand the kind of 'newness' associated with road and changing

agrarian practices; the newness associated with notions of progress and development. It

attempts to synthesise the old2 and the new simultaneously in order to observe the mobility

and movements in different forms of capital (viz. human, social, physical, etc.) in the rapidly

changing scenario.

Finally it is coalescence around people, traditions, modernities, poverty and the

developmental state in the profoundly agrarian setting. And suggesting that there is a lack of

literature around creative synergies that exist between pervasive livelihood activities. Perhaps

something to blame for it, is the deeply prevalent, as if an intuitive perception of the state

being one based in horticulture and tourism (carrying on into appendix III). In the expanding

market society that is constantly dealing with an ever greater range of commodities, there is

certainly far greater diversity which is relevant to it and deserves attention. Further, I have

tried to add some ideas that can meaningfully lead this research further.

MAKING THE STUDY

1This study overall is based more in literal descriptions of the social findings rather thantheir presentation in a statistical assimilation. And thus the literal exposition of findings alsoneeds a wider and an appropriate (historical and contemporary) context to be placed in. Thispart of the chapter albeit small, due to the limitations of this study tries to do justice to thatneed.2 Some sense of tradition as against the modern. That is not to say that the modern iswithout tradition, or something as crude as that. But for the simplicity of the moment (forthis introduction), I think, such a simple sense should suffice.


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Having started my field work both provoked and disturbed; in a Himalayan geographical

setting new to me that had been little studied (if any), I certainly did not have options that

excluded long seatings with the locals. The fundamental enquiries that underpinned these

long conversations3 were around their perceptions of the road, livelihoods, agriculture and

themselves; how these and they themselves are constantly changing. In conversations where

the elderly would also be present I indulged in taking their narrations on history and see how

the young would react to them4. The sense of how change is perceived could not be without

their collected perceptions of history. As these conversations started to lead into

understandings of life and change, we added a close ended questionnaire into the field work.

This questionnaire5 would enable the taking of clear quantitative notes around agrarian

change and the processes that were accompanying it. That filling the questionnaire was a part

of the themed long conversations itself, allowed for collecting diverse and even contradictory

experiences around an otherwise (what would seem as) similar statistic.

We had chosen a newly constructed road from Banjar to Batthidhar in Inner Seraj in the

Indian state of Himachal Pradesh as our site for study. This road was constructed under

PMGSY6 and completed in 2007. This work is based on field work conducted during June

and July of 2011

The selection of households was done randomly. By the end of July we finished having

conversed with around 38 households across all villages (or hamlets) along the roadside.

While this figure certainly made more than one third of the total households along the road,

there was a sense of the sample having become significant enough, with further interviews

increasingly contributing in repetition of narratives. The annotated recordings can be found

at the link, at the end of this introduction.

3These conversations were carried out inside the households in presence of household

members that were present.4Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to find men and women in their eighties. The people wouldtell, 'those who got to live their thirties also get to see their eighties'.5A copy of the questionnaire can be found in Appendix II.6 An extensive scheme of the Indian government recognising the importance and urgency ofconnecting unconnected rural spaces to nearby towns.


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This is a fairly small work, and its intent is based in generating preliminary insights around

changing life in the region. I hope that it would aid further research work around the

changing economic and social geography of the region. The notion of roads provides a

unique gateway into understanding the rapidly changing agrarian setting. Here, the road

forms an essential part of the rural urban continuum through which the rural life is

increasingly becoming linked and aspirations are increasingly being attached. The road and

agriculture are thus probably as inherent a part of the rural life, as any other institution can

be. The perceptions around road and existence as agricultural households is something so

common to this village life, that these seem to have a profound place in multiple other

institutions as well in diverse ways: like caste, panchayat, religion, etc. And thus, I would

assume a succinct gateway.

The understanding and summarising of a fact is always a complicated phenomenon. There is

an ease in succumbing to biases. This work is based more in literal expositions of findings

rather than their presentation in a statistical assimilation. I think that quantifying social and

economic realities well enough requires nuanced understandings of how these realities are

perceived. With the limited time and scope in which this work is set in, with little pre-existing

understandings around social geography of the region, I have tried to rely on ways of

summarising which I hope would not have succumbed to biases. This however, in this work

has implication upon what could have been studied and expressed. For e.g. readers shouldn't

expect to find yield/productivity/profitability analysis in relevance to changing agriculture.

Yet I hope the ways of expression and explanation that I have chosen would be succinct in

communicating across what this work aims at.

Annotated recordings of interviews can be can be accessed at:

https://www.evernote.com/pub/notesyedshoaib/dissertationsdsaud
https://www.evernote.com/pub/notesyedshoaib/dissertationsdsaudhttps://www.evernote.com/pub/notesyedshoaib/dissertationsdsaud


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transhumance along with some activities of trade (Alam, 2008; Singh, 2009). The earliest of

accounts being colonial reports and records of penetration and hold over the region, during

the nineteenth and twentieth century. This period also accompanies substantial transition in

the human ecology interface with the introduction of colonial modernity, which seems to

have had some characteristic impacts throughout the hill states8.

However despite certain similarities which characterise mountain societies and especially so

in the region which Berreman identified as South-Asian, over-arching generalisations tend to

serve little purpose. And even the classified and elaborated upon distinct human ecology

interface (of the mountain societies) overlooking 'history, political economy, kinship, value

systems , religion' serves itself to be of little use value to policy makers or even academicians

(see Scoones, 1999). Despite agro-pastoral nature of livelihood activities, it does not mean

that the life and aspirations of people in the region confirm to some distinctive (stereotypical)

sense of being apahari(mountain dweller) as opposed to someone being from lowlands. Nor

does it mean that the changing political economy would influence life and the human-

environment bordering some form of ecological determinism.

Of the most substantial of such changes has been the colonial engagement with the region.

The notion of colonial modernity which I mentioned above refers to the introduction of

'newer notions of property, proprietorship and ownership/control over natural resources'

(Singh, 2009 p.76). These marked a distinct break from the past, and the introduction of these

into a society which was neither acquainted with these nor was in any want of such: mark the

transition from transhumant livelihood activities to dominantly practicing settled subsistence

agriculture and wage work. The Forest Rights Act of 1865 and 1878 were the major

expositions of these introductions. Explicit legal ownership disbanded the communal control

and management of natural resources. Though these themselves had been institutional (by

decree of rulers, temples etc.) in nature, the ownership and access had been fluid. In Kullu, by

1918, nearly 60% of forests had been demarcated from access by locals and peasantry

(Kangra Gazetteer, 1918, p. 120 - cited in Singh, 2009).

cultural facet of ecological adaptation consisting of imageries of ecological determinismalong with institutional and fluid controls over land and natural resources

8 In fact, as Singh notes the interest in the rather little known mountain societies arose in faceof increasing engagement with them world over, and their distinct ecological significancewith 'complex relationships between humans and their physical environment.


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In Inner Seraj, wherein lies the area of study for this paper, prior to colonial interference,

colonial records have reflected on the high number of people dependent upon lower amounts

of cultivated land compared to Outer Saraj and Kullu proper (though such was also applicable

to those of Rupi). Easier access to pastures in both summer and winter facilitated greater

reliance on pastoral activities. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century

expansion in cultivated area was the fastest in both Inner Seraj and Rupi. Whereas cultivated

area continued to increase in Rupi (1911 onwards), the same saw severe limits to growth in

Inner Seraj. (further

see, Singh, 2009,

pp. 74-76).

Oral narratives

from the field of

study mention of

extremely harsh

conditions of life

during this period

(and till as late as

70s and 80s9).

Livelihood

activities consisted

of mix of wage

work and

agriculture, with some pastoral activities10. For wage work men were taken to distant lands

upon predetermined terms of contract for months and agriculture could not by itself furnish

9 However the narratives wont hold applicability for the whole region being characterisedwith abject poverty till as late as 80s, while being specifically true for the field of study -there would be an understanding to this problem by the end of this chapter

10 During this period the migration to pastures of Lahaul in summers was substantially reliedupon, nevertheless, pastoral activities had sharply declined by this time, but still formed a

part of livelihood of people. Whereas previously (before colonial control over fallow land andforests), as Singh records, pastoralists from Inner Seraj did not have to migrate much insearch of pastures throughout the year.

Map 1.1


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subsistence for households. These narratives record mass deaths due to starvation despite

household strategies (like storing and preserving of local grain, called sariyara, to fend off

draught seasons) to combat it. Ostensibly elements of religion, gender, family etc. all must

have as well in varying ways responded to these changes, redressing the nature of these

institutions; that however is beyond the purview of our enquiry for now.

1.1 Inheriting Colonial Legacy and Progressive Social Transformations in Himachal

Pradesh

Although, post-independence the focus of environmental regulation shifted from securing

supplies of Timber to environmental conservation11; pastoral activities were seen as

particularly damaging. Parmar (1959) saw pastoralism as an easy and irresponsible detour

from practicing agriculture while there was little acceptance of the fact that overgrazing of

select forest and pasture patches had been the result of widespread restrictions to traditional

grazing areas12 (Singh, 1952; Chakravarty-Kaul, 1998). Thus the large agrarian economy is in

backdrop of transitory opportunity sets and the nature of policy paradigms chosen by the

state.

There is though a lot more to post-colonial state than inheriting the colonial legacy. There are

two ways in which this discussion is relevant to our study13 . First being the distinguished

stress upon and success in providing effective healthcare, education and basic amenities at

rural level - maximising the creation of social opportunities where other states have had a

difficult time pursuing the same (Dreze and Sen14, 2008); and secondly being the policy

11 However almost till the late 70s the forest policies tended to cater heavily for economicdemand from both within and outside the state (for more, read Tucker (pp: 33-35, 1997)).

Sharma puts it in his revised Kullu Forests Working Plan (1980), that post-independencewhile the five year plans focused on industrialisation and rapid economic growth, forestswere to be "the foster mother of agriculture and industry".

12 Not only in relation to conservation, but in contrast to fluid notions of property,proprietorship and control over natural resources in pre-colonial past, Singh (1952) reportsthe official contentment over securing of "full proprietary rights in the forests and the wastesto the government".

13 And of course also marks its detour from the colonial legacy

14 Dreze and Sen analytically elaborate upon how maximisation of social opportunities is initself connected with maximisation of economic opportunities, and the instrumental role


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towards agriculture and ways in which it has vitalised itself where majority of the country has

burdened itself with a stagnant primary sector and abject poverty amidst the peasantry (see

for e.g. Perspectives, 2008). I argue further, that together these have created synergies for

growth which enable us to understand the evolution of economic geography of the region, in

ways which have been different than the hitherto popular discourses surrounding agriculture

and development in India.

A brief overview of this relevant detour would include the phenomenal success of public

schooling and healthcare. While literacy rates were as low as 20% (in the age group of 10-14

years)15 for the state post-independence, today the participation rates are as high as 99%

among males and 97% among females (6-14 years of age), 83% of all children (12-23

months) are fully immunised. The pupil teacher ratio is one of the highest in India and

investments in health and education have had a substantial share in public expenditure

compared to other states. The other accompanying transitions have been high contraceptive

use, low fertility rates, homicide decline, early demographic transition etc. (Dreze and Sen,

pp. 103, 106). In addition to creation of these social opportunities the increased accessibility

and mobility through the investment in roads facilitated creation of markets and town centres.

While the commitment to provision of basic amenities like electricity and water have

drastically contributed to what we can term as reduction in opportunity cost of time. State

funding of agricultural universities and institutions furthered the agrarian capabilities16of state

developing in these multifarious spheres. While it is true that Himachal Pradesh has been of

the states with a fairly high public expenditure per capita compared to other states and that

being facilitated by transfers from the center; that cannot be singled as the primary reason for

state's success or other states failure. In the same time frame, there have been other states

social opportunities play in social and economic change (read pp. 56-63, 101-111). Havingboth, individual as well as collective ends, I feel such can be veritably linked to both:utilitarian as well as rights based discourses.

15 Tucker (1997) cites that in villages was around 10%, and public healthcare was absentwith very high mortality rates.

16 Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Cooperation, Primaryagricultural credit societies, Agricultural Univesity at Palampur, Horticultural University atSolan etc. cannot be ignored while comprehending the expanding scopes of farm economy inHimachal Pradesh


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with similarly high per-capita expenditures who could not enter into creating even a nearly

similar spectacle in developmental terms17.

Nationally as well as internationally, while much of the debate has centered itself around

either agriculture or industry being the engine of growth, a lot is left out which can create

synergies for growth and development in the economy (Kay, 2009) across the linkages which

exist between sectors and activities. And further that it ignores is what Dreze and Sen

correctly point out as the scope of social opportunities in creating economic opportunities18.

While India's first five year plan was centred around agriculture, the second five year plan,

nearly neglected agriculture entirely, focusing its entire thrust of investment in industry. The

third five year plan revisited agriculture with its limited scope of green revolution, with the

idea of 'betting on the strong' and 'building on the best'19.

This polarised debate was further reinforced by Lipton's urban bias thesis (1968), rooting

development in the political and economic geography of a region, clearly divided into the

disparate 'rural' and 'urban'20 . While the former could argue of the ailing agriculture

succumbing under the burden of bias towards industry for generating rapid economic growth

the latter could argue of ailing industry and infrastructure on account of the unnecessary

tantamount of subsidies and transfers which went to the rural. This disparate gap could not

locate synergies between agricultural and non-agricultural activities effectively enough.

Further taking Sen's argument into account, massive illiteracy, lack of healthcare, economic

and social infrastructure meant diminished economic scopes of activities in these sectors and

in creating effective synergies for growth between these. Substantial challenges to such

discourses (rural-agrarian and urban-industry) come from the more recent empirical studies

17 Haryana for example

18 While of course the latter need not be any end in itself nor should be.

19 This was Ford's Foundation idea in its report to the Indian government in 1959. In 1960-61 Intensive Agriculture Development Program was funded by the Ford Foundation and laterconverged into Green Revolution. For more, see Perspectives (2008), pp. 38-41.

20 Albeit not so in social conception, so while the urban poor represented the rural, richlandlords benefiting from state policies represented the urban. Urban bias thesis also gaveweight to dependency theorists who then conceptualised the flows between rural and urban inform of dependencies, ideological flows and linkages (for e.g. see Potter and Unwin (1989),Rondinelli (1983, 1985))


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surrounding evolution of spatial patterns in various parts of the world, where it has been seen

that proximity to small towns and urban spaces have had multiple impacts on both rural and

urban livelihoods and significant impacts on poverty reduction facilitating synergetic mixes

of both farm and non-farm activities in the rural as well as urban spaces (see for e.g. Ingram

(1998), McGee and Watters (1997). Shenggen Fan et al. (2000) stress upon investment in

roads in their policy advocacy for Indian rural development and poverty reduction, where

roads are the prima facie link for a rural-urban continuum21.

While it is out of scope of this paper to investigate Himachal Pradesh's success/failure in

creating these synergies, what is certainly visible is the relative success in rapidly dealing

with mass poverty and deprivation compared to other Indian states while having remained a

substantially agrarian economy22. Although the lesser population density in the hills would

have one assume large agrarian scopes with respect to lower demographic burdens on the

amount of cultivable land; the amount of cultivable land is very limited in itself owing to the

difficult terrain and harsh climatic conditions.

1.2 Agrarian Landscapes and Introduction to the Field Site

21 For transitions in space use while mobility is most important, the patterns of space use areas well substantially determined by cost of mobility, be it of people, commodities orinformation. For this untimely citation, my intent is not to portray rural development as anurban function of development, but that synergies of growth and well-being arise fromactivities which are responses of both. The citation here is more in the need for not missingthe essential crux of this paper, which deals in understanding roads and mechanisms ofagrarian change.

22 Not agrarian in terms of contribution to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), but interms of population; in 2001 approximately 90% of the population was rural and the

projection for 2021 more than 85% (Planning Commission, 2005: pp. 339).


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.

Image 1.1: The severe barriers to accessibility in the mountains called for roads being a top priority.

Indo-China tensions further escalated the development of roads. The road from Mandi to Kullu (whatappears as NH 21 here) was jeepable by 1950, however very narrow and supported by wooden eaveshanging upon the turbulent Beas (Kayastha, 1964, pp: 180 cited in Tucker, 1997). By late 1960s theroad to Banjar (State Highway 11) from the national highway that connects Kullu, was subsequently

improved. There was also a certain political will towards development and maintenance of roadinfrastructure. According to Tucker (1997: pp. 28) chief minister Parmar and first MLA for the Sainj-Tirthan area, Dhilaram Shabab pushed for constant betterment of these roads across Beas and Tirthan

rivers.

Roads enabled transportation of people and commodities. Roads were essential for creation of localspaces in which the developmental state could articulate its presence in form of social & economic

infrastructure, and developmental strategy effectively placed. Roads have led to both, increase in land

under cultivation as well as intensive use of cultivated land. The increased area accounts for both,inclusion of forest as well as wastelands into agriculture. While commutability drastically increased

with buses plying the route in (since) late 1960s farming households across the roads benefited the mostand agricultural intensification occurred most significantly in these farms. In fact as a policy instrument,and rightly so, introduction of High Yielding Varieties followed overcoming of barriers of accessibility.

Thus the agrarian transition in this region followed only after that in Kullu valley drained by Beas


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The scope of agrarian activities is as well concerned with mobility of people, commodities

and information and the form market eventually takes. The agrarian transition to fruit tree

crops furthered by the introduction of high yielding varieties ostensibly took place only after

accessibility through roads had been achieved i.e. during early 60s in the Kullu region and

late 60s in the Sainj Tirthan area. Statewise area under cultivation of fruit trees rose from

1000 hectares in 1948 to 1, 50, 000 hectares by 1988 with over 80% of it being in apples

(Verma and Pratap, 1992: 626). Pratap (1995) makes the observation that majority of apple

growing farms belong to the category of marginal farmers with 0.5-2 hectares of land and

cultivation of cash crops has brought rapid increase in incomes for these farming households

with gross returns being around $4500 per hectare and net returns being around 2000-2700$

per ha

While agriculture has a historical significance in the backdrop of limited scope for pastoral

transhumance (p. 3), the vitalisation of agriculture in the state has led to rapid rise in income

levels. While workforce in the state has primarily remained agrarian, and especially so in

Kullu23, the agrarian transition has been limited by accessibility in the relatively tougher

topography. While it has been easier for the schooling and healthcare transition to overcome

23 Where 78.6% of workers existed in agriculture sector in 2001, that being higher than anyother district in the state (Kale and Bhandari, 2009, table: 7.2.8).

Location: Location: 31o37'N 77o20'E Elevation: 1960-2260 meters approx. above MSL

Image 1.3: A rough sketch map of the road and hamlets/villages alongside it as field sites of study


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these barriers; commercial agriculture involving cost effective mobility of agrarian produce

through markets is ostensibly impeded by lack of effective transportation. Our field of study

covers farming households across a newly built road (completed in 2007) from Banjar to

Batthidhar24. The nearly eleven kilometre stretch of road connects 9 hamlets/villages; and

households along this road make our field site (for more see the methodology).

The area is inhabited by

people belonging to two

castes, the Kanayt and the

Koli. The Kanayt are the

upper caste and Koli, thelower caste. Koli used to be

laborers for the Kanayat

(rajput) and received in kind

each month from the latter.

Koli, traditionally used to do

some minimal agriculture and

had smaller tracts of land

while the Kanayt were the

traditional zamindars

(landowners). Masons and

carpenters are also amongst

the Kanayt. However with

expansion of cash economy,

these customary dependencies

and occupational roles (as

custom) have almost withered

away. There still seems to be

an economy though through which functional lives and livelihoods are still attached to caste.

The Koli villages - Kandi and Bathhidhar were a deliberate addition into the sample for they

provide important insights into the multifaceted relevance of roads to life and evolving

24 In Batthidhar the road joins the road built in 70s connecting Banjar to Bahu


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economic geography of the region. While the Koli have had access to road since the late 70s,

their economic response to this form of connectivity has been wholly different.

Fifteen out of nineteenKanaythouseholds mentioned agriculture to be their most substantial

livelihood activity while only 3 out of 1 2 Koli households asserted agriculture to be most

important (see diagram 1 and 2) livelihood. For Koli households still (as Tucker (1997) quite

rightly states in his generalized argument dated far back in the 90s) wage work remains the

primary source of livelihood despite land grants under Nautor rules which aimed atminimizing the caste differential. While wage work seems to be the second important source


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of livelihood amongst the Kanayt agriculture provides a similar (secondary) subsistence

amongst the Kolis25. What factors have facilitated such spatially different responses to road

connectivity while the customary fabric of caste that segregated people into separate

livelihoods (and functions in society) has been shredded away? Does the sustainability of

modern agriculture as a livelihood, in the region depend upon relations that are somehow

institutionalised upon the lines of traditional culture and custom? I think this question can go

a long way in further complicating the character of agrarian modernity in the region, and how

agriculture socially becomes a sustainable livelihood amongst households? In what ways is

modern agriculture relevant to social geography of the region?

It has often been argued to me that the reasons for such a social (and also spatial) response to

road coonectivity in Himachal Pradesh are essentially rooted in relatively smaller and poorer

quality of landholdings of the lower caste. I seek to examine this strand of reasoning here and

then build beyond it in the next chapter..

25 It is however not so that a household relies on a single activity for its livelihood but a

composite set of livelihood activities for its subsistence. Moreover the land reforms intended

to bring similar agricultural capabilities to the landless as were enjoyed by their counterparts

belonging to higher landowning castes and did succeed to an extent. Thus25 activities

secondly important should not be looked as marginal. They are important. In fact in many

cases these can be as important as to have made agriculture or wage work sustainable,

especially in relation to the high risks commercial farming can be prone to.


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Table 1.1:Mean size and variance for commercial farms

There is still time before effects of the road specifically on fruit cropping can be effectivelycomprehended. This comprehension at the moment can only be limited to understanding the changes in

production process and profitability of the existing harvestable crop. Even the recently introduced high -yielding varieties of peach only start giving the first of significant produce after five years, while theroad is only three years old. The change in cropping pattern is rather most significantly visible in

cultivation of vegetables. While the total area under vegetable cultivation is only around 5.3 acres,minuscule against area under any other form of cultivation (see diagram 3) 10 out of 19 Kanaythouseholds and 12 out of the total sample of 31 households indulge in commercial cultivation ofvegetable crops. Further due to the nature of intensive care that vegetable crops demand it is difficult fora household to cultivate large tracts of farm land. Of these 5.3 acres the mean farm area under vegetablecultivation for the twelve households is 0.375 acres with a sample variance of 1.6875 while thevariability in size of commercial fruit farms is much higher with sample variance of 58.1984. This is

perhaps because of two factors: a). small scale viability of commercial vegetable farms with significanteconomic returns and b). intensive care needed by these crops which makes large scale farming for ahousehold infeasible given the current forms of capital use.


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The mean size of landholding amongst Kanayt is 3.6 acres, almost six times of the mean size

of a Koli landholding (at 0.617 acres). While this simple observation seems to

instantaneously justify the raised argument, the real picture is not as unequal26 as is

exacerbated by this statistical exposition. The standard deviation in the size of Kanayt

landholding is around 24.8 whereas in Koli landholdings it only amounts to 1.28. If, out of 19

the 4 largest entries are struck out the mean size comes to as low as 1.75 acres and SD

remains still as high as 4.411. Other simple observations to relate to it are that of Kanayt and

Koli farmers with similar size of landholdings where the Kanayt actively engage in

horticulture while the Koli find it to be too difficult, costly or/and risk-prone. Besides, the

farmer with recognizably most intense vegetable cultivation has only an acre of land and

says, it was all stones, which I have dug out and made it cultivable. Owing to the limits of

technology farmers find it anyway very difficult to be able to cultivate more than half an acre

in vegetables. And even a quarter of an acre is considered to be valuably remunerative27.

The primacy of agriculture as a source of livelihood may be something relatively new but

also something intensely popular in the region. Both, the Kanayt and the Koli know about

increasing plantation of fruit trees and cultivation of vegetable crops for markets in nearby as

well as far-off towns and cities in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi etc.

What the data tells is that both: smaller and the larger farmers in the sample do indulge in

horticultural practices and valuably profit from them. In fact in the next chapter I cite a recent

study which finds an even intense pattern of commercial cultivation of vegetable crops

amongst farmers with smaller landholdings in the Banjar valley. The study (that I cite) in its

larger context stresses upon an absence of correlation between the size of landholdings and

intensity cropping decisions

In the next chapter we further delve into understanding the nature of agrarian economy (in

section 2.2) and the significance of agriculture in the social geography. This in context of the

trajectory of development the region has seen in the collected narratives of people; and also

the articulations of prosperity and poverty in this discourse of development.

26 It is not unequal on the lines of caste to an extent that would justify the argument.27During my study, I did collect some data on prospective earnings from crops. But in the

nature of argument that I have built, I am bypassing these figures. However I have mentionedabout some in the appendix to this chapter


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Appendix I: The Questionnaire

Ambedkar University, Delhi

State, Markets, and Environmental Change in Banjar, Kullu

Date:____________Village: ________________ Identity #_______

1. Household Size (in number): Men:_____Women:_____ Children (under 12):_____2. Rank the importance of livelihood options for you (1 least; 3 most):

Agriculture:____; wagework (dhyadi/mazdoori):____; skill-based:____;.

3. Total land owned (Bighas/Biswas):______4. Land under the cultivation of following:

a. Grains (Kanak/Makki):________b. Vegetables and other cash crops (Sabzi):_______

(Tick the appropriate: Tamatar/Matar/Beans/Lahsun/___________)

3. Fruits (Phal):_______(Seb/Nashpati/Khumani/Plum/Cherry/____________)

d. Pulses (Daal):__________ (__________)e. Others (please mention): ____________

5. What do you do with each of the following (tick whatever applies):Produce Self-Consumption (apne liye) For sale (bechne ko)

Grains

Vegetables

Fruits

Pulses

Other (____________)

6. RANKING (1 least; 4 most)Variable Grains Pulses Vegetables Apple

Work required (Mehnat)

Cost (Paisa kitna lagta hai)

Returns (fayda)

Risk of failure (paisa doobna)

7. RANK the following in terms of reasons for losses from cash crops (1 least to 5 most):


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Variable Not enoughrain

Too much

rainHail and weather

relatedPests and

diseasesLow market

prices

Grains

Pulses

Vegetables

Fruits

8. What do you do to mitigate against each of these:Lack of rains (sookha)____________________________

Too much rain (Atyadhik varsha)__________________________

Hail (Ole padna)_____________________________

Pests and other diseases (Keet)___________________________

Low market prices (Daam na milna)_________________________

Others:_______________________

9. IF you grow cash crops, what is the reason for it (Mark the appropriate):a. Someone else in the village did so

b. Got to know from Newspaper/Radio/TVc. Government officials told them about itd. Others (please mention)_______________

Roads/Development

10.Have you given land for the road: Yes/No. If yes, how much:_____11.What do you use the road for?

a. Personal transport (vehicle)b. Personal transport (walking)c. Emergency situations (eg Ambulance)d. Transporting producee. Others_______________________

12.How much have you benefitted from the road (tick the appropriate)A lot (bahut zyada)---a little (thoda)---Indifferentnot at all (bilkul nahi)

13.Sadak pahunchne se gaon ka vikaas hua haiA lot (bahut zyada)---a little (thoda)---Indifferentnot at all (bilkul nahi)

14.RANK the following in terms of importance for you (1 least important to 7 most important)Road:___

Electricity (Bijli):___

NREGA:____


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Water supply (Paani ka nal):___

School:___

Health center (clinic):___

Seeds and other agricultural inputs (beej/fertilizer/keetnashak):___


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Appendix II: Some scribbles on crops and cropping

These are some collected notes on a few popular crops. In the limited number of things that I have

tried to venture into in this work and the line of argument that I have developed I could not find a

place for these. But I think some might consider these details important to know. Overtime I havent

effort into developing these notes, so they are crude and would only fulfill the curiosity to know these

details crudely.

Inputs of family

The hard labor of plowing is majorly done by the male. Digging is done by both men and women, the

family usually does it together.Nindai (removal of weeds) is done majorly by women. Pruning, etc. is

majorly done by male. Sowing etc. is also done by male much. While cutting the harvest is usually

done by women the harvest is picked up men for thrashing. In big trees like apple, men play a greater

role while during the plucking of fruits whole family indulges in it and is majorly done by children as

they can climbh up weak branches safely without harming the tree or crop.

Crops

Peas: Peas are sown around April.Every seed is sown separately in rows. It takes for an area ofaround 0.2 acres, two to three days to sow when the whole family does it together (three to four

people). It is very much unlike the sowing of staple crops. The seed starts to germinate through the

ground in nearly fifteen to twenty days.

Then the grass is weeded out (nindai).. And probably another before the plant has grown enough.

Once it has grown to an extent, it doesnt require weeding. There are different kinds of varieties.

Some varieties require to be plucked several times. Cropping speed and success depend much on the

availability of water.

Harvested peas at the time of study were selling at around Rs. 7-8 per kg. While in the local consumer

market they could be purchased at Rs. 15-20 per kg.

Apple: Pollinizers are important. The pollinizer varieties do not sell well in Delhi. Last year the

pollinizer varieties sold for Rs. 200 to 300 per carton, compared to over Rs. 1500 per carton for

Royal. So pollinizer varieties are sold locally in Himachal. Golden needs to be sold either early or

late. At that time it sells better.


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When a disease is spotted the respective branch is cut. On every cut the application of Glytox is very

essential. Upon rains cankers develop as water enters. Apples stained with bird beaks or hail, are

corrected through medicine, they can heal themselves. Every plant needs to be taken care of. In good

season, a tree gives around, 15-20 cartons. And in case of bad season, may be like 2-3 cartons (in a

fully grown tree, 28 years old). Varieties like green are very tasty and large, but sell very low because

of low levels of knowledge about apple in plains. They buy when it appears red not when it tastes

good. The harvest this year would be in around late August.

The newer varieties which fruit early have a low life span whereas the traditional varieties have a

much longer life span. However they start giving at an age of around 12 to 15 years. The traditional

variety, is blood red in color and the tastiest. When grafted it fruits early though. Tideman receives

highest price. It is absolutely red; fruits in around 8th to 10th of July.

Prices have increased much, these days a good apple sapling is for around Rs. 100. Earlier when roads

weren't there, things just had to be sold, with barely any profit. It used to take earlier 30000 to 40000

to transfer apples to Banjar, now this is absolutely saved, and things are just put into vehicles which

costs negligible in comparison .

Pear: Pear trees need to be planted through pruning only. Canker is a well-known disease in most

plants. When medicine doesnt heal it, the branch needs to be cut off. Pears don't receive well in themarket, but the larger amounts of harvest make it remunerative. Pear also sells in Delhi, needs to be

sold on time, the crop is lost quickly, cant be stored for long. This year the harvests in the region are

little and it will fetch good price in the market. Rs. 30 per kg. is a good rate for pears, they sell well,

when they are green. A good crop can be as much as twenty to thirty cartons of fruit from a tree.

Pears dont need any much care as apple does.

Peach: The nectarine peach, it fruits very quickly; in as little as two to three years. Their growth has

been very quick. In market it sells for fifty to sixty rupees per kg, this newer variety.

Potato: Potato crop is very good for gardens, grown around trees. It helps in nitrogen fixation. In tight

soil, it can loosed up the soil and soften it. As flowers grow up, potatoes underneath as well, as

flowers go down you know the crop is ready. The number of flowers indicates precisely the number

of potatoes. There is wild animal that liked to feed on the potatoes and destroy the crop.


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France bean: Sells for around Rs. 15-20 per kg.

Cauliflower: At around the mid of June, seeds would be ready. It cant grow on greater heights than

this. If it readies in two months and is ready for harvest by July it would fetch good price, or else get

as low as Rs. 5-7 per kilogram.

Garlic: Is sown in September and then harvested in May. It takes time to grow. Snowfall also

happens in between. It cannot grow in summer. It needs water. The prices are good, between Rs. 40-

60 per kilogram for the A grade. The peel needs to be cleaned away.


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Chapter II: Mechanisms of Change

Rigg (1996) talks of the rapidly changing face of rural south. He argues that broadly these

processes are increasingly reshaping its face - diversifying livelihoods, occupational

multiplicity, shift in household income from farm to non-farm activities, delinking of

livelihoods and poverty from land, increasing role of remittances in household income, rising

average age of farmers and finally diverse kinds of cultural and social implications of these

above changes (p. 183). Rigg, extremely critical of the agrarianist approach 28 to

comprehending rural poverty points towards the romanticism of urban elites who seem to

idealise rural poor in their traditional ways of living29, leading to a kind of resolve where the

prospects of prosperity for a rural economy must be rooted in agricultural commodity

exchange and thus in agrarian markets. This, according to Rigg brings in a fundamentaldisconnect with the reality, with the rural not associating similar moral sentiments to

agriculture; and being open to multitude of livelihood options for their betterment. Further he

states that "education, newspapers, radio and television and consumerism more generally

have profoundly altered the way that rural people think about work, farming and more

particularly, their children's futures" (p. 189). This all has overtime been accompanied by

'erosion of profitability in small holder agricultural production, emergence of new

opportunities in the non-farm sector (both local and non-local), environmental degradation,

land shortages, etc.

Sadangi (2004) quite on the contrary argues of how liberalisation and development of

markets around agriculture have opened scopes for development of horticulture in rural areas.

And such being an impending need amidst majorly marginal land holdings and poverty laden

28 For further details see 1.129 Conceptualized as 'yeoman farmer fallacy (see Farrington et. al., 2002 - cited in Rigg,1996, p. 187).


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rural economy in India. Also that 'market development can have a beneficial environmental

impact if a proportion of the income generated by rural poor is invested in the protection and

maintenance of the environment', which is even locally valuable. Khan (2004), in the same

work argues of how agricultural development in the nation has largely been incapable in

utilising market opportunities. With nearly half of landholdings being marginal in size, little

public expenditure in R&D, low skill base, low bargaining power of the rural poor and

significant concerns of food security at household level - agricultural sector and the rural poor

have remained in a stalemate. Thus the discourse of poverty being one where development

and markets have at large escaped the rural poor. While reliance on multiple livelihoods and

remittances are an increasing face of the rural, the state of agriculture and those dependent on

it remains impoverished. Rigg articulates such as 'old poverty', i.e. where development

initiatives and market expansion have at large escaped the poor. The 'new poverty' is rather,

where poverty in itself has been perpetuated by processes and mechanisms of development.

What is the space of 'old' and 'new' in Inner Seraj? Drawing ourselves back into the first

chapter, we would recollect the region's acquaintance with modernity. Would this

acquaintance, as it brings in newer forms of poverty be a part of 'new'? To debate it seems a

particularly unproductive thing. The essence however is that society and life have been

phenomenally transformed (transforming) as a result of these processes since a century.

Creation of powerful zamindars under the British, decline in transhumant pastoralism, land

redistribution, education, healthcare, electrification, tourism, horticulture, entirely different

cropping patterns, etc. have all changed the face of life so significantly, and so have they, the

conceptualisations of poverty. Rigg asserts that the 'old' and 'new' exist simultaneously. So

they do, but what factors probably enable better access to and utility of markets30, how

perceptions regarding different assets change overtime and what feelings of being left out the

marginalised (or poor) tend to carry - I think we would mark implicitly as we proceed

through this chapter.

Khoud is an old man, 85 years old. His back is bent and his hands can not restrain from the

incessant shivering. But he and his wife (who nears him in age) live by themselves in the

home they themselves built. They do subsistence farming. Not that they haven't experienced

growing cash crops, but the construction of road had altered the water channel which used to

30 Links and ideas which enable exchange between people


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irrigate their fields. Which means now they can only grow wheat and corn. Khoud is also a

carpenter by caste. His memory of livelihoods five decades back, is that of migrating to far

off lands on foot for wage work31; or migrating with a group for bringing salt rocks from

distant salt mines - carrying them on one's back, back home and then being welcomed

lavishly at home (for the brave and needful endeavour it was considered to be). Earlier people

used to boil the water with these rocks and use the salted water as a substitute for salt.

Vegetables were not a common part of diet, but rather rare. Goitre, because of lack of iodine

was pretty common. The traditional food-grains were the chief source of nutrition along with

dairy products. Public Distribution System consisted of state officials visiting Banjar once a

month on horses with five kilograms of wheat and rice against a stipulated price. But Khoud

remembers that it was almost 70s when things changed significantly32. The road to Banjar

also brought wheat and maize into staple diet of people. Cropping pattern changed into wheat

and maize with state support and on their account of being more weather resistant and high

yielding. Khoud says that the incidence of death due to starvation came down significantly

with this shift. As horticulture in the area boomed (in Banjar and nearby) there was more

work locally. Children started getting education. His son who is also a carpentar, has set up

his work in Bahu, with two big machines. 'He has good work', Khoud says. What Khoud

could do after days of hard work, his son doesn't even need a day for. 'It is significant

investment, a machine costs Rs. 50,000', Khoud says, but the business is good as well. Khoud

however feels he is futile these days. His woodwork has no place. The meaning of work has

changed. Being old, no one in the village asks him.

He and his wife subsist in a corner, he says, for end to take them away. "No one even pays us

a visit, the world is engrossed in itself".

Of the remarkable details in Khoud's narration, one is of how the utility of time has changed

so significantly and thus the livelihood strategies associated with it. While caste has

perpetuated occupationally through the generation, there are significantly different meanings

to it. Education, expansion of markets, skills, transport and communication, scales of

31 These include areas of Mandi, Simla etc. for activities of mining, logging, etc.32 My comprehension of Khoud at this point, signifying change is not about a time of ease,relaxation and prosperity against times scarred by hardships, starvation and death, but anarration of change in which poverty and prosperity, hardship and ease, striving andrelaxation, etc. exist, co-exist and take different meanings (in acts and experience). Hismemory as if remembers the bruises from hardships of past, but also his life flourishes withmemory of it. His present while narrates the progress the space in time has underwent, but isalso bruised by perceptions of marginalization in it.


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production, etc. all have become inter-twined in such a way which are so different from the

similar work Khoud used to be known for. Modernity, with all its above mentioned

influences (from Rigg) is rapidly reshaping the contemporary and the aspirations for future.

But here, they have not necessarily been broadly about outmigration or shift away from

agriculture. Dola, one of the younger villagers, who also helped in my interviews very

significantly, invests a lot of his time in expanding and maintaing his orchard. "When my

kids have grown up, they will be having a well yielding orchard with them". And he is not

alone. Neither is agriculture here the disdain of a modern educated family nor is the road a

disdain of the secluded peasant.

It is not that that the Koli did not practice any agriculture before the land reforms, but it was

meagre and insignificant. Maru Ram (a Koli) asserts of the biggest change over two decades

has been the availability of wage work locally. That they do not have to migrate far off to

earn cash. Their diet overtime has changed to a mix of vegetables, dairy products and wheat

and corn (both from their fields and from PDS). To have been a Koli fifty years back was

certainly different from being a Koli now, but in which ways do roads lead in to this

difference and what role has agriculture played? I think 'sustainable rural livelihood

framework' (Scoones, 1998)33 is a deeply insightful and meaningful conceptualisation to

study such change. Especially in the situation this work is in, which attempts to start

understanding the region and the place of roads and agriculture in it. Something as wide and

infinite as this conceptualisation is, for which even an array of longitudinal studies might not

suffice; i certainly can not do justice with this preliminary study of life in the region. But I

hope that using this conceptualisation would lay a meaningful groundwork for further studies

to take place.

2.1 Koli: Now And Then

The history of the Kolis is that of having been agricultural labourers. While having been

labourers was explicit in the narratives, the assertion of being a Koli never related itself with

histories of violence or the tumult of having been bonded labourers. While I would agree that

it always takes longer to understand violence in a society, than the time I have spent; the

metaphors/adjectives through which people of a caste assert themselves (as a caste vis a vis

33 See the chapter on 'methodology' for further details.


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the others) bears substantive preliminary insights into plausible nature of relationships that

have been there in recent history. The narratives of change stressed upon 'changing behaviour

towards caste' (as how people perceive the place of caste in society) and particularly the

incidence of untouchability. The mention of the Kanayt was either made with indifference or

fond remembrance of having worked for an elder Negi or so. While my point is not to dismiss

discrimination and subjugation, but to bring forth that the narratives of Koli in their assertions

(of themselves and the society) were not about a direct confrontation with the Kanayt 34.

While on the contrary the assertions of Kanayt regarding the Koli almost never had a fond

remembrance of them.

The primary livelihood resource for the Koli's thirty to fifty years

back used to be their labor. This labor was based in far off lands

for a few months in a year or/and with the local Kanayt35. The Koli

were subjugated into work for the local landlords from whom they

received grains monthly. The Koli in this regard more than once

tended to remember the generosity of some landlords in their times of need. Ironically the

Kanayt on the other hand, almost never recognised the Koli with expressions of praise or

fondness.

The carpenter, mason, etc. assert themselves of being Kanayt, and even have agriculture

(horticulture) dominantly as their primary source of livelihood as well. These, I think, while

carried an identity of being skilled masons, also paid in cash by the rich (or large landlords);

the koli on the other hand carried the identity of being unskilled labourers. Their being

unskilled back then was while perpetuated by caste, their remaining unskilled over time and

thus lazy and incapable is a blame put on them through the rather egalitarian assumption of

34 This might bear significance to those (as it does to me) who have done field studies in, sayrural Bihar or UP, where questions surrounding caste or even social change oftenimmediately start with assertion of one's caste contesting in the social setting against another(or others). This might have to do in itself with relatively less stratified caste structure in mostof Western Himalayas. To Ambedkar (1944), for e.g. the existence of multiple castes andfurther sub-castes in a society would almost proportionately increase contestation againsteach other within the society as well. To Ambedkar this was the fundamental reason for whythere could be no nation (cohesion - that the idea of a nation would be impossible without it)while the caste system exists and is legitimised by religion or society. Here, however it is justa hypothesis.35 Mostly, not for cash. The economy of local exchange was not significantly mediatedthrough cash. While most of migration was for cash.

"Untouchability was

everywhere, but this doesn'tmean that the zamindars didnot help."

DILEY RAM

A Koli from Kandi


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contemporary Kanayt36 - where equal opportunities is conventionally taken as an undisputed

axiom. While the skilled thus carried closer relationships with the wealthier, also had greater

access to opportunities as the local economy boomed. The modern progressive ideas were

probably closer to them than to the Kolis.

Another probable reason is that with the expansion of cash economy (replacing much of the

economy which still used to exist in barter) while the Koli enjoyed being free wage labourers,

the rural Kanayt essentially lost people who were

bonded to them in service.37 While this provides ground

for distrust, in the expanding cash economy, the Kanayt

were eventually much better off and inequality

burgeoned. These are however qualitative inferences to

be taken with caution. At best these are hypotheses.

Thus of essence in change in the lives and livelihoods of

Koli, as far back as oral narratives could investigate

amount to i) change in resources that used to involve

wage work and ii) change in terms of agreement for

work, which brought greater mobility in an expandingeconomy and norms of market rationality. This is

approximately the time when horticulture around the

Aut-Banjar road was experiencing rapid rise in incomes

(Tucker, 1997). Further this expansion in cash economy,

which narrates local availability of wage work also

happened around land distribution of late 70s and early

80s. The road (Aut - Banjar) also signifies transition of

cropping pattern to Wheat - Maize instead of the Kaoni

- Sariara grains, which is related to increased food

security in the region. However in narrations, the

36 The irony here is that while caste and untouchability flagrantly prevail and continue tosubjugate the identity of Koli, the reason for their poverty (and thus untouchability) is blamedupon their laziness in the modern egalitarian world of equal opportunities.37 There were no narrations of bonded labor in the typical sense, arising of monetaryindebtedness. However service was by social norm due to those from whom the Koli receivedmonthly transfers in kind.

The boundaries of caste seem to begaining renewed understandings, with

inter-caste marriages and changingeconomy (and thus political economy). Myguide in the field, a Kanayt, who hasstrong notions of not entering Koli

households does not mind flirting with theKoli girls and amusingly they did not seemto run away from blushing in front of him.The Koli and Kanayt, both in regard tochanging notions of caste made mention ofincreasing inter caste marriages takingplace in the society. And this is significantif the understanding of caste is to rootitself in endogamy.On the other hand, Narayan Singh, a Kolipractices cultivation of vegetables atintensity unlike anyone else amongst thesurveyed (including the Kanayt). He ispreparing 1500 pomegranate saplings forsale (ostensibly, most would be sold to theKanayt). His cropping of

wheat/maize/millets is never more than abigha (0.01618 ha) and that too for hesays, 'replenishment of soil nutrients'.Dola, my guide, who has such strongsentiments regarding the Kolis, does not

mind talking to him about family and life.In fact in our talk, with Narayan Singh,

they both talked more than I did. Dola,was all the time interested in how NarayanSingh managed his extensive and intensive

cultivation of vegetables. He wanted todevelop ties with him, so that they could

benefit trading.


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.

2.2 The Kanayt: Then And Now

It is a subject of my wonderment that how much is the narrative of road and development in

villages from Bhumaar to Mehaar a replica of the narrative of road and development in

villages from Aut to Banjaar. Probably back then the road was far more significant39 as

accessibility (through road) was sequenced along with an array of welfare programs40. But

whether the notion of road (Aut - Banjar, nearly fifty years back) was perceived as an idea of

development or was seen as an infringement into the local space is not known. When the road

to Bahu was built, approximately in the seventies, most of it was planned through forests as if

deliberately secluding the peasant life in these villages (which is our field site) from having

been infringed by road access. Presumably the loss of land for these people would have been

a significant deterrent. But today the people of Latippary blame and question the sense of

design that secluded people from road, as it went through uninhabited forests. Probably from

being a visual marker of the power of the colonial state, roads have become a visual marker

of development - an asset of incredible value for desired social change. While access to

healthcare, as essential to life it is, becomes tremendously easy (instead of having to carry

patients on back all the way downhill into Banjar), it also becomes easier to capitalise uponexisting resources and expand the resource base while benefiting from the expanding

commodity market. What do these benefits mean to the lives of the inhabitants, and the ways

through which exchange takes place and facilitates the notion of prosperity, we would try to

understand in this section.

The road from Banjar to Batthidhar came under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna

(PMGSY). Claimed to be one of the better executed rural development programmes

(Mayaram, 2002); it aims to provide (at least one) road access to habitations of more than 500

people, or 250 in hill, desert and tribal areas. However the story of road coming into the

villages of Bhumaar, Lahund, Latippary, etc. was a mix of excitement, enthusiasm, conflicts,

negotiations and compromise. The story, with many of its details still left to be understood,

tells the tale of negotiation and compromise involved across villages with implicit and

39 The notion of significance will always be a contested one, in regards to what determinessignificance. What I mean however by significance here, is the intervention of a different

paradigm of life that the developmental state tried to harbinger.40 Many of which we have already discussed, see 1.2


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explicit narratives of needs and aspirations attached to the road. It would change their life.

The story, implicitly may also provide narratives to understanding conceptions of old and

new poverty.

"It was everyone's commitment to give their land", said Tuley Ram, a lawyer by profession,

who resides in Narhaan. Under PMGSY, people have to surrender their land voluntarily for

construction of road. "There was a need; road would not come from the heavens, times have

changed, to have road is a need". "It was stuck for two years, but it had to come, it was

everyone's need". "It could not have not come, with all the social pressure".

The construction was put to halt in two places, as it went from Banjar to Bhattidhar. First

being Lahund and then in Latippary. When it was stuck in Lahund, the people of Lahund

were coaxed by the dev samaaj41 from Latippary, Narhaan and Mehaar. The people of

Lahund were cursed on account of their indecisiveness and selfishness. That they had

withheld something as essential as a road from the people of Latippary, Narhaan and Mehaar,

and the curses that would follow on them, including their expulsion from any relations with

the villages. The dev samaaj thus, driven by the people themselves represented the

progressive material aspirations of people as a veritable need. "Panchayat does not have a

hand in this, its a different affair", said Mangal Chand of Narhaan, when asked of if

Panchayat played a role in asserting right over the road. The persuasion, expulsion or cursing

is not limited to life between villages. The result of it, rather brings same into the village life

itself, with the blameworthy facing discrimination and exclusion, that transcends into almost

all spheres of social life. Later, the design of road was altered as a Pandit agreed to give his

land instead, for letting the road pass42, and so it did after an impasse of few months.

41 Dev samaaj is the religious social order around a village deity. Every village (hamlet) hasa devta, and there are official positions in the religious order ascribed with certainresponsibilities to carry forth. Devta of one village visits the the other, and this is animportant part of social relations across villages. People still have strong belief in the localdeities. There are festivities organised around the deities - the people along with deities gettogether at these times and celebrate. The narration of social life in sense of relations (andtogetherness) between villages seems to rest a lot on the dev samaaj and the devtaas visitingeach other.42 Also that the pandits, in land settlement had received large tracts of land which earlierused to be under the custody of devta, and were thus a form of common space.


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In Latippary, a lawyer's family resented giving their land for letting the road pass. With all

the persuasion and sanctions against them, they did not agree. The people from Narhaan and

Mehaar questioned their double standards, while they as a part of dev samaaj went against the

people of Lahund. "It became very tense", says Dola, "they would not even be ready to see

our faces". "Those were very bad times and still remnants of conflict in the dev samaaj

prevail". "For e.g. their devta would not visit us, or if we would say something, we would

hear back in return that we were the same people who kept the road from them. Others would

also insult us". While this narrative went against the whole village, the villagers went against

the lawyer's family for having brought the village this shame and insult. No one in the village

would talk to them, deal with them or work for/with them, and to have done so was seen as

derogatory. Sitll, in 2011, during my field work, Dola would not accompany me to their

house, and they are still outcaste, as if virtually exiled from the village.

This took nearly eighteen months, and they agreed to give one third of what was required of

them. The design was slightly altered to go through the land of a rather poorer mason cum

farmer. "So much of his land has gone on account of their arrogance, so we raised voice in

the village, that we should, with whatever we can, compensate Surat Ram (the poorer

mason)", said Hetram.

Surat Ram however had agreed to give the land before knowing about possibility of some

compensation. The tract of his land had apple plantations, which were lost during road

construction. "Road sey sabko fayda hai", he said. He, on my first visit, had been cleaning

garlic he had recently harvested, of which "the current rate is at around Rs. 60/kg", he told.

What gave such priority to road, that influenced relations from those between villages to

those between households in a village? "Everyone knew the importance of road", saysBhagwaan Singh of Narhaan. "At the moment, people here have to pay Rs. 50/100kg in

carriage for taking produce to Banjaar, while those who have road access have been

cultivating vegetables". The Kanayt through these villages have already had exposure to

varying degrees of public education. There are lawyers, teachers, etc. "Without electricity, we

used to study under mashaal", says Balli Ram., a man in his late forties. Surat Ram's middle

schooling was funded by Varyam Negi, a well known Negi from Banjar, (who now is a

professor in Department of Russian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University) as an

encouragement towards studying. Surat Ram is perceived to be of the poorer in Latippary.


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Horticulture came in around late 80s, mostly in form of apple production. However apple

crates were manually taken into Banjar, which used to be costly. Some people have owned

cars, which they used to park in Banjar. Amidst such a society, road will bring not just easier

access to commodities, but would also enable creation of local markets for these

commodities. Buses will start plying, and this route will become more thriving than the route

through Jhibi, which primarily goes through uninhabited forests. Marginal landholdings will

have an increasing value, with possibility to cultivate off season vegetables and intensify the

hitherto existing horticultural practices. There can be more business in the area, with the

young like Khoud's son, not having to settle with their business in Bahu. For all the

carpenters, masons, teachers, laborers, etc. it can be a road to newer technologies, skills and

economies of work. "People will save on carriage, and there will be an increased

consumption of commodities and the villages would have their own markets which will grow

overtime", said a priest who resides in Lahund. "My planning is to have a guest house like the

one Prakash has in Bahu. This I will have for my children. Now road has come and tourism

will have come here significantly in the next ten years", says Dola. People saw these

opportunities keenly (in a sense of being a right) and the dev samaj is an important institution

that relates to social, political and economic life of people deeply. Bhagwan Singh says that

"dev samaj is for common good".

We have already discussed upon history in the first chapter and while trying to understand the

Koli. And continuing with it, we will make a comeback to it towards the end, while trying to

understand the newer perceptions of poverty and how they perpetuate. I would propose that it

has been a mix of employment in government service, availability of skilled wage work

locally, horticulture and tourism that has been responsible for rise in incomes and investments

in newer assets while savings made from one area have been diverted into other.

Horticulture is of keen importance here when seeing the road; and ours is a study of how it

has percolated into lives of people. We have also discussed in the previous chapter upon the

scope of road being a necessary or sufficient condition for expansion and intensification of

horticultural practices. What the discussion hitherto has added is the scope of human, social

and physical capital in having brought this change, while the road itself can not suffice as a


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sufficient condition. Historically, access to school education, technical trainings43, and

relatively higher proximity to the bigger landowners/Negis, etc. are directly related to rise in

incomes and knowledge of expanding opportunities. Our hypothesis of why the Kanayt were

able to capitalise upon opportunities, while Koli were not as significantly, places itself here,

in the understanding of nexus between human, social and physical capital.

All households amongst the surveyed Kanayt have expanded and intensified upon their

horticultural practices44, except two. Around 20 bighas i.e. 4 acres of land has come under

vegetable cultivation since the coming of road. While without road, fruits were still a

profitable venture with high carriage having to be paid45, vegetables were not. Vegetable

cultivation, on account of the technology in production as well as degree of risk involved

(due to various factors which we have discussed in the last chapter) is done on marginal part

of one's land. It is neither meant to replace subsistence agriculture nor agrarian intensification

in form of orchards, except marginally.

Since the road, almost all people started vegetable cultivation (commercially) having seen

others who benefited from doing so. Trainings from people from state institutions seemed to

have contributed significantly to their understandings of cropping possibilities and

prospective returns. Narayan Singh (the Koli, with the largest vegetable farm) often visits the

Agricultural Institute in Nagwain to learn about newer possibilities in cropping and ways to

maintain nutrition in soil. The latter, he keenly needs to know best, because of the intensity of

vegetable cultivation in his farm. Hetram whom I paid a visit along with Dola, and is known

for repairing electronic goods in the village (everyone who has something gone wrong, from

television sets to mixer grinders and even pen drives seeks him), introduces Dola to all the

new pomegranate and peach varieties he had come to know about, and had started preparing

some. Dola on the other hand does the same, introducing Hetram to some of the newer ways

in which he had grafted peach and apple crops. Also so that they may exchange in future for a

price. While understanding the nature of social capital, there is certainly a marked shift from

fifties and sixties. While then people would collectively build assets or carry production

43 These are not limited to enrolment in local institution but also participation indissemination of technical know how in agrarian practices by the state institutions. Most

people have been participants in these public demonstrations, done by people from HPKV orDepartment of Horticulture.44 The narratives assert that at least 90% of in habitants along the road have startedcommercially cultivating vegetables.45 Scope for profitability would also depend on market prices.


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processes46 (e.g. houses) in the village, in absence of cash economy and limited human

resource; most of commodity exchange today takes place with involvement of cash - which

marks increased commodification and perhaps increased capitalisation as well47,48.

Collective association of people in Dev Samaaj as well probably goes a long way in exchange

of ideas and facilitating forms of cooperation in exercising economic opportunities.

Most people source their seeds from the market in Banjar. There is experimentation with the

new and there is a significant lot which people come to know from others. The shops in

Banjar also form a repository of knowledge with the feedback they have from all over the

area. "There are many shops here", says a shopkeeper of agricultural supplies, and an

important part of maintaining good relations with his customers is to share about prospective

returns from newer varieties of seeds, etc. and the feedback he has had from others. While he

'keeps what people demand' there is a market for trying new things. "Semi

the agrarian modern: roads and new rurality in himachal pradesh

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