Colonial Law, Nationalist Reform, and Social Ecology:

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Colonial Law, Nationalist Reform, and Social
Ecology

• The Thrifty Peasant

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Genesis of the thrifty peasant

• Colonial discourse classifies certain groups as
  more capable of agrarian success than others
• Stems from the grafting of race theory on ideas
  about caste and tribes
• Jats in north, patels in west, offered favorable
  treatment under new schemes in 1920s and1930s
• Nationalist leaders create an alternate version
  of this to connect with the grass roots
• Village India as a repository of tradition
• Attempt to create links with Kisan Sabha movement

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Interactions with Colonial Law

• In response to the crisis of rural debt, land
  ownership in bread-basket states like Punjab
  reserved for certain castes (Jats, Arains)
• Land watered by new irrigation projects are
  settled only from those groups
• Also becomes the basis for disparate treatment
  towards pastoral groups, forest tribescreates
  local rivalries over resources
• The Thrifty Peasant also becomes by 1920s a way
  of arguing that colonial rule had benefited
  Indian peasants

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Punjab Canals
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The Thrifty and Stout farmer

• Some castes are entrepreneurial, others
  wastefulnomadic groups stigmatized as criminal
• State adopts paternal measures to protect these
  groups, reform and punish others
• Preferential hiring for army and police

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Interactions with Nationalist thought

• Figures like Gandhi and Nehru identify the Indian
  peasant as the symbol of the nation
• See rural areas as places uncorrupted by western
  ideas and lifestyles
• Simple life style and thrifty-ness of peasants
  at the heart of Gandhian ideas about an idealized
  Indian culture
• Focus on the oppression of colonial rule at the
  village level, share (co-opt?) kisan sabha
  agendas
• High taxes, rural indebtedness
• Forced labor and growing landlessness
• Poverty and famine
• Tensions within this dialoguepressures of
  creating a national movement from groups with
  opposed interestslandlords v. peasants

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Kisan Sabhas and peasant politics

• By the inter-war years variations of the Kisan
  Sabha mobilization sweep through S. Asia
• Criticize nationalists for romanticizing poverty
• Also for connections with zamindars/landlords
• Nationalist parties such as the Congress and
  Muslim League have an uneasy relationship with
  such groups
• Only in Bengal does a fruitful collaboration
  between peasant groups and urban politicians
  emerge in the Krishka Praja
• Tensions between largely Muslim peasantry and
  large group of Hindu landlords

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Ecological dimensions of Rural Politics

• At the heart of these tensions are factors
  related to demography and the distribution of
  resources
• Kisan Sabhas point to dwindling farm size
• By 1921 half the population is living in 1/6th of
  the landBengal population density in some areas
  exceeds 1000/sq km
• In areas such as Rajasthan, density is less, but
  land is also less productive
• Population spilling into marginal areas
• Tax rates do not differentiate between these areas

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Ecological issues

• Birth rates remain steady but death rates climb
  after WWIgrowth rates slows for first time to
  1.2
• War casualties ½ million
• Plague-6.5 million
• Malaria largest killer, also famine
• Life expectancy in post-war period dips to 32
• Causes of famine both demographic and man made
• Govt. rationing, diversion of food crops to
  Europe
• New food crops grown in areas not suited to micro
  conditions
• Relief programs based on labor exchange
• Do not extend into remote areas

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Impact on Politics

• Growing pressure on nationalists to address these
  issues
• Peasants use the image of the thrifty peasant
  to highlight disparities b/w castes and classes
• Increased competition for scarce resources plays
  out in local level violenceoften takes on a
  religious or caste aspect
• Pattern of protest strongest among middle-level
  castes in rural areasrarely includes
  untouchables, landless peasants, pastoral nomads
• These tensions are going to carry on into the
  post-1947 period.

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Debates over Solutions

• Issue of growing landlessnessdiscussion of a
  land ownership ceiling, abolishment of zamindari
• Eventually favors middle-caste groups
• Pressure to dissolve state control over common
  grazing grounds, forests, pasture
• Younger nationalists like Nehru favor extension
  of irrigation, mechanization of farming,
  subsidies to farmer
• Tensions with Gandhian opposition to
  mechanization
• Problems with dangers of irrigation begin to
  surface
• Increased focus on dwindling crop yields