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

The Agrarian Modern

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

The Agrarian Modern

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.

The Agrarian Modern

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

The Agrarian Modern

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

1

This study overall is based more in literal descriptions of the social findings rather than their presentation in a statistical assimilation. And thus the literal exposition of findings also needs a wider and an appropriate (historical and contemporary) context to be placed in. This part of the chapter albeit small, due to the limitations of this study tries to do justice to that need. 2 Some sense of tradition as against the modern. That is not to say that the modern is without tradition, or something as crude as that. But for the simplicity of the moment (for this introduction), I think, such a simple sense should suffice.

The Agrarian Modern

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.

These conversations were carried out inside the households in presence of household members that were present.
4

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

The Agrarian Modern

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

The Agrarian Modern

Chapter I: Pathways of Change

Berreman (1960) in his work on 'Peoples and cultures in the Himalayas' identified four distinct cultural traditions in the Himalayas: South Asian, South-west Asian, Tibetan and South-east Asian. The part of lower Himalayas stretching from Jammu and Kashmir to Eastern Nepal, he classified as South Asian.

Relatively there is little existing pre-modern literature elaborating of life and culture in the region. It had 'never been the vortex of mainstream political processes' and was 'quite inconsequential to empire building when compared to the fertile north-Indian plains' (Singh, 2011 p.2). Although popular in South-Asian religious folklores and accounts of ascetics there is little written and preserved repository of life in the region. Earliest of attempts focused on distinguishing the life of mountain societies from that of the plains (Berreman, 1960, Guillet, 1983). The distinct human ecology interface from that of societies in plains made academicians make overarching claims regarding mountain cultures and societies more than often. Works consisting of comparable similarities across disparate mountain societies, such as of Rhoades and Thompson (1975) on mountain societies across Alps, Andes and Himalayas and of Guillet (1983) on Andes and Himalayas were markedly influenced by the sense of Singh's (2011, p.2) observation, "...he (Guillet) concluded that because social relations and material life were intimately linked to the production process, appropriate generalisations about the link between environment and culture too could be derived from it".

Not so distinct from Rhoades and Thompson's observations7, the spectrum of livelihood activities in the region (Kullu) as well consisted of mix of agriculture and pastoral

7 And thus had been the generally asserted narrative on mountain societies, of livelihood activities consisting of mix of agriculture, transhumance pastoralism and some trade, and the

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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 a pahari (mountain dweller) as opposed to someone being from lowlands. Nor does it mean that the changing political economy would influence life and the humanenvironment 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 determinism along 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 face of increasing engagement with them world over, and their distinct ecological significance with '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).
Map 1.1

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 characterised with 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 relied upon, 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 and forests), as Singh records, pastoralists from Inner Seraj did not have to migrate much in search of pastures throughout the year.

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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 economic demand 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-independence while the five year plans focused on industrialisation and rapid economic growth, forests were 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) reports the official contentment over securing of "full proprietary rights in the forests and the wastes to 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 in itself 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). Having both, 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 absent with very high mortality rates. 16 Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Cooperation, Primary agricultural credit societies, Agricultural Univesity at Palampur, Horticultural University at Solan etc. cannot be ignored while comprehending the expanding scopes of farm economy in Himachal 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 196061 Intensive Agriculture Development Program was funded by the Ford Foundation and later converged 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, rich landlords benefiting from state policies represented the urban. Urban bias thesis also gave weight to dependency theorists who then conceptualised the flows between rural and urban in form 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 are as well substantially determined by cost of mobility, be it of people, commodities or information. For this untimely citation, my intent is not to portray rural development as an urban function of development, but that synergies of growth and well-being arise from activities which are responses of both. The citation here is more in the need for not missing the essential crux of this paper, which deals in understanding roads and mechanisms of agrarian change. 22 Not agrarian in terms of contribution to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), but in terms 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 (what appears as NH 21 here) was jeepable by 1950, however very narrow and supported by wooden eaves hanging upon the turbulent Beas (Kayastha, 1964, pp: 180 cited in Tucker, 1997). By late 1960s the road 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 road infrastructure. According to Tucker (1997: pp. 28) chief minister Parmar and first MLA for the SainjTirthan 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 local spaces 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 most and 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
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

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

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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, the lower 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 (landowners). zamindars 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 nineteen Kanayt households 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 at minimizing 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 effectively comprehended. This comprehension at the moment can only be limited to understanding the changes in production process and protability of the existing harvestable crop. Even the recently introduced high yielding varieties of peach only start giving the rst of signicant produce after ve years, while the road is only three years old. The change in cropping pattern is rather most signicantly 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 Kanayt households and 12 out of the total sample of 31 households indulge in commercial cultivation of vegetable crops. Further due to the nature of intensive care that vegetable crops demand it is difcult for a household to cultivate large tracts of farm land. Of these 5.3 acres the mean farm area under vegetable cultivation for the twelve households is 0.375 acres with a sample variance of 1.6875 while the variability 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 signicant economic returns and b). intensive care needed by these crops which makes large scale farming for a household 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
27

It is not unequal on the lines of caste to an extent that would justify the argument. During 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 mentioned about 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 Grains Vegetables Fruits Pulses Other (____________) Self-Consumption (apne liye) For sale (bechne ko)

6. RANKING (1 least; 4 most)

Variable Work required (Mehnat) Cost (Paisa kitna lagta hai) Returns (fayda) Risk of failure (paisa doobna) Grains Pulses Vegetables Apple

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

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Variable Grains Pulses Vegetables Fruits

Not enough rain

Too much rain

Hail and weather Pests and related diseases

Low market prices

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/TV c. Government officials told them about it d. 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 produce e. 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 hai

A 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:____

The Agrarian Modern Water supply (Paani ka nal):___ School:___ Health center (clinic):___ Seeds and other agricultural inputs (beej/fertilizer/keetnashak):___

23

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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 of around 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 the market, 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.

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

26

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. 4060 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 fundamental disconnect 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 1.1 29 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 markets 30, 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 a narration of change in which poverty and prosperity, hardship and ease, striving and relaxation, etc. exist, co-exist and take different meanings (in acts and experience). His memory as if remembers the bruises from hardships of past, but also his life flourishes with memory of it. His present while narrates the progress the space in time has underwent, but is also 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 "Untouchability was everywhere, but this doesn't mean that the zamindars did not help." DILEY RAM A Koli from Kandi

34 This might bear significance to those (as it does to me) who have done field studies in, say rural Bihar or UP, where questions surrounding caste or even social change often immediately 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 most of Western Himalayas. To Ambedkar (1944), for e.g. the existence of multiple castes and further sub-castes in a society would almost proportionately increase contestation against each other within the society as well. To Ambedkar this was the fundamental reason for why there 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 just a hypothesis. 35 Mostly, not for cash. The economy of local exchange was not significantly mediated through cash. While most of migration was for cash.

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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. 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 expanding economy 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
37

The boundaries of caste seem to be gaining renewed understandings, with inter-caste marriages and changing economy (and thus political economy). My guide in the field, a Kanayt, who has strong notions of not entering Koli households does not mind flirting with the Koli girls and amusingly they did not seem to run away from blushing in front of him. The Koli and Kanayt, both in regard to changing notions of caste made mention of increasing inter caste marriages taking place in the society. And this is significant if the understanding of caste is to root itself in endogamy. On the other hand, Narayan Singh, a Koli practices cultivation of vegetables at intensity unlike anyone else amongst the surveyed (including the Kanayt). He is preparing 1500 pomegranate saplings for sale (ostensibly, most would be sold to the Kanayt). His cropping of wheat/maize/millets is never more than a bigha (0.01618 ha) and that too for he says, 'replenishment of soil nutrients'. Dola, my guide, who has such strong sentiments 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 Narayan Singh managed his extensive and intensive cultivation of vegetables. He wanted to develop ties with him, so that they could benefit trading.

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

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devotion of household labor to increased farming also resulted into an increase in cattle population. Which resulted into greater livestock as well as business returns form it (and of course a local market around use of livestock and its products). Late 80s and early 90s mark the beginning of vegetable consumption amongst the Kolis as a part of staple diet. Subsistence farming begins to conventionally include what we understand as kitchen gardens. However this did not for most part translate into horticulture practices. So even at the time of study, while 8 out of 12 households consume domestically grown vegetables only two sell their vegetable produce in market. And this as I have mentioned in chapter 1, does not seem to be based (in a significantly determining sense) on land size. One of the two who sell their vegetable produce in market has only a bigha (around 0.01816 hectare) of land38. Two other households engage in commercial cultivation of fruit crops. However none of these households that have started cultivating commercially abandoned subsistence farming. In fact two other households that do not even engage in commercial cultivation ranked agriculture to be their most important source of livelihood, "nahin toh hum khayeingey kiya", even over wage work. Five out of these twelve households could afford nutritional/medicinal sprays for their agricultural purposes.

However as the expanding cash economy to a significant degree broke the boundaries of caste and the notions of what conceived one's duty, the opportunities were more accessible to those who had the capital (social, human, physical, etc.) to capitalise upon them. The Kolis could get into government jobs or skilled works, but only a few people made it. Some of these migrated to cities, and the others stayed in the village and even intensified their agrarian practices. The incidence of horticulture amidst the Kolis also includes investment of money made from these other sources. A large number of Kolis however who rely on wage work, rely on unskilled work. Some narrated of having worked in NREGA, travelling as far as twenty kilometres for the wage work. I would argue that the notion of inequality has formed newer conceptions of boundaries of caste, which strongly exist and permeate into lives of the Kanayt and Koli. The severe limitation of this study being the lack of understanding of how politics takes places and negotiations happen between these spaces. An understanding of political realities is essential for livelihood studies, and the absence of it leaves significant space which in study needs to be catered to. 38 We will explore more of the scope of relationship between landholding size and horticultural intensity in 2.2.

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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 significant 39 as accessibility (through road) was sequenced along with an array of welfare programs 40. 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 upon existing 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 determines significance. 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) has a devta, and there are official positions in the religious order ascribed with certain responsibilities to carry forth. Devta of one village visits the the other, and this is an important part of social relations across villages. People still have strong belief in the local deities. There are festivities organised around the deities - the people along with deities get together at these times and celebrate. The narration of social life in sense of relations (and togetherness) between villages seems to rest a lot on the dev samaaj and the devtaas visiting each other. 42 Also that the pandits, in land settlement had received large tracts of land which earlier used 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", says Bhagwaan 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 in dissemination 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 or Department of Horticulture. 44 The narratives assert that at least 90% of in habitants along the road have started commercially 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. "Seminis 49 are good seed", says Dola. Narayan Singh, Dola, etc. have also tried multiple seeds (including the recent array of 'Chinese seeds') while people like Surat Ram, rely more on what they come to know would work prospectively best. It is can be argued that while those who are relatively well off (even as marginal farmers) are more open to experimentation (and taking risks) than those who are not, and thus forming a vital part in nexus between human and social capital. On the other hand some people do take seeds from the Agricultural Office, while others complain of the high probability of getting diseased seeds. People who have Udyan Card however do prefer getting their agricultural supplies from the office, because of the subsidy50. 46 This is not really barter. It is perhaps rather closer to the idea of voluntary collective work towards collective benefit. 47 We will come back to it again, and how one's place in this commodity exchange is related to newer perceptions of poverty. Much of it in concept we have touched already while discussing of the Koli, and here in it would be a relevant comeback to the Kanayt. An insightful augmentation of this view would be its relation to environment and environmentality; and similarly local institutions of governance and changing governmentality - of which apparently dev samaaj is as well an important face. 48 However there is a very significant component of social capital, which goes in towards expanding agrarian opportunities. This ranges from sharing of information (of agricultural processes, marketing, etc.) to collectively transporting produce to distant markets like Jalandhar, etc. 49 Seminis is a brand from Monsanto. 50 While talking to one of the Agricultural Extension Officers (AEO) in Kangra (in another hill district of the state of Himachal Pradesh), a lively graduate from the Agriculture University in Palampur, she goes on telling how necessary it is for her to maintain quality in what she hands out to the villagers. And that otherwise the villagers would rush upon her, wrought with dismay, loss and anger. She did not seem to be wrong. Whenever I have been

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Most of vegetable cultivation happens with manual labor, including processes like irrigating , spraying medicines, etc. While poly-house farming and practices like drip irrigation are becoming increasingly popular51 in the state, we did not come across any instance of these in our field site. "There is no irrigation here, there is no drinking water; how would there be irrigation. If there was irrigation, there would be vegetable cultivation with ease, all the time", says Balli Ram. Lack of irrigation, and further limited involvement of physical capital (like polyhouses52 or drip irrigation) demands input of human labor intensively. The small vegetable farms (2 bighas and less usually) require regular over sight. Hari Singh and Usha from Bhumaar still keep themselves to subsistence agriculture as none of the household members (involved in a mix of government and private jobs) can afford time required for oversight. Similar was the case with two Koli households that intensively depended upon wage labor for their livelihood. Tree crops on the other hand while also demand labor input, the intense part of it, is limited to approximately three months through out the year, when they need to be sprayed with nutrient oils, insecticides, etc. Vegetable cultivation, at least on account of the technology used is more labor intensive than tree crops. However with prospect of higher revenue as well. "Subzi mein to zyada fayda hai (there is greater profit in vegetables)", says Mangal Chand of Narhaan, who has recently planted 100 tree crops, while keeping vegetable cultivation to a very small area (6 bishwas, equaling 0.0109 ha), for there is no one for regular oversight. Wage rates in the area are as high as Rs. 150 - 200 per day, and thus households try to maximise their dependence on household labor. Following are the surveyed perceptions of peasant households in regard to cost, mehnat (intensity of input of manual labor), risks and prospects of profitability in fruit (tree) and vegetable crops respectively.

there, she knows people personally by their names. In the village people remember her with a fond memory, and not one specifically rehearsing blame. Perhaps, like in most government offices, it depends upon the nature of officials and how they work, and the kind of association they share in their field area. 51 The state encourages an array of agrarian practices, through tantamount of subsidies, for e.g. for creation of irrigation tanks, creating poly-houses, drip irrigation, hail nets, etc. 52 Polyhouses do not as well decreased the required intensity for input of human labor. In my recent (November, 2012) experiences with poly-house farming in Kangra; crops, farmers say, are more vulnerable to pests and diseases than those grown in the open and thus demanding of greater oversight.

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0% 22%

0% 11%

28% 61% 78%

Diagram 8: Ranked perceptions on profitability of fruit crops amongst those who commercially cultivate. (1 - least, 4 most) Diagram 10: Ranked perceptions on costs involved in tree crops amongst those who commercially cultivate. (1 - least, 4 - most)

Diagram 9: Ranked perceptions on risks involved in fruit crops amongst those who commercially cultivate. (1 - least, 4 - most)

Diagram 11: Ranked perceptions on work (mehnat) required in fruit crops amongst those who commercially cultivate.

0% 6% 33%

0% 6%

61% 94%
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

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0% 22%

0% 11%

28% 61% 78%

Diagram 4: Ranked perceptions on profitability of vegetable farming amongst those who commercially cultivate. (1 - least, 4 - most)

Diagram 5: Ranked perceptions on risks involved in vegetable farming amongst those who commercially cultivate. (1 least, 4 - most)

6% 6% 33%

61% 94%
1 1 2 3 4 2 3 4

Diagram 6: Ranked perceptions on costs involved in vegetable farming amongst those who commercially cultivate. (1 least, 4 - most)

Diagram 7: Ranked perceptions on work (mehnat) required in vegetable farming amongst those who commercially cultivate. (1 - least, 4 - most)

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These ranks range from one to four because of four kinds of crops taken into consideration, viz. grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables. Also the perceptions represent those of different samples, one being of those who commercially cultivate fruits and another of those who do vegetables. While inferring the meaning of these diagrams, it would also be of essence to remember that risk, profitability, mehnat and costs all represent aggregate perceptions of the farmers, including the array of choices already made in cropping pattern, technology, etc 53. And thus ranks don't represent perceptions in accordance to a particular standard, for e.g. yield/acre, etc. Thus when 78% of respondents rank fruits crops to be most profitable, it is with consideration to all the above factors (which we have discussed till now). Inferences

from the diagrams above should be meaningfully conferring a lot to what we already discussed hitherto. I will hence not go into detail elaborating upon them. Vegetable crops, in the given conditions do not represent an as profitable venture despite the availability of multiple cropping seasons54 compared to fruit crops. This also on account of already expressed narratives (and perceived ranks) of risk and mehnat (input of labor)55. Fruit crops on the other hand are found to be ranked as costly (agricultural inputs) and risky, while being still perceived as highly profitable. Perhaps this mentions that input of labor is an increasingly valuable scarce resource - both domestic and hired.

In terms of risks, gravest threat (in farmers perceptions) to vegetable crops is usually from pests or diseases. And thus the expenditures in insecticidal and pesticidal sprays amount to the larger chunk of capital inputs. The agrarian practices are primarily rain fed, except for a few households fortunate enough to be having fields by points of ground water discharge. Drought, excess rain and hail both pose as risk in ranks found to be numerically similar.

53 People when stating their perceptions do not think in terms of 'all other things kept constant', like we try to, while theorising upon models. 54 This should not be confused with Mangal Chand's assertion of profitability in vegetable crops vis-a-vis fruit crops for the reason we mentioned in last paragraph. 55 For profitability as a perception will also consider what goes waste in a condition of loss.

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Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Drought 3 2 2 1 4

Excess rain 1 2 5 2 2

Hail 1 4 3 2 2

Pests/ Diseases 1 1 2 3 5

Market Prices 6 3 1 2 0

Table 2.1: Frequency distribution of number of households across ranked perceptions of forms of risk from among the households commercially cultivating vegetables (1 - Least, 5 - Most)
Comprehending table 2 should take into account that ranking is not intended to and nor should be downplaying the tantamount of risk associated in experiences of households. For e.g. while majority of farmers (9 out of 12) rank market price fluctuations bearing relatively lesser risks, market price fluctuations in their narratives constitute substantial dismay with vegetable farming. It is only when I asked them of how they would rank these risks that rather this picture came out. Nevertheless while ranks must not let us undermine the significance of risks, they are important to understanding the functional agrarian life in their own multiple ways. Since the 1990s there has been notable decline of profitability of apple crops on account of increasing attacks by pests and diseases [citation needed]. Of late [better add the time] the focus has been on diversifying in fruit crops other than apple, such as plum, peach, etc. Fruit tree plantations in the area precede the road, however the perceptions around risks are based on the contemporary. Farming households at times prefer not to go through the stages of preparing the crop if they anticipate poor productivity by the harvest season. It is reasonable to assume that now, with greater prospective profit (with saving on carriage in transporting the produce), there would be a greater incentive to prepare the crop as well. People associate gravest risk to fruit crops with pests/diseases.

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Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Drought 3 2 2 1 4

Excess rain 1 2 5 2 2

Hail 1 4 3 2 2

Pests/ Diseases 1 1 2 3 5

Market Prices 6 3 1 2 0

Table 2.2: Distribution of perceived ranks of risks to fruit cropping through farming households that own and commercially harvest them (1 - Least, 5 - Most) I feel that there is a lot left in conceptualisation of risks that this paper would not be able to illustrate upon. Sharma (2011) in one of his important works analysing crop diversification in Himachal Pradesh tries to map variations in agricultural intensity across various size of landholdings56. I also have discussed to an extent on the nature of capital (talking about physical, human, social, etc.), livelihoods and historical trajectory of development. Sharma makes the remarkable finding57 that there are no neat patterns of variation in agricultural intensity correlating to the size of landholding. Despite the diversifying basket of livelihoods (and revering its plausible link to bearing risks in horticulture) agriculture persists to be the most significant source of cash income. In Banjar 78.66% for sub-marginal households, 99.47% for marginal and 98.27% for small landowning households. This difference of contribution between sub-marginal and the rest, is also not a clear trend, with such being opposite in Salooni (96.20% for sub-marginal, 76.80% for marginal and 91.23% for small) and nearly absent in Kandaghat (98.27% for sub-marginal, 96.48% for marginal and 99.36% for small farmers). Despite diversifying livelihood base, the continuing high significance of agriculture might link the conceptualisation of risks to high natural resource endowments, but this is a space which i can not address further in this work. This space I imagine, would contain rich insights into the spaces between notions of modernity, and agriculture and industry (or non-farm sector). In my late 2012 field work in Kangra while many of the young represented paranoia with intensive agricultural work, here most rather, do enthusiasm.

56 He classifies into sub-marignal (0.30-34 hectares), marginal (0.46-0.55 hectares) and small (0.62-0.98 hectares). 57 With field work based in three blocks, viz. Banjar, Salooni and Kandaghat

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Sharma (2011) found cropping intensity (net cropped area to gross cropped area) to be highest for sub-marginal households and then for marginal and then small land-owning households. This trend however did not repeat in Salooni, coming out to be rather the opposite.

2.3 All in All: The Old and the New

Maru Ram (Koli, remember from 2.1) said "roads are beneficial for those who commercially cultivate their farms", later however going on to say, "the village developed of road". We have discussed till now, the trajectories of societal change, and specifically so around livelihoods. We have to some extent discussed caste and have tried to put some hypotheses relating to evolution of capabilities and opportunities in historical context. We have tried to understand the notions of and operative nexus between various forms of human, physical and social capital. We have seen institutions like the dev samaaj. We have seen the old having reformed themselves into the new, the dev samaj for e.g. and the likes of Khoud's son, where caste has perpetuated occupationally but with significantly newer meanings and associations. There are newer institutions, especially those characterised by the universal programs siphoned off from the state. The space in consideration of simple obviousness is one where the old and new co-exist. And the contemporary is constantly reforming.

In this remarkable space, I think we haven't yet seen how newer notions of poverty (or deprivation) perpetuate and regenerate themselves. We would not be able to address them with needful depth in this work, however I think, the word would be insightful and would leave meaningful open ends.

In his work, Alam (year) notes the wonderment in British documents over how agro-climatic zones change over meagre distances in the Himalayas - vegetation, topography, language/dialect, etc. Notably so, with substantive differences over meagre distances, the composition of hierarchy in societies in western Himalayas over all is quite heterodox. This complicates the case for affirmative action58, especially considering number of ways in which boundaries of caste and kinship may be defined. And not only so, it also complicates the

58 On part of developmental state's strategy

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comprehension59 of human existence in rapidly changing society. Withstanding this, how the older institutions (in their genealogy) merge into the contemporary is not less spectacular phenomenon. And if we take Sen's (year) articulation of the relationship between existence of institutions and human agency, the new is as well not less enchanting. Market , for example (as an institution) is a place where the old and new freely exist, almost as an ever changing norm60, with the ever changing human agency, promulgating and seeking gain (or as in economics we may often call, well being). According to Churchland (2012), the notion of gain does not discount ideas of love, concern, etc. in a genuine sense of attachment to the others; it is rather the unique evolution of brain that has wired the sense of well-being in this manner. And thus, what I inherently mean is that this space in Inner Seraj, and the notion of market61 in it, is, all things included - intensely complicated. While changing forms and norms of capital might have facilitated perceptions of well-being for many, to many others they might have also brought feelings of deprivation. Universal programs with their tilt towards affirmative action and benefiting the least well off might leave some with feeling of being utterly deprived.

Khoud, is a carpenter. In Inner Seraj, carpenters are also Kanayt (Rajput- higher caste). Whereas in many parts of Kangra and in parts of Mandi (another hill district of Himachal Pradesh, adjoining Kullu) carpenter households are placed at the bottom of social hierarchy along with the untouchables. There, they are expected to rather mix and marry within them instead. This simple singular example complicates the case for effective affirmative action to uplift the backward castes intensely. While ironsmith and carpenter households marry amongst themselves in these parts of Kangra and Mandi, the latter are not categorised as SC in Himachal Pradesh. Ravi, a lohar (ironsmith) by caste, who resides in Kangra, says that this has left the carpenter (tarkhaan) households utterly deprived. While the tarkhaan (carpenter households) are discriminated as untouchables, they have no affirmative support from the

59 In terms of theorising it. 60 The terms on which there is participation in exchange. For example people from one particular social group (or caste) pervasively known to render a particular service for a particular wage, exists as a norm. The norm though is constantly reforming (slowly or rapidly) with the changing state of human agency (of course not ignoring all the other multitude of factors that affect market conditions). 61 And the notion of market is an important one to consider, because that has been, we can argue, at the the fundamental tenets of modernity and development here. This, not discounting the state, but the tenets of state strategy fundamentally tried to be market enabling.

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state like the lohar do. And what do changing forms and norms of capital (social capital for instance, since we have spent considerable time over it above) do in an expanding market society, to the tarkhaan would be an impending question.

Handi Devi lives in a lone house above Latippary. A widow, she lost her husband early after marriage. She is a lohar, has a son whom she herself has raised for most of his life. Now he is married and takes care of the work (as an ironsmith). She says, she feels happy having a grandchild. Lohars, were not traditionally considered to be untouchables in Inner Seraj. "We used to go to their houses and repair their instruments". Lohar are, however categorised as SC by the state. Now, hence, she is an untouchable. "The world has become bad and selfish", she says, "no one hears to anyone; I have seen difficult life". Earlier she, as a lohar used to get monthly proportion of transfers in kind from the landlords and "they used to treat us well". "We used to go to their houses and work with ease, with dedication. But now they do not allow us into their houses, are not even ready to see our faces. People have become selfish and clever. We also have become clever; we take cash for work or else we do not work. No one is ready to see or hear anyone, and everyone has to live their life alone, this is the reality of life and life is hard". To her, guile62, is associated with cash. To her, the world of the Kanayt where they exchange between seeds and saplings, knowledge and instruments, etc. does not simply exist. This is the way she lives far from it, secluded, excluded , deprived and poor. She did not enter into planting fruit or vegetable crops. Her house is one of the extremely few houses without electricity yet.

There is another dimension into which exclusion extends. And this we have already discussed in parts and probably can be easily inferred. The Kolis who could not benefit directly from expansion of horticulture in the region and rely more intensely on the culture of wage work locally to address their cash needs. The households in Battidhar not only seemed particularly poor but seemed to have views and livelihood practices (likely) responsible for perpetuating and regenerating notions of poverty within the very people.

Of the poor amongst Kanayt, Surat Ram is one. Although, in 2011, whenever I visited him he used to be busy cleaning his garlic harvest, happy about it. But he has seen, he says, and the neighbours say, (including Dola) harder days. In fact that his life has been very hard, having 62 Cleverness in sense where the others (the notion of other may range from individual to household to a group, etc.) are merely a means to one's ends.

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lost his father early. A few years back, in the rains, his house fell, and he had to live with his family in his uncle's house. Having to take care of his family, he did not have much option to study63. "Slowly", he said, "I built the house". He had to build it himself, hiring a few laborers; unlike the old house, which was built collectively by everyone in the village. "Village and life used to be different back then", he said. Now he also works as a peon in the nearby primary school. Dola says, "everyone wanted him to be the peon, everyone knows he is so poor and deserving". Being out to earn so young, probably as a burden has left him hitherto with the notion of poverty. He still has little amount of land, part of which has already gone along with the road. Being out so young, he probably could not harness ways to maximise his cash earnings. Compare this to Hetram for instance, once also seen as one of the poorer. But now everyone knows him for he is so good in repairing electronic goods: from mixer grinders to televisions and pen drives64.

In a cash economy, market, I think is the broadest of institutions that does not exclude anything. While roads make it easier to capitalise upon existing resources, expand the resource base and benefit from the expanding commodity market, the terms of exchange and prospects of well being, are intricately dependent upon the complex web of relations through which forms of power are distributed throughout the society. As notion of working

collectively (like buiding houses) in and for the village, is increasingly replaced by working for cash, those who have been able to harness little access to it, are certainly in the marginalised corner65.

How the complex web of relations is spread throughout a society, is often as well the way in which the relations get institutionalised within that society. And is also manifest in the institutions which exist in the society. The nexus of institutions, power and relations is an important one and overarches from the old to the new. Let's get back to 2.2:, "The dev

63 Beyond the Vth standard. Till then his school education was funded by Varyam Negi, a well-known Negi from Banjar. Surat Ram seems to still have a strong memory of it, perhaps the notion of it equating him the status of others (wealthier). 64 In me, it refreshes the Rawlsian understanding of how both effort and talent (or skill) are arbitrary factors that affect prospects of one's wellbeing and more so, in a rapidly changing society. While what might be called 'effort', often depends on range of conditions (family, social, etc.) arbitrary from one's doing; and 'talent', is more subject to valuation by the society/market (and thus again, arbitrary from one's doing) than being of value in itself. 65 Not that the older institutions did not marginalise. Its rather to theorise the difference between the 'old' and the egalitarian 'new'.

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samaaj thus, driven by the people themselves represented the progressive material aspirations of people as a veritable need"; I have further highlighted upon its vastness and depth (into lives) as catering to immense sharing between its members - of aspirations, prospects, etc., connecting the lowly to the high (economically, politically, etc.). But it is also an institution that exists along the lines of caste. Thus Bhagwaan Singh's assertion that (see 2.2) "Dev Samaaj is for common good", also in its practicality contains, good for whom? It is tenable to hypothesise66 that the array of institutions that exist between the Kanayt are far more profound than those which exist between the Koli. This, not only in terms of connecting to the powerful, but also in terms of formulation of relations and sharing between people. Hira Devi, one of the powerful of the Koli, with husband having served for long in the forest department and also one of the families that has benefited overtime from both extension and intensification (horticulture) in agriculture, it seems, as if lives their (family/household) own life. The neighbours or the other people didn't talk much about them or about Narayan Singh (remember, the Koli who does the most intensive vegetable cultivation). Whereas amongst the Kanayt, people talked and relevantly or irrelevantly mentioned not only others from the village, but as well from other villages. May it be so, that the ways in which poverty perpetuated(s) into the Kolis inhibits further creation of networks, relations or institutions? That their poverty did not give them the plenty to share. Their marginalization, and lack of affirmative action in this regard, inhibits it, and keeps them aloof and trapped into a culture that the Kanayt blame these people for (as who do not look forward to opportunities, new ways, etc. and always lie lazy and drunk).

66 As a further extension to hypothesis that we have made already regarding the differences in the agrarian cultures of the Kanayt and the Koli

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Chapter III: Conclusion

We started with the colonial and early post-colonial narratives around poverty, settled agriculture and migration for wage work. We went through stories about the road being associated with phenomenal changes in social and economic geography of the region. We also witnessed a kind of centrality of the road to the overall developmental change in the larger geography. It accompanied the shift in cropping pattern to wheat and maize and so the diet. It accompanied increasing food security in a region that was marred by poverty and starvation. Another important change was the expanding market for local wage labor in and around Banjar. The cash economy started to expand. These changes were all of central importance to both: the Koli and the Kanayt, both of whom narrated sufferings of extreme poverty, starvation and migration to far off regions for wage work.

For the Koli, land grants increased their capacities to cultivate. The expanding cash economy diluted their ritualistic existence of being wage labourers to the Kanayt families67. However in the first chapter we encountered the sharp difference between the livelihood practices of the Kanayt and the Koli; the latter still largely dependent on unskilled wage work. Many even substantially relied on NREGA in their narratives. While the customary association (of both working for them and taking transfers in kind every month) has nearly withered away, caste has sustained itself, in complex ways, its place in the economy as well as its endogamous existence in society. With expansion in horticulture, incomes, markets, schooling, healthcare and miscellaneous other laws, institutions and programs like Panchayat, PDS, etc. how the existence of caste has also institutionalised itself into the economic and social geography is a very fascinating phenomenon. With the limits this work is based in, it cant address more, but be fascinated by it and how this space is continuously evolving.

Further, the presence of horticulture that we explored also undergoes substantive economies in its evolution and expansion, owing to the nexus through which human, physical and social capital are shared. I would argue that the form of social capital68 that exists in this agrarian setting and enables the sharing of newer ways, varieties, forms of knowledge, assets, etc. is critical for both - survival as

67 68

and take transfers of food grains, etc. in kind from them each month. When you are seated amidst the Kanayt, a conversation would hardly be without discussion about what is happening on fields (in relation to horticulture, or even staple crops).

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well as expansion of horticulture amongst the Kanayt households69. And in this way it is very much a part of the capitals that allow economies of production in the agrarian sector. For the Koli, it thus must not be as simple in experience to bring seeds and pursue horticulture. The ways in which these assets (human, social, physical, natural) are commodified (or are getting commodified), and the value they are taking would be very insightful to study70. By value I mean the psycho-social, cultural perceptions along with the process of commodification itself.

It seems that both Sadangi (2004) and Rigg (2006) have their own relevance [remember from the introduction to second chapter]. Newer influences, livelihood diversification co-exist here along with increasing profitability from marginal landholdings that people value. The exercises of cultural production and reproduction, that relate deeply to the economic geography are also happening in their nested contexts in creative ways.

69

The fact that people ranked pests/diseases/droughts to be more dangerous than market price fluctuations, speaks about the constant need for newer, more efficient and effective ways to cultivate. While in narrations the concerns around volatility in market prices sound no less worrying, the concern around the finding better ways to cultivate and earn sounds voluminous. 70 Remember from 2.1, Narayan Singh and the relations Dola wanted to develop with him, being overwhelmed by the intensity at which he practices horticulture. This instance along with a few others seems one where the performance of class overwhelms that of caste.

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Appendix III: Scribbling some thoughts on Livelihood diversification, Industry and Growth

We tried to understand the excerpts of poverty71 in notions of the 'old' and the 'new' in the changing space of Inner Seraj; a trajectory of change dating itself from the colonial (modernity) to the contemporary (modernity). In collections of this contemporary history we tried to see and synthesise about the place of developmental state in the narratives of change. We tried to see the post colonial state's engagement with people and its espousing of notions of development and progress. We tried to see the almost remarkable sequencing of developmental strategy in Himachal Pradesh. This despite severe barriers of accessibility, little physical or social infrastructure in place and certainly discernibly poor performance in parameters we consider as Human Development Indicators today. As an additional thought, I wanted to write a little on the situating of this remarkability72 in nested context between the national and the local.

The remarkable agrarian success (and to an extent the developmental success) which posits itself against the rather dismal Indian agrarian performance73, can actually be contended to not being rooted in ingenious developmental planning of Himachal Pradesh but perhaps one of the Indian State. Now this is a conspicuous irony - a question upon the very nature of the 'remarkable' we have mentioned and lauded74. But this is where, I think, specifically, the nested context is rooted in. Very importantly and clearly Singh (2008) points out of the agenda towards developing horticultural potential being poignantly one of the Indian state struggling with its macroeconomic instabilities; especially those of food insecurities and foreign exchange imbalances. The agro-ecological niches of the Western Himalayas provided an unexploited but significant space for addressing both of these concerns. The national agenda thus was extensively and intensively put forward by the state through its bureaucratic structures. But not an exercise as simple as creation of a knowledge base and a market for Green Revolution endorsed agricultural inputs. In fact for something as important as agriculture was to livelihoods of the masses, neither was it so that people were easily open to change. There are documented instances of Kairon (the then, chief minister of Punjab) and Parmar (cheif minister of Himachal Pradesh) going from village to village persuading people with the promise of these new agricultural practices (see Sharma, 1996). In Kangra, I have been narrated the stories of Block Development Officials and researchers from local Agricultural Universities coming to cultivate marked portions of people's fields. This to show and convince them of the productivity promises Poverty, as a felt deprivation in the narratives of people. Of developmental strategy and developmental state. 73 Especially when profitability from marginal and sub-marginal landholdings is concerned. 74 And to some extent also critiqued.
71 72

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offered by the newer practices. Markets (infrastructure facilities) for agricultural commodities were extensively constructed through out the state as barriers to accessibility were being overcome at a constant pace. Agricultural inputs were substantially distributed through government programs at heavily subsidised prices. According to Sharma (1996), had it not been for the keen political will of the time towards agricultural development, it would not have taken off. This, at both the centre and the state level. To Sharma, this simple difference significantly explains contemporary success and failures of agrarian livelihoods amidst the hill states of Western Himalayas.

What I want to arrive at here is that it is not at all about minimal state and liberal markets. But it is about an exercise of constant mobilisation of resources and institution building by the state concentrated towards particular developmental goals. While it is not all about the glory of green revolution, the narrative of progress is not without it as well. That it is neither all about the state, nor it is all about the private. The lower castes not having taken to horticulture but remaining participants in the expanding market for wage labor speaks of synergies which exist between diverse economic activities, and between public initiatives and private responses. State's relative success in universalising primary school education, public healthcare, facilitating technical education (ITIs, etc.), etc. are a participant in enabling these synergies.

THE STATE OF COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE: Advantage for whom?

In a reply to one of my e-mails Chetan Singh expressed his discontentment over the prospects of coming of village roads and the discourse of modernity into the unconnected areas of Inner Seraj. Not that he disapproved of the idea, but to him it did not seem enough. To him it even brought possibilities of expanding cannabis plantation economies with greater mobility for the produce. Absence of industry in the region for him was a worry surrounding livelihood prospects for the people (i.e. if tourism is not to be seen as an industry).

While it is true that the climatic and ecological conditions favoured horticultural development in the area, the comparative advantage in agriculture was not a natural one75. In fact its development would not even have been possible had the Indian state itself not been looking towards it. In essence, at its inception it was about foreign exchange and national food security. This leads us to at least two points:

That it was developed through persistent public investment in technology, infrastructure as well as persuasion of farmers towards the same. It is not something which could have come by itself given the economic geography of the region at the time.
75

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It was not the recognition of a need or ways of life of people that at the basest level (of policy
thinking) led to conception of the development strategy. It was rather the nested context which gave space for these developments to take place. In the first chapter we are as well presented with the bias that went against other livelihood/economic activities, such as pastoral transhumance.

If this comparative advantage was a matter of creation through rigorous exercises of institution
building, can the changing economic geography (globally, nationally and locally) or recognition of social conditions (poverty for e.g.) persuasively demand a rethink upon our developmental strategy and exercises of institution building?

Himachal Pradesh's developmental experience has seen systematic and sound institution building surrounding augmenting the potential of horticulture and tourism. Where as development of industry, I am loosely contending here, has seen rather a very haphazard institution building. More on it a bit later. Palma (2007) in his paper examining the phenomenon of deindustrialization attempts to make an overview of the importance of sectors or activities in popular theories and models of economic growth76. His overview, he finds it segregable into three categories, "(i) those (mainly traditional neoclassical models) that treat economic growth as a process that is both activity-indifferent and sectorindifferent; (ii) those (mainly new growth models) that postulate instead that growth is activityspecific but sector-indifferent; and, finally, (iii) those (mainly post Keynesian theories) that argue that economic growth is activity-neutral but sector-specific" (p. 44). What is notable in this overview in context of the paper is the importance of innovation in the experience of sustained economic growth; how this (innovation) is placed between the synergies that exist between sectors/activities 77. Changing78 policy environments at both the national and global level affect the impetus put on sectors/activities and thus on innovation and sustained growth. The generation of comparative advantage79 in particular sector/activities is an important under-pinning through Palma's paper80. Palma observes for e.g. in the case of Latin American countries how the shift to neo-liberal As to whether sectors (viz. agriculture, industry and services) are important or the kind of economic activities being pursued are important in the experience of sustained economic growth. 77 In tendencies that can be generalised. 78 In Palma's observation, the 'how' is not about an analysis of the mechanisms of (a) social phenomenon but rather the macro-economic empirical observation of productivity growth, total output, various multiplier effects, etc. across countries. This, notably concentrated around the rise of neo-liberal and monetarist ideas in development thinking. 79 And effects, the kind of genesis of comparative advantage has on pervasive income multipliers. 80 Both, for countries that systematically industrialised as well as countries that witnessed deindustrialization over time post 1960s.
76

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paradigm81 led to shift in development of comparative advantage to primary commodities from that being in manufacturing. As a result both, share of manufacturing in total on scopes of innovation and sustained economic growth82. output as well as

productivity growth declined sharply. Such kind of premature deindustrialization has crippling effects

Palma associates a particular 'primary commodity effect' to neo-liberalism. And he is pessimistic about its persistent extensive and intensive exploitation without development of capabilities in manufacturing83. He also relates the development of service industries like tourism, to such a primary commodity effect and sees it being subject to the same pessimism84.

And overtime there has been overtime a persistent demand for industrialisation in Himachal Pradesh, the realisation of which seems widespread in election campaigns of both; the Congress and the BJP. Increasing number of higher education institutions producing students with degrees in sciences and the search for secure wage opportunities, i think, have further pushed the demand. The state perhaps has been trying to rely keenly on the primary commodity effect to address its persistent fiscal deficits: hydel power, mining operations, etc. Where as the persistent political pressures constantly call for upkeep/expansion of public expenditure; both in form of infrastructure as well as subsidies. And in this relevance as well the recognition of need for industrialising has been widely recognised but seems to be at best vaguely implemented. This can be widely seen in deliberate creation of Industrial areas in Sirmaur, Solan, Una, Kangra, Bilaspur, etc. One of the most apparent examples the haphazard development is that of the Baddi Industrial Area ( for more see Akshat, 2012). The model applied in other areas is not very different and presumably not less haphazard.

By initial use of the word, 'sophistication', I intended the construction of a development strategy that would take not only nuances of social geography into account but also calculations of productivity benefits and possible synergies between economic activities. One of the increasingly relevant ways to do so are cluster studies (Porter, 2000). Cluster studies represent, I think, a relevant conjunction between the sensitivities of livelihood studies and concerns of industrial economics. The nuanced understandings being of relevance not only for effective addressing of poverty but also optimising the importance location has (or can have) in genesis of competitive and comparative advantage. Here my

From the ISI led industrialisation model. Palma here, is pessimistic about it, at least as far as 'pre-mature deindustrialization' is concerned. 83 And the kind of multiplier effects it can generate. 84 The pessimism is in relation to the scope for development of synergies between economic activities and prospects for sustained economic growth.
81 82

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intention is to articulate the possibility85 of an intuitive comparison between the exercises of institution building around manufacturing industry vis-a-vis agriculture post 60s. Contrary to the latter, the creation of large industrial clusters does not even recognise the presence or nature of local economic geographies. The import of dynamic processes surrounding commodity creation thus a bizarre imposition. Which would no doubt have (and has) local responses. One of the notable underpinnings beneath such a haphazard nature of development probably is the lack of high quality research. Whereas (a little) strangely the development of agrarian capabilities saw (and is still seeing) much more intense R&D initiatives based in dispersed geographies. The number of research stations is still expanding and there are even very interesting, as if, private-public mechanisms86.

What kind of local responses would be there to this kind of institution building, from the Koli of Inner Seraj, who depend still extensively on wage work for their livelihoods is still to be seen. Remember that we attempted to facilitate a connection between perpetuation and regeneration of poverty to the array of institutions (and the outreach of these institutions) people are connected with. Increasing number of small towns that play an important role in relation to the rural life, how will this geography change overtime is poignantly going to determine the nature of agrarian modernity. The rural is nonetheless with rapidly changing aspirations.

Not in a sense of literally articulating a discourse around it here but to intuitively suggest the differences in social relevance of the exercises of institution building (that around agriculture versus that of industry). 86 For e.g. the feedback loops which exist between farmers and locally based research officials, etc. An array of very interesting examples that I heard in Nagrota (near Kullu). Nagrota has a research station.
85

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