Routledge Agrarian Transformation in Western India: Economic Gains and Social Costs

This book examines the economic gains and social costs of agrarian transformation in India. The author looks at three phases of agrarian transformation: colonial, post- colonial, and neoliberal. This work combines macro and micro economic data, economic and noneconomic phenomena, and quantitative and qualitative aspects while exploring the context of historical and contemporary changes with special reference to Maharashtra in western India. It discusses regional disparities in agricultural development, issues of modernisation and social inequality, land owning among scheduled castes and tribes, women in agriculture, pattern of labour migration and farmer’s suicides, and documents the experiences and conditions of the rural poor and socially weaker sections to provide a comprehensive understanding of the significant changes in agrarian rural economy of western India. It also discusses contemporary development policy and practices and their consequences. Lucid and topical, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of agrarian studies, rural sociology, social history, agricultural economics, development studies, political economy, political studies, and public policy, as well as planning and policy experts. Review ‘Historically informed, theoretically nuanced and pluralist, empirically long, wide and deep, sensitive to region, gender, caste, ethnic and class inequalities, this is a definitive multi-disciplinary contribution to the questions of agrarian economic transformation.’ Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor of Development Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK ‘This book explores the history of agriculture and its changing trajectories over the past century and more. The strongest point of the book is its empirical depth and the author's ability to situate his findings in a historical and comparative context with a wide range of conceptual tools.’ Surinder S. Jodhka, Professor of Sociology, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India ‘The book is extremely timely, showing how and why current transformations have numerous undesirable social consequences. . . The interdisciplinary nature and the rigour of the research make this book an important reading in agrarian studies.’ Joan P. Mencher, Emerita Professor of City University Graduate, Centre City University of New York, New York, USA About the Author B. B. Mohanty is Professor of Sociology at Pondicherry University in Puducherry, India. His areas of interest include agrarian transition and crisis in India. He is the Editor of Agrarian Change and Mobilisation (2012) and Critical Perspectives on Agrarian Transition: India in the Global Debate (2016).