Story of a Farmers’ Struggle in Rajasthan: Six Decades of Struggle and No Success

Speaker: Dr Akhil Alha, Council for Social Development, New Delhi

Chair: Dr T Haque, Distinguished Professor, CSD and Former Chairman, Commission on Agricultural Cost and Prices

Date: January 31, 2019 (Thursday)
Time: 3.00-4.30 PM
Venue: Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Lecture Hall, CSD, Sangha Rachna, 53 Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003

Abstract of the Talk

The presentation chronicles a farmers’ struggle being carried out by the farmers of the two villages in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan for the last six decades for getting irrigation water from the Gang Canal which passes through the middle of the village since 1927. The farmers have attempted all possible measures ranging from meeting chief ministers of successive state governments to sitting on fast-unto death but witnessed no success so far. All they have received is assurances from the public representatives. The failure in bringing their village lands in the command area of the canal can largely be attributed to the socio-economic clout of the large farmers of the region, reluctance of public representatives of the region who himself own large landholdings, and the limited support that the struggling farmers have received from farmers’ organizations.

Brief Introduction of the Presenter
Dr Akhil Alha, a PhD from Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University is assistant professor at Council for Social Development, New Delhi since June 2014. His areas of research are Political Economy of Development, Labour and Migration, Discrimination in Labour market, and agricultural economics. He has a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals in the above areas.