The Political Ecology of Food Sovereignty Movements in Neoliberal India
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THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF FOOD SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENTS IN NEOLIBERAL INDIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY AUGUST 2012 By Elisabeth C. Louis “Cedar” Thesis Committee: Krisnawati Suryanata, Chairperson Jefferson Fox Hong Jiang Sankaran Krishna Geoffrey White © Copyright 2012, Elizabeth C. Louis i Dedication For Kasturi, Mom, and Tess, who have taught me the meaning of courage, strength, humor and dignity. ii Acknowledgements I owe my largest debt to Krisna, my advisor and mentor, who steadfastly and wisely guided me through the ups and downs of life as a Ph.D. student over the last 7 years. Krisna, if I came to you looking for specific answers, I rarely got them, but you taught me how to think and to trust my instincts, for which I am very grateful. I thank my other committee members Jeff Fox, Sankaran Krishna, Hong Jiang and Geoff White. Each has played an important role in my academic journey and has been very positive and encouraging. Thank to Matt McGranahan, Graduate Chair for providing me with support for dissertation writing. I will never forget your words “we will not let you starve Cedar”! I thank the East-West Center for my 4-year Fellowship, other travel and research grants and most importantly for providing me with an opportunity like no other – to live in a community of scholars from more than 40 different countries. This was the most mind opening experience for me. Thanks especially to Mendly Djunaidy and Mary Hammond. I thank my other funders, the National Science Foundation for the Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDRI) Award No. 0826287, the Soroptimist Founder Regional Dissertation Research Fellowship, the Research Corporation of Hawaii (RCUH) Dissertation Writing Grant, the University of Hawaii Geography Department, Jagdish P. Sharma Memorial Scholarship, American Pacific Coast Geographers Field Research Grant, East-West Center Field Research Grant, and the J. Watumull Scholarship for the Study of India. iii In India, I am grateful to A.R Vasavi for being an excellent local advisor and guiding my fieldwork research. I thank all the staff and women member farmers at Deccan Development Society, especially P.V. Shateesh the director, Suresh Challa, who made it all possible for me to conduct my research. Thanks to the numerous households who generously gave of their time and were patient with my persistent questions and repeated visits to their houses and fields. Thanks to the Jharsangham Mandal Officer and his staff for allowing me free access to land records and other data. Thanks to my research assistants and others who helped with data collection – Salome, Parma, Leader, Hyderabad Kasturi and Tajjuddin and my friends in the field especially Ushamma, Shailajamma, Susheelamma, Bagamma, Narsanna and Padma, Priya, Sandhya and Sagar. Those 15 months were one of the most eye-opening and transforming experiences for me. My dear friends at University of Hawaii, Nicole Milne and Mary Conran, my gratitude to you for walking this path with me. You have been my most inspiring and fun-loving friends. We shared many things in common including Krisna as advisor, political economy, and theories of development, presenting at the AAGs, hanging out on the Big Island, surfing, acupuncture, meditation, all effortlessly intertwined in our friendship. Thank you also Wendy Miles for being a great friend and support during my writing days and to Sugato Dutt for reading chapter drafts. Other friends and faculty who have been an important part of this dissertation are Miriam Sharma, Monica Ghosh, Jack Kittinger, Bryan Bushley, Tamara Luthy, and Xiaofeng Kang, Azeema Faizunissa, and Ayesha Genz. Thanks to my family at Hale Kuahine (2010 – 2012) for the innumerable potlucks and camaraderie in what must be one the most unusual dorms in the country. Thanks to iv my East-West Center host “parents” Trudy and Al Wong and the Wong Ohana for a wonderful family experience and putting up with my brief appearances while I was in the throes of writing. Sam the mutt, was an integral part of the Wong Ohana experience for me. My family has been most supportive during this process, especially my mother Navaz, my sister Tess and Sabitha Aunty. They called me almost every day to encourage me during to keep going during my fieldwork ordeals from heartbreak to hookworms and typhoid. While they did not always understand what I was doing and why, they were my biggest cheerleaders, and are proud of my achievements today. Thanks also to my brother Tony for the writing and mental health tips and to Jack the yellow lab for keeping things light and real. v Abstract This dissertation considers the role of localized alternative agricultural movements, such as those promoting “food sovereignty”, in mitigating the impacts of neoliberal polices on poor rural regions in India. It uses a political ecology approach which combines a historical view of policies governing agriculture with a place-based study of local actors. It is based on 18 months of field work conducted in the semi-arid Telengana region of India. It finds that food sovereignty prescriptions based on localized, sustainable and subsistence agriculture do not resonate with most small farmers in rural Telengana and paradoxically constrain their chances of maintaining viable rural livelihoods in a harsh economic climate. Contrary to food sovereignty movements’ claims that food sovereignty is essential for food security, this dissertation argues that for farmers to exercise “food sovereignty”, they must first secure their livelihoods, which are determined not by their ability to opt out of the market economy, but rather by negotiating their position within it. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 3 The Field Site .................................................................................................................. 5 Methods........................................................................................................................... 9 The Fieldwork Experience ............................................................................................ 10 Synopsis of Chapters..................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2.SETTING THE STAGE: DEBATES ON NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIC REFORMS ........................................................................................................................ 18 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 18 The Era of Economic Reforms ..................................................................................... 20 Pro Market or Pro State – Drawing the Lines ............................................................... 23 Growth, Poverty and Inequality .................................................................................... 24 Agriculture and Public Investment ............................................................................... 26 Agriculture and Industry ............................................................................................... 28 Agriculture and Trade ................................................................................................... 29 Social Infrastructure and Human Wellbeing................................................................. 31 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 3.THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DEVELOPMENT IN TELENGANA REGION AND ANDHRA PRADESH ............................................................................ 34 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 34 Hyderabad State 1700s – 1948: Land, Labor, Caste and Exploitation ......................... 35 After Independence: The “Creeping Revolution” 1948 – 1991.................................... 49 vii Politics of Neoliberal Reform: 1991 to Present ............................................................ 62 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 4.THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AGRARIAN DISTRESS .................. 71 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 71 Impacts of Neoliberal Reforms on Growth, Employment and Wages ......................... 72 Neoliberal Reforms, Cropping Patterns and Food Security .......................................... 77 Impacts of Neoliberal Reforms on