Inside the Rice Bowl Agrarian Crisis and the rising distress of farmers in West Bengal

The book analyses the complex dynamics of agrarian crisis in India with special reference to West Bengal. The book addresses the central question - how do globalization, technology use, tenancy system, change in labour and in other input conditions, change of consumption culture and lifestyle of the farmers’ household, and insufficient government intervention affect agricultural economy and deepen the agrarian crisis? The book takes into consideration multiple categories of farmers (big, small and marginal), and other landless people who are engaged in farming practices by leasing-in farms called short-term tenancy. The main issues dealt with in this book are: a. The history of agricultural growth and farmers’ situation in West Bengal; b. The problems related to major inputs with special reference to paddy cultivation; c. The profitability of farming in general and farmers’ perceptions of profit in particular; d. The institutional support mechanisms and government initiatives taken for agricultural development; e. The negative impacts of technology use; f. The gap between the household demand linked to socio-cultural change and farmers’ financial status to fulfil those demands; and g. The change in tenancy relations and their impact on agriculture. Besides objective analysis of different aspects of agrarian crisis, the book also answers subjective questions as well. The farmers' narrative on the changing farming practices and agrarian crisis is an important contribution of this book. The book thus offers an eye-opening insight on the nature of agrarian crisis in India and argues that the problems leading to agrarian crisis are not only economic but also social and environmental to some extent.