Centre for South Asian Studies

Description

Drawing from my research in Punjab, I argue that, in essence and in practice, the demand for cultivable land by the historically landless Dalits comes in direct conflict with the regional hegemony of Jats. This regional hegemony, among other things, is constituted through “village community”/clans and monopolization of the kisan (peasant) identity. In the villages of Punjab, the red line (lal lakir or lal dora in Punjabi) marks the separation of the residential and the agricultural parts of the village. How did this system of village and social organisation come into being? How did it relate to the processes of agrarian change, social and religious reforms over the years? Most importantly, how and where were Jats and other castes, especially Dalits, located within this village and social organisation? In answering these questions, I critically analyze three popular claims about “Punjab exceptionalism”: that Punjab has always been the land of small peasant proprietors, that the province was governed more favourably during the British period and finally that the caste system in Punjab is different in its inspirations and practices, when compared to other regions of India. I contend that despite varied processes of agrarian change in the state over the last two centuries, especially the enormous transformation of the rural economy, the basic village-social framework underlying it remains intact. Drawing from the conceptual worlds of agrarian history, regional dominance, village commons, and caste politics, I argue that the Dalit movement for land fights against the entire might of caste society at multiple levels.  

(The session will be chaired by Prof Roger Jeffery, UoE)