Abstract
The paper argues that the leaders in the ongoing farmers’ movement in India are playing a decisive role in raising consciousness among farmers and agricultural labourers, including influencing them to assert their rights in the political scenario at the level of state as well as the centre. The rising consciousness and fear of land1 seizure are prompting the farmers' collective fight against privatization in the agricultural sector and anti-farmers policies of the central government. Although a pre-existing consciousness has played a vital role in initiating the movement, the movement itself has heightened much consciousness among farmers and farm workers. Their raised consciousness and mobilization for the movement has also forced agriculture related issues on the agendas of various political parties at all levels of politics. Thus, the paper discusses the various ways in which the farmers’ organizations have raised farmers and farm labourers’ consciousness that has motivated them to participate in formal politics which has far-reaching consequences for Indian democracy. Because the movement is ongoing, the analysis, thus far, is preliminary and consequently, exploratory in nature.References
Ali, Imran (1989), The Punjab Under Imperialism: 1857-1947, Oxford University Press, Delhi.
Baixas, Lionel and Charlène Simon (2008), “From Protesters to Martyrs: How to Become a ‘True’ Sikh,” South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 2, pp. 1-18.
Bhalla, G. S. and G. K. Chadha (1983), The Green Revolution and the Small Peasant: A Study of Income Distribution among Punjab Cultivators, New Delhi, Concept Publication.
Gill, Sucha Singh (2005), “Economic Distress and Suicides in Rural Punjab”, Journal of Punjab Studies, 12(2), pp. 219-238.
Judge, Paramjit S. (2002), “Religion, Caste, and Communalism in Punjab,” Sociological Bulletin, 5(2), pp. 175-194.
Kaur, Sukhvir, Rupinder kaur, Anupama Uppal, Gurinder Kaur and Gian Singh (2018), Level of Livings of Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers in Rural Punjab, SLM Publication, Patiala.
Marenco, Ethne K. (1976), The Transformation of Sikh Society, Heritage Publication, New Delhi.
Mukherji, Partha Nath (1998), “The Farmers’ Movement in Punjab: Politics of Pressure Groups of Party Politics,” Economic and Political Weekly, 33(18),
pp.1043-1048.
Natt, Navkiran Kaur (2021), “Refusing to be an Exception Anymore: Women in the Farmers’ Protest”, Sikh Research Journal, 6(1), pp. 133-135.
Puri, H.K. (2003), “Scheduled Castes in Sikh Community: A Historical Perspective”, Economic and Political Weekly, 38(26), p. 2693-2701
Ram, Ronki (2007), “Social Exclusion, Resistance and Deras: Exploring the Myth of Casteless Sikh Society of Punjab”, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(40), pp. 4066-4074.
Ram, Ronki (2014), “Looking Beyond Generalities: Caste, Social Exclusion and Deras in Punjab”, in Paramjit S. Judge (eds.), Mapping Social Exclusion in India: Caste, Religion and Borderlands, Cambridge, Delhi.
Rosenthal, D. M. (2009), “Concepts and Definitions of Consciousness,” in William P. Banks (eds.) Encyclopedia of Consciousness, Academic Press, Oxford, pp. 157-169.
Sen, Samar (1975), “Naxalite Politics in Punjab”, Frontier, 7(38), pp. 5-8.
Singh, Jagjit (1986), “Caste System and The Sikhs”, in Gurdev Singh (eds.) Perspective on Sikh Traditions, Chandigarh, Siddharth.
Singh, Lakhwinder, Kesar Singh Bhangoo and Rakesh Sharma (2016), Agrarian Distress and Farmer Suicides in North India, Oxon, Routledge.
Singh, Pritam (2020b), “BJP’s Farming Policies: Deepening Agribusiness Capitalism and Centralisation”, Economic and Political Weekly, LV(14), pp. 14-17.
Singh, Surinder (2014), “AAP in Punjab: Exploring the Verdict”, Economic and Political Weekly, XLIX(29), pp. 26-27.
Singh, Surinder (2016), “Dalits in Punjab, Cultural Assertion and Heritage Re-
Construction,” South Asia Research, 36(3), pp. 356-376.
Singh, Surinder (2019), “Dalit Cultural Spaces and Contested Culture in Punjab: Relocating the Ravidass Deras and Ad Dharmi Jatheras,” Sociological Bulletin, 68(3), pp. 290-306.
Singh, Surinder (2020a), Social Cleavages, Deras and Politics in Punjab: A Study of Dera Sacha Sauda, Unpublished PhD thesis, Dept. of Political Science, Chandigarh, Panjab University.
Singhal, K.C. and Sucha Singh Gill (1984), “PUNJAB—Farmers Agitation Response to Development Crisis of Agriculture,” Economic and Political Weekly, 19(40), p. 1728-1732.
https://qz.com/india/1942448/indias-protesting-farmers-think-new-laws-benefit-ambani-adani/
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/farmers-front-issues-whip-to-
mps/article35370520ece,
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/debt-on-farm-labourers-four-times-their-annual-inco me-claims-study-164742.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/consciou sness
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2024 Surinder Singh