TRIADIC EXCHANGE RELATIONS: AN ILLUSTRATION FROM SOUTH INDIA

Summary An issue which has attracted considerable attention in the study of agrarian structure is the phenomenon of interlinked markets. Amit Bhaduri has integrated interlinkage into an analytical explanation for stagnation in Indian agriculture. While Bhaduri's model of interlinkage provides important insights into the mechanisms for perpetuation of backward agrarian relations, it serves the thesis of technological stagnation rather poorly. This paper shows that interlinkage is not in any sense an exclusive characteristic of a backward or static, agrarian economy. To the contrary interlinkage has been found to be an integral feature of a dynamic regime which embodies emerging forces of capitalist development: one in which traditional methods of irrigation have given place to modern methods; there has been technological upgrading in all aspects of farm economy; heavy demand for production loans and heavy transactions in the product market. While the agents involved in exploitation ? at both the dispensing and the receiving ends ? may be different from those in Bhaduri's semi?feudal setting, it will be observed that the instrument of interlinkage has an important role to play in establishing social relations of oppression and dependence which bear a strong family resemblance to those which obtain in his model. These issues are studied in the concrete context of a village in Tamil Nadu (South India). Resumé Les relations de l'échange triadique: une illustration tirée de l'Inde du sud Une question qui a attiré beaucoup d'attention dans l'étude de la structure agraire est le phénomène de l'interconnexion des marchés. Amit Bhaduri a intégré le concept de l'interconnexion dans une explication analytique de la stagnation de l'agriculture en Inde. Si le modèle de Bhaduri offre d'importants aperçus sur les mécanismes de perpétuation des relations agraires arriérées, il est peu utile comme modèle pour expliquer la thèse de la stagnation technologique. Le présent article démontre que l'interconnexion n'est en aucun sens une caractéristique exclusive d'une économie agraire arriérée ou stagnante. Au contraire, l'on constate que l'interconnexion est une caractéristique intégrale d'un régime dynamique qui englobe les forces émergeantes du développement capitaliste: régime dans lequel les méthodes d'irrigation traditionnelles ont cédé à des méthodes modernes; il s'est produit une revalorisation technologique de tous les aspects de l'économie agricole; un accroissement de la demande en prêts de production, et un important niveau de transactions dans le marché des produits générés. S'il se peut que les agents concernés dans l'exploitation – en même temps côté distribution et côté réception – ne soient pas les mêmes que dans le cadre semi?féodal proposé par Bhaduri, l'on constatera néanmoins que l'instrument d'interconnexion joue un rôle crucial dans l'établissement des relations sociales de l'oppression et de la dépendance qui ont une forte ressemblance familiale à celles qui sont proposées dans son modèle. L'étude de ces questions est fermement contextualisée dans un village du Tamil Nadu (Inde du sud). Resumen Relaciones triadicas de intercambio: un ejemplo de la India Un asunto que ha atraído considerable atención en el estudio de la estructura agraria es el fenómeno de los mercados interconectados. Amit Bhaduri ha incluído la interconexión dentro de una explicación analítica del estancamiento de la agricultura india. Si bien su modelo de interconexión da una idea bastante clara de los mecanismos que perpetúan relaciones agrarias retrógradas, no sustenta la tesis del estancamiento tecnológico de manera muy convincente. Este artículo demuestra que la interconexión no es de ninguna manera una característica exclusiva de un tipo de economía agraria estática o retrógrada. Por el contrario, la interconexión es un rasgo integral de un régimen dinámico que contiene fuerzas emergentes de desarrollo capitalista; en el cual los métodos tradicionales de irrigación han dado paso a métodos modernos; ha habido avances tecnológicos en todos los aspectos de la economía rural; y gran demanda de préstamos de producción e importantes transacciones en plaza. Aunque los agentes involucrados en la explotación – en los dos extremos del proceso – son diferentes de los ilustrados por Bhaduri como en un marco semi?feudal, se observará que el instrumento de interconexión tiene un papel importante en el establecimiento de relaciones sociales de opresión y dependencia que tienen una gran similitud con las presentadas en su modelo. Estas cuestiones se estudian en el artículo en el contexto de un pueblo de Tamil Nadu (India del Sur)

Gendered vulnerabilities to climate change: insights from the semi-arid regions of Africa and Asia

Emerging and on-going research indicates that vulnerabilities to impacts of climate change are gendered. Still, policy approaches aimed at strengthening local communities’ adaptive capacity largely fail to recognize the gendered nature of everyday realities and experiences. This paper interrogates some of the emerging evidence in selected semi-arid countries of Africa and Asia from a gender perspective, using water scarcity as an illustrative example. It emphasizes the importance of moving beyond the counting of numbers of men and women to unpacking relations of power, of inclusion and exclusion in decision-making, and challenging cultural beliefs that have denied equal opportunities and rights to differently positioned people, especially those at the bottom of economic and social hierarchies. Such an approach would make policy and practice more relevant to people’s differentiated needs and responses

Economic implications of groundwater exploitation in hard rock areas of southern peninsular India

The present paper analyses the consequences of groundwater exploitation by using field-level data collected from two distinct well irrigated areas of Karnataka. The study results show that the consequences arising out of groundwater overexploitation are severe in high well interference area compared to low well interference area. The burden of well failure is more or less equally shared by all categories of farmers but small farmers are the worst victims of resource scarcity. As a result, overexploitation of groundwater has different impacts on different categories of farmers in terms of access to groundwater, cost and returns to groundwater irrigation and its negative externality cost. The study suggests maintaining inter-well distance to prevent resource mining and calls for supply and demand side interventions. The institutional reform is necessary to restore surface water bodies to facilitate aquifer recharge

Control, care, and conviviality in the politics of technology for sustainability

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Water management in rural South India and Sri Lanka. Emerging themes and critical issues. Proceedings of the Indo-French Round Table at the French Institute of Pondicherry, 31 October 2001

International audienceWater resources and their uses and management are - worldwide and on the regional scale of South Asia - one of the main concerns of the environmental and social equilibrium of the new century. These proceedings therefore contribute to the efforts of Indo-French and Sri Lankan-French cooperation to develop scientific collaboration on water management. The contributions by Indian, Sri Lankan and French specialists in the social sciences – historians, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, geographers – as well as specialists in agronomy, soil sciences or forestry, offer critical approaches and data from various disciplines regarding the understanding of water availability and water uses and management in South India and Sri Lanka, along with themes that emerge from these considerations

RPE CBNRM

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