Abstract
The Government of India acknowledges the increased use of pesticides and fertilizers from the times of green revolution in the 1960s which has brought harmful consequences to health and agriculture. There were multipronged attempts by the state through various policy initiatives to mitigate the harmful effects of chemical intensive farming. The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) [Traditional Agriculture Development Scheme] is one such scheme promoted by the government in 2015 to reorient and redirect farmers from chemical-intensive agriculture to adopt traditional agriculture which employs fewer chemicals and safeguards healthy life. The thrust to reorient and shift farmers from the ‘modern’ to ‘traditional’ method of agriculture by the state discredits its earlier allegation of labelling farmers as “unscientific’, ‘lethargic’ and ‘backward’. The state even though has reverted its stand on farming practices, it does not fade away in supporting modern science like biotechnology to offer solutions. Thus it is a multipronged strategy to bring sustainability to agricultural production and human health with the effective use of modern science and local knowledge. This paper argues that the alternative farming practice promoted by the state is an appropriation of knowledge under the labels of ‘organic’ or ‘traditional’ or ‘local’ farming which has fallen into the trap of institutionalization and the demands of market. It is subsumed under the modern agriculture knowledge without addressing the power relations existing among the knowledge systems, market, land relations and global issues related to farming.
Presenters
Vembanan GunasekaranAssistant Professor, Political Science, Ramanujan College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Alternative, Agriculture, Organic, Knowledge, Traditional, Local, Power
