Indian State, agriculture and peasants

The peasant movement of 2020-21 has once again brought the peasantry and agriculture as one of the mainstays of Indian politics. This movement clearly brings out the unstable nature of Indian agriculture and also points towards the crisis faced by it. Agriculture has always been a central focus in Indian politics. The Govt. policies have generally impacted the lives of the peasants in a negative manner. After independence, the question of the State providing support or withdrawing support to agriculture has always been an important question. In order to understand the changes in the socio-economic status of the peasants after independence, we have to understand the preceding colonial and feudal structures also. The national movement in the early part of 20^th Century in India was closely intertwined with the peasant movements that would take place in different parts of the Country. The National Movement created social consciousness among the peasants leading to protest against exploitative policies and structures. The colonial state and the structures preceding it created such institutions and structures for the purpose of extracting maximum revenues from the peasants. The colonial state and the feudal princely rulers were not at all concerned with the welfare of the peasants. The intermediate structures between the State and the peasants were created to extract the maximum surplus value from agriculture. The princely states and the feudal lords would pay to the colonial state which in turn gave them complete freedom to exploit the peasants to the hilt and made these rulers and intermediaries absolutist.