I am interested in studying the history of the political and the art of government in India along with the logics of populist politics. I have done research and published on the (new) politics and political economy of land and social/resistance movements.
I was trained in Development Studies at the University of Oxford, UK and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. I have also managed a community food security project in tribal Odisha, India and produced documentary films on social issues.
Research topics: sovereignty and state; governmentality and biopower; commodification and financialisation of land and natural resources; everyday dominance, violence and humiliation; subaltern resistance movements; human and property rights; social justice.
This paper presents an ethnography of the India and Bangladesh international border areas. It foc... more This paper presents an ethnography of the India and Bangladesh international border areas. It focuses on the illicit economy, its structure and operation, and more importantly, its linkages with the state apparatus. It tries to demonstrate how the securitization of the border has affected the illicit economy. The paper explores how the triangular interaction between (1) the apparatus of border and security personnel, (2) illicit economy and smugglers and (3) the ordinary society produces a dynamic which is different from the mainland of a nation. It creates an exceptional political space where the normal liberal structure of a nation-state, and the state-citizen-civil society mediations are suspended. As a result, local communities have very little control over either the state apparatus or the illicit economy, and they live in the fear and intimidation—not of the enemy of the state or the nation, but the state's security forces and the criminals. The border is the zone where the naked dance of the sovereign and the criminal power can be witnessed. Keywords Border Á Smuggling Á Illicit economy Á Trafficking Á Cattle rustling Á Masculinity Á Migration Á Security Á Securitization Á Governmentality Á State Á Authority The international border between the two countries is the site where the logic of the nation-state collides with the logic of the social. In this paper, I will explore how this collision creates certain form of illicit social relaionships and economy, and how those change when the nature of the border and its management tranform. Borders disrupt social formations, particularly in a contiguous socio-geographical
This essay engages with the commodification of land in an urban periphery of India. It argues aga... more This essay engages with the commodification of land in an urban periphery of India. It argues against the tendency to reduce commodification of land to “primitive accumulation” or “accumulation by dispossession.” It presents an ethnography of the process of the commodification of land under speculative conditions. The growing demand for land for urbanization and industrialization, along with the availability of speculative finance capital in the real estate market, has made land a scarce commodity. In this land market, local capitals piggyback on finance capital and bid up the prices exponentially in the micromarkets. Speculation makes it impossible for the state to match the market price, and its compensation for the land losers is always quite low, which the latter refuse to accept. The landowning farmers, on the other hand, have developed a capacity to adjust to the speculative conditions and to control the supply of land in the market. Even though they can receive a very good price for their land, they show no urgency to sell it. As a consequence, the state’s plan to urbanize a given area, to create a stable arrangement of clear property titles, and to control land prices become uncertain.
Agriculture has been the target of modernisation for a long time. The earlier interventions of de... more Agriculture has been the target of modernisation for a long time. The earlier interventions of deploying the ‘green revolution’ technologies were a statist project and aimed at increasing productivity. The focus of public policy has shifted from increasing productivity to finding and servicing consumer markets. It is in this context that contract farming and linkages with formal retail sector have been proposed.
The erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal, India had drafted the management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company to strategize a rejuvenation plan for the state’s agriculture. McKinsey suggested that the government should encourage farmers to enter into contract farming, which would allow them to access market, especially the international and domestic metropolitan markets. The documents produced by McKinsey were confidential, but those have been recently leaked. In this paper, I analyse these confidential documents and the proposal to transform agriculture into agribusiness. I try to locate such a proposal at the global level to understand the dynamics of (global) agribusiness and why global agri-capital advocates contract farming. Thereafter, I try to critically evaluate the prospect of contract farming in Bengal and India.
At various points in its existence, the Indian state has deployed technologies to govern the nati... more At various points in its existence, the Indian state has deployed technologies to govern the nation. Recently, the state has undertaken a number of large-scale projects to make use of digital technology. The most controversial of these is the Unique Identity (UID) project, which is registering biometric, along with demographic, information about residents. This paper seeks to understand what is at stake politically in this technological intervention. It aims to explore the political logics and consequences of such a biometric system. It argues that UID re-imagines the economy and the state–citizen relationship as a series of transactions. Theoretically, the main thrust of this paper is to understand the “general economy of power”, as Michel Foucault calls it, which is unfolding in India around the issues of capitalist growth, inequality, social protection and terrorism—and UID signals the technological potential for the convergence of these concerns.
Partha Chatterjee has argued that the concept of civil society neither adequately describes nor i... more Partha Chatterjee has argued that the concept of civil society neither adequately describes nor is analytically helpful in understanding the democratic life in a post-colonial society like India. Civil society is the domain of the elites, who can claim full citizenship, and a vast number of people are excluded from such a process. He proposes the concept of political society: the actual domain of policy implementation, where the government engages with the population. On the one hand, various governmental functions and apparatus approach the population as the targets of policies. On the other hand, the people participate in the political process by manoeuvring in this domain. This space for manoeuvring is not available within the liberal space of civil society. According to Chatterjee, this should be seen as a positive aspect rather than a pathological condition, since it provides a scope for realizing the popular demands.
This article presents the problem of governing differences as a
problem of constituting a social ... more This article presents the problem of governing differences as a problem of constituting a social whole out of the play of antagonistic elements like class, caste, gender, religion, etc, which is essentially a modernist political project in its normative grounding. The problem is explored here vis-a` -vis the trajectories of global capitalism and the options for development (that is, the transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial one) for the smaller federal states. The experience of the Left Front Government in West Bengal, India is analysed to understand the issues at stake. The narrative presented in the article shows that questions of land ownership and freedom from oppression and bodily toil remain the fundamental political problem which determines the course and dynamics of governance of differences, particularly its egalitarian mode. This problematic also points towards the limits of agrarian modernity, which many post-colonial countries have tried to constitute.
"The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 has been introduced in Lok Sabh... more "The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 has been introduced in Lok Sabha, which will replace the much criticised Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The new Bill aims to “ensure a humane, participatory, informed consultative and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation”. It tries to comprehensively define “public purpose” and outlines various kinds of compensation which will be provided to the displaced landowners and the people dependent on the acquired land. It proposes that consent from 80% of the affected families needs to be obtained (similar to the “free, prior and informed consent” policy ideology) and “a Social Impact Assessment of proposals leading to displacement of people” to be conducted before the acquisition. The Bill wants private companies to buy land directly through “private negotiations on
a ‘willing seller-willing buyer’ basis” for their private use. It is quite evident that the Bill is an attempt to gain control over the conflict and violence associated with land acquisition and respond to the resistance movements against land acquisition
across India.
This article examines the tropes of “humane process of land acquisition”, “just and fair compensation”, “public purpose”, “voluntary/involuntary acquisition”, “willing/ unwilling seller” which frame the normative argument of this Bill (and also the debate around land acquisition in India) vis-à-vis the demand of and/natural resources for the expansion of private capital and the demands of the people opposing such acquisitions."
This paper presents an ethnography of the India and Bangladesh international border areas. It foc... more This paper presents an ethnography of the India and Bangladesh international border areas. It focuses on the illicit economy, its structure and operation, and more importantly, its linkages with the state apparatus. It tries to demonstrate how the securitization of the border has affected the illicit economy. The paper explores how the triangular interaction between (1) the apparatus of border and security personnel, (2) illicit economy and smugglers and (3) the ordinary society produces a dynamic which is different from the mainland of a nation. It creates an exceptional political space where the normal liberal structure of a nation-state, and the state-citizen-civil society mediations are suspended. As a result, local communities have very little control over either the state apparatus or the illicit economy, and they live in the fear and intimidation—not of the enemy of the state or the nation, but the state's security forces and the criminals. The border is the zone where the naked dance of the sovereign and the criminal power can be witnessed. Keywords Border Á Smuggling Á Illicit economy Á Trafficking Á Cattle rustling Á Masculinity Á Migration Á Security Á Securitization Á Governmentality Á State Á Authority The international border between the two countries is the site where the logic of the nation-state collides with the logic of the social. In this paper, I will explore how this collision creates certain form of illicit social relaionships and economy, and how those change when the nature of the border and its management tranform. Borders disrupt social formations, particularly in a contiguous socio-geographical
This essay engages with the commodification of land in an urban periphery of India. It argues aga... more This essay engages with the commodification of land in an urban periphery of India. It argues against the tendency to reduce commodification of land to “primitive accumulation” or “accumulation by dispossession.” It presents an ethnography of the process of the commodification of land under speculative conditions. The growing demand for land for urbanization and industrialization, along with the availability of speculative finance capital in the real estate market, has made land a scarce commodity. In this land market, local capitals piggyback on finance capital and bid up the prices exponentially in the micromarkets. Speculation makes it impossible for the state to match the market price, and its compensation for the land losers is always quite low, which the latter refuse to accept. The landowning farmers, on the other hand, have developed a capacity to adjust to the speculative conditions and to control the supply of land in the market. Even though they can receive a very good price for their land, they show no urgency to sell it. As a consequence, the state’s plan to urbanize a given area, to create a stable arrangement of clear property titles, and to control land prices become uncertain.
Agriculture has been the target of modernisation for a long time. The earlier interventions of de... more Agriculture has been the target of modernisation for a long time. The earlier interventions of deploying the ‘green revolution’ technologies were a statist project and aimed at increasing productivity. The focus of public policy has shifted from increasing productivity to finding and servicing consumer markets. It is in this context that contract farming and linkages with formal retail sector have been proposed.
The erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal, India had drafted the management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company to strategize a rejuvenation plan for the state’s agriculture. McKinsey suggested that the government should encourage farmers to enter into contract farming, which would allow them to access market, especially the international and domestic metropolitan markets. The documents produced by McKinsey were confidential, but those have been recently leaked. In this paper, I analyse these confidential documents and the proposal to transform agriculture into agribusiness. I try to locate such a proposal at the global level to understand the dynamics of (global) agribusiness and why global agri-capital advocates contract farming. Thereafter, I try to critically evaluate the prospect of contract farming in Bengal and India.
At various points in its existence, the Indian state has deployed technologies to govern the nati... more At various points in its existence, the Indian state has deployed technologies to govern the nation. Recently, the state has undertaken a number of large-scale projects to make use of digital technology. The most controversial of these is the Unique Identity (UID) project, which is registering biometric, along with demographic, information about residents. This paper seeks to understand what is at stake politically in this technological intervention. It aims to explore the political logics and consequences of such a biometric system. It argues that UID re-imagines the economy and the state–citizen relationship as a series of transactions. Theoretically, the main thrust of this paper is to understand the “general economy of power”, as Michel Foucault calls it, which is unfolding in India around the issues of capitalist growth, inequality, social protection and terrorism—and UID signals the technological potential for the convergence of these concerns.
Partha Chatterjee has argued that the concept of civil society neither adequately describes nor i... more Partha Chatterjee has argued that the concept of civil society neither adequately describes nor is analytically helpful in understanding the democratic life in a post-colonial society like India. Civil society is the domain of the elites, who can claim full citizenship, and a vast number of people are excluded from such a process. He proposes the concept of political society: the actual domain of policy implementation, where the government engages with the population. On the one hand, various governmental functions and apparatus approach the population as the targets of policies. On the other hand, the people participate in the political process by manoeuvring in this domain. This space for manoeuvring is not available within the liberal space of civil society. According to Chatterjee, this should be seen as a positive aspect rather than a pathological condition, since it provides a scope for realizing the popular demands.
This article presents the problem of governing differences as a
problem of constituting a social ... more This article presents the problem of governing differences as a problem of constituting a social whole out of the play of antagonistic elements like class, caste, gender, religion, etc, which is essentially a modernist political project in its normative grounding. The problem is explored here vis-a` -vis the trajectories of global capitalism and the options for development (that is, the transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial one) for the smaller federal states. The experience of the Left Front Government in West Bengal, India is analysed to understand the issues at stake. The narrative presented in the article shows that questions of land ownership and freedom from oppression and bodily toil remain the fundamental political problem which determines the course and dynamics of governance of differences, particularly its egalitarian mode. This problematic also points towards the limits of agrarian modernity, which many post-colonial countries have tried to constitute.
"The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 has been introduced in Lok Sabh... more "The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 has been introduced in Lok Sabha, which will replace the much criticised Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The new Bill aims to “ensure a humane, participatory, informed consultative and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation”. It tries to comprehensively define “public purpose” and outlines various kinds of compensation which will be provided to the displaced landowners and the people dependent on the acquired land. It proposes that consent from 80% of the affected families needs to be obtained (similar to the “free, prior and informed consent” policy ideology) and “a Social Impact Assessment of proposals leading to displacement of people” to be conducted before the acquisition. The Bill wants private companies to buy land directly through “private negotiations on
a ‘willing seller-willing buyer’ basis” for their private use. It is quite evident that the Bill is an attempt to gain control over the conflict and violence associated with land acquisition and respond to the resistance movements against land acquisition
across India.
This article examines the tropes of “humane process of land acquisition”, “just and fair compensation”, “public purpose”, “voluntary/involuntary acquisition”, “willing/ unwilling seller” which frame the normative argument of this Bill (and also the debate around land acquisition in India) vis-à-vis the demand of and/natural resources for the expansion of private capital and the demands of the people opposing such acquisitions."
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Papers by Swagato Sarkar
The erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal, India had drafted the management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company to strategize a rejuvenation plan for the state’s agriculture. McKinsey suggested that the government should encourage farmers to enter into contract farming, which would allow them to access market, especially the international and domestic metropolitan markets. The documents produced by McKinsey were confidential, but those have been recently leaked. In this paper, I analyse these confidential documents and the proposal to transform agriculture into agribusiness. I try to locate such a proposal at the global level to understand the dynamics of (global) agribusiness and why global agri-capital advocates contract farming. Thereafter, I try to critically evaluate the prospect of contract farming in Bengal and India.
problem of constituting a social whole out of the play of antagonistic elements like class, caste, gender, religion, etc, which is essentially a modernist political project in its normative grounding. The problem is explored here vis-a` -vis the trajectories of global capitalism and the options for development (that is, the transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial one) for the smaller federal states. The experience of the Left Front Government in West Bengal, India is analysed to understand the issues at stake. The narrative presented in
the article shows that questions of land ownership and freedom from oppression and bodily toil remain the fundamental political problem which determines the course and dynamics of governance of differences, particularly its egalitarian mode. This problematic also points towards the limits of agrarian modernity, which many post-colonial countries have tried to constitute.
a ‘willing seller-willing buyer’ basis” for their private use. It is quite evident that the Bill is an attempt to gain control over the conflict and violence associated with land acquisition and respond to the resistance movements against land acquisition
across India.
This article examines the tropes of “humane process of land acquisition”, “just and fair compensation”, “public purpose”, “voluntary/involuntary acquisition”, “willing/ unwilling seller” which frame the normative argument of this Bill (and also the debate around land acquisition in India) vis-à-vis the demand of and/natural resources for the expansion of private capital and the demands of the people opposing such acquisitions."
The erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal, India had drafted the management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company to strategize a rejuvenation plan for the state’s agriculture. McKinsey suggested that the government should encourage farmers to enter into contract farming, which would allow them to access market, especially the international and domestic metropolitan markets. The documents produced by McKinsey were confidential, but those have been recently leaked. In this paper, I analyse these confidential documents and the proposal to transform agriculture into agribusiness. I try to locate such a proposal at the global level to understand the dynamics of (global) agribusiness and why global agri-capital advocates contract farming. Thereafter, I try to critically evaluate the prospect of contract farming in Bengal and India.
problem of constituting a social whole out of the play of antagonistic elements like class, caste, gender, religion, etc, which is essentially a modernist political project in its normative grounding. The problem is explored here vis-a` -vis the trajectories of global capitalism and the options for development (that is, the transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial one) for the smaller federal states. The experience of the Left Front Government in West Bengal, India is analysed to understand the issues at stake. The narrative presented in
the article shows that questions of land ownership and freedom from oppression and bodily toil remain the fundamental political problem which determines the course and dynamics of governance of differences, particularly its egalitarian mode. This problematic also points towards the limits of agrarian modernity, which many post-colonial countries have tried to constitute.
a ‘willing seller-willing buyer’ basis” for their private use. It is quite evident that the Bill is an attempt to gain control over the conflict and violence associated with land acquisition and respond to the resistance movements against land acquisition
across India.
This article examines the tropes of “humane process of land acquisition”, “just and fair compensation”, “public purpose”, “voluntary/involuntary acquisition”, “willing/ unwilling seller” which frame the normative argument of this Bill (and also the debate around land acquisition in India) vis-à-vis the demand of and/natural resources for the expansion of private capital and the demands of the people opposing such acquisitions."