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Introduction: Agrarian Questions and Left Politics in I ndia
Author(s) -
Lerche Jens,
Shah Alpa,
HarrissWhite Barbara
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of agrarian change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.63
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1471-0366
pISSN - 1471-0358
DOI - 10.1111/joac.12031
Subject(s) - agrarian society , capitalism , politics , socialism , communism , political economy , political science , globalization , economic system , sociology , economics , agriculture , geography , law , archaeology
This special issue is concerned with agrarian questions in I ndia and their importance for, and impact on, political analyses and strategies of the I ndian Left. In the 1970s, the development of Left politics generated the modes of production debate and many of the communist parties used their interpretations of agrarian change then to guide their I ndian path to socialism. More than 40 years on, ongoing changes in economic and social relations in the agrarian sector and in society at large make it important to revisit those earlier debates and conclusions. On the basis of the papers of this special issue, the introduction outlines the development of capitalism in the I ndian countryside, its relation to the development of capitalism in I ndia and to neoliberal globalization. It raises the question of how rural class relations have developed in different parts of the country and discusses the extent to which I ndian Left politics has analysed and strategized such development.