The discourse in the state treats all farmers—small, medium, big, irrigated and rain-fed—as a homogeneous entity, ignoring differences in the severity of their problems
Sharad Pawar breached an unwritten rule of Maharashtra politics. Recently, he spoke about the woes of small farmers, albeit those in the irrigated belt. He regretted that a sugarcane farmer of barely two acres of land is often viewed as a rich farmer and that too, rather contemptuously. The statement implied the defence of state support for small farmers, a rare occurrence in the state-level political discourse.
The small farmer is never the focus of a larger political debate. The specificity of his/her issues is rarely discussed, especially with any reference to landholding. Even the distinction between dry-land agriculturists and those with irrigation is rare. The discourse in the state treats all types of farmers—small, medium, big, irrigated and rain-fed—as a homogeneous entity, ignoring differences in the severity of their problems.
However, this wasn’t always so. There was a time when small and dry-land farmers received greater space in the political debate. Even Pawar, who now represents only the irrigated belt, started his political career by organizing small farmers and labourers for the implementation of MGNREGA (then known as the Employment Guarantee Scheme). This was many decades ago and he has come a long way since then. But his stature as the tallest farmers’ leader in the state remains intact.
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