FARM PROTESTS: A VIEW FROM THE PAST

For months, there have been protests against three farm laws, posing a serious challenge to the State. However, the tenacity and determination of farm groups, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, is not surprising. India’s agrarian history is richly layered with such protests against the government of the day.

This week, we recommend historian Mridula Mukherjee’s

to understand the historical background of such movements. The book’s contents straddle a gamut of issues: A historical context of farm movements; the emergence of modern peasant organisations; peasants and anti-colonial nationalism; peasants and non-violence; forms of protest and methods of mobilisation; and peasant protests in a non-hegemonic State (post-independent India). Mukherjee’s book is relevant not just to make sense of the present protests, but also to understand and appreciate the deeper roots of such struggles. 2004