Exploitation, Interlinked Transactions and Agrarian Class Relations in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract. The article analyses the innovative Marxist conceptualisation of politics proposed by the Slovenian political scientist Adolf Bibič. The latter built on the contributions of Heglo-Marxists and Gramsci to political theory. At the core of his theory, he placed the question of the political power–class exploitation relationship. He distinguished political politics from self-managing politics, and problematised the dominant Western understandings of politics as well as the theories of elitism and pluralism. Moving away from such theories and dogmatic Marxist notions about the withering away of politics, he formulated his project of humanising politics beyond class exploitation and capitalist relations of production. This project assumed a necessary transformation of political practice in terms of the dialectical process of the socialisation of politics and the politicisation of society. Keywords: Adolf Bibič, politics, political science, class relations, economic exploitation.

Hygienic food consumption, household sanitation and healthcare aptitude are some of the important concerns in rural India specifically among the farming households. Hence, it should be ensured that rural masses who exert more physically must take healthy food complying with required safety and sanitation measures for higher physical efficiency in farming and household chores. Thus, in order to assess the food and nutrition consumption pattern as well as healthcare aptitude among farming households of north Indian plains, the current study was undertaken in two representative districts of north Indian plains, viz. Bhagpat (UP) and Jhajjar districts (Haryana). Under this study, a total of 50 respondents of each district were selected by multistage random sampling technique (MRST) in two states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana. The MRST study revealed that majority of farming households emphasized upon safety food consumption practices (72–92%) and household sanitation (32–94%). However, healthy food and nutrition consumption habits (12–92%), physical access to food and nutrition facilities (24–100%) as well as access to healthcare facilities (12–96%) in their household vicinity revealed a moderate response among the farming households in the study area. A fair number of respondents found to posses ill-habits (alcoholism and smoking) which should be avoided by changing their mindset by mass awareness promotional programmes. Overall, current MRST study concluded that farming households of Haryana and Western UP follow sound safe food and nutrition consumption practices; however, the food and nutrition consumption habits, sanitation and healthcare facilities/services need greater attention of community and development agencies to ensure better food, nutrition, sanitation and healthcare among farming households of north Indian plains.

Financial literacy is recognized as a useful tool for making financial decisions. The better a person's literacy, the better their financial management including in making investment decisions, including farmers. This study aims to uncover a future agenda to investigate the role of financial literacy in shaping investment decisions for farmers which is very useful in business development and agricultural development in general. The next goal is to present empirical evidence as an agenda for further investigation into human resource management practices. They use a literature review study approach with a systematic review paradigm. Involving around 38 major journals that discuss financial literacy and investment decisions in the agricultural sector, supported by other journals that discuss resource management practices. The analysis results show that the study analyzes the role of financial literacy in shaping investment decisions for farmers and agricultural development in 16 countries, spread across Asia, Africa, and Europe. The agenda for discussing future research that interests researchers is focused on four things. First, factors that influence/drive investment decisions. Second, factors that shape financial literacy in agricultural business development. Third, household finances. Fourth, is the level of financial literacy. Specifically, human resource management practices that need to be further proven are regarding financial literacy, cognitive bias, and emotional bias in reflecting investment decision-making. Theoretical implications are that financial literacy has been proven to contribute to shaping the knowledge of the community (farmers and business actors) when making investment decisions. To strengthen this, further evidence is needed, along with factors that influence (including barriers) financial literacy. Farmer households are the most frequently suggested subjects. Practical implications are that the Government and other parties involved in financing agricultural businesses must participate in providing scenarios and infrastructure (technology and innovation) to support financial literacy for farmers and the general public. Keywords: Financial literacy, decision making, investment, farmers, farmer household, human resource management, review, future agenda.

In this paper, we attempt to identify and analyze the issues and problems associated with the agriculture sector of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh (U.P.). We begin with the pre-Green Revolution period, from the early 1960s and examine the growth of agricultural outputs springing from the Green Revolution in U.P. and those in relation to Punjab and Haryana, India’s most successful states as far as the agriculture sector is concerned. Additionally, we study of the growth of agricultural inputs in U.P overtime to consider intrastate variations in patterns of agricultural development between western and eastern U.P. In order for U.P. to be able to attain and sustain higher levels of growth in its agriculture and allied sectors, the following areas will require much higher public investments and the state government’s attention: increased focus on irrigation; increased expenditure in agricultural research and development; capacity expansion in U.P.’s agricultural universities; diversification of crops; revamping of the agricultural extension system to assist farmers in adopting new technologies; building up rural infrastructure, and promotion of agro-based industries.

Brian Lander defines his project as “the first English-language monograph on the environmental history of early China” (11). Lander tells the story of people in early China transforming the environment through the combination of technology and social organization, culminating in a centralized bureaucratic empire. Natural ecosystems were replaced with artificial ones, which were amenable to the extraction of energy by humans in general and state rulers in particular.The book's dual focus is on agriculture and the state. The opening chapter provides a theoretical introduction to the nature of political power. According to Lander, it is embedded in the production and extraction of surplus, intensified through violent competition among the states. The rest of the book traces the interplay between agricultural expansion and political power from the origins of agricultural food production in China circa 6000 BCE to the foundation of the empire in 221 BCE. Lander shows how domestication of animals and plants, especially grain crops, generated taxable surpluses available for appropriation by the states that, in turn, encouraged people to replace the surviving natural ecosystems with agricultural ones. Interstate competition incentivized states “to increase productivity for increased military power” and consequently scaled up the environmental imprint of human societies (203). This is why the aptly named Warring States period (453–221 BCE) was a time of extraordinary technological (e.g., iron metallurgy) and organizational innovation (e.g., bureaucratic government), contributing to the expansion of agricultural ecosystems.Lander's narrative is organized both chronologically and thematically. As a result, some historical periods are addressed in more than one chapter in varying contexts. Chapter 2 primarily focuses on the formation of complex societies during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age (ca. 8000–1000 BCE). This is the most “environmental” chapter of all. The author summarizes archaeological data on vegetation and wild fauna of northern China, the domestication process, human diet, health conditions, and impact on ecosystems.The following chapters are more focused on the state. Chapter 3 deals with the rise of political organization in China from the late third to the mid-first millennium BCE and shows how the increasingly powerful states expanded “the productivity, and thus the environmental impact, of human societies” (75). Chapter 4 focuses on the state of Qin, which, between the eighth and the third century BCE, grew from a humble regional polity in northwestern China to the unifier of the known world. Chapter 5 discusses the political economy and ecological impact of the Qin Empire in the third century BCE. Chapter 6 addresses the Qin Empire's legacy for the human-environment relationships in imperial China and argues that empires contributed to expanding agricultural ecosystems by establishing peace and providing physical and institutional infrastructures.The book is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the human impact on the environment in ancient East Asia. Its excellent readability and Lander's readiness to venture beyond early China studies to engage a broad range of topics makes it interesting to a broad audience. These topics include the ecological foundations of political power and the detrimental effects of interstate competition on the environment.Ambitious projects such as The King's Harvest often expose themselves to criticism by specialists in the relevant research fields. Students of Chinese history may wonder if one can write an “environmental history of early China” based on the evidence from a relatively small region of Guanzhong (in the present-day Shaanxi Province of China). Lander's occasional overreliance on normative texts such as legal statutes would probably unsettle some archaeologists and environmental historians. Parts of the book—for example, chapter 5—are about institutions and state economy rather than environment and subsistence. Economic historians can be excused for frowning upon Lander's superficial treatment of markets as a driver of economic and environmental change. It has been ten years since Robert Marks's China: Its Environment and History (2012) identified markets as one of the three social structures, along with centralized states and farming households, by which the Chinese transformed their environment.Yet this criticism highlights rather than belittles the book's strengths. By focusing on the best-documented and historically significant region, paying attention to the actors’ ideologies and motivations, and highlighting the states as a central force in environmental history, Lander drives home the book's key message. Humans have successfully created political structures that destroy natural ecosystems, and they may also be able to create ones that restore and preserve them.

The article explores Mao’s conception of the revolutionary subject, focusing on the relationship between the peasantry and proletariat. In the years after the October Revolution, when vulgar and reductionist readings and interpretations of Marx seemed to prevail, Mao, influenced by the specific material conditions and class relations in China, conceptualised an important novelty within the Marxist tradition. Namely, he developed a very different and original understanding of the revolutionary subject, and especially a different understanding of the relationship between the proletariat and peasantry. He introduced the split between the main revolutionary subject––the proletariat––and the main revolutionary force––the peasantry. This novelty, which was unique up to that point in Marxist theory, enabled Mao to think of the Chinese revolutionary movement within a Marxist framework while considering the material conditions of life in China.

The application of livelihood resilience theory in mining-under village relocation areas, coupled with the assessment of the coupling coordination degree between farming household livelihood resilience and ecological livability, is crucial for advancing sustainable development in mining regions and revitalizing rural communities. To examine whether a synergistic enhancement effect exists between the livelihood resilience and ecological livability of relocated farming households, this study utilizes a dataset of 1027 survey responses from farming households in typical mining-under-relocated villages within the eastern plain mining region of China. A measurement index system for farming household livelihood resilience was developed, encompassing three dimensions: buffering capacity, self-organization capacity, and learning capacity. Simultaneously, an evaluation index system for farming household ecological livability was constructed, focusing on three key dimensions: green production, green living, and green ecology. Using these frameworks, the coupling coordination degree between farming household livelihood resilience and ecological livability, along with its influencing factors, was analyzed. The findings reveal the following: (1) The overall livelihood resilience of relocated farming households in mining-under villages is relatively low, with the ranking being buffering capacity > learning capability > self-organization ability. The central village aggregation model demonstrates significantly greater resilience compared to the mine-village integration model. (2) The ecological livability across different relocation models is generally high, and farming households in the town-dependent village construction model, the central village aggregation model, and the suburban community model exhibit significantly higher ecological livability levels compared to those in the mine-village integration model. (3) The coupling coordination degree between livelihood resilience and ecological livability varies across relocation modes, with most modes demonstrating moderate to high-quality coordination. (4) Leadership potential and the presence of water-flush toilets are the most significant factors influencing the coupling coordination degree between livelihood resilience and ecological livability. This study provides valuable insights into the interplay between livelihood resilience and ecological livability in relocated farming households, offering practical implications for sustainable development and rural revitalization in mining regions.

This paper seeks to explore the main changes in the nationalized British coal industry in the period following the national strike of March 1984 to March 1985, against the backgrounds of a specific interpretation of this strike and its outcome and a view of general developments in the energy sector. The post-strike restructuring is examined with respect to changes in capital structure, the organization of labour-power and surplus extraction, and management strategies and class relations. The paper concludes with a discussion of the prospects for the industry and a brief evaluation of its experience.

Social reproduction and women’s unpaid reproductive labour are integral both to capitalist production and class relations, and to international and national political economies. Based on an original theoretical framework that combines a Thompsonian historical materialist class approach, a Marxist-feminist social reproduction approach and a feminist political economy approach to the everyday, this article suggests that productive and reproductive work should be analysed as an integrated process and everyday experience of social life, and in relation to each other. This argument is then applied to the case of Turkey to indicate the interplays between the productive and reproductive realms at the national political economy level and the significant role of the state in shaping the reciprocal relationships of production and reproduction. Building on an ethnographic extended case study of women garment workers carried out over 14 months, it then analyses the interrelatedness of production and reproduction at the everyday level, within women’s daily experiences and from their own perspectives. Overall, the article argues that the relations and socio-material conditions of production and reproduction are constitutive of each other at the macro and micro political-economic levels and should be analysed from a comprehensive, relational approach in their historical and geographical context and in dialogue with the everyday.

In countries in which one political p arty is dom inant, attention naturally centers on th at party.This book is unusual because it con centrates on w hat were until recently the la rg e s t o p p o sitio n p a rtie s in th e la rg e st Indian state.I t deals with such questions a s : W hat problems are involved in building an opposition p arty in a dom inant-party sys tem , p a rtic u la rly in a new ly in d ep en d en t underdeveloped country?W hat effects do opposition parties experience when the dom inant p arty is identified with the winning of national independence?W hat relationship is there between the goals of the dom inant p arty and the activities of opposition p ar ties?In considering these questions, Mrs. B urger offers hypotheses th a t can be tested in dom inant-party systems outside of India.Very little has been w ritten about the Ja n Sangh, P raja Socialist, and Socialist parties in U tta r P radesh, for u n til recen tly these were small entities in a system dom inated by the Congress P arty.In the Indian G en eral E lections of 1967, however, p o p u lar support for the Congress P a rty declined so m arkedly th a t the three parties in question

This essay introduces a collection of articles that explores the idea of federalism and its discontents in contemporary India. It exposes the central concern of the special issue, namely, why what might be considered federal values are being contested in India because of the return of a one-party dominant system presided over by an ethnic nationalist party. On the one hand, as articles in the special issue demonstrate, we see the vigorous defense and promotion of the idea and significance of federalism by regional political actors. On the other, the rise of a more unitarian majoritarian nationalism has brought India’s status as a federal system, and what federalism in the Indian context entails, back into essential contention. This introduction presents the institutional and ideational contours of federalism in India, provides an overview of the articles in the special issue, and offers a discussion into how political changes to the landscape of federalism—the main focus of the special issue—must be seen within a wider political economy context of widening regional economic inequality and the (un)sustainability of the existing framework of fiscal redistribution.

Green agriculture is a new sustainable agricultural development model that coordinates agricultural development with the environment which has been vigorously promoted in China in recent years. With the support of national policies, China has set up 130 pilot zones for green agricultural development. Taking these pilot zones as quasi-natural experimental areas, the difference-in-differences (DID) method and agricultural green total factor productivity are used to evaluate the effect of the policy in the pilot zones. The findings indicate that the pilot zones notably diminish non-point source agricultural pollution without affecting agricultural added value and improve agricultural green total factor productivity by improving technical efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effectiveness of this policy varies regionally. The eastern region of China, the main agricultural producing areas, and the regions with higher initial environmental pollution levels and abundant educational resources experience more pronounced benefits. Based on the regional characteristics of different regions, this study considers the factors such as agricultural resource endowment and development basis and explores how the policy effects of agricultural green development in different regions, which has certain guiding significance for the continuous improvement in China’s agricultural green development policies.

Women's empowerment and varietal replacement of crops are often unconnected domains in agricultural development; an experience connecting both in India has global potential. Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana, a women's empowerment and poverty reduction program in Uttar Pradesh, embedded seed practices within the collective structure of women's self-help groups. Through collective efforts, women became successful in the production and dissemination of quality seed of new rice and wheat varieties, reaching more than 30,000 small-scale farmers. They appropriated several components of the seed value chain; their social capital became instrumental in varietal replacement. The self-perception of women as knowledgeable farmers changed, as did the perception of household and community members; therefore, seed activities contributed to intrinsic women's empowerment. • The social capital of SHGs is an asset for inclusive and effective seed systems. • SHG involvement in seed systems increases access to new varieties for poor farmers. • Early generation seed supply hinders seed producers' access to new varieties. • Development organizations working with SHGs can contribute to varietal replacement. • Seed activities of women SHGs contribute to instrumental and intrinsic empowerment.

Abstract. For many regions of the Far East, the commercialization of scientific developments in agriculture is primarily associated with creating interest in innovative products of medium and small producers, such as Peasant Farms (PF) and Personal Subsidiary Farms (PSF), which constitute the main share of agricultural producers in the Far East. Methods of systematic and abstract analysis, synthesis, which served as a basis for application and identification of cause-and-effect relations in solving the problems of promotion of innovation development in agriculture in the region. The system of innovation promotion for medium and small producers on the example of the Buryat State Agricultural Academy is considered. The scientific novelty lies in the development of a model of involving small and medium agricultural producers in innovation activity by promoting innovation development of universities. In the article, there is a description of the project of the Buryat State Agricultural Academy on promotion and popularization of agro-innovations, which has been adopted for implementation. As a result of this project, structure responsible for commercialization of innovative products, design and prototyping of innovative agricultural products have been created in addition to the traditional research departments of the university. The proposed model is aimed at generating interest in innovations among the main producers of agricultural products in the region – private farms and household farms, which currently shun innovations due to the prevailing opinion about the high cost of production and promotion of innovative products. The article describes the mechanism for the formation of interaction channels for testing innovative agricultural products, informing manufacturers about the results of testing, reducing risks for business and the process of promoting innovative developments of the university through the involvement of small and medium-sized agricultural producers.

Amid global economic transformation, a persistent productivity gap exists between developed and developing nations in agriculture sector, shaped by technological advancements and shifting resource allocation patterns. Agricultural socialized services (ASS), defined as organized systems providing technical support, mechanization assistance, information services, market linkages, and resource optimization to farmers, have emerged as critical mechanisms for agricultural development. In developing economies, these services catalyze gains in agricultural labor productivity through the integration of advanced technologies and the mechanization of farming practices. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces during 2011 to 2022, this study investigates the relationship between ASS and ALP, focusing on regional heterogeneity, threshold effects, and spatial spillovers. The combination of spatial econometric methods and threshold analysis was selected for its unique capacity to capture both the geographic interdependencies and nonlinear relationships that characterize agricultural development processes. These thresholds at 5.254 and 8.478 represent critical points where the impact of ASS on ALP significantly changes in magnitude, revealing a nonlinear relationship that evolves across different stages of agricultural development. The study highlights notable regional disparities in the impact of ASS. Specifically, ASS is more effective on ALP in eastern, central and key food-producing regions, while its impact is relatively weak in western and non-food-producing regions. Spatial spillover analysis indicates that advancements in ASS create positive externalities, extending beyond their immediate implementation zones and facilitating inter-provincial agricultural cooperation and development. These findings provide crucial guidance for policymakers and agricultural service providers to optimize resource allocation and service delivery strategies. By identifying critical development thresholds and regional variations, this research offers evidence-based support for government officials designing targeted agricultural policies and enterprises developing region-specific service models to foster sustainable agricultural growth across diverse regional landscapes.