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Economic Transformation and Urbanisation: The Future of Pluriactive Small Farmers and Rural Workers in South Asia?
Economic Transformation and Urbanisation: The Future of Pluriactive Small Farmers and Rural Workers in South Asia?
Monday, 11 July 2016: 10:45-12:15
Location: Seminarraum Geschichte 1 (Main Building)
WG05 Famine and Society (host committee) Language: English
How fast is now the rate of urbanisation and migration from villages to towns? What does it mean for poor rural peoples’ entitlements? Papers are invited which analyse available data and/or own empirical findings on social transformation under the impact of a growing urban industry and service sector.
Up til recently, rural poor have been able to stay in their original villages and engage in multifarious work as small farmers, agricultural labourers and workers in the secondary and tertiary sectors. But recent census data for India indicate that urbanisation is now growing at a higher rate.
Questions are many: What is the overall character of this urbanisation – big cities or medium and smaller towns? Is it permanent or seasonal migration? What are the driving forces: push or pull, to simplify it? How do recently migrated poor people fare in the towns and cities? Where are they able to settle and with what means of livelihood, public amenities, security of plot and house, protection from criminality, access to work, schools, health care and sanitation, etc.? What family system emerges – joint or nuclear? What political organisation and representation can they achieve? What is the impact of this process on those villages that they have abandoned? Do urban migrants sell off their land or keep it within the family? What is the fate of small farmers left behind in the context of this urbanisation, and further mechanisation and commercialisation of agriculture? Is there scope for a green economy amongst them?
Session Organizers: