Peasants of Manipur: Agrarian Change, Land Tenure and Emerging Patterns of Re-peasantization in India

Abstract

This article highlights some critical agrarian changes that are taking place in the fertile valley region of the state of Manipur, in north-eastern India, which has a history of being the most agriculturally advanced state in the entire region. The focus is on how peasants are seeking survival autonomies through farming intensification and diversification that are crucially grounded on mutual trust and co-operation at the community level; and how age-old tenurial systems are giving way to new ones that serve community purposes, leading to value addition at the community level with very little room for undue private expropriation. ‘Back to the farm’ as a neo-idiom seems to be re-emerging among the peasantry, which until recently appeared to have given up farming as a primary occupation.