Translations of recent articles related to agriculture

We will be posting here links to translations of writings on the current agrarian crisis and agitation, as and when we receive them. We request readers to refer to this page for updates regarding translations.

These and other translations are also collected at the following link: https://rupeindia.wordpress.com/category/translations/

We understand that readers have translated or adapted articles from the blog into other languages as well. If this is the case, we request them to send us the pdf files or web links for posting at this site, so they can reach more readers.

— RUPE

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The Kisans Are Right. Their Land Is At Stake (Part 2 of 3)

March 2, 2021

English: https://rupeindia.wordpress.com/2021/02/03/the-kisans-are-right-their-land-is-at-stake-part-2-of-3/
Telugu: https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/kisans2telugu.pdf

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The Kisans Are Right. Their Land Is At Stake (Part 1 of 3)

January 26, 2021

Telugu: https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/kisans1telugu.pdf

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When Multinational Grain Traders Told an Official Committee Why They Wanted the FCI to Be Wound Up

January 10, 2021

English: https://rupeindia.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/when-multinational-grain-traders-told-an-official-committee-why-they-wanted-the-fci-to-be-wound-up/

Telugu (translation by Paruchuri Jamuna): https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/graintelugu.pdf

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Modi’s Farm Produce Act Was Authored Thirty Years Ago, in Washington D.C.

January 5, 2021

Telugu: https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/telugumodi.pdf

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Peasant Agitation against Three Acts: Not Their Fight Alone

December 3, 2020

English: https://rupeindia.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/peasant-agitation-against-three-acts-not-their-fight-alone/

Hindi: https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/hbooklet.pdf

Telugu (translation by Paruchuri Jamuna): https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/telugupeasant-1.pdf

Marathi (translation by Rashmi Divekar and Vandana Palsane): https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/marathi.pdf

Tamil adaptation: https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/tamil.pdf

Tamil: full translation at https://tamilrupe.wordpress.com/ .

Turkish: The progressive Turkish website İleri Haber has published the Turkish translation of “Peasant Agitation against Three Acts” by Onurcan Ülker: https://ilerihaber.org/icerik/ceviri-koylulerin-uc-yasaya-karsi-galeyani-kavga-yalnizca-onlarin-degil-122394.html

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A publication of May 2017 that remains relevant:

No.s 66-67: India’s Peasantry under Neoliberal Rule

English: https://rupe-india.org/66/contents.html

Hindi translation by the Karwan Collective, which may be contacted at karwancollective(at)gmail.com.

The pdf of the entire book is freely downloadable at https://rupeindia.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/aspects66.pdf

Tamil:

Print edition translated and published by New Democratic Labour Front. Distributed by:

Keezhai-k-Katru.
16, Arumalai chavadi,
Cantonment Pallavaram,
Chennai – 600043.
India.
Cell:9444881066

(Note: We could not ascertain if copies are still available.)

Oriya

The Oriya print version, Nabya Udarabadi Sasanare Bharatara Krushaka, has been published by

Subarnashree Prakashini, Neliabag, Shreekanthapur,
Baleswar, Odisha.
Phone: 06782-261020.
Price: Rs 130.

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The Kisans Are Right. Their Land Is At Stake (Part 1 of 3)

[A Telugu translation of this article is included in Bharata Raitangam Pai Daadi (translator: P. Jamuna), the pdf of which can be found here.]

[A Marathi translation of this article (translator: Rashmi Divekar) is available here as a pdf.]

Part 1

The protesting kisans on the borders of Delhi repeat one thing over and over: When fighting against the three farm-related Acts, they are fighting to save their land.

“See, they want to capture our land.  Adani, Ambani, corporate houses…” says one young protester. Though wheelchair-bound, he has come from Punjab to take part in the Delhi protest. An older kisan, shelling peas for the protesters’ collective kitchen, declares: “The Britishers, they captured our land. We shooed them away. We have to do the same thing now. We will not rest till we shoo them away.”

Yet the authorities are unanimous in declaring: the kisans are misled. There is no threat to their land. 

• The Prime Minister asserted on December 15: “a massive conspiracy is underway to misguide farmers in Delhi and nearby areas. They are being intimidated that others will occupy the land of farmers after the new agricultural reforms. Brothers and sisters, I want to know from you whether any dairy owner who enters into a contract with you for milk takes away your cattle. Whether the land of those trading in fruits and vegetables is taken away?”

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When Multinational Grain Traders Told an Official Committee Why They Wanted the FCI to Be Wound Up

[A Telugu translation of this article is included in Bharata Raitangam Pai Daadi (translator: P. Jamuna), the pdf of which can be found here.]

An official report prepared under the Vajpayee government in 2002 gives us a glimpse of some of the major lobbies pressing for restructuring of India’s agriculture and food economy.

What interests lie behind the three Farm Acts of the Modi government? Various private corporate interests, domestic and foreign, with stakes in: trading in grain and other agricultural commodities; contract or corporate farming; logistics (including storage and transport of agricultural products); seeds, fertiliser, and other inputs; food processing; organised retail; and financial sector activities (including investment in commodity markets).

Worldwide, many of these firms are involved in multiple activities. The leading agricultural traders own ocean-going ships, ports, railways, refineries, silos, oil mills and factories. Their activities include growing crops; selling inputs; buying output, transporting and storing it; processing crops to produce various products, or supplying other producers of final goods; and carrying on sophisticated financial speculation in agricultural commodity markets.

The financial news service Bloomberg once said that Cargill was not only part of the value chain but was the chain itself – from the field to the shop counter. In a 2001 corporate brochure Cargill described itself thus: “We are the flour in your bread, the wheat in your noodles, the salt on your fries. We are the corn in your tortillas, the chocolate in your dessert, the sweetener in your soft drink. We are the oil in your salad dressing and the beef, pork or chicken you eat for dinner. We are the cotton in your clothing, the backing on your carpet and the fertilizer in your field”.[1] Four such firms, of which Cargill is the largest, control 70 per cent of the world market in agricultural commodities.

Although the major Indian business groups Reliance and Adani have both strenuously denied pushing  the so-called ‘reforms’, and the Modi government has strenuously claimed that it has no plans to wind up  public procurement,  both Government officials and private investors state their views and demands more frankly behind closed doors. These demands are then processed into recommendations by official committees – dressed in the language of ‘greater efficiency’ and ‘fiscal savings’.

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Correction

A paragraph was inadvertently left out of our previous post. The matter has now been corrected. For those who received email alerts, please read the corrected post at https://rupeindia.wordpress.com/2021/01/05/modis-farm-produce-act-was-authored-thirty-years-ago-in-washington-d-c/.

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Modi’s Farm Produce Act Was Authored Thirty Years Ago, in Washington D.C.

[A Telugu translation of this article is included in Bharata Raitangam Pai Daadi (translator: P. Jamuna), the pdf of which can be found here.]

The kisan agitation at the gates of Fortress Delhi has forced even the corporate media to take note of the corporate drive to capture control of the remaining non-corporate sectors of the country’s economy, including its agriculture; the phrase “Ambani-Adani” is now a popular term for this process.

At the same time, the ‘reforms’ which the Modi government is trying to impose on India’s agriculture are part of a broader process of imperialism’s increasing capture of the Indian economy. Indian business giants such as Reliance and Adani are major recipients of foreign investment, as we have seen in sectors such as telecom, retail, and energy. At the same time multinational corporations and other financial investors in the sectors of agriculture, logistics and retail are also setting up their own operations in India. Multinational trading corporations dominate global trade in agricultural commodities. For all these reasons, international capital has a major stake in the restructuring of India’s agriculture.

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