Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar and His Notions on Agrarian Issues: Old solutions to Modern Problems

Abstract: Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar is considered to be the Father of Modern India. He is well known for his anti-caste stance to overthrow casteism in India via his role as a traditional reformer. Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar sought state socialism which would enable education, insurance, industries and land to be nationalised. Herein the state will devolve lands to villagers without any form of discrimination which will ultimately lead to an egalitarian form of collective farming. Operation Barga can serve as an ode to Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar’s vision, but the current forceful land grabbing has initiated a counter-narrative of marginalisation enforced by the state’s hegemonic forces. In the early 2000s large tracts of land were acquired in various locations of West Bengal by the then-Left government such as Singur, Nandigram and Salboni for the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Such forms of forceful land grabbing have resulted in the socio-economic disenfranchisement of farmers including the loss of livelihood and food security. In this paper, we would delve into the issues of land acquisition with a special study of the case of Jindals and redress it through thoughts put forward by Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar. As Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar’s systematic understanding of the land and caste relations is yet to be explored in social sciences.