RITU PANDEY mulls on the relevance of a harvest festival in times of severe agrarian crisis, and how for the rest of India, the festival has become an excuse for everything other than farming
It was triggered by an invite. To a Rongali Bihu celebration in Guwahati on a March noon when heavy unseasonal rain lashed my office window, and TV new channels reported severe losses to the farming community across the hinterland on account of it. States across the country celebrate their spring harvest festivals, which fall more or less on the same day, as thanksgiving for the good harvest, and to mark the onset of their respective solar new years. It left me wondering how relevant a harvest festival was in times of a severe agrarian crisis in the countryIJ
Standing Rabi crop in 14 States across India is reported to have been damaged over the past one month due to unseasonal rain and hailstorm, amounting to losses of over Rs7,600 crore. Though farmer suicides, debt burden and distress sales usually make no breaking news from the already-strained agri sector where almost three lakh farmers have killed themselves over the past few years, the grimness of the situation this time can be gauged from the fact that the Government has had to double the usual compensation amount following the rising death toll every day.
Grain markets in Punjab and Haryana, which contribute over 50 per cent to the national grain basket, get the bulk of the harvested wheat crop after the festival of Baisakhi (April 14). But the untimely rain has occurred just a month before harvesting, damaging not just wheat but also other cash crops like mustard, potato and gram. “We are ruined. No one is willing to buy our damaged grain. Many farmers do not have enough money to sow the next crop,” says Bhupinder Singh of Samundra village between Balachaur and Garhshankar towns in Punjab.
The plight of the farmers, however, did little to deter Baisakhi celebrations in the State. The Anandpur Sahib Heritage Foundation held Khalsa Games, 2015, and the Anandpur Sahib Polo Cup on the day to commemorate 350 years of the founding and conversion of the hamlet of Makhowal to Chak Nanaki and finally to the holy city of Anandpur Sahib by the ninth Guru Teg Bahadur.
West Bengal celebrated Poila Baisakh on April 15 while grappling with suicides of potato growers driven to the edge by a glut and depressed prices. Sixteen suicides have been reported from six districts in the State so far, with 12 reported from Burdwan alone. In Kerala, where rain has severely affected paddy, ginger, banana, vegetables crops, the harvest festival of Vishu (April 15) was used by the State tourism to launch its ‘Visit Kerala 2015’ season. And perhaps to excuse the babus of any guilt trip on their choice of the day, National Tourism Advisory Board member Jose Dominic explained: “After farming, tourism is the next big industry in Kerala. In this time of farming distress, it makes perfect sense to boost in-bound tourism.”
It was only in Assam, where the damage is minimal, did Bihu (April 15) festivities seem to make any sense. Days before Bihu, I sat watching Uma Devi and her entire neighbourhood of rice cultivators in Chandrapur near Guwahati busy sprucing up homes and cleaning rice bran for the Bihu essential, peetha. However, in complete contrast to these organic arrangements were things a few kilometres away in Guwahati. The airport was full of Assamese home-comers and brisk shopping activity went on in decked up malls, markets and specially erected pandals that announced Rongali special discounts and sales. Aircel is running reduced call and internet rates through the month of Rongali Bihu. While the cultural celebrations did retain some rustic elements, their forced stylisation was hard to miss.
Quite clearly, for the rest of India, harvest festivals have become an excuse for everything other than farming: Polo, tourism, shopping, and feasting. “Nothing wrong with that. If only they also used the occasion to talk about our concerns. Twice or thrice a year that’s what harvest festivals were meant to give — a farm review. Had we used them that way to discuss effective farm insurance mechanisms, scientific weather-based agriculture techniques, MSPs, and subsidies, the situation wouldn’t have become so severe that all we’re discussing now is Government largesse,” says Maansa-based Aman Singh of the All India Kisan Union.
Rehanna Kheshgi, an ethnomusicology scholar at the University of Chicago, has a positive explanation as to why urban societies would do all that in the name of harvest festivals they hardly identify with. Says Kheshgi, “I have spent around 18 months living in Assam on and off, mainly staying in people’s homes. Through my experiences in rural households, I have observed that the rituals and traditions associated with these festivals are tied to pragmatic agrarian concerns as well as spiritual beliefs central to people’s everyday lives. But as boundaries between rural and urban become increasingly blurred, communities adapt and change according to the possibilities, situations and constraints they encounter.For example, enhanced possibilities for communication via mobile phone networks and increased sense of instability due to floods that devastate the area every year. In the midst of sweeping economic, political and environmental changes, these festivals provide a sense of continuity, reinforcing the bonds between family members and friends that are essential for navigating contemporary social life. But then culture is dynamic and expressive practices like music, dance and food associated with Bohag Bihu or Vishu or Baisakhi have shown remarkable flexibility in incorporating elements of pop culture and making use of new technologies. At the end of the day, harvest festivals are about having fun, sharing food and spending time with loved ones and these elements reach across socio-economic, agrarian-industrial, rural-urban and geographical boundaries.”