The Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory (C-PACT), Shiv Nadar University, in collaboration with the Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for the South (CARES), organised a book discussion on Ecology, Capitalism and the New Agricultural Economy: The Second Great Transformation, edited by Gilles Allaire and Benoit Daviron.
The discussion brought together scholars and practitioners to examine the changing relationship between agriculture, capitalism, ecology and agri-food systems, with particular attention to the challenges confronting agriculture and rural livelihoods in India and the wider Global South.
The discussion was particularly relevant to the emerging debates in India around the ecological, economic and social consequences of contemporary agriculture. Against the backdrop of renewed debates on the Green Revolution and growing experimentation with natural farming, millet-based nutrition programmes, organic agriculture, permaculture and alternative agricultural and market arrangements, the event explored questions concerning the present and possible futures of Indian agriculture, farmers and farm workers.
The discussion also raised broader questions about the theoretical and institutional frameworks required to understand contemporary agrarian transformation. These included the relevance of regulation theory, institutional economics, political economy and ecological economics to understanding Indian agriculture, as well as the challenge of achieving structural transformation while addressing the interconnected forms of economic, social and environmental distress affecting agrarian communities.
The programme began with welcome remarks from C-PACT, Shiv Nadar University, followed by a session chaired by AnneSophie Poisot, Programme Head, Sustainable Agriculture, FAO (UN), India. Benoit Daviron, one of the editors of the book and associated with CIRAD, France, presented the book and its central arguments.
The subsequent discussion featured Praveen Jha, and founder editor of Agrarian South, and Dinesh Abrol, founder member of Nation for Farmers and the All India People’s Science Network. The discussion was moderated by Rajeswari S. Raina of C-PACT, Shiv Nadar University, and was followed by an open question-and-answer session with the audience.
The event reflected CARES' commitment to creating spaces for critical dialogue on agriculture, ecology, labour, political economy and social transformation, and to connecting scholarship on agrarian questions with wider debates on the future of food and agricultural systems in the Global South.
