Under the peepal

For centuries, adivasi and other local communities throughout Karnataka sustained the ancient human-made tanks and the channels that connect them. These tank systems nourished the region’s agriculture and transformed its landscape. Since the times of the Vijayanagara Empire (1336-1646), farming families have relied on this innovative irrigation system to cultivate myriad crops both for self-consumption and for selling in the market. 

The waters from the tanks have breathed life into the ecosystems that sustain rural indigenous communities throughout the state, and the Neeruganti have been tending to this life force. Under their care, these tanks sustained the lives of all those connected to them.

The tanks were once the centre of diverse rural ecologies, economies, and spirituality. As conductors of not only the labour that sustained tanks infrastructure, but the cultural practices that honour its deities, the Neeruganti wove the threads that formed the fabric of the local community.

This podcast discusses the complexities of farmers' suicides in India. Surprisingly, these suicides are more prevalent in wealthier states like Maharashtra and Kerala than in the poorer states. Also, the underlying reasons vary across states. For example, in Maharashtra, the issue revolves around financial stress, as farmers take loans for the modernisation of agriculture and struggle to repay them due to reduced income from unpredictable weather and low crop yields. In Kerala, it is primarily caused by farmers' inability to repay loans taken for personal purposes such as dowry payments. The diverse regional patterns in the incidence of farmers' suicides in India thus reflect a multifaceted issue.

The Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown resulted in an unprecedented migrant worker crisis in India. What caused this crisis? Why could we not foresee this fallout of lockdown? In this podcast, Chetan Choithani discusses the various inequalities that underpin domestic labour migration in India, and how understanding the inequality-migration relationship can help design effective interventions to support vulnerable mobile populations.

In this podcast, Prof. Narendar Pani and Dr. Anant Kamath talk about inequality in contemporary India, exchanging thoughts, evidence, insights, and debates over why inequality matters, what it does, how it is viewed, and how it is experienced. Their conversation journeys through issues of inequality in everyday life, its impact on the economy and society, and reflections on how inequalities become aspirations in India today. In this process, they touch upon farmer suicides, migration, the left-behind, climate, conflict, technology, and gender, and inspect what inequality sounds like in our political conversations and whether inequality is linked to culture. Finally, they contemplate what is to be done about this.

For centuries, adivasi and other local communities throughout Karnataka sustained the ancient human-made tanks and the channels that connect them. These tank systems nourished the region’s agriculture and transformed its landscape. Since the times of the Vijayanagara Empire (1336-1646), farming families have relied on this innovative irrigation system to cultivate myriad crops both for self-consumption and for selling in the market. 

The waters from the tanks have breathed life into the ecosystems that sustain rural indigenous communities throughout the state, and the Neeruganti have been tending to this life force. Under their care, these tanks sustained the lives of all those connected to them.

The tanks were once the centre of diverse rural ecologies, economies, and spirituality. As conductors of not only the labour that sustained tanks infrastructure, but the cultural practices that honour its deities, the Neeruganti wove the threads that formed the fabric of the local community.

I'm Venkatappa from Tholapalli, a village in Chikkaballapura, Karnataka. My profession is that of a “Neeruganti” (A lake manager). Ever since lakes have been built, our ancestors were responsible for the lakes and this professions has been handed down us. When there is water in lakes, we are employed. If there is no water, there is no work for us. We manage the water needs for the paddy. Paddy needs water once every five days, and we monitor the flow of water. As the paddy grows, we closely monitor how much water needs to be discharged. Once the paddy is ready for cultivation, we are paid in kind.