Suthar S. K., Singh Sh. “New” rural-agrarian movements in India: Continuities and shifts // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2026. V.11. №2. P. 119-134.

EDN: GTERCR

Annotation

Political mobilization of farmers in India has always interested and puzzled scholars studying agrarian change. The major political phenomenon in India’s agrarian history were farmers movements in the 1980s, which showed the strength of organization and mobilization of such leaders as Mahindra Singh Tikait and Sharad Joshi. This phenomenon gradually faded away by the 1990s. However, in recent decades India once again witnessed farmers protests with three major demands: waiving off agricultural loans; more rationalized Minimum Support Price covering more crops and input costs; implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report’s recommendations1. The national magazine’s cover called these protests “farmers revolt”. In the interview, Yogendra Yadav, a political activist associated with Swaraj Abhiyan, called them a historical moment and a move towards “peasant rebellion”. The article considers the nature of farmers mobilization from 2014 to 2020, focusing on the initial phase of this movement and emphasizing that farmers protests should not be seen as sporadic, scattered and short-term unrest, as they appear prima facie. Instead, these protests reflect a major shift in the nature of social movements in India in general and agrarian movements in particular, being different from the 1980s farmers movements. Recent protests show that the new rural youth want to reimagine Indian rural society, develops new methods of protests and negotiations and new class distinctions, considering diverse ideological positions on the rural-agrarian question. This new rural social class is against the right-wing populism and neo-populism of the 1980s farmers movements, but it is also against the Indian left-wing idea of modernity and the definition of rural India in terms of class politics. The authors argue that recent protests should be characterized as rural-agrarian rather than farmers, since they suggest the rural-agrarian dominance in the Indian political economy and define the new rural and post-green revolution as agrarian. Given the growing sense of losing identity under urbanization and corporatization, the new rural-agrarian class faces a serious existential threat that leads to protests and their culmination in the form of movement. The authors make some conclusions about this movement, highlighting its recent trends. The article consists of four sections: foundations of this movement evolution; concept of rural-agrarian movements; features of new farmers unrest, different from movements in the 1970s and 1980s; critical analysis in the context of existing theories.

Keywords

Political mobilization of farmers, India, new rural-agrarian movement, rural youth, farmers’ protests, political economy, new rural social class.  

About the authors

Sudhir Kumar Suthar, PhD (Political Science), Assistant Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi, 110067, India.
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Shailza Singh, PhD (Political Science), Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Bharati College, University of Delhi. C-4, Dada Satram Mamtani Marg, Janakpuri, New Delhi, 110058, India.
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Imangulov L. R. Territorial differences in migration patterns of the rural youth in post-Soviet Russia // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №3. P. 234-260.

EDN: NMKTIG

Annotation

The article considers the features of post-Soviet migration of the rural youth in Russian regions based on the statistical data and interviews with rural school graduates, their parents and experts. The author used the age shift method to show a longterm increase in the migration outflow of the rural youth in the post-Soviet period — from 5% to more than 18% — for cohorts born in the late 20th century. The results of the study confirmed the low attractiveness of rural areas in most regions of Russia for living. The author identified eight types of regions based on the features of post-Soviet migration of the rural youth: only three types show a smaller outflow of the youth from rural areas; for each type, the ratio of push, pull and attracting factors for the rural youth is presented. Based on the field materials, the author describes a type of return migration which is quite rare for rural regions: the return of the youth is highest in the southern agrarian regions and in the national republics of the North Caucasus; its distribution in these regions is limited. Return migration of the youth to rural areas is described on the example of eight rural districts of Bashkortostan, Krasnodar Region, Dagestan and North Ossetia–Alania. In the national republics of the North Caucasus, the return of the youth to rural areas is influenced by the social factor and the low competitiveness of rural school graduates in urban labor markets, in the Krasnodar Region — by the large-scale settlement in rural areas and high barriers for the rural youth in cities (like high real estate prices).

Keywords

Rural youth, population migration, educational migration, return migration, migration factors, rural areas.

About the author

Linar R. Imangulov, Junior Researcher at the Scientific Center for the Study of Rural Issues at Vernadsky University, Balashikha, Moscow Region, 50 Entuziastov Highway. PHD student, Engineer, Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Leninskie Gory, 1, 119991.
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Fogel R. What will be the fate of the rural youth in Paraguay? // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №3. P. 68-79.

EDN: HASCJE

Annotation

The paper considers the relationship between the structure of human capital and the intensive displacement of young peasants in contemporary Paraguay. In the description of the agrarian economy, the author defines the peasant sector as a part of the agrarian structure with dynamics strongly determined by agribusiness which is integrated into the neoliberal agrifood regime as an important component of globalized markets. The author’s approach to the study of human capital and migration of young farmers is based on Amartya Sen’s theory of human capital, according to which both the development of actors’ ability to increase production and the definition of the valuable type of life are closely associated with the dominant means of socialization affecting the rural youth (educational possibilities, information-communication technologies, other means for producing meanings). Today these means are dominated by hegemonic knowledge in the interests of large corporations. 

Keywords

Rural youth, human capital, displacement of young peasants, Paraguay, agrarian economy, peasant economy, agribusiness, neoliberal agrifood regime.

About the author

Ramón Fogel, DSc (Sociology), Research Director, Centro de Estudios Rurales Interdisciplinarios (CERI). Cruz del Defensor 1816 casi, Asunción 001421, Paraguay.
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