Articles by Surinder S Jodhka

Much of me Literature on rural credit' in the post-independence period has been centred around the 'development questions' and largely quantitative in nature. Based on a qualitative field study in three villages of a green revolution district of Haryana, this paper attempts to explore the sociology of informal credit with a specific focus on understanding the changing structure of informal credit market and the emerging patterns of debt dependencies in the light of (a) the agrarian transformation experienced with the success of the green revolution; and (b) increasing availability and growing popularity of the institutional sources of credit.

Land Reforms and Agrarian Change in Karnataka Surinder S Jodhka IT is rather surprising that despite the large volume of literature available on the successes and failures of land reform legislations from different parts of the country, not many micro level studies have been earned out to understand the consequences that land reforms might have had on the related aspects of village life, such as, agrarian relations, rural power structure, changing caste equations and poverty This can perhaps be attributed to the fact that much of the literature on post-independence developmental programmes has ignored the significance of a historical perspective and the need for understanding various aspects of the changing agrarian structure in relation to one another [Pandey 1994]. It is in this context that C B Damle's book becomes an important contribution to the existing literature on agrarian processes in contemporary India The novelty of Damle's study lies in his ability to combine a historical perspective with a field study of four villages. Damle selected two villages each from a subsistence and commercial setting for his field study in the Dakshina Kannada (DK) district of Karnataka. One village in each setting was known for 'successful' implementation of land reforms and the other was selected from amongst the 'low implementation' villages. This made his research design for the field study doubly comparative.

Countering US Imperialism Cultural Imperialism versus Cultural Nativism?
Surinder S Jodhka Shailaja Ramaiyer S Seethalakshmi JAMES PETRAS' piece ('Cultural Imperialism in Late 20th Century', EPW, August 6) on the growing importance of cultural commodities in the exploitation of third world societies by US imperialism and uses of media and culture in extending its domination through conditioning of minds and markets in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America is surely a timely contribution to the growing literature on the "other side" of the "new economic policies"/liberalisation. Much of the criticism of economic reforms operates within purely economic variables. By talking about culture he is not only highlighting another side of the story but he is also trying to shift the paradigm of understanding economic processes during the post-cold war period.