Punjab’s changing farm labour patterns highlighted at lecture

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Professor Stephen Taylor links Punjab’s shifting farm labour to rural inequalities and climate change

Chandigarh: Agricultural labour in rural Punjab is increasingly being undertaken by workers from outside the state rather than local residents, a shift that has contributed to tensions and growing disenchantment with farming among Punjabis, particularly young people, Professor Stephen Taylor of Northumbria University, UK, has observed.

Speaking at the Proffesor Randhir Singh Memorial Lecture Series at the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC), Taylor said rural Punjab has changed significantly in recent years, with the changing composition of the agricultural workforce emerging as one of the notable developments.

“I think, in recent years, agricultural labour is now largely undertaken by people from outside Punjab rather than local. And that has led to tensions. Local Punjabis have become almost disenchanted, I think, with agriculture, particularly the young,” he said.

His observation highlighted a shift in rural Punjab, where agricultural work is increasingly being carried out by people from beyond the state, while local participation in the sector has declined, particularly among younger residents.

Taylor’s remarks came during a lecture titled “Global Capitalism, Climate Coloniality and South Asian Climate Transnationalism”, organised by the Centre for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences and Management (CASSM) and the IDC at the latter’s campus in Chandigarh.

A Professor of Global Development at Northumbria University, Taylor has had a longstanding association with Punjab. He first visited the state in 1999 and has since spent considerable time working on issues including Punjabi migration to the United Kingdom, caste and Dalit communities.

His work on Punjabi migration has included collaboration with Professor Manjit Singh of Panjab University, Chandigarh. His wider research interests encompass transnationalism, agrarian change, social inequalities and climate action in South Asia.

The changing agricultural workforce in Punjab formed part of his broader observations on transformations affecting rural communities. His remarks also drew attention to the growing distance between local youth and agriculture, alongside tensions associated with the changing pattern of agricultural labour.

The lecture was organised by CASSM and IDC in collaboration with Post Graduate Government College and Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh.

Dr Pramod Kumar, Chairperson of the IDC, also addressed the gathering, discussing global capitalism and the unequal distribution of development across countries and within national economies.

Professor Ronki Ram, Dr Chandan Awasthi and Dr Kuldeep Singh also spoke at the event.

Taylor’s observations placed Punjab’s changing agricultural labour patterns at the centre of a wider discussion on rural transformation, highlighting how shifts in who performs farm work are accompanied by tensions and changing attitudes towards agriculture among local communities.