132 CHAPTER 10


farmers’ organizations were not formally invited to relevant hearings of the state assemblies. Conventionally, the farmers’ commissions are composed of academics and officials who may be “farmer-friendly,” but they do not nec- essarily include leaders of farmers’ organizations (Gill, personal communica- tion, October 17, 2006). This practice may be changing, as the Expert Group on Ground Water Management and Ownership (2007) included the leader of a farmers’ organization. The ERC has undertaken an important institutional innovation by providing a formal forum in which farmers’ organizations and other stakeholders can participate.


Because farmers constitute a considerable share of the electorate, mobiliz- ing farmers’ votes is obviously useful for creating political capital. As Chapter 9 shows, various political parties have used electricity pricing for agriculture as an effective strategy for attracting farmers’ vote. Placing the topic of agrarian distress high on the political agenda before elections is another strategy for creating political capital in the form of electoral leverage.


Agricultural Labor Organizations


Agricultural laborers represent a considerable proportion of the rural popula- tion and, accordingly, of the rural voters. According to the 2001 Census, 34 percent of the rural population in Andhra Pradesh are agricultural laborers; in Punjab, the figure is 16 percent (GoI 2001). Many laborers are represented by the All India Agricultural Workers Union, which is associated with the CPI-M. A representative in Andhra Pradesh and a representative at the national level were interviewed for this study.


Interests


The interviewed representatives consider policies that make agricultural production more profitable as being in the agricultural laborers’ interest, as profit creates employment opportunities. They observed that agricultural laborers benefit indirectly from electricity subsidies to agriculture and the free-power policy, even though these are, in principle, not policies the union endorses. After the 2004 elections in Andhra Pradesh, the union complained that the agricultural laborers had to pay their household electricity bills in spite of their poverty, whereas even the rich farmers did not have to pay for electricity for agricultural uses. To some extent, policymakers addressed this concern. In the overall strategy of the union, however, electricity is a less significant concern than access to land (especially in Andhra Pradesh, where land reform is an important political issue), the implementation of minimum wages, and better access to health services and education.


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