By Shalini Bhutani
The journey from Dehradun to Delhi on the new Saharanpur Expressway is a three-hour live documentary of the many agricultures in our countryside. If you take a window seat, put your phone away and look outside, you will get a real time view of how the various landscapes en route intersect with food and life.
As you head out of Dehradun city, you may have travelled out with Uttarakhand’s local pulses varieties – Gahat/Kulthi dal – Himalayan unpolished horsegram or the Pahadi lal chawal (hill red rice) for which the Doon valley is famous. While in town, you would have at least heard of the several initiatives in Uttarakhand across the years that have worked to promote local agri-foods and strengthen rural economies; Dr Vandana Shiva’s Navdanya in Dehradun promoting agro-biodiversity and women farmers’ knowledge, Vijay Jardhari’s Beej Bachao Andolan (‘Save the Seeds’ movement) of Tehri conserving desi seeds, the Pahad Collective sourcing from Himalayan growers and the Shri Timli Farmer Producer Organisation in Devikhet marketing Badri Cow Ghee and other local spices, grains and red kidney beans. Driving out of Dehradun the small roadside ‘rajma-chawal’ dhabas dot the road. The highway carries much of Uttarakhand’s agricultural products to Delhi and the NCR.
As one gets on to the Saharanpur Expressway the urban landscape falls behind. The highway passes through the Shivalik reserve forests and the Mohand Forest Range in Saharanpur. This is the home of the Van Gujjars. The newly constructed highway traverses through the traditional grazing grounds of these nomadic pastoralists. But little seems to have changed for them. Their kuchha make-shift dwellings are still visible under the Expressway. ‘Development’ does not touch everyone either in the same way or with the same speed. Though the milk from their buffaloes continues to be consumed by elite households in Dehradun.
As the Expressway snakes South-West to the Capital through the border of Uttarakhand (UK) and Uttar Pradesh (UP) the view changes again. Numerous mango orchards laden with fruit appear on both sides. These parts of the state are known for almost 70 varieties of the fruit. In fact, being peak season, near the Toll Plazas of the Expressway and all along the route, numerous temporary stalls selling the fruit are set up. Saharanpur has a dedicated mango mandi, where wholesale trade takes place. But the recent incidents of mango consignments being rejected by Japan and Nepal make you wonder if you can savour them with full satisfaction.
As you cruise through this Western UP stretch, you see the visual expanse of sugarcane cultivation.
And almost 90 per cent of the crop is of one variety. The kilometres of sugarcane confirms why Saharanpur is called the sugar hub. The district has eight sugar mills. A stark contrast to the diversity of the UK foothills left behind.
A towering billboard in one of the sugarfields with the sign ‘Mera khet, Mera Adhikar’ with a large than life photograph of the farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, is a reminder of the politics around agrarian issues. Tikait is the prominent national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). While based primarily in Western UP, his influence extends across the country, including in Saharanpur, where he frequently mobilises farmers’ for their rights and advocates for higher State Advised Price (SAP) for sugarcane. While it is the Central Government that determines the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane every season, it is the state governments that fix the SAP.
Sprinkled between the standing crop of sugarcane are paddy fields. The sight of the tube-wells pumping out water for their irrigation points to why this is a high water stress area. The groundwater in these parts has been declining. The government is trying to promote short-duration and low-water requiring paddy varieties. Many of India’s traditional paddy varieties are stored in the global gene bank of the International Rice Research Institute, and the national gene bank at the Central Rice Research Institute. Those samples would have been collected pre-‘Green Revolution’ from fields such as these, but have been out of use since.
Interspersed between all the agricultural and horticultural product are brick kilns. This is a symbol for the constructed landscape that will welcome you as you hit the Delhi border.
As your vehicle enters New Delhi through Shastri Park side, you see mounds of dilapidated cars. These are vehicles impounded by the Delhi Police and Traffic Department. This is also a site where ‘end of life vehicles’ and abandoned vehicles are dumped. It is one of the largest scrap market for automobiles.
One can’t help muse over how these peri-urban areas, which could even be used for agriculture to feed the city can be taken over by discarded automobiles that no longer move on the highway. You then enter the capital, where the urban takes over the rural in every way.
(Shalini is a law and policy analyst who has been working on sustainable agriculture for the last three decades.)
