French Colonialism in Pondicherry

Many people do not realize that until 1954, France had colonized some Indian territories, causing some key differences to the formerly British Indian territories that most have heard of.

To begin, the Compagnie de Indes, similar to the British East India Company, was established long before colonization in 1644. They acquired a French trading post in an area in 1674 around Putucéri. Fittingly, France called it Pondicherry. Despite a few years of European rule throughout the years, up until 1954 France had owned the colony, and pictures of it show the inspiration. French buildings, Government Square, libraries, language, food, and even some art still shows inspiration from the time and area.

François Martin, the governor of the French East India Company, set up a trading center in Pondicherry, becoming the chief of French settlement in India. Moving forward, in the early 18th century, the company acquired other territories in Mahe, Yanam, and Karaikal. The Dutch had captured the land for some time, as well as the British during the French Revolution, but by 1814, the land was once again in French hands.

Great Britain eventually captured all of India in the 1850’s, however allowed the French to keep all of their territories. Once India gained independence in 1947, this contradicted that all of India was under their own rule. The inhabitants of Pondicherry and the other territories were to choose what they wanted to do, and to no surprise, they would choose to be a part of India.

The whole time, however, India and Pondicherry was being used by the French to try to expand trading and subtly fight against the power that Britain had in India. The maritime commerce and trading that Pondicherry brought were a benefit, and education, industry, and some infrastructure was a step up from the previous system. While treaties were being written between the French and British fighting over who owned what land, in Europe, the two countries were feuding, especially during the French and American Revolutions.

Pondicherry was actually used as a spot for Indian revolutionaries to trade and stay away from British forces in pursuit to become a free nation. While France did not help either side, actually being revolted against once India gained independence, it helped Indian citizens and people coming in as a place to operate away from British rule.

Formed by three centuries of French rule, Pondicherry and its other territories under French rule were impacted greatly by it. Not only did the culture and look of it change, but was a place to plan an eventual rebellion that would free the entire country of India. Under multiple European rules, these territories reaped a better education system, favorable trading with Europe, and a new style of life (linguistically, culturally, etc.) that cannot be found anywhere else in India. Overall, while colonization is not the best, especially for countries that want to become their own nation, in this instance, French colonialism in Pondicherry was a cultural change that partially benefitted natives, and now that it is under Indian rule, creates a vastly different area in Southern India to look at for French culture of the past.

Haryana Farm Fires

A problem has arisen in the Punjab area of India among government officials and farmers. Forest fires, as a result of clearing land for crop planting of the already oppressed farmers, have been made illegal in the past, only to be protested and still affecting hundreds of millions. It is especially dangerous in the COVID-19 ridden country of India, where air quality matters even more to keep people’s immune systems healthy.

Farmers burn a material known as paddy stubble to clear fields for the winter wheat crop, which is distributed by the government. Farmers generally plant rice in May and wheat in November. In order to rotate between crops in time, making extra money and creating more food for themselves and others, farmers are known to burn leftover debris and other materials from the rice plants.

This is creating copious amounts of air pollution in the northern plains of India, as the north easterly winds bring pollution to mix with local emissions in certain states. This adds to India’s air problem already, especially around neighboring states where it can negatively impact people’s breathing and overall health.

Depending on the monsoon season, and how early or late they come in the season, the forest fires can be more frequent and earlier than usual. This can mix with more pollution in the air as far as 150 miles away in Delhi or other states around the area. As we have dove into in previous articles, farmers are fighting to survive in an arduous agricultural market, constantly having to worry about paying back loans, feeding families, and now not burning stubble to clear their land. While it is a dangerous amount of pollution, getting worse each year, it just extends the gap between the government officials and farmers of the nation in another way where producers of these goods feel targeted.

The government has implemented a few tactics to try to stop or incentivize not burning paddy stubble. The government has suggested alternatives, such as organic composting or other biochemical methods, to no avail due to pricing and accessibility. India has outright banned it, however growers of all crops still used it in protest of the government and out of necessity. There have been fines and even jailings because of the burning of it. There was even a rumored 2,400 rupees per acre incentive to all farmers in northern states to stop the burning of these plant remains, which never came to fruition.

To stop this process, tractor-mounted “happy seeders” as they were called have been created and distributed by the Punjab government. It runs on a fossil fuel, diesel, which burns into the air, but is a lot more efficient for less pollution. The only problem, at least for the area of Punjab, is availability and cost. More than double the 24,000 happy seeders would be needed in order to clear all of the land in a timely manner for wheat season, and would cost farmers around 3,000 rupees per acre, more than the government would give the people.

All in all, a greener, more cost effective way to get rid of the rice crop at the end of the season would be most helpful to stop the burning of paddy stubble. The government has tried time and time again to stop workers from doing this, but still persists because of the poor options that they left for the people. The other biochemical options like biochar, turning them into biodegradable objects, and more exist, but need to become cheaper and easier to do, especially in rural India. With the COVID-19 pandemic still in full effect, air quality does matter in keeping all citizens of polluted areas safe. The better, more circulated and clean air is, the better to prevent the spread. If the government can somehow incentivize these more eco-friendly options, make the accessible, and keep up with it, air quality in not only Punjab and Haryana, but also miles away in Delhi will get a lot better for everyone.

Farmer Suicides in India

Throughout India, as far back as the 1970’s or earlier, a national issue has emerged in agriculture. Farmers, for many different reasons, have committed suicide, making many news headlines and affecting not only the families of the lives lost, but also many others.

According to the 2021 State of India’s Environment, greater than 28 farmers and farm laborers die by suicide every single day. Some are in debt from banks and cannot pay for them, others are addicted to alcohol or other drugs, low produce or crop prices, stress from family, increased cost to cultivate goods, or even crops failing to grow.

Generally, farmers are not not treated correctly for the work they do, in a tough market especially if crops aren’t growing well. The stress of not knowing if crops will grow, if the market will charge enough for the year’s work, paying back banks, and more adds to this number increasing.

While this problem is widespread, with Maharashtra, Punjab, and the South being the states most frequent to see farmer suicides. In places with higher rates of general suicides, farmers’ suicides are higher as well. Luckily, however, the rate of farmers committing suicide has lowered from 10,348 in 2018 to 10,281 in 2019, dropping even more in the past 10 years.

Some may ask, why is this specific profession causing so many suicides, and how does it affect the general population? As mentioned before, there are various stressors involved in growing crops for a nation with over 1 billion people. Many farmers lease their land from a bank, get out loans but are unable to repay them, or live in extreme poverty with poor education, keeping families stuck in a cycle of barely scraping by. Not only this, but being dependent on sometimes unpredictable monsoons for water is another source that could render some or all crops for others useless. Since clean water is hard to come by, caused by lots of pollution in natural bodies of water, monsoons and rain water are truly essential for crop growth.

India is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, silk, fruits and vegetables, and plenty of other pivotal crops to society. They represent 8.6% of vegetables and 10.9% of fruit grown in the world, being huge producers. Since a farmer is generally their own boss, some will work from sunrise to sunset, tirelessly working to ensure food and cash from crop growth for their family.

It is mentally and physically taxing on farmers, and much needs to be done as a nation to save people’s lives. Laws were being passed by the government degrading the buying and selling of grown goods, being exploited by corporations, undermining the workers. An open market not controlled by the government is necessary to give farmers some control over their own goods, as well as middle men in the operation being regulated but also not undermined so that both can survive. With all of the goods being exported from India, the government needs to give some power to the people or some way to support them so that their farmers can once again live without fear of not being able to make a living. Additionally, mental health awareness and prevention options for those feeling suicidal should be provided, as no plans or prevention methods have been put in place to stop these workers.

All occupations, no matter how tough it can be, should not feel enough pressure to consider committing suicide. Having to feed and export their goods to billions of people at a somewhat low price, farmers of India are struggling. They need to pay off their loans, make enough money for their entire family to survive on, and hope that the monsoon season is good for them. In all of India, the shocking number of 28 farmers committed suicide a day. To put an end to this, mental health awareness needs to not only be talked about, but also prevented. The Indian Government cannot undermine the livelihoods of farmers to make a profit, and actually making laws in favor of these workers will help create more jobs and goods for those in the field of agriculture for decades to come.