The Nalanda - The Agrarian Crisis in India

Palagummi Sainath
Renowned journalist, researcher, independent thinker Palagummi Sainath was the speaker of the third session of The Nalanda organised on 2 November 2018. The former Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu, P. Sainath is the winner of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia's most prestigious prize (and often referred to as the 'Asian Nobel'), for Journalism Literature and Creative Communications Arts. In his long and distinguished career, he has contributed to a nuanced understanding and documentation of the world of the marginalised through his book Everybody Loves a Good Drought (Penguin India, 1996), his documentaries, and his efforts at building People's Archive of Rural India.

In an exciting conversation with Prof. Navdeep Mathur of Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, Dr Sainath discussed the agrarian crisis in India, the forces leading up it, and the widening inequalities of the society in the face of an apathetic public, ill-informed media, and increasingly punitive policy regime. An inspiring conversation around his own efforts to bring to light the extraordinary struggles and courage of ordinary people of India motivated the young minds to engage with their immediate social and political context. The students engaged the speaker enthusiastically during the session and even after.