CHRONICLES OF RURAL PERIODIC MARKETS

Rural periodic markets have long been an essential place for exchange where farmers and local people congregated to conduct trade since times immemorial. They play a pivotal role as a platform to gather news and information, to exchange views and knowledge, to engage in various social, cultural, religious, and even political activities. They are venues for both commerce as well as festivity exuding a feeling of unity and strength. These weekly markets exist as India's grassroots retail network as ‘Haats’ (West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa), Santhe (Karnataka), Sandhai (Tamil Nadu). The Haats occupy the lowest rung of the marketing system in rural India. They are often mobile and flexible as they shift from one location to another. They are held weekly, scheduled on the day the employees get their 'hafta', as the payments to villagers still are made on a weekly basis. They seem sufficient to meet the local demands since the necessities of the peasants in a subsistence economy have always been limited.

The Haats have been left out of the ambit of regulated markets aiming at creating transparent marketing conditions. They are often plagued by complexities like lack of information, control of intermediaries, forced sale, infrastructural breaches, lack of proper transportation and communication to serve greater areas and highly fragmented and unorganized agricultural markets. Moreover, they are losing out the essence of the socio-economic congregation. The encroachment of technology has brought in various sources of entertainment, smartphones, online retail marketing into the lives of rural people resulting in further weakening of this rural milieu.

The strategic location and improved connectivity were the cornerstones for the opulence of these haats including complexities which eventually lead to a slow death and ultimate extinction of a prominent haat. It was observed that a haat lost its glory only when it lost its horde to sell or buy. Recent trends highlight the revival of these traditional periodic markets mostly for rural handicraft items and often organic agro-produces. Since both these segments have promising economic returns for the rural population, much attention has been provided towards them. Although the role of governmental bodies has not been much appreciable. The budget can certainly be expected to be in favor of reviving the rural economy. This will require setting up rural infrastructure, including more resources for a network of regulated markets and warehouses. Currently, there are only 7,000 regulated markets in the country against the need of 42,000 (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices). Moreover, boosting irrigation, raising crop yields and encouraging farmers to adapt to a new crop insurance scheme will help address growing distress amongst the farmers caused by poor harvests.

Successive droughts, the lack of long-term strategies to combat climate change is a major hurdle towards the nation's attempt to be self-sufficient in food. India has been encouraging imports of corn, lentils, and oilseeds, due to deficient production and looking forward to importing wheat and sugar in very recent times as their stocks are depleting. These imports will be seen as benefiting foreign producers at the expense of local growers.

Haats play a significant role in the transaction of the livestock. However, in the light of the recent ban on livestock trade for slaughter through animal markets, thousands of poor farmers will be affected as they will be deprived of their conventional income source from selling non-milch and aging cattle. Poor and illiterate purchaser and seller have to undergo immense paperwork which will add to their hassles. Traders will have to procure from farmers directly resulting in fewer avenues to dispose of spent cattle. Moreover, a farmer in a particular state with no large slaughter export units will face difficulties to sell their animals, with the recent spate of attacks on cattle movement makes matters worse. Unable to get the maximum economic value of cattle, the price of milk and milk products may increase. The environment ministry’s rule banning setting up of animal markets within 25 km of a state border will result in another bottleneck. It is a common occurrence that the location of a haat is historic, which have seen boundaries being drawn at the whims of the nations. All of a sudden this regulation would mean relocating a haat which does not happen overnight and certainly not 'just-like-that'. The regulation prescribing nearly 30 norms for animal welfare in markets, seems amusing as the haats do not even have the basic facilities for humans, let alone livestock. Such norms would take ages to be fulfilled, in order to run the cattle market efficiently.

Haats are part of a market system that bounds villages with localities and small communities with larger ones.  It is overwhelming to watch how despite lack of facilities, they attract such a huge crowd. They are the locus of activity for the indigenous society and play an important role in maintaining the growth of the agricultural sector. Thus, their status is a universal parameter to judge the well-being of the rural population.