Social Change,Employment and Development in Weekly Rural Markets in Odisha

Abstract

Local rural markets (haats) are considered important spaces of economic and social exchange all over South Asia. Based on a detailed ethnography in four weekly haats in Koraput district of Odisha in India, this article confirms their functions as dynamic socio-cultural gendered public spaces as well as crucial hubs of economic activities for rural areas. However, going beyond local ethnography, and seeking to understand how these weekly markets socially and economically empower poor rural tribals as well as non-tribals, this article problematises the role of middlemen. They not only regulate these markets but also control the terms of trade and profits while connecting local markets to higher scales of South Asia’s food security chains. Our concluding analysis identifies some key risks and opportunities faced by producers, sellers and buyers as participants in these weekly markets, which are now clearly glocalised spaces.

Introduction

In South Asia, it is an ancient common practice to have a weekly local market (haat) in a fixed place in certain villages, where buyers and sellers interact and various commercial activities are carried out. Academics, policy-makers and businesses have long been interested in rural marketing of consumer products and the business opportunities that it offers (Rao, 1973: M77). Much research has also explored the geospatial arrangements of haats (Dey et al., 2017; Dnyaneshwar, 2017; Jadhav, 2022; Roy & Basu, 2010; Surwase & Zodage, 2017; Vilas & Phule, 2022; Webber & Symanski, 1973). However, as such rural haats have become increasingly integrated into wider social and economic networks, there has been much social change and economic development. Even in secluded hilly spaces where roads and communications are poor, such markets do not operate in a vacuum. Though the local economy may remain relatively underdeveloped, weekly rural markets have increasingly become major institutions for buying and selling of local produce as well as consumer goods, and these rural markets also serve as public spaces for social intercourse.

Here, we mainly focus on how rural market activities play a significant role in the rural–urban economy, particularly in backward areas (Bhowmick, 2022: 240). They clearly contribute to enhanced food security for tribal and peasant communities (Bashir & Schilizzi, 2013), helping to eradicate poverty. They also strengthen the capacity to achieve sustainable rural livelihoods, as Bhattacharjee (2022) recently showed for Assam. Weekly markets have long been an avenue for subsistence growers to sell or exchange their products to satisfy their own daily needs. In addition, frequent visits and regular marketing activities by tribal sellers offer the potential to increase one’s social capital (Borborah, 2020). Yet, as this article shows, such typically informal economic activities now often extend far beyond the local scale, specifically through connections established by middlemen. We identified their role during our fieldwork, and while we did not specifically examine this economic link, we chose to highlight it here as important, based on the analysis of our local findings and observations, identifying a fertile field for future interdisciplinary studies.

Earlier research emphasised the limited range and potential of such rural markets, often focused on bare essentials of food and clothing (Balakrishnan, 1978: 76). But they also observed that though most rural consumers are relatively poor, there is a vast rural market for consumer goods (Balakrishnan, 1978: 75), especially cheap items for daily use, particularly bought by younger people, who are more ready for change (Rao, 1973). Such perspectives remain focused on the top-down impacts of the urban sphere on rural scenarios. However, what has been widely overlooked so far is to what extent the goods sold in such small rural haats may become valuable assets to support India’s food chain, literally from the bottom of the pyramid (Satyam & Aithal, 2018), directly from the grower. In addition, the economic benefits of building social capital through trading activities in rural marketplaces are beginning to interest economists (Ghosh & Bhattacharya, 2022).

From an urban market perspective, as indicated by Prasad (2018: 45–6) for Hyderabad, 93% of the Indian economy is organised in an informal manner, which implies, consequently, a considerable dearth of data sources. Yet, whether one takes the perspective of the buyer or the seller, depending on local circumstances, it is increasingly evident that haats are often much more than merely small-scale temporary local shopping arenas. Particularly, they seem to be interconnected through various levels of trade by the under-researched presence and role of middlemen.

According to the 2011 Census, approximately 47,000 weekly markets are functioning in about 640,867 villages in India (Velayudhan, 2014). Such weekly markets are often the local producers’ and farmers’ first point of contact with various marketing channels (Wanmali, 1980). Thus, what long ago Balakrishnan (1978: 75) called ‘feeder-market villages’, as an originally limited category, has now silently expanded to a dense rural network, feeding supply chains of goods that connect the local sphere and rural development to wider, largely urban and ultimately global structures. In this regard, the crucial position of an amorphous group of dealers and middlemen, including various kinds of wholesalers and retailers, deserves more focused attention for a better understanding of the parameters of social change, employment and development in such rural markets, as already indicated by several studies (Agarwal et al., 2021; Chakreshwari, 2019; Dnyaneshwar, 2017; Ghosh & Bhattacharya, 2022; Rajalakshmi, 2019; Ravi, 2018).

As the growth of such rural market centres tends to follow the path of development of agriculture, transportation and industries (Verma, 1980), there have evidently been significant changes in the past few decades. Haats also act as nodal centres for transportation and become growth centres by providing various services to the adjacent region (Surwase & Zodage, 2017), an observation also made in various African contexts (Hill, 1963; Perry, 2000) and elsewhere in the Global South.

While, as noted, haats are mainly considered hubs of economic activities, where people buy and sell goods, they also offer opportunities to interact with friends and people from adjoining areas or villages (Datta, 2002; Pandey, 1999), thus building social capital. We did not explore the extent to which such social meetings might be used to arrange marriage alliances and pursue other socially relevant agendas. Rather, we considered haats as an indicator of regional economic development and the basis of regional grassroots developments (Akoijam, 2018, 2019; Wankhade, 2017; Wankhede, 2014), both in social and economic terms. Awareness of such interconnecting perspectives, requiring interdisciplinary analysis, indicates that such markets have the potential to play a crucial role in accelerating social change, rural development and employment opportunities, influencing local people’s social and economic lifestyle (Borborah, 2020; Datta, 2002; Joshi, 1987; Wanmali, 1980). In effect, rural haats, which are also gendered spaces, allow scope for building social capital (Gupta et al., 2021) beyond one’s own village, for men as well as women, especially among local tribes (Vidyarthi & Rai, 1977: 93–144). In northeastern India, a tribal-dominated region, the role of haats has even been identified as maintaining significant links across national borders (Majaw, 2021).

This article first examines how these haats have historically evolved to act as a major vehicle for empowering the rural poor, tribal as well as non-tribal people. Secondly, however, it scrutinises how middlemen and dealers as buyers rather than sellers play an increasingly important role in these markets, regulating market processes and providing some infrastructure, controlling the terms of trade and thereby affecting local people’s scope for profits in this domain of India’s informal economy. Finally, the article addresses some key challenges for future research of issues faced by producers, sellers and buyers as participants in these globalising weekly rural markets.

Historical Evolution of Weekly Markets and Review of Literature

The historical evolution of haats begins with individual self-reliance on barter, followed by a sporadic gathering of buyers and sellers, and finally the establishment of perpetual shops and markets for regular trading activities (Saxena, 1988). Popular fairs (mela) and weekly markets (haat/bazar) as early landmarks of rural marketing mainly serve the needs of local rural people (Saxena, 1988: 22–5). In the contemporary global era, India’s significant characteristic of a strong informal economy with high levels of self-employment means that these rural markets still largely remain outside the reach of the state. Yet these rural markets also attract buyers and sellers from beyond the villages that have haats, often traders involved in economic interactions which are taking place without much government intervention. Where exactly should or could the lines between private interaction and state-monitored and taxed trade be drawn? Existing research gives some importance to the role of middlemen in weekly haat trading activities (Routray, 2017). At the same time, despite the presence of organised and mainly urban shopping centres, the simple haat retains a special buzz due to its ethnic nature, its easy accessibility and, very importantly, trust and direct connection between buyers and sellers.

Perry (2000) has shown how rural weekly markets strengthen intra-community bonds and nurture the reciprocal relations of small farmers, neighbours and kin in Africa. There is much similar research on weekly markets all over India. Local consumers visit these markets due to the availability of fresh vegetables and fruits, low prices, and some urban products which satisfy their needs (Barman & Bhattacharjee, 2016). Some scholars specifically note that selling wild medicinal plants has considerable economic importance, as Paudel and Hall (2022) show for Nepal. In some cases, wild mushrooms are an attractive, albeit highly perishable local produce, yielding premium prices (Kumar et al., 2022) for the sellers, often tribal women who rely on local biodiversity and traditional knowledge. These women, who may be the sole or main earners for many households, skilfully collect such precious natural resources for sale in these haats (Shandilya, 2020).

However, due to deficient marketing knowledge, lack of education and ‘unscrupulous means’ (Datta, 2001: 3598) used by middlemen, local sellers often feel cheated and complain about unfair pricing for their products (Behera, 2008; Khemundu, 2019). While market sales enhance the livelihood and food security of tribal people, offering them basic employment, Datta (2001: 3598) identifies as a major market imperfection the ‘absence of a mechanism for determining the share of the primary collectors in the final revenue obtained from the finished products’. As a result, especially when they offer only small amounts of goods for sale, sellers are exploited by power inequalities in a market that remains ‘very disorganised’ (Datta, 2001: 3599) and in which traders and petty contractors ‘manage the show’ (Datta, 2001: 3598). In this potentially highly politicised context, Wouters (2020) blames neoliberal forces, particularly in the volatile highlands of Northeast India, for the multi-level exploitation of poor indigenous people.

At the same time, Ghosh and Bhattacharya (2022) illustrate weekly haats as one of the major informal economic centres in rural areas which enhance the rural economy. However, the evil side of urbanisation processes has ruined the somewhat romantic glamour of the old local haat if, as Ravi (2016) found in the weekly haat of Adilabad district of Telangana, it employs exploitative processes of bargaining and weighing products. Ravi and Raj (2020) witnessed that tribal people are dependent upon such weekly markets, not just for their buying and selling activities, but also gained increased awareness about current developments, trends and socio-political issues in contemporary society. Borborah (2020) shows for Assam how periodic market centres are not just the hub of economic activities but also play an integral role in linking local people through bonds of ethnic identity, culture and trust, employing social capital to cultivate belongingness. Akoijam (2019) portrays how the weekly haat offers farmers of the Garo Hills of Meghalaya a major source of income, as does Purkayastha (2019).

Earlier, Pandey (1999) indicated the integral role of middlemen, showing how they exploit poor tribals as petty traders and market organisers. Barman and Bhattacharjee (2016) articulate the role of these middlemen as market functionaries and agents in weekly haats in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya. A case study of Kandhamal district of Orissa discusses the socio-economic dimensions of weekly haats in tribal areas (Behera, 2008), also showing their importance for information dissemination and awareness promotion in a tribal region. Khemundu (2019), too, argues that weekly haats in Koraput district of Odisha serve as central places where members of tribal communities can express and share their views, ideas and news of their families, clans and villages.

Data, Research Design and Methodology

Koraput district has altogether 21 weekly haats, managed by a Regulated Market Committee (RMC) with specific responsibilities (Government of Odisha, 2016: 110). We started our empirical research in Koraput district in southern Odisha during the first week of December 2021 and completed the fieldwork by the end of the third week of March 2022. Conducted over three months and 18 days, our research collected data through an interview schedule and close observation. Koraput district, known as a backward region with Naxal activity and an agrarian economy, is divided into two subdivisions, Koraput and Jeypore. Koraput district is dominated by tribal communities. According to official records (Government of Odisha, 2016: 109) for Koraput, the population of Scheduled Tribes in this district is 50.58%. Local tribals include prominently 17 groups, mainly the Paroja, Kandha/Kond, Bhattra/Dhotada, Gadaba, Bhumia, Omanatya, Saura, Pentia, Parenga, Konda/Dora, Kotia and Holva communities.

Our research design was mainly descriptive in nature, based on the weekly haats of Koraput sub-division in the four villages of Koraput, Subai, Nandpur and Kunduli. The selected haats were held on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday respectively every week. Two of these markets were in the centre of the village and the other two (Kunduli and Nandpur) in the village periphery. People came to these markets from a radius of up to 20 kilometres. We randomly picked a sample of 127 individual respondents, who were all sellers in these rural weekly markets, 63% male and 37% female. A combination of convenience sampling methods and simple random sampling techniques was used to obtain a stratified, broadly representative sample, giving due importance to the respondents’ social status and their nature as petty, regular or seasonal sellers. In addition, we also talked to wholesalers, including four middlemen agents, but they were not our main focus during the fieldwork. Our sample included 73 tribal and 54 non-tribal sellers. Tribal sellers were from the Paroja, Saura, Bhumia, Gadaba, Omanatya and Kond communities. Non-tribal sellers included Karan, Teli, Gudia, Khandayat, Khoruda, Bania, Kapu, Telaga, Gandla, Mali, Dombo and Chamar community members.

A theoretical base for understanding the kinds of sellers working in weekly haats has been provided by several researchers. Wanmali (1981) identified full-time and part-time sellers. For our purpose, all individual respondent sellers were categorised into thirteen categories, comprising sellers of foodgrain and pulses, fish and dry fish, grocery and dry provisions, sweet and tea stalls, sellers of vegetable, cloth and readymade garments, footwear, stationery, fancy items and utensils. There were also sellers of livestock, toddy and country liquor, artisans who sold their products, and finally the widely studied group of sellers of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) (Dash, 2016; Islam & Quli, 2016; Magry et al., 2022; Mishra, 2014; Mishra & Shrivastava, 2015).

Our conversations with the respondents in the four weekly haats were conducted in the Odia language. Both researchers visited each haat during these fourteen weeks. We travelled by public transport from the district headquarters, reaching early in the morning every day to observe and interact with respondents till the time when the local haat was busy and sellers had less time to talk.

Haats as Transformative Hubs of Social and Economic Activity

Observing the sample haats, we found them easily accessible to both tribal and non-tribal rural people, who habitually visit these markets and consider them as the only suitable place to sell their products easily. Considerable seasonal variations of price and offerings of produce were reported by our respondents. Like other researchers, we observed that these haats become a focal space of social interaction, exchange and service for poor tribal people, in particular, helping them to acquire cultural and socio-economic capital.

Socially, positive transformative changes are reflected in increased democratic behaviour and advanced transportation facilities. Recurrent visits to these haats by governmental and non-governmental employees contribute further to ongoing dynamic social and economic transformations. State government officials, RMC representatives and their dependants frequently visit these haats to conduct their daily affairs, which brings further cultural change to the haat. Culturally, the levels of proficiency and literacy patterns among the respondents in these weekly haats are still low. Petty sellers use stones as the standard unit of measuring weight, locally considered akin to the standard metric system of weight. This practice should not be seen as ‘primitive’, therefore, as it reflects skilful use of local resources and continuing public faith in traditional local socio-cultural ways of trading. Tribals sell many vegetable items in bunches, rather than using standard weights. Chilly and coriander leaves are considered as freebies from these sellers. Buyers make their choice of vegetables, and the freebies are gifted with a smile, a widely observed cultural practice of these haats, along with the exchange of family news.

The tribal communities consider these markets as the most vital economic institution of their locality. In the Koraput region, haats are functioning on a fixed day every week, when people from nearby areas visit to sell and buy their products for daily use or to trade products elsewhere on non-haat days. These intersections of retail and wholesale trade are somewhat taken for granted but certainly deserve further scrutiny in future studies. Owing to their agrarian attributes, the selected haats encounter yearly business cycles of boom and depression, depending on harvest seasons and weather patterns. We found two categories of sellers, permanent sellers from the non-tribal category and often temporary sellers from tribal communities. These categories can be further classified into regular and seasonal sellers. We observed that permanent sellers from the non-tribal category offer their products in permanent sheds in haats, normally paying a monthly rent of about ₹500–₹1,000 for a small space.

Temporary tribal sellers come to the haat with their produce, like seasonal vegetables, food grains and pulses, to sell them in temporary sheds or in open spaces. Describing here briefly all 13 types of sellers, we observed that only tribal women were selling food grains and pulses. Eighteen women from different tribal communities (four Paroja and Saura tribals and five sellers each from the Bhumia and Gadaba tribes) come regularly to these four haats. Only Bhumia women sellers trade seasonally, since they are predominantly engaged in agriculture-related activities during the monsoon. Grocery and dry provisions as packaged items were offered by non-tribal sellers from different castes, including Bania, Kapu, Telaga, Gandla, Karan and Teli. Altogether eight sellers from this category included six regular and two seasonal sellers, the latter one each from the Karan and Teli caste.

We also found much evidence that sweet and tea stalls in these four haat act as hubs for exchanging news and discussing family affairs, cultural programmes, ceremonial aspects and local political gossip of the respective panchayat. In each of these markets, there was a regular non-tribal tea and sweet seller. The four haats of Koraput district are dominated by trade in local fresh vegetables, offered by 46% of sellers from different communities. Vegetables were sometimes sold, mainly by male sellers, from self-owned or public transport vehicles. There were altogether 33 regular vegetable sellers, among whom 15 individuals (10 male and five female) were from the Mali caste of gardeners, part of the Other Backward Castes (OBC) category, five sellers each from the Paroja and Gadaba tribes (one female and four males, respectively) and four each from the Saura and Bhumia tribes (one female and three males, respectively). Apart from that, only three Mali women sellers were coming to the haat seasonally, with their minor dependants. The female tribal sellers usually came to the haat in the afternoon and stayed until all their produce was sold.

Importantly, what remained unsold was purchased from these sellers by middlemen, and the price of vegetables decreased towards the evening. The female tribal sellers claimed they could not afford to bear the transport costs of taking unsold raw products back home. Whatever quantity of vegetables female tribal sellers bring to the market, everything is sold by them that same day, irrespective of profit, even without a profit margin. Male tribal sellers, however, come to the haat to sell their vegetables wholesale, directly to big traders and to selected petty traders from the local area and from other regions. We clearly observed the multiple functions of such haats as retail and wholesale markets.

Regarding non-food trade, the clothes and readymade garment sellers are non-tribal Banias from the trading communities, who bring their goods for sale from a base in urban areas. Five such sellers regularly attended the haats and two sellers of the same caste traded occasionally. Other non-tribal sellers offered footwear, stationery, fancy items and household utensils. A significant number of regular sellers of footwear decreased their range of items during the monsoon season, when they supplied umbrellas and plastic garments to cater for seasonal demands. Footwear sellers from the Chamar, Karan (Kshatriya/Rajput) and Teli caste sold sandals, shoes and related items. Two sellers from the Karan and Teli community were regularly visiting the haat, whereas only one Chamar came to the haat seasonally.

The demand for stationery, such as pencils, rubbers, books, carrier bags, lunch boxes, water bottles and various education-related materials and fancy products was quite high among tribal people. Six traders (four Banias and two Khandayat (Kshtriya/Rajput) regularly sold such goods and one Khandayat seller attended the market seasonally. Utensils or kitchen item sellers were from the Khoruda caste of the trading (Bania) community. They deal with aluminium, steel and bell metal utensils, following their caste’s hereditary traditional business. Two such sellers regularly visited the haat, while two others traded only seasonally, preferring to sell their products in covered urban markets during the rainy season.

The fish and dry fish sellers from the Keuto caste, a fisherman community in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, were also prominent, since the demand for non-vegetarian or meat products, especially dry fish, is very high in these rural markets, especially at times when certain vegetables are more expensive than dry fish. Its abundant availability and people’s liking for non-vegetarian food make this an attractive business. Fish products, treated as a rich diet food, had a high status among tribals, ensuring strong demand. Five sellers, three from the Keuto caste and two women from the Bhumia tribe, regularly attended the market and one Keuto seller traded seasonally as a dry fish seller.

The selling of livestock in these markets is also considered a major aspect of ensuring food security and fostering livelihoods, as also reported by Panigrahy et al. (2020) from Gujarat. Observing the livestock sellers in Kunduli haat, we found the presence of three permanent sellers each from the Dombo and Chamar castes, both from the SC category. This spacious market, in which some livestock sellers made a lot of money, is especially known for the sale and purchase of cows, buffalos, goats, sheep, ducks and hens, whereas only two Chamar sellers were found occasionally at the time of religious or parochial festivals. The other three weekly haats are known for the sale and purchase of ducks, hens, goats and sheep only, not for selling big animals. Notably, the livestock sellers in the three other markets were relatives of the Dombo and Chamar traders of Kunduli haat.

We also found the presence of local artisans who were skilled in making finished items from NTFPs and also acted as sellers. There were altogether eight sellers of such finished NTFP products, especially bamboo items. All traders hailed from the Paraja, Saura, Bhumia, Kond and Gadaba tribes. They were selling seasonal flowers, fruits, herbal medicinal plants, roots, honey, mushrooms and jhuna (an extract of resin). All these petty traders regularly attended the haat.

In Bihar, Wanmali (1981: 47–52) observed that weekly markets operated for around 5–10 hours, involving many activities. Long working hours were also found by Prasad (2018: 49) and such evidence was replicated in the four observed haats of Koraput district, which functioned for 8–10 hours, from early morning to late evening. After completion of their sales, sellers from the tribal community had developed a custom of enjoying toddy and various kinds of country liquor, relaxing with friends and community members. The regular liquor sellers in the haat were five women and their male dependants from the Dombo caste.

The Role of Middlemen

As noted, middlemen played multiple and important roles in all four haats of Koraput district. Some middlemen collect certain amounts of tax or rent in cash or kind, in the form of the respective produce, from the sellers. Payments ranged from ₹5 per basket or up to ₹30 for several baskets or their equivalent in goods. This amount is fixed by middlemen considering the weight of the basket of products for sale brought by the sellers, a practice which is recognised and accepted by local village panchayat leaders. This fee was not found in any formal accounts as a white paper record, yet every seller was paying and following the same behaviour without demur. The validity and sanctity of the process of fee or tax of haat entry charges for sellers was considered a social fact. This illustrates the informal economy of rural India in full-blown practice, with no direct involvement of the state in these financial transactions.

Apart from fee collection, these middlemen were also responsible for the seating arrangements of the sellers in the haat, especially when seasonal or occasional sellers came to offer their produce. We did not examine the scope for discrimination in the allocation of selling spaces at this stage; further questions could have been asked. Though there was sufficient space for sellers in the haat, selling and allocation of spaces were not only considered as economic activities. For example, it was observed that women preferred to sit together in a particular market section. Some questions of sanctity or superstition also arose related to the place of sale, which was considered and specially marked as an auspicious place by some sellers.

As already discussed, regarding fresh produce, middlemen ensured that nothing remained unsold by the end of the day. They assisted in wholesale trading processes as sub-middlemen, and also brought new buyers from nearby districts who deal in bulk items, even buyers from neighbouring states. We found that sellers and middlemen are complementary to each other in the structure of the haats, which are now more than just a local village market. Middlemen are mainly concerned about their share of profit from the trade, but are also often involved in local politics. They operate as important socio-economic and political actors, with a variety of agendas and functions regarding ongoing processes of social change and rural development. As noted, Pandey (1990) argued that they engaged in exploitating tribals, as did Ravi (2016) and Prasad (2018). Our evidence confirms that this was also the case in 2021, as some sellers we interviewed were aware that their valuable organic items, such as ginger, for example, would fetch twice as much as in the local haat in urban markets, which these rural sellers were unable to reach, but middlemen could access. Rising awareness of how the trade links were developed and exploited by these intermediaries was evident. However, many tribals seemed to remain unaware of the real market value of their healthy, organic edibles and herbal forest or kitchen garden products and were content to follow traditional patterns of sale based on trust.

Key Challenges and Changes in the Weekly Haat

During our observations, we found that sellers are facing challenges of extreme weather, poor supply and, where available, lack of reliable distribution of electricity in the haat area. Especially lack of storage facilities or cold storage to stock unsold items was raised as an issue. Like Prasad (2018: 48), we also identified the lack of toilet facilities as a major grievance, particularly voiced by women sellers. The unhygienic surroundings make the haat area distressful, especially during the monsoon season. However, we also found signs of progress, as some sellers and purchasers in the haats were digitally connected and could use the Indian mobile payment apps known as UPI/BHIM payment mode options, Unified Payments Interface and Bharat Interface for Money. While decades ago Rao (1973: M77) found a ‘lack of extensive banking facilities in the rural areas’, we observed that actual sales and purchases in these haats were still only possible in cash because of very poor internet connectivity in these remote rural haats.

Regarding structural and functional changes, we observed that caste structures seem to have withered away in the free market economic system of the selected sample haats, though there are still significant indications of traditional caste occupations being pursued. This suggests that haats slowly approach a model of more egalitarian social structures, in the sense that sellers are coming to the haat without fear of caste discrimination. In principle, every seller is free to sell the respective products irrespective of caste barriers. Certainly regarding post-market social contacts, caste barriers seem to have been abandoned. With the advent of globalisation, haat is also changed in its physical and social structures. We found several infrastructural facilities in selected haats, such as rest sheds for visitors, temporary shades for selling products, hand pumps for drinking and other water, and concrete cement stands for seating and selling produce. All these facilities seemed to be accessible to all, irrespective of status. In the contemporary situation, haats are controlled and regulated by the respective gram panchayat and the RMC. This itself is proof of equalising bureaucratic change in the structure and function of the rural haat, which is a kind of semi-formal market, not entirely private, but also not fully state-controlled.

To assess the ground reality of sellers’ perception of the market structure, we analysed statements from sample respondents, but provide here only three brief case studies. Laxman Mali from the Mali caste, 48 years old, was a regular seller of vegetable items in Nandpur haat. He had started visiting haats with his father when he was 14 and told us about earlier challenges regarding the structure of the market and changes over time. He especially highlighted difficulties regarding transportation, connectivity and access to the market, explaining that until the last 5–10 years, sale chances were limited, the pricing policy of commodities was unfair, and rural sellers were treated as a source of cheap commodities, not as human beings. Their identity was not at all recognised earlier and they were not respected as a dignified seller, due to their lower status in the Indian social structure.

He further observed, however, that increased transportation facilities, access to transport carriers in their community and better road connectivity had brought much progress, including social change, as one simply met more different people in this haat. He also commented on increased political awareness, continuous intervention of RMC representatives and the increasing democratic pattern of the local panchayat, which further helped tribal people in selling their produce. He observed an honest market price system and regular visits of buyers from neighbouring districts in search of abundant fresh produce at the cheapest possible rate. Along with others, he was now more satisfied with the position of the haat, as sellers were getting better prices for their products and, importantly, it was now possible to sell commodities without any interference from caste chiefs. Laxman Mali confirmed that all sellers from different castes in his haat enjoy country liquor together as companions at an outlet controlled and managed by a Dombo woman seller along with her dependants.

Kartik Khilo from the Gadaba tribal community, aged 35 years and from Jiranput village in Nandpur block, had been a regular seller of Subai haat for the past 15 years. A peasant with three acres of land, he had adopted modern methods of cash-crop vegetable farming. As a result, he now had more produce for sale and appreciated the role of the middlemen and their involvement in the sale of his produce and in liaising with potential buyers.

Sudarsan Paroja, aged 50 years from Maliput village in Pottangi block, had been a regular seller of Kunduli haat for 27 years. His routine farm activity, based on the 3.5 acres of land which he owns, allowed him to be a regular producer of groundnuts and vegetables. He had also become involved in poultry farming through the influence of a middleman. He, too, had observed significant changes in the physical structure of the haat and commented on the social and economic progress over time. He, too, appreciated the supportive role of middlemen in the haat and the positive developments in his individual life.

Concluding Analysis and Further Suggestions

It remains a fact that many rural Indians are ‘ready for change’ (Rao, 1973: M77), even if they are not in close proximity to major towns. Our research in the rural hinterlands showed that the weekly haats in Koraput district are not only a marketplace for sale and purchase, but are also public spaces, which sellers from the tribal and some non-tribal communities use to interact with friends, clan members and companions, sharing socio-cultural and political information and building social capital in the process. Our case study focused narrowly on sellers’ perceptions of the haat. We found evidence that rural people interact across traditional boundaries, that traditional caste structures have largely withered, and that democratic patterns of government and administration along with market factors are playing an increasingly dominant role in reshaping the behavioural pattern of local individuals while interacting with others. Our evidence indicates that interference of the RMC and panchayat representatives has in fact empowered members of the local tribal communities, affecting both the socio-economic and socio-cultural lifeworld of local tribes. Their increased social standing as sellers in the haat meant that their active participation in market activities had raised their credibility among buyers from different communities. Simultaneously, this market activity was also steadily generating more revenue for the district’s economy and its tribal people, accelerating the pace of development and empowerment of the local community. Focusing on local micro-evidence, we did not go into macro-aspects of marketisation of the Indian economy, with its much-challenged shifts in regulatory power and resultant farmers’ protests, which gained such prominence during the time of our fieldwork in 2020 and 2021.

Focused on our evidence from the field, we propose several suggestions regarding the future development of weekly haats. First, petty and marginal sellers in rural India need to be exempted, or at least protected, from having to pay any unreasonable levy or fee for their market activities, although we acknowledge that such fees have become an important source of revenue for local authorities and related middlemen. Together with retaining affordable fee structures, there is a clear case for maintaining the informal nature of these local commercial transactions between ‘little Indians in large numbers’ as local residents. However, our research also identifies the increasingly prominent existence of linkages between purely private sales and the involvement of middlemen who then turn this commercial activity into something that will, and should, attract the state’s attention and involvement in terms of taxation, maintenance of proper standards of quality and hygiene, and related matters. This porous, ragged borderline between formal and informal trading activities, navigating the state/non-state boundaries of social and economic change, certainly needs much further research.

At the local level, proper infrastructure in terms of building or regulation should be developed to meet the perceived infrastructural challenges faced by various sellers and to facilitate the smooth functioning of haats in their day-to-day operations. However, simply asking for state investment in this realm risks inviting unwanted attention of what may be called the modern ‘hungry state’. More pertinent is that the clearly changing additional function of such haats as ground-level feeders of larger commercial interactions in securing the supply chains of fresh local produce in South Asia also requires significant investments by those who stand to profit from such linkages. From our research we see that the main beneficiaries of such change and development are not so much the rural sellers, but the middlemen and their staff. Hence, further examining the private/public boundary in such local commercial activities in rural haats becomes particularly interesting for future research. Specific questions arise regarding the extent and timing of state intervention for monitoring and taxation of commercial transactions at the lowest levels. Or should and can this be left purely to private entrepreneurial initiatives? It seems that a finely tuned balance will need to be developed to reap the potentially enormous benefits of connecting local producers and the wider market to feed further economic and social change and development.

Our study also points to the urgent need for related policy developments. At the moment, it remains pertinent to listen to demands from sellers that central warehousing facilities must be developed in the larger interest of sellers and other agricultural producers. However, such ambitious suggestions raise further questions about the ambivalent role of the mammoth Indian state as a directly involved development agency for rural producers. One may also ask to what extent the opportunities offered by local markets should or could enable small-scale cultivators to become something like contract farmers for a state that faces nutritional challenges and desperately needs to ensure food security for a growing population.

In retrospect, it seems that our article was initially framed as yet another study of social change and employment-related concerns in current Indian development discourses. Through the extensive revision process, we clearly identified the more wide-reaching issues raised by our observations from the field. Sellers’ suggestions, for example, that the RMC should liaise with the respective panchayat representatives to improve facilities in the local haats, raise difficult challenges regarding how effective regulation and control of rural marketing in a massive nation like India can be. Since the local markets we observed have become much more integrated into the globalising economy and are thus beginning to look like glocalised spaces, this is no longer just a matter of local tribal development or giving support to local producers. Inevitably, it has significant implications for India’s national, regional and local food security management.

Hence, is it advisable to let local economic exchanges continue to happen in an informal manner? Or should there be more focused and tighter state control, including some form of taxation? Where is the right balance between local empowerment and responsible intervention by the central state and its far-reaching concerns and obligations? We reiterate here also, finally, that the role of the middlemen in these local haats should be scrutinised as a crucial component in this context. It seems to us that their actual and potential role needs to be laboriously researched in future work to maximise the potential benefits of this particular link in the chains that connect the local and the global via a nation-state’s regulatory framework, as well as to monitor and curtail any potential leakages or corruptions.