The Kondhs of Odisha witnessed a transition from a traditional, non-monetary economy to a cash economy over the last few decades. Adoption of new technology and commercial methods are threatening sustainability, encouraging monocropping and HT/Bt. Cotton. Today, the Kondhs engage in multiple transactions with small local traders, commissioning agents and Dalit farmers (and others?). Such commercial exchanges with non-Kondhs are not new. However, within a capitalist economy, both social and commercial relationships are challenging the traditional order of Kondh society. Thus, there are emergent power dynamics within the community.

The seminar will focus on the impacts of cotton and commercial crops on the socio-economic lives of Kondhs. It will discuss the changes in food habits, local hierarchies and land system. Simultaneously, Kondhs continue to practice traditional seed festivals and conservation. These traditions challenge new production systems and materialism. Changing cultivation methods have ensured that Kondhs move away from their millet-based diets and depend on the market for farm inputs. The seminar will discuss transformation within the caste/ class dynamics in the new cash economy. Adopting new production methods into aspects of the traditional economy will substantially impact land control and social relations among the Kondhs. The Kondh farmers face indebtedness. However, the practice of mixed cropping and climate resistance method ensures food sovereignty.