SUGAR-The Vanishing Act

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL, WEEKLY has become all the more harsh where the farmers have hired outsiders in place of the local ones" Visits to the, affected villages of central and North Gujarat revealed to this correspondent the following trends: (a) Mainly the Patel farmers have boycotted the dalits. (b) Kshatriya farmers have not boycotted them. (c) Adivasi Bhil labour is being brought in to replace harijans; (d) In the whole of Central and North Gujarat normally the wages are Rs 3 to Rs 4 in peak season, and never the minimum wage of Rs 5.50. (e) Due to the boycott by caste Hindu fanners, dalit labourers are migrating to urban areas.