Prajateerpu (translation: ‘people’s verdict’) has been devised as a means of allowing those people most affected by the ‘Vision 2020’ for food and farming in Andhra Pradesh (AP, India) to shape a vision of their own. The Government of AP has developed Vision 2020 as a strategy for development over the next twenty years, partly funded by the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development. Extensive discussion between partners at the local, national and international level, including community organisations, development NGOs, academics and policymakers informed the formulation of the methodology for Prajateerpu. It uses a combination of a citizens jury and a scenario workshop, supplemented by three video films about different potential paths for food, farming and rural development in Andhra Pradesh over the next twenty years. Members of the jury were drawn from communities of small and marginal farmers from all over the state of Andhra Pradesh. Most were either dalit or adivasi and women were in a majority. The jurors’ deliberations were informed by their interrogation of a range of witnesses including those from the Government of Andhra Pradesh, a transnational agrochemical company (SYNGENTA), universities, local NGOs, government advisory panels and community NGOs. The participatory process involved in Prajateerpu has been just as important as the policy recommendations reached by the jurors. Facilitators used a range of methods to give jurors the opportunity to validate their knowledge and challenge the misunderstandings of decision-makers. Many people arrived at the event not knowing whether they would have anything useful to say and went away having acknowledged that they had important contributions to make. The depth of engagement and insight they achieved went beyond what would have been possible using opinion polls, questionnaires, public meetings or focus groups. For example, rather than hearing arguments about the potential risks and benefits of particular technologies, such as genetically modified (GM) crops, participants were able to consider them alongside alternative development models. Each different scenario for rural futures could be seen as an interdependent economic, social and environmental system. The process reaffirmed that citizen empowerment and deliberative and inclusive processes can enrich democracy and hold decisionmakers accountable for their actions. Jurors used their ability to directly cross-examine the witnesses to give illustrations of, or counter-examples to, the evidence they had heard. The participants’ accounts were in many ways more diverse than those of specialists because they had looser commitments to subject boundaries and, to a certain extent, a more insightful and open-minded approach to the tensions these boundaries can mask. There was a significant diversity of opinion among participants. However there was widespread agreement on the final statement, which included the following: We oppose ● The proposed reduction of those making their livelihood from the land from 70 to 40 per cent in Andhra Pradesh ● Land consolidation and displacement of rural people ● Contract farming ● Labour-displacing mechanisation ● GM Crops – including Vitamin A rice and Bt cotton ● Loss of control over medicinal plants including their export and We desire ● Food and farming for self reliance and community control over resources ● To maintain healthy soils, diverse crops, trees and livestock, and to build on our indigenous knowledge, practical skills and local institutions We conclude that the potential of Vision 2020 to damage, or potentially improve, the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers in Andhra Pradesh is as least as great as other mega-projects such as the Narmada Dam or the introduction of ‘Green Revolution’ technologies. We urge opinion-formers and decision-makers in India and internationally to respond to the results of Prajateerpu by reviewing the assumptions that underlie their policies about rural futures. Such a review should include further democratic innovations of this kind.

Text in English