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Resurrection and being of a Haat: case study of rural markets of the eastern
plateau region

Article  in  International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research · January 2015

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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 12, December-2014 365
ISSN 2229-5518

Resurrection and being of a Haat: case study of

rural markets of the eastern plateau region
Aditi Sarkar, Pabitra Banik, Rana Dattagupta

Abstract— Haats/bazaars since ages have been essential place for exchange of commodities where farmers and local people

have congregated to conduct trade since times immemorial, exchange ideas, engage in social, cultural, religious as well as political
activities. They are not only commercial venues but have been significant hubs of festivity and cultural exchanges.

There have been ample reasons for the existence of the haats/bazaars, so have been the complexities that have plagued their exist-
ence and been instrumental in their extinction. In order to identify the particular responses of haats/bazaars to precise fluctuations in
the parameters that determine their well-being, an extensive study was conducted through painstaking fieldwork using structured
questionnaires. Based on the information, the reasons for the revival or generation of a new haat/bazaar were analyzed. Such analyti-
cal study based on complete quantitative and qualitative primary data obtained directly from the haats/bazaars has been almost zilch
for West Bengal (India).

Index Terms rural agricultural markets, Purulia, periodic markets, Haat/Bazaar, extinction, revival.

——————————  ——————————

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1 INTRODUCTION

R ural market refers to a market or market place, either

one of their defining characteristics, which encourages the
local inhabitants to congregate only on the specified days set
aside for transactions. Based on this uniqueness, the rural
permanent or temporary in nature, mainly along the street. markets of West Bengal are categorized into ‘Haats’ (the peri-
They have long been an essential place for exchange where odic markets) and the ‘Bazaars’ (the daily markets). Haats are
farmers and local people have congregated to conduct trade held weekly, scheduled on the day the employees get their
since times immemorial. They play a pivotal role as a scene to 'hafta', as the payments to villagers still are made on a weekly
gather news and information, to exchange views and basis. They seem sufficient to meet the local demands since the
knowledge, to engage in various social, cultural, religious, and necessities of the peasants in a subsistence economy have al-
even political activities. They are venues for both commerce as ways been limited. Moreover, since poor transportation and
well as festivity and exude a feeling of unity and strength. communication facilities often serve limited areas, markets of
These occasional gatherings lead to traffic in social, cultural, the same locality always meet on different days of the week.
and economic exchanges. Transactions of agricultural goods As a result, the villagers could use manifold markets. This
take place in regulated markets, wholesale markets and rural access to several rural markets also expedites the peasants to
periodic markets. The rural weekly markets exist as India's deal their surplus agricultural products as well as artisanal
grassroots retail network known mostly by their local names – goods. These exchanges involve several hands, resulting in the
‘Haats’ (West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa), Santhe (Karna- involvement of various traders at various levels of the market
taka), Sandhai (Tamil Nadu). The term ‘bazaar’ has a Persian hierarchy. Reasons commensurate for the existence of the rural
origin that gained momentum in India [5]. They are the oldest markets are ample. However, the rural agricultural markets
marketing channel and constitute an important segment of are often plagued by complexities, mostly to deal with lack of
rural and overall economy. Haats/bazaars occupy the lowest information, control of intermediaries, forced sale, infrastruc-
rung of the marketing system in rural Bengal [3]. The haats are tural breaches, lack of proper transportation and communica-
often mobile and flexible as they shift from one location on tion to serve greater areas and highly fragmented and unor-
one day to another on the next day and the locations vary in ganized agricultural markets. World Bank (2008) remarked
nature too. They can very well be marked as a place for politi- how the shabby road conditions coupled with the undevel-
cal, economic, social, and cultural transactions. Periodicity is oped infrastructure limit the farmers' as well as the buyers'
access to rural markets. As long as they are affected by such
———————————————— complexities, the haats/bazaars can seldom contribute to the
• Aditi Sarkar is currently pursuing PhD in Engineering in Jadavpur Uni- development of the rural sector [1]. Studies in Bangladesh
versity, India, PH- 9830621995. E-mail:[email protected]
• Pabitra Banik is currently Associate Professor at Indian Statistical Insti- have depicted how lack of development arises as a conse-
tute, Kolkata, India. E-mail: banikpabitra @mail.com quence to infrastructural deficiencies [2].
• Rana Dattagupta is currently Professor Emeritus at Jadavpur University,
Kolkata, India. E-mail: [email protected] In West Bengal, the marketing of agricultural commodities has
been promoted through a network of Regulated Markets.
There are about 44 Regulated Market Committees (RMC), 2925
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 12, December-2014 366
ISSN 2229-5518
periodic haats and 279 wholesale markets in West Bengal. The
establishment of these regulated markets throughout the state
has helped in creating orderly and transparent marketing
conditions in primary assembling markets. However, the rural
periodic and local markets in general and the tribal markets in
particular, have been left out of its ambit even though these
haats are extremely pro-active in the context of rural agricul-
tural economy. The sole aim of this study was to address to
this ennui towards the haats/bazaars and highlight their dy-
namic responses to such indifferences.

Objective:

Considerable work has already been done in India and abroad

on market research and marketing chain of agricultural pro-
duces. However, the study on the health of the rural periodic
markets, their eventual decay, and astounding resuscitation
has been rare and virtually zilch in West Bengal. With the pre-
viously mentioned backdrop, the principal objective was to Figure 2.1: Location Map of the study area
highlight the natural mechanism of the rural haats/bazaars to
revive and regain its full vigor even after an inevitable extinc- 3.1 Primary data:
tion. The dynamics of the rural periodic markets is not always
A tedious amount of primary data was collected directly from
very critical or complicated. In this paper, an attempt has been
the haat/bazaar using Market Information schedule.

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made to study this particular dynamics of extinction and re-
vival of the rural periodic markets through a detailed quanti- 3.2 Ancillary data:
tative as well as qualitative analysis.
Ancillary data were required for the geo-spatial database crea-
tion required for the study. A detailed tabulation has been
2 AREA OF OBSERVATION provided below (Table 3.1).
The study resulted from an extensive tour of the Jhalda I block
Table 3.1: Ancillary data used for the study.
in the Purulia district of West Bengal, India. The area belongs
1. SOI Topographical map sheets of Purulia district – at scale
to the eastern plateau region of India. The tour involved a gap
1:250,000 (Nos. 73 E; 73I; 73J);
of approximately three years. Each haat/bazaar of the block was
intensively scrutinized not only on the operational day but 2. National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization (NAT-
also during the operation. The choice of Jhalda I block as the MO) District Planning map (DPM) series at 1:250,000;
study locus was due to its unique location. It is the western 3.3 Software used:
most block of the western most district (Purulia) of West Ben-
gal sharing a common boundary with the neighboring state of • ArcMap 10;
Jharkhand. The area in terms of its rural periodic markets has
gone through some significant phases and has unique charac- • Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx, MapSource@ Trip and Way-
teristics to them. Even though from agricultural point of view, point Manager;
the block does not have much diversity due to its extremely • Microsoft Office.
rugged nature, the rural agricultural marketing yet has a col-
orful and significant flavor.
4 METHODOLOGY
3 DATA AND SOFTWARE The study was conducted over the rural markets of Jhalda I
The study envisaged the use of geo-spatial information in block of Purulia district incorporating a well-drafted method-
terms of the geographical location of each haat/bazaar as well ology. Once the area was finalized, prior to the field visit, in-
as additional information associated with each location. This formation about the existing haats/bazaars was extracted with
meant the use of Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx to capture the the help of local field resources. Accompanied with this detail
haat/bazaar location and ArcMap 10 to spatially plot them for the block was visited and firsthand information about more
easy viewing. For the attribute information generation, a con- haats/bazaars were obtained. The field survey was conducted at
siderable amount of data from both primary as well as sec- two phases during 2009 and 2014. The exact geographical loca-
ondary sources was obtained. tions were identified using the Global Positioning System and
each market was identified in their true nature with all neces-
sary attribute information. A detailed survey of the
haats/bazaars of the block was accomplished following which
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 12, December-2014 367
ISSN 2229-5518
the data collected was treated and used in generating an in- revived Mahatamara Haat (Figure 5.1) used to be a significant
formation system. large-scale haat about thirty years back. However, due to
reasons of extremely poor connectivity and thereby decreasing
The first phase marked the initiation of the survey of the rural communication over the time, the market did not survive. It
periodic markets at a detailed level and at the second phase, was a major crowd puller of the Jharkhand population, which
the survey was purely to verify the previously collected in- eventually declined due to obvious reasons of communication
formation along with extraction of supplementary infor- problems. Moreover, the serious lack of infrastructural
mation. An exhaustive market survey questionnaire was pre- amenities too added up to the causes of dormancy. The
pared before the actual survey of the periodic markets began. Hesahatu Haat began its operation just about two years back.
The interviews were conducted based on this set of a well- The nearest Piparajara Haat being about 2 km far and with
sketched questionnaire. During the operational hours, the limited transportation facilities, this new location was
haats/bazaars were visited; the users (consumers and vendors, preferred to be set up on a Sunday by the local villagers for
haat owners) were interviewed in depth based on the struc- their daily needs. It was mainly because all the nearby haats
tured questionnaire. The basic data related to the haats/bazaars operate on days other than Sunday and they are visited by the
along with their respective geographical coordinates were cap- local people. But Sunday being a market-free day, this haat
tured. gained momentum. The Tulin Namopara Haat became extinct
due to the impact of a nearby Tulin Haat.
Since the existing land administration system is still a
continuation of the British legacy, the block has been consid-
ered as an administrative boundary. Hence, the analysis was
pre-conceived with the block boundary as the basic theme
boundary. Based on the secondary map sources, the base map
creation was accomplished to obtain the block level digital

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database. It involved procurement of topographical map
sheets from Survey of India, converting them to digital format
and then associating them with real physical space by the pro-
cess of geo-referencing. Subsequently the district boundary
feature-class was vectorized and eventually the individual
block was extracted (clipped) out of it. The topographical map
sheets along with the district planning map and Google Earth
were used to create digital road network coverage. The loca-
tions (Geographical latitude and longitude) of the haats/bazaars
were captured using GPS tracker. MapSource waypoint man-
ager was used to transfer the GPS waypoints (geographic loca-
tions of the rural markets) from the Garmin device to the
computer and had then been spatially mapped using GIS plat-
form ArcMap 10. Once the mapping was completed, the peri-
odic markets were furnished with all the attribute information
collected from the field survey. Figure 5.1: Haats/Bazaars of Jhalda I block of Purulia
Once the entire geo-database was prepared, an extensive The transaction amount of any haat/bazaar has been
analysis was executed to study the dynamic response of the considered to be the most vital parameter to judge its health.
rural economic centres in relation to their characteristics. Based on the transaction amount generated in the currently
Based on the information assembled, the reason behind the operational twenty six haats/bazaars of the Jhalda I block, they
existence, development, or extinction of the particular have been categorized (Figure 5.1) and mapped. After a
haat/bazaar was studied purely on a quantitative basis. prolonged and in-depth survey of each haat/bazaar, a
painstaking information has been extracted. Based on the
operational day’s transaction, the amount has been grouped
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION (Figure 5.2). The two most significant markets that generate a
The haats/bazaars were observed to be scattered and not daily transaction of more than Rs. 1000, 000/- were observed
very close situated to each other. They only appeared along to be the Jhalda Haat and the B. N. Singhdeo Bazaar. The Jhalda
settlements. Since Jhalda I block is not very thickly populated, Haat generates more than Rs. 3000, 000/. Tulin Haat and
its rural periodic markets too reflected a similar trend. In the Torang Bazaar generate transaction amount somewhere
between Rs. 500, 000/ to Rs. 1000, 000/. The Jargo Haat and
block total twenty-seven haats/bazaars were surveyed
Bandulahar Haat generate transactions between Rs. 200, 000/-
including the operational, revived, new and extinct
to Rs. 500, 000/. About 19% generate a daily transaction
haats/bazaars. It was observed that twenty-five of them were
between Rs. 100, 000/- to Rs. 200, 000/- which include Maru
functional of which one had revived just about a year and half
Haat, Ananda Bazaar, Bandhaghat Bazaar, Brajapur Monday Haat
ago after a prolonged period of 30 years' dormancy. The
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 12, December-2014 368
ISSN 2229-5518
and Brajapur Friday Haat. Approximately, about 11% of the haats/bazaars have been addressed (Table 5.2). It was well said,
haats/bazaars including Jhalda Municipal Bazaar, Kalma Haat that the progress of a society lies with the development of
and Kanshidih Haat generate transaction between Rs. 50, 000/- communication. The existence of these haats/bazaars could be
to Rs. 100, 000/. Baragrambagan Haat, Jargo Bazaar, Ichag Bazaar well credited to their location along metalled roads. This
and Birudih Bazaar are among the 15% of the haats/bazaars to makes sure the ease of access by the visitors. However, the
generate transaction of about Rs. 25, 000/- to Rs. 50, 000/. accessibility conditions, due to impact of the monsoon perils
Approximately, 23% of the block’s haats/bazaars generate a often cause trouble.
daily transaction of Rs. 10, 000/- to Rs. 25, 000/- which include
the haats/bazaars Mosina Bazaar, Piprajara Haat, Mahatmara Haat, Table 5.2: Location aspect of the haats/bazaars
Goria Haat, Iloo Bazaar and Dumurdih Haat. Patub Haat and
Hesahatu Haat generate a daily transaction of less than Rs. 10,
000/.

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Figure 5.2: Occurrences of haats/bazaars in each transac- In the following section, the trade particulars of the
haats/bazaars have been addressed (Table 5.3). The absence of
tion group
permanent structured shops except for the Jhalda Municipality
Various particulars of the surveyed haats/bazaars related to Bazaar may raise doubts as to how the markets operate then.
general information, trade particulars, location aspects and The vendors seldom wait for any such facilities. All they need
infrastructural facilities have been enumerated in the is a vacant place to sit, sometimes on bare ground or often on a
following section. The general information regarding the piece of ragged jute cloth or plastic sheet. All that matters to
operating days, nature of the markets, auction amount and them is to get a place, spread their goods, trade them, enjoy
transaction have been provided in Table 5.1. Based on the the haat day, interact with other local people. It is
operational days the ten rural markets of the block could be overwhelming to watch how despite facilities, these
categorized into daily markets (bazaars) and 16 as periodic haats/bazaars attract such a huge crowd.
markets (haats). Out of the twenty-six rural markets, only
Jhalda Haat and Torang Bazaar were found to be involved even
Table 5.3: Trade particulars of the haats/bazaars
in wholesale trading.

Table 5.1: General information of the haats/bazaars

In the following section, the location particulars of the

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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 12, December-2014 369
ISSN 2229-5518
The basic necessities of any human society that 6 CONCLUSION
nurture in and around a market area first and foremost
The haats/bazaars cater to the basic needs of the agricultural
include adequate shelter for the vendors as well as the buyers,
producers and consumers by providing them with both eco-
hygienic aspects of toilets, potable drinking water and proper nomic as well as social services. These services encompass the
disposal units. For a rural market to draw more crowds, which marketing of agricultural products along with arrangements
mean more transaction, the availability of electricity in the for the inputs that are fundamental for agricultural produc-
market area is compulsory. Moreover, to reduce the storage tion, thereby having a direct impact on the productivity. The
losses of the vendors, proper godown facility is necessary. It is rural agricultural markets can also be credited to exert an indi-
evident that the facilities mentioned above and associated rect impact on the productivity by acting as centres of social
with the growth and development of existing rural gatherings, which happen seldom in rural areas. These interac-
agricultural markets have been simply absent when it comes tions are the sole medium of transfer of technology, through
to the haats/bazaars of Jhalda I block. Proper toilet facilities exchange of views. These markets are a “social nexus”, speak-
were only available in B. N. Singhdeo Bazaar and Jhalda ing the language of exchange and negotiation. The
Municipality Bazaar. Potable water and electrified shops were haats/bazaars of West Bengal have since centuries provided
available only in the Jhalda Municipality Bazaar. Strangely, none such linkages and villages have never suffered from the men-
of the twenty-six haats/bazaars have any facility of adequate ace of isolation. Haats/bazaars are part of a system of markets
storage and proper disposal units. This sorry state of affairs that bound villages into localities and small communities into
only raises concern and astounds how inspite of so much larger ones. They are the locus of activity for the indigenous
dearth the haats/bazaars still operate with full vigor and flavor. society. They play an important role in maintaining growth of
the agricultural sector. Thus, their status is a universal param-
After an analysis of all the parameters, it was highlighted eter to judge the well-being of rural population. Hence, this
that the potency of a haat/bazaar could be reflected in terms of particular study to identify the reasons behind the fluctuations
its monetary transaction. This reflection was a collective in the status of any haat/bazaar seems to be justified, as their

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response of all the studied parameters. The low transaction health is the prime indicator of the development of the rural
amount in the Patub Haat can be traced back to limited visitors sector. As long as they are affected by such bottlenecks, their
whom the haat attracts. This limitation resulted due to the lack functioning in the overall development of the rural sector will
of proper locational and communication facilities as well as continue to be jeopardized.
infrastructural facilities. If this state continues, the future of
this haat does not seem to be very bright. It may unfortunately REFERENCES
face the same fate of extinction, unless paid attention to when
[1] Ahmed Z. 2010. Role of local government in indigenous market
it is needed most. However, in the case of Mahatmara Haat,
management in the rural areas of Bangladesh: Do these markets play de-
although the same factors could be held responsible for its low velopment roles? Journal of Sustainable Development. Vol 3, No. 1, March
transaction, yet it must be considered that the haat has just 2010. 120 - 135.
revived from a dormant stage, hence it would need sufficient
time to grow and establish itself. The Tulin Namopara Haat lost [2] Khan A. Z. and Akther M. S. 2000. The role of growth centres in
its glory due to extreme proximity to Tulin Haat, which is held the rural economy of Bangladesh in Seraj, S. M., Hodgson, R. L. P. and
Ahmad, K. L. (eds.). Village infrastructure to cope with the environment,
just less than half a kilometer away. It was encouraged by the Nov – Dec, 2000. The Proceedings of H & H 2000 Conference, Dhaka and
poor road condition beyond Tulin Haat, which was too Exeter.
unfavorable to support access to the former haat. There were
sufficient reasons for the success of the existing haats/bazaars. [3] Wanmali S. 1981. Periodic markets and rural development in
The better the approachability through metalled roads to a India. (Delhi: B. R. Publishing Corporation, 1981).
market, the more were the expected buyers. The more the
[4] World Bank. 2008. “India Country Overview 2008."
buyers, the more was the transaction. The strategic location
and improved connectivity were the cornerstones for the opu- [5] Yule H. and Burnell A. C. 1968. Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of
lence of the haats/bazaars. However, a bunch of complexities Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases (1903; reprint, New Delhi:
often plagued the rural agricultural markets. Eventually, com- Munshiram Manoharlal, 1968), 75-76.
bination of too much of these complexities leads to a slow
death and ultimate extinction of a prominent haat/bazaar. It
was observed that a haat/bazaar lost its glory only when it lost
its horde to sell or buy. This was due to various factors like
inaccessible roads, inadequate transportation, interior location
away from metalled road, low zone of influence (buffer
distance from where visitors arrive) and finally, lack of
infrastructural facilities.

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