Ethics of Sugar Cane Farming and Crushing in Maharashtra

In this article, we present the case of sugar cane farming and crushing in Maharashtra in India. This is an Arche-typical case of ethical dilemmas and climate justice in the transition of industrial civilization to become a more environmentally sustainable society. The dilemmas of the case are central to the challenges that we face with regard to the need to change our life-styles and modes of production in the contemporary industrial civilization. The sugar cane farming and agriculture of Maharashtra are central to the economy of the region. Sugar cane cultivation is important for the mode of production of the region. The government has been promoting this agriculture as a part of development of the region in the country. Sugar production has become central to industrialization and survival of stakeholder in the region. However, this production is also very costly for the environment, in particular with regard to use of water, which has led to shortage of water and depletion of ground water. Moreover, the farmers involved in sugar cane farming are also facing distress because of reduction of the price of sugar due to overproduction. In addition, the production has led to increased destruction of the soil in the region, In this situation, government faces many dilemmas of policy. A ban on sugar cane production has been recommended, but local stakeholders are critical to this because of the damage for the farmers who will lose their grounds of existence. Another option is slower transition to sustainability, but it is not clear how such change can be implemented. Thus in this paper, with a hermeneutic case-study we discuss the ethical dimensions of this situation. We discuss the case in terms of cosmopolitan business ethics, sustainability, responsibility, consequentialism, theory of justice and Sen’s justice approach of the development in order to find the correct sustainable solution for the future. We conclude that the practice of sugar cane farming and agriculture of Maharashtra is unethical and should be stopped immediately.