Agrarian Distress and Indian Economy

Where our agriculture is heading is a direct result of what we as a country have done so far. The simplest and the most obvious reason for this is because we all have chosen to neglect the class the agriculturists of our country represents. Since the all important phase of liberalization came into existence in 1991-92 by our current Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the polity of our country has totally focussed itself on the hypothetical and notional growth engine of our economy, the Stock Markets. If there’s turbulence in our stock markets for an hour, the finance minister comes out in open and tries to pacify the markets and all of our media gets focussed there. However, the reports of farmer suicides in Vidarbha region, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Tsunamis of the world are not even considered precarious. We have forgotten to take care of the people who need it the most. There are charities of course for the grief stricken people of course, like the loan waivers, and the reconstruction of villages after Tsunami, the Gujarat earthquake, but most of the time, why do we need dying people to be reported on a very wide scale media to realize that these are the people who are in real need of attention and efforts.

All the time in the past 5 years, if we tune in to any TV channel, we’re constantly bombarded with news only about the performance of our stock exchanges and India growth, fundamentally strong economy etc. and 4-5 people sitting there analyzing all the time about how strong we are as an economy. Unfortunately, every one fears to peep into the dark side of it.

Sample this. Sometime last year, while working for a Multi National Corporation in Bangalore, I received an e-mail from the Human Resources department asking all Day shift employees not to report to office for the next day. Reason, the Supreme Court was to deliver its verdict on Kaveri Water division between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and there were apprehensions about the wide spread riots in the whole of Karnataka should Karnataka loose the case and the lives of employees were considered to be at risk by the HR department of many corporations. Why were our people fighting for water? I mean the stock exchanges were doing very well, and there were no recessionary times, the job market was booming and the CXOs (X includes E, I , F) were earning as much as they could and flying business classes. There simply should have been no reason as to why our people across the two states were fighting for water. Unfortunately, if we have a closer look at it, the first time this division of water thing came up way back in early nineties, the worst case of rioting ever in the history of Karnataka was because of Kaveri Water dispute with Tamil Nadu. Why so? Why have so many people died and so much bloodshed for the sake of water of a river in the next “Tiger Economy” or the next “Asian Giant”? It’s because the lives of the farmers irrigating their land out of that river is at stake.

Also, the division of Kaveri water did not change the way the Cokes and Pepsis of the world did business in India. A Rs 6000 odd crore (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/kitnon-alcoholic-beverages-market-in-india/07/21/342572/) soft drinks market of the world simply is not ready to accept the fact that the cold drinks we consume are depleting resources of our own farmers. We’ve forgotten to respect the way people live in our country. Although we show courtesy in the form of loan waivers and collecting money and clothes when they die, we are totally oblivious to how they are living and coping up with it. Very unfortunate for a country where economy was predominantly agrarian.

In fact we live in such extra ordinary times where our billionaire film stars (read Amitabh Bachhan and his farm land acquisition in Barabanki (UP)) have occupied farm land stating themselves as farmers. This can’t be labelled as unfortunate as well. This has something to do with the total loss of respect for our farmers and the way they are living.

True that the Bengal Famine can be classified as “Britons at work” but the agriculture sector of our country today and the figures that we looked at in the class are also a result of “PRAGMATIC” attitude towards agriculture. Who’s at the work now and who is at the helm of affairs? Our own people. The very own Coke and Pepsi drinking people I believe. And that is what has spelt dooms day for our farming sector.

Take PDS, considered to be one of the finest poverty alleviating systems of our country. It neither reached to all corners of the BPL families and whenever it reached, it was inadequate (http://www.blonnet.com/businessline/2001/08/13/stories/041303mg.htm).

Clearly, nothing works in our country because no one wants to make it run OR perhaps no one wants to look at the darker side of our export oriented growth.

I would also like to point out that farm loan waiver schemes will not help the systemic failure of agriculture and farming sector of our country. Promoting private players (be it corporate farming, be it export orientation of food, be it futures trading) to accumulate wealth out of the sector which ought to benefit the masses is never going to help.

The government is not ready to invest in development of the sector and instead, is trying to create a free market system for a sector that is not matured at all. The Global food crisis of 2008 did not help the cause of Indian farming at all. Couple it up with the total dependency on monsoons. And the Prime Minister goes on record to say that with the help of America, we can create another green revolution. Perhaps he is asking us to be dependent on “Western disturbances” as well.

A note from Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyer (http://www.countercurrents.org/aiyar030507.htm) on the same situation explains why we’re so considerate on spending 648 Crores on rural India and at the same time we are spending Rs 7000 Crores on Commonwealth games.