Jai Kisan

"Everything can wait but not agriculture"

Jawahar lal nehru
These words by First Indian prime minister and a great visionary, clearly substantiate the importance of agriculture in Indian economy. The sound of our teacher 'India is an agricultural ecomony' reverberates in our heads every time we hear of the agriculture. Agriculture is the largest private employment provider in India. About 64% of Indians depend on it, directly or indirectly to make their ends meet. But is India really and agricultural economy? This seems a little dubious looking at the present structure and state of Indian agriculture.

Year 2006, Govt. of India imported wheat for the first time after seventies. The soaring prices of the food grains places horrendous doubts about food stability in India. The growth of naxalite movement in Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal has now engulfed about 1/3rd of the country. The countless suicides in Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh of farmers do not show a very rosy picture of Agricultural Economy. The comments by National Commission on Agriculture under chairmanship of M.S Swaminathan clearly holds the view that the so-called 'green revolution' has fatigued out and the growth rates of production have began to decline. The production of pulses in has been fluctuating in the quota of 11-14 MT since the 70s.

Reasons
There can be numerous reasons cited for the present state. One of the most excruciating is that the green revolution has, though no doubt, shielded the country from major famine and acute hunger, but it has been a complete failure in providing equitable growth in every society. It has done wonders in production of wheat and rice, yet production of pulses has been untouched by it.
Also, as it has been concentrated in a few states, it has given rise to social and economic differences in the country. The rise of naxalite movement is clear evidence to corroborate.

This condition can be attributed to the pathetic condition of peasants. The cultivator is still not free from the clutches of the land-owners. The size of land holdings has a direct effect on shooting up the use of technology, yield and production. Larger land holdings result in larger production. This has exemplified by a cooperative society in Kerala where 2400 small farmers joined their lands for cultivation and which resulted in a profit of Rs. 3crore in a single cultivation cycle. Even after myriad laws, land ceiling acts for removing social differences, there has been no surplus land declared and taken away from land owners in states like Bihar, UP and karnataka. This shows the failure and fallacies of the executive branch of our country.

Some disastrous policies portend even more dismal future for Indian agriculture. The selling of agriculture for commercial use and setting up of SEZ, under the garb of development will prove fatal to the India, both economically and socially. This would further reduce the production and put added burden on the dry lands. Social consequences can be catastrophic. This can lead to more Nandigrams and many more Naxalbaries. And not to mention, the effect of huge imports on the sovereignty of country. Nehru has very well articulated in one of his speeches that "...sometimes it(asking for food to other countries) brings shame and humiliation..."{please bear with me, i dont remember his exact words!}. The export of 10 million tons of foodgrains and selling much more to the flour mills via backdoor had resulted in liquidation of over 60million tons during the NDA govt. which resulted in the imports of 10MT wheat in 2006. Government should be more aware and be more responsible before taking such ruthless and mass killing decisions.

I dont feel like ending it.... Everytime I think about such topics, Gandhiji's talisman comes to my mind in which he asks to close our eyes and remember the face of most wretched and most poor person... It seems we won't have to even close our eyes, such faces would be all over.....


वो सुबह कब आएगी .....

इंतज़ार मे
vipul..