Land Acquisition: Kurushetra for Modi Government

Land Acquisition Bill blindly targets every land owned by the farmers. It is an undeclared emergency in the country. Despite heavy losses, farmers are proud to practice their profession. They are the life saviors of India. Without food grains where will the nation go? The Western mentality of destroying India's agriculture indirectly through liberal advice, think-tanks and professionals are easily listened by every person who is occupying the seat of power in New Delhi. Why our governing people lose their head and thinking capacity? Instead of acquiring farm lands for private development, government must encourage private investment in agriculture. Farmers must be given loans at lowest interest, subsidy, encourage organic farming, discourage heavy usage of fertilizers and pesticides. Wastelands must be used for industry. If wastelands in villages close to ports and railway stations are used then there is no need for agricultural lands. 

If agriculture is saved; India is saved. If farmers are destroyed then the nation is destroyed. Why to confront the wise farmers who are passionate to save this nation?

Times of India writes on 24 February 2015

Acknowledging the growing storm of opposition unity to changes in land acquisition legislation, Prime Minister Modi has sought cooperation of all parties, saying that “in a democracy, there should be dialogue, discussion and positive outcome.” President Pranab Mukherjee too sought “cooperation” from all MPs, telling both Houses of Parliament that the land acquisition law had been “suitably refined” even as he declared that the government attaches “paramount importance to safeguard the interest of farmers and families affected by land acquisition”.

The ordinance on land acquisition was part of Modi’s initial push to kick-start domestic investments. Yet, just weeks after the sobering Delhi verdict and under attack from motley opposition parties as well as groups within the Sangh Parivar – who accuse it of being “anti-farmer” and “pro-industry” – there are signs that the government may take a conciliatory approach and meet opposition half-way. The PM’s wedding diplomacy in Saifai with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi reflect this new approach.

BJP’s problem is that it supported the original land bill when in opposition. It has contributed as much as anybody else to the aura of piety around the bill. But the fact is that stringent conditions in the original bill hobble economic growth and state governments, across party lines, have complained that its clauses are unworkable in practice. If farmers get fair compensation for their land, they shouldn’t be seen universally as “victims” of land acquisition. And it’s quite plausible that their children will be happier with jobs in industry than having to till subdivided plots of land inherited from their parents. There should be no shame in course correction now and it’s the government that must bell the cat.

While there may be some give and take on the fine print, Modi must stick to his guns while deploying all of his diplomatic skills in bringing sections of the opposition on board. In a make-or-break budget session which will be a test case for his credentials as an economic reformer, the fate of land legislation is symbolic. If Modi blinks it will give a negative signal to industry which is impatient for big-ticket reforms. Restrictions on buying land are one of the key reasons holding up projects worth almost $300 billion and the PM must walk his talk.

Eradicating Hunger from India

Providing healthy, hygienci and nutrious food for all citizens is the biggest challenge for the government. This can be achieved only by increasing the food production multi-fold and plugging the loopholes in the supply chain. Either the purchasing power of everyone should be increased by providing high income or government should transact cash through nationalised banks for the poorer people. This can be achieved by providing a smart card. The UPA II should expedite this process through UIC and remove hunger from the map of India.

Chaitanya Kalbag writes in The Times of India (3 July 2009)

I remember standing in long queues at ration shops in Calcutta, Madras and Delhi when i was younger. Lines for food were a part of everyday life.
You got substandard rice and dirty, large-grained sugar. The majority of Indians lived on rationed rice, sugar, kerosene, palmolein and even cloth. My children are the first generation to not experience food rationing.

It is interesting that you see fewer queues in India today. But don't think for a moment that we are a land of plenty. You see fewer queues because there are far more ghosts.

The Green Revolution did fend off famine, but the definition of famine is very subjective. I was reminded of the fragility of India's food situation this past week as the clangour about the delayed monsoon began to get deafening. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar assured the people that there were ample foodgrain stocks.

Probably very true and comforting if you are talking to real people, not ghosts. The trouble is that our ration shops (there are half a million of them) supply wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene to a lot of people who don't exist. The government estimates that there are 65.2 million people below the poverty line (BPL) and so entitled to rations of 20 kg of foodgrains a month at half the "economic cost". But there are actually more than 80 million ration cards issued to BPL families. That is not all. The government has issued a total of 223 million ration cards against a total estimated 180 million households. In other words, there are at least 43 million ghost cards.

Reportedly, prisoners in one US state get only two square meals a day three days a week. "This is inhumane," a newspaper editorial said. Over here in India, the government says blandly: "A National Sample Survey Exercise points towards the fact that about 5 per cent of the total population in the country sleeps without two square meals a day". That is 60 million people.

The Antyodaya Anna Yojana aims to help the truly destitute by selling them up to 35 kg of foodgrains a month ^ rice at Rs 2 and wheat at Rs 3 a kg. As of April 2008, the government had identified 2,42,755 "poorest of the poor" families.
The UPA government has taken power almost exactly midway through the 11th five-year Plan. Next Monday, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee might want to address some of the concerns spelled out in the Plan documents.

"There are large errors of exclusion and inclusion and ghost cards are common," the Planning Commission says, adding that "leakages" are common ^ higher than 75 per cent in Bihar and Punjab. During 2003-04, it estimates that eight million tonnes of foodgrains out of 14 million allotted to BPL families never reached them. "For every 1 kilogram that was delivered to the poor, Government of India had to issue 2.23 kilograms" of foodgrains.

These figures have almost certainly worsened over the past year as the economy slowed down. And this is happening at a time when foodgrain prices have been rising steadily, despite misleading data that shows that India's official measure of inflation, the wholesale price index (WPI), is now slightly negative. Although experts say the WPI is a more reliable, broader measure, the consumer price index, which takes in what the aam aadmi buys everyday, has put inflation at over 10 per cent in the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Higher prices hit the poor hardest. Statistics show that in rural India, the poor spend close to half their incomes on food, and higher food prices are deepening malnutrition.

Higher prices also mean changes in food habits. Cereal consumption has been falling steadily in rural India ^ from 15.3 kg per capita per month in 1972-73 to 13.4 kg in 1993-94 and 12.12 kg in 2004-05. This would not have been alarming if the poor were consuming more of other foods like milk, meat, vegetables and fruits. Over a 20-year period, the Planning Commission says, per capita consumption of calories and protein has steadily declined in India. The calorie norm for the rural poor was set at 2,400 calories a day, and rural India's calorie consumption has dropped to 2,047 calories from 2,221. In urban India, cereal consumption has fallen less precipitously, from 11.3 kg in 1973-74 to 10.6 kg in 1993-94 and 9.94 kg in 2004-05.

No wonder one-third of India's adult population in 2005-06 had a body mass index below 18.5, the cut-off for malnutrition, or that India accounts for about half the developing world's low-body-weight babies, and a very high rate of anaemia among women and girls.

The new government has said it will push a Food Security Act. What those 60 million forever-hungry people need is nutritious food, and clean drinking water. Pawar and Mukherjee have their work cut out for them.

Collective foolishness in food crisis

The world is crying foul over the raising food prices and falling grain stocks. To divert the public attention from this grave crisis, blame game has been played. The fault finding tribe has been led by none other than the President of United States. George Bush who is well-known for his slippery talks and below standard behaviors which is ironical to his presidential position had held Third World countries responsible for the mess. What a clever ploy to escape from the local ire? This is nothing new for the American establishment. In the case of global warming case also, the white house lobby has abused developing countries as responsible for the problem. Whenever there is a complex trouble, the American government has found an easy scapegoat to divert the boiling public opinion.

Contradictory to the Bushism, Americans eat five times more than Indians. According to the U.S Department of Agriculture that Indians consume only 178 Kgs of food per year, whereas an average American eats 1046 Kgs of food annually. The irresponsible statement of George Bush and his secretary of State, Condeleezza Rice that the increasing wealth and high eating capacity in Third World countries have led to the short supply and higher food prices is totally self-contradictory. In 2003 per capita food consumption was 946 Kgs. In the last four year this has increased to 1046Kgs. This fact tells exposes the over eating people in the world.

A deep introspection into this problem will reveal that the current problem has its roots which date back to fifties. The liberal American spectrum has been radically advocating faster conversion from agricultural to industrial mode of production. They were proclaiming that the industrial age is the right solution to all the woes. Full participation of the private sector in industrial development can replace the government. In the urge to kick out state government, the liberal economists have forced to adopt industrial mode. As the fever liberal fever was crossing all the limits, the United States government has accepted their voice as the sane advice. Unfortunately these sily advisors did not stop with the America. In the name of promotion of liberal ideas they have penetrated around the world. They advocated the conversion of agriculture areas into industrial plots. Third World countries which have its roots in agriculture too had fallen victim to this false propaganda. In the neo liberal times and WTO regime signal for the collapse of agriculture was clear.

The industrial and business lobbies of the First World vigorously pushed by their political masters have succeeded in seducing the poor countries to follow their method of industrialization. In the Western world, hi breed and bio technology seeds were used to produce quick crops. While converting barren lands into industrial plots, agriculture has been given complete patronage. On the other hand, Third World countries were not allowed to given any protection to agriculture.

Despite rapid conversion of fertile agricultural lands into industrial estates, any little subsidy to farmers attracts wide condemnation from the First World leaders. This voice of malevolence has been supplemented by Brettonwood institutions like World Bank, IMF and WTO. The developing countries agriculture faces attack from the multiple angles one, erratic monsoons and natural unrest has devastated the production. Two, WTO regime has made it mandatory to buy seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides from developed countries at a higher price. These products are highly detrimental to the environment and community health of the Third World. By devastating agriculture, the entire social spectrum of the traditional countries has undergone a worst trauma. Three, frequent pressures and temptations to convert fertile lands into industrial parks and Special Economic Zones has reduced the productivity of food grains. There are only 15 percent of the available land in India are fit for food grain production. Out of this meager amount of land, half has been grabbed by industrial and real estate lobbies.

One can collect ample evidence against those responsible for the ongoing crisis. In fact the present situation is not the worst crisis of food shortage ever faced in the human history. It is just the panic. The worst is yet to come. If the mad economists try to change their thoughts and start pitching in for the protection of agriculture, things will be under control in the coming days. Otherwise the entire world will be doomed to death due to starvation.

Agri crisis budget

No one is opposing the proactive approach of the union government to readdress the agricultural crisis in the country. Agriculture being the foundation stone of India, letting it suffer is a crime. Knowing well the compounding trouble in the crucial socio-economic life line, P. Chidambaram was compelled to focus on the modes of reducing and removing the farmer’s stress. The simple solution which the finance minister gave in the latest union budget was to dole out Rs. 60,000 crores as loan waiver amount to the 3% of the national defaulters. According to the majority of the research studies only 5% of the loan beneficiaries have not paid the due amount. In this defaulter’s list rich agricultural states like Punjab and Haryana are leading. Then to whom is this loan waiver grant going to reach?

Most of the worst affected farmer stress zones are in Eastern Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Northern Karnataka. Selected areas of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa are also undergoing the agricultural crisis. Instead of attacking the problem at the root, F.M has blankly allocated huge sum of money. This has created a big hue and cry among the public. Surprisingly many farmers have opposed this blind approach to the agricultural sector.

The UPA government’s intention to save the dying farmers is not backed by pragmatic policies. Like the NDA coalition, this political configuration is moving towards politically dreadful pit. Despite severe drubbing given to the media manipulative and empty advertisement dependent NDA in 2004 general elections, the present ruling front has not learnt the adequate lesson. The political managers of the Congress party think that by giving crores of rupees and organizing a kisan rally, votes can be bought. The time has changed and the public has got good enlightenment about the non performers. When it comes to voting they show their anger in ample measures. Then the UPA will get the real medicine of its life. Fortunately the opposition camp is divided. This will give an edge to the Congress party to emerge as the single largest bloc in the next election.

The electoral dividend cannot be the sole criteria for budget making. A good and constructive budget needs to address current problems with long term strengthening of the agricultural sector. Any short sighted approach will shake the structure of the economy and society. In order to ward off the crisis the following steps may be considered.

1. Draw the agricultural map of the country. As the service sector is zooming at super speed eating away agricultural lands, the old data and details about the agricultural economy needs an update.
2. Classification of resource rich and resource poor areas is mandatory
3. Region specific problems and solutions need to be articulated
4. An action force to implement the identified solutions to be put in place at the earliest
5. Avoid political gimmicks and start listening to the agricultural experts like M.S. Swaminathan
6. Red tape and the usual bureaucratic troubles should be removed at the earliest to fasten the implementation of the policies
7. This sensitive sector cannot be handled by cricket crazy agriculture minister and corporate giants operated finance minister
8. Leave agriculture to the experts and watch the development
9. Infusing the latest knowledge, technology, easy credit facilities and market access are enough for the stress free agricultural growth
10. Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid requires ethical tapping and sincere handling