O J's Corner : Reflections

Let there be no politicking
on farmers’ woes

Amidst thousands of fraudsters, our rural farmers, who are the most honest folks in the country, are burdened with debts and liabilities beyond their control.

Thousands of our farmers, who are the real sons of the soil, have taken their lives in States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

They could not repay the loans taken from banks and private financial institutions. They have committed suicide to save their honour. In villages and countryside, family honour stands above all other issues. That they cannot repay a debt itself is unbearable for them. Their personality is conditioned to abiding by gentleman’s agreements.

Another tragedy is that the banks and other lenders would get the farmlands attached. For a farmer, loss of his farmland is unthinkable.

They are not like politicians and operators who can withstand any sordid situation.

The country, which is being reckoned as one of the major world players, cannot afford to ignore the genuine woes of the farmers. Whether they are cultivating wheat, rice, cotton, sugar-cane, oil seeds, cash crops or hill produce, they contribute to the backbone of Indian food and other requirements.

I would say farmers should be respected more than anyone else. Think of the days when because of their sheer gut wisdom and planting amidst the vagaries of nature, they replenished the granaries.

They were on the vanguard of introducing modern techniques of cultivation when scientists advised them to switch over to high-yielding varieties. Now also they are prone to accepting genetically-modified and exotic varieties.

Their intention is clear and pure. They want to produce more. It is the duty of the government to ensure sustenance to them, sot that they would not commit suicide.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, a no-nonsense man who is not a core politician, is visiting Vidarbha region of Maharashtra today. As many as 592 farmers there have preferred to embrace death to living in abject misery for failure of paying off debts and forfeiture of lands.

It is agonisingly  apprehensive that Maharashtra strongman and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is not accompanying the Prime Minister during his visit to the Vidarbha region.
There can be so many arguments and alibis, but refusing to meet the farmers when the Prime Minister himself is taking stock of the field situation will not help the ryots. The plea that Congress is set to take credit for announcing ameliorative schemes by the Prime Minister does not warrant playing truant on the occasion.

It seems a lot of bad blood has been generated in the relations between the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s party, the NCP. Standing on ceremonies when the farmers are in dire straits cannot be condoned.

It is not that the Prime Minister is addressing the problems of Vidarbha farmers alone, but similar projects can be worked out for adversesly-affected farmers of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. Think about the plight of a farmer who had chosen the office of a co-operative bank from which he had taken loan to end his life!

WTO, World Bank regimes or subsidy constraints, farmers have to be led out of the Green House effect of their lives.