What could be more ironical and shameful to the world’s second largest populous country (in terms of population), world’s fourth biggest economy (in terms of PPP), and an emerging superpower (as recent Citi reports indicated that India could surpass US by 2050) that being an agrarian country despite all the pro-farmer and pro-poor government sponsored schemes the agriculture sector of India is in miserable state. No one can deny the fact that we need development, we need infrastructure, we need employment, we need growth rate but what is rather and more important is that we need water to drink, food to eat, air to breathe. This is really remarkable that we as a nation emerged as a global economic power in mere span of 20 years, ever since we opened our economy for world and embraced the theme of Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization. Since than, our country has captured all the leading index and indicators of growth which foreign investors look at prima facie before putting their money. Country’s growth rate has been between 6-7% on an average and even at 8% while whole world is reeling under worst financial crisis. And all this growth is mainly driven by service sector which accounts for 56% of the GDP followed by industrial sector (28%) and then agriculture sector (18%).
A nation where 17 % of world’s people live which means one out of six people on this planet has its home in India. What is important to note is every year India adds more people than any other nation in the world- as we are adding a new Australia every year or our Uttar Pradesh is equivalent to Brazil (another emerging economy of the world). We also boast of having favorable demographic dividend (65% of total population fall below the age of 35). All these number are compelling for investors and multinationals who interpret them as huge market for their investment, products and services.
But what interpretations and impressions do these number makes for a nation whose 70% people make their livelihood through agriculture (as 70% of Indian lives in rural areas) high inflation (particularly food inflation) squeezing out the middle-class and common people (just imagine the plight of 26% people living Below the Poverty Line), perennial unemployment haunting badly to rural youth (150 million rural unemployed people).
Once touted as food-provider (aandata), today is crying on its plight. Last year almost 18,000 farmer committed suicide and the figure is staggering if we include the suicidal case of last five years. For some people it seems only a chest-thumping exercise as for them there is handsome price consumer is paying for the farmer product (crop). For instance wheat floor is being sold @ 18 p/kg, sugar @ 34 p/kg, and onion @ 25 p/kg et al. But the price hike at any time hardly benefited the farmer and also farmer is consumer too, for rest of other commodities other than what he produces. These are the middle-men, traders, speculators, hoarders who are responsible to push the entire nation into the nightmare because of their untamed greed. As agriculture is not yielding remunerative income, the life of farmers is becoming desperate - look at input cost from machines to labor, seed to fertilizers and pesticides- forcing many of the debt-ridden farmers to commit suicide as a last resort. Such disappointment from one of the biggest and crucial sector has various ramifications and adding many woes at macro-economic level like migration to cities, increasing urban slums et al. It is not only farmers but also the dalits and tribal, who heavily depend on agriculture.
Since 1991 reforms, agriculture sector constantly facing the blunt ignorance of policy-makers. The most prominent result of this was drastic decline in the growth rate of food grain and stagnation in the agricultural growth rate. During the same time population growth rate and GDP growth rate constantly keep growing. And diversion of arable land for urbanization, industrialization becomes the prime agenda of government. As I said earlier that we all need development but at the same time this is the duty of government to make a balance and give Food, Shelter, Home, Health and Employment to all its people as they too deserve for a quality well-being.
But with misplaced priorities and misleading agendas to benefit only handful people, government with its SEZ policy, is adamant to put the future of billion people on stake. On the name of infrastructure development the single-source of livelihood (as far as farmer is concerned) and food (as far as shrewd politician and greedy business are concern, too) is ruthlessly snatched away from the farmers. Agricultural lands are now being converted into housing plots and are converted into cities and towns. This has increased the pressure on agriculture. What worst could be for a country with 8+% growth rate (mainly from industrialization) who is going to feed the 17% of worlds population with 7% of total land that too with 1.5% population growth rate while agriculture growth rate is stagnated since long time?
With their populist scheme like loan waiver, low interest based loans, minuscule buget allotment for so-called forthcoming Green Revolution 2.0 et al, presenting as pro-farmer and pro-poor, pretend to be more focus on agriculture sector and concern for aam-aadmi as both of these are the vote bank for them. A government equipped with top economists and IMF veterans entwined itself into the intellectual inertia. With two successive period if our economist PM fails to understand the very nature of national economy and deliver no concrete proposal for agriculture sector which is the backbone of Indian economy and will remain be despite all his hysteria towards FDI, he deserve to be dethrone. At the time when nation was paying 80+ for 1 kg onion these economists said shamelessly that they don’t have magic wand to moderate the prices. Don’t they know what structural and supply-side driven inflation is? Aren’t they aware that this sector which directly touches the life of billion+ populations is highly dependent on monsoon for irrigation? Aren’t they aware that country is in dire need of agricultural reform (Green Revolution 2.0) but they slyly chanting the financial reform only - which benefited few millions people? If the answer of these simple yet obvious question is yes then why they didn’t come up with radical farm sector reform despite of having all the financial and political mathematics in their favor?
My simple observation is that prices will keep hike (worldwide) if we are not going to check our population and make a fine balance between development and future of our people. We have limited resources (at national and global level) which can not meet our ever-growing greed. Somewhere we need to ask at what extent we can destroy (forest), plunder (mines), pollute (air, & water) and develop building and infrastructure (arable land)? After all we all have faced the bruise and heat of ‘global financial meltdown’ which was the outcome of irresponsible financial engineering (Securitisation et al), short-term-profit-driven-institution and investors who put the economy of whole world on stake. Now this time obsession for urbanization, industrialization and modernization is putting all the perfect combination to push the country, and world too, on the verge of unprecedented food crisis.
Are we ready with unprecedented approach and attitude to combat this threat?
