tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-357185572023-11-16T09:48:32.255-05:00Farmers India<strong>śasya śyāmalāṃ</strong>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-28732573497918557242014-04-05T07:05:00.002-04:002014-04-05T07:05:40.608-04:00Farmers' wish list for 2014 elections<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The whole India is engaged in elections, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the16th Lok Sabha<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>elections and also some of the states are
having Assembly elections, most of the parties have finalized their manifestos
with a pack of poll promises. Like in every election, political parties
consider the farmers and agriculture are very serious subject before going<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the poll, and soon after the results they
ignore the problems and left to the farmers' fate. Farmers have to blame
themselves for their perils since they are not active enough to make the
political parties as the agrarian crisis is a priority agenda. During the
election process, the farmers and farmer groups are working for their
individual causes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and political motives.
Most of the farmer unions are affiliated with the political parties which work
for their electoral prospects<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
farmers also forget about their agricultural problems , busy with local issues
by dividing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>themselves<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in to social class, economic status and
political party basis.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /><b>Each and every class of society have been achieving<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>their demands by unity though they are a
small group of people. But being a 55% percent of the population and a biggest
vote bank in India, the farming community<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>failed to achieve their wishes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and get rid of their problems. If the farmers have collectively agitated
on their farming issues they will definitely get benefitted, but they are
mediocre educated, lack of leadership skills, lack of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>direction and socially segregated <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which are the hindrances for their collective
bargaining. In the 2014 elections , the political parties must consider the
agrarian crisis is a prioritized issue <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to help the Indian farmers in all aspects such
as making agriculture as a profitable profession and providing a respectable economic
and social status to the farmers.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>If the political parties really have a commitment and
affection on farmers, they should include the below said farmers' wish list in
their manifestos and these must be implemented once they come to power.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>Implementation of Prof. M. S. Swaminathan
Committee’ recommendations (National Commission of Farmers).<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>Special Financial plan (Budget) is required
for agriculture and agro allied industries. (Not included irrigation).</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i><b></b></i> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>All farmers need to be provided
Institutional credit with nominal interest rates i.e 4% and the amount should
be based on their crop pattern and farm size.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>9 hours uninterrupted quality power supply
to agriculture ( Day time).</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>MNREGS program should be linked up with
agricultural operations like transplantation, weeding, harvesting and so on
which can solve the man power shortage problems to the farmers. Panchayats have
to co-ordinate with Department of rural development in the allocation of MNREG
works based on the villagers’ discretion.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>Agriculture, Revenue, Irrigation, marketing
& warehouses, animal husbandry, fisheries, such as agro allied department
ministers should be farmed as special cabinet ( Empowered Group of Ministers
for Agriculture) which works for farmers empowerment. This cabinet should meet
every month, the issues to discussed and resolved. The group should consider the
suggestions of all farmers’ organizations, peasant organizations and voluntary
organizations.</b></i><br />
<i><b> </b></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>The CACP(Commission for agriculture Cost and
prices) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>should be declared as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an autonomous organization, it should be
restructured with new terms and references. CACP should consider all prescribed
12 factors and also other issues<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like
inflation, cost of living and losses due to import - export<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>policies while formulating the price
recommendations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 10;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>Risk mitigation <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fund for bonus on food grains to compensate
the losses by natural calamities if anything occurred. Establish a Price
stabilization fund ( Market intervention fund) to insulate the farmers from
market price fluctuations.</b></i><br />
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span>A required capacity of warehouses should be
constructed since we don't have enough godown facilities to store the grains.
The market yard godowns should be renovated and fully utilized, funds need to
be allocated for market yards development. Value added agriculture , food
processing unites, supply chain facilities must be created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Establish
a farmers’ income commission for measuring the farmers’ economic conditions,
all old age farmers should get monthly pension for their social security and
all peasants’ children should get free education with hostel facility. </b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Empowerment
of women farmers like capacity building and giving right to land ownership.
Allocating unused lands to women self help groups / Dalit women groups. The
farm wages should be equal without any gender difference. </b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>National
Rain fed Area Authority (NRAA) has been working on cloud seeding and artificial
rains; in fact all these efforts are not really helpful to the farmers.
Incorporate a State Rain fed/Dry land area authority to identify the suitable
crops, harnessing the water resources for at least to cultivate two acres of
land and save the lives of draught animal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Identifying the viable alternative livelihood activities. Protecting and
preserving the water bodies like natural lakes, ponds and village tanks. </b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Establishing
crop based growers group (Kind of Collective farming /General Body of farmers Ex:
Mulkanor cooperative, Ethonda PACS) for power of collective bargaining. The
government should provide the support like credit facilities, subsidized
inputs, Special markets, warehouses, processing units and so on. </b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">14.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>State
owned Agriculture Finance Corporation to be established. It shall be to assist
in the development of agriculture and agricultural industries by making loans
to farmers, co-operative societies, private companies, public bodies, and other
persons engaging in agriculture or agricultural industries.</b></i><br />
<b><i></i></b> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">15.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A farmers friendly seed bill should be formulated
that shall regulate the quality of seeds, sales, imports and exports. Plans
should be evolved for 100% certified seed replacement. The government should
allot some funds to agriculture universities to develop hybrid verities with
the association of the farmers and the seed should be supplied through Seed
Corporation. Promoting the indigenous (native varieties) seeds by incorporating
the village level seed bank groups / Seed villages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(like Dwacra/SHG) with incentives and that
will create a network among them to share and exchange.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">16.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Promoting
Organic farming and sustainable cultivation practices. Encouragement programs
for organic fertilizers, conversion of solid waste to bio – fertilizers.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">17.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Agriculture
should be modernized by Information technology and Bio technology. Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) is the best possible way to create awareness
among the farming community which is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not
only on prevailing prices but also about the possibility of exploitation by
middlemen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to access the ICT,
free mobile phones to be provided to the prospective farmers each cost Rs.1500
which connects the markets digitally.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">18.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Decentralization
of Powers to farmers in Co-operatives societies and Market Yards to strengthen
the co-operative system.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">19.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Encouragement
programs on back yard farming and family farming in urban locations.</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i><b></b></i> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">20.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Promoting
the Agro tourism.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">21.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Promoting
Exceptional Agriculture Regions for farming, the integrated approach of EARs will
be including all farm-related schemes with respective panchayats and local
farmers. They must be empowered to decide which crop to grow, what seeds to
use, whether they should take to organic farming or use chemicals, whom to sell
to and at what price. This EARs will encourage organic farming, aromatic,
medicinal plants and exotic plants for international markets.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">22.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Subsidy
up to 50 % on Solar powered water pumps for all farmers .</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">23.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Successful
corporate companies should spend at least 1% of their net profits for
agriculture through government networks which is the part of their CSR, the
spending amount will be eligible for tax benefits. </b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">24.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The formation of cooperative societies which facilitates
the farm implements on lease basis. Encourage the private companies for custom
hiring tractors and farm machinery. Formation of sufficient number of agro
service centers in entire state for better extension services, each center must
cater services for at least 4000 acres under supervision of sufficient
extension staff. These centers also provide farm machinery on rental basis like
custom hiring centers. </b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">25.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Establish
Rural Business Hubs for horticulture produces. These rural business hubs will
serve as one-stop-shops that offer various agricultural inputs and services to
farmers, including weather information, crop management advice, and access to
markets and finance. will improve the horticulture produces value chain in the
region by increasing productivity and linking farmers with private retailers/
processors and other stakeholders, leading to increased income at all stages -
production, processing, distribution and retail.To increase farmer incomes in
the region, these hubs are teaming up with public and private sector partners
to demonstrate best practices and strengthen producer-processor-retailer
linkages to better address the challenges related to production, price, and
marketing that farmers face in the region.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">26.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>We
have around 50% of tenant farmers; very few of them are getting bank loans. Government
should arrange some fund as a guarantee for banks<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>towards tenant farmer loans.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">27.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Crop
insurance schemes should be developed by making village as a unit which must
cover all risks from sowing to marketing with an affordable premium. The loss
claim settlements<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>should be cleared
within 60 days of the calamity. </b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">28.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Comprehensive
Land Usage policy: The farming land area should be calculated as per population
growth statistics and based on that only the agricultural land has to be
converted to any other purpose.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">29.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></span>Mobile
clinics for Draught/Dairy/Herd animals, medical camps must be conducted in
villages with certain schedules.</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
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and promoted the native breeds ( Nativ cows/ Ongole breeds), bull,cow and
buffalo production programs. Financial medical assistance to Gosalas ( Cow
herds).</b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
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Sheep/goat/Pig herd programs, loan facilities, Insurance facilities. ( Small
farmers and landless laborers owned these herds) Meat processing, production
and export facilities in rain fed regions.</b></i></div>
Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-69797846626798303032014-01-03T15:29:00.000-05:002014-01-27T14:39:12.145-05:00Why we need Agroforestry !!<b>The increasing population will need a lot of household wood products, paper products, packing material and fire wood. To meet the growing demand we can't rely on the forests alone, so private agroforestry is inevitable. India's per capita consumption of paper and paperboard is less than 10kg and whereas China is 72kg. The productivity of timber in India is only 0.7 cubic meters /ha/year whereas the world average is 2.1 cubic meters /ha/year. India's forests are covered in 69 million hectares i.e. 19.5% of the country's area, the availability of forest land per person in India is one of the lowest in the world at 0.08 ha, against an average of 0.5 ha for developing countries and 0.64 ha for the world. The demand for timber was 85 million cubic meters in 2008 and now it is expected to cross 153 million cubic meters by 2020, the supply of wood from forests are projected to 60 million cubic meters by 2020. This means India needs to depend on imports or else agroforestry in private and community lands for its growing wood requirements. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Increased cost of cultivation, non availability of farm labor, higher farm wages and various reasons farmers are switching to less investment and less labor intensive farming like short term commercial crops and forestry plantations. Agroforestry system is mostly practiced by the large farmers who have alternative source of income rather than agriculture, It won't viable to small farmers since they need annual returns on agriculture for their livelihood. But some of the areas the small farmers also cultivating the agro forestry by inter cropping the food crops between the rows up to one or two years or till the trees get bigger, which is a good sign for food security and wood security. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Leucaena and Eucalyptus trees are widely cultivated in Andhra Pradesh which give the guaranteed farm income and the yield of each acre is used to be between 25- 30 tonnes for every four years as the trees are harvested only after 4 years.</b><b><b>The wood pulp is being used in paper industry and as well as plywood,
particle boards and wood veneer. The waste wood has been used in bio
mass power generation plants as a substitute to coal and other fossil
fuels to reduce the green house gas emission.</b> In Prakasam district alone has more than one lakh acres have been cultivated and producing 10 lakh tonnes of wood valued around Rs 390 crores annually. The market price has increased recently up to Rs.3900 per tonn due to the shortage of wood and fair competition among the firms in industry which is a lucrative income for farmers. Most of the progressive farmers would like to adopt agroforestry model for sustainable agriculture to improve the farm productivity and profitability.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Indian has achieved self sufficiency in food production, now we should focus on ecology, preserving our fossil fuels and also cater the growing wood demand caused by population growth and economic development. The agroforestry system is capable to sequestrate the massive amounts of carbon that helps to mitigate the danger of green house gas concentrates. We can implement this system in large barren lands, farm boundaries to improve soil fertility and water conservation. There is a remarkable scope in agroforestry to focus on the ecological issues, biomass production, cattle fodder and various outputs to industries as well as employment generation.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-17177463117369989702013-07-10T05:10:00.001-04:002013-07-10T05:21:22.563-04:00India needs nutritionally enriched Food security<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><b>On July 5th the Food security ordinance was approved by the President of India, the ordinance will guarantee 5 kg of rice or wheat or millets a month to poor at a discounted rate of Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Re. 1 respectively. Food security means ....not only providing 5 kilograms of subsidized food grains but also that should ensure the nutrition security. I don't think that 5 kgs of food grains is not enough to feed one person per month. Average consumption per year for each person is around 178 kgs. ( 15 kgs per head/monthly) and average family size in India is 4.8 persons, so each family needs at least 65-70 kgs of grains per month. Food habits have been changing gradually, people are slowly shifting from grains to more protein and nutritional based foods. Edible oil, pulses are good source of nutritional values , each person needs minimum 1kg of edible oil and the same way 1kg of pulses per month, though which is less than nutritionist 's recommendations i.e. 16kgs of edible oil and 20kgs of pulses per capita. I don't know, how come this bill is going to ensure the food security by just giving 5 kgs of grains and the same way how it's going to reduce the malnutrition by just giving grains without any nutritional food items. <br /><br />India ranked 65 among the 79 countries which are listed in global hunger index. ( High number means most vulnerable) . As we know that our working class poor people are still in calorie deficient and they definitely need the nutrients to get strength, endurance and productivity at their workplace. The UPA-2 government is trying to mesmerize the people that it is doing a big favor to below poverty line by the Food Security Act. The edible oil and pulses are essential for human beings to sustain proteins, vitamins and minerals. The market prices of edible oil and pulses are very high and have been increasing , the government doesn't have any control over the prices and price mechanism . The nutritional food items must be reasonably priced to consumers, then only the people will get comprehensive food security otherwise it 's going to be a futile exercise.<br /><br />The Public Distribution Systems is not functioning efficiently, it’s all corrupted and controlled by the second fiddles of local MLAs. Everybody knows that the PDS food ration is going to the black markets and also too many fake ration cards. The PDS system shall be pruned to remove the bottlenecks in supply chain of food distribution especially for this upcoming Food Security program. The UPA's National Food Security bill doesn't have any time bound or any target orientation. There is no clarity in elimination of malnutrition and how many people will be moved out of hunger in next 5 years or next 10 years and so on. The Bill is just targeted for 2014 elections for their electoral prospects and it is political hoax . <br /><br />The government must focus on 4 Ps i.e. Production, Procuring, Preserving and Proper distribution of food grains. Food security act will not only serving the poor but also encourages the production of food grains which is directly benefit to the farmers since the consumption will be more. At the same time, the farmers should not be burdened with the cost of subsidizing the supply. India needs to be self sufficient in food grain production to meet this new demand, so the agriculture should have high priority in National Food Security program.</b></span>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-75078596391290632982013-05-03T00:48:00.000-04:002013-05-03T01:01:43.735-04:00My way of thinking on GM crops<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Developing countries are adopting the Biotech crops at
faster rate, Genetically Modified (GM) crops have been cultivated more than 1.
billion hectares worldwide, 10 % of the world crop lands were planted by GM
crops in 2010, 17.3 million farmers grew GM crops in 2012. India cultivated 9.4
million hectares of GM crops in 2010. Major scientific academies and regulatory
bodies of the world from the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, South Africa, Brazil,
Argentina, Japan, Russia, Australia and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New Zealand <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have completely <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>endorsed the safety and efficacy of the
science and technology of GM crops. Most of the developed nations experience
with Biotechnology crops are <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reliable,
alternatives to traditional pests, reduced input costs, quality in crop yields
and finally income benefits to farmers.</div>
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Achieving food and nutritional security is tough task, we
need to try all possible options like GM and conventional. Malnourishment still
exists in India, India ranked 65 among 79 nations in global hunger Index. (
High ranked = Most vulnerable).Everyone concurs that sustainable agriculture
plays a critical role for future food needs and better environment. The first
green revolution achieved by applying the chemistry and petroleum, but now the Biotechnology,
information technology and renewable energies are crux<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the next green revolution. It's something
modern way of thinking for food security, economic development and environment.
Now the most of farming community has been dependent of information,
communication and technology, they are adopting modern growing techniques of precision farming<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>System of Rice Intensification Method <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in paddy cultivation, modern farm implements,
organic farming and also cultivating the transgenic commercial crops like BT
cotton.</div>
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Applying Biological solutions instead of Chemical
applications has been growing in agriculture. In India, lot of hurdles to
integrate the biotechnology into agriculture research I.e technical, political,
environmental, intellectual property, biosafety and trade related issues.
Based on the demand, it is suggested to implement Biotechnology applications in
strategic areas where the agriculture get more gains. As we know that, parliamentary
standing committee and a Supreme Court of India jointly appointed the Technical
Experts Committee (TEC) to perceive the pros and cons on GM Crops, TEC has
recommended a ban on field testing of GM crops which are under development in
both public and private labs for a decade, but it was dismissed by the courts
and now the Environment and Forests Ministry has allowed the field trials on 20
GM crops such as cotton, rice, tomato, groundnut, potato, corn, sorghum, okra,
brinjal, mustard, wheat, watermelon, papaya, sugarcane, rubber, castor, banana, pigeonpea and chickpea. Out of 20 crops, field trials were initiated for only
three crops ( Cotton, Corn, Mustard) upon obtaining the no objection certificates from the state governments. </div>
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All these actions indicate that India has positive approach
towards transgenic crops, the real challenge is that how the scientific
regulatory bodies monitor the process of trials and research. The regulatory
precautions should be implemented very meticulous and ultimately those crops must
not negatively affect on human health and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>environment or animals and other crops. In
India lot of apprehensions on GM crops which are related to safety aspects of
human health and environment, let us wait and watch.. how the scientists and
policy makers are going to address the public apprehensions on the GM crops
which are now in field trials Everything should be transparent in the field trial process and the research data, nothing should be hide, farmers and
consumers must be better informed. </div>
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GM seeds are expensive and the technology is protected with
stringent intellectual property laws and patented. Some of the international
seed companies are monopolizing the business by merging the small seed
companies and they are pushing their GM seeds in place of conventional. To
break the monopoly of big biotech companies, government should encourage the extensive
research and field trials through private companies and universities, so that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the enhanced competition will help the small
and marginal farmers to afford the GM seeds. Nonprofit organizations and public
sector scientific agencies should focus on safe and effective application of
biotechnology to the extremely important crops for the benefit of small and
poor farmers.</div>
</div>
Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-56379614279034450712013-03-03T06:38:00.000-05:002013-03-03T22:52:46.955-05:00The dire crisis of dairy farmers<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">India is the largest producer and consumer of the dairy milk in this world producing around 130 million tonnes and the total world production estimates 730 million tones. FAO estimated 85% of all milk worldwide was produced from cows and the rest is from other species ( 11% Buffalo ,2% got and 2% others.). USA is the second largest producer of milk and the first largest producer of cow's milk. Israel dairy farms are very productive with an yield of 12,546 kgs of milk per cow per year.<br /><br />Indian Dairy farmers are in crisis with increased cost of production and non remunerative prices. Return on investment for dairy farmers are very less due to increased costs of feed and medical expenses for animals. Earlier, the cattle used to depend on grazing, natural resources and crop residue for fodder which are decreasing now. The milk farmers are forcibly depend on the packaged cattle feed to increase the milk production, eventually the cost of production has increased. Feed cost has been increasing up to 30- 50 percent from past four consecutive years, but the milk procurement prices have not increased comparatively. Health care also big burden, vaccination and De-warming costs have been increased.<br /><br />The productivity of the cattle is based on the caring and managing, farmers are slowly decreasing their non performance animals and switching over to efficient breeds like Jersey and Holstein Friesian. Investment on these exotic cattle is heavy burden for the farmers and these breeds need more feed, water and caring since they are not native animals. Farmers are struggling to get loans for milking animals and also the bank charges are very high up to 12% interest rate and insurance cost is additional. With the increased cost of production including expensive breeds the dairy farming is not remunerative, so the farmers are slowly decreasing their herd size and some of the farmers have giving up the dairy farming.<br /><br />The procurement prices have not increased comparatively with milk market selling prices, in fact the procurement prices have reduced in Oct and Nov months of 2012. The Andhra Pradesh farmers have faced a bitter experience called "MILK HOLIDAY" due to the false market analysis by milk marketing companies. They have imported low-priced Skim milk powder by estimating that the milk production is going to be less for this year but there is a consistent growth in milk production. Most of the milk marketing companies including Co-operative sectors have reduced the procurement prices and some of them have stopped to collect the milk from farmers. Animal fodder is the biggest problem for the farmers, decrease in grazing land, natural resources and drought situations leads tough time for animal fodder. Last year, the dry forage was sold at Rs.2.00 per kg in some arid districts of Andhra Pradesh. The loan facilities for cattle are too tough for small farmers, a rural poor woman who wants to buy a buffalo she gets the loan with high interest rate up to 14% with a great struggle, where as in the cities the car loan get approved with 7-8 percent interest rate without any hurdles. <br /><br />Our Indian Dairy Industry is in chaotic situation, India is the largest milk producer in the world, ironically...<br /><br />whereas chemical mixed adulterated milk is widely available in the market.<br /><br />whereas milk consumption is very less and 68.72 Kg/capita/year.<br /><br />Whereas The Food and safety standards authority of India ( FSSAI) has announced the 68% of the bulk milk supplies have found to be unsafe and substandard quality.<br /><br />Indian government has opened the gates to FDI's and excited to enter in free trade agreements, already France's DANONE is aggressively marketing it's dairy products in Indian market associated with Dynamix Dairy- Baramathi ( Maharashtra), New Zealand's FONTERRA and DANONE are interested to acquire major stack in Hyderabad based Tirumala Dairy products. As we know that all largest milk producing countries are keen to enter in Indian market, most of the developed nations' dairy farming is massively funded and heavily subsidized by the governments with various income support plans like i.e. Milk income loss contract payment, Market loss assistance, Dairy Income loss assistance programs, dairy Indemnity, milk marketing fees and so on. Such huge subsidies keep the International milk prices down which are going to affect very badly on our Indian dairy industry. we should oppose as strong as possible to protect our Indian dairy Industry against dumping.<br /><br />In order to protect our dairy farmers, the milk procurement prices should be fixed based on the cost of production as the practice where implemented in crop farming. The banks should liberalize the policies in cattle loans for Individual farmers to buy one or two animals and Government should arrange interest free loans to the dairy farmers. Government should invest in co-operative dairies and allot matching grants of subsidies for remunerative milk procurement prices. The government need to take some steps on milk promotion programs by offering small quantity of milk to school going children, lactating women and pregnant women to boost milk consumption. The Indian milk marketing companies including co-operatives all together should run a united advertising campaign which shall create an importance of milk in our daily life.. like <a href="http://www.gotmilk.com/">www.gotmilk.com</a> by California Milk processor Board. <br /><br />We shall have to try all possible options to rescue our milk farmers, if not they will give up dairy farming, therefore India may encounter serious milk shortage which leads to malnutrition.</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-50883166973652167692013-01-19T06:54:00.000-05:002013-01-19T06:58:41.110-05:00Plate full food ends up in Landfill <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>A survey by University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore says that annually, Bangalore alone wastes 943 tonnes of quality food during weddings and the total food wastage in the city is estimated at Rs 339 crores. As per data from the solid waste management department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), around 140 tonnes of leftover food is collected daily from the hotels and restaurants in the city which nearly 50 percent is good to consume. India is facing the loss of Rs.50,000 crores worth of food items. United states, the food waste worth is $180 billion every year, Canada's food waste is approximately 40 percent and worth of $27 billion, around 5.3 million tonnes of food waste goes to trash in UK that's worth is £12 billion, the food wasted in Italy can feed the entire population of Ethiopia. The FAO estimates that more than 30% of the global food production goes to garbage that counts 1.3 billion tonnes which can cater to 3 billion people.</b><br />
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<b>Food waste can be occurred in three levels 1. Farm level ,2. Distribution level, 3. End user level.</b><br />
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<b>The major food waste happens in the farm level. Before harvesting, the crop losses could be with pest, birds, rodents and wild animals and the natural disasters also can cause for crop damages. Losses may be high in harvesting process since the machine harvesters are unable to detect the difference between ripen and half grown crops and also it collect some part of the crop and the rest will be left in the field itself. Some crops like horticulture produces must be harvested by hand picking only, then some root crops may damaged by careless hand harvesting and acute labor shortage lead to the yield loss as crops are not harvested and decayed in the fields.</b><br />
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<b>At the distribution level, supply chain & value chain losses are very frequent due to lack of storage facilities, no proper transportation and unable to access the markets on policy issues. A nation-wide study on quantitative assessment of harvest and post harvest losses for 46 agricultural produces in 106 randomly selected districts was conducted by CIPHET in 2010 revealed that wastage in fruits and vegetables is between 5.8 - 18.0 % for different crops. Wastage are lower for other items as compared to fruits & vegetable: for crop (3.9 -6.0%), cereals (4.3-6.1%), pulses (4.3-6.1% ), oilseeds (6.0%), Meat (2.3%), fish (2.9% ) and poultry(3.7%). Although the food stored in proper facilities, some portion get waste by the pests and microorganisms, supermarkets always reject the produces for slight cosmetic imperfection though they met the edible standards. Retail stores, farmers markets and whole sellers are losing huge amounts in unsold fruits and vegetables, we can't ignore the export losses in food products since they don't meet the agriculture, safety and health standards. Altogether, a significant quantity of food produced goes waste during the processes of pre & post harvesting, supply & value chain.</b><br />
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<b>Food waste can be seen everywhere in our daily life, in kitchen at home, restaurants, in big fat weddings, gala parties, in work place canteens and so on. Some social behaviors have lead to food waste like cooking surplus food, ordering excess food in the restaurants, load-up the plates with more than sufficient items in buffet. Once in a while when we check our refrigerator, we may find some leftovers and uneaten food that ends up in the trash can. Super markets promotion sales also push the consumers to buy more than enough food and which is frequently throw away. </b><br />
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<b>Waste happens in throughout the food system in all stages like farming, transportation, processing, distribution, supermarkets, restaurants, food service providers and households which accounts around 40% of the food we produce.</b><br />
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<b>Recycling and disposal expenses are additional burden to the food waste, all uneaten food ends up in our landfills which generates green house gas emissions and it is estimated that 14% of the world’s CO2 emissions are caused by food waste itself. This huge waste of food puts heavy pressure on agriculture as it must provide for growing population that is wasting up to 2 billion tonnes of food a year. Agriculture consumes 70% of water reserves in the process of food production, 3000 liters of water required for our daily food needs, management of water is the key for our food production and water is going to be more expensive in future. One more important issue is land usage, if we lose the food with wasteful habits the demand will be increased for extensive usage of land for farming and livestock. The food waste has ripple effects on other industries like energy, fertilizers and pesticides which are produced by coal, chemicals, fuel, natural gas and so on, all these incremental cost is driven by uneaten food.</b><br />
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<b>Wasting a food is a cultural habit, by not wasting food we can express ourselves as well mannered and responsible. The most important thing is... to buy only whatever our actual need and use it completely. The super markets should liberalize their purchase practices i.e. rejecting the food stocks for just small flaws in physical characteristics. Government should set a national goal to reduce the waste and sensitize the public against the waste of food by creating awareness and should encourage the NGOs who are working against food waste. Modern engineering and technologies should be implemented in Pre/Post harvesting stages and fully integrated infrastructure should be created for transport, storage and processing. Elimination of food waste will provide a lot more food for growing population, it reduces the carbon foot print and mitigates the heavy load on agriculture.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-78008003824239308102012-12-22T21:55:00.001-05:002012-12-22T21:55:45.955-05:00Kisan Divas<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chaudhary Charan Singh's birth
anniversary on December 23rd every year is observed as Farmer’s Day ( Kisan
Divas). The late Charan Singh is also remembered for the one and only budget he
presented in 1979. That Budget had everything a farmer could dream of in his
favor. He also came out with various initiatives in favor of farmers, his
passionate appeal and magnetic persona united all the farmers against the
moneylenders and landlords. He was also a very effective writer and penned his
thoughts on farmers and their problems and solutions. Charan Singh passed away
on 29 May 1987.</span></b></div>
Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-2942831540966236762012-12-08T10:12:00.002-05:002012-12-08T10:16:01.227-05:00Re−shaping the small and marginal farmers<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Three quarters of the world's farmers
cultivate small plots of land, India is the land of marginal and small farmers,
the average size of farm land holding is 1.16 hectares ( 2.86 acres). 85% of
the Indian framers are cultivating the 70% of farm lands which are below two
hectares each, more than 60% of the farm produces come from the small farms
only. The productivity of the small farmers is the solution for growing
population food needs, the future of the Indian sustainable agriculture is
depends on the performance of these small and marginal farmers only. Most of
small farmers cultivate the farm land with the support of their family members
and local labor which the quality of the work is higher. They spend more time
on mulching, trellising, weeding, removing the rock stones, soil conservation
and building the irrigation systems which are a part of good agriculture
practices . They grow multiple crops and sow as soon as they harvest, small
farms have been the most efficient for sustainable and bio-diversified way of
agriculture. </span></b><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">India's land holdings average size has
been decreasing i.e. 1.16 hectares ( as per 2011 data) and at the same time the
number of land holdings are increased to 138 million which are caused by the
population growth and family subdivisions. Some researchers argue that small
farm land holdings' output is always low and their operating expenses are high.
I feel, the farm size is not a constraint for the productivity, small farms are
sustainable and the efficiency also more or equal to large farms. Numerous
studies have confirmed that there is an inverse connection between the size of
forms and yield per hectare, the smaller they are the yield is greater, the
contribution of output is higher for marginal and small farmers and they grow
high value crops like fruits and vegetables. But small and marginal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>farmers have been facing lot of problems like
credit and Indebtedness, land titles and tenancy issues, low level education
and skills, globalization challenges and climate changes.</span></b><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Western model of agriculture is
being forcibly advocated by some agricultural policy analysts and economists which
is really applicable for only large land holdings. As per Indian agri profile,
we can't shift our small farms to larger farms that will cause a decline in
food production and also the unemployment of displaced workers that's <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>going to be a big problem. It is very clear </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">that the Western model of agriculture can't support our Indian
agriculture like</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> heavy
mechanized,</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">less
labor-oriented, chemical-based, high-input agriculture. Actually we should
adopt the Eastern model of agriculture which have been implemented in Taiwan,
Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and China. The far east agriculture
practices like experimenting with high yield verities, controlled use of
fertilizers, drip irrigation, effective use of manpower, multiple cropping and custom
made small farm equipments are exactly appropriate to Indian farm lands. Moreover,
Indian small scale family farmers can't afford to heavy farm equipment, extraneous
inputs and hired workers, so the Eastern style of agriculture is the way
forward for India.</span></b><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">While small shops, hawkers, farmers
markets are being wiped out and replaced with super markets and hyper malls, the
small farmers loss their customers. The large super markets always need the consistent
supply, competitive price, high quality produces with safety standards, this
will be a big challenge for the small farmers since most of the farmers deliver
their produces to local vendors and open markets.</span></b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Supplying to large chain supermarkets is a great
opportunity to the small farmers, to confront the same, the government should
enact the collective farming by combine all small farm land holdings in to a
farmers' cooperative for mutual benefit. Under this model, the farmer will be an
independent share holder and collectively utilizing the supply chain/value chain
with their own operated marketing societies or private processors.(Just like
dairy co-operatives).</span></b><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">This is the time to reshape our Small scale
farm production and marketing systems since we are allowing the FDIs in retail
trade, to integrate with big chain retails markets the small and marginal
farmers should be strengthened with modern technologies and policy reforms.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We wish the small and marginal farmers
avail the market opportunities for better prospects.</span></b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-18312502612094591942012-11-04T07:22:00.003-05:002012-11-04T07:23:05.740-05:00I am against to hunger and poverty, not to the technology<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Achieving Food and Nutritional security is not easy task, we need to try every option either genetically Modified (GM) or Conventional. The food grains which are cultivated today are not absolutely wholly natural, most of them are altered and hybridized by selective breeding or chemicals or Viruses. We need to depend on modern technologies to get bumper yields, drought tolerant and disease tolerant crops for growing food needs. The government and the progressive thinkers should focus on public understanding on Agriculture technology research.<br /><br />I am not against to the technology ...but especially in food crops part we have some concerns about safety of human health and environment. We already have so many conventional verities of food crops for centuries which contain rich health & nutrition values. The agritech researchers are mentioning that the GM food contains same nutritional values as non GM, then why we need GM Food crop?! why can’t our researchers develop new verities by hybridization and natural selection instead of genetically engineering? Food security is not only providing food for all but also the bio - safety must be ensured, the bio technology has to develop the food crops without compromising safety and regulatory aspects. <br /><br />The BT Cotton was developed and introduced in India in 2002 and still the farmers have mixed opinions on the crop. Monsanto claims that the BT cotton plays a beneficial role in increase of production and reduction of the costs of cultivation. But the farmers are complaining that the cost of cultivation has been increased comparatively with the traditional verities and the yield per acre did not increase. We have reports on livestock dying allegedly on consuming Bt cotton plants and Farm workers are suffering with allergies including rashes, itches, and irritations while working in GM crop fields. The mainstream scientific community argues that all safety tests have been done but there is no systematic research to address this serious problem.<br /><br />In India, there are a lot of apprehensions associated with GM foods chiefly relating to the safety aspects both for the environment and for human health. There are fears that novel genes and genetic constructs could escape into the environment and create monster plants like weeds that cannot be destroyed or new, recombinant pathogens like bacteria and virus for which there are no cures. That is the reason there is a strong appose on BT Brinjal and the protesters are claiming that the BT brinjal is a threat to plant biodiversity, flaws in the data on the gene inserted into the brinjal, no long-term toxicity and cancer-safety tests were done which leads to kidney and liver damage. The technology needs improvement and the safety aspect will have to be tested far more rigorously before it can be declared that GM crops are indeed a safe source of food.<br /><br />The GM companies should focus their R&Ds on the crops like drought tolerance, salinity tolerance and alkaline tolerance. Farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant cultivation since most of the cultivatable lands have been converted to non agriculture purposes. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought , high salt/alkaline content in soil will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable lands. Ethanol based Transgenic Sugarcane, maize and sugar beet crops have to be developed for support Bio fuels instead of fossil fuels. Genetically Engineered Tobacco plants are required for medical use. Modified Subabul, Eucalyptus and Bamboo plants are required more tonnage for paper production. <i><b>We expect the crop science or agriculture research outputs should be safe for human health and environment. The safety tests and systematic research should be conducted under regulatory measures before launching any crop which is genetically engineered. I am against to hunger and poverty, not to the technology. </b></i><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></i></b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-90537904406108646682012-10-07T12:29:00.000-04:002012-10-08T05:43:57.667-04:00Join our fight..support Tobacco farmers.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://protectfarmers.tobaccoleaf.org/join.aspx">http://protectfarmers.tobaccoleaf.org/join.aspx</a><br />
<br />Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-72354770028233314462012-09-22T10:56:00.001-04:002012-09-22T11:08:43.268-04:00FCTC - The imposed treaty<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Recently the Tobacco Institute of India has given awards to the tobacco farmers on their achievements. I met some of the farmers who attended the awards function , in casual chat one of the prospective farmer mentioned that he doesn't know what FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) means until he attend the award ceremony. Most of the tobacco growers don't know about the FCTC which was ratified by Indian government in 5th February ,2004. The world Health Organization ( WHO) adopted the FCTC in May 2003 to reduce the tobacco consumption to protect the global public health and this is one of the most quickly ratified treaties in United Nations history. FCTC formulated the policies for the member countries to adopt the better strategies for tobacco control, those might be mandatory and some of them are provisional.<br />
<br />
India is so active in FCTC treaty and was the one among the first signatory countries. Even prior to FCTC, India has been working on tobacco control by several legislations like COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) i.e. ban on smoking in public places, ban on underage sales, prohibiting the tobacco sales within 100 yards of schools and hospitals and restrictions on tobacco advertisements & sponsorships. Proactively our Union Health Ministry proposed that all new films have to flash a static anti-tobacco message during a smoking scene. The government initiatives are not only with consumption part but also in production and distribution, government is enforcing the heavy taxes to control the tobacco consumption. The tax on tobacco products in India is are complex and vary for tobacco products, cigarettes taxes are calculated by the length and the process of manufacturing which accounts approximately 38% on retails price and the Bidis (tobacco rolled in a leaf) are taxed very low averaging 9% on retail price.<br />
<br />
India is the third largest producer and second largest group of smokers, over 120 millions of Indians smoke which counts 10% of the total world's tobacco smokers and over 250 million people across the country use tobacco products like gutka, cigarettes , bidis and other kinds. Tobacco will be responsible for 13% of all deaths in India, it counts around 900,000 deaths per year. Worldwide, every 1 in 10 adult deaths are caused by tobacco and it kills more than 5 million people per year. The World Health Organization warned that if the same consumption patterns continue, more than 8 million people will die per year by 2030. Everybody has the same questions, why farmers are growing tobacco even that is harm for human health and why governments are allowing tobacco cultivation even lot of health organizations and social groups are advocating a ban on tobacco. Tobacco cultivation is a part of Indian agriculture system, it is legally cultivated agriculture crop and globally trading commodity. Tobacco is the best cash crop among all cash crops… in terms of high value returns and suitable to most environments, on top that it’s a labor intensive crop which helps to improve the rural employment .Indian Tobacco Industry is providing livelihood to more than 25 million people in the country, the tobacco contribution to India’s GNP is about 10%.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Consuming tobacco is a fatal addiction and social problem, it keeps the health in hazard. The problem should be dealt with public awareness, anti smoking campaigns by government and other advocacy groups have not much influenced the tobacco farmers neither threaten to tobacco cultivation nor encourage them to leave the crop. But the FCTC regulations are simple forcing ban farmers from cultivating tobacco. Indian government never consulted and asked the tobacco farmers' opinion before ratifying the treaty in 2004, it's an autocratic decision. The Indian tobacco farmers were not against to our national tobacco control law like COTPA or any legislation which prohibits tobacco consumption, they do concern about public health but imposing FCTC regulations on tobacco farmers without consulting them is unacceptable, FCTC planned to force all the governments to keep the tobacco farming industry in jeopardy. Indian farmers are opposing several articles of the FCTC like 9 and 10 which are dealt with regulation, testing, measuring and disclosure of contents.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b><b>FCTC proposals will affect our tobacco farmers and industry, more than 30 million of Indians livelihood will be devastated. Especially in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, tobacco growing is the main source of livelihood for farmers and moreover India is the place where the tobacco grow year-around. AS per FCTC articles 17 and 18, the government should provide technical and financial aid assistance for economical transition to all stake holders whose livelihoods are seriously affected as a consequence of tobacco control programs, but after so many research and field trials they identified that it takes so many years. However, now the working group abandoned its original mandate and came out with new set of recommendations like restrict/stop all financial and technical support for tobacco farming; mandate the seasons when tobacco can and cannot be grown; limit, then reduce, the land area where tobacco can be grown, dismantling all tobacco governing bodies and reduce tobacco production. These irrational destructive proposals are going to be destroy the million lives of tobacco dependents by not offering economically viable alternative crops and livelihood.</b></i>
<br />
<i><b><br /></b><b>I think the FCTC treaty is autocratic and imposed one, because the veto powered nation- United States of America haven't ratified the same and other large tobacco production countries like Argentina, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Indonesia were never signed the treaty. If India implements these guidelines, then non signed countries may dump their tobacco products ,they will increase their production and it may lead to contraband trading, then Indian tobacco farmers livelihood will be in trouble and the Indian economy will go down i.e. almost Rs.13,500 crore of excise revenue and Rs 4,160 crore of export revenue. I am not against to tobacco control, government is spending millions of tax payers' money towards public health and creating awareness on tobacco consumption risks but I request our Indian government to refuse these unreasonable, imposed FCTC proposals and think in a pragmatic approach to help tobacco farmers for their smooth economic livelihood transition.</b></i>
Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-17608663077140297342012-07-08T00:29:00.003-04:002012-08-01T12:57:29.196-04:00Indian farmers need a restructured CACP<b>The well know basic economic principle for the marketable produces is : Cost of production + considerable percentage of margin= Price of the product. But this basic principle is not applied to Indian farmers, their farm products are sold at horrible losses. The government and the government advisory commissions are forcing the farmers to sell their produces with very less prices which are not even matched to the cost of production. The government fixes the Minimum Support Prices ( MSP) for major agriculture commodities by the Commission for Agriculture Cost and Prices (CACP) recommendations. The CACP considers various valid points to determine the support / remunerative prices for the agriculture produces. Nevertheless, the CACP has not been recommended the remunerative price for farmers from past ten years.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Based on the " Cost of the production theory of value", each and every product or service price can be decided by the cost for producing the same. CACP has been considering the Cost of Cultivation (C2) while assessing the agriculture commodity prices, but there is some serious flaws in calculation criteria which causes the underestimate of actual costs and moreover the MSP doesn't even equal to the actual Cost of Cultivation. As we know that how the input costs have been increased from past few years such as fertilizers, labor cost, diesel, fodder and cattle feed. The average labor wages have increased by 75% in past three years and the fertilizers are more than doubled. But the CACP has announced the MSP hikes for 2012-2013 crops are ranging from 16% to 53% on 2008 -2009 data. CACP has been using the old data ( 2008-2009 )for assessing the current crops support prices and also the data of 2008-2009 itself had contested by the farmers organizations in terms of number of samples and calculation mechanism. </b><br />
<br />
<b>CACP usually depends on Department of Economics and Statistics (DES) of Department of agriculture for data collection and the data contains the information of Area/Production/Yield (APY). But there are some controversies on interpretation of the data among the determining of MSPs and other purposes like calculating GDP, planning commission and economic indicators. Sometimes CACP also collects the data on its own but it's not collecting ample number of samples and also while computing the cost of production there is no consideration for crop insurance, marketing and transportation cost paid by the farmers. Still, the CACP's recommended MSPs are faulty and unfavorable to the farmers and they are losing Rs.240,000 of crores every year for just because of underestimated MSPs by CACP. </b><br />
<br />
<b>All farmers organizations have been reiterating for National Commission on Farmers recommendations for fixation of the remunerative price i.e. C2 +50% profit margin on C2, but the CACP is computing the prices on the obsolete data of 2008-2009. It has to take previous year data for computing the consecutive year prices and it should consider all prescribed 12 factors while formulating the price recommendations. Not only 12 aspects but also other issues like inflation, cost of living for farmers, and losses due to import - export policies. However, Indian farmers need a revived CACP since it fails to protect their best interests, it should be dismantled and restructured with new terms and references.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-61064147248275621272012-06-01T04:46:00.000-04:002012-06-01T11:55:55.211-04:00Subsidy CUT, Rupee DIP, Fertilizer prices UP<b>India uses low quantity of fertilizers against the global average, the
monsoon plays major role on consumption pattern in India, a good rainfall makes higher usage of fertilizers for enhancing crop yields. Due to Euro zone crisis
the world markets are volatile, Indian
economy also experienced the same
negative impact. India has been depending on imports for its major soil
nutrient needs and the Rupee value has gone down with new record level so the
fertilizers prices are expected to raise. The components for making fertilizers
like naphtha ,fuel and natural gas prices
have been increasing year by year and if the fuel price increases, invariably
it is going to affect on fertilizer prices.</b><br />
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<b>Indian farmers are already suffering from high input costs and the steep increase in fertilizer prices are going
to be more burden for them. India imports a quarter of urea, 100% of potash and
almost 70% of DAP (Diammonium Phosphate). DAP is
widely used by Indian farmers, the price has gone up to Rs.987 per bag( 50
Kilos) and it is expected to be
increased more with rupee dip. similarly
Potash has increased to Rs.720 per bag( 50 Kilos). Not only the
fertilizers and also the pesticides,
insecticides and herbicides prices have
affected by rupee slide. Acetamiprid (ACE) and Imidacloprid
(IMI) are widely used pesticides in India, their prices have also increased by
Rs.100.</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>The price of fertilizers and pesticides may increased by 30% due to rupee value
decline and subsidy cuts. The government
has decreased the subsidy on DAP and
other NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potash) fertilizers by 27% since April
2012, the subsidy for DAP was Rs 19,763 in last fiscal year now it is Rs 14,350 per tonne similarly the subsidy for MOP (Muriate of Potash) has been fixed at Rs 14,440 per tonne against
Rs 16,054 last fiscal. The subsidies for nitrogen, phosphate and potash
nutrients have also been lowered by 11.6%, 32.6% and 10.3% respectively. The
raw materials for producing fertilizers prices have also increased due to rupee
depreciation. so invariably, the kharif crops going to be very expensive for farmers with raised input costs.</b></div>
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<b>Every Farmer need subsidies since they have been incurred
losses without remunerative prices, non availability of credit ,high input
costs and many more adverse reasons. If the government feels the subsidy on
fertilizers must be reduced then it should
allow the farmers to fix the prices for their produces on their own like other
industries and also the government should not intervene in agriculture exports. The UPA
government has randomly increasing the petrol prices to save the Oil marketing
companies from their losses, why can't the government do the same thing for the
farmers by fixing the remunerative
prices for farm produces. In fact, the government reduced the fertilizer subsidies as part of their austerity measure to match
the fiscal deficit but the government is
claiming that the reduced subsidy funds are going to be diverted to organic
manures and bio fertilizers. Actually the organic farmers are very less,
organic farming is picking up but
reducing the subsidies on chemical fertilizers are ridiculous since 90% of the
farmers are depend on the same.</b></div>
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<b>Ministry of chemicals and fertilizers has intended to give the subsidies directly to the
farmers, it's a welcome move because the retailers are misusing the subsidies
and it's not reaching to the real beneficiaries. At this point of time the government officials
should ensure the fertilizers are sold
at MRP prices and most of the retailers might have the old stocks which they
got with old prices, they are trying to sell the same stock with new increased
prices, the government officials must control the traders not to sell with increased
prices. At least it will give little relief to farmers against the increased
input costs.</b></div>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-23704277871766403132012-04-09T14:01:00.000-04:002012-04-09T14:02:05.607-04:00Connecting the rivers is a great idea<b>Over 60% of Indian agriculture is dependent on rains which is very complex, risk prone and low productivity. The problems with rain fed farming is multifaceted; difficult to adopt modern technologies, uncertainty in output and low income which affect to livelihood of farmers that leads to rural poverty and suicides. Being an agriculture dominant country India should have proper irrigation systems to distribute and manage the river water and floods. Supreme Court of India has impelled the mega project which will link the major rivers in north and south for optimum utilization of water. As we know that our Indian farmers have been suffering with crop losses due to droughts and floods and also their villages were destroyed in floods. The Inter- linking of rivers (ILR) project assures to manage the water from surplus to lacking and mitigates the flood havoc. The project expands the irrigated land that can increase the food production and able to feed 1.20 billion of Indians. The increased irrigation land will help to adopt modern technologies in agriculture for higher yields.<br />
</b><br />
<b>The river linking project involves on Himalayan and peninsular rivers, the design consists of 30 proposed links i.e. 16 in Himalayan component and 14 in peninsular component. The grand design of ILR project will add 40 million hectares of irrigated land to India, generates the 34000 million kilowatts of electricity and the navigation controls the floods and mitigates the droughts. Government of India (GOI) has been implementing the traditional methods like small water tanks, ponds, watershed schemes and lift irrigation schemes which are helpful… but very little, so India needs a durable river management system to fulfill water needs. As we know that how the city dwellers of Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are in fresh water stress for their daily needs and at the same time 60% rainwater is going waste in seas. To avoid the wastage and proper management of water can be possible through river and canals channeling only.<br />
</b><br />
<b>There are many positive results with ILR but the other end the project is being criticized on various reasons and making controversial for their vested interests and political prospects. They are arguing on environmental, ecological consequences, international disputes and resettlement & displacement of the project- affected people. We have new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill to accomplish such issues and India need to learn from our neighboring countries like China, Pakistan and Brazil, how they completed the prestigious dams successfully for their national interest. Interlinking the rivers is an economic development process; most of the countries are constructing dams and channels for their national benefit and progress and ILR is same kind for our national energy, irrigation and drinking water needs of growing population. Population displacement and resettlement is a tough task, the projects disrupts the lives and lifestyles of the people who live in the affected areas. However, the government authorities must focus on methodologies and processes to involve all stake holders and civil societies to smoothen the process.<br />
</b><br />
<b>The arguments of the organizations who are opposing this project are baseless and vested, all these organizations are urban based, non-farm communities and they can’t understand the farmers’ perils. They live in air conditioned rooms, using magnificent and spectacular words to grab the public attention, they are failed to understand the farmer’s agony on water scarcity (so many farmers committed suicides for their crop failures due to drought & floods and unable to repay loans they had taken to drill bore wells) The can’t understand the perils of rural women who walk miles together to get bucketful of drinking water. Some of the political leaders are confusing and exasperating the people by giving the false interpretation i.e. this project is going to divert their own water to other areas. But all these arguments are unjustifiable and their electoral prospects only, because the ILR is a national project and this is for entire nation’s benefit and progress not for particular state. <br />
</b><br />
<b>In spite of these critiques and arguments, the ILR project is the only option to fulfill the water needs of growing population. India has been experiencing the floods & droughts and the sufferers used to get ex gratia payments from Prime Minister Relief Fund or Chief Minister Relief Fund, etc. from past 60 years. Instead of that if this gigantic project is completed… all disasters can be prevented, but it requires lot of money and time. As per Millennium Development Goals by UNDP, safe drinking water and sanitation is a human right and our central government should not consider the political limitations for water resources. The central government should take the control on inter-state rivers, the project must be included in five years plan as top priority, make involving all stake holders efficiently and this should be completed in a time bound manner.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-29217170256882524552012-03-27T09:44:00.007-04:002012-03-27T10:00:09.041-04:00The quest for water<b>Water is one of the five elements, Water is life and everything. The availability of water is drastically decreasing and so many developing countries are facing water crisis. There is a connection between water, poverty and hunger; developing countries in Asia and Africa are facing water stress, malnourishment and poverty, coincidentally these countries are closely with arid and semi-arid ecosystem. Urbanization has been increasing in developing nations which push to change in water consumption pattern and demand for water has been increased. The United Nations' FAO states that by 2025, 1.9 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions.</b><br />
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<b>The main share of water is taken by agriculture which accounts globally 70%, rain fed agriculture is most common method and some of the countries have been using massive ground water for agriculture. The population growth usually increase the demand for water, we already more than 7 billion and by 2050 we will be 9 billion, we need to face heavy water scarcity especially in agriculture production. The main task for developing countries is to utilization of water resources productively and efficiently i.e. How to produce more food with less water, how to recharge the ground water aquifer, how to reuse the waste water for agriculture.</b><br />
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<b>Over 60% of Indian agriculture depends on rains, monsoons are very important to Indian economy, if the predictions go wrong or monsoons fails the GDP share of agriculture will be negative. Uncertainty of the monsoons and drought conditions make the farmers’ life miserable. To overcome rain- fed farming and drought, our Indian farmers are investing heavily on tube wells and high powered motor pumps… but water tables are dropping dangerously and the farmers are being dragged in to debt traps. Lot of irrigation projects were commenced by the state governments which are still under construction, huge finance investment must be required to complete these ongoing projects. According to Indian policy the Irrigation is a state subject, the state governments don’t have enough budget to complete them unless the financial support given by central government. As of now 400 irrigation projects are pending in nationwide.</b><br />
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<b>Government of India should take preventive measures in agriculture to face water stress, since most of the Indian population depends on agriculture and need to feed 1.20 billion people. Recently Supreme Court of India has impelled the mega project which will link the major rivers in north and south as optimum utilization of water. This is the better way to manage the water from surplus areas to lacking but the project requires huge investment and takes long time. India needs to improve its agriculture by implementing scientific applications in irrigation system like drip, sprinklers and sprayers and also government needs to promote the low cost methods to harvest and conserve the rainwater. There is still great need of research on drought resistant and climate resistant crops, our agriculture scientists must focus on developing such verities, and Africa is the best example for such innovative crops and practices. India must take inspiration from Israel by their customized irrigation methods and reuse of waste water for agriculture.</b><br />
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<b>Most recent US intelligence report says that in next ten years, water is going to be a bargain chip and as a weapon too... growing demand for water leads to wars. As we know... India has been experiencing many international river disputes like Ganges, Sindhu and Brahmaputra linked with other countries of Nepal, Pakistan and China, and inter-state river disputes like Babli, Almatti, Mullaperiyar, Kaveri etc. Privatization in the urban supplies makes more diversion of irrigated water to cities and Industrial purpose. Private corporations like Coke and other bottled water companies are taping the public water and excessive pumping the ground water which caused to water table aquifer fall. Since the available water is limited, allocation of the water to irrigation, domestic and industrial purposes shall be based on proper methodology, otherwise it leads to clashes among the people within India only not with neighboring countries. I don’t wish the quests and crusades for water; let us all together preserve the fresh water.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-54329338464488266342012-01-15T19:12:00.001-05:002013-10-19T11:12:15.695-04:00My understanding about a fascinating plantWhen Columbus and his crew encountered the Native Americans inhaling the smoke of burning Tobacco, they introduced the same to Europe and the rest of the world. Tobacco was the first plant exported to a worldwide market from Americas from 1500s and it has been grown by Native Americans for more then 5000 years. Global tobacco Industry sells around 6 trillion cigarettes every year, China is the biggest consumer of cigarettes about 45% of the global total. After China, the ten countries that consume the largest number of cigarettes are Russia, the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, India, Brazil, Ukraine, Turkey, Korea and Italy. India is the second largest producer of tobacco in the world and ITC limited is the pioneer for India’s tobacco crop. India has different types of tobacco verities i.e. Virginia, Burly and native /oriental tobacco. Tobacco board of India is a government organization which involves in regulating the crop and developing the tobacco Industry.<br />
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Tobacco is the hungry man’s food, chilly man’s fire, sad man’s cordial, bachelor’s friend, lonely man’s companion, busy man’s repose: it’s a generic complimentary statement by tobacco lovers. Matter of fact, Tobacco is responsible for 1 in 10 adult deaths and it kills more than 5 million people per year. The World Health Organization warned that if the same consumption patterns continue, more than 8 million people will die per year by 2030. Smoking tobacco is a fatal addiction; it keeps the life at risk…. not only the one who is smoking but also every one around. Everybody has the same questions, why farmers are growing tobacco even that is harm for human health and why governments are allowing tobacco cultivation even lot of health organizations and social groups advocating a ban on tobacco smoking.<br />
<br />
Smoking is a social problem; the problem should be dealt with public awareness. But tobacco cultivation is a part of farming system; it is legally cultivated agriculture crop and globally trading commodity. Tobacco is the best cash crop among all cash crops… in terms of high value returns and suitable to most environments, on top that it’s a labor intensive crop, so it definitely improves the socioeconomic conditions of rural areas and the quality of farmers’ life. Sale of the crop is also assured and it’s sold by negotiable price through government operated auction floors. As per economic surveys, the tobacco farmers monthly income is higher than the non – tobacco farmers. Almost 15 million people are involved in Indian tobacco industry, the tobacco contribution to India’s GNP is about 10%. <br />
<br />
Indian tobacco farmers have not influenced by the anti smoking campaigns, neither threaten tobacco cultivation nor promote them to leave the crop. They simply grow the tobacco as a part of the cultivation and more over its high return cash crop.In spite of Indian government has been implementing ban on smoking in public places and a ban on underage sales, tobacco consumption and production has been increasing. The consumption pattern in India is: 85% share goes to tobacco products like Bidi, Snuff and chewing and rest of 15% is cigarettes consumption. Despite the just 15% cigarette consumption generates 75% of taxable tobacco revenue and 25% from the other forms of tobacco products which is 85% market share, since the taxes are more on cigarettes comparatively on traditional tobacco products. Major Indian tobacco market is occupied by traditional products which are unorganized sector and cottage industries, so the government authorities are difficult to enforce the taxes on them.<br />
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As per my understanding, young &urban population is consuming the cigarettes and adults & rural population is consuming non-cigarette form of tobacco products and worldwide the non – cigarette form of consumption has been increasing. Tobacco consumption is dangerous to health; no one is going to deny that but the government should educate the citizens about the risk factors and at the same time it should protect the poor farmers’ interests and economic strength of the country; we need lot R&D in tobacco in the direction of low –nicotine and organic tobacco crops. The taxes on cigarettes should not be increased because the consumption pattern will be shifted to non- cigarette form which is more harmful to health. I hope they won’t increase in coming budget.Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-14644003071984712272011-11-07T18:32:00.001-05:002011-11-25T10:07:58.692-05:00India needs reinforced Met Dept <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">Monsoons are very important to Indian economy because 60% Indian population is depend on agriculture and agriculture share is around 15% in total GDP. Most of Indian farming is depending on monsoons only…. that’s why historically Indian economy used to be called as “Monsoon economy”. Generally Indian monsoon season starts from June to September, but this year southern part of India has heavy deficit in rainfall and Andhra Pradesh has experienced the drought condition. The Estimated yield loss in Andhra Pradesh was 40 lakhs of acres and some of the other regions information yet to be received. Andhra Pradesh government recently announced drought ridden mandals at about 450- 500 which were identified with 50- 60 percent crop losses.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">As per official figures there was 60% deficit in North-East monsoon rains in Andhra Pradesh and the loss was 2000 crores of rupees to farmers. India’s 60% farming depends on rains and almost 40% food grains come from these areas only. If the monsoon fails, it’s going to be negative impact on national GDP through agriculture share, Inflation goes up and food prices will be volatile. We can’t blame the Mother Nature but we have Meteorological department to predict the rains, therefore the farmers may select the crops according to that. If the predictions go wrong the farmers will in trouble, that’s what happened in 2009. In 2009, The India Meteorological Department (IMD) was forecasted the monsoons as normal, few months later it revised the earlier predictions and announced that the rains would be a little lower than normal but actually there was terrible drought.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">This year also same as 2009, IMD’s initial predictions were normal, second forecast was below normal but finally Andhra Pradesh has witnessed a drought and ultimately cost paid by the farmers is millions of rupees. Why the Met department is unable to give accurate predictions, what kind of technology they are using?....... I have no idea. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">Seven years ago, when I first browse the weather website (<a href="http://www.weather.com/">http://www.weather.com/</a>) to know the weather forecast in New Jersey… that’s so accurate. I admired and dreamt that one day our Indian Met department will give weather forecast as accurate as US Weather report. But still our Indian meteorological department is inefficient in accurate long term predictions.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">Yes…. it’s too difficult to predict the weather in long range, but if the predictions are continuously wrong that means something wrong with the Met department technologies, It must update its technology to correct the failures. As India entered into a deal with USA on Nuclear technologies, why can’t the Ministry of Earth Science approach USA for weather related technologies for better predictions? I hope that the Met department will modernize the equipment to serve better since most of Indians are agriculture dependents. If they were informed accurately about the weather they can plan the crops and at lest they can mitigate their losses by cutting down the farm investments. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">To encounter the drought, our agriculture scientists should focus on developing the climate resistant crops which are helpful to reduce the risk and food prices instability.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">Our governments have been experimenting cloud seeding and artificial rains but those are all nonsuccess models and very expensive. If any drought conditions exist, the governments need to have contingency plans like special budget allocations, subsidies and maintaining buffer stock of food grains to encounter it. However, we hope that IMD will give accurate weather forecasts and such forecasts will give guidelines to farmers to select and plan the crops according to anticipated weather conditions.</span></b></div>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-10336803050789611572011-10-03T18:21:00.000-04:002011-10-03T18:21:16.457-04:00Direct cash transfer for farmer’s family welfare<b>We have been discussing various farmers’ issues from past few years i.e. remunerative price, simple interest loans and all kind of subsidies… no favorable progress in this direction. The conclusion what do farmers expect is a stable income to lead their quality life just the same as others in the society. Each and every profession has its own remuneration for their service and the same way all kind of products have their own market price, but farmers don’t have stable remuneration for their hard work or remunerative price for their produces. Government has been intervening in crop production and marketing issues but still no righteousness for farmers and still they are agitating for all kind of supports. Now the time is up… no more jokes (false promises), no more time killing committees, farmers need a constructive permanent policy with economical reforms which gives care to get out of the agriculture crisis.<br />
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I strongly feel that the direct cash payments to the farmers is the best alternative option to support them, government has been giving all kind of subsidies in the form of seeds, fertilizers and so on which are actually going to manufacturers not direct to the farmers. If the direct payment goes to the real farmers; they can use the money wisely creatively for not only on fertilizers or pesticides but also for other farming activities. The government should provide direct cash payments to the farmers to assist in labor wages for farm operations, every body knows that farm labor cost has increased due to expensive cost of living and they have got great bargain power with several social welfare schemes. It’s the best way to integrate the NREG schemes to agriculture. I am very glad about Mr. Nandan nilekani’s proposal on direct cash transfer model for fertilizer subsidies but the implementation methodologies shall be discussed.<br />
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Farmers need a fixed amount of crop based cash assistance when the crops don’t reap by natural calamities; direct cash is a security from drought, floods and rising diesel prices. As we know that small farmers and land less farmers can’t survive simply on agriculture, they used to do animal herding but still they are in low socio economic status. They need some fixed amount of cash for reasonable standard of living and away from the poverty. The government should examine the real incomes and living costs while recommending the direct cash assistance every year; the money should go to every agriculture family including share croppers. The direct cash payment program shall be designed to encourage women farmers, organic farming and sustainable agriculture.<br />
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In recent survey conducted by India's National Sample Survey Organization showed 40 percent of Indian farmers would like to quit agriculture. If it really happens, the government face huge burden to provide alternative livelihood for all of them and country unable to feed its own population. Nevertheless, what the farmers need is… a substantial income and economical security to restructure their farming activities. The practice of directly giving money to the poor is a popular one in developing countries which has given positive results; I hope the same will be implemented for our Indian poor farmers.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-47253823646007833452011-09-05T18:10:00.002-04:002011-09-05T18:24:19.112-04:00FDI in Retail industry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmOSGP2toHTI7lbtjeQTtNf0hMVkOiUgatgw0Lhrfde2qPwz7NZ78ZGekNP2KfB9K-bO8hSGIyLGEhuS9k63AGS3uh9Oks-bifMIqbKs0TQG4jpO6UFJ0B4sEQdJ_HaeNwLqOEA/s1600/phpThumb.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmOSGP2toHTI7lbtjeQTtNf0hMVkOiUgatgw0Lhrfde2qPwz7NZ78ZGekNP2KfB9K-bO8hSGIyLGEhuS9k63AGS3uh9Oks-bifMIqbKs0TQG4jpO6UFJ0B4sEQdJ_HaeNwLqOEA/s320/phpThumb.JPG" width="285" xaa="true" /></a></div><strong>As per Indian Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)that FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is inevitable in multi brand retailing. India has been implementing 100% FDI in single brand(Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Mcdonald , KFC etc) retailing from past couple of years and trying to get the approval in cabinet for FDI in multi brand retailing (Wal-Mart, Tesco, Carrefour, Metro) with 51% since we have accepted the economic reforms in G20 Canada summit. India is the fifth largest retail destination globally; it has been recognized as a lucrative market for foreign investors in the retail industry. </strong><br />
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<strong>India is a great retail democratic country, we have plenty of neighborhood kirana stores, traditional, and unorganized retailers who are serving the nation from past several decades. The Indian retail market can be divided in to two categories i.e. Organized and Unorganized with market share of 5 % and 95% respectively, the total turnover is $395 billion and it is expected to grow up to $785 billion by 2015. India has been leaning towards organized retail system from past decade and it’s going to reach up to 20% by 2015. Large Indian companies are entering in to the retail business since there is lot of potential to grow i.e Birla More store, reliance fresh, Bharti Easy Day. </strong><br />
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<strong>India is slowly emerging as a world class market with high value products; growing middle class incomes, urbanization and changes in consumer behavior which are ideal for super markets or hypermarkets. Our agriculture also need large investments to improve our infrastructure in terms of seed supply, agrichemicals, processing, machinery, storage facilities, rural transportation and value chain management. Experts and economists say that there is lot of prospective benefits to consumers and farmers by FDI in retail.</strong><br />
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<strong>I believe that unrestricted FDI in multi brand retailing is going to affect badly on micro and small retailers. The multinational retailers are going to fill their aisles with international brands with competitive prices and the micro and small retailers are absolutely not in a position to compete with them. The biggest challenge is how to synchronize the harmony between organized and unorganized.</strong><br />
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<strong>My recommendations on FDI- Retail</strong><br />
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<strong>1. Indian retail sector contributes 15% to total GDP and providing 8% of total employment which is the biggest employer after agriculture, so the retail sector should be recognized as an Industry and need to be controlled by a separate ministry. </strong><br />
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<strong>2. Any kind of corporate owned markets shouldn’t interfere in Public distribution system (PDS) because more than 50% of Indian households are depending on this welfare system and most of them are below poverty line.</strong><br />
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<strong>3. Ministry of commerce and Industry should fix the limit on foreign Investing amount though they have 51% eligibility. If there is no cap on amount, it’s going be a huge threat to Indian retail companies.</strong><br />
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<strong>4. The Ministry should initiate the kind of business model; i.e. FDI retailers should deal with all kind products like Fresh produces, dry foods and non food items uniformly in the startup itself. If they don’t consider fresh farm produces, I don’t thinks that they won’t set up the value chain for farm produces.</strong><br />
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<strong>5. The FDI retail outlets should be allowed on socio economic and demographic factors. Geographical radius must be fixed to set up the stores to mitigate the competition among the local retailers and multinationals’. </strong><br />
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<strong>6. Stringent policies are required for harmonious trade and to control the multinationals aggressive monopoly trade practices. The Government needs to promote the micro, small and medium local retailers and should take necessary steps to grow them.</strong><br />
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<strong>7. The new jobs created by the multinational retail chains should be reserved for rural people and the FDI retailers should not destroy the existing unorganized retailers’ distribution setup.</strong>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-81347379874394805732011-08-14T10:39:00.001-04:002011-08-14T10:56:17.973-04:00Mass starvation in Somalia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59FUFMxgGBh-uW7EafbN0SVab3FR-UswR2j8LvEyFCnj2CysG1r6jImmvG2svCCAcuS-T6R9URMjeBwj5kNIrLwfoTkCpbo3egH4raeveZDjwwu3cVckclgla4V7s2E6H2mUP7g/s1600/364870-somalia-famine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59FUFMxgGBh-uW7EafbN0SVab3FR-UswR2j8LvEyFCnj2CysG1r6jImmvG2svCCAcuS-T6R9URMjeBwj5kNIrLwfoTkCpbo3egH4raeveZDjwwu3cVckclgla4V7s2E6H2mUP7g/s640/364870-somalia-famine.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<b>There is no food, no water, kids are dying and adults are tumbling, heart breaking pictures and heart wrenching incidents… this is the brief portrait of Somalia. I used to feel sad about Somalia where the place of pirates, private armies and poverty and now it’s experiencing severe famine. I will make known to you some pathetic famine incidents …<br />
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<i>A mother walking, arrives at the clinic, takes her baby off her back and finds it has died without her knowing.<br />
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Her five children were with her, but the youngest ones - aged two years and five years - died on the way. She said she abandoned their bodies along the roadside because she was too weak to dig graves.<br />
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“We were hungry and couldn't get work. We traveled as a family but soon after we arrived my husband died, leaving me a widow and my children without a father. I just need help — anything."</i><br />
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The UN declared famine in Somalia and some other east African countries like Ethiopia and Kenya and it estimates that it’s going to effects millions of people. Nearly 400000 of people are leaving their homes, traveling to camps in search of food and water,some of them are crossing the borders to reach the survival camps which are located in Ethiopia and Kenya and still 80% of people are unable to access the humanitarian aid. The militant groups are blocking the aid organizations' food deliveries, so the survival aid camps are held at secured regions. thousands of people are being raped,killed by militant groups, bandits while journeying to refuge camps. The country is already lawless and now became chaotic due to famine, the aid food has been looted and sold in markets for profits. Humanitarian organizations are not willing to work directly in Somalia because some of their workers got killed by the clan war groups.<br />
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Basically Somalia is arid environment,year around severe hot conditions and irregular monsoons, agriculture is very limited and most of the lively hood is on nomadic herding.The problem with Somalia is the unstable government, militants groups which are keeping the country miserable, THE TRANSITIONAL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT(TFG) doesn't have total control over the country and some clan's militia groups like Al-Shabab are dominating in most of the region.<br />
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This drought is not the first time and it has been repeating for every few decades, I think 20 years ago Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya have experienced the same kind of famine but now they are not as bad as Somalia. Ethiopia and Kenya have some sufficient investment in agriculture and foreign food grants which were helped them from starvation, as we know that some Indian agriculture companies also invested in Ethiopia and Kenya. Adequate investment in agriculture is the long term solution for famine and better agriculture practices, capacity development, economic developments are path to peace and prosperity.<br />
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The United Nations has made an emergency appeal for $2.4 billion,United States has contributed $580 million so far and other African and gulf countries are helping. I have an Idea that India has been holding excess wheat/rice stocks above the Strategic reserves I.e around 70 million tons and upcoming crop season is going to add another 20 million tones. Especially in Wheat, India harvested bumper crop and the current stocks were two seasons old, the Government is not allowing exports since 2007 and wheat prices are not so attractive in international markets. So the best way is to give the old wheat stocks to UN aid for Somalia on humanitarian grounds instead of rotting in FCI warehouses. It's not only going to help to Somalia's starving but also for Indian farmers to get the support price for their upcoming harvest.<br />
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However....I wish all Somalians will have better living conditions, peace and democracy.</b><br />
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<i>Pic courtesy: <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/un-declares-famine-in-somalian-regions-in-worst-drought-in-60-years/story-e6frfkzr-1226099367059">news.com.au</a></i> Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-81750375415080631762011-07-19T19:17:00.004-04:002013-04-27T13:19:37.173-04:00A nexus between land and food<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Prime minister Mr.Manmohan stated that we need second green revolution to feed our people despite the nation produced record level of 241 million tones of food grains in this year and he said that 2% of growth per annum is required to meet the food needs of growing population. Indeed, we should preserve our agriculture land for the same what prime minister said, ironically the Indian farm land has reduced by 0.43 percent to 182.39 million hectares in last five years and we know that the government has been forcibly acquiring the farm lands in the name of development. If India loss its cultivable land for non agriculture purpose… imagine how the 1.20 billions of people grapple for food, we already importing the pulses and oil seeds for our needs. A typical Indian family is spending 30-60 percent of their income for food alone; if we don’t conserve the farm lands then the food expenditure will be more for Indian house hold.</b><br />
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<b>Recently Mr. Rahul Gandhi protested against NOIDA, Agra Highway farm lands acquisition, he said that he is going to introduce the revised land acquisition act in parliament which is going to favor for farmers. Personally I welcome his substantial statement. He should visit more villages, meet more farmers to get more knowledge on farmers’ perils. The policy makers’ talks a lot about farmers’ issues in accordance to the situation and events… but we know the UPA 2 government’s economic model i.e. fast industrialization….the people income levels will be increased, eventually the living standards and purchase power will be more. Yes of course, being a progressive thinker, I too support industrialization but agriculture is important too. The thing is who is going to cultivate the land and where is the land to cultivate if the cultivable land is being transformed to industrial purpose?? A recent study says that a typical Indian family is spending 30-60 percent of their income for food alone, if we don’t conserve the fertile farm lands, definitely the food is going to be very expensive for Indian house hold. </b><br />
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<b>As we know that governments are forcible acquiring thousands of acres of land for industries in the name of development i.e. in Noida & Agra in Utter Pradesh, Ambala in Haryana, Mansa in Punjab, Singur in West Bengal , Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Mangalore & Sullia in Karnataka, and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. When the governments are trying to convert the fertile lands to non agriculture usage, they should have a responsibility to develop or conserve the fertile lands elsewhere as part of replacement which is not happening, where as in USA… being a largest agriculture land holder; it’s still spending millions of dollars to conserve the cultivable land. Being a developing a nation and having a large population, we need to develop and secure the farm lands. </b><br />
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<b>The proposed land acquisition bill must be included with not only the resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced public but also the developing and securing the agriculture lands and environmental resettlement. The existing National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy is not giving full fledged support the affected people, it’s failed to restore the lives of dislocated people and they are not receiving the decent, sufficient compensation for their lands, farmers voices have stifled and the governments are using police power to restrain their demands, for that’s the reason only the rural India become violent. The practical studies are not conducted in scientific manner, the government officials are corrupted and the reports are being prepared in favor of construction / power companies. When ever the superior courts intervened then only the feasibility studies are conducting in democratic and scientific manner. (Ex. Court intervention is Sompet -Andhra Pradesh wetlands issue).</b><br />
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<b>I hope the future Land acquisition bill would be beneficial to displaced farmers, let us see how Mr. Rahul Gandhi stands on his promise.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-15940496361561129602011-06-25T09:17:00.001-04:002011-06-25T10:44:10.937-04:00AP farmers want to take a brake<b>We used to see several ways of mass protests; the employees pen down, workers general strike, business men shutdowns, and factory lockouts so on... Sometimes farmers also organize protests on their issues like lack of farm inputs and better price for their produces, but this time Andhra Pradesh farmers want to protest by stopping the cultivation and they want to take crop holiday. This is not according to their wish or whim, the market conditions and the government impudence drag them to take such disgraceful decision.<br />
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Crop holiday is not new to Andhra Pradesh, in the year of 2000-2001 tobacco crop season, the Tobacco board also taken the same decision to clear the accumulated inventory. Indeed, the tobacco crop is commercial one and it doesn’t impact on farmers since they shifted to other commercial crops and a few farmers only depend on the tobacco crop. But paddy is a food crop and widely grown by large number of farmers; despite they want to go for crop holiday because of the distressed conditions by market price crash, heavy input and manpower costs and accumulated inventories at FCI warehouses. It seems to be no choice for farmers to overcome the crisis except the crop holiday<br />
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India has been lacking with agriculture infrastructure facilities, our food corporation storage houses are bulging with grain stocks of 65.6 million tonnes which the actual storage capacity is 62.8 million tonnes and there is no space for upcoming Khariff crops harvested by September and October. We have lots of grain going rot due to non availability of storage facilities and there is no progress in the issues even after Supreme Court intervened. UPA Government is still in dilemma to take decision on export of excess food grains since they want to support the prestigious National food security bill.<br />
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The government agencies are not procuring properly because they don’t have enough storage facilities and some millers are exploiting the farmers and take chance by not paying the prevailing prices since the farmers are in rush to pay their bills and they want to get rid of their debts. The farmers need to have a permanent solution on minimum support price, every time the government announces the price and the millers are not implementing the same. The Food Corporation of India and Civil supplies departments should introduce different kinds of procurement procedures instead of millers’ pride, i.e. promoting IKPs (Indira Kranthi patham) or any self help groups for grain procurements, Inviting private organization for grain collection, storage and necessary terms have to be initiated to control the millers.<br />
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Market efficiency depends on marketing infrastructure, there is a massive investment required in storage and processing of agriculture produces, the government has to encourage Public Private Partnership model in grain procuring and storage. We need to apply scientific applications in grain storage to reduce the rotting and wastage and we need to construct innovative storage facilities rather than conventional. I welcome the Andhra Pradesh farmers’ move for taking brake on paddy cultivation; technically it will balance the demand and supply position and it’s a kind of warning to government to fix the farmers’ demands. Let us see how the government respond and negotiate with farmers because the profound Food security bill is on the way.</b>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-21293680501195331622011-06-15T21:10:00.005-04:002011-06-16T07:45:44.034-04:00Direct cash transfer is a safety net for povertyThe media and politicians were lampooned on direct cash transfer scheme which was incorporated in Telugudesam party’s manifesto in 2009 assembly elections and political rivals make this scheme as controversial and named Mr. Chandra babu Naidu as ALL FREE BABU. Honestly speaking, I too failed to understand the scheme that direct cash transfer to the poor make the poor become lazy and refuse to work if they get cash for doing nothing. I realized my thoughts were short and the small amount make a lot of difference in their economic lives.<br />
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Indeed this is an innovative social policy, it has been in practice from past six years in South American and African countries and some international aid <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">organizations</span> also implementing the same. Providing welfare and social security is the state’s responsibility and the governments have to design the development paradigms to poor people. Economic reforms and liberalization policies are serving their part to eradicate poverty but the change takes lot of time, in the meanwhile welfare schemes are necessary to reduce the pressure on poor and the National rural employment guarantee scheme is the best example for such kind of schemes.<br />
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Direct cash transfer to poor households is not like a donation or aid or sanctity or the government is not going to throw the money at crossroads or money is not distributed as handbills. It’s a kind of social security program, identifying the social class and pick the responsible person in the family (mostly homemakers) and transferring the money through banks in certain intervals. It’s a kind of investment to the poor people to support themselves, end to poverty. They can buy good protein based food, can buy medicines, they can send their children to school, they may invest and generate income and small farmers can buy fertilizers or seeds and so on…<br />
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In developed countries most of the people are working class, employers or government will deduct the some portion of the amount in their earning and the same will be distributed as social grant. But in developing countries most of the people are working in unorganized sectors and agriculture, they are poor and middle class people, eventually they don’t have choice to get the social grants from their earnings. So governments have responsibility to allocate some money for the welfare of economically poor sections.<br />
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According the millennium development goals, reasonable standard of living is became a basic human right and the governments have been working on that direction through reforms or welfare schemes. In developing countries like India, it’s too burden to implement social security grants but eliminating the poverty is our priority. Spending on health, education, infrastructure is important but people need money to access those facilities, so there is a need of social grants for poor.<br />
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Poor people are also partial responsible for their own poverty, they should to come out from their dearth and need to improve their standard of living. Ofcourse the welfare schemes are inevitable to reduce the poverty and direct cash transfer is the best among them. I don’t think the little money don’t make the poor people lazy and reluctant to work, everybody has desire to well being and respected, they know how to manage this little money wisely and creatively. Thus, direct money transfer is better for poor, it will help the poor to keep away from their poverty and to lead a gentle life.Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-78810596324765294332011-06-05T11:21:00.003-04:002011-06-05T19:04:31.994-04:00www.farmersindia.com<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg762XlHWZOhgAZ4DJTUuLAeThKWCOeOe4V6d0kHaOXEM8FVPjgFcZc4ZxuI3KNmbIqquZrAm9_0fqXMQZBJDCw8m3FJlFULkvxJ_FkYCwv2KpHYZG4JjUEn7WdZQGs4EeAbqsB2g/s1600/Pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg762XlHWZOhgAZ4DJTUuLAeThKWCOeOe4V6d0kHaOXEM8FVPjgFcZc4ZxuI3KNmbIqquZrAm9_0fqXMQZBJDCw8m3FJlFULkvxJ_FkYCwv2KpHYZG4JjUEn7WdZQGs4EeAbqsB2g/s320/Pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">I have a dream that one day our Indian farmer hook up the computer and directly market their products on internet. In pursuit of that objective, I developed a free agriculture classifieds portal (<a href="http://www.farmersindia.com/">http://www.farmersindia.com/</a>) for everyone who ever associated with agriculture. Please look into that and I appreciate your valuable suggestions. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718557.post-51404661357118049302011-05-22T09:43:00.000-04:002011-05-22T09:43:23.057-04:00RURAL INDIA_ FOR SALE @ INDIA.CO.INOur economists are stating that India is vibrant and it’s going to be one of the super powers by 2025, I am confused… what kind of super power it’s going to be, is it in software, defense power, Industrial development or agriculture? Being an agriculture enthusiast, my hopes and horizons are diminishing due to violent economic reforms. While the governments are grabbing all the farm lands in the name of Economic reforms, how can we expect the India as super power in agriculture? When all the farm lands are diverting to non agriculture usages like Industrial corridors, Special economic zones, It industries, Airports, Power plants and sea ports, how can we ensure the India’s food security?<br />
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Now the rural India turned violent during the protests over the forcible acquisition of farm lands i.e. in Noida & Agra in Utter Pradesh, Ambala in Haryana, Mansa in Punjab, Singur in West Bengal , Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Mangalore & Sullia in Karnataka, and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. Thousands of acres of land being forcibly transferred to industries in the name of development by devastating the fertile lands and the government is promising that it will provide the employment to the displaced farmers as resettlement. I have a big question that what kind of employment positions will be given to the farmers in SEZs, Industries and power plants? Most of our Indian farmers are qualified with mediocre education and they are not technocrats, so…. imagine that these refugee farmers should work as porters, gardeners, scavengers or peons. Nevertheless, why should farmers dispense their hard earned or ancestral profitable fertile lands and why should they work for some others in their own lands? <br />
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The governments are saying that massive industrialization will improve the quality of life, I strongly agree with the same, provided that shouldn’t be harmful to other occupations. But this is a forced migration from agriculture, farmers are already self sufficient, they are creating rural employment, feeding the country and they are contributing to GDP. Why should leave their lands and change the profession... I don’t know what kind of economics these are? There are some critics in compensations of resettlements which are not transparent not reasonable to the farmers and the policy makers are favoring to the Industrialists for their personal gains by allotting the thousands of acres of farm lands. Some state governments are forcible acquiring the lands by lesser rates and reselling the same lands to Industrialists for better price. Sometimes these lands are sold and resold for higher prices changing hands to real-estate companies. <strong><span style="color: lime;">It seems to be that the Governments are operating like REAL ESTATE COMPANIES and the Chief Ministers are functioning as a PROPERTY DEALERS for Industrialist by SELLING the RURAL INDIA.</span></strong><br />
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Before independence most of lands were acquired by few land lords (Zamindars), after that the Government initiated land reforms and lands were distributed among landless farmers. Now the history is repeating and the lands are going to few industrialists in the name of vicious economic development. Now the farmers are very vigilant, they don’t want to loose their fertile lands and don’t want to become beggars by filthy economic policies and politicians. They are strongly protesting against forcible acquisitions and the audacious governments are using police force to restrain them which eventually turned to violence and the farm fields are becoming battle fields in all over the places in India i.e. Noida or singur or Srikakulam. <br />
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As Indian population grows, crop production need to be increased to feed them, the World Bank estimates that 1 hectare of land will need to feed 5 people in 2025 and ironically the Indian farm land has reduced by 0.43 percent to 182.39 million hectares in last five years. Indian agriculture also provides opportunities for growth, jobs and significant contribution to GDP. I strongly support the industrial development which leads to progress but protecting agriculture is important too. Governments should restrict the usage of farm land for Industrial purpose and if necessary, the land owners must be allowed as partners in the upcoming projects by allotting share or some stable income. However, we need mutually beneficial economic policies which can ensure the agriculture and industrial growth then only the agriculture and Industrialization can flourish evenly.Yashwanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10913661633571345938noreply@blogger.com