Micro Credit – Macro crisis

The Father of Microfinance and Nobel peace prize winner Mr. Muhammad Yunus would never expect that the social mission of microfinance is going to be bad in India. He is the founder of Grameen Bank and he developed the concept of Micro credit model In Bangladesh to eradicate the poverty in rural community. The fundamental of microfinance / Micro credit is to empower the poor people by giving the small loans with low interest rate. In the past few days, 24 number of rural Micro finance borrowers have committed suicides in Andhra Pradesh who are harassed by the Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs).

The Andhra Pradesh state government has been following the best model of Indira Kranthi Patham by Society for elimination of Rural Poverty (http://www.serp.ap.gov.in/) which arranges the loans from nationalized banks to the Self help groups with subsidized interest rate. In the early 1990s, the Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) model was also very successful one in Andhra Pradesh. From the past few years, the micro finance sector is growing massively. Most of MFIs are forcing the poor women to enroll and majority of them are already members in self-help groups who are well nurtured by the Government schemes. They indulge in very unethical practices in collecting their loan money. The MFIs are humiliating and dampen the self respect of the borrowers, those deeds are pushing them to suicides. The MFIs are charging very high interest rates i.e more than 30% per annum from the poor borrowers and enjoying this money with high paid salaries and perks to their CEOs. They are just like private money lenders in corporate way by utilizing the Self Help groups.

On October14th, the AP state government came out with legislation to control the MFIs. That is a good sign to help the poor rural borrowers from the clutches of fraudulent MFIs. As per new ordinanace, the government is going to help the MFI’s victims by debt-swapping through commercial banks by providing new loans with low interest rates. We hope the new ordinance will control and regulate the Micro finance system and Reserve Bank of India intervention must be required to formulate the guidelines for MFIs. The ordinance is here:http://bit.ly/drkdQS

Solidarity to 490 Millions of Small farmers

Agriculture in India has long history, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. India is a land of 490 million small farmers of total 600 million and having the average land size of 3.2 acres (1.3 hectares). They are cultivating their small farms with the support of their family members and local labor. Small Farms have always been the most efficient for sustainable and bio-diversified way of agriculture. Small farms have tremendous scope for increasing productivity because the natural capital - the soil, the water, and the ecology can be improved through conservation and rejuvenation.60% of the farm produces comes from the small farms only which are assuring food security, rural employment, generating the revenue in the form of taxes, cess and foreign currency through exports. But India lost her 200,000 of quality farmers from past 15 years who are committed suicides and around 100 million of farmers are living on less than a dollar per day. 40% of the small farmers are being forced to leave the agriculture and migrating to towns and cities.

Farmers are dragged in to such kind of plights due to various reasons like spurious seeds, poor quality pesticides, non availability of fertilizers, delayed monsoons, ineffective irrigation system, mounting debts, exploitation by private money-lenders and banks, lack of insurance, Government polices and so on… The main problems for the ill-fated farmers are their Indebtedness and credit crisis, because the income from their farms is not sufficient to their farm investment and their generic living expenditure. The farm incomes are connected with the farm produce prices which are not remunerative and farmers are getting very less share for their produces paid by the consumer. Commercial Banks are also responsible for farmers’ perils, they are not extending enough agriculture loans to farmers. Some small farmers are not qualified to avail the credit facilities due to bankers’ abusive norms which are forcing them to turn to private money lenders with exorbitant interest rates. The government improper models of industrialization are pushing the rural communities off the land. The small farmers are migrating to cities as construction labor, apartment watchmen and positively they don’t want their children as to become farmers. Very few young people are coming into farming … If this situation continues, India can’t expect food security and it’s going to be the REPUBLIC OF HUNGER.

In fact, India needs small farmers because her peace, her land sovereignty, her food sovereignty is in their hands. They are the pillars of the country’s development. There is a need to encourage the small farmers by providing easy access to credit facilities, Reserve Bank of India has to control the rural banks/commercial bank to extend the agri loans to small farmers and Tenant farmers. The government has to make sure the supply of quality seeds, prompt distribution of fertilizers, extension support, marketing, and insurance to small farmers. Public Private Partnership is required to promote organic farming among the small farmers. Government should provide subsidized for farm equipment, proper training and techniques to use innovative tools to avoid physical drudgery. Basic literacy and women farmers’ encouragement programmes should be evolved to their family and rural community development.  The government should enact the collective farming / Contract farming with the modality of merging small farm land holdings under farmers cooperatives, make the farmers as independent share holder and collectively utilizing the supply chain/value chain with farmers operated marketing societies or private processors. (Just like dairy cooperatives). Government should reinforce the rural communities by providing basic welfare amenities like drinking water, electricity, transportation, primary health and sanitation.

We hope…all the small farmers avail the modern technologies and market opportunities to strengthen their economic status as well as nation’s prosperity. This is a part of campaign to get the United Nations to declare International Year of Family farming. Please Visit: http://www.familyfarmingcampaign.net/

Land – The Common Property Resource

రాష్ట్రం అంటే మనుషులు మాత్రమే కాదు , రాష్ట్రం అంటే మట్టి కూడ.. గురజాడ గారు దేశమంటే మనుషులు అని ఉదాహరించినా, వాస్తవ పరిస్థితులలో మన రాష్ట్రం పరిస్థితి చూస్తే మట్టి కూడ అని అనిపిస్తుంది. నిజం చెప్పాలంటే రాష్ట్రం అనగా అడవులు,కొండలు, గనులు, పంట పొలాలు, ఇండ్లు, ఇండ్ల స్థలాలు, ఖరీదైన వ్యాపార భవన సముదాయాలు, రింగు రోడ్లు, SEZ లు , టెక్నాలజి పార్కులు .. ఇవే అనే  అభిప్రాయం మన పాలక వర్గానికి వచ్చిన తర్వాత .. రాష్ట్రం అంటే మనుషులు అనే భావం ఎప్పుడో   పోయింది. భూమికి , మనుషులకి మధ్య  అభివృద్ధి పేరుతో కార్పోరేట్ కారిడార్లు తెరుచుకున్న తర్వాత  మట్టికి మనిషికి మధ్య ఉన్న జీవాత్మక అనుభందంతో పాటు వ్యాపారత్మక అనుభందం బలపడింది. గ్యాసు పైపులైన్లు, పోర్టులతో, పవర్ ప్రాజక్టుల పేరుతో  భూమి  అంతా ప్రజలనుండి కొన్ని కుటుంబ సంస్థల చేతులలోకి మారిన తర్వాత... ఇంకెక్కడి అభివృద్ధి , ఇంకెక్కడి శాంతి సౌభాగ్యాలు ..నిత్యం ఉద్యమాలు, కాల్పులు ,మరణాలు తప్ప…

ప్రత్యేక ఆర్ధికమండళ్ళు ( SEZ) ,భారీ పరిశ్రమలు, అభివృది పనుల పేరుతో మన ప్రభుత్వం లక్షల ఎకరాల భూమి సేకరిస్తూ ఉంది. ఇందులో ఎక్కువ భాగం రైతుల నుండి సేకరించినవే.. అందులో కూడా భూములు పోగొట్టుకున్న రైతులు ఎక్కువమంది రెండు..మూడు ఎకరాలు సాగు చేసుకొని జీవించే పేద  రైతులే. మన ప్రభుత్వం సెజ్ లు మరియు భారీ పరిశ్రమల పేరుతో భూములు తీసుకున్నపుడు, ఆ భూములు పోగొట్టుకున్న రైతులకు ప్రత్యామ్నాయంగా ప్రతి కుటుంబానికి ఉద్యోగాలు కల్పిస్తామని హామీ ఇచ్చింది. కాని కొన్నిచోట్ల అయిదు సంవస్తరాలు అయిన పరిశ్రమల ఏర్పాటు ఇంకా జరుగ లేదు.  ఇప్పుడు ఆ రైతులకు ప్రయోజనం కన్నా నష్టమే ఎక్కువ జరింగిందని చెప్పవచ్చు.  సాగుచేసుకునే అవకాశం లేక, ఇంకా  ప్రారంభించని ఆ పరిశ్రమలలో ఉపాధి దొరకక, పట్టణాలకు వలసలు వెళుతున్నారు. రెక్కల కష్టం, వ్యవసాయం తప్ప మరే ఇతర వృత్తి నైపుణ్యం లేని, పెద్ద చదువులు చదవని ఈ రైతులు..వారి పొలాలలో స్థాపించబోయే  పరిశ్రమలలో మరి  టాయిలెట్లు కడగాలా? రోడ్లు ఊడ్చాలా? కార్లు తుడవాల?  తరతరాలుగా జీవనోపాధి కల్పించి, బంగారం పండించిన తమ స్వంత భూములను  పరాయి వ్యక్తులకు అప్పగించి, వేరొకరి కింద కూలీలుగా ఆత్మవంచనతో మౌనంగా రోదిస్తున్న ఆ రైతుల పరిస్థితిని స్వయం సంవృద్ది అందామా???

బారతదేశ ఆర్ధికాభివృద్ధికి భారీపరిశ్రమలుస్థాపించడం,మౌళిక సదుపాయాలు మెరుగు పరచుకోవడం ఎంత అవసరమో... బారతదేశ ప్రజల ఆహారభద్రతకు..వ్యవసాయభూములను, రైతుల ప్రయోజనాలను కాపాడటం కూడా అంతే అవసరం. ఇటీవల ప్రభుత్వ అంచనా ప్రకారం మన రాష్ట్రంలో అయిదు లక్షల హెక్టార్ల సస్యశ్యామలమైన భూములు పంటకు నోచుకోక బీళ్ళు అయిపోయాయి. పంటలు పండించకపోతే ప్రజలకు ఆహార ధాన్యాలు, నిత్యావసర వస్తువులు  అందుబాటులో ఉండవన్న విషయం ఈ ప్రభుత్వాలకు తెలియదా? ప్రత్యేక ఆర్ధికమండళ్ళు ( SEZ ), భారీ పరిశ్రమల పేరుతో రైతులకు నోటీసులు ఇచ్చి,బెదిరించి,మాయ చేసి కాళ్ళ కింద ఉన్న నేలను లాగేసుకొని, పది మందికి అన్నం పెట్టె  రైతుల పొట్ట కొట్టటమే ఈ ప్రభుత్వం లక్ష్యమా ? పరిశ్రమలు స్థాపిస్తామంటూ రైతుల నుండి భూములను వేల రూపాయలకు కొని దానినే తిరిగి కోట్లకు అమ్ముకుంటూ REAL ఎస్టేట్ వ్యాపారం చేయడం నిజం కాదా? ఈ నిజాన్ని(REAL) అభివృద్ధి అందామా???

 Adam smith తన Wealth of Nations (1776) అనే గ్రంధము లో  “The Government of an exclusive company of merchants is, perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country whatever.” అని చెప్పారు.  అధికారం అండతో తమ స్వంత వ్యాపారాలను విస్తరించుకోనే Crony capitalism  ఇప్పుడు ప్రమాదకరంగా ప్రబలుతోంది  అని మన ప్రధానమంత్రి  మన్మోహన్ గారు విలేకరుల సమావేశంలో (Sept 6^th , 2010) సెలవిచ్చారు. పంటపొలాలను పరిశ్రమలకు కేటాయించవద్దని చట్టాలు చెబుతున్నా తమ అధికారాన్ని ఉపయోగించుకుని సారవంతమైన భూములను పరిశ్రమల పేరుతో తమ కుటుంబ సంస్థలకు అప్పగించడం Crony capitalism కాదా? విదేశీకంపెనీల పెట్టుబడులను ఆకర్షిస్తున్నాము, వస్తుసేవల రంగాలలో, పారిశ్రామికంగా అభివృద్ధి చెందుతున్నాము, బుల్ కుమ్మేస్తుంది, సెన్సెక్స్ 19,000 దాటింది, GDP పెరిగింది అని గొప్పలు చెప్పుకుంటున్న మన పాలకులకు రోజూ వందల మంది రైతులు మరణిస్తున్న సంగతి తెలియదా? DIL , Sricity , Fabcity ,Emmar ల పేరుతో రైతులకు జీవనోపాధి కల్పించే పచ్చని పంటపొలాలను వదలకుండా కొల్లగొట్టి వారిని బిచ్చగాళ్ళుగా మారుస్తున్న ఈ పరిస్థితిని... India shining అందామా???

పౌర హక్కుగా ఉన్న ఆస్తి హక్కు ఎప్పుడైతే రాజ్యంగ హక్కుగా మారిందో... అప్పటినుండి ప్రభుత్వానికి,  ప్రైవేటు ఆస్తులను ప్రజల ఉపయోగాల కోసం సేకరించే హక్కు (విధానాలతో కూడిన) కలిగింది. చట్టం నిర్దేశించిన విధివిధానాలు, షరతులు పాటించకుండా ప్రభుత్వంలో పెద్దలు దురుద్దేశంతో, ప్రజాప్రయోజనాలను పక్కదారి పట్టిస్తూ ..సమాజంలో అందరికి చెందవలసిన సహజ వనరులను తమ అధికారంతో కొందరే దక్కించుకోవటం మనం ప్రతిరోజు పత్రికలలో చదువుతున్నాము. ప్రస్తుతం కాల పరిస్థితుల ప్రకారం ప్రజలు ఆర్ధికంగా,సామాజికంగా అభివృద్ధి చెందాలంటే... తమ ఉమ్మడి ఆస్తి వనరు అయినటువంటి భూమిపై న్యాయపరమైన అధికారం కోరడం అనేది ఆమోదయోగ్యమైన హక్కు, కాబట్టి ఆస్తిహక్కును కొన్ని విధివిధానాలతో పౌర హక్కుగా మార్చాలని నా అభిప్రాయం. అలా కాకుండా ఇప్పుడున్న పరిస్థితి ఇలాగే కొనసాగితే భవిష్యతులో అభివృద్ధి  చేస్తామంటూ నీరు, గాలి కూడా కొందరి సొత్తు అవుతాయేమో. కనుక దేశమంటే నరులు మాత్రమే కాదు ... ఏ ఒక్కరి ఆధిపత్యం లేని ఉమ్మడి వనరులు కూడా అయితే బాగుంటుంది కదా ...
మీ కామెంట్సు: YashwanthX@Yahoo.com

Future of Farming and Food

Food is essential for life and food security is the basic welfare of the state. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, one sixth of world population or more than one billion of people go bed hungry everyday and one in seven people do not have enough protein and energy in their diet. According to the Global Hunger Index  for 2009, India is ranked a poor 65th in fighting hunger, and close to 23%of Indians go without food everyday. The noiseless food crisis is the serious problem for growing population. As per US census bureau, by 2050 the world population will be 9.28 Billions. How will the world meet the food needs with existing arable land and natural resources? There are multiple challenges to sustain the food security for growing population.

Agriculture is the core sector for food and economic growth which is laborious profession. Presently, majority of farmers are poor, not well educated and they don’t have finance facilities to upgrade the farming with modern technologies. Irregular, adverse climate conditions and poor farm extension services are discouraging the farm productivity. The farmers’ income dropped down and debts are in raise due to non-remunerative prices and various reasons. Already they started thinking that farming is not much remunerative and 40 per cent of them want to give up farming. Most of the people are migrating to urban areas in search of better, trendy, high- paying white collar jobs. In those circumstances, who will do agriculture and who will produce food for us? The farmers have to be double or even triple to feed the next generation. So the social standing, appreciation and safeguard of farmers should be raised.

As everybody knows we controlled the hunger and famines by introducing high yield, disease resistant, virus modified and hybrid crops named as Green Revolution. So…major investments have to be made with public and private partnership in agriculture science and technologies to develop bumper yielding and draught resistant crops. Genetic engineering has to play vital role for future agriculture to protect the crops and produce the food products with high nutrition values. Organic agriculture is good but only that itself can’t feed the growing population. The agronomists must try to educate the people on taboos and realities of Genetically Modified crops.

Agriculture occupies the 33% of land on earth, it takes 70% of earth’s fresh water and spoils 60% of it. We need 3 liters water for our daily needs and 3000 liters of water required for our daily food needs. The management of water is the key for our food production and water is going to be more expensive in future. The agriculture scientist should use the Biological, DNA solutions to replace the chemical applications for protecting the soil, air and water. Global warming, Climatic change, water shortage is going to effect the crop yields eventually food shortage. We need to develop eco-friendly farming practices to enhance biodiversity and preserve the natural resources.

In India, 30- 40 percent of perishable food produces are rot at the production site or transit due to poor harvesting procedures, improper transportation and storage facilities. Lot of food grains are going waste after harvesting in different levels like farm and storage. Processing industries have to setup to process the fruits and vegetables for future consumption. A vigorous research and development has to be done on food packaging materials to protect from insects. We need large investments to improve the agriculture infrastructure in terms of processing, storage facilities, rural transportation and supply chain linkage to the consumers.

Livestock are important contributors to total food production and their part is equal to cereals. Around 55 billion chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows, sheep and ducks are killed year for year, world wide. As per my perception, depend on animals for food is extremely strain and inefficient. Give up the meat and adopting vegetarian life style is best for human health and environment because eating meat makes the food chain longer from plants to humans. Moreover20 billions of ruminant animals are responsible for 18% of green house gas emissions. In future animal welfare, rights are going to be strong and may not be acceptable the hormone-laden feed used to make them grow faster and produce more.

The future agricultural revolution will be different from the earlier green revolution. I hope it’s the time for political policies, visionary leaders, biological, DNA solutions, software technologies, communication, renewable energies, heavy investments in infrastructure, credit facilities to farmers, education and training…..these are all collectively improve the way of farming in better fashion which leads to food security. We wish the Agriculture will reclaim its share in the economy by all these efforts.Food is prized, wasting food is not reasonable.

Please do comment: Yashwanthx@yahoo.com

In commemoration of freedom

India's wealth in Switzerland

If the money is earned and stashed by unfair, illegal, corruptive practices and kept in secret to avoid the taxes is called BLACK MONEY. Circulation of unaccounted money is big a threat to economy and loss of revenue to the government. The generation of black money is against to basic objectives of economic planning for India, those are eradicate of poverty, removal of disparities of poor and rich, generation of employment and building the nation.Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions to conceal the identity, source, or destination of illegally gained money, but in actual scenario the definition has broadened by governments and international authorities.

The Prevention of Money-Laundering Act of India (PMLA) - enacted in 2002 and came into effect on 1 July 2005 which prevents money laundering and the parallel economy. According to this act, Reserve bank of India has given the guidelines on the cash transactions, deposit tracking, reporting, operation and maintenance of the records to the all financial institutions and non banking companies, I.e KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER (KYC).However the domestic black money is turning around in our economy and it is productive up to some extent. But we need to think about the money which was stashed in foreign banks are not useful to India. Some of the estimates are stating that a $1500 billions (about 70 lakhs Crores) of Indian unaccounted money is lying in Swiss and other foreign banks. This is the highest amount accumulated outside any country, from among the countries of the world. If that money brings back to India, every family in our country would get nearly Rs. 2.5 Lakhs, the national debt will be cleared and people would get a tax- free budget for 30 years.

Just for your information that Hinduja Brothers (Bofors guys) started a Swiss regulated bank (http://www.hindujabank.com/) in 1994 and this is the only Swiss bank which is owned by Indians. We can easily figure it out that all unauthorized money could be belongs to some of the leading politicians, top industrialists, celebrities, lobbyists and underworld mafia. Recently Swiss government has liberated their banking policies due to international demands and last year UBS bank revealed 4450 secret accounts details to US Government. Still the Indian government has not initiated the process to get the Indian Individuals accounts’ details though India is the member of Financial Action Task Force (FATA) which combats on money laundering and terrorist financing. Being a FATA member, Indian can get the real-time information on money laundering from member countries and pressurize the other countries on stashed Indian money by diplomatic approach. One important thing is that all the account holders’ information (Names and whereabouts) may not be genuine because they are not fools to hold such a huge amount on their real names which can be traced back to them. The government should probe into this unaccounted money and all deposits which are not claimed by any individual must be nationalized. More information on the same, please read Mr.LK Advani’s blog: blog.lkadvani.in

keep attention on this righteous cause and share your innovative ideas: Yashwanthx@yahoo.com

FDI in Retail industry- Farmers' perspective

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion DIPP http://www.dipp.nic.in/ has come up with a discussion paper www.dipp.nic.in/DiscussionPapers/DP_FDI_Multi-BrandRetailTrading_06July2010.pdf which invites public opinion by July 31, 2010 and the subject is to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. This paper is favoring Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retailing (Multiple brands in multiple products) sector which would allow the global giants to directly set up outlets in the country. Multi-brand global retail giants like the Wal-Mart, Shop rite, Metro, Carrefour and Tesco may soon enter into Indian retail markets if this bill gets approved. However, the expansion of supermarkets in developing countries is expected.

In India, growing middle class with changing consumption patterns are ideal for supermarkets to prosper. The total size of Indian retail sector, including organized and unorganized sector is $300 billion, where currently the organized sector accounts for 4% only but near future the supermarket retail chains are going to play major role in agro-food sector in India. The supermarkets concerns are stable, year around supply with high quality and competitive prices. Supplying to large chain supermarkets gives both potential and large opportunities to our Indian farmers. The biggest challenge is to follow the strict guidelines by the retail groups in terms of quality and safety standards since most of our farmers usually deliver their goods to open markets or to local wholesalers. Mainly Indian farmers are marginal and small who are having average farm size of 3.3 acres, lack of infrastructure and poor post harvesting practices.

In India 40% of harvests are lost in storage and transportation. We are the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables but our country is loosing Rs.1 trillion per annum, (estimated 50% of produce) going waste due to lake of storage facilities and difficult to link to far-away markets. We need large investments to improve our agriculture infrastructure in terms of seed supply, agrichemicals, processing, machinery, storage facilities, rural transportation and supply chain linkage to support the current retail trends. This could be achieved through private investors preferably by organized retailers whether domestic or Global. If it truly improves the farmer’s income, agriculture growth and food security, there is no need to be concerned about FDI or domestic.

My recommendation on FDI- Retail in farmers’ perspective.

1. First and foremost... the multinational retailer’s trade practices should not dampen the spirit of Indian farmers and consumers. FDI – Retail should be a process of integrating Indian economy to the global economy as well as farmers can be integrated into the world class retail market not on the mercy or control of global retail giants.

2. Retailing sector needs to be and Industry status because retail sector is the second largest employer after agriculture and generating 10 percent of GDP and 8 percent of the employment. Lot of rural youth and mediocre educational qualified people are employed in this sector.

3. Governments make sure that farmers have to receive the remunerative price should be between 60% - 70% (based on product category) of the price paid by the consumer.

4. International retailers should be mandated to work with farmers to improve yields by enabling them provide quality inputs, best farm technologies, timely credit and remunerative prices for their produces.

5. Government needs to identify the trends and ways of supporting farmers to meet the needs of modern supply chains and marketing systems to enable with the supermarket sector.

6. Government should ensure that the agro produces should be procured from the local producers and local people must be given priority in employment opportunities in processing and supply chain.

I submited this information to Indian Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and if you have any ideas please share with me . YashwanthX@yahoo.com

They robbed our nation not only Kohinoor

The precious stone which was stolen by British is “Kohinoor” in Persian meaning - “Mountain of Light”. It is a 105 carat diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world. It was found more than 500 years ago in Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh. It has traded hands by various Hindu, Mughal, Sikh, British rulers and finally in the crown of British Queen. As everybody knows that the Kohinoor diamond was taken away from India by the British rulers. Recently our Indian government (Archaeological Survey of India) requested the United Kingdom to return back. The UK government has denied as per their British Museum Act 1963. I have question … Is there any article of law which prevents to recover the “stolen” property?

Some people are chanting and praising the deeds of the British rule that contributed to India for modernization in the form of railways and transportation canals. I don’t believe in that. They build the internal infrastructure to make feasible for their trade and mercantile. They initiated the administration system for the revenue generation not for public governance. They introduced the Macaulay’s education system which was forcibly imposing English language in education since they wish to communicate in English not to encourage the Indians to get knowledge and wisdom. Finally they did nothing except robbing. There is no comparison of British rulers with our native Indian emperors like Akber, Aurungzib, ShahJehan, Sivaji and Ashoka. They were most progressive, magnificent and superior emperors in the world and their reign everything flourished. But the British came in to the power by taking the advantage of disputes among the Indian kings.

We lost so many things…. more than this precious diamond. The British rulers opened the fire in Jallianwala bagh on innocent, peaceful, unarmed 2000 Indian patriots who were martyred in non –violent struggle against British tyranny. We should demand the United Kingdom for the official confession against the Jallianwala bagh massacre on 13th April, 1919. Who will compensate that monstrous genocide? British rulers ignored the Indian industrial development when the western countries are growing with an abundant of industrial revolution. They were not setup the plants and simply trading the consumer goods by imports. How can we reimburse the dearth of the industrial growth gap? The British delivered us very bad feudal rules from Europe and they haven’t formed a good political structure for India. While leaving the country, they just transferred the power to an Indian elite family and their buddies who remain loyal to the British. The same family has been enjoying power from past decades and generation after generation.

The British rule on India has done more harm than good to India. They enslaved and robbed our human resources, natural resources and they ruined our culture and heritage. At this point of time, Archaeological Survey efforts have gone as a futile exercise. The Archaeological Survey of India is planning to launch an international campaign to get the Kohinoor back. Let us support that. I have curiosity….. Is she (Queen of British) doesn’t feel embarrassment to fully clad with crown which is embedded with Stolen Diamond?

Please do comment : YashwanthX@Yahoo.com

BELOW STARVATION LINE

India is ranked 65th among 84 vulnerable countries in the Global Hunger Index by the International Food Policy Research institute. Recently, three months ago I read about famine conditions are existed in Eastern part of India and starvation deaths also have reported. We have highest rate (46%) of malnutrition and underweight children, high maternal mortality and high malnutrition women among the world. The Government of India initiated to implement National Food Security Act (NFSA). The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) was set up by the central government to outline the framework of this act. The National Food Security Act was formulated that each BPL (Below Poverty Line) family would get 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs.3 a kg and the budget estimate will be Rs. 43,000 crores. But the Supreme Court Commissioner on Food Security ordered that the government should provide 35 kg of food grain to the poor families. UPA Chairperson Ms. Sonia Gandhi also suggested the government to work out on 35 kgs of food grain for BPL families.

Now the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) are exercising the Mechanism with planning commission to redefine THE POOR FAMILIES (BPL).Planning commission is taking the consideration of various estimates. Suresh Tendulkar committee 2009 (National Development Council), which projects the poverty at total 37.2 percent and the estimate of 41.8% rural and 27.5% urban families (32 crores people and 8.7 crores people).The Tendulkar committee has set the criteria based on per capita consumption expenditure for defining the poor in rural India at Rs. 446 per month and for the poor in urban India at Rs 580 per month. The Rural Development Ministry's committee chaired by N C Saxena has estimated that 50% of Indian families are below poverty line. Arjun Sengupta committee by National Commission on Enterprise in Unorganized Sector claimed that 77 per cent of the population (or 836 million people) were able to spend not more than Rs 20 a day (or roughly 48 US cents).

Our Indian media is prompting that Bull is rising in share market and sensex is crossing the screen limits…then why 50% Indian families are below poverty line. The Forbes magazine has listed the 52 richest Indian people among the world. Sure we are proud of that…then what about the embarrassment situation of 77% Indian population who are unable to meet the expenditure of Rs.20 per day. In India, two powerful brothers who have given the gifts (Corporate Jet – 300 crores, Super Luxury Yacht-400crores) to their lovely wives on their birthdays. That’s great …but in other outlook of India, we are pity and heart wrenching about the poor Indian farmers who sold their wives to pay their farm loans [click CNN.com]. In USA a cow meet the expenditure of $2 per day, our committees are stating that more than 50% of our citizens are unable to spend not even .45 cents per day.... I can't compare my beloved citizens. Conclusion is that we are not in below poverty line we are in BELOW STARVATION LINE .anyhow, Food security is the basic welfare of the state and we wish no one should die with hunger.
Please do comment and share with your friends and colleagues. YashwanthX@Yahoo.com

నా దేశ దారిద్ర్యం ఇలా ఉంటే, ఏమని పొగడను ఆ తల్లి భూమి భారతిని, అందుకే కొంచెం కలతతో, కొంచెం దిగులుతో అడుగుతున్నాను.. ఓ! భారతమాత నీ నిండు గౌరవము నీవే నిలుపుకో , ఓ! భారత విధాత.... నా దేశానికీ కొంత భాగ్యాన్ని ప్రసాదించు.

Agriculture Outsourcing

India is eminent for Software Outsourcing, China is well-known for computer hardware and domestic products outsourcing. Mexico is the global leader in auto parts outsourcing. USA is a giant for high-tech goods like Aircrafts, Automobiles, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals. Japan is famous for Electronics. So... what about outsourcing of agriculture? Lot of countries are importing food and agro products from other countries to satisfy their population needs. Governments and corporations are buying farmland in other countries to grow their own food to protect their food security. We can call it as outsourcing of agriculture. These countries are outsourcing the farming for various reasons: most of them are lack of natural resources and volatile climate conditions.
Take the instance of Middle East, they don’t have sufficient water resources to grow crops and taking care of the growing population. Saudi Arabia gives up the growing crops in the desert with exorbitant spending. They invested in Indonesia for 500,000 hectares of farmland and other animal production investments in abroad. United Arab Emirates has leased 375,000 hectares in northern Sudan, 325,000 hectares in Pakistan and 5,000 in Ethiopia. Kuwait arranged $546 million loan to Cambodia in exchange for a lease to a large area of rice lands. Qatar leased 100,000 hectares in the Philippines, Vietnam and Kenya. Some of the Asian countries also pursuing same deals, South Korean companies have arranged to lease 690,000 hectares in Sudan and Madagascar. China invested $800 millions in Mozambique agriculture. China bought a lot of farm land in Senegal for Sesame production. More than 300 Indian companies have invested around $4.0 billions in Ethiopia for Floriculture and agriculture. Lot of outsourcing investments in agriculture projects were made in Sub Saharan Africa and South East Asia.

Some of the Latin American countries are encouraging agriculture investments. Mercosul countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil) are attracting the foreign investors with their land & investment policies and their abundance of natural resources. Many of US and Canadian Agribusiness corporations (Bunge Foods, Cargill, Unilever, and ADM) are cultivating and processing the food grains, soya, sugar and ethanol in South America.
We can assume that all these efforts are feeding the people, but one thing we can notice that the entire agriculture trade is going to the hands of the wealthy nations, retails giants and big food processing organizations. The developing and poor countries are unable to feed their people if the surplus food which will be produced will be shipped to abroad. So the investing countries or corporations shall take the consideration of local population food needs. Leasing and selling the land to foreign investors should be transparent and accountable, that revenue shall be used for the benefit of the local population. Please send your comments: YashwanthX@yahoo.com

Ultra Modern Zamindars

We fought more than 200 years with British for freedom of our land. Indo-Pakistani war and Indo china war were happened for Jammu Kashmir land dispute and Himalayan land dispute. So many agitations in India for separate land i.e. Telangana, Vidarbha, Mithilanchal, Saurashtra, Harit Pradesh, and Bundelkhand. Funny thing is… SATYAM (No related to land except software), such a big tech company collapsed due to greedy investments on land through MAYTAS and others. Matter of fact everybody loves land…. land is life, basis of all wealth and a factor of production. Now everybody’s passion is land because…the land appreciation value is very high comparatively with other savings like gold, fixed deposits, bonds, shares and securities. The land value is cherished more than 5 times in past ten years.

Before independence most of land was acquired by few land lords (Zamindars). Since independence, there has been voluntary and government initiated land reforms for distribution of land among the landless farmers. Jawaharlal Nehru initiated ceiling on lands to abolish landlord system. Land to tiller is the slogan of peasant’s movement in 1970s became very intense. Now the history repeating… present economic reforms are creating Ultra Modern Zamindars in the form of Industrialists. The land ceiling systems is applicable to agriculture lands only not for industrial lands, those limitations are advantages to the industrialist to acquire the land as much as they want. The governments are allotting thousands of hectares of land to big industrialists in the name of SEZ, IT industries, Airports, Seaports and other Projects. Reliance, Tata and Adani Group have got 4,830 hectare land from Gujarat state. GMR group (Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao) got 5500 acres of land for free to construct the Shamshabad Airport, but the Government share is very nominal. The Government of Andhra Pradesh allotted the land to Vanpic (Vaderevu – Nizampatnam Port& Industrial Corridor- Nimmagadda Prasad) around 10,000 acres. I can mention so many like 1300 acres to Jindal group (Savitri Jindal) near Visakhapatnam, 1000 acres to Vedanta Resources (Anil Agarwal) in Orissa and Tata and Essar 6500 acres of land in Chattisgarh. I have a right to believe that Chief Ministers are functioning as Property dealers

In fact farmers need the land, because that is their livelihood, they care for the land. The recent economic reforms are intend to forcible acquisition of agriculture land in thousands of acres that belonged to small farmers in the name of industries, mining, dams and others projects. The economic liberalization programs are completely neglected the land distribution among the landless farmers. Indian farmers are very small and peasants who are holding an average farm land of lessthan 1 hectare (2.5 acres) and some of them do farming by taking lands on rent basis (Tenant farmers). Present economic reforms are promoting the privatization of natural resources, it cause to moving the farmers out of agriculture and some times may be lead to insurgency (Maoists in Chattisgarh, west Bengal, Orissa, and Jharkhand). We need mutually beneficial reforms which can restore the pride of agriculture and ensure the industrial growth. We must protect our 600 million farmers to make sure our food security and food self sufficiency which is our country’s priority

Same game, Same rules, Surrogate players

We have celebrated (sponsored celebrations) the approval of women reservations bill in Upper house of the parliament which aims to reserve the 33% women seats in the legislature houses. I hope this will pass in the Lok sabha also. This bill will improve the participation of women in politics. Media and everybody is admiring the bill by using magnificent words like “Historic, momentous, Victory of feminism, and Great step for empowerment of women”.Let me state my views here...

I am not opposing women reservation bill, but I am questioning that the number of women increase in legislation houses is lead to empower the ordinary women? As you know, presently our India is lead by women only .They are... President: Pratibha Patil, UPA chairperson: Sonia Gandhi, Parliament Speaker: Meira Kumar, Lok sabha opposition leader: Sushma Swaraj, Country's Capital -Delhi Chief Minister: Sheila Dikshit. Why these leaders are failed to identify the solutions for Manipuri Lady -Irom Chanu Sharmila’s hunger strike which has been from past 10 years? Why can’t these leaders try to stop her ritual of release and re arrest? Shall we believe the downtrodden or middle class women group will get the chance in 33% of the leglisture houses? I don’t think so…. This could be for only elite class or existing member’s siblings like… wife, Daughter, Daughter in-law… so on. I can say this as“Same game, Same rules, surrogate players”.  We have been implementing 1/3rd reservation of total seats for women in Panchayaths and local bodies from 1993, as everybody knows that some of the women are proxies to their male relatives.

We need to worry about the poor, middle class and illiterate women who are overworked in the farm fields and complete all domestic work. They are still powerless, mistreated, hapless and helpless. The weaker section and middle class women need to improve their economical, political, spiritual and social strengths which gives them confidence.  We need create such a policies and reforms which are Right to participation, Right to decision making, Right to equal access for women. Let us dream the society for a woman which has No abuse, No dowry, No rapes and No Gender inequality. Indian distressed women shall be blessed.

Square shaped watermelon

Japanese farmers invented this cubic watermelon by inserting the melons to square tempered cases while the fruit is growing.  The reason behind this idea is to save the place since the watermelons are round and take a lot of space in storage areas and refrigerators. The cubic cases are designed as per Japanese refrigerators which the full grown watermelons are conveniently fit to the refrigerator shelves.
But the limitation is cost, the square shaped melon cost is triple than the normal one. The groceries retailers are marketing them as Gift fruits.
You tube video

Great Inventions for water

In India, lot of villages are facing water scarcity. People are spending increasing amounts of time and energy for traveling miles together to get water.In some regions of Rajasthan, we can see the women with two pots one on another and holding a child, they spend average four hours a day and walk an average six km for drinking water. Imagine… women carrying heavy load how hard it is.
QDRUM:Hans Hendrikse, a South African architect invented the QDRUM, the drum made of low-density linear polyethylene to enable people transport of water in a safer, easier way. The Drum can be rolled rather than carrying water on their heads. This is an amazing invention to prevent drudgery and wasting of valuable working hours. It’s really helpful, if some NGO’s or any charitable organizations donate to our drought ridden states in India.See the QDRUM Video on You tube

Two-thirds of small farmers in India don’t have access to irrigation and depend on unpredictable monsoons. Their reliable source for water are only tube wells and bore wells. Tube wells and bore wells need electric motors or Diesel engines to fetch the water to surface. Irregular power cuts in electricity and diesel price hikes were adversely affected on farming crops.
International Development Enterprises (IDE) :developed the Treadle Pump, is an irrigation device by stepping up and down on treadles which drive pistons, creating cylinder suction that draws groundwater to the surface. In most of Indian states, the farmers are using this low-cost and easy to operate devise to boost their yields and their incomes.See the Treadle Pump Video on You tube

Blazing Brinjal

Brinjal is very common vegetable fruit in India.India is the second largest Brinjal producing country in the world. Now the Brinjal is blazing topic in India caused by Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) Brinjal which was developed by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech. (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company & Monsanto, USA). Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India accepted for commercial use of BT Brinjal- the country’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop. The GEAC was set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to regulate research, testing and commercial release of GM crops, foods and organisms. However, the government could not taken decision without more consultation with stakeholders.
In the meantime lot of public groups, Environmental activists, scientists, and farmers are protesting against BT Brinjal. The Environment and Forest minister Jairam Ramesh is touring seven cities—Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nagpur and Chandigarh—and holding public discussions with farmers, activists and scientists on their comfort with Bt brinjal.

The protesters are claiming that: 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. Farm workers are suffering with allergies including rashes, itches, and irritations while working in GM crop fields. Cattle health may get harm and negative impact on its milk production.

Supporters are impressing that: BT Brinjal will help to tackle the pest in an environment-friendly manner and increase yields and farm income. BT Brinjal has been tested in full compliance with the guidelines and directives of the regulatory authorities to ensure its safety. It has the same nutritional value and is compositionally identical to non BT brinjal, except for the additional BT protein which is specific in its action against the Pest.

I am not against to the technology but we already have more than 200 varieties of brinjal, there is no dearth of brinjal in India. Indians have been eating so many conventional varities of Brinjal for centuries which contains rich health & nutrition values. We can develop new varities by hybridization and natural selection, what is the need of introduction of BT Brinjal. They are mentioning BT Brinjal contains same nutrional values as non BT, so there is no need of Sense of Urgency on BT Brinjal at this point of time.

The GM companies should focus their R&Ds on the crops like...

Ethanol based Transgenic Sugarcane and sugar beet crops have to be developed for support Biofules instead of fossil fuels. Genetically Engineered Tobacco plants are required for medical use. Modified Subabul, Bamboo plants are required more tonnage for paper production.
Please share your ideas on GM crops: farmersindia Email

Are farmers not eligible for Padma awards?

Yes, 2010 Padma awards committee ignored the farmers. The committee considered the citizens from only Art, Literature, Education, Sports, Medicine, Science and Engineering, Trade and Industry…Click for 2010 awards with discipline They did not recognize the farming & rural community related fields though farming community comprises up to 70 % of Indian population living in rural. I am not under estimating the dignitaries who are nominated, but requesting to update the selection criteria by including agriculture and rural related disciplines also. Film actors, dancers, cricketers, businessmen and others are important but let us give importance to farmers also.

If the committee really want support the farmers, they can consider the scientist from agriculture universities,Journalists in rural and agriculture disciplines,rural business entrepreneurs, rural innovators, Model farmers, individuals who are working for farmers’ development and so on. These distinguished awards encourage them and influence others to strive for excellence. How ever... my beloved humble Indian farmers have abundance of self esteem, they won’t plead and lobby for awards.
General Info: Republic day has been the occasion for India to honor its citizens who contributed for nation. Padma Awards were instituted in the year 1954.The award is given in three categories, namely, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.Padma Shri is awarded for ‘distinguished service’Padma Bhushan for ‘distinguished service of a high order’; and Padma Vibhushan for ‘exceptional and distinguished service’. The Awards Committee submits the recommendations to the Prime Minister and the President for their approval.

Urban-Rural Disparities

Mahatma Gandhi dreamt about GRAM SWARAJ that every village should be self reliance since he believed villages are backbone of India. He started the PANCHYATHRAJ as a manifestation which was reinstated to a political system and finally established as a Department in government. Still most of the villages are pathetic and unable to satisfy the basic amenities (Water, housing, Medical facilities, Education, Roads, unemployment…) when you compare with towns and cities (comfortable life, paved roads, stylish buildings, super specialty hospitals, hybrid cars, white collar jobs, revolutionary technologies, big malls, multiplex..). Our father of Nation want to fortify the India by reinforce the rural but we have started from other end (towns and cities).Shall we assume that the government and policy makers are failed to respect the fundamental right of equality for all citizens irrespective of rural or urban? Have the Economic reforms bypassed the rural India? I can say... YES, the following information which gives us evidence.

India has 640,000 villages approximately and 70% of the population lives in villages. According our recent census, per capita consumption expenditure in rural is RS.14.50 per day and urban Rs.21.60 per day. India poverty headcount ratio is 37.2 per cent of the population — with the rural area poverty at 41.8 per cent and urban area poverty at 25.7 per cent. Three-quarters of urban households living in well constructed houses, compared to only about a quarter in rural areas. Less than One-quarter of the rural population has access to tap water while the corresponding proportion in cities is about three-fourth. 80 percent of rural population doesn’t have sanitary & hygiene facilities where as 30 percent urban people don’t have such. The rural dwellers have to travel miles together for primary care physician and think how difficult to get emergency care and maternity troubles. I can explain a lot like electricity, telephone connections, transportation, less investment in rural areas, banking and credit facilities… and so on. Not only opportunities, rural areas are losing their manpower which is migrating to urban areas as labor due to heavy investments in urban and metros.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005
is helping the distressed poor lives in rural areas. According to this scheme the government will give 100 days wage employment in rural areas by carry out village development works. We need a common rural development policy irrespective of states which needs to improve the villages and the achieve the Mahatma’s SAMPURNA GRAMA SWARAJ.
Please send your suggestions to: farmersindia

Genetically Modified Crops

In the controversy of BT Brinjal in India, I would like to share my opinion about GM Crops:
What is GM?
GM techniques are the direct manipulation of the genetic makeup of organisms for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. Combining genes from different organisms is known as recombinant DNA technology and the resulting organism is said to be "Genetically Modified," "Genetically engineered," or "Transgenic."
Importance of GM:
Today‘s world population is 6.8 billions and by 2050 it’s going to be 9.5 billions upward. In 40 years the population will be increased by 40%, our natural resources are shrinking and many regions of the world will be lack of food and nutritional security. The answer for the challenges is to increase the cultivation with more yields and nutritional values. Bio-technology brought revolutionary changes in crop production and management techniques by reduce the dependency on conventional insecticides, herbicides.GM Corps improve the quality of nutritional contents and of food products, bring higher net economic returns to the farmers and reduce the risk of environment pollution.
A number of developed and developing countries including USA, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Spain, France, South Africa and China are growing genetically modified crops. The Indian first Transgenic crop BT cotton made rapid strides to Bio technology crops in India. Lot of farmers adopted the BT cotton, cultivated more than 700,000 acres and got a lot of gain in terms yields and cost wise. GM Maize illustrated great results in South Africa, and American Continent. Most of the scientific organizations like UK academies of sciences, US National academy of sciences, GRAS- FDA, International Food Policy research Institute- Asia, WHO and all are concluded thatGM Crops can be used to produce foods. The global transgenic crops market is going to be $25 billion by 2010.
Achieving Food and Nutritional security is not easy task, we need to try every option either GM or Conventional. The food grains which are cultivated today are not absolutely wholly natural, some of them are altered by selective breeding or chemicals or Viruses. Definitely, we need to depend on these modern technologies to get bumper yields, disease resistant and drought resistant crops for growing food need. The government and the progressive thinkers should focus on public understanding on AG-Bio technology.
We are against to hunger and poverty, not to the technology.

Climate Change... it’s in our hand

The Global Language Monitor has announced the Top Word of the Decade is ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Climate Change’ was the top phrase. Of course both are caused by greenhouse gases (Water Vapor, carbon, Methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.) major caused by Carbon dioxide and Methane. The greenhouse gases emission is increasing the earth’s temperature. The consequences are raise in sea levels, more rainfall, extreme weather conditions, melting glaciers, and uneven seasons.
Affect to Indian agriculture:
Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change. The impacts of climate change on agriculture are expected to be negative, threatening Indian food security. Higher temperatures are eventually reducing yields of crops and encourage the weed and pest. Changes in precipitation patterns may increase of short-run crop failures and long-run production declines. Climate change will have varying effects irrigated yields for all crops like Rice, wheat, and soybeans which will cause food shortages and dramatic price increases. Increase in temperatures need more fertilizers which cause to higher emissions.Climate change is likely to aggravate the heat stress in dairy animals, adversely affecting their productive and reproductive performance. A preliminary estimate indicates that global warming is likely to lead to a loss of 1.6 million tones in milk production in India by 2020.Indian council for agriculture research (ICAR) studies on the effects of climate change found that a temperature increase of one degree Celsius would mean 3 to 7 per cent fall in wheat, soybean, mustard, groundnut and potato crops.
Climate change is reality and it’s in our hand. We need to take the necessary steps and adopt new technologies. Government has to teach the farmers by switching to crop varieties that could withstand heat, because climate change could improve the chickpea, maize, sorghum and millet crops in the West Coast and the potato and mustard crops in northwest India. Investment in agriculture research is needed to develop heat- resistant crop strains. We need to reduce carbon emissions sharply soon and encourage Bio fuels rather than fossil fuels.
For more details on UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen COP 15:United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Systematic exploitation of tribals

Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh had announced that the empowerment of tribal is essential for equitable growth of the country. He agreed that “The systematic exploitation and social and economic abuse of our tribal communities can no longer be tolerated”. But actually Man Mohan sing government is trying to set up more projects which leads to destroying the natural resources and exploiting the tribal.
TATA and ESSAR are plans to invest Rs.20, 000 crores in a steel plants in Chhattisgarh in 6,500 acres of land, eventually ten villages and 350,000 tribal have to be evacuated and use a large quantity of water from the river Sabari and will pollute the Indravati.Tribal people make up only 9 per cent of the country’s population, but more than 40 per cent of the land used to build development projects has been theirs, according to government estimates.Most tribal don’t want to sell their ancestral land they feel it’s a crime in tribal culture, the State government is forcibly acquiring the land which was not totally voluntary. Some of the tribal are not satisfied with the compensation packages like Land for Land package, Land exchange for Money and Job offer for family.
Facts:
* Government is telling these projects are necessary for attracting investors and GDP growth.
* Tribals are demanding their first right on forest, forest resources and against to “Illegal diversion” of forest land for corporate projects.
* Iron Companies are in upset that all Iron ore bearing blocks in our country are covered with forests. The environment authorities will not give permission so easily to fell trees to clear the land for mining.

A short film on Dongria Kondh tribe is to live in the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa state, they are suffering due to a bauxite refinery, built and operated by a British mining company Vedanta Resources.