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| Agriculture should come first |
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| If the highest offices of decision making in the country, are to prioritise matters based on the sway it has over the people, then the sector of agriculture should have ranked first, as it is one where about 60% of the population are involved in one way or other. Apart from that the agrarian profession should be deemed to be nobler than most others, where people of the lowest strata in the society sweat it out to make food for all, and often missing to feed one's own family. The recent developments in the industry, signals corporatisation of Agriculture, where farmers of the day are likely to be reduced to be mere manual laborers, with all other inputs sourced from big corporations, including land. It is too early to say whether the farming class would be better off under such situations as against the present day situations where they are to sail through the numerous uncertainties, risking capital and physical health, caught in the vicious cycle of poverty.It is reported that, the farmers plight has missed attention from most of the policy makers of the country, when only about 10% of them were available for discussions at the Parliament. Field experiments on new technologies as genome engineering had brought disastrous consequences at the production bases driving thousands of farmers to suicides. Several months have passed by since the mass suicides consequent to BT cotton debacle. We should have by now moved over to implementation of expert suggestions and restored the confidence of the farming community. There are many who feel that the MNREGA scheme came at a time when farmers were distraught with failed experiments on new technologies, adding to their woes. The fortunes had taken a tailspin with huge liabilities over inputs . It is said that 45 farmers take their lives every day in India, and the last one decade has accounted for more than 15000 lives lost every year. This is as grave as losing people over natural disasters or epidemics. Interestingly such n earth shaking data has not hit the headlines or conceived to sound alarming. The majority of the victims belong to an age group of 30 to 60. Of the total deaths 15%are women farmers. Stalwarts of the organized industry cry fowl over what is termed as policy paralysis with indications of opening up new vistas overseas. Surprisingly there is hardly a respectable voice to talk for the farmers who may go paralytic for want of swift engagement from expected quarters. |
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