US Elections Vs Indian Elections!

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AGRICULTURAL REFORMS-2020- MY QUIXOTIC THOUGHTS[1]

 

AGRICULTURAL REFORMS-2020-  MY QUIXOTIC THOUGHTS[1]

Under the Indian Constitution, Agriculture  is in the State list with a rider that it is also in the Concurrent List giving Centre and the States to control production, supply and distribution of agricultural products. For example, while the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) are under the direct control of respective States where the farmers are allowed to market their produce, the Food Corporation of India (FCI), CWC etc., are under the control of the GoI for procurement, storing and distribution of agri-produce.

End of 2020- the Agricultural Reforms-2020  has been in the eye of a storm of the people who either themselves feel affected by the measures of the Government of India(GoI). The New Law is about the three Bills viz.,

i.               Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020,

ii.              Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assistance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and,

iii.            The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

The  First Bill aims to promote seamless inter-state and intra-state trade removing the hurdles in the present system, restricting such movements. This is an important step that would improve the ease of doing agri-business.

The Second Bill addresses the issues relating to backward and forward integration of the entire Agricultural Supply Chain which among other things includes, engaging processors, aggregators, wholesalers, exporters, retailers and others.

The Third Bill is an improvement of the existing Essential Commodities Act that would liberalise the regulatory environment for farmers.

The reader should also understand that there is a big elephant in the room which the government is opining as the stumbling block for the ills of the farmers in the country. That is the APMC which is under the control of the respective States.

Agricultural market regulation is continuously evolving since the British Rule beginning with the ‘Bear Cotton and Grain Market Act of 1887’.[2]  In the Post-Independence India, concern of the government was to protect the interest of the farmers from the middlemen/Katcha Adat/Pukka Adat/Trader/Processor etc. But, the value chain from the farmer to the processor is quite long like an Anaconda with seven intermediaries. At every stage, a farmer would have to suffer financial loss both directly and indirectly. Directly, a small farmer will not have access to the Mandi. Indirectly, the trader will tend to underestimate the quality of the produce and pay a discounted price even assuming the Minimum Support Price (MSP) as a bench-mark. At the Mandi level, loss due to poor weighing system, delay in payment to the farmer etc., act against the farming community.  Besides, payment of levies for various services such as facilitation, auction, quality testing, brokerage between the Pukka Adat and the Processor directly or indirectly paid by the farmer. The charges, commission etc., in passing through the APMC, range from 0.5% to 6%. In case, a buyer buys the produce from the farmer outside the APMC area, even then, he will have to pay the commission as levied by it which is indirectly collected from the farmer.

In the New dispensation, the entire value chain has been reduced to two stages- Farmer to the APMC or Farmer to the Trader/Processor. The whole machinery of collecting various charges/brokerage/commission etc., has been done away with and to that extent, a farmer would stand to gain a reasonable surplus over his cost of production. Implementation of new Laws would help in price discovery for various agri-commodities.

MSP -What is it?

The MSP is a minimum guaranteed price by the GoI that is expected to act as a safety net for the farmers. At present, 23 agri-products are covered under the MSP with Wheat and Rice dominating the list.  The GoI by and large intervene and provide support to the farmers by procuring the agri-produce at MSP if the price for a particular commodity falls below the price offered outside the APMC/ FCI areas. It also facilitates the farmers in price discovery.

Role of Agriculture in Indian Economy

From time to time, economists and specialists in agriculture have debated the relative importance of agriculture and industry in economic development of our country. The debates were also on the relative merits and demerits of agriculture based economy for our country. The reality is that while agricultural development is possible without industry but not vice-versa.

a. Production and Productivity Challenge 

Indian farmers are caught in a vicious circle of low risk taking ability-low investment-low productivity and weak market orientation.  According to the GoI data, India's rice yield was 2191 kg/hectare, while the global average stood at 3026 kg/hectare, while wheat was 2750 kg/hectare as against the world average yield of 3289 kg/hectare.[3]  The crop yields in India are lower than those in the US, Europe and China and the government is implementing several schemes to address this issue. 

A close look at the State-wise production of major two food crops viz., Rice and Wheat, would give us a clear diversity in the area of cultivation and their production.  As far as production of rice is concerned, except Kerala and Rajasthan, it ranges in other States from 1973 (thousand tonnes) in Gujarat to 15,570 in West Bengal. As far as production of wheat, UP tops the list with production of 32,587  thousand tonnes followed by MP with 19,607. The Punjab ranks third and Haryana and Rajasthan closely following.[4] This analysis is significant in the context of the agitation of the farmers who are toilers in the soil. 

c. Commercial Crops

As far as the commercial crops, the farmers market either through the cooperatives like Sugar Cooperatives of Maharashtra, through their network of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) or directly to the corporates such as ITC through its e-Choupal platform. 

d. Concerns

Despite food sufficiency (cereals and to some extent pulses), India is a net importer of oilseeds even after seventy years of Independence. Another area of concern is limited storage facilities near the places of agricultural production, very limited processing of farm produce to bring value addition to the final product, not producing crops suited for converting them into a higher value product. For example, though the tomato production in India during 2019-2020, was over 21 Million Metric Tonnes, almost 99 per cent of the production were consumed as raw tomatoes with just 1.50 lakh tonnes getting processed. The tomatoes produced are mainly for table purposes. It is an irony that  India is still importing finished tomato products (paste, canned and sauce) with 72 per cent of imports from China followed by the US (17%). Beside the mind-set of farmers in not changing the species of Tomatoes, non-availability of quality seeds, weak infrastructure by way of absence of refrigerated systems, absence of processing units nearby production points instead of those used for table purposes is one of the reasons for this state of affairs. 

History tells us that Asia (mainly, India and China) was the birthplace of Almonds.  Fast Forward  1980-2020,  the California Almonds are the flavour of the Indians and other countries. It will be a great sight to watch huge almond orchards stretching from Sacramento Valley to the San Joaquin Valley in California. India lost its best healthy food to the US. 

Before summarising the issues, a brief flash back.

i.               The 8^th November 2016 announcement of demonetization, banning high-denomination currency notes brought us hope of death of the Black Money. To put the long story short, the demonetisation did not remove the Black Money. But the flip side of this move was the paradigm shift towards  technology driven financial system. We are witnessing shift towards on-line payment systems such as Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Jio Pay etc., replacing cash even at the level of roadside flower, vegetable vendors. This simple mobile driven secured payment mode with QR or UPI system, has made a huge impact in the ease of doing business even by the micro-entrepreneurs and it ushered in a Tech-driven India.

ii.              The beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world touching almost every citizen. It is still refusing to die. The direct impact was loss of millions of lives of people across the globe. In India, the flip side is that it ensured better hygiene and improved health (India is one of the countries with least COVID mortality),Virtual Meetings (ZOOM), technology driven educational system annihilating time and distance and a host of other benefits. 

Where do we go from here? 

The farmers’ agitation is mainly from the states (Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP, Bihar) which are the main suppliers of Rice and Wheat for the country. The farmers producing commercial crops and other cereals are not part of the agitation as they have little to gain out of this exercise. 

While every farmer, economist, policy maker is accepting the need to bring agricultural reforms, the move by the GoI in divesting the ‘Agriculture’ from the States and making itself a ‘De-facto’ Administrator is resisted by the States which needs to be addressed. 

Though, the GoI is assuring continuation of their policy on two major issues viz., MSP and the APMCs, the agitating farmers are refusing to buy the rationale offered. Perhaps, using the metaphor ‘Cutting the Gordian Knot’, the GoI may scrap both the APMCs and FCIs and make the government themselves buy their food requirements from the market and supply to the needy absorbing the subsidy component under various schemes in operation. 

Another initiative needed is bringing  the big farmers with an Annual Net Income above a threshold of say Rs.10 lakh in the ambit of the Income Tax. This will have strong resistance from the policy makers as it might tilt the polling results either way. But, it will bring better equity among the direct tax payers in the country. 

Create enabling environment for setting up of FPOs with focus on rural clusters that would make the farmers feel proud of owning their agri-business. 

Consider the NE region and other areas where agriculture is more at subsistence level and local conditions specific like Jhum Cultivation, Step-farming etc., and provide special assistance to the communities engaged in such practices. 

Spread the message on the advantages of the Agricultural Reforms Package through media and in person through the people’s representatives. 

Reiteration of the quote of Joseph Schumpeter will be more appropriate here, for the benefit of those who want agriculture to prosper in our country. He said that ‘through Creative destruction incessant product and process innovation mechanism by which new production units would replace outdated ones’. 

These measures might appear quixotic. But, the remedial measures should be strong enough to benefit the farmers in the long run. 

Dr S Santhanam PhD(Eco)

GM (Retd), NABARD 

Bengaluru 560 102

Mobile: 9422524254

 

 

 

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[1] Dr S Santhanam PhD(Eco), CAIIB, GM(Retd), NABARD, Bengaluru 560 102.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_produce_market_committee

[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/indias-crop-yields-lower-than-us-europe-and-china/articleshow/55558872.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 

[4] https://dbie.rbi.org.in/DBIE/dbie.rbi?site=statistics

கண்ணன் புதுப்பாட்டு

பல்லவி:
அம்மா

பள்ளி போகும்  கண்ணே நீ இனி

போக வேண்டாம் கண்ணே

அனுபல்லவி:
கண்ணன்:
போக வேணும் தாயே
தடை சொல்லாதே நீயே

சரணம்:
அம்மா

பூஸ்ட் பாலு கண்ணே, உனக்கு
கை நிறைய ஓரியோவும் கண்ணே; ஆனா

வெளியே போக வேண்டாம் கண்ணே

கண்ணன்:

பாலு வேண்டாம்; ஓரியோ வேண்டாம்,
வெளியே போக வேணும், தாயே

போக வேணும் தாயே; விளையாட போக வேணும், தாயே

அம்மா

ஊரு  நதிக் கரையில் கள்வன் பயம் உண்டு
வந்துனை பிடித்தால் கலங்கிடுவாய் கண்ணே

வெளியே போக வேண்டாம் கண்ணே

 

கண்ணன்:

கள்ளணுன்டோ? கண்டதுண்டோ தாயே?
கள்வன் வந்து எனை அடித்தால் கண்ட துண்டம் ஆக்கிடுவேன் தாயே
போக வேணும் தாயே; விளையாட போக வேணும், தாயே

 

அம்மா

 

கோவிட் கள்ளன் பிடித்து விட்டான்  இவ்வுலகை கண்ணே

கோவிலில்லை, பூஜையில்லை சென்று வணங்க கண்ணே

மாஸ்க் மட்டும் முக்கியம், தூர தூரமும் முக்கியம்

வெளியே போக வேண்டாம் கண்ணே

 

கண்ணன்:
கோவர்த்தன கிரியில் கோர காட்டு மிருகமெல்லாம் ஜெயித்திடுவேன் தாயே
போக வேணும் தாயே – விளையாட போக வேணும், தாயே

அம்மா

 

நீ கலியுக கண்ணனில்லை, கண்ணே;  நீ கோவிட் உலக கண்ணனடா கண்ணே

ஐ-பாட் தரேன் கண்ணே, டீவி டைம் தரேன் கண்ணே

வெளியே போக வேண்டாம் கண்ணே

 

கண்ணன்:

பள்ளி வேண்டாம்; கோவில் வேண்டாம்,

பாலு வேண்டாம்; ஓரியோ வேண்டாம்

ஐ-பாட் போதும், டீவி போதும் தாயே

வெளியே போக மாட்டேன் தாயே

அம்மா

என் கண்ணன் நல்ல கண்ணன்தானே

எனக்கும் டீவி நேரம், மொபைல் நேரம் கிடைச்சுடுத்து கண்ணே

கோவிட்டுக்குதான் தாங்க்ஸ் சொல்லனும் கண்ணே!

கொமசா

துணி தோய்க்க கல்லிருக்க

துணி தோய்க்க கல்லிருக்க

தோய்க்க எந்திரம் வந்ததே

மனிதன் வெறுக்க கல்லு கல்லு ஆனதே!

 

மாவரைக்க கல்லிருக்க

மாவரைக்கும் எந்திரம் வந்ததே

மனிதன் வெறுக்க கல்லு கல்லு ஆனதே!

 

மாட்டு கொட்டகை வீட்டில் இருக்க

மாட்டு வீடு மாடி வீடு ஆனதே

மனிதன் வெறுக்க மாட்டு வீடு ரோடு ஆனதே!

 

மாட்டு பால் மறந்து போக

புட்டி பால் குடிக்கும் நிலை வந்ததே

மனிதன் வெறுக்க மாட்டு நினைவும் மறந்ததே!

 

வீட்டு உணவு சுகமா இருக்க

உணவகம் போய் உடல் பாழானதே

மனிதன் வெறுக்க வீட்டு உணவு விஷமானதே!

 

மனிதன் வாழ்வு போய் சாவு சிரிக்க!

மனிதன் அன்று வீட்டிலே

மனிதன் இன்று சேற்றிலே

 

விஷத்தில் மிக்க கோவிட் சுத்துதே!

புனித ஈசனை  மறந்து போன மனிதனே

உன்னை கோவிட் வந்து ஆட்டி அடக்கி விட்டதே!

 

மூளையற்ற மனிதனே

வந்த வழியை பாரடா

பசுவை போல வாழுடா!

 

வாழும் வழியை தேடடா

மூளையற்ற மனிதனே

வாழும் வழியை தேடடா!

 

கோமச்சா

  

GMOEDN-(GOD-MEN)

A very popular 'GODMAN' was giving his discourse. People were in rapt attention and listening to his thought provoking discourse.
'I am God; I have super natural powers; I have come to cure all the remedies of this world....bla...bla...bla'

Those listening to his discourse were made to believe that he was truly a God personified person. May be, he is truly 'God'. They got a feel that God was sitting in their presence. So much effect on the audience about the discourse of the 'Godman'. As usual, before ending his discourse, he commenced a 'question-answer' session to make the audience more participative. He answered and clarified all the questions posed to him in a witty and humorous way. He could see that the audience liked his way of convincing them about him. Just then, a young man raised his question.

Youth: 'Respected Sir, I find a number of persons claiming themselves as God and having supernatural powers. Are you also one among them?'

Godman: 'Yes, certainly I am God. There is no doubt about it. I have supernatural powers. I have taken this avatar to cure the ills of the people of this world.'

Youth: 'Sir, the psychiatrists and psychologists say that by and large such people are schizophrenic and paranoids. Is it true? What is your take on this?'

Godman: 'No, schizophrenia and paranoid are mental diseases which are generally hereditary too. I see that you suffer from such schizophrenic and paranoid tendencies. I can cure you with my supernatural powers. By the by, have you brought your father also here. I can cure both of you.

Youth: Showed his fingers in the direction of the God-Man.

Godman: 'Where is your father?'

Youth: 'You are!'

Komacha/Santhanam

Dining Table Talk-COVID Stories

On Death

It was yet another day of break-fast time at our home. Today’s topic was COVID-19 and Death.

COVID-19  has come as a blessing in disguise for most of us to be imaginative and  creative. Every day brings out new humour, jokes, advices, suggestions, recommendation, orders, directives etc., etc. last decade saw the  wave of interest and awareness  IPL created among the young and the old about cricket, players both Indian and Foreign. Now COVID-19 has surpassed the number of people aware of this Virus game being played out by Nature where 130 crore in India alone. Thus IPL became a dwarf in front of the mosquito size Giant Killer COVID-19.

During the break-fast time, lunch time and dinner time, this is the only topic being discussed ad-nauseum in every home and media. Our home is no exception to this.

From December 2019, when it was initially reported to have started from one province called Wuhan in China, the spread of the Virus  COVID-19 and the news on COVID-19 has  galloped exponentially.

Without exception, every other Leader/ Head of State/ King of all the countries in the world has been issuing directives, advices, sermons and  loosening the government purses for meeting the needs of the starving poor, taking preventive measures to bottle down the Virus COVID-19.

Pope, the Head of Christian Community has shut the Vatican and prohibited anyone from touching him. Mecca and Medina, the holy shrines of Prophet Mohamed are closed for public. Similarly, the places of worship of the Hindus across the country such as the Kasi Viswanath, Puri Jagannath, Tirumala Venkateshwara and thousands of temples are shut. No religion is excluded in following the Protocol of the respective governments in containing COVID-19. Lock-down, Social-distancing, Hand washing for 20 Seconds before entering one’s home (whether or not you can afford another meal), Masks for covering the mouth and the nose, etc., etc., have become new terms and easily memorised by even those deprived of formal education.

Why do we fear death? In the core of every religion, the impermanence of any life has been amply explained and the people are advised to see within and look for the day of merging with  the God, the Almighty, the Lord, the Prophet and so on. To quote a few live examples, Jesus Christ was crucified and he did not feel any pain and welcomed Death with open hands. St Luke says the Bible, ‘The Kingdom of God is within man.’ The Prophet sacrificed (Qurbani) his own son. Jain Monks have lived and practised fast unto death. Hindu Saints like Acharyas (Shankaracharya) all preached inward looking for God and pray for reaching him with all reverence. In the Shiva Aparaadha Kshamaapana Strotram of Adi Sankara, he describes in 14 Slokas,  the life of a human being from the time of becoming a seed in the womb of a mother till his death and praying for forgiveness of the Lord Shiva and accept him in his abode.  Shiradi Sai Baba lived a simple life and extolled the virtue of the Almighty and advised his followers to lead a simple life and leave the body to serve the God.  Ramana Maharishi and Rama Krishna Paramahamsa, despite  fighting cancer, were eagerly waiting for the day of merging with the Almighty.

Thus, if every religion is advocating impermanence of human lives, why are we craving to live and beat the COVID and love to live longer. Can we not take it as though it is the only way to live and not craving for a day more than what is destined for us? Most of us live without any purpose. Some are growing just like a thorny bush without any purpose; some others sick and fighting to recover and live longer causing inconvenience to others. There are some of those unfortunate both mentally and physically incapacitated are in the Old-Age Homes, without any hope of returning to their kids.  The list of those desirous of living without purpose is endless. Is it the fear of death that grips the fellow human beings to act like this, to follow the ‘Social distancing,  Lock-down and whatever is attributed to the COVID-19’ with a greedy hope of living longer. Take a pause and  ask yourself as to why should we live longer if no purpose is served to the humanity.  Listen to the Video of  Carl Sagan, US Astronomer on the topic. It will make you think we are a small dot in the whole eyes of the Universe.

I look around and at the long list of leaders- political, corporate, yogis, preachers, common citizens, patients in ICU, CCU and suffering from various ailments…No….No…No. None want to die.

Then who will be prepared to die.

I just share with you a poem scripted by me soon after 9-11 Twin Tower Attack that rattled the USA and the World. Just 12 days before the incident I was in the USA and visited that great financial hub of the world before boarding my flight back home. Here it goes,

"Eleventh September 2001, born from the deathbed of a thousand lives

Memories haunting  of the darkness spread with sun  still rising

America, a heaven on earth,  raised its heat towards the East in search of dark evil hidden there

World  curious and wounded watched with awe!

Oh! God! Why did you do that to a peace loving nation?

Was the question in the lips of millions.

Offering my life if He returned one youth alive, was always my prayer.

Strangely God responded to my clarion call.

Happy  felt I that a plant will be  redeemed at the altar

God asked, "My Son, if I take your life, I may lose one good creation either"

"Shall I take the life of Osama, instead?   He countered.

"Son, no life can replace another as no life is superior", continued He.

 Evil done is the Foundation for a stronger tomorrow, ignorant don’t understand.

Your courage and  your prayer honored

I bless  America  with stronger shoulders to carry greater responsibilities-

As America has always been

God is great, I found once again".

I shared this piece with my Son-in-law who was also having his break-fast with me.

He said with a smile, ‘Appa, Nice’ and continued.

“I find one set of people would be willing to give up their lives, no matter whether they are surrounded by the  COVID-19 or Ebola or Tsunami. That is our ‘Soldier in Uniform’ – no matter which territory he is defending,  he is always prepared to sacrifice his life for the large good of all.”

How True it is!

Let us Salute the brave Soldier and give back something to the Nation before we die and not become greedy and take all the available resources with a mistaken sense of carrying the bounty to the board of hell or heaven where we may end up.

Komacha

S Santhanam

07 April 2020

श्री विश्नुसह्स्रनामस्तोत्रम्- Background and the beginning

श्री विश्नुसह्स्रनामस्तोत्रम्[1]

Background and the beginning

The Legend would have it that at the end of the Epic Mahabharata war, Bhishmacharya was waiting for the sacred hour to depart from his physical body unto the lotus feet of the Lord.

Yudhishtira, the eldest of the Pandavas, was desperately looking for the answers to matters relating to Dharma and Karma. Lord Krishna, who understood Yudhishtira’s uneasy mind, guided him to Bhishma to learn insight in to this precious knowledge. As directed by the Lord, he meets Yudhishtira. Yudhishtira presented

युधिष्टर उवाच्

किमेकं दैवतम् लोके किं वाप्येकं परायनम्

WHO IS THE GREATEST LORD OF THE WORLD?

WHO IS THE ONE REFUGE OF ALL?

स्तुवन्तः कं कमर्चन्तः प्राप्नुय्र्मानवाः शुबम् II

BY GLORIFYING WHOM, CAN ATTAIN PEACE AND PROSPERITY?

BY WORSHIPPING WHOME CAN MAN REACH AUSPICOUSNESS?

**** 

को दर्मः सर्वधर्माणां भवतः परमो मतः

WHAT IS, IN YOUR OPINION THE GREATEST DHARMA?

किं जपन्मुच्यते जन्तुर्जन्मसम्सारबन्तनात् II

BY DOING JAPA OF WHAT, CAN CREATURE GO BEYOND THE BONDS AND CYCLE OF BIRTH AND DEATH?

THEN  BHISHMA RECITES 1000 NAMES OF LORD VISHNU AS THE SOLUTION TO ALL THE QUESTIONS.

कोमच्चा/Komacha

05 Nov 2019

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[1] https://www.trsiyengar.com/1_2_18.php