Indian Agriculture and the apathy of the educated class

            We are at another inflection point at looking at India's agrarian problems. The subcontinent, even after 7 decades of independence is still agrarian in its economical and social setup. Let us leave out the politics part. Though people tell me that politicians are different in various countries, for me they all appear the same and do the same. That is, they loot and plunder. Though I have had good education from my parents and I have been a netizen since the year 2000, I am not having any solution in sight for the issues plaguing our agrarian setup. If we see the setup before independence we see that the tillers were bonded to their job by devious methods. Land being a property was known to only a few of the elite. This elite owned all the land. The tillers were laborers and would till the land for being compensated with a very puny portion of what grew out of their efforts. The agrarian scene in India has changed from self sufficiency to a heavily commercialized scene with the advent of the British in India.

           Plethora of laws/rules/regulations have happened since that time. The zamindari system is one of the first attempt at consolidation of land but the system was tyrannic. So plenty of laws/rules/regulations were changed across the presence of british in India to reduce this tyranny and to bring the tiller and the government face to face. This was not a goodwill gesture from the british but more of a corrective action since the zamindaris knew how to hoodwink the government with their payment of taxes. All other actions by the british and later the governments of free India was to reduce the oppression of the tiller. They all thought that the best way is to make the tiller the owner. This resulted in a huge numbers of tillers with tiny pieces of land. Now the tillers will grow what they always wanted to grow. But there is no scientific thought to it. It does not consider what other farmers in India are growing.

          There are numerous examples where majority of the farmers have grown the same vegetable/fruit, leading to a price crash and in course leading to many suicides. Many other reasons for suicides being depended on the monsoons for the water aspect. More recent reasons being threats from Micro-financing companies. Micro-financing which was supposed to be the silver bullet for Indian agriculture has proved to be a golden noose. This also led to more commercialization of agriculture. Because now, the tiller is the owner, the agricultural specialist, the marketeer, the economist, the forecast specialist and what not. This led to a new crop of consolidators called the middle men. These people are what keep the circuitry closed between the tillers and the consumers. Once again, the tiller is face to face with another avatar of consolidators.

             Yes, Yes, You know all about it. What are you going to do about it. All feelgood samaritans take up this topic. What will the farmers do? How will the farmers survive the pandemic? Who is thinking about the farmer? I will answer the question. Every damn fellow is thinking about the farmer. The problem is not in thinking. The problem is nobody has any solutions to the problem. The next agrarian revolution has to happen with an IT backbone with data regarding every acre of land being cultivated. What is being cultivated, When is the probable yield and data like these superimposed with issues that might be facing the cultivators and the crop.

           Yes, it is not easy to visualize. But then if you tell me that India is primarily an agrarian economy and agriculture is the largest industry then you definitely have to think big. You cannot solve the issue by forcing companies to open call centres at district levels. Though that would be an added bonus. This would be an impetus and motivation for education. But you are not doing anything to motivate future educated farmers which we would be having in the next generations. Right now all educated farmer's sons are in towns and districts which is at the consuming end of the agrarian spectrum.

           I hate us educated lot of India, who just feel sorry for the plight of our farmers as though they are in a different planet. If we cant do anything let us stop being sorry for the farmers. They dont deserve our sorry and I dont know how many of us deserve their hard cultivate produce. If you are that kind who thinks nobody is doing anything to improve the farmers plight dont have any conversation with me. I know all about that. If you are that kind who wants to tell me that only you are concerned about their plight, I give you the middle finger.

Individuals or collectives in business

          So it is that time of the human civilization wherein, the human race has to question the human like status given to the production conglomerates. It is that time again to prioritize individuals over the profit making collective. All the times when the going is good there are managerial strategies to maximize the collective for profit. That means that all the while the collective are working for maximum profits for the shareholders. Do not get me started on Non-profits. Should the government which does not or is not supposed to work on the principle of profit maximization bail out the individuals or the collective called companies.

       By bailing out the companies the government is telling that they are going to ensure the continuity of the jobs for the people working for the collective. Instead in times like these why should not the government turn to supporting the individuals and ask the collective to not worry about the individuals for the time being and instead ask for a detailed report of their finances. Check out the profits, turn over and the number of people being supported.

       I know, you tell me that the collectives pay their taxes. Would you consider the salaries paid to the employees also count as taxes? I don't know but that has been the cases for many of the biggest companies. The world's biggest collectives pay nearly zero in taxes. But they do declare profits. The fascinating thing is with these companies the PBT and the profits are sometimes the same. Even when the going is good. Now, when the going is good how can the collectives not pay taxes though the proprietor's worth goes on to attain the entire worth of countries.

        World has provided numerous examples where this mistake has been highlighted and every time in the past they have been bailed out. Instead of bailing them out, let the present proprietors become paupers if that is what they tell they will become and use the bail out money to support newer entrepreneurs to step up their game. This will be game changer strategy which will put all the traditional ideas that they will be bailed out though they have not paid any taxes. The demand for goods is always there. It is just a matter of satisfying it from a different collective.

       Why should the government bail out individuals? Well, because worldwide the majority of the taxes correctly paid comes from the individuals. Hence the individuals have the first right of being bailed out. So, this much of intervention is required from the government? This would not be required if all the agencies do their job of looking up the health of the collective based on the audits. But auditors themselves have escaped punishments for their intentional miscalculations. So, the government has to pay for wrong governance. But is the government actually paying for wrong governance. No, the individuals are paying. So is it not justifiable that the individuals have to be paid first, during bailout.

        It is pathetic to see that the collectives cant survive a couple of months, with all that number crunching, strategic plans and what not. Time and again there have been examples and none of the collectives have learnt because they have learnt that they will always be bailed out. The governments have set a wrong precedent. Isn't it time to change this now?. Yes it is. Lets do it. Let us change the strategy for a start. As Donald Trump declared "What can we loose". So much is lost and in the process of getting lost.