The profession closest to the elements of nature is of course, farming. Is the profession of farming menial? Can the world survive with no farming at all? Have we reached the position wherein the human necessities can be given in a pill? Does the human race want that? Well, the virtual living beings, the corporations would love such a situation. That would be total control. Let us come back to the profession of farming. Where does it fall in the continuum of the current professions. Is farming really a profession? Is Industrial farming the answer to all the problems faced by the present farming community. Why is it always farming community and IT profession? Why is it that a farmer is always left high and dry to the whims and fancies of natural elements. A farmer is something like air, water and fire. It is like the food grown by him is in excess as the other natural elements. But, food has to be grown. It is not available readily and in abundance.
When will the farmer get his due? He uses fertilizers to get a good yield to make a profit, we call him un-ethical. He farms using organic practices we dont like the look of the produce and scoff at the cost of it. Now take the example of all other professions everything is right until the stockholders profit expectations are met and these expectations keep growing. Why does the farmer not worry about profits. Why is he alone in this? Why is he not formed into a corporation? Why because this model was tried and lead to bonded labor. Farming is hard work and corporations cannot bear it if farming is given the proper identification as a "Industry". Farming is labor intensive and involves plenty of risks until you grow "cash" crops. Farming is a high risk profession. The factors which go against a good yield is mind boggling. I cannot list it here. But, then, you will ask me whether sweepers/toiler cleaners are menial jobs. Well, no job is menial. But, in these cases, there is a necessity and opportunity available. The risk will only be reduction in salaries but, salary is available and cleaning is a must and has to continue. The earnings are definitely menial. But, the risk to get the stipulated salary is nothing compared to what might happen to a farmer.
Will the solution be consolidation of farms and mechanization? The US is a fine example. But, the employment opportunities in such a setup is minimal and seasonal. If there are 100 people in a village small tracts of land was providing employment opportunities for all the 100. Now if it is consolidated, maybe a couple will get jobs and the remaining 98 have to be accommodated in other professions. That is one side of the story. These farming corporations will only grow what will yield the maximum profits irrespective what is the requirements. Here again the corporations might have hidden deals wherein every group in a particular state would grow a specific type of crop so that there is no duplication. This appears to be economically viable but, what about the people whose livelihoods have now been lost. They have their homes in their villages but they cannot stay there since there is no employment. Now, they would come out of their villages. How about employment and housing for these displaced farmers. In our country farmers displaced for construction of dams(tip of the iceberg) are living on pavements in towns and cities lacking any other professional knowledge and already heavily crowded lower level employments.
There have been reverse migration of highly educated and plenty earned professionals going back to village and be close to the elements. This is not solving any issues. They are just buying huge swaths of land, barricading them and employing helpers from the villages, who again are the same farmers who sold their lands. These are small corporations. If they really need to be near to the elements, then there is one more element, the human element. They should first get close to that element. Instead of buying up huge swaths of land, they should perform the role of advisors and try to improve their knowledge about their professions and improve their profitability and survival prospects.
The world may look down upon our country for the caste system. But, the roots of the caste system is societal/economic and later brought under political strategy. The world has always been following the varna system and has been following to this day. How one profession is better and high paying than the other, is nothing but the varna system taken for granted.
But, it is high time the single farmer is given his due.
When will the farmer get his due? He uses fertilizers to get a good yield to make a profit, we call him un-ethical. He farms using organic practices we dont like the look of the produce and scoff at the cost of it. Now take the example of all other professions everything is right until the stockholders profit expectations are met and these expectations keep growing. Why does the farmer not worry about profits. Why is he alone in this? Why is he not formed into a corporation? Why because this model was tried and lead to bonded labor. Farming is hard work and corporations cannot bear it if farming is given the proper identification as a "Industry". Farming is labor intensive and involves plenty of risks until you grow "cash" crops. Farming is a high risk profession. The factors which go against a good yield is mind boggling. I cannot list it here. But, then, you will ask me whether sweepers/toiler cleaners are menial jobs. Well, no job is menial. But, in these cases, there is a necessity and opportunity available. The risk will only be reduction in salaries but, salary is available and cleaning is a must and has to continue. The earnings are definitely menial. But, the risk to get the stipulated salary is nothing compared to what might happen to a farmer.
Will the solution be consolidation of farms and mechanization? The US is a fine example. But, the employment opportunities in such a setup is minimal and seasonal. If there are 100 people in a village small tracts of land was providing employment opportunities for all the 100. Now if it is consolidated, maybe a couple will get jobs and the remaining 98 have to be accommodated in other professions. That is one side of the story. These farming corporations will only grow what will yield the maximum profits irrespective what is the requirements. Here again the corporations might have hidden deals wherein every group in a particular state would grow a specific type of crop so that there is no duplication. This appears to be economically viable but, what about the people whose livelihoods have now been lost. They have their homes in their villages but they cannot stay there since there is no employment. Now, they would come out of their villages. How about employment and housing for these displaced farmers. In our country farmers displaced for construction of dams(tip of the iceberg) are living on pavements in towns and cities lacking any other professional knowledge and already heavily crowded lower level employments.
There have been reverse migration of highly educated and plenty earned professionals going back to village and be close to the elements. This is not solving any issues. They are just buying huge swaths of land, barricading them and employing helpers from the villages, who again are the same farmers who sold their lands. These are small corporations. If they really need to be near to the elements, then there is one more element, the human element. They should first get close to that element. Instead of buying up huge swaths of land, they should perform the role of advisors and try to improve their knowledge about their professions and improve their profitability and survival prospects.
The world may look down upon our country for the caste system. But, the roots of the caste system is societal/economic and later brought under political strategy. The world has always been following the varna system and has been following to this day. How one profession is better and high paying than the other, is nothing but the varna system taken for granted.
But, it is high time the single farmer is given his due.
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Nobody can deter me away from "free as in freedom" concept seeded by Sri RMS. See to it that u dont make fun of my belief. If u think otherwise, no need to comment.