The newly formed land acquisition bill which has gained the fresh lease of life through the second time ordinance route is yet another way of weighing the economic worth over the human worth of people. India is the second largest population in the world. Our most important need is to provide food and employment to the millions of people. Despite the best of the brains hailing from India, the true gain that the country has seen has been in the area of agriculture, be it in terms of operation white flood or the green revolution. Agriculture has also given a sense of self-reliance and pride among the people who even though, technically pseudo-employed, could proudly proclaim themselves as farmers.
With the right to plough their fields going away from the hands of the farmers who live close to the important social and infrastructural networks, the plight of the farmers would be even worse hit. It was reported that to grow a quintal of wheat the farmer has to spend Rs. 1953.00 whereas the minimum support price for the same quintal of wheat has been fixed by the government at Rs. 1450.00. In a way the farmer is subsidizing the purchase of wheat for the government for Rs. 413.00 per quintal. Why, then, should we not find people leaving farming as an occupation, and migrating to cities to become nameless labourers?
It is said that should the insects die in a year’s time, the complete human population would perish within the next four years. Have we ever stopped to ponder, how much time we would have as Indian, once the farmers and the farm-lands perish from the face of the country, even though in the name of economic development?
P.S.: I had shared an old mail through this blog on the situation of persons in Kashmir. The original mail was sent on February 12, 2003. For more, read on!
P.S.: I had shared an old mail through this blog on the situation of persons in Kashmir. The original mail was sent on February 12, 2003. For more, read on!
