Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s resignation from the Union Cabinet over farm sector bills belongs to the politics of playing to the gallery. These bills bring in much needed agricultural reform. But political parties’ continuing diffidence to support them is holding farmers back. PM Modi shouldn’t buckle under pressure from short-sighted politics.
Support Our Journalism
India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.
Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.
Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.
Sometimes Shri Gupta manages to cut only half the clutter. I recall a column during the initial lockdown calling out intellectuals and prophets of doom warning about massive COVID spread in India. Well, here we are! What’s the point I am trying to make? As they say, the devil is in the details and one’s ideology or other exigencies shouldn’t stop one from digging a bit more to cover different facets of a story.
This is a progressive legislation when seen on PowerPoint slides. What’s the story from farmers point of view? ehat fraction of produce today is actually sold to APMCs.? Aren’t private players already present today? Won’t dalals in some form be in any case needed to connect farmers with smaller holdings to businesses. What if there becomes a monopoly or a near monopoly maybe for certain crops or regions (telecom, airports mgmt etc etc)? Why an ordinance? The harm in having more discussions? Why start and focus in cut the clutter on moribund opposition but not on farmers themselves?
Excellent Cut the clutter video by Shekhar on this news issue.
Here what I wrote in Youtube, and is for the use of all at the Print to do something about it, in you area of skill:
——-
Please widely distribute this video, with text overlays in the various regional languages and with audio dubbing in the local languages. Local farmers and their well wishers MUST hear this analysis.
The Print, Shekhar, please, seriously, distribute these. On Youtube for sure, but also on other social channels, and regional TV news, in their own languages. Please don’t lose time on this.
——-
Indian agriculture needs serious reform. These Bills are a step in the right direction. A more frugal, efficient use of water, change of cropping patterns, reduced production / procurement of wheat and rice, dismantling of the APMCs, encouraging corporates and others to source directly from farmers, full cost of pricing for power, no farm loan waivers. The reforms are politically difficult, should be spaced out to give farmers time to adjust. The elegant Minister for Potato Crisps should have found a more worthy cause to resign over …