Correction: Farmers are not asking for an amendment in the laws. They are asking to abolish them all together.
This article is saying Modi Government has initiated the talks for an amendment. First of all, Modi government didn’t initiated any talks untill farmers started to protest.
Modi Government didn’t even consult any farmer organizations beforehand.
Government is offering amendments only because amendments are still in favour of corporations. And can be manipulated once the laws are implemented.
Looking at the other states where this system is implemented, farmers are struggling to sell their high crops.
That is why these laws should be banished all together.
I am a farmer and not in agreement with the writers. Since one of the authors is a retired Agriculture secretary, it would have been more honest if he explained why he failed to as an agriculture secretary to develop mandis in other parts of the country and why only a few crops of the green revolution are offered MSPs and he is not made a single comment on the corruption in FCI. Not a single case has been filed while manual labourers employed by FCI earn more than an MBBS pass doctor in government service. I have them as patients and there are many articles over the past two decades by genuine Indian investigative journalists outlining the corruption in FCI as well as licensed brokers of mandis collusion with politicians.
And these two authors with all their wisdom and experience have the temerity to call the middle class of the country and a democratically elected central government as ignorant fools.
They clearly state that most Indian states do not have adequate infrastructure for farmers and most states other than Punjab, Haryana & UP have developed far more than these 3 states despite not having MSP for many of their crops & not having perpetual year round rain or irrigation facilities and suffering from natural calamities like cyclones in the southern coasts.
A farmer from Punjab need not worry about storing his grain while in Andhra, the harvest is precarious. Just this past month, there have been 2 cyclones that have destroyed a lot of crops, many which do not have MSP and those that have MSP will not be bought because they are damp now. Those who could harvest in time do not have warehouses to store them. What was this agriculture secretary doing then? And how did he get a post retirement government post for a job he failed to do while being secretary.
Just goes to show the arrogance of IAS officers and journalists who believe that every other educated Indian is an idiot.
And by the way, I am also a farmer with 10 acres of land across all family members which is far less than most of your Punjab & Haryana farmer union leaders despite my predominant earning from medical practise.
Atleast name one state other than Punjab which has officially rejected the 3 central laws even though so much time has passed. You people are blind fools. Have you even asked the opinion of farmers from any other part of the country? What about the tamil farmers who protested a few years back in Delhi for a whole month without any support from the farmer unions?
Maybe the Tamil farmers fault was that they did not indulge in violence and block roads & rails. No BJP minister spoke with them. No farmer union leader from Punjab or Haryana or UP joined their protests. They were not asking for MSP or loan waiver or free electricity. If the government APMC system run by this agriculture secretary was working so well, then why were they protesting in Delhi, eating rats and wearing underwear.
Why were the Tamil farmers not criticised by the ignorant middle class twitter warriors as these authors call them?
Please Sekhar Gupta sir, I am starting to regret making my first donation to THE PRINT just a week ago. Please, this is neither journalism nor expertise.
It reeks of objective blindness, ideological slavery, opportunistic bullying by people who consider themselves the know all.
Straight from the heart comment Dr. Mahesh Docherla. You are spot-on about the lack of support for Tamil farmers. A publication headed by a journalist of Shekhar Gupta’s stature is supposed to keep out columnists who pursue their own agenda rather than do an objective analysis of issues. To earn more donations, The Print needs to smarten its act as far as the “Home” page is concerned. The “In-Depth” vertical column on that page has head four photos – Sanya Dhingra’s article on Vishwaguru, Sandhya Ramesh’s article on Immunity Boosters, Sandhya Ramesh’s article on Vaccine, and Manasi Phadke’s article on Parambir Singh. for more than 5 months. I pointed this out on Twitter too, but no modification undertaken. Uninspiring, to say the least.
Even though Print has several writers, I refuse to call them journalists, as they are partisan and always blatantly pushing regressive leftist , aboveground jihadist and tukde tukde gang agenda agenda, Shekhar Gupta this time did the right thing to get an expert like Hussain sir to write this unbiased, factual, pragmatic article which acknowledges the contribution of farmers, especially jat belt farmers of Haryana, Punjab,, Western UP in India’s food security.. He also offers solution how to continue to secure India’s food security, while acknolwedging food security heroes of India the jat belt farmers, and how to reduce sowing of water guzzling sugercane and rice which is depleting our already depleted red zone water table. Thanks to Hussain sir.
To Shekhar, banda ban ja, kick out leftists and Jihadists including Shivam Vij, Ms Yadav she needs a shrink and hinduphobe Ghazala,, etc.
The post can be understood keeping the parable of blind men and elephant as they discuss the limits of perception and the importance of complete context.
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable”. So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake”. For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar-like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, “is a wall”. Another who felt its tail described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
Correction: Farmers are not asking for an amendment in the laws. They are asking to abolish them all together.
This article is saying Modi Government has initiated the talks for an amendment. First of all, Modi government didn’t initiated any talks untill farmers started to protest.
Modi Government didn’t even consult any farmer organizations beforehand.
Government is offering amendments only because amendments are still in favour of corporations. And can be manipulated once the laws are implemented.
Looking at the other states where this system is implemented, farmers are struggling to sell their high crops.
That is why these laws should be banished all together.
I am a farmer and not in agreement with the writers. Since one of the authors is a retired Agriculture secretary, it would have been more honest if he explained why he failed to as an agriculture secretary to develop mandis in other parts of the country and why only a few crops of the green revolution are offered MSPs and he is not made a single comment on the corruption in FCI. Not a single case has been filed while manual labourers employed by FCI earn more than an MBBS pass doctor in government service. I have them as patients and there are many articles over the past two decades by genuine Indian investigative journalists outlining the corruption in FCI as well as licensed brokers of mandis collusion with politicians.
And these two authors with all their wisdom and experience have the temerity to call the middle class of the country and a democratically elected central government as ignorant fools.
They clearly state that most Indian states do not have adequate infrastructure for farmers and most states other than Punjab, Haryana & UP have developed far more than these 3 states despite not having MSP for many of their crops & not having perpetual year round rain or irrigation facilities and suffering from natural calamities like cyclones in the southern coasts.
A farmer from Punjab need not worry about storing his grain while in Andhra, the harvest is precarious. Just this past month, there have been 2 cyclones that have destroyed a lot of crops, many which do not have MSP and those that have MSP will not be bought because they are damp now. Those who could harvest in time do not have warehouses to store them. What was this agriculture secretary doing then? And how did he get a post retirement government post for a job he failed to do while being secretary.
Just goes to show the arrogance of IAS officers and journalists who believe that every other educated Indian is an idiot.
And by the way, I am also a farmer with 10 acres of land across all family members which is far less than most of your Punjab & Haryana farmer union leaders despite my predominant earning from medical practise.
Atleast name one state other than Punjab which has officially rejected the 3 central laws even though so much time has passed. You people are blind fools. Have you even asked the opinion of farmers from any other part of the country? What about the tamil farmers who protested a few years back in Delhi for a whole month without any support from the farmer unions?
Maybe the Tamil farmers fault was that they did not indulge in violence and block roads & rails. No BJP minister spoke with them. No farmer union leader from Punjab or Haryana or UP joined their protests. They were not asking for MSP or loan waiver or free electricity. If the government APMC system run by this agriculture secretary was working so well, then why were they protesting in Delhi, eating rats and wearing underwear.
Why were the Tamil farmers not criticised by the ignorant middle class twitter warriors as these authors call them?
Please Sekhar Gupta sir, I am starting to regret making my first donation to THE PRINT just a week ago. Please, this is neither journalism nor expertise.
It reeks of objective blindness, ideological slavery, opportunistic bullying by people who consider themselves the know all.
Straight from the heart comment Dr. Mahesh Docherla. You are spot-on about the lack of support for Tamil farmers. A publication headed by a journalist of Shekhar Gupta’s stature is supposed to keep out columnists who pursue their own agenda rather than do an objective analysis of issues. To earn more donations, The Print needs to smarten its act as far as the “Home” page is concerned. The “In-Depth” vertical column on that page has head four photos – Sanya Dhingra’s article on Vishwaguru, Sandhya Ramesh’s article on Immunity Boosters, Sandhya Ramesh’s article on Vaccine, and Manasi Phadke’s article on Parambir Singh. for more than 5 months. I pointed this out on Twitter too, but no modification undertaken. Uninspiring, to say the least.
Even though Print has several writers, I refuse to call them journalists, as they are partisan and always blatantly pushing regressive leftist , aboveground jihadist and tukde tukde gang agenda agenda, Shekhar Gupta this time did the right thing to get an expert like Hussain sir to write this unbiased, factual, pragmatic article which acknowledges the contribution of farmers, especially jat belt farmers of Haryana, Punjab,, Western UP in India’s food security.. He also offers solution how to continue to secure India’s food security, while acknolwedging food security heroes of India the jat belt farmers, and how to reduce sowing of water guzzling sugercane and rice which is depleting our already depleted red zone water table. Thanks to Hussain sir.
To Shekhar, banda ban ja, kick out leftists and Jihadists including Shivam Vij, Ms Yadav she needs a shrink and hinduphobe Ghazala,, etc.
The Modi government has the mandate to bring reforms in the farm sector.
The post can be understood keeping the parable of blind men and elephant as they discuss the limits of perception and the importance of complete context.
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable”. So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake”. For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar-like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, “is a wall”. Another who felt its tail described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.