They dont, why not?
75 FIRs registered against UP sugar mill owners!
19 FIRs registered against mills for procuring cane from farmers illegally!
These are all big news and big developments in the current messy sugar business scenario. These UP mills are all very big ones, unlike in the South where the mills are very modest, small and also the UP mills often part of big corporate entities, Birla’s and the Bajaj’s and others and as such there is much that is new in the emerging sugar scenario in the country.
For one thing, the till hitherto sugar industry scenario used to be the Maharashtra-politicians controlled sugar lobby had say in sugar policy making and Sharad Pawar as the all important sugar barons-s super baron had his way.
Now, poor Pawar is the butt of all sorts of political controversies.
The food prices inflation is at all time high and he is being blamed for a general economic crisis in which the Prime Minister both as an expert as the head of the Cabinet must take responsibility for what is plainly a very complex and complicated economic calculation.
Now Pawar says the food prices would ease next fiscal. This expectation is based on the next crop output, the rabi crop and also the other factors like the global economic situation and other issues like asset prices and capital inflows as predicted by the RBI.
But these are in our view minor matters.
The point here is that after a long time the food prices rose to a record high and in particular, the vegetables and the eggs came in for special attention. It is the prices of these two humble common man’s consumer items, not so common for the urban consumers who want their vegetables fresh and their eggs farm fresh and as such the very humble small and marginal farmers who seem to have the last laugh!
Let these poor and humbel farmers have high incomes, we thought!
After all, when the urban media reports about the double and treble net profits for the corporate sector when it comes to the humbel people making good incomes that somehow doesn’t make for headline news, do they?
So, there needs to be some fresh debates about what constitutes high incomes and good growth. The widely dispersed growth strategy is what we all desire, though people in New Delhi don’t have the time or the vision to realise and appreciate the great many changes that are taking place in the country today.
Do these policy makers in Delhi realise there is a steady outflow of farmers from their traditional occupations?
There is also a great spurt in the farmers’ suicide rates under the UPA regines, first and second!
There have been something like a staggering 2 lakh farmers suicides.
There have been a steady decline in the share of the GDP.
The impact is already visible in the current food crisis.
There is a shortage in every essential commodities, from rice to pulses to sugar and now vegetables and eggs.
An unlettered man, he or she needn’t be an economist, would say that in order to reduce or control prices under some reasonable terms you need first and foremost raise production of these agri commodities, right? But then why this simple rural wisdom doesnt make its way to the PMO?
So, it is simple logic of the free market economy. Given incentives, control your hypocrisy and start supporting the farmers, the pro-farmers policies! It is as simple as that!
Now the agri share in the GDP is something like 16 per cent you have to give all the more additional incentives to produce more and to get reasonable returns.
There of course needs a great deal of policy mix with new institutions, new co-operative models, as for milk and so for new crops like vegetable cultivation and distribution too.
In Karnataka there is the horticulture marketing networks, one supposes there is one such in Delhi too. Anyway, Verghese Kurien comes to mind and he is the role model for a range of others and other products.
By the way why the government has forgotten to give a Bharat Ratna to Dr.Kurien? Is he not worth remembering and worth recalling at a time like this?
We are a funny nation with a funny set of rulers, all bureaucratic and all with very narrow interests and loyalties!
Now, the sugar lobby and its woes. The imported sugar is lying at the ports and this needs to be processed and distributed and prices brought down. It is time we pay well for the cane farmers.
There must be more the free play of the market forces. Unless the cane prices are raised to more economical levels, there won’t be any more production of the cane crop.
There are already new technologies and new business models to add value to the agri procure and the farmers are now more open to switch to new and untraditional crops like high value vegetables, capsicum and others.
So, there is going to be a new agricultural revolution, when the President called for a second green revolution that sounded a bit out of date and out of tune.
The Madame President must know the latest trends at the ground level.Agriculture is no more profitable.
In order to make it profitable, there are now very many new business models. If the Rashtrpathy Bhavan patronises our magazine, we post them a copy dutifully every month and though we don’t any acknowledgement, as we would only do out duty without expecting any reward or award!
Image Source : democraticunderground.com