English language media even don’t report the latest data on food grains output etc!
Indian agriculture needs wider recognition. Needs commitment, ideas, big vision and an innovative outlook.
There is an urgent need to turn agriculture farmer-friendly!
A basically farm viable agriculture policy needs drawn up
Make the Internet, mobile phones technology to reach farmers through a digital push!
There is a distress call from rural India!
Save the farmers! Save them from a multiple of crises that had driven farmers to suicides.
Now farmers everywhere are in great distress!
Debts, suicides from Punjab to Telengana, from Maharashtra to Karnataka. The government has no clue!
Debts scars because of failure of banks and the grip of money lender!
In Punjab, the so-called grain bowl the farm debts all-time high!
Punjab farmers in debt? Is this news at all? Media doesn’t report rural distress adequately.
New government doesn’t act as it should. Agricultural reforms need a big digital push!Agri credit needs a big allocation!
Route the farm loans through direct cash payment.
Give agri insurance cover, pay farmers pensions and other social security!
The English media in India is very irresponsible. It ignores completely news at the grassroots, after the so-called Green Revolution; there has been a sea-change in rural India. Land prices, soared, land holdings got divided and holdings reduced. Average farming in India is becoming unviable.
Farming in the old fashioned sense has become unviable.
Now, new situations call for new policies, in land holdings, land ceilings and tenancy contracts. Introduction of new technologies, mechanisation and also, the profile of the new generation farmer’s call for new outlook.
As for the TV news channels, they are as good as absent or totally withdrawn from the ground-level realities. More so the issues of the farmers.
We talk too much in rhetorical terms. That is all. The PM also talks big in terms of digital economy, smart cities etc. There is also much talk about innovation, innovative approach to development.
The PM visited Silicon Valley and talked big.But does anyone mention that even now, India is nowhere in the world online economy. The big companies are all either from the USA or from China. India is yet to reach there.
The London Financial Times talks of Modi’s@Digital delusion@. Of course, we can dismiss Britain’s opinion and let us be clear that Britain, given its shrinking economy and its political insignificance, we shouldn’t go by its perceptions.
So, we have to think radically to change our mindset.
Engage the big minds, the achievers to come out with new ideas that could transform India in one generation.
Green Revolution, grassroots revolution is key to farmers and villagers’ prosperity. And consider the enormity of the issues. Farmers’ suicides too nowadays are a bit boring and most news channels and print media ignore. It pays to feature the film personalities, even politicians of some notoriety. It pays to print more notoriety as it helps to raise sales and the newspapers are now in intense crisis, competition is fierce. So, we were surprised to find a news item captioned on the ‘loan rigmarole pushes Punjab farmers into debt trapt. It is really shameful on the part of the Indian English media
Only after checking our earlier issues we were shocked to find that this very same news item was carried by the same newspaper, a very respectable one, a few days ago!
The same names, the same economists, the same experts from the Punjab Agricultural University, department of economics and sociology!
We don’t want to embarrass the gentlemen by naming them.
But what is the news?
So many percentage of farmers are in debt, so many with the private money lenders, in Punjab they call them commission agents (artiyas) and outside they are pure sharp money lenders who have a long history in India.
So, we want to ask the Modi dispensation in Delhi: please do something really serious this time, if you have the will and vision to see that you really give a new business model to transform Indian agriculture.
Indian agriculture, even in the grain belt of India, the otherwise very prosperous state of Punjab.
Without wasting words and effort, we want to say that Mr.Modi, the energetic Prime Minister must experiment with new models. A digital push with several social media tools, we must be able to connect with each and every farmer with a distress call service, with genuine case for credit must be able to access the agencies, banks and other institutions that are there and that you can still create new channels so that any farmers anywhere with a call can get an immediate response.
We at the Vadamalai Media have some new initiatives. Besides our print media publications, we have an online service (www.agricultureinfrmation.com) where we reach out to farmers for any information service. We also have a missed call service where too there is a new experiment as to how we can give farmers an immediate relief, be it information or any other material service, connecting farmers with experts, consultants and others.
We have reached the stage in getting the farmers pay for their services, this monetisation stage is under intense experiments and we are really encouraged, in fact amazed at the response from the farmers. Each day we get calls that we are not able to service for lack of infrastructure.
This we hope to remedy very soon as the response from farmers from various states, with various languages and this is of course is a great task. But given the latest tools, the spread of mobile phones and internet, we hope to come out with a mobile centric, transaction pricing business model.
With is experience at our end, we are confident that the only solution to farmers perennial debt crisis is not the present lethargic non-interest of the government agencies.
The only solution s the private sector model where the farmers get their services paid for by the farmers themselves.
This can be insurance, health or schools admissions to social needs like events in the farmer’s families and many other services.
Farmers are in crisis because of their lack of information, up-to-date information where they can solve their problems if real alternative solutions are there.
Let farmers and farm exerts know that we can devise alternative solutions to farmers, to villagers. Intermediaries exploited farmers for ages.
The time has come to end this centuries-old exploitation of Indian farmers. Please all those who are working in the field come out with real alternative solutions to the farmers’ many crises.