Many current buzz words!
Venture capital, equity funds, ease of doing business!
Why not brings them to the farm sector? To the rural areas?
Why not introduce schemes for young farmers, young rural entrepreneurs?
The mood is right and the opportunities are waiting for tapping!
There is a distressing unreality in all talks about rural distress on the eve of the presenting the budget. It is rather painful to see the distress scenes picked up by self-righteous by a TV news channel! Yes, there is only one news channels, it seems to give us, the Indian viewers who are also otherwise bored by the rural issues and enjoy their usual fare of total irrelevancies, some channels, just owned by a big industrialist, also bores the views by a state government investors’ faces, all fat and well-fed and all trying to curry favours with the political bosses.
The point here is that when it comes to real issues, drought and distress in the rural areas, all w can hope to have is some dry statistics, how many famers committed suicides in Vidarbha, Telengana, North Karnataka etc. We feel the time has come for the new government to give some real push in some radical direction.
There is a dearth of ideas for India’s rural transformation. Urbanisation is taking a toll in the rural hubs. There is a dearth of labour in agriculture sector. We are still talking about the 100 days rural employment scheme. The impact of the MREGS is almost getting thinner by day. First, the scheme was conceived to win the elections and the Congress badly lost. The Modi government, in its wisdom, seems to stick to it, though only for form sake.
The rural scene demands a robust new thinking. As our magazine and online www.agricultureinfiormation.com shows that there are springs of enormous enthusiasm to start new agro-ventures, try new rural technologies and products and services. Our online e-commerce initiatives show that this enormous rural market potential is being tapped by much unexpected and very enthusiastic visitors to our website and online services.
The Indian government must apply its mind how the digital revolution can tap into this market and create jobs in millions.Agriculture is now a growth sector and the market demand, the labour shortage is driving the potential entrepreneurs to search for a range of products and services. The providers of these products and services and the customers for this emerging market, the market driven by new technologies, mobile technology based services seem to be unlimited.
What we need is creation of suitable institutions and some framework of incentives to encourage entrepreneurs, young generation farmer’s o avail of these opportunities.
Not only the IT sector, there are various segments of agriculture, horticulture, why the whole range of areas listed under the jurisdiction of the ICAR (Indian Council for Agriculture Research. There are now the Kendriya Krishi Vignan Kendras and we don’t know yet what the activities at these institutions are and given the context of there must be enormous new potential to be tapped.
Also, there are other areas like biotechnology and biotechnology-based industries. Here too the depth of biotech can be brought into relevant areas like tissue culture, seeds and other fields. The seed industry itself is a huge opportunity.
Unfortunately, in India and with our limited exposure, we feel rather disheartened by the bureaucratic hassles that bedevil the policy making and implementation process in India, more so in the rural India’s many areas. Why not think, as they say, out of the box and give rural industrialisation and modernisation of Indian farming sector.
Funds for the start-ups is now the current flavour of the season. Why not thought leaders, no, action leaders these luminaries are, leaders of men like N.R.Narayanamurthy and Ratan Tata with their venture capital funds, all fancily-named come out in the first instance so that others can emulate them and follow their leadership. Yes, the Indian corporate leaders owe something more than routine tokenism.
A bold and genuine attack on rural poverty, rural sluggishness and bureaucratic oppression can only liberate the rural spirit into a new rural renaissance of prosperity and true liberation of the rural suppression.
Once the momentum is created then the rest of the action can flow from many sectors. Even institutions like Nasscom can tap into the rural jobs and skills market. Young India is thirsting for action and all it needs is a new leadership thrust from some true visionary or visionaries.