The big picture we have to get right! Who says agriculture is an unfashionable subject. Or, rural India is just for votes! No, no. Please listen. Farming is bout one’s country’s basic strength. India is a rural power. I want to enhance this perception through all the means at my command. A vision for farming,…
Agriculture continues the growth decline!
PM talks theory, theory, and theory! The Prime Minister had called a meeting of the full Planning Commisssion. What is the urgency? Obviously, the government is worried over the agri sector’s continuing growth decline. Farm growth decelerated since 1997 from 2.5 per cent to currently to a shameful 0.1 per cent! There is a decline…
Sharad Pawar violates Election code!
Served notice for election-eve promises! We request Sharad Pawar for some more promises! Sharad Pawar, the Union Agri Minister, is supposed to be a very competent politician. And yet he is held responsible by the Election Commission for violation of election code! The reason? He promised several helps to farmers after the assembly elections! What…
Experts debate agri policy : Innovations in agriculture possible!
There was this recent debate on constrains on agri growth. India’s well-known experts participated. Prof.C.H.Hanumantha Rao is a senior agri economist/expert. R.S.Deshpande heads the Bangalore-based Institute for Social and Economic Change. Sharad Joshi is a farmer’s leader and an MP. With them comes M.S.Swaminathan with his Commission on agriculture. In short, all agree on the…
Our banks don’t reach agri credit targets!
How to trust the Finance Minister? When his record for the farm sector is near zero! Is India’s banking sector healthy? It depends who asks this question and also who answers the question. After the bank nationlisation it is the government that controls the banks (PSBs) and the RBI supervises them. The present government in…
“Let the poor eat the cake”syndrome prevails in New Delhi?
Governance norms vs political survival. Too many compromises with the legitimate political and governance norms have slowed down much of the effective delivery of social benefits to the farmers and the poor. This political commentary, readers might know, is posted on the weblog and so what I write mostly ,more so on the international issues…
Politicians are hypocrites. That’s why agriculture is stagnating!
Do you know what even the respected Hindu newspaper group business daily newspaper calls the Prime Minister’s recent speech at the first national conference of Krishi Vigyan Kendras? “These motherhood sentiments”! These pious hopes create ennui”! The PM called for a Second Green Revolution! If he was not the Prime Minister the green lobby would…
Open Letter to Agriculture Minister
PM talks of timely information in agriculture : Only IT revolution can change agriculture too! Sharad Pawar may be a competent administrator and an agri expert. But is days in the agri ministry hasn’t shown any dramatic initiatives Our agri sector is deprived of latest information and innovations There is simply no public-private sector interaction…