Monsoonomics

How nice it feels when it showers at evening after a hot day. Of course it depends on which side you are when it rains, inside your home or rushing back to home from office. But nevertheless it is a nice feeling to smell the mud when the rain drops fall on ground. I’m sure that, given a chance many of us would feel the urge to sing and dance to some song, jump and splash the water on the small pools that gets created when it is raining.

But today when it was raining, I was travelling in company bus back to my home. My mind sailed through all the different thoughts about monsoon. I couldn’t help but to think about the people for whom the rains are very important aspect in their life. Their livelihood depends on the monsoon. Yes, I am talking about the Farmers. If we are struck in rain at the time of going to nearest supermarket to buy groceries or vegetables, we may curse our bad luck or even the rain itself for coming at such ‘bad time’. But the very same Rain is essential for producing the goods which we buy from there.

Over the last decade (ever since our country welcomed the globalization) there has been increasing trend in the growth of economy. The GDP has always reached the target of financial planners. But have we done enough for the improving the life of farmers who strive hard in any climatic conditions to produce the food for us? Politicians champion the farmer’s movement till they win elections and then the same people will exploit these farmers by inhumane and unlawful land acquisitions. Movie makers who have tried to highlight the plight of farmers in their movies have seen the movies running in near-empty theaters as people are more interested in new expletives and cuss words teaching movies.

While there are plenty of challenges facing the farmers today, almost all of them could be linked to either literacy or financial independence. Getting subsidized fertilizers and seeds, compensation on land given up for SEZ’s and other projects, support price for the crops etc, depend on the education level and access. Access is a broad concept. Reducing the number of middlemen between the farmer and the market solves many a problem for the poor exploited farmer. This is nothing but the access to fair market. Likewise the access to financial source is also very crucial. A farmer cannot be expected to handle everything that is required to get his produce to market directly (precisely the reason for which he is still dependent on the ever-exploiting middlemen). Forget about the marketing the produce, getting an agricultural loan from bank itself is herculean task for an average farmer. This in spite of the fact that RBI mandate that all public sector banks should give 40% of their total loans to priority sector which include the Agriculture.

It’s very high time that the financial inclusion exercise by RBI meets the desired target. A financial inclusion is a program launched by RBI to help every person in country to at least have a basic saving account with him (and gradually the access to credit facility – at least the micro finance). The advantage of this could be plenty. The government gives the subsidy on fertilizers to the manufacturer (expecting him to pass on the benefit to farmers by lowering the M.R.P) instead of the farmer himself oblivious of the fact that it leads to illegal selling of fertilizers in open market. Same goes with the domestic LPG, diesel etc. But if the financial inclusion is achieved, and the other innovative efforts like the AADHAR (Unique ID for every citizen) these illegal rackets can be curbed or minimized(I abstain from using “stopped” word keeping in mind the IQ power of the mafia people in our country). The savings account of the farmer can be linked with his UID and the government can transfer the subsidy amount to his account directly (with the help of local panchayats and SHG). Though the method is not foolproof, it is effective in long run.

The Anna hazare’s fast proved one important point if nothing else – the youth are not oblivious to the problems plaguing the country. They can be mobilized for social cause provided the leader is creditworthy. Jaago re movement, janagraha NGO etc add to the list of proof. Whatever be the problem, if the govt shows the commitment to work towards it, the citizens will welcome such move with open arms. If there are any loopholes in any plans like the one discussed above, NGO’s and other youth groups are more than happy to help. We’ve the right mind and right energy, what is required now is a leader who can show the right direction to them. I hope the coming monsoons in our country are welcomed by more and more farmers with smiling faces rather than those with frustration and disgust in their face.