BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE 7

Published on 10 Mar 2013 ALL INDIA BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE HELD AT Dr.B. R. AMBEDKAR BHAVAN,DADAR,MUMBAI ON 2ND AND 3RD MARCH 2013. Mr.PALASH BISWAS (JOURNALIST -KOLKATA) DELIVERING HER SPEECH. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLL-n6MrcoM http://youtu.be/oLL-n6MrcoM

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Not for FOOD Security, Food Means Business in Free Market as Government lifts ban on wheat exports!

Not for FOOD Security, Food Means Business in Free Market as Government lifts ban on wheat exports!Green Revolution projected as the Safest Avenue of Food Security world wide has not only Proved as the basic INFRASTRUCTURE of FREE Market and Foreign Capital Investment in Indigenous agrarian production system, but it also CREATED the Global agrairain crisis making the Rural AGRARIAN world an infinite Graveyard!In India, Economic Reforms means DESTRUCTION of Rural Agrarian Indigenous Aborigin World!Pranab`s Budget this year is not a yearly financial management excercise but it has Proved to be the Launching Pad for SECOND GENERATION of REFORMS. But the BUDGET is NOT analysed as yet by the Marxists and Ambedkarites as yet while the Brahaminical Hegemony helped by Brahamin Economists, Editors and Intellectuals have GLORIFIED the REDORMS to the Limit of Complete Mind Control!More Over, Mratha Super Don, the Indian NERO, Sharad Pawar is NO LESS a LPG player than the Brahamin Super Manipulator PRANAB Mukherjee!The FREE MARKET has to be EXTENDED to the Rural World with stratgic marketing of Genocide Culture! Next Phase of Corporate Imperialist Monopolistic aggression and LPG Mafia rule in India is DIRECTLY related and INTERDEPENDENT with second Green revolution.

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY FOUR

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/

[PDF]

National Food Security Bill, 2011

nac.nic.in/foodsecurity/nfsb_final.pdf
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Right to access of food security . ..... NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY BILL, 2011 ... Monitoring the Procurement, Distribution and Sale of Subsidized Food Grains . ...


Not for FOOD Security, Food Means Business in Free Market as Government lifts ban on wheat exports! Green Revolution projected as the Safest Avenue of Food Security world wide has not only Proved as the basic INFRASTRUCTURE of FREE Market and Foreign Capital Investment in Indigenous agrarian production system, but it also CREATED the Global agrairain crisis making the Rural AGRARIAN world an infinite Graveyard!In India, Economic Reforms means DESTRUCTION of Rural Agrarian Indigenous Aborigin World!

Pranab`s Budget this year is not a yearly financial management excercise but it has Proved to be the Launching Pad for SECOND GENERATION of REFORMS. But the BUDGET is NOT analysed as yet by the Marxists and Ambedkarites as yet while the Brahaminical Hegemony helped by Brahamin Economists, Editors and Intellectuals have GLORIFIED the REDORMS to the Limit of Complete Mind Control!More Over, Mratha Super Don, the Indian NERO, Sharad Pawar is NO LESS a LPG player than the Brahamin Super Manipulator PRANAB Mukherjee!

The FREE MARKET has to be EXTENDED to the Rural World with stratgic marketing of Genocide Culture! Next Phase of Corporate Imperialist Monopolistic aggression and LPG Mafia rule in India is DIRECTLY related and INTERDEPENDENT with second Green revolution.

Political Betrayals Enhance the AGRARIAN Crisisas Politicians

indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/.../political-betra... - Cached
19 Nov 2009 – Risks, Farmers' Suicides and Agrarian Crisis in India: Is There A Way Out? Srijit Mishra. 1. Introduction. A popular peasant saying that ...

AGRARIAN REFORMS



    

                  The National Council for Land Reforms was  constituted under the Chairmanship of the Prime  Minister and the Committee on State Agrarian Relations and the Unfinished Task in Land Reforms was  constituted under the Chairmanship of Minister of Rural Development. Both were notified in the Official Gazette on 9/1/2008. The Committee completed its Report and the same has been forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office for necessary action.

     Download complete report (uploaded on 24th Dec 2009)  

     Committee on State Agrarian Relations and the Unfinished Task in Land Reforms

     Constitution of Sub - Groups
      Contacting addresses of the division dealing Agrarian Reforms

http://dolr.nic.in/agrarian.htm

NAC approves draft National Food Security Bill

PTI Jun 22, 2011, 08.59pm IST

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NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) today approved the draft National Food Security Bill, 2011 which aims to make provision of food support to people facing hunger a duty of the state.
With the draft bill prepared by the Working Group on Food Security being legally vetted by a government law officer, the Council will now be sending it to the government.
The decision approving the draft bill was taken at the meeting of the NAC today.
The bill guarantees subsidised foodgrains to at least 90 per cent of rural households, and 50 percent of urban households.
According to the bill, 46 per cent of the rural and 28 per cent of urban households categorised as 'priority group' are entitled to receive foodgrains at 7 kg per head at Rs three, two and one for wheat or rice or millets respectively.
49 per cent of the rural and 22 per cent of urban households categorised as 'general group' are entitled to receive foodgrains at 4 kg per head at not more than 50 per cent of the MSP of the respective foodgrain.
The draft bill follows a life cycle approach and introduces a number of other universal guarantees, including nutrition support and maternity entitlements for pregnant women, nutrition support to children both in pre-school centres and in school, but also to all out of school children; destitute feeding and affordable meals for homeless and other needy urban populations; and special guarantees for starvation and emergencies.
It creates also a strong accountability framework for protection of these entitlements and allows imposition of fines on defaulters and compensation to the victim.
It also envisages a strong grievance redress and monitoring system, from the centre to the block level

Ministers' panel clears draft food security Bill

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Moneycontrol.com

Livemint - 4 days ago

The draft national food security Bill is expected to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament, which begins 1 August. The Congress had promised to ...

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Govt panel allows rice, wheat exports, okaysfood bill‎ - Reuters India

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Agricultural policies in India

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Author Info

Mullen, Kathleen
Orden, David
Gulati, Ashok
Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):
  • David Orden
    Abstract


    "Since the early 1990s, India has undergone substantial economic policy reform and economic growth. Though reforms in agricultural policy have lagged those in other sectors, they have nonetheless created a somewhat more open economic orientation. In this study, we evaluate the protection and support versus disprotection of agriculture in India. Our methodology involves examining market price support (MPS) for eleven crops, the expenditures on input subsidies benefiting farmers (for fertilizer, electricity and irrigation), and product-specific and total producer support estimates (PSEs) over the period 1985-2002. We draw on the extensive price-comparison and subsidy-measurement data sets and analysis developed earlier by Gulati and his co-authors, often using disaggregated analysis for representative surplus and deficit states. This allows us to explore how key cost adjustments impact the results. Overall, our results indicate that support for agriculture in India has been counter-cyclical. Support for agriculture has been rising when world prices are low (as in the mid 1980s and 1998-2002) and falling when world prices are high (as in the early and mid 1990s). Our results demonstrate the increased importance of budgetary payments for input subsidies in agriculture in recent years. Yet, in the aggregate for both price support and budgetary expenditures over the period 1985-2002 the counter-cyclical dimension of agricultural policy dominates a clear trend of movement from disprotection towards protection. Using different variants of MPS and PSE measurment we have extended earlier analysis to demonstrate the impact of key assumptions on the calculations. These assumptions we argue are important to consider. For example, in the standard approach, the MPS for the covered commodities is "scaled up" based on the share of the covered commodities in the total value of production. If the commodity coverage is less than complete, as is often the case, the scaling up procedure leads to a total MPS of greater absolute value than the MPS for the covered commodities. This can result in PSEs of different sign than the non-scaled up version but is inappropriate unless market price support for the commodities not covered is similar to that of the covered commodities. Furthermore, we find that the standard procedure of computing the MPS through a comparison of the domestic price to an adjusted reference price based on observed imports or exports can be problematic. This happens when trade volumes are relatively small. In such a scenario a reference price based on observed imports or exports can lead to misleading conclusions. To address the reference price issue, we follow Byerlee and Morris (1993). Essentially the approach adopted is to compute the level of protection or disprotection based on a counterfactual reference price chosen on economic criteria i.e. the adjusted reference price that would exist in the country if the policy interventions were removed. The relevant price can either be the autarky equilibrium price or the import or export adjusted reference price depending on the relationship among these prices. We apply this modified procedure for six crops (wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, sugar and groundnuts). The choice of the crops is dictated by the fact that India has been near self-sufficiency and there have been changes in the direction of trade over the period of analysis. The magnitudes of estimated support for agriculture obtained in this paper are important for several reasons. The estimates confirm that high levels of subsidies were required for India to export wheat or rice in recent years, a conclusion reached by several other studies. However, we report less disprotection of Indian agriculture in the 1990s than in earlier studies. Partly this difference is explained by the modified procedure for choice of a reference price. A large component of this difference can be accounted for by whether or not the scaling up procedure is invoked. There are also fertile areas for future research. Estimates of adjustment costs used in domestic-to-border price comparisons, such as transportation and processing costs or marketing margins, are crucial variables in the analysis and merit being re-examined and further updated. Resolving what are the most reasonable assumptions about reference prices, or extending the analysis to additional crops and livestock to reduce uncertainty in future assessments will also contribute to fuller understanding of the net stance of policy toward agriculture and how it has evolved over time" Authors' Abstract
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    Investment in Social sector is in face GOVERnmENT Expenditure to EXPAND the Free Market and The GIMMICK of FOOD SECURITY is PURE Business Oriented Corporate MNC Philathropy od ETHNIC Cleaning, Exclusion and Holocaust!


    Announcing a record foodgrain production at 241 million tonnes (MT) in 2010-11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the country still needs to produce more to meet the rising demand, besides controlling high food prices. The overall growth of agriculture is likely to be 3 per cent during the 11th Five year Plan (2007-2012), which is less than the targeted 4 per cent, he said.


    The government has decided to lift the over four-year-old ban on wheat exports, even as shipment of the grain is not viable at current global prices.

    The government had banned wheat exports since early 2007 to boost domestic supply and contain inflation.

    "Yes, there is no ban. Wheat exports are allowed," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of an ICAR function here.

    The government has not announced the quantity of wheat allowed for exports as global prices are very low, he said.

    Recently, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee headed Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food, in which Pawar is also a member, had given in-principal approval to lift the ban on wheat exports in the wake of overflowing stocks.

    At present, the government godowns have bulging wheat stock of 37.8 million tonnes (MT) in view of bumper output.

    Expressing doubts on viablity of wheat exports, Pawar said: "I don't think there will be any response. The issue is whether we will be able to sell in the global market at such low international prices".

    In light of excess stock and infeasibility of exports, the minister expressed concern over storage problem that could arise for the new crop to be harvested in 2011-12.

    "We have stocks much more than the country's requirement. So, my real worry is when paddy procurement starts in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab," he noted.

    Wheat stored in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab cannot be moved to the central India due to paucity of space.

    Although Agriculture Ministry is yet to announce the final production estimate, sources said that the country's total wheat output has touched a record 86 MT in the 2010-11 crop year (July-June) as against 80.80 MT in the previous year.

    "Although foodgrain production has since (after 2006-07) regained the requisite momentum and the agriculture sector as a whole is set to grow at 3 per cent per annum during the 11th Plan, we cannot be complacent.

    "We must note that this is less than the targeted 4 per cent and a consequence in recent years has been unacceptable levels of food price inflation. I expect the 12th Plan to contain all measures that are required to accelerate our agricultural growth rate," he said, while delivering foundation day lecture of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

    The foodgrain production in 2010-11 crop year (July-June) at 241 MT is higher by 5 MT than the forecast made in April and 23 MT more as compared to the previous year.

    "An estimated production of 241 MT was achieved because of record production of wheat, maize and pulses," Singh said

    He, however, said the challenges that the agriculture sector faces in the coming years "remain large".

    Pointing out that the country is still facing problem of under-nutrition and dependent on imports of pulses and edible oils, Singh said: "We clearly need a second Green Revolution, that is broad-based, inclusive and sustainable. We need to produce more".

    The Prime Minister noted that foodgrains demand is projected at about 280 MT by 2020-21 and to meet this requirement, the foodgrains output needs to grow by 2 per cent annually, which he termed as "enormous task".

    The Reserve Bank on Thursday said the progress of southwest monsoon has been "satisfactory" so far and will help boost farm output in the 2011-12 crop year.

    "The progress of southwest monsoon has so far been satisfactory, which augurs well for agricultural production," the central bank said in its mid-quarter credit policy review.

    Good monsoon is necessary for India's economic growth as more than 60 per cent of the country's total population is dependent on agriculture and allied activities.

    Besides, increase in foodgrains production will help improve supply situation and contain high inflation of over nine per cent.

    Speaking about the monsoon trend, Agriculture Secretary P K Basu had recently said, "The spread of rainfall across the country is "perfect" till date and I hope the area under paddy and other Kharif crops will be better than last year".

    He had also expressed confidence that if good rains continues, the country is likely to harvest a record 102 million tonnes of rice in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June).

    The sowing of kharif crops like paddy and pulses commenced from the current month and is expected gather pace with rains in the coming weeks.

    Southwest monsoon set in over Kerala on May 29, two days earlier than the forecast made by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

    The IMD has forecasted that rainfall during the four month season was "most likely" to be normal this year, at about 98 per cent of the Long Period Average, with a model error of plus or minus five per cent.

    However, the forecast is not final and IMD will update it in the current month.

    Due to drought in 2009-10, and 2010-11 in some parts of the country, the country's paddy production had suffered.

    Last year, the overall good monsoon had helped the country to harvest a record foodgrains production of 235.88 million tonnes. There was bumber production of wheat, pulses and cotton in 2010-11 crop year.

    MMTC invites bids for sale of 3,650 tonnes of pulses
    State-owned trading firm MMTC has invited bids for the sale of 3,650 tonnes of pulses.

    The leading importer of various commodities has in two separate notices invited bids for the sale of a total of 3,650 tonnes of red lentils, lemon toor and green moong.

    The last date of submission of bids for sale of 1,650 tonnes of lemon toor and green moong is July 19 and the decision on awarding the contract would be taken on the same day, the company said in a notice on its website.

    MMTC is selling 1,000 tonnes of lemon toor and 650 tonnes of green moong that is lying at godowns in Chennai. Both the pulses are of the crop year 2010 and has been sourced from Myanmar , MMTC said.

    In a separate notice, the company invited bids for the sale of 2,000 tonnes of red lentils.

    The last date for submission of bids is July 20 and a decision on awarding the contract will be taken on the same day, it said.

    The company is putting on sale 2,000 tonnes of red lentils, which is lying at godowns in Kolkata. The pulses are of the crop year 2009 and is of Canadian and/or Australian origin.

    PEC, MMTC and other state-run trading agencies like STC import different varieties of pulses on behalf of the government to augment domestic supply.

    16 JUL, 2011, 06.13PM IST, PRABHA JAGANNATHAN,ET BUREAU
    Centre opened up wheat exports but finds no takers in private sector without subsidy

    NEW DELHI: The Centre has opened up free wheat exports on the back of record stocks of 37.8mt, well above the prescribed buffer norms for the July 1 quarter, lying with it. Although there is as yet no formal announcement on this, agriculture and food processing minister Sharad Pawar said at an ICAR function here that there was "no ban on wheat exports" as of now, indicating that a decision to give this the go ahead was already taken at the meeting of the food EGoM headed by Pranab Mukherjee here on Monday last.

    He indicated that wheat output in the 2010-11 agricultural year was a record 86mt against last year's 80.80mt. That will be reflected in the soon to be released Fourth Advance estimates on crop production.

    A formal announcement was held up on account of the reluctance of the finance ministry to extend any sort of export subsidy to the private sector or even allowing access to subsidised Central stocks by them.

    Interestingly, while Pawar's agriculture ministry and commerce ministry were in favour on subsidised exports to clear stocking space for the Kharif marketing season when around 35mt of foodgrain are expected in addition, sources said, the food ministry backed by the FCI were assertive that they had enough storage space for the present and that no wheat would be allowed for export from Central stocks by the private sector. Without an export subsidy, of course, the latter would not want to export onccount of unfavourable global wheat prices currently.

    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/centre-opened-up-wheat-exports-but-finds-no-takers-in-private-sector-without-subsidy/articleshow/9249097.cms


    14 JUL, 2011, 07.44AM IST,
    Relaunching wheat export when international prices are depressed, and without subsidy, a futile exercise

    Tejinder Narang

    On July 11, 2011, the government in-principle cleared wheat export, subject to modalities of price and quantity, and terminated embargo on non-basmati rice export for a limited quantity of one million tonnes (mt) with a minimum export price ( MEP )) of $400 fob per tonne. Rice export from open market is feasible because Thai and Vietnamese values are supportive. Indian wheat lacks substantive competitiveness with other exporting origins.

    Ideal timing of authorising limited export was from August 2010 when world market was jetting high and wheat could have been shipped from the local market at $300-plus fob, as was done by Pakistan. It did not require price subsidisation at that time. Policy prevarication has led to inestimable presumptive financial loss due to farmers selling below minimum support price ( MSP )) in the current rabi season, especially in Uttar Pradesh, and window of profitable export opportunity having been lost due to overemphasis on the food security Bill.

    From hilltop down to the valley, whose bottom is yet to be seen - this describes global wheat price movement in June 2011. Almost a $90 dip (about 30%) from a high of $310 in CBOT futures implies that the proposed Indian relaxation of wheat export ban will be a non-starter unless subsidised. End of export ban by Russia and Ukraine from July 1, the cheapest sellers of wheat, who are collectively targeting 20 mt of exports, has led to sagging sentiment.

    Milling wheat fob per tonne for Russian is at $244, US-SRW or Australian around $260 and Feed wheat $230. This declining trend will escalate as Black sea export accelerates at 1.6 mt a month and India's entry in export market is confirmed.

    When markets slide, buyers wait for the bottom and speculators become shorters. Sellers stay on sidelines, depressing demand and prices all the more. Under this scenario, the price bottom will have to be guessed, but, empirically, it could be $170-180 fob per tonne as that was the Russian/Ukrainian quote before the August 2010 embargo. With quality premium over Black Sea, Indian wheat may fetch $210 fob.

    Open market price of domestic wheat at Rs.11,000 per tonne from the market plus fobbing cost of Rs.1,500 per tonne will average $280 fob, which is $70 more than anticipated competition. FCI economic cost ofRs.15,400 plus fobbing of Rs.1,500 will mean $380, which is $170 above the desired level. Of the 86 mt wheat output this year and a carry-over of 16 mt as of April 1, 2011, total supply adds to 102 mt against annual demand of around 81 mt.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/analysis/Relaunching-wheat-export-when-international-prices-are-depressed-and-without-subsidy-a-futile-exercise/articleshow/9219284.cms


    14 JUL, 2011, 07.38AM IST, NIDHI NATH SRINIVAS,ET BUREAU
    2G hybrid rice now tickles your taste buds too

    Rice is India's comfort food. It is our companion in moments of celebration, sickness and piety. We all have a personal favourite. That has put us billion consumers at the heart of a multi-million-dollar innovation extravaganza to make rice more abundant in India. ET helps you join the dots. India needs 1.5 million tonnes more rice each year to keep pace with demand. Hybrid rice can easily deliver.

    In a dozen fancy government and private labs across the country, scientists are creating the ultimate survivor: rice that can withstand flood, drought, diseases like blast and blight, and tired and salty soils. And also taste good. If they succeed in combining the two, the opportunity is mind-boggling.

    The attention to taste is new and comes the hard way. When the first generation of modern rice hybrids was introduced in 1994, the emphasis was yield and disease resistance. It almost flopped. Consumers in the south found it short, sticky, different in taste and quick to spoil after cooking. Millers refused to buy because one out of two grains would break while processing.

    With no takers, hybrid rice sold at a discount in the mandis, deflating farmer enthusiasm. Eastern India, that produces half the total volume on almost 60% of the total rice acreage, was the only region where it passed the taste barrier and thrived agronomically too. For scientists, the setback was a valuable lesson in product customisation. They figured that without the right quality, they don't have a product.

    The second generation of hybrid rice now in the market is designed for customers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The grain is finer, becomes fluffy after cooking, is suitable for idli-dosa and less brittle. That has rekindled farmer interest.

    Moreover, hybrids respond better to the same quantity of water and fertiliser, raising yields overall by a fifth. They fight diseases like blast and tungro virus. In the south, it can rain up to October, which damages mature paddy standing in the field. Hybrids that mature after five months when the water has receded are now available. For the north, the focus is on basmati. Hybrids like Pusa 1121 have revolutionised yields and lowered prices, retaining original look and feel. This converted a luxury grain into a middle-class staple.

    Growing consumer acceptance of 2G rice has fanned corporate investment in R&D. More than 15 hybrids from private labs have been released in the last two years. Though barely 3% of total rice acreage is currently sowed with hybrid seed, business is roaring. This year, India needs 30,000 truckloads for planting.

    Next year, 50,000 truckloads are needed, says public sector National Seed Corp. That's a 50% jump in a year. Companies say the hybrid rice seed market is today worth .`400 crore annually, producing paddy worth .`12,500 crore. The market for late-maturing rice alone is worth five million hectares. That is twice the total area under hybrid rice today.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/analysis/2g-hybrid-rice-now-tickles-your-taste-buds-too/articleshow/9219252.cms
    The National Development Council (NDC)in its 53rd meeting held on 29th May, 2007 adopted a resolution to launch a Food Security Mission comprising rice, wheat and pulses to increase the production of rice by 10 million tons, wheat by 8 million tons and pulses by 2 million tons by the end of the Eleventh Plan (2011-12). Accordingly, A Centrally Sponsored Scheme, 'National Food Security Mission', has been launched from 2007-08 to operationalize the above mentioned resolution. 1.2 The National Food Security Mission will have 3 components (i)Rice (ii) Wheat &(iii) Pulses.
    Main Crops:

MOST IMMEDIATE
BY SPEED POST/SPECIAL MESSENGER
No. CPS 2-2/2010-NFSM    
Government of India
Ministry of Agriculture
Department of Agriculture & Cooperation
Crops Division
NFSM Cell
*******
                                                                                                   Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
       Dated the  17
th
May, 2010.
Subject: Fifth Meeting of the National Food Security Mission Executive Committee (NFSMEC) under the Chairmanship of Secretary (A&C) scheduled to be held on 25.5.2010 at
11.00 AM in Committee Room No. 142, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi -Regarding.
*******   
The undersigned is directed to inform you that the 5
th
Meeting of the National Food
Security Mission Executive Committee (NFSM-EC) under the Chairmanship of Secretary
(A&C) is scheduled be held on 25.5.2010 at 11.00 AM in Committee Room No. 142, Krishi
Bhawan, New Delhi.  
You are, therefore, requested to kindly make it convenient to attend the above
meeting as per schedule. The agenda of the meeting is as under:
1. Approval of the Minutes of the Fourth Meeting of NFSM-EC held on 7.12.2009;
2. Review of the compliance of action points from previous meetings;
3. Ex-Post Facto approvals:
a.    State Action Plans of NFSM-Rice/NFSM-Pulses for 2010-11;
b.    Allocation of Seed Minikits of Rice (HYVs + Hybrids) and pulses
( Accelerated  Pulses Production Programme)  during 2010-11;
c.    Approvals of A3P and revised NFSM Pulses guidelines;  
4. Presentation by National Centre for Integrated Pest Management(NCIPM) on
pest surveillance and demonstrations of INM/IPM packages;
5. Presentation by NAFED on Marketing Strategies in NFSM - Pulses and A3P
areas;
6. Presentation by Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), Cuttack on opportunities
of Rice productivity enhancement particularly in Eastern India;
7. Presentations by selected states of M.P, U.P, A.P, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, West
Bengal, Bihar,  Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Chhattisgrh, Jharkhand, Karnataka,
Kerala and Rajasthan on:
a.   Review of Progress achieved under NFSM during 2009-10;
b.   Planning of inputs procurement for Kharif 2010-11and progress;
c.   Planning and progress of  input supply in A3P Kharif units;
d.   Status of minikits distribution of rice and A3P pulses  for 2010-11;
e.   APY of rice, pulses in NFSM / non-NFSM districts from 2007-08 to 2009-10;
and
f.    Status of  Online submission of progress reports upto districts/ block levels;
8.  Any other issue with the approval of the Chair.
(…….sd……)
(A. Neeraja)
Director (Crops)
Distribution: (As per List)
…2/- -2-
1. Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR), Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
2. Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi.
3. Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi.
4. Agriculture Commissioner, DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New elhi.
5. Adviser (Agriculture), Planning Commission, Yojna Bhawan, New Delhi.
6. Dr. R. B. Deshmukh, Vice Chancellor, Mahtma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri,  
Ahmed Nagar, Maharashtra (Tel. No. 02426-243302).
7. Dr. E. A. Siddiq, Hon. Professor (Bio-Technology), Acharya N. G. Ranga  Agricultural
University, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad.
8. Dr. J. P. Tandon, A-72, Sector-14, Noida (UP)-Tel. No. 9313033077.
9. Dr. B. C. Barah, Principal Scientist, NCAP, ICAR, Pusa, New Delhi.
10. Joint Secretary (Crops) & National Mission Director (NFSM), DAC, Krishi Bhawan,
New Delhi.
Copy also with the request to kindly participate and make Power Point Presentation not
exceeding five slides on agenda items 6(a) to (f)  in the above meeting to:
1. Principal Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Andhra Pradesh, Opposite L. B.
Stadium, Hyderabad-500002 (Tel. No. 040-23452263/Fax No. 040-23452263).
2. Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Assam, Dispur, Guwahati-171002  (Tel. No.
0361-2332125/Fax No. 0351-2260237).
3. Principal Secretary (Agriculture), Government of Bihar, Vikas Bhawan, Patna-800015
(Tel. No. 0612-2223720/Fax No. 0612-2224365).
4. Secretary (Finance & Agriculture), Government of Chhattisgarh, DKS Building,
Raipur-492006 (Tel. No. 0771-2221147/Fax No. 0771-2221345).
5. Principal Secretary (Agriculture), Government of Gujarat, New Sachivalaya Complex,
Block No. 5, Gandhinagar-382010 (Tel. No. 079-23250804/Fax No. 079-23252365).
6. Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Jharkhand, Nepal House, Post-Duranda,
Ranchi-834001 (Tel. No. 0651-2490578/Fax No. 0651-2490940).
7. Principal Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Karnataka, Secretariat, 4
th
Floor,
Bangalore-560001 (Tel. No. 080-22250284/Fax No. 080-22251420).
8. Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapurm-795001(Tel. No.
0471-2518653/Fax No. 0471-2330644).
9. Principal Secretary (Agriculture), Government of Madhya Pradesh, Vallabh Bhawan,
Bhopal-462001 (Tel. No. 0755-2441149/Fax No. 0755-2574687).
10. Principal Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Maharashtra, Mantralaya Annexe,
Mumbai-400032 (Tel. No. 022-22025357/Fax No. 022-22024976).
11. Principal Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Orissa, Secretariat Red Building,
Bhubaneshwar-751001 (Tel. No. 0674-2391325/Fax No. 0674-2417648).
12. Principal Secretary (Agriculture), Government of Rajasthan, Main Building Secretariat,
Jaipur-302005 (Tel. No. 0141-2227400/Fax No. 0141-5103626).
13. APC & Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of Tamil Nadu, Secretariat, Fort St.
George, Chennai-600009(Tel. No. 044-25674482/Fax No. 044-25674857).
14. APC, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Bahukhandi Bhawan, Lucknow-226001 (Tel. No.
0522-22381457/Fax No. 0522-2238393).
15. Secretary (Agriculture),  Government of West Bengal, Writers' Building, Kolkata-
700001 (Tel. No. 033-22145506/Fax No. 033-22143045).
..3/.. -3-
Copy also with the request to kindly participate in the above meeting to
1. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of Andhra Pradesh,
Hyderabad.
2. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of Assam, Guwahati.
3. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of Bihar, Patna.
4. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Chhattisgarh,
Raipur.
5. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of Gujarat, Gandhi
Nagar.
6. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Jharkhand,
Ranchi.
7. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Karnataka,
Bangalore.
8. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Kerala,
Thirivananthapuram.
9. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of Madhya Pradesh,
Bhopal.
10. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Maharashtra,
Pune.
11. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Orissa,
Bhubaneshear.
12. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur.
13. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Tamil Nadu,
Chennai.
14. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  Uttar Pradesh,
Lucknow.
15. Mission Director (NFSM), Department of Agriculture, Government of  West Bengal,
Kolkata.
Copy also with the request to make presentation not exceeding ten minutes as indicated in
the above agenda to:
1. Director, National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM), Pusa Complex,
New Delhi with the request to make presentation in the above meeting.
2. Managing Director, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India
Limited (NAFED), Sidhartha Enclave, Ashram Chowk, Ring Road, New Delhi – 110 014.
(Tel. No. 011-26344293/e-mail: cvabose@nafed.nic.in).
3. Director, Central Rice Research, Institute (CRRI), Cuttack, Orrisa-753006 (Tel.No. 0671-
2367768-83/FAX NO. 0671-2367663/e-mail: crrictc@ori.nic.in).
..4/.. -4-
Copy also with the request to kindly participate in the above meeting to:
1. Joint Secretary (Extension), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
2. JS (Seeds/ TMOP), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
3. JS (Machinery), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
4. JS (INM/ PP), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
Copy also with the request to kindly participate in the above meeting to:
1. Dr. G. K. Choudhury, Director (Wheat), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
2. Dr. R. S. Saini, National Consultant, NFSM, Pusa Complex, New Delhi.
3. Dr. Shankar Lal, National Consultant, NFSM, Pusa Complex, New Delhi.
4. Dr. R. K. Gupta, National Consultant, NFSM, Pusa Complex, New Delhi.
5. Dr. D. N. Singh, National Consultant, NFSM, Pusa Complex, New Delhi.
6. Shri R. N. Verma, Assistant Commissioner (NFSM), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
7. Shri S. R. Kachru, Assistant Director (NFSM), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
8. Shri Narender Kumar, Assistant Director (NFSM), DAC, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
9. Shri A. K. Singh STA (Crops) with the request to arrange logistics etc. for the above
meeting.
Copy for information to:
1. Sr. PPS to Secretary (A&C).
2. PS to Director (Crops)
http://nfsm.gov.in/Meetings_Minutes/5NFSMEC.pdf

Trade liberalization, poverty, and food security in India

This paper attempts to assess the impact of trade liberalization on growth, poverty, and food security in India with the help of a national-level computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The results show that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth and income-poverty reduction projected to occur following trade liberalization do not necessarily improve the food security and/or nutritional status of the poor. Evidence from simulations of (partial) trade reforms reflecting a possible Doha-like scenario show that the bottom 30 percent of the population in both rural and urban areas would suffer a decline in calorie and protein intake, in contrast to the rest of the population, even as all households increase their intake of fats. The food security / nutritional status outcome with regard to individual nutrients depends crucially on movements in the relative prices of different commodities along with changes in income levels. These results show that trade policy analysis should consider indicators of food security in addition to the overall growth and poverty measures traditionally considered in such studies.
Author:
Panda, Manoj
Ganesh-Kumar, A.
http://www.ifpri.org/publication/trade-liberalization-poverty-and-food-security-india








Searches related to land acquisition India

land acquisition 2009

india property





08 November 2010

Focus on production to address food security

As the warnings for the impending food crisis pour in, it is critical to think beyond the myopic and temporary approaches to managing food insecurity. In this context, attention must be focused on two dimensions of the problem simultaneously. The first concerns the question of distribution of food, particularly so as to prevent the tragic situation where food grains rot while citizens go hungry. The major governance/policy question regarding distribution is whether the the right to food should be universal or if it should be targeted.  

As I have argued at length elsewhere, targeting is not a solution where large numbers of citizens are hungry and food insecure. Under targeting, the state establishes criteria to determine which groups 'truly deserve' the benefits it chooses to offer.  Universal regimes, on the other hand, give benefits to the entire population as a matter of right. With the pervasive nature of hunger and malnutrition in India today, one might wonder how a universal right to food can even be in question. Should every Indian not have a right to be free from hunger and food insecurity? Should anything less suffice? In India's vast and growing landscape of hunger, targeting would mean choosing between the destitute, the poor, and the barely surviving; or if you like, the starving, the chronically hungry, the malnourished, the anemic and the food insecure.
Whichever way this policy decision goes, a food security policy regime will have to move beyond the question of distribution to the issue of production.
An important area that needs to be examined is women's role as producers, and empowered decision-makers. Even though women do the bulk of the farm work in most parts of the world, this work is usually unpaid, its value is unrecognised and they are marginalised in decision-making processes.
In my recent essays, Food security as if women mattered (Part I and Part II), I have explored one experiment in collective agriculture being undertaken by Kerala's Kudumbashree, which illustrates this potential. Let me emphasise two key features of this experiment. The first is that women-farmers are organised in a collective, rather than being individual entities. The collective organisational basis and relationships of solidarity are indispensable to this experiment.  Second, the initiative is part of the state government's food security policy, and tries to systematically bring together resources from different levels of the government, beginning from the local bodies to the central government.
Can this model be scaled up and replicated? While each specific context may throw up different challenges and require variations, the broad ethos of producer sovereignty that such models endorse is absolutely critical to focus on as we move towards the 2015 deadline of banishing world hunger.
Producer sovereignty implies producers get to determine how the food economy is governed. By contrast, what we have now is a model of corporate domination, which allows profiteering, speculation and trading in food within a framework that marginalises the producer.  Unless this anomaly is addressed, food security will remain an elusive goal.
Ananya Mukherjee Reed
Ananya Mukherjee-Reed is a professor of Political Science, Development Studies and Social and Political Thought at York University, Toronto, Canada.
http://indiagovernance.gov.in/blog/?blog=8

Fast Facts

There are more than 1.02 billion hungry people in the world

http://www.globalfoodsec.net/modules/fast_facts
Source:FAO 2010

What is food security?

Food security was defined in the 1974 World Food Summit as: "Availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices".
In 1983 the FAO expanded its concept of food security to include securing access by vulnerable people to available supplies of food, implying that attention should be balanced between the demand and supply side of the food security equation: "Ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food that they need".
The 1996 World Food Summit adopted a still more complex definition: "Food security, at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels [is achieved] when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life".
This definition was again refined in "The State of Food Insecurity 2001": "Food security [is] a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life".
Source: http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4671e/y4671e06.htm

What is hunger?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (1971 edition), Hunger is a term which has three meanings:
  • The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite, also the exhausted condition caused by want of food
  • The want or scarcity of food in a country
  • A strong desire or craving

What is malnutrition?

According to the Medical Encyclopaedia, Malnutrition is a general term that indicates a lack of some or all nutritional elements necessary for human health.
There are two basic types of malnutrition. The first is protein-energy malnutrition - the lack of enough protein and calories which all basic food groups provide. It is this definition of malnutrition that is used when world hunger is discussed. The second is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, however it is significant.
Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is the most lethal form of malnutrition/hunger. It is characterised by a lack of calories and protein. Food is converted into energy by humans, and the energy contained in food is measured by calories. Protein is necessary for key body functions including provision of essential amino acids and development and maintenance of muscles.
Source: Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia

The relationship between food security and conflict

Food insecurity presents a threat to local and global security that cannot be ignored. The most obvious way armed conflict leads to hunger is through the deliberate use of food as a weapon. Food shortages and deaths from famine occur where sieges deliberately destroy food supplies and productive capacities, with the aim of starving an opposing population into submission. Siege tactics include prevention or diversion of food aid from intended beneficiaries to the military and their supporters; destruction of food stocks, livestock, and other assets in food-producing regions; blockades of food supplies; economic sanctions; and donor policies that selectively withhold food aid.
Conflict also reduces farming populations through direct attacks, terror, enslavement, forced recruitment, malnutrition, illness, and death. As farming populations flee, decline, or stop farming out of fear, production falls and spreading food deficits over wider areas. Acts such as land-mining and the poisoning of wells have long-term effects on food production and other economic activities. Conflict-linked food shortages set the stage for years of food emergencies, even after fighting ceases.
Food Insecurity is also an important factor in domestic insurgencies. The lack of access to food, and hunger itself provides a legitimate grievance for populations against governing authorities. This is a causal factor for insurgencies that can topple the hegemony of the state. Thus, from a security perspective, it is essential that governments address this issue in order to avoid social conflict.
Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_66/ai_54668884/

Examples of recognised food security policies from around the world

The Bolsa Familia, Brazil

The Bolsa Familia (Family Allowance) is a part of the Brazilian governmental welfare program Fome Zero (Zero Huner). The Bolsa Familia provides financial aid to poor families on condition that their children attend school and are vaccinated. The program attempts to both reduce short-term poverty by direct cash transfers and fight long-term poverty by increasing human capital among the poor through conditional cash transfers. It reaches 11 million families, more than 46 million people, a major portion of the country's low-income population. Poor families with children receive an average of R$70.00 (about US$35) in direct transfers. In return, they commit to keeping their children in school and taking them for regular health checks. The Bolsa Familia has two important results: it helps to reduce current poverty, and encouraging families to invest in their children, thus breaking cycles of intergenerational poverty transmission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsa_Fam%C3%ADlia
Bolsa Familia: Changing the Lives of Millions in Brazil

Integrated Food Security Strategy (IFSS), South Africa

In order to address the grave food security crisis in South Africa, in 2000 the South African Government launched an updated national food security strategy to streamline, harmonise and integrate diverse food security sub-programmes in South Africa into the Integrated Food Security Strategy (IFSS). The vision of the Integrated Food Security Strategy is to "attain universal physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food by all South African at all times to meet their dietary and food preferences for an active and healthy life". This statement is also a definition of food security by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).
http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=70243

Progresa-Oportunidades, Mexico

Progresa-Oportunidades is a government social assistance program in Mexico founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa, created in 1997. This program is the first nationwide controlled randomized anti-poverty program in a developing country to offer "conditional cash transfers" in order to promote incentives for positive behaviour. The program offers cash transfers to poor families conditional on their participation in health and nutrition programs (such as prenatal care, well-baby care and immunization, nutrition monitoring and supplementation, and preventive checkups), along with incentives to promote childrens school attendance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oportunidades
http://cider.berkeley.edu/SEGA/progresa_oportunidades.htm

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), U.S.

The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people and families living in the U.S. Though the program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, benefits are distributed by the individual U.S. states. The number of Americans receiving food stamps reached 35 million in June 2009, the highest number since the program began in 1962, with an average monthly benefit of $133.12 per person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assistance_Program

National Food Policy (NFP), Bangladesh

The National Food Policy of Bangladesh is intended to ensure adequate and stable supply of safe and nutritious food, enhance purchasing power of the people for increased food accessibility and ensure adequate nutrition food for all (especially women and children). Following the 1999 Development Forum held in Paris which emphasized the need to adopt a comprehensive food security policy, the Government of Bangladesh established a Task Force involving nine ministries. Based on the recommendations of this Task Force, an initial draft of the NFP was produced in 2001. After consultations with a Parliamentary Sub-Committee on food, and with support from FAO, the draft went through a series of revisions between 2002 and 2004. The National Food Policy was finally approved by the Cabinet on 14 August 2006.
http://www.nfpcsp.org/

Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI), Ethiopia

The Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) strategy is the Government's overarching policy response to Ethiopia's food security and agricultural productivity challenge. The strategy promotes the use of labour-intensive methods to increase output and productivity by applying chemical inputs, diversifying production, utilizing improved agricultural technologies. ADLI also emphasizes the importance of distinguishing agro-ecological zones and tailors strategies as well as interventions for optimal development outcomes. This distinction guides the differentiated interventions needed to promote pro-poor and integrated growth. The instruments to achieve this include: focused infrastructure investments, especially in roads, telecommunications and connection to the electricity grid; intensified efforts to strengthen the flow of development finance, and administrative capacity in selected areas; and, agro-processing, tourism, and health interventions for control of tsetse fly and malaria in low-lying areas.
http://webapps01.un.org/nvp/frontend!policy.action?id=124

National Food Security Act, India

On June 4, 2009 India President Pratibha Patil decreed that a National Food Security Act would be formulated whereby each family below the poverty line (BPL) would be entitled by law to receive 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3/- per kg.

Ensuring food security during conflicts

Wars exacerbate the conditions leading to malnutrition. The obstruction of services for children, such as preventive immunization, leads to poor immune system resistance for example. The risk of infection is aggravated by population movements and the concentration of people in refugee camps. During conflicts, economic and social networks are shattered. To cope, people collect wild foods, look for credit, sell their labour and reduce consumption. When men leave, become disabled or die, women face heavy burdens of protecting the family and providing income and food, which may jeopardize their health. Mothers have little time for breastfeeding, preparing foods or providing care to children.
Emergency feeding programmes are recommended as part of a relief or rehabilitation programmes aimed at strengthening the resilience of households and rural economies. Given the long-term nature of most conflict situations and assistance programmes implemented during times of conflict, these programmes should adopt a developmental approach: Relief measures should be linked with development objectives such as the rehabilitation of agriculture to enhance local capacities and improve household food security.
Child nutrition and food security during armed conflicts

Some Global Philanthropic Foundations fighting hunger



16 JUL, 2011, 06.18PM IST, PRABHA JAGANNATHAN,ET BUREAU
241 mt of foodgrain produced in agricultural year 2010-11

NEW DELHI: India produced a record 241 mt of foodgrain in the agricultural year 2010-11 according to the Fourth Advanced Estimates on crop production for the year, compared to an earlier estimate of 236mt, on the back of good wheat, maize and pulses output. Oilseeds output, too was record.

The fourth estimates have yet to come out but indications on this came today from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , who congratulated both farmers and the country's agricultural scientists for this stellar achievement.

By 2020, however, the current spending of only 0.6% of the agricultural GDP on research and this needed to go up to over 2-3 times. Research had to focus on rainfed areas output since pulses adn oilseeds were mainly cultivated in such regions which dominate India's farmed land.Horticulture and animal husbandry too, were focussed in such regions, he pointed out. Irrigation efficiency, currently only around 30%, had also to go up to over 50% he said.

Describing the challenges of the immediate future as "enormous" he said the country still had many key issues left to tackle in the field of agricultural. Speaking at the 83rd Foundation Day ceremony of the ICAR here, he called for urgently using research and technology to boost farm output and productivity to meet the needs of the immediate future.Key food commodities such as pulses and edible oil continued to be imported to a good extent to meet the consumption needs of the country in an inclusive and sustained manner, he pointed out. By 2020-21, infact, the total demand for foodgrain was likely to go up to 280mt. In comparision, in the period between 97-98 adn 2006-07, foodgrain production only grew by a dismal annual average of 1%. In addition, the demand for fr touits, vegetables and milk and eggs were also likely to shoot upward in a marked manner, increasing the stress on availability for home consumption.

There was no place for complacency, Singh said, since the 11th Plan period growth rate for agriculture was only 3%, below the targetted 4% for the period. "I expect all the measures to be in place for the 12th Plan period to accelerate farm sector growth exponentially," he maintained even when controversy surrounded the Approach paper for the Plan period which is to be out soon. Activists and agri economists, for instance, have charged that a special focus on cash crops and privatisation of key agricultural infrastructure at the instance of WB and IMF was in the offing. The PM stressed that several of the original Green Revolution states had by now delivered a self goal on farm productivity by depleting both soil and water tables heavily.

Giving away a first time ICAR award for best performance in wheat to Haryana, (among the original Green Revolution states) the PM pointed out that several eastern states were repeat offenders when it came to foodgrain offtake for welfare and PDS programmes although the latter needed to be strengthened urgently both vis a vis storage and distribution before ensuring that a legislation was in place to guarantee food to the needy and to deliver at the ground level on this.,

Interesingly, he skirted the contentious issue of ethanol aggressive pushed by the sugar industry while referring to the need to reduce dependence on hydrocarbons by focussing research on organic alternatives like algae.

The PM's expression of worry over poor agricultural productivity came in the thick of signals that the Centre's much vaunted right to food law may come into force only by next year, after extensive consultations with the statesy, who will play a key role in implementing the Act, on the issue. Meantime, it has close to a record 64mt of grain lying in stocks by beginning July following two consecutive years of good production mainly due to the disinterest of several states in picking up subsidised grain allotted to them, despite "attractive" rates.That issue is set to be discussed with states towards this month end.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/241-mt-of-foodgrain-produced-in-agricultural-year-2010-11/articleshow/9249140.cms

Govt allows export of 50000 tonnes of foodgrains to Oman

Economic Times - ‎Jul 12, 2011‎
NEW DELHI: India today allowed the export of 50000 tonnes of wheat and non-basmati rice to Oman on diplomatic grounds. "We have cleared export of 40000 tonnes of wheat and 10000 tonnes of non-basmati rice to Oman through a diplomatic channel," Food ...

EGoM clears food Bill

Indian Express - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
In an attempt to introduce the proposed food security law in the monsoon session, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Monday cleared a rationalised version of the food security Bill by diluting parts ...

Best Foods aims to double domestic basmati sales

Daily News & Analysis - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
By KV Ramana | Place: Hyderabad | Agency: DNA Best Foods, one of the largest Indian basmati rice exporters, is looking at doubling its share in the domestic market in the next four years. The company currently records about 75% of its revenue from the ...

GoM okays food bill draft, but minor issues persist

Hindustan Times - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
A high-level inter-ministerial panel on Monday approved the draft national food security bill, which the Centre expects to place before Parliament in monsoon session beginning August 1, a government functionary said. The empowered group of ministers ...

Ministers' panel clears draft food security Bill

Livemint - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
A ministerial group on Monday cleared the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's proposed law on providing foodgrains at subsidized rates to the poor. The draft national food security Bill is expected to be introduced in the ...

Law Min to vet draft food security bill after EGoM nod

Moneycontrol.com - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
The draft bill of the proposed National Food Security Act prepared by the Food Ministry, which aims to provide a legal right on subsidised foodgrains to the poor, will be vetted by the Law Ministry before being submitted to the Cabinet,...

EGoM approves draft right to food bill

Economic Times - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
NEW DELHI: An empowered group of ministers on food headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday approved an amended right to food bill proposed by the parent ministry knitting key points of suggestions made by the NAC and the PMEAC here. ...

Govt panel allows rice, wheat exports, okays food bill

Reuters India - Mayank Bhardwaj, Ratnajyoti Dutta - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
A labourer leaps over sacks of rice at a wholesale grain market in Chandigarh November 22, 2010. By Mayank Bhardwaj and Ratnajyoti Dutta NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has agreed to allow 1 million tonnes of common rice exports and an unspecified amount ...

Best Foods in expansion mode

Business Standard - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
Best Foods Limited, an integrated basmati rice player with presence across value chains, has laid down growth plans, which include expanding capacity, retail presence and ramping up branding. The company is eying a double digit growth and aims to be ...
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Farm and Agriculture

Moneycontrol.com

PM bats for bio-tech to improvefarm output

Business Standard - ‎1 hour ago‎
"Although foodgrain production has since 2006-07 regained the requisite momentumand the agriculture sector as a whole is set to grow by three per cent per annum during the 11th Plan, we cannot be complacent," Singh said while delivering foundation day ...
Prime Minister Calls for Raising farmProductivity to Meet the Growing Demand ...Press Information Bureau (press release)
241 mt of foodgrain produced in agricultural year 2010-11 Economic Times
Daijiworld.com - Daily News & Analysis -fnbnews.com - domain-B

CACP chief Ashok Gulati lashes out at government's slow decisions on farm ...

Economic Times - ‎2 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: The Centre's decision to allow wheat exports at long last publicised today by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar at an ICAR function here may be more than just a case of a dollar short and a day too late, Commission for Agricultural Costs and ...
The Hindu

Wheat exports ban lifted, market says move too late

Business Standard - ‎47 minutes ago‎
Wheat exports are allowed," AgricultureMinister Sharad Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) event, here.
India lifts ban on wheat exports: report MSN Philippines News
Centre opened up wheat exports but finds no takers in private sector without ... Economic Times
Times of India

Gujarat records highest decadal agricultural growth rate of 10.97%

Economic Times - ‎16 hours ago‎
The study credits the frontrunner farm growth state with key measures including marked increase in key agricultural investment areas including irrigation, a dedicated power grid to ensure power supply to the farm sector and the use of state of the art ...
Gloucester County Times - NJ.com

Washington Township schoolchildren learn aboutagriculture and helping the ...

Philadelphia Inquirer - Rita Giordano -‎10 hours ago‎
A month later, they brought their little plants to Duffield's to be planted at the farm. And they got to eat strawberries.
Washington Township third graders and New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture ...Gloucester County Times - NJ.com
Daily Yonder

USDA study finds dairy herds raised on pasture have environmental benefits

West Central Tribune - ‎12 hours ago‎
Agricultural engineer Al Rotz from USDA's Agricultural Research Service led a team that evaluated how different management systems on a typical 250-acre Pennsylvania dairy farmwould affect the environment. For this study, Rotz and his team collected a ...
Who Gets the Beef in 2011? Daily Yonder
The Hindu

India needs another green revolution, says Manmohan Singh

The Hindu - ‎5 hours ago‎
But, he added, many regions which witnessed the green revolution were suffering from environmental degradation and farmproductivity had since plateaued.
Fast-growing India needs '2nd green revolution': PM AFP

Farmers, food activists prepare for urbanagriculture showdown

Edmonton Journal - Elise Stolte - ‎7 hours ago‎
"If it's fractured like it is now, it's going to be very difficult tofarm," he said. "To get out of a field, for instance -tractorsand traffic don't work well. Dirt would be coming off of the fields, and residents don't like to see spraying, ...

Ministry seeks to halt job plan in farmseason

Hindustan Times - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
The ministry of agriculture wants the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) works suspended during the peak farming seasons of sowing, transplantation and harvesting. In a letter to the rural development ministry, the farm ...
GazetteNET

Help that didn't come: Lost tax credit a big factor in dairy farms' demise

GazetteNET - Rebecca Everett -‎16 hours ago‎
L'Etoile said the state's fiscal 2012 budget includes language that would allow a review of the prior year's tax credit, but only if the Board of Food and Agriculture determines an error has been made. Unlike other agricultural industries in the state, ...
The top Democrat on the House AgricultureCommittee proposes a revamped safety ...WatertownDailyTimes.com

CROP AND RAINFALL REPORT: One farmer's request? 'Pray for rain'

MyWebTimes.com - ‎14 hours ago‎
Ours were planted in 30-inch rows which are nearly closed in. I mentioned the United States Department of Agriculturereport last week.
U.S. grain and soy review: Corn extends rally on weather threat CattleNetwork.com
Soybeans Head for Longest Rally Since 2007 on Weather Woes; Corn Climbs Bloomberg
China Daily - Agrimoney.com - Live Trading News -Commodity Online

Farmers, fertiliser makers join hands for survival

The News International - Munawar Hasan - ‎16 hours ago‎
As many as 200 people, being stakeholders in agriculturesector attended the one of its kind gathering. About a dozen farmer representative bodies hailing from all over Pakistan, five leading fertiliser manufacturers and several other delegates from ...
Govt decision to put extra burden on farmers condemnedPakistan Observer
FAP concerned at import of agri products DAWN.com
Globe and Mail

National parks combine conservation, agriculture

Globe and Mail - Jessica Leeder -‎16 hours ago‎
"They won't be big commercial family farms or large commodity farms," said Wendell Joyce, Greenbelt portfolio officer for the National Capital Commission, which has 5400 hectares of agricultural land near Ottawa and50 farm leases slated to expire over ...
The Associated Press

Down on the farm, investors see big potential

The Associated Press - ‎Jul 15, 2011‎
Prices have risen so fast that regulators have begun sounding alarms, and farmers are beginning to voice concerns. "I never thought prices would get this high," says Robert Huber, 73, who just sold his 500-acre cornand soybean farm in Carmel, Ind., ...

Steps to Ease the Regulatory Nightmare for Farmers and Ranchers

Farm Bureau News - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
Farmers and ranchers are asking Congress to help alleviate the ever-increasing burden of federal environmental regulations on agriculture. Arizona Farm Bureau President Kevin Rogers testified before a House Energy andCommerce subcommittee on some of ...

Land reforms erode property rights

The Financial Gazette - Tabitha Mutenga - ‎7 hours ago‎
The lack of secure land tenure has been a major disincentive to those who want to invest in agriculture. It has caused the poorly-funded black farmers to neglect farm infrastructureand in some cases engage in asset-stripping.

Wisconsin court sides against Bowers Feed & Grain owner

Green Bay Press Gazette - ‎8 hours ago‎
A court has reinstated a $100000 judgment against Bowers Feed & Grain Inc. of Wrightstown and its owner, Jim Vandenberg, according to the Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen and state Department of Agriculture, Trade andConsumer Protection ...
China Daily

China's autumn grain harvest to be "satisfactory" -media

Reuters Africa - Jason Subler, David Lin -‎8 hours ago‎
The official Xinhua news agency also cited Chen Mengshan, chief economist andspokesman for the agriculture ministry, as saying on Friday that the outlook for the country's full-year grain output was good.
Bumper harvest expected as autumn production proceeds smoothly: officialPeople's Daily Online
Harvest will be 'satisfactory' China Daily

USDA to test farm-to-school programs in Florida and Michigan

The Packer - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
The US Department of Agriculture has selected Florida andMichigan for test states to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to schools in its farm-to-school programs. The agency's Agricultural Marketing Service and Food and Nutrition Service divisions ...
USDA seeks ways to boost farm-to-school programsBusinessWeek
U.S. farm loans: Don't count on it Examiner.com
Indian Express

Punjab rues inaction on increasing food grain storage

MSN India - ‎1 hour ago‎
... of maize - to encourage the farmers to shift some cultivable areas from rice to maize, Badal urged the prime minister to take up this matter with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure maize from Punjab farmers on the lines of wheat and paddy.
Badal meets PM for resolving Hansi-Butana canal row IBNLive.com
Punjab, Haryana row over canal wall reaches PM Daijiworld.com
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Govt allows export of 50000 tonnes of foodgrains to Oman
‎Jul 12, 2011‎ - Economic Times
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‎Jul 10, 2011‎ - Moneycontrol.com

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16 JUL, 2011, 08.25PM IST, PRABHA JAGANNATHAN,ET BUREAU
CACP chief Ashok Gulati lashes out at government's slow decisions on farm sector exports

NEW DELHI: The Centre's decision to allow wheat exports at long last publicised today by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar at an ICAR function here may be more than just a case of a dollar short and a day too late, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) head Ashok Gulati said today. Lashing out at the "too timid, slow and "overcautious" decision making process in the case of agricultural exports time and again, Gulati said " These delayed trade policy decisions are costing us too much; they cannot carry on." Crucially, he warned that the credibility of the Centre's Minimum Support Policy (MSP) would be gravely at risk if it did not announce "some sort of compensation in the range of Rs 2000-3000/ha" to wheat farmers in UP, especially eastern UP and Bihar, two key states where the government was crafting its second Green Revolution to urgently increase farm productivity.

That announcement, he said, had to come before the next Rabi sowing season in order to keep wheat farmers incentivised. Wheat price in the international market has dropped by about $50/tonne in a span of just 15 days, he pointed out, making opening up wheat exports highly irrelevant.In turn, that was hampering realisation of produce price to wheat farmers. To boot, he said, paddy farmers in Andhra Pradesh, among the country's top producers, would also be directly affected by the prevailing below MSP price that they were being offered. The CACP chief said that his outfit was now gearing up to probe into reports that even pulses, which are imported to a good extent at high international prices annually to meet home demand, were now attracting below MSP prices in Bihar;

"The developments don't speak well of government MSP policy, especially in the case of wheat and rice. Wheat farmers are getting prices which are 10% below the official MSP. Should the Centre not compensate them in order to shore up the credibiliyt of the MSP policy? Too much grain is already being damaged on account of poor and low storage; the risks that the farmers especially in these two regions suffered on account of below MSP prices for their record wheat produce has to be compensated. If the government can craft a food bill that calls for cash compensation where mandatory grain is unavailable in any specific time, why can they not work out a method by which these producers are compensated upfront for the failure of the government's MSP programme?"

The "in principle" decision to allow wheat exports after four years was taken at an EGoM headed by Pranab Mukherjee gone Monday but not official announcement was made following differences over subsidising exports by the private sector to make it economically viable for them or, alternatively, allowing them access to the Centre's huge wheat stocks at depressed prices. A food inflation -scarred food ministry is in favour of keeping the stocks to intervene in the market and cool prices if the international price situation should change and the private sector exports wheat in a hurry. The finance ministry, on the other hand, was reluctant to commit to upfront export subsidy while agricultural rooted for open exports in order to shore up produce price for already risk-hit farmers.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/CACP-chief-Ashok-Gulati-lashes-out-at-governments-slow-decisions-on-farm-sector-exports/articleshow/9250052.cms


5 JUL, 2011, 03.41AM IST, MADHVI SALLY,ET BUREAU
India grain prices favour exports

AHMEDABAD: Indian wheat and rice are competitively priced to enter the global market if government lifts the ban on exports, say traders. However, with rising cost of transportation, final export sales would depend on the ports through which the cargoes would be sent.

"The best parity in wheat export will come for Rajkot traders where prices are ruling at Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,110 per quintal at mill delivery. Traders in Kota and Indore are also expected to benefit as distances from there to the Kandla port will be less. However, traders in Uttar Pradesh's wheat-growing belt of Bareilly and Shahjahanpur will lose out due to increased wheat prices at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,220 per quintal excluding the transportation cost," said a Mumbai-based trader who added that major destinations would include South Africa , Dubai and Saarc countries.

However, rice exporters and traders are pessimistic on exports. India imposed a ban on export of wheat in 2007 and non-basmati rice in 2008 to stabilise domestic prices and contain food inflation in the country. In 2010, wheat production touched 82.4 million tonne and rice production at 95 million tonne. As on June 1, the country's wheat and rice stock stood at 65.4 million tonne and 37.8 million tonne respectively, according to the Union ministry of food and public distribution.

On Friday, Union food minister KV Thomas said the government favoured export of three million tonne wheat and rice. Wheat export was to take place through private trade and non-basmati rice export through FCI godowns. "Export of non-basmati rice through FCI godowns is not viable as the quality is very poor. The government should allow private traders to enter the market," said Rice Millers Association president Ashok Aggarwal. He added that the Indian rice would be imported by SAARC countries and African nations.

Wheat traders said the government might allow export of 2 million tonne wheat through PSU trading companies MMTC and State Trading Corporation. "With the National Food Security Bill being formulated and expected to be finalised by this week, the government is likely to increase grain procurement from the current 40 million tonne to around 60 million tonne. If this happens, exports will remain negligible," said Narendra Gupta, owner of LNG Agri Comm, a grain trader in Delhi's Naya Bazar market.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/India-grain-prices-favour-exports/articleshow/9106552.cms

Food security in India
The focus on accelerated foodgrains production on a sustainable basis and free trade in grains would help create massive employment and reduce the incidence of poverty in rural areas.

INDIA AT present finds itself in the midst of a paradoxical situation: endemic mass-hunger coexisting with the mounting foodgrain stocks. The foodgrain stocks available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stand at an all time high of 62 million tonnes against an annual requirement of around 20 million tonnes for ensuring food security. Still, an estimated 200 million people are underfed and 50 million on the brink of starvation, resulting in starvation deaths. The paradox lies in the inherent flaws in the existing policy and implementation bottlenecks.

Challenges ahead

India's food security policy has a laudable objective to ensure availability of foodgrains to the common people at an affordable price and it has enabled the poor to have access to food where none existed. The policy has focused essentially on growth in agriculture production (once India used to import foodgrains) and on support price for procurement and maintenance of rice and wheat stocks. The responsibility for procuring and stocking of foodgrains lies with the FCI and for distribution with the public distribution system (PDS).

Minimum support price: The FCI procures foodgrains from the farmers at the government announced minimum support price (MSP). The MSP should ideally be at a level where the procurement by FCI and the offtake from it are balanced. However, under continuous pressure from the powerful farmers lobby, the government has been raising the MSP and it has now become higher than what the market offers to the farmers. Also, with quality norms in the procured grains not strictly observed, farmers pressurise the FCI to procure grains beyond its procurement target and carrying capacity. The MSP has now become more of a procurement price rather than being a support price to ensure minimum production. The rich farmers and traders have cornered most of the benefits under the support price policy. The small farmers lack access to FCI and being steeped in poverty resort to distress selling. Constricted warehousing facility has further aggravated their miseries. At times, the same farmers later pay more to buy it from PDS.

Input subsidies: Over the years, to keep foodgrain prices at affordable levels for the poor, the government has been imposing restrictions on free trade in foodgrains. This has suppressed foodgrain prices in the local market, where the farmers sell a part of their produce and as compensation, they are provided subsidies on agriculture inputs such as fertilizers, power and water. These subsidies have now reached unsustainable levels and also led to large scale inefficiencies in the use of these scarce inputs. Overuse of fertilizer and water has led to waterlogging, salinity, depletion of vital micronutrients in the soil, and reduced fertility. The high subsidies have come at the expense of public investments in the critical agriculture infrastructure, thereby reducing agriculture productivity. Besides the high MSP, input subsidies and committed FCI purchases have distorted the cropping pattern with wheat and paddy crops being grown more for the MSP they fetch, despite therebeing relatively less demand for them. Punjab and Haryana are classic examples here. This has also led to a serious imbalance in inter-crop parities despite no significant increase in the yield of wheat and paddy.

Issue price: The people are divided into two categories: below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL), with the issue price being different for each category. However, this categorisation is imperfect and a number of deserving poor have been excluded from the BPL fold. Moreover, some of the so called APL slip back to BPL, say with failure of even one crop and it is administratively difficult to accommodate such shifts.

To reduce the fiscal deficit, the government has sought to curtail the food subsidy bill by raising the issue price of foodgrains and linking it to the economic cost at which the FCI supplies foodgrains to the PDS. The economic cost comprises the cost of procurement, that is, MSP, storage, transportation and administration and is high mainly because of the artificially inflated MSP and also due to the operational inefficiencies of the FCI. This has pushed the issue price to APL category higher than the market rates and to BPL category beyond their purchasing power, resulting in plummeting of offtake from the PDS.

Also, the low quality of PDS grains and the poor service at PDS shops have forced many people to switchover to market, which offers better quality grains, allows purchase on credit and ensures flexibility to purchase in small quantities.

Also, the high-priced, low-quality Indian rice and wheat find little place in the international market. Recently, two Indian consignments were rejected even by Iraq on quality considerations. The result is bulging stocks with FCI amidst widespread starvation.

Market demand: The PDS entitlement meets only around 25 per cent of the total foodgrain requirement of a BPL family and it has to depend more on the market for meeting its needs. Also with the APL families essentially opting for market purchases, the market demand has risen. However, the massive FCI procurement has crowded out the market supplies, resulting in a relative rise in rates. The poor are the most hurt in this bargain.

Food-for-work scheme: The government is running food-for-work scheme to give purchasing power to the poor who get paid for their labour in cash and foodgrains. The scheme is, however, not successful, since the Central Government is required to meet only the foodgrain component and the cash strapped States are expected to meet the cash component (almost 50 per cent of the total expenditure). In many States the scheme has even failed to take off.

Suggested recommendations

There is a need to shift from the existing expensive, inefficient and corruption ridden institutional arrangements to those that will ensure cheap delivery of requisite quality grains in a transparent manner and are self-targeting.

Futures market and free trade: The present system marked by input subsidies and high MSP should be phased out. To avoid wide fluctuations in prices and prevent distress selling by small farmers, futures market can be encouraged. Improved communication systems through the use of information technology may help farmers get a better deal for their produce. Crop insurance schemes can be promoted with government meeting a major part of the insurance premium to protect the farmers against natural calamities.

To start with, all restrictions on foodgrains regarding inter-State movement, stocking, exports and institutional credit and trade financing should be renounced. Free trade will help make-up the difference between production and consumption needs, reduce supply variability, increase efficiency in resource-use and permit production in regions more suited to it.

Food-for-education programme: To achieve cent per cent literacy, the food security need can be productively linked to increased enrolment in schools. With the phasing out of PDS, food coupons may be issued to poor people depending on their entitlement.

Modified food-for-work scheme/ direct subsidies: With rationalisation of input subsidies and MSP, the Central Government will be left with sufficient funds, which may be given as grants to each State depending on the number of poor.

The State government will in turn distribute the grants to the village bodies, which can decide on the list of essential infrastructure work the village needs and allow every needy villager to contribute through his labour and get paid in food coupons and cash.

Community grain storage banks: The FCI can be gradually dismantled and procurement decentralised through the creation of foodgrain banks in each block/ village of the district, from which people may get subsidised foodgrains against food coupons. The food coupons can be numbered serially to avoid frauds. The grain storage facilities can be created within two years under the existing rural development schemes and the initial lot of grains can come from the existing FCI stocks. If culturally acceptable, the possibility of relatively cheap coarse grains, like bajara and ragi and nutritional grains like millets and pulses meeting the nutritional needs of the people can also be explored. This will not only enlarge the food basket but also prevent such locally adapted grains from becoming extinct. The community can be authorised to manage the food banks. This decentralised management will improve the delivery of entitlements, reduce handling and transport costs and eliminate corruption, thereby bringing down the issue price substantially. To enforce efficiency in grain banks operation, people can also be given an option to obtain foodgrains against food coupons from the open market, if the rates in the grain banks are higher, quality is poor or services are deficient. A fund can be set up to reimburse the food retailers for the presented coupons. This competition will lead to constant improvement and lower prices. It must also be mandatory to maintain a small buffer stock at the State level, to deal with exigencies.

Enhancing agriculture productivity: The government, through investments in vital agriculture infrastructure, credit linkages and encouraging the use of latest techniques, motivate each district/ block to achieve local self-sufficiency in foodgrain production. However, instead of concentrating only on rice or wheat, the food crop with a potential in the area must be encouraged. Creation of necessary infrastructure like irrigation facilities will also simulate private investments in agriculture.

The focus on accelerated foodgrains production on a sustainable basis and free trade in grains would help create massive employment and reduce the incidence of poverty in rural areas. This will lead to faster economic growth and give purchasing power to the people.

A five-year transitory period may be allowed while implementing these. Thus, India can achieve food security in the real sense and in a realistic timeframe.

Prashant Goyal

Secretary to Government Chief Secretariat, Pondicherry

(The views expressed here are the author's personal)

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/biz/2002/01/10/stories/2002011000440200.htm


MAINSTREAM, VOL XLVI, NO 13

Agrarian Crisis in India is a Creation of the Policy of Globalisation

Mathew Aerthayil

The people's protest against Special Economic Zones in various parts of the country, including at Nandigram in West Bengal, stagnation in agriculture, import of foodgrains, widespread suicide of farmers—all these are systems of simmering discontent in the agricultural sector. What is highlighted today in the national scene is the image of "incredible India" and "shining India". We hear often about India as a country with a very high economic growth, a country with the highest numbers of billionaires in Asia, and a country of world renowned information technology. But we do not hear enough about the serious problems in agriculture. Those who govern us do not seem to be concerned about this problem; probably they do not want to. But we cannot easily ignore this problem any longer.
It was with the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1991 that the policy of globalisation was concretely introduced in India. Based on this policy and the directives of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation, the Indian economy was substantially overhauled. The Export-Import policy was liberalised; the import and customs duties of many products were drastically lowered or totally dropped so that they could be imported without any restriction. The government started reducing its investment in agriculture and the industrial sector allowing the private sector to take over. The restructuring of the public distribution system really affected the availability of foodgrains to the poor at subsidised rates. All such measures had implications for the farm sector. This article analyses how the policy of globalisation has affected agriculture in India.
Problems of Agrarian Sector and their Consequences
FIFTEEN years of economic liberalisation have adversely affected Indian agriculture. The most prominent manifestation of this is in the drastic decline in the growth rate of foodgrains. The rate of growth of agricultural output was gradually increasing in 1950-1990, and it was more than the rate of growth of the population. In the 1980s the agricultural output grew at about four per cent per annum. Thus India became self-sufficient in food and started exporting wheat and rice. But during the 10-year period after the start of liberalisation, the rate of growth declined to two per cent. According to the Mid-term Appraisal of the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07), the rate of growth of the GDP in agriculture and allied sectors was just one per cent per annum during the year 2002-05. As a result, per capita availability of foodgrains decreased; the growth rate of population became higher than that of foodgrains, and India started to import foodgrains at a much higher price than that in the domestic market.
Secondly, unemployment in the agricultural sector increased during the reform period as agriculture was not profitable due to the fall in the price of farm products. As a result, the number of people who are employed in the primary sector and the area under cultivation decreased, which in turn caused a decline in rural employment. According to the National Sample Survey, the annual rate of growth of the employment in the rural areas was 2.07 per cent in 1987-1984, while it declined to a mere 0.66 per cent in 1993-2000, which corresponds to the period of liberalisation. It is not only the farmers but also the Dalits and tribals, who heavily depend on agriculture, became unemployed.
The suicide of farmers is the third fall-out of stagnation in agriculture. When agriculture was not yielding remunerative income, the life of the farmers became very desperate. Many of them committed suicide as a last resort. As revealed by Sharad Pawar, the Union Agricultural Minister, in the Lok Sabha in 2004, over one lakh farmers committed suicide in India after the economic reform started. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 17,060 farmers committed suicide in the country in 2006 with Maharashtra having the highest number of (4453) suicide deaths. Punjab is the latest in the list of States having farmers' suicide. This is a record in the agricultural history of India. It points to the acute nature of the problem which has affected the vast majority of the population, and which has created a real crisis. But unfortunately, the government and the people do not consider it a crisis; their lack of seriousness and lukewarm response to the problem points to this reality.
Reasons for the Agrarian Crisis
THERE is a need for analysing the reasons for the crisis to see whether there is any connection with globalisation and, if so, what measures could be adopted to face this challenge.
1. Liberal Import of Agricultural Products
The main reason for the crash of prices of agricultural products, especially of cash crops, in India was removal of all restrictions to import these products. As, for example, when the Government of India reduced the import duty on tea and coffee from Sri Lanka and Malaysia, their prices in the domestic market got reduced drastically. Thus cultivation of such products became unprofitable and so their production was fully or partly stopped. Since the removal of quantitative restrictions and lowering of import duties were according to the restrictions of the World Trade Organisations (WTO), the crash in the prices of agricultural products is directly related to the liberalisation policy of the government.
2. Cutback in Agricultural Subsidies
In the post-reform period the government reduced different types of subsidies to agriculture, and this has increased the production cost of cultivation. According to Ramesh Chand, an economist, cutback in subsidy and control of fertilisers over the last few years has adversely affected the agricultural sector. It has increased the input cost and made agriculture less profitable. Since the decrease in subsidy to agriculture is part of the regulations of the WTO, it is related to the policy of globalisation.
3. Lack of Easy and Low-cost Loan to Agriculture
After 1991 the lending pattern of commercial banks, including nationalised banks, to agriculture drastically changed with the result that loan was not easily available and the interest was not affordable. This has forced the farmers to rely on moneylenders and thus pushed up the expenditure on agriculture. The National Commission for Agriculture, headed by Dr M.S. Swaminathan, also pointed out that removal of the lending facilities and concessions of banks during the post-reform period have accelerated the crisis in agriculture. When the farmers were not able to pay back loan with high interest, they fell into the debt trap. Studies show that most of the farmers' suicides was due to the debt trap. It is part of the policy of privatisation that banks, even nationalised banks, look for profit over their social responsibilities to the people.
4. Decline in Government Investment in the Agricultural Sector
Studies show that after the economic reforms started, the government's expenditure and investment in the agricultural sector have been drastically reduced. This is based on the policy of minimum intervention by the government enunciated by the policy of globalisation. The expenditure of the government in rural development, including agriculture, irrigation, flood control, village industry, energy and transport, declined from an average of 14.5 per cent in 1986-1990 to six per cent in 1995-2000. When the economic reforms started, the annual rate of growth of irrigated land was 2.62 per cent; later it got reduced to 0.5 per cent in the post-reform period. The consequences were many. The rate of capital formation in agriculture came down, and the agricultural growth rate was also reduced. This has affected the purchasing power of the rural people and subsequently their standard of living.
5. Restructuring of the Public Distribution System (PDS)
As part of the neo-liberal policy, the government restructured the PDS by creating two groups—Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL)—and continuously increased the prices of foodgrains distributed through ration shops. As a result, even the poor people did not buy the subsidised foodgrains and it got accumulated in godowns to be spoiled or sold in the open market. As the in-take from PDS was less it has affected the food security of the poor, especially in the rural areas, and this has indirectly affected the market and the farmers.
6. Special Economic Zones
As part of the economic reforms, the system of taking over land by the government for commercial and industrial purposes was introduced in the country. As per the Special Economic Zones Act of 2005, the government has so far notified about 400 such zones in the country. Very often it is fertile land which has been acquired. According to Khasanoki, a writer, the government has acquired five million hectares of land for purposes other than agriculture between 1991 and 2003. This is almost half of what was acquired during the last 40 years. It was in the news that the government decided to acquire 10,120 hectares of land near Mumbai (almost one-third area of Mumbai) for the Reliance Company and reduced it to 5000 hectors due to public pressure. Since the SEZ deprives the farmers of their land and livelihood, it is harmful to agriculture. In order to promote export and industrial growth in line with globalisation the SEZ was introduced in many countries.
Towards a Solution
THE agricultural crisis is affecting a majority of the people in India. The farmers who produce food materials for the country are in deep distress. The marginalised people like the Dalits and tribals, who depend on agriculture, are getting unemployed and struggling for their livelihood. The ordinary people, especially the poor, have lost their food security. The crisis in agriculture is a crisis of the country as a whole and so needs urgent attention. Some of the suggestions are being listed here.
1. Quantitative restrictions should be imposed on import of agricultural products. Since the import policy was the major reason for the crash in prices of many agricultural products, there should be restrictions on the quantity and customs duty of such products. Necessary import duty and quantitative restrictions should be imposed on imported goods to protect our farmers who should be given priority to the discipline of the WTO.
2. Subsidy and concessions given to agriculture but removed in the post-reform period should be restored. This is a must to make agriculture remunerative. One of the main disputes in the Doha Round of talks at the WTO is the high subsidy given by the United States and European Union to their farmers in spite of the WTO regulation. India should assert its right to give sufficient subsidy to its farmers to offset the rising cost of cultivation and protect their livelihood.
3. Bank loans should be easily made available to the farmers, especially since the input cost of agriculture has gone up. The government should seriously think of restoring the low rate of interest to farmers given by banks and other financial institutions as it had done before the reform period. In fact, the M.S. Swaminathan Commission for Agriculture has recommended a low rate of four per cent interest for the farmers.
4. The government should augment its investment and expenditure in the farm sector. One reason for the agricultural stagnation is low government expenditure. Investment in agriculture and its allied sectors, including irrigation, transport, communication and farm research, should be drastically increased, and the government should aim at integrated development of the rural areas. Effecting Implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme can also become a means of revival of the rural economy.
5. There is a need for periodic revision of the procurement prices for farm produce making those remunerative. This will help the farmers to meet the increasing expenses for farm inputs and ensure at least remunerative income. According to the Swaminathan Commission, unless agriculture is made a profitable enterprise, its present crisis cannot be solved. The Commission has suggested 50 per cent more of the total production cost as supportive price for foodgrains.
6. The government should revise the policy on Special Economic Zones as it goes against the interest of farmers and the agricultural sector. It should not acquire fertile agricultural land for SEZs. When it does take over land for essential public utilities, it should give just compensation and initiate comprehensive rehabilitation measures. The recommendations of the Swamina-than Commission not to acquire land suitable for agriculture for non-agricultural purposes, to give adequate compensation for the acquired land and to distribute surplus land to the landless farmers should be seriously taken into account when the policy of SEZs is reframed. Over and above the policy of SEZs, there is a need for constitutional structures and mechanisms which will mandate the government, both Central and States, to implement the policy of relief and rehabilitation of people displaced due to SEZs and other developmental projects.
7. Bold steps should be taken to implement land reforms which were not implemented in most States. Feudal structures and landlordism based on large holdings of land by high caste and class people even now tend to keep a majority of the people, especially Dalits and backward castes, in the rural areas under their control and domination. Neo-liberal policies with privatisation will only reinforce and strengthen these unjust and exploitative structures. Therefore, there is a need for conscious efforts and positive steps from the government side to implement land reforms. Surplus land acquired thus should be distributed to the Dalit and adivasi farmers. According to Amartya Sen, the Nobel Laureate, though the economic growth rate of India is impressive, India cannot play a significant role in the global economic scenario unless it completes land reforms.
8. The rural economy, particularly agriculture, will be greatly benefit if programmes meant for economically backward sections, including the Integrated Child Development Schemes, mid-day meals for schoolchilden and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, are effectively implemented. Food security of the poor will be ensured if the public distribution system is efficiently run. All these programmes will increase the purchasing power of the rural people and indirectly help agriculture itself.
The agricultural sector in India is facing a crisis today. The globalisation process, which started in the 1990s, is the main reason for this crisis. The solution of the problem is not in a few "packages" but in drastic changes in the present economic policies related to agriculture. For this, the government should be ready to take bold steps. Farmers, agricultural labourers and people's organisations in civil society should work collectively to assist and persuade the government to make the necessary changes. It is high time that the government and the people realised that India can become a real "superpower" only when the vast majority of the people, especially the farmers in the rural areas, become prosperous and are really empowered. The words of Dr M.S. Swaminathan are relevant here: "In a country where 60 per cent of people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, it is better to become an agricultural force based on food security rather than a nuclear force."
Dr Mathew Aerthayil is the Director of the Indian Social Institute, Bangalore.

The relevance of land reform in post-liberalisation India

By D Bandyopadhyay

Land reform is a forgotton agenda in State policy today. But given the jobless growth of the Indian economy and the spurt in rural violence, with people protesting their lack of access to land, water and jungle, it is land that must provide livelihoods not only to labour already attached to agriculture and allied pursuits, but also to a segment of surplus urban unemployed returning to rural areas for shelter and livelihood. This can only be facilitated by a consistent land reform policy


There is a lot of literature on the present problems in agriculture, including several volumes of the Swaminathan Commission report. All of it deals with techno-economic factors such as the lack of public investment in the primary sector, unfavourable terms of trade for agriculture, chemical fertilisers, absence of institutional credit facilities, etc.

All of these factors are important. But there has never been any serious discussion on the mode and relations of production in agriculture. These techno-economic factors must be viewed in the context of agrarian relations. Unless agrarian relations are conducive, the availability of investment, credit etc will not by themselves solve the agrarian crisis.

West Bengal is now recognised as an agriculturally advanced state. But from 1891 to 1981, agricultural growth rates in Bengal varied between 0% and 1% per annum. The century-old stagnation came to an end in 1982-83 thanks to a conglomeration of a number of conducive forces in production relations. This point is often ignored by the agriculture pundits: land reforms in West Bengal played an important role.

Jawaharlal Nehru's autobiography offers a vivid account of the participation of peasants and agricultural workers both in the civil disobedience movement of 1921 and the non-cooperation movement of 1931. Peasants took part in these movements in large numbers and suffered repression and police atrocities in the hope that political freedom would be accompanied by their emancipation from the oppression and bondage of the taluqdar and zamindar who were the 'lords of the land' and whom Nehru described as "the spoilt children of the British government". Swami Sahajanand, the first president of the All-India Kisan Congress (then a front organisation for the Indian National Congress) asserted in 1936 that "no compromise was possible between the peasants and the landlords except dispossession of zamindars of their land" (Bandyopadhyay: Land Labour and Governance, World View, Kolkata, 2007, p 102). Radical land reform was accepted as a post-Independence programme of action by a large section of the Congress, particularly those who described themselves as the "Congress Socialists Group".

Soon after Independence, the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) set up the Congress Agrarian Reform Committee, commonly known as the Kumarappa Committee. Among other measures, the committee proposed fairly radical ceilings on land. The First Five-Year Plan generally endorsed the recommendations of the Kumarappa Committee and left it to the states to implement the ceiling provisions depending on the realities of each state. Since then, land reform has been an item for action in all five-year plans. In the Seventh Five-Year Plan, there was a clear statement linking land reform with other major programmes in the plan. It stated clearly: "Land reforms have been recognised to constitute a vital element both in terms of the anti-poverty strategy and for modernisation and increased productivity in agriculture. Redistribution of land could provide a permanent asset base for a large number of rural landless poor for taking up land-based and other supplementary activities. Similarly, consolidation of holding, tenancy regulation and updating of land records would widen the access of small and marginal landholders to improved technology and inputs thereby directly leading to increase in agricultural production." In short, this document, though late in the day, acknowledged the centrality of land reform in the whole process of rural development and poverty alleviation.

After this late recognition came the tsunami of liberalisation which drowned all issues of fairness and justice in the socio-economic field.

Enthusiasm for land reform abated in the early-'60s when India faced a major food crisis, particularly in the eastern region. Naturally, the focus shifted from land reform to enhancement of foodgrain production and productivity. Land reforms retreated from the foreground. But rural unrest in the late-'60s and early-'70s brought it into sharp focus again. In 1972, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi convened a meeting of chief ministers to tackle the problem of rising rural unrest, commonly known as 'Naxalism'. At that meeting, the then Home Minister Y B Chavan made his oft-quoted famous statement: "We will not allow the green revolution to turn into a red revolution." At the meeting, a consensus was arrived at to reduce land ceiling and to introduce family-based ceiling on land, tenancy reform and other similar measures.

However, things did not happen the way one would have expected. Reviewing the situation almost a decade later, the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-85) observed: "If progress on land reforms has been less than satisfactory, it has not been due to a flaw in policy but to indifferent implementation. Often the necessary determination has been lacking to effectively undertake action, particularly in the matter of implementation of ceiling laws, consolidation of holdings and in not vigorously pursuing concealed tenancies and having them vested with tenancy/occupancy rights as enjoined under the law" (p 115).

When neo-liberal economic policies hit India with gale force in 1991, land reform went off the radar of the Indian polity; it became a forgotten agenda in State policy. Marketeers dominated all segments of governance and they found it repugnant to talk about land reform or even mention it in polite society in case investors and other big operators in the market were frightened away by any sign of government intervention in the land/lease market. They considered the existing land reform laws that were enacted on the basis of central guidelines in the early-'70s not just roadblocks but detrimental to the free play of capital in the land/lease market. In short, they wanted to do away with the peasantry and the peasant way of life. For many of them, land reform had become totally irrelevant, an undesirable anachronism in the heady days of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.

This is one side of the story. On the other side, according to our present prime minister, 'Naxalism' poses the most serious threat to the internal security of the country. The Ministry of Home Affairs' assessment, in 2006, was that 120-150 districts in 12 states were "Naxal-infested". Obviously, normal writs of the State did not operate in these areas. Thus, a huge chunk of mainland India was being "governed" by extra-legal and, in some places, illegal authorities. The assessment also showed that militants, whoever they were, had established a rapport with the local population due to which they were able to move about freely evading and avoiding the pincers of the law-enforcing authorities. They were proving to the hilt Mao Tse-tung's doctrine of 'Fish in Water', where the fish were the militants and the water the mass of disgruntled, disaffected peasantry and landless agricultural workers. If the disaffection of the latter could be substantially reduced, the water would evaporate and the militants disappear.

The present spurt in rural violence has once again highlighted the issue of poor people's access to land, water and jungle. Will there be a knee-jerk response from the State in terms of temporary palliatives? Or will there be a consistent long-term policy framework for land reform in all its different facets? That is the issue that confronts the intelligentsia today.

The rural violence that we are currently witnessing in India is not an isolated and totally indigenous event. There aresimilar movements in several countries in Latin and Central America and in parts of South Africa, the Philippines and Indonesia. What we are seeing in these countries, in the form of violent land movements, is basically the 'third wave' of Left politics. As the agrarian crisis becomes more acute, there is a deepening of the political vacuum in the countryside. The traditional parties of the Left, which had a rather nebulous relationship with the dispossessed in the countryside, have by and large succumbed to the logic of capital, either to obtain power or to continue in power after obtaining it; they eschew Marxian Left policies although many still carry the name of Marx on their breastplates as a brandname. Some of these traditional Left parties openly and unashamedly promote neo-liberalism in its crude form, discarding even the figleaf of egalitarianism, not to mention socialism.

Third wave 'virulent' Left politics is the direct result of the traditional Left's subservience to the needs of capital exhibited through its adherence to neo-liberal economic reform policies. So we have the violent Maoist movement in India, the Zapatistas in Mexico, PARC in Columbia, MST in Brazil, and the Hook in the Philippines.

The hopes our early planners had -- that with the country's rapid industrialisation, surplus labour in agriculture would be drawn away and absorbed into the secondary and tertiary sectors -- were never realised. At the end of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, almost 60% of India's labour force is still engaged in the primary sector, contributing around 21% to the country's GDP. Industry employs 17% of the labour force, producing 27% of GDP. What is happening in India is not unique. China, which is today the third largest country in the world for manufactured commodities, still has 49% of its labour force engaged in agriculture, producing 15.2% of the country's GDP; industry engagesonly 22% of the labour force, contributing 52.9% of GDP (figures quoted from 'Pocket World in Figures 2007: A Concise Edition', The Economist, p 60 and p 66). This shows that macro-economic growth in both these contexts has failed to create better prospects for the rural poor in allowing them to acquire productive assets, get gainful employment or significantly improve their income and quality of life.

Employment figures for the organised private and public sectors present a dismal picture. In 1991, total employment in this segment was 267.33 lakh. It went up to 282.85 lakh in 1997. Since then it had been continuously dropping. In 2004, the figure was 264.43 lakh, 3 lakh less than the figure for 1991 when liberalisation was initiated. We are therefore witnessing a gradual squeezing out of regular employment, increasing the pool of the urban unemployed. What is also happening is that regular jobs are being 'casualised' in the organised sector. Casual employment is also getting 'feminised', putting a greater burden on women to earn a livelihood and look after the household. The ILO describes this situation as the "feminisation of poverty".

It is now evident that the UNDP's prediction in the mid-'90s -- of ruthless, pitiless, uncaring 'jobless growth' -- is turning out to be true in the Indian context. As a result, a majority of the additional labour force in rural areas will necessarily have to be absorbed both in the farm and non-farm segments of the rural economy. We may also have to deal with the back-flow of urban labour of rural origin rendered unemployed through the process of jobless growth. Under the circumstances, land will have to provide some sort of livelihood not only to labour already attached to agriculture and allied pursuits, but also to a segment of surplus urban unemployed returning to rural areas for shelter and livelihood. Hence it is being increasingly recognised that without a significant policy shift towards comprehensive land reforms, including a programme for getting more land under ceiling laws for redistribution, security of tenure for tenants-at-will, access of the poor to common property resources (CPR), proper social and economic rehabilitation of displaced people from coercively acquired land, a further deterioration of the economic, social and political conditions of the rural poor can neither be arrested nor reversed.

The interaction between poverty, food security and resource rights is starting to bring about a refocusing of national and international agendas on the revival of agrarian reforms and resource tenure for agricultural communities as well as fisherfolk and coastal communities, forest-dwellers, pastoralists and other traditional resource users.

Agrarian reform is primarily about changing relationships. First, it aims to change access and tenure relationships. Second, it aims to change the current culture of exclusion so that the poor gain access to credit, technology, markets and other productive services. Third, it aims at making the poor active participants in the development of policies and programmes affecting them and their livelihoods.

While talking about redistributive land reforms, coercive evictions from land and livelihood because of compulsory acquisition of land for 'development purposes' are greatly aggravating poverty distress and landlessness of project-affected persons (PAP). A well-known scholar Dr Walter Fernandes estimated that between 1951 and 2005, roughly 55 million people were forcibly evicted from their land through land acquisition processes. This is a colossal figure; it is more than the population of the majority of member countries of the United Nations. Tribals constitute 40% of PAP;the absolute figure would be around 22 million out of a total tribal population of a little over 80 million. It appears that tribals who have the least sustaining power have borne the brunt of development. It is estimated that only 18-20% of displaced tribals have been properly resettled and rehabilitated. Thus a vast majority of displaced, homeless, landless and jobless tribals is moving about like flotsam and jetsam in the cruel development process. They are depressed and dejected, annoyed and angry.

The situation is worsened by the almost mindless 'landgrabs' in the name of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). This is nothing short of the rich man grabbing the poor man's land for himself. It is difficult to come up with exact figures as they change every day, but this new landgrab has given rise to sharp popular resistance as witnessed in Nandigram in West Bengal and Jagatsinghpur in Orissa. Halfway across the world, in the Chiapas region of southern Mexico, indigenous people declared in 1980: "We demand absolute respect for our communitarian self-determination over our land, over our natural resources and over the forms of organisation that we wish to give ourselves. We are opposed to having our natural resources plundered in the name of a supposed national development."

Our scheduled tribe (ST) leadership had been demanding almost the same thing. Partly in response to this, the central government enacted PESA in 1996 giving substantial power to the gram sabha and other tiers of the panchayat in the fifth scheduled areas. Unfortunately, state governments observe the law more in the breach than in adherence, fuelling tribal anger against the establishment.

Common property resources (CPR), where every member of the community has easy access and usage facilities, used to be an integral part of the social and economic life of the village poor, particularly landless and land-poor households. Among the landless, a vast majority belonged to dalitgroups which had to depend heavily on CPR for their survival. A study in seven states in semi-arid areas indicated that CPR accounted for 9-26% of the household income of landless and marginal farmers, 91-100% for their fuelwood requirements and 69-89% for their grazing needs (Jodha, 1986, Reclaiming Land).

The expropriation of CPR in order to hand land over to the corporate sector for agribusiness and industry has caused 'de-peasantisation' among farming communities and accentuated the misery of already poor landless and marginal farmers, most of whom are dalits. Depeasantisation directly increases landlessness and acute poverty, coupled with assetlessness and debt bondage.

The last five decades of ceiling law application in the country have resulted in the vesting of 7.43 million acres of land, of which 5.70 million acres were taken over and 4.34 million acres distributed among roughly 5 million beneficiaries. The total area vested is less than 1% of the total area of 812.63 million acres in the country; barely over 2% of arable land area.

The National Sample Survey Organisation's (NSSO's) survey of land ownership patterns in 2003 also shows extremely skewed landholding patterns. At the all-India level, marginal and small owners constituted 90.40% of the total number of owners. But they owned only 43.43% of land, whereas medium and large farmers who constituted only 9.60% of landowners owned as much as 56.21% of land. Therefore the argument that there will be no land available for a third wave of acquisition of ceiling-surplus land is incorrect.

The achievements so far have hardly been worth writing home about. There is enough evidence the world over to show that self-cultivation on small farms yields significantly higher levels of productivity than large farms cultivated by tenants or hired labour. Therefore, equity and efficiency demand that the ceiling limit be drastically reduced to the level of 5 to 10 acres per family. Since the various classifications of land provide ample opportunity to landowners to evade ceiling, the law must come up with a simple definition of land as given in the standard English dictionary. If this is done, a number of escape routes will be blocked in one stroke. Moreover, the law must provide for the cancellation of all benami and farzidocuments retrospectively, as these are proven methods of evasion.

On the tenancy front too the picture is not very bright. The National Sample Survey (NSS) figure of 6-7% is generally admitted to be an underestimation. Tenancy being illegal in many states, respondents often do not disclose the truth. Several micro-studies indicate that the incidence of tenancy varies between 15-35%. These are all concealed tenancies run under extremely exploitative terms, under oral contracts. The emergenceof the phenomenon of reverse tenancy is also cause for serious concern. Hence,while discouraging the earlier system of rent-seeking sub-infeudation, leasing-in and leasing-out of land for cultivation should be permitted within a ceiling limit. All non-owner crop-sharing tillers of land should be recorded, prescribing fair sharing of crop @ 75% (for the tiller) and 25% (for the owner), and they should have heritable rights of cultivation without title to the land. The moment recorded sharecroppers get a certificate of sharecropping they will become bankable. This will infuse institutional credit to augment both production and productivity.

Other points to be considered could be:

  • A massive operation should be undertaken to restore alienated tribal lands to their rightful tribal owners.
  • Appropriate amendments of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition Development) Act of 1957 in tune with PESA.
  • Issue of 'user pattas'in the names of women and men for use of CPR including tree pattasfor forest-dwellers and water pattasfor fisherfolk over inland or coastal CPR waterbodies.
  • Setting up of a dispute settlement mechanism at the gram panchayatlevel with gram panchayatmembers and representatives of beneficiary groups, with a representative of the bureaucracy as a member-convenor, to keep records and explain the legal position.

All these points have to be thrashed out through intense public debate.

In real terms, land reform must entail the disempowerment of a small empowered caucus of people and the empowerment of many powerless people by the transfer of land resources from the former to the latter, through State intervention. In a democratic society, this can be carried out without bloodshed. But there will inevitably be some tears. Therewill be strong resistance from vested interests, particularly among the landowning classes. The key to success will be strong organisations of prospective beneficiaries vociferously demanding change in their favour, backed by equally forceful political will on the part of the State intervening on behalf of the rural poor and dispossessed. The birth of a better social order cannot be without its birth pangs.

(D Bandyopadhyay is an authority on land reforms in India. He is executive chairperson and honorary director of the Council for Social Development, New Delhi.)

InfoChange News & Features, April 2008

http://infochangeindia.org/agenda/battles-over-land/the-relevance-of-land-reform-in-post-liberalisation-india.html

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

 Vol. XXX
No. 05
January 29, 2006

The Agrarian Crisis And Importance Of Peasant Resistance


Utsa Patnaik

THE principal contradiction in the colonial period, was between the Indian people as a whole, and imperialism and its local comprador allies. After Independence, the principal contradiction changed to the contradiction between the mass of the working peasantry and labourers on the one hand, and the minority of landlords, traders and moneylenders who monopolized control over land and money-capital, thereby exploiting the peasantry through rent, interest and exorbitant traders' margins. While imperialism was by no means dead, it was on the retreat in the context of the post-War shambles that was the advanced world, and decolonisation allowed space for third world countries like India to try to de-link from the earlier international division of labour under which they had been completely open and liberalised economies geared to metropolitan growth, not national growth. They could now protect their economies and undertake state intervention in the interests of national development - in which they were helped by the existence and aid of the socialist camp. The old liberalisers were silenced, while the new liberalisers had not yet appeared.

In the agrarian sphere in India the resolution of the principal contradiction was tied up closely with the solution of a number of other important secondary economic and social contradictions. The principal contradiction implied the need to break land monopoly by measures of effectively re-distributing land from the landlords to the land-poor and landless, to break the monopoly of credit and marketing through co-operative institutions of the peasants themselves, and state intervention in channelling credit to the credit-starved and setting up non-profit marketing institutions between producer and consumer with the aim of stabilising prices for both. It was essential that the principal contradiction should be tackled boldly in order to resolve the many other important and related contradictions.

There was the contradiction between the continuing caste, class, gender and other social types of oppression in a particularly intense form in rural areas on the one hand, and the very constitutional basis of the Indian polity which considered every citizen to be equal and to have equal opportunities regardless of caste, class, gender and so on. The non-left political forces, economists and planners in India however have consistently underestimated the role of effective re-distributive land reforms for breaking the economic and social power of the rural landed minority for laying the precondition for measures of mass poverty reduction and providing an expanding market for industry, and for reducing the old class, caste and gender based forms of inequalities which express themselves in high levels of illiteracy, declining sex-ratios, atrocities against dalits, and the persistence of child labour. Only in the states where the Left movement has been influential were effective measures of land reform undertaken, with a very positive impact despite their relatively limited nature.

While the achievements of forty years of planned development in India were in many ways substantial, its economic and social failures therefore have been equally glaring. These lay in the inability to substantially reduce mass poverty, which is particularly concentrated in rural areas; an insufficient growth of the internal mass market and hence the emergence of pressure to seek external sources of growth in collaboration with foreign capital.

RE-EMERGENCE OF FINANCE CAPITAL

International developments led to the re-emergence of finance capital as a dominating force over industrial capital in the advanced world from the late nineteen seventies. The relative political unity achieved by the national bases of this finance capital (by subordinating inter-imperialist rivalry, to common aims vis a vis the third world), the aggressive use by finance capital, of the supra-national Bretton Woods institutions (the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) for implementing its aims, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, have together led to a highly favourable conjuncture for imperialism, which is once again aggressively trying to re-colonise the third world and has substantially succeeded in many smaller countries. In recent years however tendencies of resistance to the dominance of finance capital have also started emerging in varied ways.

The new liberalisers arrived on the scene in Latin America and Africa many years ago; they have been stridently pushing the theories and practice of the new liberalisation in India since the beginning of the nineties. The old imperialism was transparent because there was direct political control, while the new imperialism is less transparent and therefore in many ways, more dangerous. The new liberalisation differs from the old colonial liberalisation in at least two respects : it has a strategy of improving further the economic position of the third-world rich at the expense of their fellow-citizens, which has materially corrupted the elite of our country; and it has an ideological thrust in terms of wrong theories, which has intellectually suborned the same third world public figures and intellectuals who were earlier supporters of independent growth, but who now mindlessly parrot the mantra of liberalisation they have memorised from their advanced country mentors. The new compradors are following anti-national theories and policies no less than the old compradors had done. It is extremely important for those who are within the Left movement to fight the revisionist tendencies creeping into the movement which lead to a 'soft' stance on liberalisation. To support any aspect of liberalisation even for pragmatic reasons is equivalent to political liquidationism.

AGRARIAN CRISIS IN INDIA

India has been following since 1991 exactly the same set of deflationary policies at the macroeconomic level, already followed in the 1980s by nearly 80 indebted countries under the guidance of the IMF. These included reduction in Central and state government development expenditures, tight money, reduction of the ratio of budget deficit to GDP, caps on organised sector wages, and devaluation.

The useful papers in the two volume study edited by Cornia, Jolly and Stewart, titled Adjustment with a Human Face (1987), have detailed the effects of the neo-liberal policy package in those developing countries which undertook these policies a decade or earlier compared to India. The picture which emerged was alarming indeed: reduction in investment rates, reduction in growth rates, and absolute decline in output and income in a number of cases, a reversal of progress on the fronts of literacy, infant mortality rates and other health indicators, sharp cuts in wages and employment, and rise in poverty. All this was exactly as sensible macroeconomic theory would predict: if deflationary and contractionary policies are consistently followed, the results are bound to be as observed, and only those people can ever think otherwise, who adhere to a logically incorrect theory serving the narrow interests of finance capital.

The fact that neo-liberal policies represent an attack on the forces of production in developing countries is still neither understood nor believed by most people despite the overwhelming theoretical and empirical evidence which has emerged in favour of this conclusion during the last quarter century. Many persons are misled by the assertion that India has the second highest GDP growth rate in the world after China, namely 7 to 8 per cent annually, into thinking that the growth is taking place in every sector. On the contrary, from the mid-1990s in particular, both the material productive sectors – industry and agriculture – have been in decline with agriculture being more severely affected than industry. The only sector which has expanded fast is the services sector. There has been a perverse structural shift in the economy even before any substantial industrial growth has taken place.

The share of agriculture and related activities in GDP has fallen steeply from one-third of GDP before reforms to only 24 percent at present. The share of industry has stagnated around a quarter while that of services has risen fast to one half of GDP. Deflationary policies have thus impacted severely on the material productive sectors of the economy. Both agriculture and industry have seen decelerating rates of output growth and therefore rising unemployment. Further, the reform period has seen a reduction of labour's bargaining power through the casualisation of the work force including in public sector undertakings.

During the 7th Plan period marking the pre-reforms phase, from 1985 to 1990, Rs 51,000 crore was spent on rural development, amounting to almost 4 per cent of Net National Product, and Rs 91,000 crore or over 7 per cent of NNP was spent on infrastructure. In rural development we include the plan expenditure heads of agriculture, rural development, special areas programmes, irrigation and flood control, and village and small scale industry. By 2000-01 the share of spending under these heads taken together was down to 5.8 per cent of NNP, the rural development part halving to only 1.9 per cent. The per capita expenditures in real terms declined from Rs 151 in 1989-90 to Rs 124 in 2000-01. This harsh contractionary policy had nothing to do with any objective resource constraint but simply reflected the preferred policy package of the BWI which were internalised and sought to be justified by the Indian government.

There is no economic rationale for believing that "public investment crowds out private investment" which is the common argument put forward for reducing the state's role in rural development. Precisely the contrary has been shown to hold for an economy like India, such as public investment in irrigation projects of all types and crop varieties research. The result of the unwise cut-back of public investment and in rural development expenditure (RDE) has been a drastic slowing of output growth – both foodgrains and non-foodgrains growth rates have halved in the nineties compared to the eighties, and have fallen well below the population growth rate. Hence the nineties have seen falling per head output, for the first time since the mid-sixties agricultural crisis, which however was short- lived, whereas per head output continues to fall today even after fifteen years.

The combination of decline in state RDE and halving of agricultural growth has produced a major crisis of rising unemployment with both fast growing open unemployment and fall in number of days employed of the work force during the 1990s. The ratio of labour force to population, has declined, the ratio of work force to labour force has also declined because open unemployment has been growing at over 5 per cent annually. The elasticity of employment with respect to output was 0.7 during 1983 to 1993-4 but has fallen to zero during 1993-4 to 1999-00.

OUTCOMES OF THE AGRARIAN CRISIS

The deeply disturbing feature of the current thrust for liberalizing trade is that it has been taking place within an investment-reducing, deflationary regime. I predicted in 1992 that given the deflationary climate, food security would be undermined with trade liberalisation in India and that is precisely what has happened. As soon as trade was liberalised from 1991, within a few years, 8 million hectares of food-growing land were converted to exportable crops leading to fall in per head foodgrains output, but farmers did not benefit since their exposure to steeply falling global primary prices from mid-decade has plunged them into spiralling farm debt and insolvency. The nine thousand officially recorded farmer suicides in India since 1998 (actual number are much higher) are only the tip of the iceberg – there is a pervasive agrarian crisis and foodgrains absorption in India is back to the level prevailing fifty years ago.

Trade liberalisation and an export thrust makes sense when local and global markets are expanding owing to expansionary developmental policies which promote growth in the material productive sectors, rising employment and incomes. But when the opposite is the case, when both globally and in local economies the dominant policy sentiment is strongly deflationary as at present, then trade liberalisation spells lowered mass welfare in developing countries. India's experience in the last fourteen years provides a good illustration of this.

India, a signatory to GATT 1994, removed all quantitative restrictions on trade and converted to tariffs by April 2001, lowering the average tariff rate at the same time to 35 per cent, or well below the bound rates which were 100 per cent for crops and 150 per cent for agricultural processed products. This thrust for trade liberalisation could not have been worse timed, since advanced country markets were in recession and global primary product prices went into a steep tailspin with 40-50 per cent decline in unit dollar prices of all crops –cereals, cotton, jute, sugar, tea, coffee – and up to 80 per cent decline in some oil crops between 1995 and 2001. With a brief spike in 2002 most prices have continued to fall and some prices are today lower than as far back as 1986. The price to growers of tea, coffee, pepper today is even lower than world price the state marketing boards have been run down and replaced by the monopoly of transnational companies.

As prices fell for Indian producers of export crops, their access to low-cost credit was also reduced under financial sector reforms, thrusting farmers into dependence on private moneylenders giving high-cost credit (interest rates are usurious, ranging from 36 to 60 percent annually). Other crucial input prices including power tariff were raised as part of the neo-liberal dicta on reducing subsidies (which were already meagre compared to developed countries). Reduced tariff protection meant that producers of rice, fresh fruit and dairy products faced the undermining of their incomes from inflow of foreign goods.

FARMER's COMMITTING SUICIDE

More than five thousand indebted farmers, mainly cotton farmers, have committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh alone since 1998 as its government which had entered into a state-level Structural Adjustment Programme with the World Bank, raised power tariff five times even as cotton price fell by half. Over a thousand farmer suicides have also taken place in Punjab, and a similar number in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra where suicides continue at present. During the four years from 2001, over 1,250 suicides are recorded in the single district of Wynaad in Kerala as prices to the local growers of coffee, tea and spices have nose-dived even more steeply than global prices once large companies have taken over purchase and marketing. Thus by 2003 the price of coffee to the grower was only one-quarter and that of tea and pepper only one-third of the prices prevailing in 1999.

The agrarian crisis was the main reason for the decisive mass rejection of neo-liberal policies and the May 2004 electoral defeat of the NDA coalition at the Centre as well as the TDP government in Andhra Pradesh. In recognition of the employment crisis the new United Progressive Alliance or UPA had promised to implement an Employment Guarantee Act which has been formulated, but which is yet to be implemented. Resisting the sabotaging of the financing of the employment guarantee and ensuring that the Act is actually implemented, now poses the major challenge.

FOOD EXPORTS & EMPTY STOMACHS

India has exported record volumes of wheat and rice during the last six years, and its share in global exports of rice and wheat has risen quite noticeably.Despite the drastic slowing of output growth, India exported 22 million tonnes of foodgrains during the two years 2002 and 2003, and the share of grain exports in total exports has risen from under one –fifth to almost a quarter. There is higher global trade integration reflected in rising trade-GDP ratio. During the severe drought year starting from monsoon 2002, despite grain output being 30 million tonnes lower than in the previous year, from June 2002 to November 2003, a total of 17 million tonnes of foodgrains were exported by the former NDA government. Superficially it looks as though policies of trade liberalisation have 'worked.'

The crucial fact which is suppressed in official publications and in the writings of pro-reform economists, and this is true even after the elections and the change in government, is that the vastly increased grain exports have been coming out of more and more empty stomachs as millions of rural labourers and farmers have suffered job loss and income decline. Food grains absorption in India today has reached a historic low as a result of the massive decline in purchasing power especially in villages owing to the combination of rising unemployment, rising input and credit costs for farmers and exposure to global price declines. Loss of purchasing power is pervasive affecting both the 158 million wage-dependent workers as well as the 120 million cultivating workers and their families. Targeting the food subsidy from 1997-8 by restricting supply of cheaper grain to only those officially identified as 'below the poverty line' has also added to the institutional denial of affordable food grains to the poor, not merely owing to mistakes of wrong exclusion from the set of the officially poor, but also owing to the gross official underestimation of the numbers in actual poverty.

The actual rural population in poverty (applying the official definition of those with less than 2400 calories intake to NSS data) was 75 per cent in 1993-4, increased to at least 78 per cent by 1999-2000, and the depth of poverty also increased with more people moving below 1800 calories, the bare minimum for survival. In 1983 only in three states of India (West Bengal, Tamilnad and Kerala) one third or more of the rural population had an intake below 1800 calories. The 1999-00 data show that West Bengal and Kerala have improved greatly, West Bengal sufficiently to move up out of this set, but four new major states (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh) have seen sharp decline in nutrition and one-third or more of their population fell below 1800 calories intake. The situation after 1999-00 to the present, would be worse still, since it is from 1998 that we see the steep fall in per capita foodgrains absorption to which I have repeatedly drawn attention. In fact the situation is even worse than the nutrition data indicate since the poor have been selling assets and losing land against debt in order to survive at these lower levels. (The Planning Commission estimates of 'falling' poverty are a fairy-tale since they have been obtained using a logically wrong procedure which entails continuous decline over time of the consumption standard against which poverty is measured).

The per capita availability or absorption of food grains in India has fallen alarmingly during the decade of deflationary neo-liberal economic reforms, to only 154 kg. annually taking the three year average ending in 2002-03. This current level is about the same as fifty years ago, and it is lower than the level of 157 kg. during 1937-41 under colonialism. This means that the food security gains of the four decades of protectionism up to 1991, have been totally reversed by now. This important finding and the reasons for the present debacle have been discussed in greater detail in three of my papers - "Food Stocks and Hunger – Causes of Agrarian Distress", 'The Republic of Hunger' and 'Theorising Food Security and Poverty," all published in Social Scientist between 2003 and 2005.

THE LAND QUESTION IN THE PRESENT CONJUNCTURE

When we argue that the principal contradiction is shifting rapidly in the agrarian sphere to that between the peasantry and workers on the one hand and imperialism with its local landlord and other collaborators on the other, many persons in the left movement who are not familiar with the idea or analysis of contradictions, feel alarmed because they think that 'the land question' is being put on the back burner. Nothing could be further from the case: they should remember that when the principal contradiction shifts to that between all the toiling masses and imperialism, it means that this contradiction is the one, "whose existence and development determines and influences the existence and development of all other contradictions" including what was earlier the principal contradiction.

There is a direct onslaught today on peasant land and water resources by the corporates. The restrictions on landownership by non-cultivators where they existed have been removed by state governments, ceilings on landholdings have been rolled back in many states to facilitate the entry of agro-business corporations. The peasantry is losing land against debt on a massive scale and despite asset loss is getting pushed further and further down into the mire of hunger. Even the former rich peasants and surplus producers are facing steeply falling profitability conditions and have started leasing out on hunger rents to dispossessed peasants. The earlier phase of capitalist development in agriculture marked by rise of capitalist farming from within the peasant classes, as well as the emergence of landlord capitalism, has virtually ended owing to the steeply falling profitability of direct capitalist cultivation. Reverting to extracting surplus through land rent and usurious interest is once again the order of the day, and peasant pauperisation is seen once more.

The clearest indicator that the principal contradiction is changing, is provided by the very fact of the agrarian crisis itself, which in its scale, generalised nature affecting all the peasantry, and in its depth, is quite unprecedented. This ongoing agrarian crisis is the direct outcome of the implementation of neo-liberal reform policies and trade liberalisation detailed above, in short of the impact of imperialist globalisation on our agriculture.

The corporatisation of agriculture which is sought to be promoted by the government, represents the control of transnational capital over our peasant production, and not 'the development of capitalism in agriculture' which has a completely different connotation in Marxist-Leninist literature. The 'development of capitalism in agriculture' took place when expansionary policies of autonomous national development were followed as during 1950 to 1990 in India, and it was geared to an expanding internal market. It led to some prosperity, though very unequally shared, in the agrarian sphere. By contrast the corporate subjugation of peasant production is nothing but the imperialist domination of our peasantry for the purpose of export production and it pauperises the peasantry and labourers.

When in general profitability is falling because prices on global markets are low, the giant transnational corporates entering our agriculture today by tying peasants to contracts under debt on account of advances of high-tech GM seeds and inputs, set the terms of contract in such a way as to grind the peasants down to sub-human levels of living because they ruthlessly seek to maximize their own profits. The experience of other countries in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa has demonstrated this clearly as has the experience of growers of coffee, tea, and other export crops in Kerala who are losinfg land against debt and committing suicide.

Thus the land question has now become one of defending the right of peasants including tribal peoples to their land and livelihoods. Not only can it never be separated from the fight against imperialist globalisation, this fight is a necessary condition for any advance on the land question. It is shameful that no resistance has been articulated by the liberal intelligentsia and political movements to the modification of ceiling laws or the permission for non-agriculturists to acquire land, all for the benefit of corporations. There is no outcry against blatant usury or land loss against debt, whereas even the colonial period had seen anti-usury laws and enactments against peasant land alienation owing to debt.

Moreover, the worst effects are yet to be seen, for there is a determined effort being made by the advanced countries today, supported by the local compradors, to acquire direct control over our land and water resources through contract farming and corporatisation of agriculture, to enmesh our farmers in high-tech debt through GM seed and plants, and a direct effort to acquire control over the genetic basis our bio-diversity and over water resources through privatisation of water. In this they are aided by the comprador elements in government placed in key decision making positions and they also have the support of comprador elements of the domestic landlords.

AGONY HAS TO CHANGE TO ANGER

Our peasantry and labourers are reeling under the attacks on them and are struggling today merely to survive. Their agony is being turned destructively upon themselves in the form of suicides. The agony has to change to anger and be directed towards their oppressors. Only a fighting unity of all the peasant classes and workers against the onslaught of imperialism and its domestic collaborators including collaborating landlords, can now save the peasantry. In fact this unity is necessary for repulsing the imperialist attack in every sphere and not only in the agrarian sphere, for with its sheer weight of numbers the peasantry has the potential to act as a revolutionary force where the working class on its own cannot. Of course, it is only the working class ideology that can provide the basis for an effective anti-imperialist mobilisation. This fighting unity of peasants and workers will not come spontaneously and automatically from the millions facing increasing impoverishment, hunger and loss of assets. It has to be patiently but urgently forged by the left and progressive movement. For this a clear theoretical understanding on the nature of the principal contradiction combined with an awareness of the urgency of the present conjuncture, is required. Otherwise, imperialism will roll over our masses like a colossal tank and break the spines of our toiling millions, while intellectuals and activists impotently look on.


http://pd.cpim.org/2006/0129/01292006_utsa.htm

"FARMER LEADERS CALL FOR A REJECTION OF BT BRINJAL

Posted by Ramoo on October 22, 2009
New Delhi, October 21st 2009: Terming Bt Brinjal as a Trojan Horse of the biotech industry for the take-over of Indian farming, farmers' unions across the country called for a rejection of this biotech brinjal and put out a call for the boycott of the agencies seeking to bring it in. This Bt Brinjal is the guise to enslave poor farmers of the country yet again, they said, and demanded that the Indian government stand by the side of ordinary people in this onslaught on our resources and livelihoods.
"This is a product that is both unneeded and undesirable. It is meant to increase the markets of the biotech companies and agencies, though pushed in the name of farmers. If the government truly wants to help farmers, there are scores of other sustainable and appropriate solutions that should be taken urgently to the last farmer in this country", said Mr Yudhvir Singh, Convenor of the Coordination Committee of Indian Farmers' Movements.
Mr Kodihalli Chandrasekhar, President, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha( KRRS) pointed out that Monsanto is infamous for its anti-farmer activities the world over. "It is unacceptable that the government, especially Mr Sharad Pawar, the Agriculture Minister, should be putting his faith on this company and its profit-driven technologies even though Monsanto is notorious for jailing farmers and bribing officials elsewhere. The state agriculture universities should be ashamed of partnering with such agencies and for being involved in the ABSP II project, supported by American agencies for their interests. It is high time that these universities, paid by tax payers here, work for the benefit of farmers in India. If the government proceeds with its plans to introduce Bt Brinjal, mass direct actions will be initiated to stop it".
"The case of Vidarbha and Bt Cotton is an unfortunate illustration about what lies in store for Indian farmers with biotech seeds. Also, look at the fact that with Bt Cotton cultivation, chemical fertilizer use is going up and agencies are recommending higher use too. When on the one hand, we are realizing the negative impacts of chemical fertilizer use, in an age of climate change and with fertilizer shortages abounding, is this the direction that farmers should be pushed towards? Is there a shortage of brinjal in the country and can we solve the food crisis in the country with GM brinjals? It is shocking to see the irrational arguments centred around food crisis for bringing in Bt Brinjal. ", said Mr Vijay Jawandhia of Shetkari Sanghatan.
These farmer leaders put out a call to all Indian farmers and consumers to reject GM crops/foods and said that the rejection all over Europe and many other countries around the world came through an informed debate and rejection by farmers and consumers.
"There are reports about the Expert Committee's and GEAC's unscientific, biased and hasty functioning with regard to clearing this Bt Brinjal for commercial cultivation. It is also becoming clearer that the Expert Committee and GEAC are unreliable and untrustworthy as far as interests of ordinary citizens go. An overwhelming majority of Indians are expressing in numerous ways that they reject GM foods and the government has to heed to democratic voices. Look at Bt Cotton case also – it has been hyped up as a runaway success when the reality is something else on the ground. Many farmers have not been compensated to this day for the losses that they incurred with Bt Cotton", said Mr Kannaiyan, Organising Secretary of Tamizhaga Vyavasayigal Sangham.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu, Executive Director of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture said, "There are numerous low-cost, safe and sustainable ecological practices available for farmers to control pest damage in a crop like brinjal. It includes intercropping with marigold, coriander etc.; using of pheromone traps for mass trapping of adult moths; mechanical clipping of infested shoots and so on. In such an approach, measures are taken to control egg-laying itself rather than use a poison to control the larva once it appears. In any method that uses a poison to target a population of pests, it is nature's principle that they will be under selection pressure for building resistance, which they will do so sooner or later. We need farmers to be told about methods that are affordable, sustainable and safe and it is the responsibility of the government to do so than look at false, faulty solutions".
Posted in Data | 1 Comment »

PRIVATISATION IS THE ENEMY OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Posted by Ramoo on September 4, 2009
Sep 3, 2009 — KZeese
By Vandana Shiva | IPS
The privatisation of the earth's resources is a recipe for famine and desertification, violence against women, hunger, and, as happens in India, the suicide of farmers, writes Vandana Shiva, author and international campaigner for women and the environment.
In this analysis, Shiva writes that until recently water and biodiversity have been commons. Women have been the seed keepers and water keepers in communities. This is the system that privatisation is threatening.
Common access to seed is being destroyed by laws that make it illegal for farmers to manage seeds as a commons and grant the state the power to approve and license varieties and force farmers to seek state approval through "compulsory" registration laws. The result is the destruction of high-quality, reliable, open-pollinated varieties bred and developed by farmers.
Although the links between the growing problem of farmer suicides and their growing dependence on costly purchased external inputs are clear, the Indian government's only response has been to offer more consumer credit to purchase more external inputs. Women are experts in internal input agriculture, an approach that works with the products of the land to create soil fertility and requires no external.
A permanent agriculture can only be based on the permanence of rights – the rights of the farmers, and the people, not private corporations.
Posted in Data | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ramoo on August 31, 2009
Arvind Singh Bisht, TNN 30 August 2009, 04:55am IST
LUCKNOW: It is a catch-22 situation in UP. While there is no reprieve from the severe drought in 58 of the total 70 districts in the state,
floods have now become the bane of over one dozen districts. Incidentally, these flood-affected districts are also included in the list of drought-affected districts.
Uniquely, it is East UP which is under floods, while Western UP reeling under severe droughts, has been spared so far from this. Surprisingly, these floods are not due to excessive rain, but are caused due to excessive flow of water from Nepal into the rivers like Ghagra, Rapti, Gandak and Saryu and Narayani. All these rivers are either flowing above the danger mark or just touching this point.
The threat still looms large, as monsoon is not yet over. If the past experience is any cue, then floods have been most common in UP in the month of September. The government by its own admission puts the estimated flood-affected population at present at over 12 lakh in as many as 38 tehsils of 12 districts of Behraich, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Siddarth Nagar, Deoria, Shravasti, Sitapur, Faizabad, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Bahraich, Gonda and Balrampur.
The number might swell, if there is more rain in the catchment areas, particularly in Nepal, which is like a scourge for the state in term of floods.
The worst hit are the farmers, who get peanuts in spite of the political blame game going on between the Mayawati government and the Congress-led government at the Centre over the issue of relief package. The state has demanded a hefty sum of around Rs 8,000 cr for drought relief. The package for the flood relief will be in addition to this.
But for the farmers, getting this relief is far more difficult than to face the ordeal of nature's vagaries. The norms for the relief are as: Rs 1 lakh in case of a death. For rehabilitation, Rs 20 per day each are given to every adult and Rs 15 per day to minor. For the loss of crop, a compensation of Rs 2,000 per hectare is admissible. Likewise, Rs 25,000 relief is given on the destruction of a `pucca house' and Rs 2,000 on a `kuchha house.'
However, getting this relief is not possible without running from pillar to post. Most of the time it's very purpose gets defeated due to inordinate delay in its disbursement. The most defective is the compensation norm set for the loss of crop. This is fixed Rs 2,000 per hectare. But the fact remains that most of the land-holdings in UP are less than one hectare. So, the majority of farmers, who are at the rock-bottom of the society virtually get nothing out of the government's relief. In fact, this comes as a jackpot for the revenue officials and other concerned, who stand to gain most by this.
Already, the situation has taken a turn for the worst in the state. The adversity of nature has put the farmers, particularly marginal and small farmers in abject poverty. The result is that of suicides by farmers in the state. In one such case reported from Lakhimpur-Kheri only last week, a farmer couple– Dharmpal (35) and his wife Dharma Devi committed suicide due to indebtedness.
Incidentally, UP has the dubious distinction of highest number of indebted farmers — much more than Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh where maximum number of farmers' suicide take place — and the above incident comes as a wake up call.
Posted in Drought, Utter Pradesh | Leave a Comment »

Non Stop Death Dance in Nizamabad

Posted by Ramoo on August 30, 2009
NIZAMABAD: Despite chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy asserting a few days ago that the government would ensure that no farmer would commit suicide due to crop failure or mounting debts, 15 ryots have committed suicide in Nizamabad district in the last 22 days alone. And in many of these instances, erratic power supply was stated as the reason for them taking the extreme step.
"Unable to come to terms with the drying up of standing crops, the farmers who sowed the crops by borrowing huge loans from private moneylenders are resorting to suicide," farm expert Ch Krishnamurthy said. Though it rained for a couple of days in Nizamabad town, the prolonged dry spell has hit the district farmers badly. Nearly 30 out of 36 mandals have recorded deficit rainfall in the last two months, officials said.
The heavy rainfall the district has been receiving in the last few days has come as too late for many farmers. Pokala Sailoo, 45, of Mudhelli village in Gandhari mandal and Toorpu Gopal, 48, of Gandhari, were the latest who ended lives on Wednesday.
If clearing the mounting debts was hanging like a sword of Damocles, the farmers were also crippled by withered crops and erratic power supply. "Do I have any other option? It (suicide) is the only alternative for us to run away from the debts," said Kalali Srihari Goud of Devunipalli village in Machareddy mandal. Holding back the tears, Goud said besides the paddy seedlings, his maize crop sown in one acre had dried up at the budding stage itself due to lack of rainfall.
Taking a dig at the government, Goud, who recently borrowed Rs 2 lakh to perform his daughter's marriage and dig borewells, said: "Will the real YSR please come to our rescue?" And Goud is no small farmer — he owns five acres of agriculture land!
It was Nenawat Govind, 25, who set the alarm bells ringing by hanging himself on August 6 at Piskalgutta thanda in Gandhari unable to clear the Rs 2 lakh debt. Debt-ridden Poshatti of Nagepur in Navipet mandal and Bhumanna in Donchanda of Morthad followed Govind and soon it became a death dance.
Three more farmers — Anantha Reddy of Borgam, Beerappa of Nyalkal and Krishana of Mudakpalli of Nizamabad mandal — also ended their lives due to distress. In the intervening period, Macha Karrenna of Gadkol in Sirikonda mandal, Chandu of Madnoor, Gaddam Saireddy of Darpalli, Ramulu and Sailu of Pitlam mandal have committed suicide.
Technorati Tags: Farmers' Suicides
Posted in Andhra Pradesh, Data, Farmers Suicides | Leave a Comment »

Farmers suicides in Karnataka

Posted by Ramoo on August 30, 2009
BANGALORE, AUGUST 29: Like other states, Karnataka too showing signs of severe agrarian distress in the current financial year. More than 50 farmers committed suicides in less than five months in the current fiscal year.
The BJP government has already declared 86 taluks in 20 districts as drought hit. Standing crops on 16 lakh hectares got damaged on account of deficit rains since June 1. The crop loss in rainfed areas has been estimated at Rs. 720.20 crore and horticultural crops on over 60,000 hectares have been ruined due to scanty rains. In fact, more than 3/4th of lands in the state is rainfed. Only 23 per cent the sowing was depended on irrigation facilities in Karnataka.
Standing food crops and commercial crops got withered in 20 districts following scanty rainfall. The central team visited to the state to said the state's demand for Rs. 394 crore relief is realistic demand.
According to sources in the Government, as on July end, the highest number of suicide cases has been reported from Shimoga (7), followed by Tumkur – six cases, Belgaum and Hassan – five each, Chikmagalur, Bidar, Davangere, and Bijapur – three each, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada – two each and Mysore district – one.
Out of the last nine years, the State has experienced droughts for seve
Technorati Tags: Farmers' suicides
n years and this is one of the major reasons for farmers taking extreme step. A large number of farmers committed suicide during the drought period from 2000-01 to 2003-04. As many as 337 suicide cases have been reported in 2008-09.
Despite several steps taken by the State government, farmers suicides continued over the years. Cooperatives have been disbursed loans at three per cent rate of interest. To learn new farming methods, the Government sent 633 farmers to China at a cost of Rs. 423.79 lakhs. The government had given Rs. 1,000 each to small and marginal farmers who are dependent on dry lands farming, officials said.
Posted in Data, Farmers Suicides, Karnataka | Leave a Comment »

Farmer couple writes to president, demands mercy killing of four sons

Posted by Ramoo on August 28, 2009

Ani

August 28th, 2009
NEW DELHI – The farmer couple Jeetnarayan and wife of Prabhawati living in Bashi village of Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh have written to the President of India seeking permission for mercy killing of their four sons aged between 10 and 16 years.
The brothers are suffering from an affliction caused by muscular dystrophy, leaving them to lead a life in a vegetative state.
The four children, Durgesh, 16, Sarvesh, 14, Brijesh, 11, and Suresh, 10, were afflicted with the disease when they turned five.
Children cannot even stand on their feet, move their body below the neck, and have to rely on their parents' for every daily activity.
Jeetnarayan has sold everything of financial value in his house to foot the hefty sums spent for the children's treatment.
"Now we are very tired as we just take care of them day and night. There is no time to work even to earn our living. Then we submitted an application to the Prime Minister and also chief of the state. But there was no hearing to our plight. No one came to our door. It's better for the entire family to die rather than live in such a miserable state," said Jeetnarayan
"We wanted treatment to be done. But it's not happening anywhere. We don't have any other option, we are very poor and there is no way to go. We wanted them to be treated but that's not happening anywhere and no treatment can be done. So it's better that we die," said Prabhawati.
Indian laws do no permit euthanasia or mercy killing. (ANI)
Technorati Tags: Farmers suicides
Posted in Farmers Suicides, Orissa | Leave a Comment »

Kisan Incorporated

Posted by Ramoo on August 28, 2009
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/op-ed/kisan-incorporated-414

August 28th, 2009
By G.V. Ramanjaneyulu & Kavitha Kuruganti
Some recent developments in India's agri-related laws might make former finance minister P. Chidambaram's infamous dream of seeing "only 15 per cent of Indians in villages" come true much faster than anyone thought possible. Moves are afoot to ensure large-scale displacement of farmers and agricultural workers — the most blatant move is already underway in Andhra Pradesh, under Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. An experiment under the garb of "farmers cooperative" was approved by the state Cabinet recently, not very different from what his rival N. Chandrababu Naidu attempted some years ago. The arguments too are old: Small holdings lead to low productivity, low income, low investments and, this vicious cycle goes on.
This argument ignores the fact that more than 900 scientists from 110 countries have recently concluded an international process, called the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), pointing out that small-holding ecological farming is the way forward. We are also familiar with the subsidies that prop up intensive, large-scale models of farming elsewhere, despite claims of efficiency. Numerous studies have confirmed the inverse relationship between the size of farms and the amount of crops they produce per unit.
A study from Turkey shows that farms less than a hectare are 20 times more productive than farms that are over 10 hectares! But why should anyone be looking at such data when the sizes of land holdings and their alleged low productivity is used as an excuse to grab land?
This is what the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister is proposing: Get farmers to pool their land into a cooperative/society/company. Farmers sell their land to the new entity in return for some shares, which will then take up all agricultural operations and pay dividends. Farmers can exit by selling their share to existing members and, if there are no takers, government will buy the shares at a pre-determined market price. Land cannot be obtained back. Though many questions remain unanswered — what will happen to the farmers and how will they take part in any decision-making? What will tenant farmers and agricultural workers do? Why will land not be returned to the farmers? — the state Cabinet has decided to take up a pilot project in 50 villages by investing Rs 5,000 crore and there are moves to introduce a new legislation along these lines.
To begin with, the entire reasoning that bashes small holdings is faulty. Two, an experiment taken up by Mr Naidu some years ago along these lines ("Kuppam Project") failed in delivering the promised benefits and had environmental repercussions. Most importantly, this move will take away land permanently from farmers and is truly an exit mechanism.
Incidentally, it is in Andhra Pradesh that the world's largest ecological farming project is unfolding, supported by the state's rural development department, which is proving that farming can indeed be made viable through alternative technologies and people's organisations.
This programme, yielding results on more than 20 lakh acres, all small and marginal holdings, has attracted great attention already. Is it by design that the state government chose to ignore such vastly successful models and set about "to make farming viable" through proven-to-have-failed models?
While this is happening in Andhra Pradesh, in neighbouring Tamil Nadu a bill was introduced in the Assembly and supposedly passed on a day when 30 bills were passed without much discussion. This new legislation, called Tamil Nadu State Agricultural Council Act 2009, is about setting up a council that will be empowered to inspect agricultural institutions, courses of study, examinations etcetera, all to ensure that standards are conformed to.
"At present, there is no law to provide for the regulation of agricultural practice… it's been considered necessary to regulate agricultural practice and registration of agricultural practi-tioners…" states the object of the legislation. Sounds inane enough? However, the law says that no one can render agricultural services unless his/her name is registered in the "Tamil Nadu Agricultural Practitioners Register" with a formal agricultural qualification from Tamil Nadu (outsiders can register within 90 days of their entry!).
In a country which has always had a rich tradition of farming based on an oral and experiential knowledge and in a state where paddy productivity levels are recorded to have been up to 13 tonnes per hectare (in 1807 in Coimbatore) without qualified agriculture scientists, this move is an outright rejection of the vast untapped knowledge of our farm women and men.
Worse, in the name of regulating agricultural services, this seems to be a way of controlling the farmer-to-farmer spread of ecological farming in the state, which is led by farmers themselves, their networks and other civil society groups. Tamil Nadu is also the state where the anti-genetically modified protests against Tamil Nadu Agriculture University's unthinking capitulation to agro-MNCs like Monsanto are running at a high-pitched level. A connection between the resistance movement and this new law cannot be ruled out.
This new regulation of "agriculture services" will effectively provide more and more markets for particular kinds of technologies at the expense of farmers, as the advisories will be driven by the mindsets that prevail in the agriculture education/ research system in the country and the commercial interests of the agri-services to be set up. This route of a "qualified" advisory system will obviously facilitate conflicting interests and help in improving exclusivity of "markets" by reducing competition, while ignoring the causes for the current agrarian crisis. While a law of this kind should regulate services provided by agricultural research and agri-business bodies to ensure accountability for their services, especially in relation to economic, environmental and social viability and sustainability of farming, it should not be used as a weapon to penalise farmers and civil society
Technorati Tags: Farmers Cooperatives,Land grabbing
groups which are trying to promote sustainable farming.
These two initiatives in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are not to be seen as isolated attempts to create more markets for agri-businesses, but as an orchestrated move towards an unwritten "exit policy" for farmers.
These two moves will set a bad precedent for the rest of the country.
Given that agriculture is contributing a lower and lower share in the country's gross domestic product, its importance in the mainstream economic development model might be diminishing for many policymakers. However, this is a question of livelihood for millions of Indians — without ensuring access and control over basic productive resources and without moving towards sustainable production technologies, the current saga of agrarian distress, including suicides, will only increase.
Such legislations and programmes cannot be brought in without comprehensive debates and without the government clearly stating its vision for farming livelihoods and how they would be liable when things go wrong.
* Dr G.V. Ramanjaneyulu is the executive director of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad, and Kavitha Kuruganti is a trustee of Kheti Virasat Mission, Punjab.
Posted in Agri-Science, Agroecological farming, Andhra Pradesh, Govt. Initiatives, Land question, Opinion pieces | Leave a Comment »

Seed of the crisis

Posted by Ramoo on August 28, 2009

Kavitha Kuruganti

Monday, July 27, 2009 20:42 IST
The US and India are back at it again. This time around, it is not the spectre of a looming famine in Bihar that is expected to kill thousands through starvation but global hunger and malnutrition, for which India and USA will collaborate to provide leadership in agriculture to raise crop yields.
Never mind that intensive agriculture models led to more farmers killing themselves than the projected numbers of starvation before the Green Revolution was ushered in or that Punjab for example, the seat of the Green Revolution in India, is reeling under a severe environmental health crisis quite closely connected to agricultural technologies deployed in the name of increasing yields.
The first time around, they said that they were trying to get away from the ship to mouth existence that is being imposed by the Americans on us through PL 480 food aid programmes — and whose help did they take to get away from the American intrusions? The Americans themselves!
It is interesting to see how American leaders make it a point to include agriculture into their agenda during their India visits. George W Bush decided to stop over at the agriculture university in Hyderabad and Hillary Clinton at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa. For a country which has only 1.9 per cent of its labour force working in agriculture and a mere 0.7 per cent of total GDP contributed by agriculture (2002), why this American interest in Indian agriculture?
The answer possibly lies in potential huge markets held in the seeds and food processing sectors. In India, this market is emerging in an impressive fashion. In the global seed market estimated at $30 bn, India already has a large market worth $1 bn. The domestic seed market, especially of hybrid seeds, is expected to grow at an impressive growth rate of 13 per cent at least. In the food processing and retail sector, the Indian urban food market is expected to form a major chunk of the $50-bn-mark retail market in India in the near future.
Clinton's speech at Pusa Institute made a clear mention of seeds and food processing as the sectors where investment will go. Interestingly, the second green revolution in this country, with the help of the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture (KIA) is supposed to be ushered in under the guidance of corporations like Monsanto and Wal-Mart which are on the KIA board. How investment on food processing would increase productivity of our food grains is an unanswered question, of course.
There is also mention of "cutting edge technologies" to raise crop yields and Clinton affirmed with authority that crop productivity was the 'root' of the problem of world hunger.
No mention at all of food lands going for bio-fuels, no mention about food grains being used for cattle feed and building inefficient food chains, no mention of the shocking wastage of food in the developed world not at the grain level but of processed foods, which would have already consumed much energy in their processing and packaging.
Nor any mention of overflowing granaries in India continuing to mock at the poor in the country who cannot access such food.
While Clinton is reported to have avoided the use of "GM" as the frontier tec
hnology, given the vast controversy over it, our agriculture minister was more forthright. He opined that collaboration in frontier areas like biotechnology would make a significant contribution to the world!
What our leaders don't seem to realise is that there are vast differences not just in conditions of farming in the USA and in India but in the very philosophies and outlook towards agriculture. India for instance opposes patents on life forms in international forums while the USA and its corporations seek to patent everything that they can.
The rigid patent regimes in the USA have led to hundreds of farmers sued and/or jailed for doing something that they have done for millennia — saving their seed! Who is India listening to, on world hunger and the way out?
It would be extremely unwise for our leaders to provide ready platforms and markets for profit-hungry US corporations in the name of food crisis, world hunger, second green revolution and climate change.
If the government is keen on tackling the food crisis, it would do well to evolve a deeper understanding of both food production and access related issues, take up a comprehensive analysis of the Green Revolution and then chart out an Indian course of action. In this hundredth year of "Hind Swaraj", our modern day leaders would do well to revisit Gandhiji's vision.
Technorati Tags: KIA,USA,Second Green Revolution
Posted in Agri-Science, Indo US Knowledge Initiative, Opinion pieces, Policies | Leave a Comment »

States asked to limit BPL beneficiaries

Posted by Ramoo on August 21, 2009
Technorati Tags: Food Security,NFSA
Gargi Parsai
NEW DELHI: Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised that "nobody will go hungry" in the country, the Centre is asking the States to put a ceiling on the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries under the Targeted Public Distribution System for the purpose of the National Food Security Bill that is in the making.
Poverty estimates
The Union government wants to limit the "targeted" BPL beneficiaries to 5.91 crore as per 2009 population estimates, instead of the present 6.52 crore. The majority of the States have disputed the Centre's poverty estimates and demanded "food for all" under the Bill.
Against the allocation of foodgrains to 6.52 crore BPL families, the BPL cards issued by the States are 11.03 crore. They also do not want the present monthly entitlement of 35 kg subsidised foodgrains per BPL cardholder reduced.
The Congress, in its election manifesto, had promised to give, by law, every BPL family 25 kg of wheat or rice a month at Rs. 3 a kg. However, it seems that not only is the entitlement likely to get truncated but even the number of beneficiaries is going to be reduced.
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Agrarian Crisis in India

D. Narasimha Reddy and Srijit MishraAdd to Cart

ISBN13: 9780195695953ISBN10: 019569595XHardback, 272 pages

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Over the past decade, there has been pervasive crisis in Indian agriculture and farmer suicides here emerged as symptoms of deep-seated maladies that have engulfed Indian agriculture. The book analyses various dimensions of the crises. The macro-dimensions include detailed analysis of structural, institutional, and policy changes; trends in capital formation in agriculture; farmers' indebtedness; and the state of agricultural research and extension. This overview is accompanied by case studies of five states that experienced high and unusual incidence of farmers' suicides. The state-level case studies not only bring out the diversity of conditions but also the common thread of failure of public support systems to agriculture.

Features

  • Of contemporary relevance
  • A substantial contribution to scholarship within this field
  • Regional specificities highlighted
  • Wide readership

Product Details

272 pages;ISBN13: 978-0-19-569595-3ISBN10: 0-19-569595-X

About the Author(s)

D. Narasimha Reddy, Professor, Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi, and Srijit Mishra, Associate Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research, Mumbai
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Economics/Developmental/Regional/?view=usa&ci=9780195695953

Confronting agrarian crisis

Text and photographs:

DIONNE BUNSHA

in Nashik

The 31st All India Kisan Sabha conference, held at Nashik in Maharashtra, becomes a forum for farmers across the country to share their experiences and evolve an agenda for action.


At the rally attended by farmers from all over the country.

"WHY else do you think people who barely get enough to eat, who don't even earn Rs.50 a day, have borrowed money to come for this rally?" asked D.P. Vishe, a farmer from Shahpur in Thane district, Maharashtra. "Because this is the only hope we have left. To come together and fight the injustices against farmers."

Vishe had come to participate in a rally that was part of the 31st All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) conference held at Nashik in Maharashtra. The conference had delegates from across the country. The languages were different, but they shared the same sorrows.

The farmer's dilemma was the priority issue at the Kisan Sabha meeting. Rural India is facing the worst agrarian crisis since Independence, the meeting noted. With globalisation, the government has withdrawn its responsibility towards rural development, land reforms and market regulation. Farmers have been left unprotected to face price collapses in a global market that is skewed against them and controlled by a handful of powerful multinational companies. The Kisan Sabha, the country's largest farmers' organisation (with 1.88 crore members), discussed ways to confront the farm crisis and prevent the mass suicides of peasants occurring in several parts of the country.

After liberalisation, growth of agricultural production and real income has fallen. The amount of foodgrains consumed per person has also declined from 177 kg to 155 kg, reaching the levels during the Bengal famine of the pre-Independence era. "Public development expenditure on rural development was 14.5 per cent of GDP [gross domestic product] in 1990. It was reduced to 5.9 per cent in 2001. This is why agricultural incomes have fallen by Rs.1,50,000 crores per annum," said K. Varadharajan, general secretary of the AIKS.

Incomes have plummeted and farmers are bankrupt because of the fall in the prices of farm products. This has led to suicides by cotton farmers in Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. Many pepper and coffee cultivators in Kerala's Wayanad district have also killed themselves after price collapses ruined them. "In a period of seven years after quantitative restrictions on imports were removed, India changed from being a net exporter of cotton to a net importer," Varadharajan pointed out.

"The prices of all cash crops have crashed - coffee, pepper, tea. Wayanad has mainly commercial crop cultivators who have invested a lot in their fields. When the prices crashed, they lost everything. That's why you see so many suicides. The government has not intervened to protect the farmer from these price slides," said George Mathew from Kollam in Kerala. Tea and coffee estates have shut down and plantation workers have no other employment. "The price of coffee beans fell from Rs.90-120 a kg in 1996 to Rs.11-20 today, but the price of coffee powder rose from Rs.450 a kg in 1999 to Rs.900-1,200 in 2002. Obviously, the international markets are manipulated. Indian farmers are doomed if they are exposed to this global market," said Krishna Prasad from Wayanad.


Enacting a farmer's suicide at the rally.

Vegetable prices too are very erratic and farmers have had to sell tomatoes or onions for as low as Re.1 per kg; some just dump them on the road rather than make the effort to sell them, according to a farmer from Maharashtra.

Farmers are also starved of credit and land. Institutional credit and land reforms are necessary to help farmers out of debt and poverty. "When I spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he told me that all rural development efforts are cosmetic without land reforms," said Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, addressing a rally held on the sidelines of the conference. While the government has done nothing for land reforms, it is encouraging corporate farming and giving concessions and huge tracts of land to companies who own such farms. Many governments have also removed land ceiling limits, making way for corporate farming.

Farmers cultivating forest land are constantly threatened with eviction. They are not given title deeds for the land and their ownership is considered illegal. "We don't get bank loans because we don't have the land in our name," said Vishe. In Tripura too, the State Forest Department owns around 60 per cent of the land. "Farmers who have been cultivating such land for ages are told they are illegal owners and have been asked to leave," said Dr. Nilmoni Deb Barmani from Tripura.

Rural India is also facing an acute shortage of water and power. With privatisation, power tariffs have multiplied. Yet power supply is erratic even in the more developed States such as Maharashtra and Punjab. "Almost all of Punjab is irrigated, but we need 12 hours of continuous power supply for it to work," said Tarlochand Dhulay from Ludhiana. But many farmers are insecure because they have to rely entirely on rainfall. "We have three dams in our taluk, but we don't even get proper drinking water. All the water goes to Mumbai and to the nearby Coca-Cola factory," said Vishe.

Even Punjab, considered the granary of India, is facing a grave crisis. Farmers' suicides have been reported here too. "The minimum cost of producing one quintal of wheat is Rs.640. The market price is the same. So we are all running heavy losses," said Tarlochand Dhulay. "Production has reached a peak. Earlier, agricultural universities were coming up with new seeds and techniques but in the past 10 years, they have done nothing. People have to rely on private suppliers of seeds and other inputs." Moreover, the water level in the canals is falling by five feet every year.

The good news for the conference came from Rajasthan where the AIKS' huge protests for water and power forced the State government to concede the farmers' demands. "Two areas - Hanumangarh and Ganganagar - were part of the first phase of two irrigation projects. But the authorities bypassed the two and provided water to the cities. This destroyed the agricultural fortunes of everyone here - and hence people started migrating, and the markets collapsed. So AIKS along with other groups launched an agitation. We also started a parallel agitation against the 30 per cent hike in power tariff," said Sheopat Singh, an AIKS leader from Rajasthan. For eight days late last year, the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangh Samiti held a sit-down agitation in Jaipur. Farmers came with their tractors, food and cooking vessels, and refused to move out. All roads were blocked. Finally, the State government had to concede their demands.

"In Rajasthan, we have shown farmers a new way forward. You don't have to kill yourself. You just have to fight together," said Sheopat.


http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl2303/stories/20060224005612500.htm

P. Sainath on the agrarian crisis


P.Sainath, rural affairs editor of The Hindu newspaper, spends about 250 days a year in rural India, reporting about issues that affect the rural Indian majority. Recently, Sainath won the 2006 Harry Chapin award for journalism, and met several AID chapters during this visit.

Sainath at College Park, MD

Photograph: Jerrah Edwards


If you've read his articles in The Hindu, you know the stories. However, Sainath manages to link the stories to a larger picture of government negligence at best, and a concerted effort to drive small and marginal farmers off the land, at worst.  Sainath described several stark contrasts in India today; the average CEO earns 30,000 times more than the average worker. Overall, while labor productivity rose 84%, real wages of laborers dropped 22%. Today, India is importing expensive wheat from Australia (who was importing wheat 9 years ago from Punjab). Ironically, India exports 20 million tons of grain at Rs. 5.45/kg whereas the same grain is sold to the poor at Rs 6.15/kg! Since the beginning of structural adjustment policies in India, the government has reduced spending on health care, education and the public distribution system from 14% in 1991 to 5.9% in 2005 – such programs are the lifeline of families living in abject poverty.

Sainath drew attention to the huge suicide rate of one in 6 hours among the farmers. In response, the government's "measures" have ranged from gifting a cow to families in arid areas (who have little food for themselves, let alone for a cow!) to psychiatric counseling for farmers contemplating suicide. These examples illustrate the inadequacy of the government's response to the crisis.  When asked what we could do from here, Sainath replied that the only valid question for an Indian to ask is "Where can I start?". In India, there is no dearth of ways in which we can start playing a role – understanding the connections between the distress of the small farmer or farm labourer and the structural adjustment policies in India is just the beginning. Sainath's articles are available on the IndiaTogether website

http://publications.aidindia.org/content/view/429/102/

Agrarian Reform in India

Agrarian Reform in India had been adopted to reallocate the agricultural resources among all the people directly connected with agriculture. After independence, the Government of India started the process of building equity in rural population and improvement of the employment rate and productivity. So for this reason the Government had started agrarian reform.

Reasons Behind Agrarian reform:

  • Since India had been under several rulers for a long time, i.e right from the beginning of the middle age, that's why it's rural economic policies kept changing. The main focus of those policies was to earn more money by exploiting the poor farmers.

  • In the British period the scenario had not changed much. The British Government introduced the "Zamindari" system where the the authority of land had been captured by some big and rich landowners called Zamindar. Moreover they created an intermediate class to collect tax easily.

  • This class had no direct relationship with agriculture or land. Those Zamindars could acquire land from the British Government almost free of cost. So the economic security of the poor peasants lost completely. After independence, the Government's main focus was to remove those intermediate classes and secure a proper land management system. Since India is a large country, the redistribution process was a big challenge for the Government.

Objectives:

According to agrarian reform land was declared as a property of State Government. So agrarian reform varied from state to state. But the main objectives of agrarian reform in India were:

  • Setting proper land management,

  • Abolition of Intermediaries

  • Preventing fragmentation of lands,

  • Tenancy reform.

The land policies of different states faced several controversies . In some state the reform measures were biased in favour of th big land owners who could wield their political influence. However, agrarian reform in India had set a healthy socio-economic structure in the rural areas.

http://www.economywatch.com/agrarian/india/

'LAND REFORMS REMAIN AN UNFINISHED BUSINESS'
K. Venkatasubramanian

If China has continued to be stable in spite of its size, defying the biological dictum that corpulence is a sign of decay, China watchers ascribe it to their land reforms. In India everyone was talking about land reforms but this vital area has taken a back seat with nothing being done.

Land reforms have been half-heartedly attempted at various times and this has proved to be a case of the remedy being worse than the disease. Commenting on the process of land reforms, Prof. M.L. Dantwala observes; "By and large land reforms in India enacted so far and those contemplated in the near future, are in the right direction; and yet due to lack of implementation the actual results are far from satisfactory".

Joshi observes: "There is no doubt that during the past twenty five years land reforms in India have not assumed the form of gigantic revolutionary upheaval as in China, or that of a dramatic change brought about from above as in Japan. But from this to jump to the conclusion that the land reforms programme has been a hoax or a total fiasco is to substitute assertion for a detailed empirical examination. India has also witnessed important changes in the agrarian structure, which have gone unnoticed because of the absence of a down-to-earth approach in assessing these changes.

Evaluating the Indian land reforms, a recent comment from G.S. Balla is apt. He observes: "The Indian Government was committed to land reforms and consequently laws were passed by all the State Governments during the Fifties with the avowed aim of abolishing landlordism, distributing land through imposition of ceilings, protection of tenants and consolidation of land-holdings. One of the significant achievements of these acts was the abolition of absentee landlordism in several parts of India. However, land reforms were half-hearted with regard to the imposition of ceilings and security of tenure. Consequently, the skewness in land distribution was not reduced in any significant manner. Further, a very large number of tenants were actually evicted in the name of self-cultivation. In spite of it, land reforms brought about a significant change in land relations in so far as self-cultivation, rather than absentee landlordism, became a predominant mode of production.

The Government of India is aware that agricultural development in India could be achieved only with the reform of India's rural institutional structure. It was said that the extent of the utilisation of agricultural resources would be determined by the institutional framework under which the various inputs were put to use. M. Dandekar observed: "Among the actions intended to release the force which may initiate or accelerate the process of economic growth, agrarian reform usually receives high priority". The First Five-Year Plan stated:"This (land reform) is a fundamental issue of national importance. The former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, emphasised: "Land Reforms is the most crucial test which our political system must pass in order to survive." Land reforms therefore became one of the vital aspects of the agricultural development policy especially after the concept of the Five-Year Plan came to stay.

The important objectives of land reform measures in India were: (1) to enhance the productivity of land by improving the economic conditions of farmers and tenants so that they may have the interest to invest in and improve agriculture, (2) to ensure distributive justice and to create an egalitarian society by eliminating all forms of exploitation, (3) to create a system of peasant proprietorship with the motto of land to the tiller and (4) to transfer the incomes of the few to many so that the demand for consumer goods would be created.

The Second Five-Year Plan emphasised the objectives of the land reforms thus:

  1. To remove the impediments in the way of agricultural production as may arise from the character of agrarian structure and to evolve an agrarian economy conducive of high levels of efficiency and productivity;
  2. To establish an egalitarian society and to eliminate social inequality;

Again in the Third Plan, the Planning Commission summed up the objectives of land reforms thus "The first is to remove such impediments to increase in agricultural production as may arise from the agrarian structure inherited from the past. This should help to create conditions for evolving as speedily as possible an agricultural economy with a high level of efficiency. The second objective, which is closely related to the first, is to eliminate all elements of exploitation and social injustice within the agrarian system to provide security for the tiller of the soil and assure equality of status and opportunity to all the sections of the rural population". Thus the land reforms in India aimed at the redistribution of ownership holdings and reorganising operational holdings from the view point of optimum utilisation of land. It has also aimed at providing security of tenure, fixation of rents and conferment of ownership.

After Independence, attempts had been made to alter the pattern of distribution of land holdings on the basis of four types of experiments, namely;

  1. Land reforms "from above" through legislation on the lines broadly indicated by the Central Government, enacted by the State legislators, and finally implemented by the agencies of the State Government.
  2. Land reforms "from above" as in the case of Telengana and the naxalite movement also to some extent in the case of the "Land Grab" movement.
  3. Land reforms through legislative enactments "from above" combined with peasant mobilisation "from below" as in the case of controlled land seizure in West Bengal and protection of poor peasants in Kerala.
  4. Land reforms "from below" through permission of landlords and peaceful processions by peasants as in the case of Bhoodan and Gramdan.

The land reform legislation was passed by all the State Governments during the Fifties touching upon these measures;

  1. Abolition of intermediaries.
  2. Tenancy reforms to regulate fair rent and provide security to tenure.
  3. Ceilings on holdings and distribution of surplus land among the landlords.
  4. Consolidation of holdings and prevention of their further fragmentation and
  5. Development of cooperative farming.

The Zamindars acted as the intermediaries. Until Independence, a large part of agricultural land was held by the intermediaries under the zamindari, mahalwari and ryotwari systems. Consequently, the tenants were burdened with high rents, unproductive cultivation and other forms of exploitation.

By 1972, laws had been passed in all the States to abolish intermediaries. All of them had two principles in common: 1) abolition of intermediaries between the state and the cultivator and 2) the payment of compensation to the owners. But there was no clear mention about just and equitable compensation. Therefore, the Zamindari Abolition Act was challenged in the High Courts and the Supreme Court. But the Government accomplished the task of abolishing intermediary tenures bringing nearly 20 million cultivators into direct contact with the state. Nearly 57.7 lakh hectares were distributed to landless agriculturists after the successful completion of the Zamindari Abolition Act. The abolition also had a favourable economic impact on the country. By conferring the ownership of land to the tiller, the Government provided an incentive to improve cultivation. This paved the way for increase in efficiency and yield. This was an important step towards the establishment of socialism and the Government revenue increased. It also ushered in cooperative farming.

The efficacy of the legislation was, however, considerably reduced for the following reasons;

  1. The act did not benefit sub-tenants and share croppers, as they did not have occupancy rights on the land they cultivated.
  2. Intermediaries were abolished, but the rent receiving class continued to exist.
  3. Many landlords managed to retain considerable land areas under the various provisions of the laws. Benami holdings became the order of the day in many States.
  4. The problems of transferring ownership rights from the actual cultivators of the land, the tenants, the sub-tenants, share croppers, therefore, remained far from resolved.

Result, land reforms remain incomplete and unfinished.

The tenancy reform measures were of three kinds and they were 1) regulation of rent 2) security of tenure and 3) conferring ownership to tenants.

After independence, the payment of rent by the tenants of all classes and the rate of rent were regulated by legislation. The first Five-Year Plan laid down that rent should not exceed one-fifth to one-fourth of the total produce. The law along these lines has been enacted in all the States. The maximum rate of rent should not exceed that suggested by the Planning Commission in all parts of the States. Maximum rents differed from one State to another - Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat fixed one-sixth of the produce as maximum rent. In Kerala, it ranges between one-fourth and one-third and in the Punjab one-third. In Tamil Nadu, the rent varies from one-third to 40 per cent of the produce. In Andhra Pradesh it is one-fourth for irrigated land. The rent could be paid in cash instead of kind.

With a view to ensuring security of tenure, various State Governments have passed laws which have three essential aims 1) Ejectment does not take place except with the provisions of law, 2) the land may be taken over by the owners for personal cultivation only, and 3) in the event of resumption the tenant is assured of the prescribed minimum areas.

The measures adopted in different States fall in four categories; First, all the tenants cultivating a portion of land have been given full security of tenure without the land owners having any right to resume land for personal cultivation. This is in operation in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Secondly, land owners are permitted to resume a limited area for personal cultivation, but they should provide a minimum area to the tenants. This is in vogue in Assam, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan. Thirdly, the landowner can resume only a limited extent of land and the tenant is not be entitled to any part of it. This is operating in West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir.

In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, measures in the form of an order for staying ejectments have been adopted to give temporary protection to the tenants.

Fourthly, ligislative measures have also indicated the circumstances under which only ejectments are permitted. These grounds are (a) non-payment of rent (b) performance of an act which is destructive or permanently injurious to land (c) subletting the land (d) using the land for purpose other than agriculture and (d) reclamation of land for personal cultivation by the landlords.

The ultimate aim of land reforms in India is to confer the rights of ownership to tenants to the larger possible extent. Towards this end, the Government has taken three measures: (1) declaring tenants as owners and requiring them to pay compensation to owners in suitable installments (2) acquisition of the right of ownership by the State on payment of compensation and transfer of ownership to tenants and (3) the states' acquisition of the landlords' rights bring the tenants into direct relationship with the

States.

As a result of all these measures, 92 per cent of the holdings are wholly owned and self-operated in the country today. In spite of the progress made in this regard, the tenancy reforms are still plagued by deficiencies some of which are: 1) the tenancy reforms have excluded the share croppers who form the bulk of the tenant cultivators, 2) ejection of tenants still takes place on several ground 3) the right or resumption given in the legislation has led to land grabbing by the unscrupulous 4) fair rents are not uniform and not implemented in various States because of the acute land hunger existing in the country 5) ownership rights could not be conferred on a large body of tenants because of the high rates of compensation to be paid by the tenants. The proof of continuous possession for 12 consecutive years to get occupancy rights also led to tardy implementation of tenancy reforms.

One of the controversial measures of land reforms in India is the ceiling on land holding. By 1961-62, ceiling legislation had been passed in all the States. The levels vary from State to State, and are different for food and cash crops. In Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, for example, the ceiling on existing holding is 40 acres and 25 acres and on future acquisitions 121/1 acres and 25 acres respectively. J In Punjab, it ranges from 27 acres to 100 acres, in Rajasthan 22 acres to 236 acres and in Madhya Pradesh 25 acres to 75 acres. The unit of application of ceiling also differs from State to State. In Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Maharshtra, it is on the basis of a 'land holder', whereas in the other States it is one the basis of a 'family'.

In order to bring about uniformity, a new policy was evolved in 1971. The main features were:

  1. Lowering of ceiling to 28 acres of wet land and 54 acres of unirrigated land
  2. A change over to family rather than the individual as the unit for determining land holdings lowered ceiling for a family of five.
  3. Fewer exemptions from ceilings
  4. Retrospective application of the law for declaring benami transactions null and void; and
  5. No scope to move the court on ground of infringement of fundamental rights

Besides, national guidelines were issued in 1972, which specified the land ceiling limit as;

  1. The best land 10 acres
  2. For second class land 18-27 acres; and
  3. For the rest, 27-54 acres with a slightly higher limit in the hill and desert areas

According to the figures available till the beginning of the Seventh Plan, the area declared surplus is 72 lakh acres; the area taken over by the Government is 56 lakh acres; and the area actually distributed is only 44 lakh acres. Thus, 28 lakh acres of land declared surplus have not been distributed so far. Of this, 16 lakh reserved for specific public purposes.

The process involved in the distribution of surplus land was complicated and time consuming thanks to the intervention of the court. Many land owners surrendered but only inferior and uncultivable land. The allottees, in many cases, could not make proper use of the land as they did not have the money to improve the soil.

Several States have passed the Consolidation of Holdings Act. Statistics reveal that 518 lakhs of hectares had been consolidated in the country at the beginning of the Seventh Five Year Plan, which constitute about 33% of the cultivatable land. The food and the agricultural organisation (FAO), after studying the position in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh regarding the operation of the consolidation of holding act, remarked;" A significant reduction in the cost of cultivation, increased cropping intensity and a more remunerative cropping pattern were developed in these two States."

The Planning Commission in the first three Five Year Plans, chalked out detailed plans for the development of cooperative farming. Only two per cent of the agriculturists have formed cooperative societies farming only 0.2 per cent of the total cultivable area. Cooperative farming has certain difficulties to surmount. The big and marginal farmers are sceptical and the small peasants are not easily convinced that the movement would help them.

Assessed from the point of view of two broad objectives namely, social justice and economic efficiency, land reforms, one might say, has been partially successful. Since the adoption of land reforms, the pattern of ownership in the country is changed but one wonders whether it will ensure social justice in the country. Indian agriculture is in a stage of transition, from a predominantly semi-feudal oriented agriculture characterised by large-scale leasing and subsistence farming to commercialised agriculture or marker oriented farming. Another noteworthy feature is the emergence of modern farmers who are substantial landholders and cultivate their land through hired labourers using new techniques.

One of the major negative features of agrarian transition in India is the continued concentration of land in the hands of the upper strata of the rural society. This has not undergone any change in the past five decades, despite the reforms. In fact, leasing in by the affluent farmer is common place.

An outstanding development of Indian Agriculture was the rapid growth of landless agricultural labourers. They constitute about 10 per cent of the agricultural population and make up about 25 per cent of the labour force.

It may be inferred that the steps taken by the Government have not made any significant impact on the agrarian structure to reduce, let alone eliminate the inequality in the distribution of land or income or to afford to lend the poor the access to the land. It is also true that the land reforms did not seriously jeopardise the interest of the landholders. The structural impediments to production and equitable distribution of rural resources are very much in existence. Social, political and economic power still rests with the elite group who were elite prior to 1947 also.

On the question of increasing productivity, it is difficult to assess the exact contribution of land reforms because productivity has been more related to the technical revolution ushered in the Indian agricultural sector. As Dhingra says, "It is difficult to say either (a) that land reforms did not contribute at all to an increase agricultural production or b) that institutional arrangements alone should be credited with an increase in agricultural production. It is for the future research workers to determine what has been the relative share of institutional and technological factors in agricultural development.

There are many factors responsible for the tardy progress but important among them are the lack of adequate direction and determination, lack of political will, absence of pressure from below, inadequate policy instrument, legal hurdles, absence of correct-up-dated land records and the lack of financial support.

In order to achieve success, the Asian Development Bank has recommended a strategy on these lines; political commitment at the top, administrative preparedness including the improvement of the technical design of enactments, the provision of financial resources and the streamlining of the organisational machinery of implementation, creation of necessary supporting service for the beneficiaries and finally the organisation of beneficiaries themselves.

In this background, the following suggestions may be considered for improvement; breaking up the landlord-tenant nexus, effective implementation of ceiling legislation and distribution of surplus land and simplifying legal procedures and administrative machinery and lastly the potential beneficiaries should be made aware of the programmes.

It is time we thought seriously of land reforms when especially a "humble farmer" is on top. If in the new century we still talk of reforms without effective implementation we will surely miss the bus.

http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/articles/venka/index.php?repts=m-land.htm
MAINSTREAM, VOL XLVI NO 33

Food Crisis Exposes Failings of India's AgriculturalReforms

Afsar Jafri
This article was written sometime back but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons. —Editor
The recent escalation in food prices is the latest calamity to hit the poor and marginalised communities in India. The price of food and other essentials has been rising for the last 12 weeks and the current inflation level is the highest witnessed since November 2004. Retail prices of some essential food commodities have seen a sharp increase. Retail prices of gram, sugar, mustard oil, vanaspati and onions have increased by up to 11 per cent in the national Capital in the last one month, pushing inflation to a 39-month high of seven per cent.1
Shining India at the Cost of Suffering India
FACING public outrage on rising food prices, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, took refuge under the cover of such statements that inflation is a global phenomenon. Even though it is a global phenomenon and food riots have been witnessed in more than 30 countries, the food crisis inIndia has been primarily caused by the pro-market and market-biased policies of the government. Indians (along with the Chinese) have been accused of eating more due to rising prosperity resulting in the global food shortages. But the per capita food consumption and calorie intake indicates that irrespective of the current inflationary trend, the majority of our people in India is facing hunger and starvation since the liberalisation policies were introduced. The irony is that though the signs of the food and agriculture crisis were evident, the policy-makers continued with the neoliberal policies to benefit the corporations. The government is witness to the increasing schism between 'shining India' and 'suffering India' but its mantra has always been that only the pro-capitalist, corporation-driven economy can bring sustained economic growth which will trickle down to benefit the disadvantaged sections of the population. Despite looming inflation, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India believes that robust investment growth and strong corporate performance would drive India towards prosperity. It also says that "in the current year, the strong growth in agricultural GDP has come mostly from activity other than foodgrain production, namely commercial crops, horticulture and animal husbandry".2 This paradigm shift in foodgrain production was introduced under the World Bank direction which "required Indiato move away from the existing subsidy-based regime and instead, invest in building a solid foundation for a highly productive, globally competitive and diversified farm sector".3 The report recommended the removal of subsidies related to grain procurement and Public Distribution System (PDS), diversifica-tion of Indian agricultural development, increased space for the private sector in agriculture extension services, contract farming and for agro-industry in general. Interestingly, during the recent crisis the Indian Government severely criticised the World Bank for their advice to countries to shift from food crops for domestic population to cash crops for exports.4 Addressing a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council to consider the issue of rising food prices, India's UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen said that the "tradition of these institutions' advice was partly responsible for the crisis in the first place". The corporate led growth regime has contribu-ted to mass displacement of mainly small and marginal farmers, leading to loss of livelihood opportunities and employment generation for the common people. The widespread farmers' suicides, which reached 150,0005 in just eight years (1997-2005), is a manifestation of the ongoing corporatisation and mindless deregulation of the agricultural sector. Though India is seen as a rising economic power and it is hoped that a trickle down effect will benefit the poor and the marginalised, in reality the gap between 'Shining India' and 'SufferingIndia' is widening: 77 per cent6 of the Indian population who survive on Rs 20 (half a US dollar) a day, do not figure in this 'booming Indian economy'.
Myth of Global Market Integration
TWO years of wheat imports have exposed the fallacies of the neoliberal policies. India, once a wheat exporting country, was forced to become the largest wheat importer through a design to benefit the global food corporations. The declining procurement of locally produced wheat by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) prepared the ground for wheat imports. This was a sea-change from the situation during 2001-2002 to 2004-2005, when the country exported 12.4 million tonnes of wheat. Since early 2006, the USA was pressuring India to break its tariff wall and open up for wheat imports. In March, despite predictions of a bumper wheat harvest, the US Wheat Associates7 said India would import up to 30 lakh tonnes of wheat in that year. Following this, the government reduced the applied tariff on wheat from 60 per cent to zero for imports by the State Trading Corporation of India while for private traders, the duty was brought down to five per cent. This led to import of 5.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2006 at prices ranging in between US $ 178.75 to US $ 228.94 a tonne8 when the local wheat production was 69 million tonnes. In 2007, the government first scrapped a wheat import tender at an average price of $ 263 per tonne in June citing high prices but in July, less than 40 days later, it contracted 5.11 lakh tonnes of wheat at an average price of $ 325.59 per tonne. Then again on September 3, it contracted 7.95 lakh tonnes of wheat at an average price of $ 389.459 but only 1.8 million tonnes of wheat finally landed on Indian ports at double the price of last year despite the increase in wheat production upto 74.82 million tonnes in that year. Thus the government paid foreign traders the exorbitant price of upto Rs 16,000 per tonne while the MSP (market spot price) was only Rs 8500 per tonne. And the main beneficiaries of India's wheat imports were giant grain corporations like Glencore, Toepfer, Cargill and the Australian Wheat Board who gained at the cost of the Indian farmers. However, the import of wheat at expensive rates led to the sharp increase in local wheat and wheat flour prices making it unaffordable for the poor. The story of wheat is not different from what happened in late 1990s in the edible oil sector when under pressure from the USA, India reduced the duty on the crude edible oil to 15 per cent in August 1998. In July 1999 Oil World reported that India was set to replace China as the world's largest vegetable oil importer and projected India's import around 3.6 million tonnes (MT) in the 1998-99 oil year. In the first nine months India had imported 3 MT oil and during the 1998-99 oil year, edible oil import amounted to a massive 4.4 MT, an increase of 111 per cent over the previous year's 2.08 MT. The increasing reliance on imports considerably weakened the domestic edible oil production. In spite of the above experiences, early this year the government allowed liberalisation of imports to deal with rising inflation by reducing import duty to zero in respect of articles like pulses, edible oil and maize; withdrawal of four per cent additional duty on edible commodities; reducing import duty on refined oil and vegetable oil by 7.5 per cent; reduction of import duty on butter and ghee to 30 per cent. But does the reduction in import duties and import of foodgrains help in containing the domestic food prices? In June 2006, the same government had unilaterally liberalised imports to bolster the supply side of essential commodities but this couldn't control inflation. The government's Economic Survey 2006-07 had said that "duty free wheat imports did not help to check price rise, rather the rising global prices impacted the domestic market in a subtle way". A billion plus population ofIndia cannot depend on the 'ship-to-mouth' existence and the government needs to restore its policy to build up foodgrain reserves in order to serve the farmers and consu-mers. Moreover there is greater threat that the unilateral trade liberalisation as a solution to inflation would soften India's position in the WTO.
Public Distribution Undermined by Corporations
THE Public Distribution System (PDS)10 has been one of the most crucial elements of the food policy and food security system in the country. But theIndian Government has been deliberately weakening the public distribution system under World Bank pressure to benefit the agribusiness corporations.India witnessed a shortage of wheat in 2005-2007 because systematically the foodgrain (wheat and rice) buffer stocks were lowered through below target offtake of grains by the government from the farmers. In order to make a case for wheat import under US pressure, the government went slow on the procurement of wheat in 2005-07 and deliberately kept the government's purchasing price low to allow multinational corporations to enter the trade. In 2006, Cargill India, the Australian Wheat Board, and two Indian based companies with a lot of foreign equity, ITC and Adani Export, procured 30 lakh tonnes of wheat. In 2003-04, the government procured 16.8 million tonnes of wheat which went down to 14.8 million tonnes in 2004-05 and it further reduced to 11.1 million tonnes in 2005-2006 and last year it was just 9.2 million tonnes.11 The government deliberately created a situation of food insecurity in the country by allowing multinational corporations to move into agribusiness and large procurement. However, in 2008 it corrected its faulty policy of reduced procurement and procured a record 20.5 million tonnes till May 20 this year,12 which is a huge jump from a meagre 11.1 million tonnes in the entire season last year, helped by a bumper crop and higher prices. Moreover the government went a step further and Indian Railways decided to stop allocating wagons for transporting wheat from the growing areas by the private trader, impacting their wheat procurement. The reduced procurement of foodgrains resulted in reduced amount of offtake by the State governments for the subsidised grain distribution through a network of more than 450,000 Fair Price Shops (FPS). An analysis of data from 2005-06 onward reflects a consistent fall in allocation of wheat in the BPL (below the poverty line) category, even while there was a perceptible upward shift in demand.13 It means that at a time when open market prices of wheat were rising, there wasn't enough wheat in the PDS for those eligible to buy it there for less than the market prices. Commodity Future : Trading on Hunger
BESIDES agribusiness, the traders engaged in future trading in commodities were beneficiaries of the declining food procurement and shrinking of buffer stocks. In fact the Opposition parties in India claimed that the lowering of procurement and shrinking of buffer stocks was meant to facilitate the speculative trading of foodgrains. Reduction in government stocks is imperative for the private traders and speculators to speculate on the prices of foodgrains. Sitaram Yechury, representing the Communist Party of India-Marxist, debating the issue of price rise in Parliament, said that "three billion dollars a day is the speculation that is taking place in the commodity exchange market of futures and forward trading" across three national level electronic exchanges and twentyone regional exchanges. In just two weeks, from March 17 to March 31, 2008, the total value of trading at these commodity exchanges was Rs 2,12,465.17 crores.14 The cumulative value of trade in the last financial year, from April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008 was to the tune of Rs 40,65,989 crores as compared to Rs 5,71,759 two years ago in 2004-05. One firm calculates that the amount of speculative money in the commodities futures markets—where investors do not buy or sell a physical commodity, like rice or wheat, but merely bet on price movements—has ballooned from US $ 5 billion in 2000 to US $ 175 billion to 2007.15 The price behaviour of food over 2007 and the first three months of 2008 are more or less explained by such speculation on food products. But the speculation and bidding in foodstocks does not benefit small and marginal farmers. The Economic Survey 2007-08 clearly stated that: "direct participation of farmers in the commodity futures market is somewhat difficult at this stage as the large lot size, daily margining and high membership fees … work as a deterrent to farmers' participation in these Markets. Farmers can directly benefit from the futures market if institutions are allowed to act as aggregators on behalf of the farmers." Though the government has put a ban on futures trading of some crops, it may be opened up anytime therefore the government must totally ban the futures trading of food commodities as demanded by the citizens groups and Left parties. Retreating from Capitalist Economy
THE UPA Government under the leadership of Manmohan Singh seems to concede the failure of the neoliberal agricultural reforms (but it could be a gimmick for the election, which is due in early 2009). The inflation also made him realise the viability of the small farm essential for the survival of millions of small and marginal farmers and to deal with the food crisis. Recently the Prime Minister made a statement, which is discordant with the general pro-market reforms push, including promotion of contract farming, that the UPA Government has encouraged for the past four years. At the Global Agro-Industries Forum, the Prime Minister said that "collectivisation, corporatisation and land consolidation through land alienation are neither possible nor socially desirable, while warning that rising food prices could hamper the country's economic growth…We cannot wish away the existence of economically unviable farms… It is particularly worrisome that the new economics of biofuels is encouraging a shift of land away from food crops."16 Even two of his colleagues from the Cabinet showed their concern on the capitalist economic model when Kamal Nath (Union Commerce Minister) and Sharad Pawar (Union Agriculture Minister) stated that if the need arose they were ready to look at invoking the Nehru-era controls built within existing commodity regulation laws. The last few months have witnessed several steps where the UPA Government have retreated from its capitalist move and brought in government regulation to check inflation. One can infer from this development that the UPA Government headed by Manmohan Singh (a former World Bank Governor) has lost the confidence in the neo-liberal trajectory in agricultural reforms.
Small-Scale Farmers Hold the Key
GIVEN the deepening of agrarian crisis which is causing hunger and malnutrition in rural areas due to unprecedented decline in the purchasing power in the rural areas, the first priority of the government should be to strengthen the agri-culture sector by increasing public investment, facilitating public control over inputs and market, strictly regulating the corporate investment in agriculture as well as retreating from the neoliberal reforms in agriculture. Since India is a land of small and marginal farmers, and over 650 million of its over one billion population are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, there is an urgent need to encourage and strengthen biodiversity-based small-scale agriculture which is crucial for the food security of the millions of Indians. In fact it is the small biodiverse farm, which has higher productivity than large industrial farms. Large farmers and industrial farming have serious limitations on increasing agricultural productivity. In the face of a worsening worldwide food-price crisis, even the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mr Lennart Båge, feels that small farmers are now essential to ensure food security, spur economic growth and help mitigate climate change. He said that smallholder farmers are a vital global asset, a key factor for increased food production, economic growth and develop-ment, and mitigating climate change. The two billion people in the rural areas in the developing world can be tremendously more productive. They can be part of the supply response, feeding the world, and also very much a part of the climate change agenda, both in terms of adaptation and mitigation.17 In India, small farm based on internal inputs are the only hope to deal with the impending food crisis and can ensure food security and food sovereignty to millions of people living off the farm. A food secure and peacefulIndia is in the hands of her small farmers. n
NOTES
1. Retail prices shoot up in Delhi, The Financial Express, April 4, 2008. India blames World Bank, IMF for food, fuel crisis, May 22, 2008. Indian population or 836 million people survive on a per capita daily consumption of up to Rs 20 (in 2004-05). India, April 16, 2008. India, April 11, 2008. http://www.donorplatform.org/conen/…
The author is a Senior Associate with Focus on the Global South headed by Dr Walden Bello. He can be contacted at e-mail : afsarjafri@yahoo.com
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article859.html
Food Crisis An Outcome Of Failed Agrarian Reforms
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
25 May, 2011
Countercurrents.org
Much before the world could rise about the context of land grabbing, we in India, know it well how people's land was already grabbed by the ruling Elites. These people who we called as Dalits or most marginalised found that whatever land they had in their possession was annexed by those village elite which claimed itself as 'farmers'. Farmer in India, is a peculiar term. They too have castes. They too have rigidities of life. They too suffer from a hierarchical value system which considers the most marginalised as subhuman and untouchables. Indian villages live in darkness, in caste system and in nepotism Said Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar who guided our destiny in the post-independent India as he drafted our constitution and became the emancipator and liberator of millions of oppressed communities all over the country.
While, we oppose all forms of discrimination by any one, and, all forms of land acquisition, a bit sophisticated terminology for land grabbing, we want to make it clear that we have become habitual of speaking the truth of convenience. Land grab is not just international phenomena but have been used by all the power elite in our societies. So, as I said in my opening statement, I am opposed to all forms of land acquisition including that by my own countrymen inside the country as well as outside it.
Let me explain it further. Before 1990, most of the Dalits and Adivasis found their land being annexed by the upper castes and middle castes farmers. In many places, Indian state refused to act as those whose land was annexed did not matter much politically. The government knew it well that a large number of these communities need their protection yet nothing happened. The first generation of land reform failed miserably because inherent racist nature of our society which never considered these issues important. We still know millions of people in India mostly the Dalits, the tribal and the most backward communities, have in their hand, their land entitlement yet they fail to know where that exact portion of land is.
Second failure of first generation of land reform was state's failure to get the land ceiling laws implemented. Without active will of the state Land Ceiling Laws remain redundant. Most of the land still remains in the hands of power brutal village elite. We
Know that they have used the Indian courts to make the Indian laws completely redundant.
Many people talks about the Bhoodan Movement for land reform which was a complete eye wash actually to deviate people's demand for land rights. We all know that these ruling elite would not give their own land at their own will that easily. To puncture the land rights movement, these elite trapped the whole social movements for land rights in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. We all know the out come of Bhoodan movement and how the land was used. Andhra Pradesh can give a better example of Bhoodan land.
Interestingly, Land Ceiling is for 12 acres of irrigated land while 18 acres for semi irrigated land. Land in India, is a state subject hence these criteria's change accordingly. But the commonality of these things is that you can procure land in the name of gods and goddesses, in the name of church, temple and mosques and no ceiling law would impact you as all these Gods do not live with in the Ceiling act. You can also procure enormous land for your cows. It is only for human being that we have put ceiling laws. To evade the land ceiling laws, the ruling elite turn to religion, use it as a tool to exploit the most marginalised one. Rule of law have failed to protect and honor the most margainslied communities from being exploited.
In the post 1990s, when the Indian government went on Structural Adjustment programmes, became part of the WTO regime and abdicated all its responsibilities particularly related to land and agrarian reform, we saw a clamour for land acquisition in the name of 'public interest'. Now, public interest during the British regime who drafted 1894 Land Acquisition Act, was much more different. At least the British created institutions in India, built our road networks and railways and hospitals were constructed but contrary to that our governments actually became 'real estate agents' and started land acquisition and handed them over to private companies. Most of the people who face this challenge are the communities of farmers, tribal and Dalits living in the villages and forest regions. Since 1950s, over 9 million tribal have become landless and displaced completely without rehabilitation. In fact, I call it, the annihilation of tribal culture and their land. It is criminal. Any protest for their rights and livelihood is being treated with much voracious state apparatus which criminalises the social movements and political protests. The tribal land is gone to mining mafias, timber contractors in the forest and then the environmental mafias who feel that the tribal are the biggest threat to environment. It does not care whether the tribal be honourably rehabilitated, or compensated for their sacrifices for making us live our today. The Indian state has failed to honor the tribal autonomy and continue to marginalise them.
The second kind of threat today is to the farmers in India through the Land Acquisition for Special Economic Zones ( SEZs), for the big roads, malls, companies. All over the country, the farmers are protesting against this illegal land grab. The state acquires their land threatening them with dire consequences if they try to stop the authorities from acquiring their land. A report in the Times of India suggest that in 17 States of India, 40 districts will lose simply 3,69,000 acres of land for various projects. The fact is the numbers are quite big and I would term it great Indian land robbery much bigger than any bank robbery. And these robbers have not come from out side India, the record of Indian companies is worst than their external counterparts.
For us this challenge is big. Though we know a large of number these farmers do not even consider Dalit and Adivasis as human being (caste being an important aspect of their arrogance) yet, if we have to understand the future of India and its food security, we must understand the conspiracy of the ruling elite and the powerful private owners who want to control our agriculture.
Yes, India's communal land is under the grab. It was meant for the communities and their cattle for grazing and sitting and discussing their issues. But it is in the hands of powerful caste forces in the villages. We do not talk about it as it would expose our own imperialist culture. It is easy to fight against an external enemy but very difficult to fight against our 'own' people and it is applicable to each one us including the communities who I am talking about. Each one of us is a victim of not only external forces wanting to control us but also our own people wanting to be a stooge in the hands of these forces, to exploit our sentiments.
The issue of Food crisis is not just related to Food security. For us Food sovereignty is more important. We are not ready to accept that there is a food crisis and hence we need to import food to give it to our people. Food sovereignty is our food, our land and our farmers. You can not impose your waste food on our people in the name of food security. Food is a culture, it depends on local environment, it is developed over a period of time and hence our concern is food which is culturally conducive for our people.
Many Indian companies are procuring land abroad particularly in Africa. I know about the land struggles going on in these countries against this kind of imperialism. That is why I mentioned in my remark that we must oppose all kind of imperialist tendencies and not particular kind. If India indulges in that kind of approach, we must not suffer with a false 'nationalistic' sentiment because the same companies are disinheriting our own people from their land and using it for non agricultural purposes and then procuring huge land abroad to get it imported to India. It is a conspiracy to make our farmers workless and complete beggars. We must oppose to it.
We must also not lose sight of the fact that the current food crisis is not a day's work. The issue of subsidy to the farm products and fertilisers are very important. If Europe and Americans are not ready to do away with it, they have no right to impose these conditions on our governments to kill our agriculture. It is because of this, we are witnessing farmers committing suicide as they are unable to face the market pressures. They are unable to produce their crop according to fancies of market. Not able to produce profit as we all know well, market gives you big dreams and yet in reality it works against the most marginalised one. It is monopolised by the big corporations hence how can a common farmer compete with them. The farmers have to procure the hybrid seeds to 'increase' their yields which has failed forcing them to commit suicide. Indian farmers' continuous suicide is a direct out come the 'green revolution' where they shunned traditional practices and went following the 'commercial' practices. Scientific achievements were converted to commercial greed by the companies and we all know green revolution also undid the agrarian reform. It mocked at small land holding and compelled people to annex the land of the most marginalised. The most powerful regions of India's 'green belt' have the worst record of violence against women and Dalits. It has the worst record of dilapidating our water resources. Today, the same farmers are willingly ready to sale their land for real estate purposes and the only struggle between them and the government is related to monitory compensation and the rehabilitation package.
India's poorest people are living in richest zones. Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Oddisha, have rich wealth of natural resources. The companies are venturing there and sucking these resources while the indigenous people are on the road fighting in their own land for their own survival. Is it not an irony that in these rich mineral zones, people are still suffering from hunger? What have we given to them? Except than criminalising them, we have no shame in continuously marginalising and isolating them. A war is growing in the heart of people against this injustice. The state was supposed to protect and fulfil its duties towards its people but it has failed. Civil society failed in its duty. For social movements, it was plainly the issue of land but for millions of people it relate to their continuous marginalisation, cultural annihilation and social ostracisation with the rest of the country. We failed in our duty towards our indigenous people, our most marginalised communities and unable to accept them in our decision making so that they can speak about their issues and plan their future.
The crisis is enormous. You can not force an unwilling people to your thought. The efforts to privatise the agrarian system in the name of Food security would not succeed. It is an effort to kill the indigenous system of agriculture. It will ruin millions of farmers, indigenous people from their traditional method of agriculture. Such a food produced by big companies using the most 'modern' 'technology' might be large in quantity but will never be a qualitative food and will be resulting in annihilating our food culture. If the governments world over have failed to fulfil their duties towards their farmers, their indigenous people then they have no right to seize the resources of people which they have protected, nurtured so beautifully over the years. Do not blame these communities who protected our environment, our natural wealth for your mistakes. It is time, we must apologise to these communities and hand over their land and resources to them so that they are protected better. Let the big companies not worry about our food security. Those corporations can not feed the world who are responsible for killing thousands of farmers, indigenous people on whose ruins they produce their resources. Let us all boycott those corporations and products that are the results of the ruins of the farmers and indigenous people. If people are allowed to access their resources, there would be no hunger deaths. Hunger deaths are the failure of modern states which acquired people's resources in the name of public interest but could never fulfil those promises to the people it displaced and killed. It is time; we need an informative debate on the issue of Food Security, Food sovereignty and on Land Acquisition. For that, we need to place a complete moratorium on all forms of acquisition that displace people from their natural resources and make them landless and then respect community's sovereignty over their land and other natural resources.
* Contents of the points raised by me during my presentation at the International Conference on ' Securing Land Access to the poor in the time intensified natural resource competition', organised by International Land Coalition, Rome, in Tirana, Albania ( 24th-27th May 2011)
--
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social activist.
www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat250511.htm

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Foodgrain production hits another high

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PM calls for second green revolution to achieve self-sufficiency in food

DailyIndia.com - ‎10 hours ago‎
New Delhi, July 16: The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Saturday emphasised that the country needs a second green revolution to further accelerate agricultural growth and achieve self-sufficiency in food. Addressing the 83rd foundation day of ...
Foodgrain production hits another high Daily News & Analysis
PM's Address at 83rd Foundation Day of ICAR Press Information Bureau (press release)
Daijiworld.com - Business Standard -Economic Times

CACP chief Ashok Gulati lashes out at government's slow decisions on farm ...

Economic Times - ‎2 hours ago‎
... not announce "some sort of compensation in the range of Rs 2000-3000/ha" to wheat farmers in UP, especially eastern UP and Bihar, two key states where the government was crafting its second Green Revolution to urgently increase farm productivity.

Green revolution to help multinational corporates:SRP

IBNLive.com - ‎Jul 13, 2011‎
PTI | 04:07 PM,Jul 13,2011 Kannur, Jul 13 (PTI) CPI(M) today alleged that the Centre was implementing the second Green Revolution to help big corporates. Inaugurating the State-level celebration of the 75th anniversary of the formation of All India ...

Gujarat records highest decadal agricultural growth rate of 10.97%

Economic Times - ‎16 hours ago‎
Andhra Pradesh, considered among the traditionally forwardGreen Revolution agricultural states, only registered a 5.2% CAGR comparitively.

Rs 181 cr released for eastern Green Revolution upto June 1 this FY

Economic Times - ‎Jun 28, 2011‎
NEW DELHI: The Centre has released Rs. 181.35 upto June 1 this financial year to seven eastern states as part of itsGreen Revolution extension plan. Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Eastern UP and West Bengal are covered under the scheme ...
Daily Bhaskar

Maharashtra needs a green revolution: Prithviraj Chavan

Daily News & Analysis - ‎Jul 3, 2011‎
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Pune | Agency: DNA Chief minister (CM) Prithviraj Chavan emphasised the necessity of green revolution to meet the increasing demands of the country. Speaking at an event organised at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, ...
'Maharashtra needs a green revolution'Daily Bhaskar

Government releases funds to extend green revolution to East India

The Hindu - ‎Jun 27, 2011‎
PTI Aiming to increase farm productivity in the country, the government has released Rs. 181.35 crore till May this year under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana scheme to extendgreen revolution to the Eastern states. Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh ...
Govt grants Rs 1.81bn for extending Green Revolution to East India India Infoline.com
Daily Bhaskar

Seeking second Green Revolution, Bihar turns to organic farming

Economic Times - ‎Jun 22, 2011‎
PATNA: After good roads, improving law and order, education and health services, Bihar is turning its attention to popularising and promoting organic farming in the state to usher in a new " Green Revolution" in agriculture.
Bihar set for Rainbow Revolution: CMTimes of India
Bihar to promote organic farming: Nitish Kumar Daily Bhaskar

Mozambique delegates hail PAU for green revolution

Times of India - ‎Jul 6, 2011‎
Dr Bias said the purpose of their visit was to explore areas of collaboration between MARM and PAU, as they held PAU in great esteem owing to its contribution in designing the green revolution. The Mozambique is taking on to programmes on agricultural ...

Bihar to be among Eastern states to usher 2nd green revolution

Economic Times - ‎Jun 26, 2011‎
PATNA: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar exuded confidence that Bihar would be among the Eastern India states to usher in a second green revolution in the country and said that the state fulfilled all requirements for agriculture boom ahead.
Govt to make farmers financially strong Times of India
GreaterKashmir.com (press release)

Green revolution in Punjab at JK's expense: Kashmir Inc

GreaterKashmir.com (press release) -‎Jul 2, 2011‎
Srinagar, July 2: Valley's apex business body, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) today said the "green revolution in Punjab could happen only at the cost of J&K." Senior Vice President KCCI, Abdul Hameed Punjabi told Greater Kashmir...

Just theory can't boost food production

Times of India - ‎Jul 13, 2011‎
The credit of green revolution goes to high yielding dwarf variety of wheat and rice, use of chemical fertilisers, disease resistant gene deployed to insulate the crop to their enemies, new agronomic practices, intensive training at various levels.

AgriSolar Solutions, Inc. Shows Significant Improvement for the Fiscal Year ...

MarketWatch (press release) - ‎Jul 15, 2011‎
We are seeing this is a particularly opportune time to take our solar insect elimination systems global given the rise in health concerns over pesticides and the consumer driven Green Revolution that is taking place worldwide.
OTC:AGSO - PINK:CMTX

Distillery boosts green credentials

Stirling Observer - Donald Morton - ‎Jul 15, 2011‎
GLENGOYNE Distillery has joined the green revolution with the opening of a wetlands area to process distillery waste. The Killearn plant has invested £170000 in the facility.

Water channel to irrigate 11000 acres in Dir

DAWN.com - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
By Our Correspondent | From the Newspaper TIMERGARA, July 14: The Balambat water channel would irrigate 11000 acres of land to bring a green revolution in the district, Executive Engineer Shafiq Khan told local journalists on Thursday.

More investments in non-staples urged in second 'Green Revolution'

Manila Bulletin - ‎Jul 6, 2011‎
By MELODY M. AGUIBA MANILA, Philippines - Developing countries should put more investments in non-staple crops like eggplant and peanuts which are crucial in a secondGreen Revolution that can significantly reduce poverty and hunger amid the ...
Globe and Mail

Eco-friendly Port Moody 'getting into people's kitchens'

Globe and Mail - Patrick Brethour -‎7 hours ago‎
And why has Port Moody seemingly embraced this green revolution? It's not because I and other Port Moody residents are inherently more environmentally virtuous than my colleague Mark Hume and his Vancouver neighbours.
New York Times (blog)

Innovating Our Way to a SecondGreen Revolution

Huffington Post (blog) - ‎Jun 22, 2011‎
US - India collaboration helped spark the "Green Revolution" of the 1960s and '70s, which led to a dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity not only in India but also throughout much of Asia and South America.
Ghana, Brazil Leaders Share World Food Prize Voice of America
World Food Prize for Brazil's da Silva, Ghana's Kufuor The Hindu
New York Times (blog) -Ghana Business News - Myjoyonline.com -Reuters Africa

Scorched earth

Economic Times - ‎Jul 13, 2011‎
Farmers no longer use traditional things like cowdung and crop stalks to replenish soil; excessive use of chemical fertilisers, needed for green revolution crops, is adding to the trouble. Earthworms, necessary to turn over soil, cannot survive in the ...

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Sharad Pawar

The Hindu

Wheat exports ban lifted, market says move too late

Business Standard - ‎1 hour ago‎
Wheat exports are allowed," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) event, here.
Govt lifts ban on wheat exports: Sharad Pawar Times of India
Centre opened up wheat exports but finds no takers in private sector without ... Economic Times
AFP - Hindustan Times
Deccan Chronicle

Deshmukh new MCA president

Indian Express - ‎7 hours ago‎
Deshmukh won the post by securing 182 votes in his favour to defeat former Indian Test player Dilip Vengsarkar who managed to get 135 votes.
Video: Deshmukh wins MCA elections, beats Dileep Vengsarkar NDTV.com
Sharad Pawar has the last laugh Times of India
Hindustan Times - Firstpost - The Hindu -Deepika

CACP chief Ashok Gulati lashes out at government's slow decisions on farm ...

Economic Times - ‎2 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: The Centre's decision to allow wheat exports at long last publicised today by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar at an ICAR function here may be more than just a case of a dollar short and a day too late, Commission for Agricultural Costs and ...
The Hindu

Chavan says Maharashtra Home Minister should be from Congress, NCP miffed

NDTV.com - ‎7 hours ago‎
Mumbai: After Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told NDTV that if the Home Minister is from the Congress, the response to crisis situations may be quicker and more efficient, NCP chief Sharad Pawar today avoided the subject of any possible ...
Video: Congress should have retained Home portfolio: Prithviraj ChavanNDTV.com
NCP irked over Maha CM's remarksHindustan Times
Rediff - Daily News & Analysis -Calcutta Telegraph - Times of India हिंदी में
BBC News

Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi rift corridor chit-chat: Sharad Pawar

Daily News & Analysis -Venkateshwar Rao Jr - ‎Jul 12, 2011‎
Asked about a possible rift between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and prime minister Manmohan Singh, agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar told DNA ...
Maharashtra Congress netas snubbed in Cabinet rejig Times of India
What the reshuffle tells us about Sonia's calculations Firstpost
The Hindu
Moneycontrol.com

PM to confer ICAR awards on CMs of best performing states in agriculture

fnbnews.com - Irum Khan - ‎14 hours ago‎
Along with the PM, Sharad Pawar, minister of agriculture and food processing industries, will present the ICAR awards in different categories.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confers Krishi Karman award to Punjab for ...Economic Times
Prime Minister Calls for Raising farm Productivity to Meet the Growing Demand ...Press Information Bureau (press release)
Indian Express

Sharad Pawar to be Vilasrao Deshmukh's runner in MCA polls

Daily News & Analysis - Shubhangi Khapre,Taus Rizvi - ‎Jul 6, 2011‎
A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawarannounced his withdrawal from the forthcoming biannual election, the agriculture minister's panel on Wednesday said they will back Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh for the post.
Pawar backs Vilasrao for MCA president's post Times of India
'Non-resident' Pawar not to contest MCAIndian Express
Mumbai Mirror - India Today -Cricketnext.com - Keeda of Sports

Reliance plans Baramati hub for pvt jets

Business Standard - Aneesh Phadnis - ‎22 hours ago‎
Baramati is also the home town of Union agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. Reliance Airport Developers, an Anil Ambani group company, had won a bid two years ago to run five airports, including Baramati, ...
Business Standard

Keep politics out of cricket, saysSharad Pawar

Times of India - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎
THANE: Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Sharad Pawar on Saturday came close to declaring his candidature for the forthcoming elections of the cricket body as he listed out his achievements and efforts as a cricket administrator at a function ...
Shiv Sena backs Vengsarkar for top post at Mumbai Cricket Association Hindustan Times
Mumbai Cricket Association elections: Sena backs Dilip Vengsarkar Daily News & Analysis
bettor.com (blog) - Business Standard
Mid-Day

Giving home portfolio to NCP a mistake: CM

Mid-Day - Ravikiran Deshmukh -‎14 hours ago‎
Taking a cue from his predecessor, Ashok Chavan, the chief minister rued the decision to allot the Home Department to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and attributed delays in decision-making to coalition politics. After the 26/11 attack, Ashok Chavan had ...
NCP's youth wing attacks Prime Minister & Congress for governance deficit Economic Times

Can Mumbai cricket vote with its conscience?

Times of India - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
Sharad Pawar, following in the footsteps of a few political luminaries and many not so luminous ones, too decided to find easy glory through sport.
Business Standard

Agri Min not pushing for export of foodgrains: Pawar

Moneycontrol.com - ‎Jul 5, 2011‎
Published on Tue, Jul 05, 2011 at 13:51 | Source : PTI Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said his ministry is not pushing for foodgrains export in view of the proposed National Food Security Bill.
India Farm Ministry Won't Push for Grain Exports Wall Street Journal
Pawar assures farmers bank loan to buy micro-irrigation equip MSN India
Financial Express - domain-B - The Hindu -Commodity Online
Business Standard

I have not received letter from Hazare to discuss Lokpal: Pawar

Times of India - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎
PUNE: Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he has not received any letter from social crusader Anna Hazare seeking a meeting to discuss the issue of the Lokpal bill.
Govt hints at sugar decontrol this weekEconomic Times
Stocks soar on sugary hopes Business Standard
Moneycontrol.com
India Today

Snub for Pawar as govt blocks his grain export plan

India Today - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎
The move seems to be an attempt to checkmate agriculture minister and NCP leader Sharad Pawar, who has been arguing for export of food grains in the wake of a bumper production.
Food ministry reviewing Pawar's call for food grain exports, says Thomas fnbnews.com
Food ministry say okay to possible grain exports Moneycontrol.com
Times of India - Economic Times - domain-B

Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times - ‎Jul 11, 2011‎
On July 6, soon after the Congress core group ended its deliberations, Sharad Pawar apparently called him to inform that the PM wanted him to resign.
Moneycontrol.com

Sharad Pawar writes to Manmohan Singh seeking more sugar exports

Economic Times - ‎Jun 21, 2011‎
NEW DELHI: Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to allow further export of sugar, as India has only one month to encash on high global prices, sources said on Tuesday.
Food EGoM to meet tomorrow to decide on sugar exports Business Standard
India Grain Export Prospects Fade Wall Street Journal

Should politicians head sports bodies?

NDTV.com (blog) - ‎30 minutes ago‎
But up against the might of Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sharad Pawar, he was unable to break the 30-year-long stranglehold that politicians have held on the MCA, leading many former cricketers to speak out against power-hungry politicians controlling sports ...
Mid-Day

Sule launches drive against female infanticide

Business Standard - Sanjay Jog -‎Jul 6, 2011‎
Supriya Sule, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP and daughter of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, has launched a five-year campaign against female infanticide in Maharashtra.
Supriya Sule to walk for the girl child The Hindu
Footmarch against female infanticide in Pune IBNLive.com
Mid-Day

Special Interest driven UPA resembles a sinking ship

NewsClick - Srinivasan Ramani - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
He continues his naked quest for rent-seeking by this time trying to win the post for the presidency of the Mumbai Cricket Association with full support of the ace real estate businessman masquerading as a politician - Sharad Pawar.

Posted On Friday, July 15, 2011 at 07:04:41 PM

Ahmedabad Mirror - Yogesh Naik - ‎Jul 15, 2011‎
... to not talk to the press after a sensational terror attack, says something about his ability to handle the job, a job at which he got a second shot only after much begging and pleading with his leader, Nationalist Congress Party chiefSharad Pawar.

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Manmohan Singh

Moneycontrol.com

Foodgrain production hits another high

Daily News & Analysis - ‎40 minutes ago‎
By DNA Correspondent | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA Terming climate change as biggest challenge to country's agriculture, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday emphasised on the need of second green revolution of India which is 'more inclusive ...
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confers Krishi Karman award to Punjab for ...Economic Times
PM bats for bio-tech to improve farm outputBusiness Standard
Daijiworld.com -Press Information Bureau (press release) -fnbnews.com - DailyIndia.com
The Hindu

India needs another green revolution, says Manmohan Singh

The Hindu - ‎5 hours ago‎
India produced record levels of food grain in 2010—2011 but would still need a second green revolution to feed its growing population, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday. In the face of acute shortages in the 1960s, India made rapid strides ...
Fast-growing India needs '2nd green revolution': PM AFP
Logjams hurt India story Hindustan Times
Reuters Africa - ISRIA (registration) -Monsters and Critics.com
Business Standard

BJP lashes out at Singh, Chidu for ambivalence

Mid-Day - ‎14 hours ago‎
The opposition accused Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram of ambivalence on the Mumbai serial blasts that claimed 18 lives on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram speaking in ...Economic Times
Mumbai blasts: PM, HM speaking in different voices, says BJP IBNLive.com
The Hindu

Nitish pins hope on PM for special status to Bihar

Times of India - ‎17 hours ago‎
PATNA: Buoyed by half-an-hour patient hearing given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pleas for special category status to Bihar and his assurance to look into the demand, CM Nitish Kumar on Friday pinned his hope on the PM and said that if he so ...
Nitish Kumar asks Manmohan Singh to grant special state status to Bihar Daily News & Analysis
हिंदी में
Indian Express

Badal meets PM for resolving Hansi-Butana canal row

IBNLive.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
PTI | 09:07 PM,Jul 16,2011 New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash SinghBadal today called on Prime MinisterManmohan Singh to seeking his intervention to stop further construction of a wall along the Hansi-Butana canal which could block ...
Punjab, Haryana row over canal wall reaches PM Daijiworld.com
Punjab rues inaction on increasing food grain storage MSN India
हिंदी में
The Hindu

Mumbai blasts case will be cracked, PM told

Times of India - ‎22 hours ago‎
MUMBAI: A top Indian Police Service (IPS) officer has assured prime ministerManmohan Singh that Wednesday's serial blast case will be solved by the Mumbai police.
Video: PM vows relentless pursuit of Mumbai attackers NDTV.com
Mumbai blasts: PM, Sonia Gandhi visit injured in hospital Daily News & Analysis
Free Malaysia Today - Hindustan Times -India Today - Express Buzz - Wikipedia: 13 July 2011 Mumbai bombings हिंदी में
Zee News

People regret electing Mayawati: Beni Prasad Verma

Zee News - ‎2 hours ago‎
He was recently made the Steel Minister in the Manmohan Singh government. In a conversation with Swati Chaturvedi of Zeenews.

'Manmohan Singh has given Jama'at a certificate it never got from the people ...

Financial Express - ‎46 minutes ago‎
: Mahfuz Anam is editor and publisher of The Daily Star, the largest circulated English daily in Bangladesh. In this Idea Exchange moderated by Special Correspondent Shubhajit Roy of The Indian Express, Anam speaks about Indo-Bangladesh ties and why a ...
BBC News

Captain Manmohan Singhdelivers too little in his last reshuffle

Daily News & Analysis - Anil Sharma -‎Jul 12, 2011‎
After days of dithering, prime ministerManmohan Singh has gone ahead with the 'last reshuffle' before the 2014 polls.
More Rahul men move into Manmohan Singh ministry Daijiworld.com
Cong in last-shuffle wordplay Calcutta Telegraph
India Today - The National - Reuters India -Hindustan Times (blog)

Court allows extradition of NRI fugitive to US

Times of India - ‎12 hours ago‎
The division bench of Justice BD Ahmed and JusticeManmohan Singh said: "We find no infirmity or illegality in the order passed by the ACMM (additional chief metropolitan magistrate).

Gurudas Kamat at crossroads, may not get mantle of Mumbai Congress committee

Daily News & Analysis - Shubhangi Khapre - ‎Jul 13, 2011‎
The senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat, whose resignation has been accepted by the prime ministerManmohan Singh, finds himself at political crossroads.
Kamat resignation accepted, some unhappiness lingers among Ministers The Hindu
Kamat out, Moily takes charge, Jena 'missing' Hindustan Times
Times of India - Deccan Chronicle - Calcutta Telegraph -IBNLive.com

First day in office

Hindustan Times - ‎Jul 13, 2011‎
"I am very happy with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. If they have given me this charge they might had something in mind," he said.
Newly-designated Corporate Affairls Minister Veerappa Moily sports a smile ... Economic Times
Moily 'happy' with new portfolio The Hindu
Times of India - Deccan Herald - IBNLive.com -Daijiworld.com

Domestic news for the week

Business Standard - ‎8 hours ago‎
PTI / July 16, 2011, 14:42 IST New Delhi: Prime MinisterManmohan Singh warns the cancer of terrorism would consume South Asia if left unchecked and pressed all countries to develop a culture of resolving problems themselves, a comment seen as directed ...

PM to take up Bihar spl status case

Times of India - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
PATNA: The pressure of 1.25 crore signatures of the people demanding special category status to Bihar worked on Thursday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met a JD(U) delegation and promised to bring forth the issue before the next meeting of the ...
JD(U) delegation meets PM, demands special status for Bihar MSN India
JD(U) delegation meets PM to seek special status for BiharNetIndian
Tehelka

Between a yawn and a yelp

India Today - ‎Jul 15, 2011‎
Dr Manmohan Singh and Mrs Sonia Gandhi recognised the size of their problem, which is why they met four times, one-to-one, in their attempt to stabilise a government that had lost shape and begun to wobble.
Not all the PM's men Tehelka
NCP's youth wing attacks Prime Minister & Congress for governance deficit Economic Times
Calcutta Telegraph

Breadearner at 13, leg lost to bomb

Calcutta Telegraph - Sadaf Modak -‎19 hours ago‎
Mumbai, July 15: Bihar boy Dinesh Mazhi, 13, who has lost a leg in Wednesday's blasts, has been visited in hospital by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But the question of who will take care of the snack-bar worker ...
Mumbai serial blasts: PM's chosen one left in the lurch Daily News & Analysis
हिंदी में
DAWN.com

Pakistan policy, counter-terror strategy inseparable, says BJP

The Hindu - ‎22 hours ago‎
Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said here that Prime Minister Manmohan Singhwas making a "fundamental mistake" by separating the Pakistan policy from the counter-terrorism strategy.
Dialogue and cross-border terrorism can''t go hand-in-hand: BJP IBNLive.com
Two Blows to India-Pakistan Ties The Diplomat
Zee News (blog)
BBC News

<B>Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy & David M Malone:</B> Re-engaging with Bangladesh

Business Standard - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
The upcoming visit of India's prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to Bangladesh offers an opportunity to review the bilateral relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka.
Dhaka, Delhi launch jt census for enclavesFinancial Express Bangladesh
Enclave Headcount: B'desh, India Launch Joint Census Outlook
AFP - The Daily Star - UPI.com - BBC News
Al-Arabiya

Hillary Clinton visits India on July 18

indiablooms - ‎6 hours ago‎
She will also have meetings with the Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, call on Chairperson UPA Sonia Gandhi; call on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On July 20, Wednesday, she leaves for Chennai where she ...
Indo-US Strategic Dialogue to cover counter-terrorism, eco ties Business Standard
Af-Pak, nuke deal to dominate Hillary-Krishna talks Times of India
Fox News - Hindustan Times - The Hindu
Telegraph.co.uk

Mumbai terror attack underscores India's vulnerability

Hindustan Times - ‎12 hours ago‎
That is undoubtedly the reason whyManmohan Singh did not change his portfolio despite a brief speculation that he may be shifted back to finance.
Video: Mumbai blasts will not break Indo-Pak talks NewsX
Indian PM Singh vows to capture bombersMontreal Gazette
Aljazeera.net - The Australian - AFP -News24 - Wikipedia: 13 July 2011 Mumbai bombings हिंदी में

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