AGRICULTURE LAND

Who shall own the agriculture land ? Few decades ago the ownership of agriculture land was with the farming community. Doctors, traders, contractors, mafia leaders, judges, lawyers, teachers, officers, politicians etc. are now in the race to buy agriculture land. Is it a healthy capitalism to permit the non farming community to own agriculture land? Now the majority of the tillers are peasants.

Indian agriculture is losing its rhythm. Bulls, buffalos and infertile cows are being sold to slaughter houses. Cattle are no longer treated as pet animals. The cost of feed and labor are shooting up every year. The price of milk is going to shoot up further in the coming years. The losses in agriculture are born by the peasants and small farmers. There is feeling among the farmers that they have become slaves of the system as their voice is not represented in the parliament and state assemblies.

People having other source of income for survival shall have no right to hold agriculture land. Only farmers should be allowed to hold agriculture land. We are advocating constitutional amendment in that direction. When capitalism raises its ugly head, corporate sector dominates every field including agriculture. Even voters of Indian democracy will be treated as working and buying machines. Human touch will be lost forever.

As long as agriculture is on the right tract India is immune to sanctions from the west. In case outbreak of war with neighbors food shortage will not drag us to negotiation table. Recession in advanced countries will have negligible impact on our economy. Nation is secure when agriculture is secure.

Agriculture is secure when farmers are secure. Globalization had rapidly changed the scenario of Indian agriculture sector. It had created good opportunities for our educated youth world wide. Rapid industrialization had generated more employment opportunities in urban sector. Migration of youth from rural areas to towns and cities is an ongoing process.

School dropouts and the older generations are just hanging on to the agriculture sector as they have no other alternative. Before 1995 agriculture workers used to migrate from one place to another in search of employment during peak seasons. Now the area under canal irrigation had increased considerably. The bore well technology also brought more land under cultivation. Agriculture labor hitherto dependent on seasonal migration found local employment. All these factors are collectively responsible for the shortage of work force in agriculture sector.

Mechanization had stepped in fill the vacuum created by the shortage of man power in agriculture sector. This had some negative impact. To make the picture clear for readers from non agriculture sector, here is an example. Harvesting machines have minimized farm labor requirement to harvest paddy. Harvester cuts hay into small pieces. Marginal and big farmers are burning the hay down to clear the land to till for the next crop. This effects the fertility of the soil in the long run and reduces the quantum of fodder available in the state in the short run. Now farmers are scared to own cattle beyond their domestic needs. Ironically You will find more cars than bulls in any typical village of Andhra Pradesh.

Law of supply and demand determines the prices of perishable products. When the price of onions shoots up our politicians make it an issue till the government imports onions. The victim is Indian farmer. When the supply is heavy price touch the rock bottom. Then no parliamentarian asks the government to export onions to keep the prices at reasonable level. This is political prostitution.

A doctor is not considerate to his patient because he is farmer. Police are not sympathetic to farm workers. If traders are considerate to farming community and public servants are realistic about the contribution of farm sector to the national economy there would be no black marketing in fertilizers, seeds and other inputs.

Farmers are not slaves to serve the urban sector. Compare the income of a farmer holding six acres of land with that of a school teacher in a government school. Why this gap? If we alove the organized sector to eat away the share of unorganized sector, democracy looks meaningless.