The Secularism Debate

Secularism is the most abused word in Politics and in the Indian Media.

Secularism is defined as a doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations. It asserts the freedom of religion, and freedom from religion, within a state that is neutral on matters of belief, and gives no state privileges or subsidies to religions.

India was not a secular state till in 1976. Indira Gandhi during emergency in 1976 introduced the word Secularism into the Preamble of Indian Constitution through the 42 nd amendment. 

Off late Secularism debate is hogging the lime light again and again.  Here is What Advani said in National Executive . Last week Patriarch of BJP LK.Advani wanted his party to reproject the secular credentials of the BJP to reassure other parties and win more allies in run up to 2014. Disappointing to see the man who created the term Pseudo Secularism during his first Rath Yatra and who spoke passionately asking people to follow the word secularism in Letter and Spirit is falling into the Limousine Liberal trap on Secularism. 

BJP famously coined 'Justice for All and Appeasement for none is falling into this Secularism trap laid by the media. 

BJP is governing many states in India and its governing the states successfully. People have returned the BJP Government on the basis of their Governance track record and development activities they carried out in the state. BJP in states have successfully challenged the Secular and Liberal narrative to govern state well. 

Disappointing to see Delhi Leadership of the Party wants to play by the Media and Limousine Liberal narrative on Secularism and thus they are alienating the core voters of the Party from the Party.

Is India a Truly a Secular State? 

The Answer is a Big No.

1) The Country does not have Uniform Civil Code. 

2) State with Majority Muslim Population has a special status.

3) Minority Institutions are not required to implement Right to Education Act.

4) Government controls the Hindu places of Religious Worship and gives a free hand to other religions.

5) Government of India subsidizes Haj Travel but taxes Kumbh Mela, Raises Rail fares when Kumbh is on.

6) Government proposed and issued a executive order on Minority quota in government jobs. 

7) Most states have 3.5 - 5% minority quota in Educational institutions.

8) Government shortened Amarnath Yatra to appease a section of people in Jammu and Kashmir. Those were ones who saw Amarnath Yatra as CIA-Jew-RAW-Hindu conspiracy.

9) Government is planning to put restriction on the number people who can travel to Hindu Pilgrimage centers that are situated in the Hills in the name of environment.

10) Hindu Goddesses are insulted in the name of Freedom of Expression and you are not supposed to question other faiths.

In run up to 2009 elections  BJP manifesto talked about Introduction of Uniform Civil code and Abolition of Article 370.

The Divas in Media said that UCC/Article 370 is a communal agenda and questioned BJP's committment to Secularism. They told the unsuspecting audience and viewers by bringing in UCC and abolishing Article 370 BJP will divide the Society on Religious lines and it will flare up communal tensions in India. 

Right to Education is one act I appose tooth and nail. Off late Hindu Society run schools are doing extremely well across India. Most of the Toppers in State Boards/ICSE/CBSE come from schools run by the Hindu Society.

Here is Sibal defending RTE Passionately defending 25 % quota in Schools in his Alma Mater that does not come under the RTE act. 

There are poor people in Minority community as well. RTE will not help those poor people to get into those good schools run by those community. Sibal on his part want to destroy the good schools run by the Hindu Society and help the Minority institution re-establish their supremacy in field of education.

Take the case of Tamil Nadu; Government of Tamil Nadu controls  36,425 Temples, 56 Mutts and 47 temples belonging to the Mutts , 1721 Specific Mutts and 189 Trusts, Its land holdings and its finances through its Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. 

All these Temples,Trusts and Endowments give a revenue of Rs.5,500 Cr to the State government. What is worse here is RTI's have revealed that Revenue from temples are not fully utilized to enhance the infrastructure and facilities in Temple. They have utilized these money to give subsidy to other religions. 

RTI documents have further revealed that Places of religious worship of other religions are standing in land belonging to the Temple Trust.

Few Months back Karnataka Government asked all temples to pray for rains in state,Media created a drama that Tax payers money is being wasted on Havans and Poojas. The Fact of the matter is that Temples used the Temple Trust Money to do Havans and Pooja's for rain. No a penny of Tax Payers money was used to do these Havans and Poojas. Media will not tell you the truth about the issue.

Indian Government roughly spends about $165 Million of Haj Subsidy each year. If you question the those subsidies then you will be termed as Hindu Bigot/Communal and you will be called names. 

Indian Railways in 2010 during the Haridwar Kumbh Mela raised ticket fares and made a killing. BJP raised this issue in a big way then Railways agreed to withdraw the hike.

Quotas in Governement Jobs and Educational Institutions for Minorities. Religion based quota is not permitted under the constitution. Supreme Court has struck down those reservations. 

If you need a job in government or seat in a Professional college to study and work in Government then you should study in a Public School. Madrasa education won't help you in getting a Government Job or seat in Professional College. 

A Hindu who does not study in Public School or College does not aspire for Government Job. If he studies in a Vedic School he at best can be a Purohit/Archaka in a Temple likewise Muslims should also realize that Madrasa education will not help him in getting a government job or a seat in Professional College. 

Sibal off late is talking about making Madrasa education equivalent to 10 CBSE Board exams. If X applies for a Government Job in Grade IV or V, He/she needs to have a certificate of  SSLC/HSC leaving certificate to apply for the Job which is something Madrasa education won't give. Even if it gives it is not recognized by the Government. 

Instead of demanding Quota from the Government and blaming the Government/Political Parties for its backwardness they should look inwards and see to it their kids are sent to Public Schools and Colleges. It will help them in integrating with society much better.

In India, Media and Liberals consider appeasing the Minority as secularism. Hindus in progressing better because they are not a monolithic vote bloc as Muslims. Hindu are free voters so they see progress and development more than the Muslims. Muslims are still struck in Victimhood narrative and their caused is hijacked by Convent educated Muslims and they keep their community poor in order to assert their political supremacy.

If Muslims think this kind of appeasement by Nitish and other secular folks will help their cause then they are sadly mistaken. This kind of politics will keep them poor for decades to come.

For BJP and the Hindus who are not the so called secular variety Secularism is a losing game. Media is hostile to you and your thought process. Marxism/Nehruvian Secularism and Socialism is ingrained in their mindset. 

BJP needs to pin this Government on Development,Governance and delivery not on Secularism and Pseudo Secularism. BJP will automatically become Secular of it gets 180+ seats in 2014.  If it plays the secular card thinking it will get more allies then its core voters will dessert and party will cut a sorry figure in 2014.

BJP has to decide whether it wants its core voter to vote for the party or it wants to search for the voters who are not going to vote for party in any case. 

For BJP to do well in 2014 it has to come out of the NDA/NDA+ idea. NDA idea has kept BJP struck in 1998 times. BJP needs to disband NDA to do well. Once it crosses 180+ seats then allies will come and join.

For Hardcore Hindus and BJP Secularism debate is a losing game, They need to change the narrative from Secularism to Development/Good Governance. They should not fall into Liberal Media trap on Secularism.

Theme for 2014 should be Development/Good Governance Vs Mal Governance and Dynasty,

Presidential Reference and Supreme Court Opinion - Trouble For UPA Governement

Supreme Court Opinion On Presidential Reference

Couple of days back Constitutional Bench of Supreme Court gave its Opinion on Presidential reference on 2G spectrum case. Government and its Slave Media houses went on a over drive and painted the Opinion as as a victory and vindication of  the Government Stand on 2G.. 

The Opinion of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Presidential reference is around 208 odd pages. Opinion of SC is extremely nuanced and clear on what the Government has to do the natural resources. Lawyers in Government selectively read the Opinion of SC on Presidential Reference and told the unsuspecting people that its a vindication of Government's stand.

We need to know a  few things before we get into the details of the Opinion.

1) No one in court argued for auctioning off all the Natural Resources under all circumstances.

2) Presidential reference has 12 questions to Supreme Court and asked the Court for Clarity of 2G Judgement. Supreme Court refused to answer 10 out off the 12 questions and it answered only 2 specific questions.

3) Justice DK.Jain Wrote the Opinion for himself and other Judges namely Justice SH.Kapadia, Justice Dipak Mishra and Justice Ranjan Gogoi.  Justice Jagadish Singh Khehar wrote an Opinion for himself.

Lets get into the details of the Opinion on Presidential Reference.

Supreme Court has said there is no going back on Spectrum Auction.  It has clearly stated that if Government has to Maximize revenue or reduced Profiteering then Auction is the only way out. 

Court has opined that Government has right to formulate the Policy. Court has also said the Government can't form a policy arbitrarily and the citizen has every right to question the government on its Policies in a Court of Law.

Court has also observed the FCFS policy of the government was not followed in letter and spirit.

Supreme Court has opined that auction is the way forward in 2G spectrum case because the companies got spectrum sold the the spectrum to foreign companies at 8-10 times the value they paid for spectrum. SC is of the opinion its a revenue foregone by the Government and its a loss to the exchequer. So the SC asked the Government to go for the Auction of spectrum.

Department of Telecom has given a road map on how it will do the auction of 2G spectrum and said it will conclude the auction by January 13th 2013. Dept of Telecom told the SC it expects a revenue of Rs. 7 Lac crores from the auction which is 5 times more than the CAG audit figure of Rs.1.76 Lac crores. Its a news that was not reported by any Main Stream Media.

Supreme Court is of the Opinion that if the Natural Resources allocated by the government arbitrarily to Private players results in windfall profit to the private players and government loses its fair share of revenue then Court has every right to cancel the allocation.

The Coal allocation as well the 2G allocation has not resulted in Public good. It has resulted in Private Players maximizing profit and Govt loses out on it rightful revenue.

Media which is painting this Opinion of Supreme Court as a Victory to Governement needs to read Paragraph 145 in page 139 to Paragraph 152 in Page 144 of the Justice DK.Jain part of the opinion to the Presidential reference. It clearly shows Government is for more trouble when coal scam PIL gets heard in the the Supreme Court.

Justice Jagadish Singh Khehar's part of the the opinion to the Presidential Reference is more damning on the Govt both on 2G and coal Scam. Justice Khehar has quoted Section 11 A of the Mine and Minerals Development act on 1957 to further his point for competitive bidding for Natural Resources.

Government is not realising what is there in the SC opinion. They should read Justice Jagadish Singh Kehar's part and then realize the challenges forward. 

The five Judge Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has indirectly asked the Government to cancel all the coal block allocation as this allocation was done in an arbitrary fashion without taking the Public good into consideration. 

The Court also opined that even if the Parliament does not adopt the CAG report this court will give due importance to CAG and its findings.

Supreme Court's Opinion on Presidential reference is very clear that Government can formulate the polices and implement those polices in the right spirit. If anyone feels aggrieved then they can knock the doors of the court to settle the issue. 

Government instead seeing it as a victory and vindication of its stand, It should read the Opinion fully and get to know of the nuanced opinion fully. Same holds good for the media too,

This Opinion of the Supreme court lands this government in further trouble. Brilliant activists and Lawyers can use this Opinion to screw this government further in the court of law. 

If we go by the tone and tenor of the opinion of Supreme Court on Presidential reference shows they will cancel the Coal Block Allocation if they find the allocation arbitrary. 

This Opinion has vindicated the stand of Dr.Swamy/Bhushan and BJP on 2G and Coal Scam. 

Premature Celebration by government will come back and haunt them when the Apex court hears the PIL on coal scam.

Would be interesting to on how the media reacts when Apex Court hears the PIL on coal scam.  Guess they will have Egg on their face.

CoalGate - Scam Within a Scam..

The State Government of Odisha/Chattisgarh made two key demands to the Union Government.

1) Royalty Share between State and Central govt.

2) Fixing of Coal Royalty on Ad-Valorem  Basis.

The Chief Ministers of Odisha and Chattisgarh wrote to the Union Government several times on the Issues of Royalty and Fixing of Coal Royalty on Ad=Valorem basis. The Union Government which blames the state Governments for delay in auction procedure and auction of coal was silent and did not reply to the State Government on this issue.

Royalty 

Usage based payments made by one part the "Licensee" to another the "Licensor for the right to ongoing use of the asset/mines.Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset.

Ad-Valorem 

 Its a tax that is based on the monetary value of the Product. Literally the term means 'According to the Value'  Ad-Valorem has the advantage of adjusting the Tax Burden according to the amounts the Consumer spends on the taxed item. Thus avoiding the serious discrimination of specific rates against the Low Priced varieties of the Commodities.

State Governments in 2005/2006/2007 wrote to the Union Government for increased share in Royalty from the Mineral resources. They wanted more share of Royalty fee from Mineral resources so that they use that money to develop backward areas and contain the Maoist Problem. The Union Government has not acted on those demands from State Government.

As per the Mines and Mineral Development & Regulation Act 1957, the centre is bound to revise royalty on coal and other minerals every three years. The Act provides that the state should be compensated accordingly for the delay in revision of royalty. The Union Government ought to have revised the royalty on coal in 2005 but failed to do so. It revised the royalty in 2007. The State and The Union Government lost revenue due to the lack of professionalism and lack decision making within the Union Government. Prime Minister himself was the Coal Minister during those times. The Union Government has not compensated to the State Governments for the loss in revenue it caused the states due to its indecision.

Private players who mined the Natural resources benefited from the indecision of the Union Government. 

State Governments opposed the Union Government's formula for calculating royalty on the basis of a Fixed Percentage of the the Net or Gross Revenue.. State Governments as Early as 2007 wrote to the Union Government stating Royalty should be based on Ad-Valorem basis. Union Government sat on those demands from the state government for 5 years and finally approved the Royalty will be based on Ad-Valorem basis on April 12th 2012.

The delay in decision by the Union Government has resulted in loss in huge revenue to both the State as well as the Central Government. 

The Prime Minister cannot blame Coalition compulsions for non-revision of the revision of Royalty on Natural Resources. Its squarely in the domain of the the Union Government and Minister In-Charge who happens to be the Prime Minister.

Coal Prices were in the upswing continuously,Non-Performance on revising the Royalty of Natural resources every 3 years and Indecision in shifting to Ad-Valorem basis resulted in huge loss to State and Union Exchequer.

Whom will The Prime Minister blame for the these indecision?

Don't know whether the Comptroller and Auditor General has calculated the loss occurred due the indecision of the Union Government in revising the Royalty on Natural Resources.

Media won't tell you about the Skulduggery of  the Union Government and its indecision that resulted in loss loss in revenue to the Exchequer. 

Dubious Defence of the Prime Minister in Coal Scam.

1) NDTV 

2) Rediff

3) Tehelka

4) PM's Statement

Please read the three Link above. It will suggest as if State governments were responsible for Coal Scam. It puts the Entire Blame at the door steps of the Non-UPA governed states.

Prime Minister cites the letter of the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Paradesh, Odisha and West Bengal to justify that there was No Loss to the Exchequer.

We Need to Know few basic terms before analyzing the PM Statements and the Stories that blame the State governments for the Coal Scam. We Should know the difference between Captive Mines and Non- Captive Mines. We Should also know the meaning of the term Value Addition. 

Captive Mines

The term "captive" infers being locked up. In the sense of a policy, it is a mandatory allocation of resources. The intent of the captive coal mining policy is to allocate a specific block to a specific need. 

Non-Captive Mines

Non-Captive Mines not a not Locked up mines. These are blocks given traders to mine and export or sell the coal mined for the usage of different Industries. 

Value Addition

A broad definition of value addition is to economically add value to a product and form characteristics more preferred in the market place.

Captive Mines mines create value addition by creating Industries, Full Times Jobs, Better infrastructure, Better life whereas Non-Captive Mines creates jobs like NREGA Jobs for 100 or so days a year. So every State Chief Minister opposed  Non-Captive Mines policy of the Union Government.

Read the March/April 2005 Letters of Govt of Rajasthan,Chattisgarh and MP's letter on Coal block Allocation. They have written about Captive Mines. Letter clearly talks about Captive mines and the Project Concerned. It has not talked about Non-Captive mines.Letters of Rajasthan/MP/Chattisgarh Govt are well argued, nuanced and extremely clear.clearly distinguishes Captive/Non-Captive Blocks.  Letter talks about States saying they will allocate Coal/Lignite blocks to People Who set up Down Stream Projects/Projects that creates Value addition and Full Time Skilled employment. 

The State Governments wanted to allocate Coal/Lignite blocks to those who set up Power Plants/ Cement Factories and Iron and Steel Industries.  

The State Governments have opposed to Union Government move of allocation of Coal Blocks to traders. They did not want traders to mine coal/lignite and sell of export to users outside the state. State Government wanted to create meaningful skilled jobs for its people so that they can have a better life. 

Letters from the State Government also asked the Union Government to increase the Royalty on coal/Lignite so the money that states get from Increased Royalty can be used for development of Maoist and under developed part of the states. 

All states agreed to the auction of Coal Blocks. Its the Prime Minister's office through its Note/Memo on 24th June 2004 Sabotaged the auction of Natural resources.

Prime Ministers office asked for a legal Opinion from Ministry of Law whether executive order is good enough or amendment of the Minerals act is necessary for the auction Procedure.  First Law Ministry suggested Executive order is enough then a week letter the same Law Ministry wrote back amendment to amendment to Minerals act is necessary. It took two years for Law Ministry to give an opinion on Prime Minister's Query.

1) Question here is not about auction of the coal/lignite blocks. its about fictitious firms and Beedi/Garments manufacturers getting Coal blocks.. Prime Minister should answer why Government allocated Coal Blocks to these fictitious and Non-core companies.

2) Prime Minister should answer why it took 2 years for Law Ministry to reply to the query raised by the Prime Minister's Office.

3) Prime Minister's statement is silent on Traders/Fictitious firms getting Coal blocks.

4) Prime Minister blamed the allies and opposition for the amendment bill getting delayed. If he can stake his Government for Nuke Deal. He can get allies and others for Presidential elections, He should have reached to all to build consensus on Minerals amendment act. He failed to do so.

5) Prime Minister should not blame the Chief Ministers for the loss coal scam caused to the exchequer.

6) Many companies did not even have the equipment to mine coal, On What basis Prime Minister is saying We did all this to augment the Production of Coal.

7) Power Situation is now worse than it was in 2004. How did this Policy helped increasing the generation of power?

8) Power PSU's used to have 35 days of Coal Stock, Its now having just 7 days of Coal stock. Prime Minister argument of we did this to augment coal supplies falls flat.

9) Prime Minister should answer how unmined Coal is contributing to the growth of the Country.

10) Prime Minister should not blame the opposition if his Govt fails to bring in a Legislation to the parliament.

11) Prime Minister blaming CAG and Opposition is like a kid giving 1000 excuses to his/her parents for failing in the Exam.

12) Prime Minister should answer why many Coal Blocks were given between the period January 2009 and March 2009. All this were allocated months before the General Elections. Was there any Quid-Pro-Quo in this allotment.?

Prime Minister should take full responsibility for the Coal Scam. He should not pass the buck to Opposition/State Governments and the Baabus in PMO/Ministry of Coal and Screening Committee.

Prime Minister should behave like a Prime Minister and accept responsibility for the Coal Scam. He Should not behave like a Babu and pass the buck to State Government and Opposition. 

Coal Gate- Govt lies, Zero Loss and Non-Auctioning of coal

Read Jaiswal's reply in Lok Sabha on 21/8/2010.. By clicking on the Pic..

Jaiswal on 21/8/2010 to Lok Sabha that all states have agreed to auctioning of Coal Resources. 

A Meeting of State Government and Ministry of mines was convened. All Concerned state Minister were present along with Union Minister of Mines. All of them agreed to auction of Coal and accepted the recommendation of Union Of India.

As Early as 2010 State Governments agreed to auctioning of Coal. Congress led UPA Government can't blame the Government of Chattisgarh/Rajasthan/Odisha/West Bengal for Non-Auctioning of Coal. 

Government of India is trying to fool everyone by saying State Government opposed auctioning of Coal. Fact remains everyone accepted that auctioning of Coal Block is the way forward. Government of India failed to put in place a auction procedure. Government of India should be held responsible for the loss due to the Non-Auctioning of Coal. 

Natural resources come under the Union Government. State governments are just recommending authority. Section 11 A of the Bill Clearly says Union Government of India will be the one who will select the companies to which coal blocks will be allocated. State Government will give license to those companies in which are selected by the Union Government. 

Union Government of India selected all those companies which got Coal Blocks. State Government had no option but to give License to those people got coal blocks allocated by the Union Government. Union government of India should take the entire blame for non-auctioning of coal and loss to the exchequer due to acts committed by the government of India.

Union Government of India did not take the recommendation of Govt of Odisha and Chattisgarh to increase the royalty on coal. Both Govt of Odisha/Chattisgarh wanted the money generated from the increased royalty of coal be used to develop the Maoist affected and backward areas of the state. Govt of India did not agree to this suggestion as well. State Governments lost crucial finances due to the lethargy of the Union Government of India.

Government of Chattisgarh and Odisha recommended to the Union Govt that Coal Blocks be given to end users like Power Plants/Cement/ Iron & Steel industries, This suggestion of the state government were also ignored by the Govt of India

Coal Scam is more about fictitious firms and traders getting coal blocks and exporting coal.

Power Plants were supposed to have 35 days of coal stock but power plants across India is having just 7 days coal stock this has resulted in poor out from Coal based power plants. Traders instead giving coal to power plants they exported coal. Power sector suffered as result.

Government argument of Coal were not auctioned for rapid industrialization is a very bad argument. Industries Except in Gujarat and Chattisgarh are facing power Holidays varying 8-17 days month. Govt by not providing power to industries losing out on revenue in a Big Way. MSME are shutting shop across India. Govt argument that it lead to rapid growth falls flat. 

Government of India treated the suggestions and recommendation of State Govt with disdain, Can't blame CM's latter for Non- auctioning of Coal. Union govt has no locus standi to blame the Opposition for Coal Scam.

This government is know for retrospective taxation. why not charge the companies which got coal blocks with retrospective effect from 2004? What stops them from doing so? acceptance of guilt? 

Government of India is solely responsible for Coal Scam. There is no two ways about it. Its time Govt of India fix responsibility for this scam and take corrective steps.

Post Script- Media playing ball with Government of India and obfuscates facts from Public. Media fails to ask tough questions to the Congress and the government. Media needs to be more neutral. Media buys the Government Narrative on coal Scam. Pretty Dangerous....

Economics of Socialism - Why it will fail.

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's

socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.

Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Agriculture – A way Forward.

Who believes the Central government when it says it can reform agriculture? Agriculture reforms is much tougher, it seems, than we imagined, to be a much more a high priority of the economic reforms. Even in economic reforms we don’t see any unity of thinking within the Cabinet. What the PM says is one thing; what the Kitchen cabinet says is another thing? Power Centers have extremely divergent views when it comes to reforms.

The farmer’s suicides continue unabated even the Debt Write-off has not helped the Farmers. Farmers suffer silently.

Few years back I had the opportunity to speak at leisure with late CK.Prahalad in Coimbatore. He said: “I think agriculture is not going to be reformed through agricultural policies. It is through large investments made by the retailers in their supply chains and could be a more effective solution to the sector’s problems than government policies” He gave me an example of Amul how it gave Farmers fair price for their milk. He said if we can recreate the Amul system everywhere then there is every possibility that Agri will grow at 6-7% annually.

“The amazing thing for me is Amul has 2.2 million farmers and processes 7 million kilograms of milk a day. It is the largest in the world. But most farmers have two or three buffaloes. And we look at that and we just don’t think that is a model to scale up in agriculture”.

The ideas of the government just don’t gel with the ground level reality. Government thinks loan write-off every few years and free power will keep the farmers happy and thinks that is the agriculture reform.

The reality is rural India does not want free power and loan write-offs. The Farmers in many states in India are realizing/realized that free power is doing more harm than good to them. They want 18 hours of good and reliable power and new technology in agriculture. Farmers know a lot about Israeli farming irrigation and farming technique but the Govt of Indian’s foreign policy of not having cozy relationship with Israel to keep a particular community is not helping the Indian farmers. The farmers want agriculture technology from Israel and want the government of India to help them in this regard.

Geographical information Systems plays a very important role in giving information to farmers through mobile phone. We should create an Agriculture Information system in every district that provides information on Agriculture technology covers a whole lot of thing like soil testing, information on weather, Fertilizers, Prices and others. Gujarat is the only state that has got Agri Information System (ARS). Every district Gujarat has an Soil Testing lab and the lab helps in establishing the quality of the soil and it suggests what kind of Fertilizer combinations should be used to get maximum yield. Its time we should establish ARS and Soil Testing lab in each and every district in India.

Research and Development hardly gets funding in India and agriculture is no exception. Indian Agri universities still depend on MS.Swaminathan for direction, they don’t want to explore others or for that matter the tie-up with top Agri-universities of the world.

The Engineering and Medical schools were opened up to private players in 1980’s and that enabled India to have skilled Engineering and Medical man power. Participation of private players in setting up engineering schools enabled the growth of IT and ITES sectors in India. Skilled Doctors meant India became a Medical Tourism hub, so in order to make Agriculture attractive we must open up agri education sector to private players.

The Industrial houses in India want to start agricultural universities in India and they are willing to have tie-up with foreign universities and invest in R&D but these proposal are not welcomed by the government of India. Tragedy is they don’t listen to the sane voices. Future of Indian Agriculture depends on how we develop drought resistant seeds that will enable good yield even in tough times.

We need atleast 100 more Agriculture universities to make Indian Agriculture Competative.

Farmers need education on Crops, Irrigation techniques, new methods of cultivation so farmers should attend a six week training program on latest trends in Agriculture. To keep the farmers updated on technology private participation is necessary, Big retailers such as Reliance, More, Future, Bharti should come forward to helping these farmers getting adept to new technology.

Big Tea companies such as Dilmah, Tata Tea procure from small and marginal plantation owners and they organize a meet every year and discuss about new tea plantation techniques, Market scenario and others. Big retailers should take a cue out them and organize a meet every year with Farmers.

Cold storage is key to get good price for the produce. Government of India should allow private players to open up cold storages. Funding for these projects are tough to come by and banks won’t led to setting up of cold storage so I would like to see Agri infrastructure fund should be created for this purpose. Agri Infrastructure fund should fund projects such as irrigation, Cold storage and logistics.

Agriculture subsides don’t reach poor and marginal farmers. Direct Cash Transfer is the way forward. All Kinds of fertilizers should NOT be subsidized only Nutrient based and highly essential fertilizers should be subsidized.

Irrigation is yet another key area. Interlinking of rivers in Gujarat has worked wonders and even desert like Kutch is now on the Agriculture map. Irrigation technique and maintaining the water table in Kutch is a case study in many Agriculture universities in the west. India has to learn a lot from Israel on Water Conservation and productivity. Israel has got the world’s best productivity per acre for any crop.

Israel is more than willing to share its Agriculture technology with India but the Govt of India is not willing to get these technologies from Israel.

India should develop a irrigation network that includes linking of rivers, linking of tanks and lakes. Architecture of these networks should be small to maximize the potential.

Don’t know govt will reform the Agriculture sector or keep them poor and treat them as vote banks. Reforms in this sector can’t wait. If Policy is not working! Logistics could break the impasse in agriculture! And we should make efforts to reform Agriculture and make them take policy decisions and make them work.

Media won't highlight the extraordinary work done by Gujarat Govt. The Reason they don't highlight Gujarat's Success because Gujarat is a Evil Hindu State. :)