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. :)

TN Elections 2011

Tamil Nadu Elections 2011;

Tamil Nadu is a caste ridden society; Even Films depend upon caste equations to be successful. For instance Satyaraj’s films do well in Kongu region , Sharath Kumar films do well in the places where Nadar Population is concentrated and I can cite more examples of how film industry is caste ridden and politics of Tamil Nadu is no different. Caste Chemistry is one the deciding factors in elections in Tamil Nadu.

Balancing the Caste equation is a very difficult job. In 2001 elections DMK believed in Caste equations and forged a caste coalition in TN and they had to bite the dust. They did not balance the caste equation well.

Caste Equations has its own Pros and Cons. Puthiiya Tamilgam is a Dalit party that is based in South Tamil Nadu, If this party is in Alliance with DMK then Thevars who are a dominant caste in South will vote for the other alliance. In 2001 Puthiya Tamilgam was with the DMK led alliance and the Thevars in South voted the ADMK alliance and ADMK swept that election in south. Likewise, Dalit Panthers Party of India and PMK are arch rivals in the Vanniyar belt or North Tamil Nadu. DPI was in DMK in alliance in 2001 and the Vanniyars voted PMK and ADMK in 2001 elections. So managing the caste equations is very important. No party in TN can’t afford to have two Dalit parties in their alliance. The Caste heavy alliance is surely going to bite the dust. Caste is necessary to win and election but if is overplayed then that alliance is bound to lose the elections. DMK in 2001 realized that, Caste heavy alliance cost them the elections. The Alliance which uses the caste equations wisely and they should not be seen associated with any particular caste will win this elections.

Elections 2011 will be a make or break elections for Caste based Political Parties such as KMK,PMK and MMK. KMK has got a presence in West TN, PMK has presence in North TN and MMK has a presence in South TN. Gounders, Thevars and Vanniyars are three large caste groupings in TN and they have a political party to represent them, Nadars in South, restricted to 4-5 districts also have political party represented by actor Sharath Kumar. DMDK is pre dominantly a Naidu Party, funded by Naidu Businessmen’s but it has a presence across TN and it is not seen as a Caste based outfit by Political pundits and the voters of TN.

Tamil Nadu is all set for a straight fight between ADMK and DMK alliance.

ADMK Alliance – ADMK,MDMK, CPI CPM.

DMK Alliance – DMK, Congress, PMK, DPI

KMK and DMDK are yet to decide on the alliance. If the tie-up between ADMK and DMDK materializes then its advantage ADMK in elections 2011.if DMDK contests election on its own then its advantage DMK.

A factor every Psephologist fail to take into consideration while they do an Opinion polls is Conversion issues. Conversion is a issue and in many seats. Conversion is Coastal areas tilt the balance in Favour of DMK alliance. Couple of Muslim parties will upset the DMK alliance in Chennai and Cauvery Delta region.

If DMDK alliance with AMDK materializes then this elections will be too close to call.

The Dharma Dilemma

This post is in response to Offstumped's Open letter to RSS chief Shri. Mohan Bhagwatji on the recent Hindu/Hindutva terror confessions. Since the blogger in the past like a true seeker of truth has shifted from one goal post of Integral humanism, White Umbrella, Big Tent blah blah blah to Ambedkar Constitutionalism, the following post in with an assumption that the blogger under question is a staunch Constitutionalist, meaning following the constitution tooth and nail is Dharma. :) I am often left confused when the blogger shifts between various goalposts.

The blogger does raise valid concerns about the manifestation of the so called Hindu terror in the wake of Swami Aseemanand's supposed confession infront of a magistrate. The blogger also realizes the possible mischief behind the selective leak of information for political reasons. But there are glaring loopholes that stand at cross-roads with some of the earlier staunch constitutionalist positions taken by liberal friend Offstumped.

"It is abundantly clear that on more than one ocassion certain individuals swearing by Hindutva have committed Adharma."

The blogger would do great service if he could clarify who these individuals are, what these acts of Adharma were. What's the response of constitutional authorities to such acts of Adharma.

" It doesnt matter how sound a legal argument the Sangh forwards, the battle to win hearts and influence minds is being lost every time the Sangh equivocates and speaks in generalities."

But legal arguments are paramount for a staunch constitutionalist, aren't they? Yes the sangh does speak in generalities when it says terror has no religion. I hope the blogger is referring to the same dilemma of the Sangh, especially that of the BJP.

"Sir there is a new demographic generation that is coming of age in India. This generation is impatient for change and is unbounded in its aspirations. This generation needs leadership and direction. But more importantly this generation sees its aspirations linked to a growing economy."

When did the Sangh say it doesn't want a growing economy? A cursory glance at Indian TV channels can tell how popular astrology has become with people. Even the hep liberal champagne socialites talk about kundali, Rashiphal etc (of course not in open :) ). #justsaying that cultural, religious and economic aspirations are not perpendicular to each other. I visited the world sanskrit book fair a couple of hours back, and it had such overwhelming crowd, dominated by youngsters. Its wrong to make such glaring generalizations that economic aspirations aren't coupled with spiritual, religious aspects.

Now on the task list to Shri. Mohan Bhagwatji

"Acknowledge that Adharma has been committed by some in the name of Hindutva"

Isn't it too early to jump the gun, that the judicial proceedings have not yet really taken shape. Isn't it Adharmic in itself not to wait till the court verdicts before Shri Mohanji could issue a statement?

"Demand Accountability for all such acts of Adharma committed in the name of Hindutva from individuals within the Sangh, organizations loosely affiliated with the Sangh and also in the Courts of Law"

Adharma is Adharma how does it matter if one does it in the name of Hindutva or something else? However its good that the author acknowledges that Hindutva isn't bad but people who use it might be bad from his earlier puerile stance on political hindutva. Sangh is more of an informal set-up with loosely affiliated organizations as the blogger says, so how can one Mr. MB answerable when there is no formal agreement at the first place between various outfits?

"Set a an example and a high bar through a clear and visible public purge of such individuals from all association with the Sangh."

Absolutely, but the Sangh should follow the constitutionalist approach of benefit of doubt, till the individuals are convicted in the court of law. Again a constitutionalist perspective.

"Make the first move towards National Reconciliation with an unwavering commitment despite any political provocations from the Congress"

Have no idea what National reconciliation means!! Who should reconcile with whom?

" The Sangh can play a crucial role in setting the direction and in nurturing these Institutions to produce the modern day equivalent of a 1000 Kautilyas in a Takshashila of the 21st Century."

Absolutely agree the Sangh lacks intellectuals barring a few. But if the blogger had some insights on Kautilya I don't think the blogger would indulge in puerile attacks on Sangh on frivolous issues , which he has been indulging with for a while now, especially with all the love the author has since a 3 year old kid for the Sangh. Don't think a Chanakya would flog institutions he respects with such ease,that too when the law of land hasn't yet taken a stand against suspected individuals and institutions.

"Sir this urgent task of Institution Building cannot be achieved by pursuing street politics and agitations on fears real or imagined that play on Hindu Victimhood."

Where doesn't street politics work? Even the USA recently had its street politics shaking the Republican party. Street politics is more rooted in reality, than phony intellectualism and money bag internet activism. Street politics paves way to power in any democracy. How else can one create public opinion? Its upto the political masters to maintain the momentum gained by street politics to fulfill the aspirations of people. Moreso, how does asking for equal treatment on par with minorities qualify as victimhood? This is classic liberal rhetorical argument to blame the victim for his woes. The logic is no different from the conservative pin heads saying outgoing women invite rape. What if the fears of Hindu society are real?

"It is time Sir these Hindu Institutions have been restored to Hindu Civil Society in a Private Trusteeship model and the Sangh can play an important role in bringing together Hindu Civil Society towards this cause."

Sabr karo Bhayya. Its well know fact that its the BJP at the state level that has failed in fulfilling this promise. Its very obvious now that after repeat betrayal by the BJP, the VHP is looking outside, and its taking the services of Shri. Subramaniam Swamy to free hindu temples from the clutches of state governments.

The blogger would probably do great justice if he could write open letters to Binayak Sen sympathizers, the liberal intellectual lot of Amartya Sen, Arundati Roy who have taken an unconstitutional stance. The erudite blogger should also prevail upon the BJP ruled state governments to free hindu temples and set a precedent for other states to follow. It would surely serve Indian National Interest.

Its quite clear the blogger finds it difficult to balance his constitutionalist as well as Dharmic roles. On a side note the movie "The Reader" dwells into similar aspects of constitutionalism and swa-dharma. Such dilemma is so very natural when we mix up western constructs with native constructs to make an awful cocktail.

Why India needs its stories...

I have been reading a very interesting book on the psychology of romantic love recently. It’s a brilliant analysis of the story of “Tristan and Iseutl” and how that narrative of romantic love has influenced modern man’s (and woman) view of personal relationships.

In short, the author talks about how in reality there are two loves that people seek. One is a heavenly, divine love and an earthly love. The search for the divine love is a search within, into our own hearts while the earthly love is one that we find in our relationship with others. Both are special and necessary in their own right but it is when these two loves are mixed and confused that love and suffering become entangled.

In romantic love, each person ends up having a relationship not with the other person for who he/she is, but with the projection of this divine being that resides within him. Since the lover can never fit this divine image and since he is looking for divine love where it doesn’t exist, it inevitably leads to disappointment and suffering.

This story and others like Romeo and Juliet end up creating a subconscious image of what love is supposed to be like. If it isn’t a passionate attraction to someone then it just isn’t worth it. With passing of time, the initial passion dies, and the persons involved feel that they owe it to themselves or that they have a right to look for that passion elsewhere. Many times their projection jumps to some other person resulting in them “falling in love” with another leading to a break up or divorce and a repeat of the suffering with the new person. In western societies or asian societies which have westernized (Christianized) such as Japan or Korea, these stories have become very popular and are now the standard by which all love relationships are measured. It is not that these literary pieces have a major influence on the public psyche but it is the mass media which takes inspiration from these kinds of stories that impacts malleable minds. Most movies that are made in these societies and now in India, deal with passionate love affairs, romance, infidelity, excitement, etc. There are very few if any which deal with loyalty, integrity, patience or any other positive virtue. Romantic, passionate, exciting relationships are how it is supposed to be and stable, loving, caring relationships are seen as “boring”. It should therefore come as no surprise that these societies also see a huge percentage of divorces and break ups between couples. What people strive for and expect in life is largely influenced by the popular narrative in those societies.

This relationship between popular love stories and human behavior in relationships made me think about the effect our historical stories have had on the Indian psyche. My cousin who did his MBA in Hyderabad mentioned about how most of his colleagues had no second thoughts when it came to cheating in their exams while he never entertained any such thoughts. He is not religious at all but he mentioned that he feels that his decision to be honest was largely influenced by the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata that his mother used to tell him as a child. The heroes of our epics served as good role models for my cousin and I am sure many other people who love our history.

With the secularization of India and its education, Indian citizens are denied their right to their stories. We have forgotten our role models. The Congress in their goal to monopolize the polity have made gods out of their leaders. To fulfill their need to look up to someone, to serve that divine in them which people tend to project outside, Indians have succumbed and started making gods out of mortals like M. K. Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar. One can no longer question their idiocies, blunders and mistakes without being accused of blasphemy. One only has to look at the fanatical following of Rajnikanth in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Raj Kumar in Karnataka, Chiranjeevi in AP to see the corruption that has set in the Indian peoples search for the divine. It is imperative for the survival of India that we re-introduce our stories, our history back into the minds of its people, lest we make Gods even out of people like A. Raja and Sonia Gandhi!

False Victimhood

Off late, there have been rants from a wide variety of people from the "secular" tribe that Muslims are finding it difficult to find houses for rent. The controversy was started by one secular fundamentalist Shabana Azmi, later other publicity hogging tinseltown starlets from the Maulana bhatt family and others followed suit. I happened to come across this blog, A muslim female complaining about difficulty in finding houses for rent.
Before even going into why such rants are useless, Its important to understand certain realities about cosmopolitan set ups and how societies function. Take a look at the ethnic and racial mapping profiles of the cosmopolitan haven New York here. The very fact that you have segregated ghettos for Asians, whites and blacks speaks volumes on how societies function. A similar mapping if performed on Indian Metros will not provide any surprising result different from New York. A quick survey on how many Muslim households would rent their houses to other communities will also throw up similar results. More on this read Professor Thomas Sowell on the Multicultural Cult I and II.
Now coming to the rants by some of these people. Sample this

"I don't see it as a failure for the Muslims, I see it as a failure of a country that refuses to grow up and accept its own people"

Such sweeping statements are utterly misleading and uncalled for. The country has come a long way from Yusuf Khan, Mahjabeen Bano, Mumtaz Jahan had to masquerade under Hindu names to get wider acceptance in Bollywood.

If my memory serves me right, even Shabana Azmi had made a similar statement that blogger female tends to make.

"I have never been the idealistic or the religious Muslim but I am definitely a proud Muslim who has never been guilty of being born one. I am not starting now"

Now this brings to the central question that the Islamic community has not been able to answer beyond rhetoric. What does it mean to be a proud Muslim? How does a proud Muslim view non-believers? What is a proud Muslim really proud of? Whom does a proud Muslim look up to?

Until and unless these questions are answered coherently by the Muslim intelligentsia and elsewhere societies are well within their limits to be protective.

Last words from Professor Sowell's piece.

"There was a reason why employers in the middle of the 19th century had signs that said, "No Irish need apply" -- and why employers in the middle of the 20th century no longer had such signs. It was not that employers had changed. The Irish had changed"

Let all Hindus come together

This Post Courtesy Francois Gautier.

François Gautier

First Published : 17 Jun 2010 11:19:00 PM IST

Last Updated : 17 Jun 2010 12:04:51 AM IST

He is adored by millions. Terrorists have laid their weapons at his feet. Nobody has ever seen him utter a word in anger. Truth and love have been his constant motto in life. Yet, much of the media has maligned His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar after the shooting incident of Sunday (May 30) in Bangalore, and he has more or less been accused of lying. The truth is that at the moment there is a witchhunt against Hindu gurus.

It started with the Shankaracharya, then Swami Nityananda was thrown in jail for 45 days, for allegedly having consensual sex with a woman. Today, the media and the government are trying to malign Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the eyes of his disciples and Indians in general. Who is next?

One should analyse why Hindus are so much under attack at the moment. First, there is such a thing as karma. Hindus have often betrayed each other and have become lethargic, complacent and sometimes arrogant. Secondly, there are at the moment combined forces, which are assaulting Hinduism, knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, openly or covertly.

First you have as a pivotal leader of this country, a person, who whatever her qualities of honesty, hard work and dedication, is a Christian — it would be impossible in a Christian dominated country, such as France, to have a Hindu as the ‘Eminence Grise’ behind the scenes.

Secondly many of India’s present leaders, are of a Marxist bent of mind, which considers religion as an old fashioned and eventually to be rid off (but mind you, they will not touch at Christianity or Islam); this is why in the land of yoga, yogic and spiritual organisations are being taxed today.

Thirdly, Christian conversions have never been this rapid, even at the time of the British: statistics say only three per cent of Indians are Christians, but you will be surprised at the new census: after the tsunami, at least 12 per cent of the Tamil Nadu coast has been converted with millions of dollars given by gullible Westerners. Indian Muslims working in the Gulf have also brought back to India a more radical brand of Islam, which indirectly helped in fuelling the violent anti-Hindu waves of terrorist attacks. Indeed, there is no way Pakistani terrorists can function without local Muslim help and encouragement.

Finally, Westernisation through television and advertisements, is sweeping across India, and this may be the greatest danger, as westernisation has killed the souls of many Asian countries.

The Christians have a Pope, the Muslims the word of the Quran, communists have Das Kapital of Karl Marx. But Hindus are totally disunited. Hindus are busy at the moment making as much money as possible and aping the western way of life, not even bothering to teach their children Hindu values and culture, whereas every Muslim child is told about the Quran. Hindu groups in the US or the UK, are constantly fighting each other and thus have very little lobbying power, contrary to the Indian Muslims or the Christians, who are able to deny visas to a chief minister whose state runs efficiently and without corruption. It is said that even the Hindu deities and goddesses are jealous of each other.

It is thus of vital importance that Hindu gurus and swamis regroup under one umbrella which could be called the ‘Supreme Hindu Council’. Each group and guru will retain its leadership and autonomy but will meet three times a year and issue a number of adesh, which will be binding to 800 million Hindus in India and a billion worldwide.

There are too many gurus and swamis all over India and the world and it would not be possible to assemble them all in one group. Thus I propose that the 12 gurus in India who have the most disciples, represent all the other swamis and gurus. Amongst them, of course, we should find Satya Sai Baba, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Amrita Anandmayi, the Shankaracharya of Kancheepuram, Guruma of Ganeshpuri, Shri Ramdev, Satguru Jaggi, etc.

The leadership of this group will be rotated every year and so can membership for that matter, as there are quite a few other gurus of India who have a huge following.

It is not only Hinduism which is at stake, but the ‘Knowledge Infinite’ which came down, through the ages and has survived today only in India in a partial form. This knowledge only can save the world. Let Hindus understand that not only do they have the numbers, but also that they are one of the most successful, law abiding and powerful communities in the world. Nobody should denigrate their gurus.

fgautier26@gmail.com

Bihar BJP with or against JD(U)?

Though not very important, here was have two news reports, each giving news contradicting the other.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Patna/Bihar-BJP-against-ending-JDU-ties/articleshow/6084554.cms

"The state BJP leaders are in favour of continuating the alliance with JD(U) and contesting the coming assembly election unitedly. Both deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and senior BJP leader and state NDA convener Nand Kishore Yadav are understood to have forcefully pleaded before the Central leaders the need to maintain the coalition with ‘samman’"

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-Hurt--BJP-talks-tough-on-Nitish/637787

"With its Bihar leadership indicating its willingness to sacrifice the alliance with the JD(U) for the sake of self-respect, the BJP top brass on Wednesday once again talked tough."