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Debt is just one aspect, farming is almost a terminal disease in India

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Debt is just one aspect, farming is almost a terminal disease in India

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The core problems faced by farmers have not been taken seriously or been treated in an ad-hoc manner.

By Ranjona Banerji

The anger of farmers across India, which had now escalated since at least five have been shot dead by the police in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, will hopefully get some important people to take their problems seriously. However, I am not holding my breath on this one. The first response of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was to blame the Congress Party for the unrest and for the MP home minister Bhupendra Singh to claim that the farmers were killed by “anti-socials” and not by the police.

Since then, it has been established that the farmers were killed by police firings and the home minister had to admit to that. And political analyst Yogendra Yadav made a telling comment as far as Chouhan’s charge is concerned: If the Congress Party could mobilise so many people, it would have won more elections! But jokes aside, let us remember that Chouhan has been chief minister of MP since 2005. That’s many years without the Congress Party in power.

But after the bluster and lies which are signs of callous arrogance, comes the miscalculated sympathy. The first reaction is to offer money to the families of the farmers shot in police firing – after first denying that they had been shot by the police. Following a Cabinet meeting, loans will be waived, crop prices stabilised and so on. Evidence suggests that the anger of farmers has been brewing and escalating but government response is either slow or brutal and then too much too late.

Suicides by farmers across India have been rising. The reasons given by politicians have been bizarre and completely lacking empathy. Love affairs, drugs, dowry and impotency were some of the reasons provided for farmers’ suicides by Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Agarwal in 2015. Reports suggest that suicides by farmers went up by 42 per cent between 2014 and 2015. Government data also suggests that most farmers killed themselves because of being unable to pay bank loans rather than other reasons including affairs and sexual problems.

Incidentally, the Union agriculture minister – and the BJP is quick to educate us that Agarwal has no connection to the unhappiness of farmers in India, not even a show of sympathy, since agriculture is also a state subject – is learning yoga in Bihar from Baba Ramdev. From what I saw on television he was somewhat unsuccessfully trying to do the Vrikshasana, a balancing act which indeed all politicians should learn.

Unfortunately for years, and this includes all governments, the core problems faced by farmers have not been taken seriously or been treated in an ad-hoc manner. All farmers have also been lumped together in one category when in fact there is a big gamut from large and corporate farmers and marginal and subsistence farmers. Politicians use loan waivers to gain votes but do nothing to stop farmers from falling into the same debt cycle. Experts like Devinder Sharma ask for better understanding from agricultural scientists and policy analysts but little help is forthcoming.

There is also an issue with cost and pricing which again leads to accusations and counter-accusations. There is political wrangling at some point to protect other votebanks along the food chain – middlemen, agricultural produce marketing committees – which only ensures that the price difference between what the farmer gets for his produce and what the end consumer pays for it is enormous.

Across the world, farmers are given subsidies by governments. Sometimes these are counter-productive like the corn revolution that has led to a dangerous instant food industry in the US, explained in horrifying detail by Michael Pollan in his book, An Omnivore’s Dilemma. But in most cases, it is because governments understand the importance of agriculturalists and also the simple fact that people have to eat.

In India, we are caught in a trap not unlike the farmers’ debt trap. We pay them lip service at times. At other times, we call them goons who duck income and other taxes and who only want “sops” from governments. Neither of these attitudes help in getting even close to solving the problems affecting Indian agriculture. And let us remember that we are still largely an agricultural economy.

Pricing, farm-gate to market distribution, lack of storage facilities, ignorance of new advances in agricultural sciences, forced buying of seeds pesticides and fertilisers, uneven access to new techniques, large differences in types of farmers and farming practices – these are only some of the problems which affect farmers in India apart from the inevitable debt traps. Add to this political opportunism by most parties and ignorance or disdain of economists and the anger visible today was only inevitable.

But the past is passed. What is required is immediate – and it has to come from listening to protesters and understanding them. Surely shooting to kill by the police – whatever the provocation – is unwarranted, condemnable and completely counter-productive.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s son Karan gets BJP Lok Sabha ticket from Kaiserganj

Karan Singh Bhushan was on December 13, 1990. He competed at the national level in double trap shooting. He has a daughter and a son. Karan Singh Bhushan completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and law from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.

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BJP on Thursday dropped sitting Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by women wrestlers and gave a ticket to his son, Karan Bhushan Singh. Karan Bhushan, Brij Bhushan’s younger son, is the president of the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association. He is also the head of The Cooperative Bank in Nawabganj in Gonda district.

Karan Singh Bhushan was on December 13, 1990. He competed at the national level in double trap shooting. He has a daughter and a son. Karan Singh Bhushan completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and law from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.

He has also holds a diploma in business management from Australia. Karan Bhushan Singh is presently the president of the Uttar Pradesh wrestling association. Earlier he was the senior vice president of the UP wrestling association. Elections will be take place in Kaiserganj in the 5th phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 20. Karan Bhushan Singh is likely to file his nomination from Kaiserganj on May 3.

There has been a lot of speculation and suspense on Brij Bhushan Sharan seat this time as the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, who is also a 6-term MP, had been accused of sexual harassment by some of the India’s top wrestlers.

Many female wrestlers, including medallists, protested against the BJP leader and demanded his arrest over the charges of sexual harassment while he was serving the position of the WFI president. Wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, sat on a protest at the Jantar Mantar and demanded action against the Kaiseganj MP.

The Delhi Police later registered a case against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354D (stalking), 354A (sexual harassment) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, on June 15, 2023. But he was granted bail on July 20, 2023.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Rahul Gandhi criticises BJP, PM Modi for JD(S) alliance, seeking votes for a mass rapist

Rahul Gandhi was addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Shivmogga where he said that PM Modi is seeking votes for a mass rapist. The Congress leader added that Narendra Modi, from a packed stage, supports that rapist and said: if the people of Karnataka vote for this rapist, it will help him.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the sex video  case involving Prajwal Revanna, the member of Parliament from Karnataka’s Hassan, is not just a mere sex scandal but of mass rape. He also criticised the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the JD(S) and seeking votes for a mass rapist.

Rahul Gandhi was addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Shivmogga where he said that PM Modi is seeking votes for a mass rapist. Prajwal Revanna raped a number of women and made their sex videos. The Congress leader added that Narendra Modi, from a packed stage, supports that rapist and said: if the people of Karnataka vote for this rapist, it will help him. Gandhi accused PM Modi of helping Revanna (former PM HD Deve Gowda’s grandson) escape from India.

Gandhi said even when Prajwal Revanna raped a number of women, the prime minister did not stop him from going to Germany. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has all the machinery, yet he allowed the mass rapist to flee to Germany. He took a sarcastic dig at PM Modi and said this is Modi’s guarantee. The Congress leader asserted that whether it’s a corrupt leader or a mass rapist, the BJP will always protect him.

Prajwal Revanna, the sitting MP from Hassan and the grandson of former PM HD Deve Gowda, has been accused of being in purported sex tapes. A number of pen drives allegedly contain his sexual assault videos which were circulated in Hassan, the Lok Sabha constituency from where he is the BJP-JD (S) candidate.

Most of the sex videos were recorded by Prajwal Revanna in his office and house. Initially, the Gowda family and the BJP termed the tapes as being doctored to tarnish the image of the family in elections but later, HD Kumaraswamy distanced himself from the tapes and said the police is investigating the matter.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

PM Modi takes a dig at Rahul Gandhi, says Pakistan wants him as Prime Minister

PM Modi said Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and everyone knows that the Congress is a fan of Pakistan. The prime minister further added that the partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a veiled dig at Rahul Gandhi on Thursday. He was addressing an election rally in Gujarat’s Anand where PM Modi said, Congress is dying here and Pakistanis are crying. He further added that Pakistani leaders want to make shehzada of Congress the prime minister of India.

He said everyone should look at the coincidence that today the Congress is getting weak in India and Pakistani leaders at the same time are praying for the grand old party. PM Modi said Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and everyone knows that the Congress is a fan of Pakistan. The prime minister further added that the partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed.

A few days earlier Pakistani leader Chaudhary Fawad Hussain had shared a video on X which featured Rahul Gandhi, in which the Congress leader is seen targetting the BJP and PM Modi. In the video shared by the former Pakistan minister, Rahul Gandhi can be seen attacking the BJP government over the invitees at Ram Mandir’s Pran Pratishtha ceremony.

The edited video shows Rahul Gandhi speaking about the Ram Mandir’s inauguration and charging the BJP government of sidelining the interests of the poor and youth.  PM Modi further added at the Anand rally that Congress Shahzade is dancing around with the Constitution on their foreheads. But for 75 years, this did not apply to all parts of Hindustan. The Constitution was not applicable in Kashmir, where Article 370 was like a wall that the BJP government had demolished.

The Prime Minister said it is his guarantee that he will work 24×7 to make India a developed country by 2047. He pointed out that in the last 10 years, the BJP government has given tap water connections to 14 crore houses, while the Congress gave just 3 crore houses in 60 years.

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