Issue 47 Vol II, September 15, 2007

A N A LY S I S

India where wealth accumulates, and men decay
Gobind Thukral

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana ought to be very angry. They have been thoroughly cheated by a government that swears all the time by their welfare. A government led by bookish economists who appoint expert commissions to draw plans and then forget them. Not only that, the government adds insult to injury when it pays nearly double the price to import wheat. Farmers are not responsible for the faultiness that has developed over the years in procurement of food grains, storage and distribution. Corruption is the making of the politicians, babus and the traders. Yet they suffer untold misery.

How would one explain that this United Progressive Alliance government lead by an honest and competent economist Dr Manmohan Singh is importing 7.95 lakh tonnes of wheat at a weighted average price of $ 389.45 per tonne (about Rs. 16 a kg), as against Rs. 8.50 a kg minimum support price paid to domestic farmers. The imports are for “building stocks”, but observers say that with the possibility of mid-term elections, the Government “does not to want take chances”.

 Interestingly, in July, the government had placed orders for import of 5.11 lakh tonnes of wheat at $ 325.59 lakh tonnes after cancelling an earlier decision to import at about $ 263 a tonne, inviting the wrath of the opposition. Who is responsible for this mess? Sharad Pawar who is our Agriculture and Food minister or the prime minister or  likes of  Finance Minister P. Chidambaram or the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who approved the deal on Monday. At least the growers of wheat are not responsible for the mess. They are the silent sufferers.

There are hard questions to ask the government. With the current open market rate of wheat floating from Rs. 10.20 a kg to Rs. 12 a kg and the domestic support price at Rs. 8.50  a kg, the Government faces condemnation for importing wheat at Rs. 16 a kg.  Why the Government did not buy its requirements from the domestic market when the production of wheat this year was a whopping 74.75 million tonnes, against 69 million tonnes last year. There is clear a game plan not to pay the farmers a remunerative price, allow private traders to corner stock and then buy from other countries.

Also, it was well known to the government and its babus that the international price of wheat has more than doubled since last year when the first tender for 5 lakh tonnes of wheat was floated for $ 178.75 a tonne. It was also known that wheat production world wide was falling down, particularly in Russia and Ukraine.

Now since there is an Akali- BJP government in Punjab, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal can rightly rebuke the central government led by the Congress for mismanaging the food security and depriving the farmers of a good price. Haryana can not even do that. But then let us not forget the fact that wheat import was started by none else than Surjit Singh Barnala when he was the agriculture minister in a non Congress government at the center.

The policies adopted by the center and the Punjab governments are  not only causing economic loss, but also  degrading  soil through  nutrient imbalance, depleting underground water table and misusing  pesticides and fertilisers. This is also leading to environmental and health hazards. Experts warn about the “ecological backlash”.

A report from the State of Environment Punjab-2007, prepared by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology is an eye opener. Both Akalis and the Congress have always favoured free power since they could not offer anything to the farmers. But as this report says, “free electricity to farmers has resulted in excessive mining of ground water resources due to cultivation of water guzzler crops like paddy. Farmers use water irrationally, over-irrigate their crops and do not care for power economy since it is free by using cheap less efficient, poor quality non-ISI mark motors”.

The power supply to the agriculture sector was free during 1997-2002. Again the state government has started free electricity to farmers from September, 2005, thereby benefiting farmers. Since 1997, the state government has given subsidy of Rs 9,000 crore to the PSEB for power free of cost. The subsidy bill of the last two financial years is in the range of Rs 4,000 crore.  For the current financial year, it will be in the range of Rs 2,300 crore. This year’s bill of purchase of power is in the range of Rs 4,300 crore.

A high-cropping intensity has led to heavy requirement of water for irrigation purpose. There is a deficit of water which is met through over-exploitation of underground water. Of the total 137 blocks, 103 blocks, spread over 75 per cent area of the state, are overexploited.   Rice under water in one hectare emits more than 0.45 tonnes of methane over a growing period of 90 days and carbon dioxide. Punjab produces 23 million tonnes of paddy straw per annum. 80 per cent straw is burnt in fields. Apart from affecting the soil fertility, this also caused air pollution to emission of gases leading to various health dangers. Thus the present cropping pattern and production system seem to be environmentally unsustainable and economically unviable”.

How wise it is to keep growing paddy, exhausting the land of its minerals, overdrawing water and causing serious health hazards. It would worthwhile to undertake a detailed study to find out how much subsidy goes into the production of one tonne of paddy and what the farmers and spend and finally what is the benefit. A complete cost benefit analysis is needed. Punjab right seems to be losing on that.

The National Commission on Farmers has submitted five reports between December 2005 and October, 2006. These include: asset reforms covering land, water, livestock and bio-resources; farmer-friendly support services covering extension, training and knowledge, connectivity, credit and insurance; assured and remunerative marketing; inputs and delivery services; and curriculum reforms in the agriculture universities. Other major initiatives recommended are bringing Agriculture in the Concurrent List of the Constitution; setting up of a National Food Security and Sovereignty Board; universalization of PDS; setting up of an Indian Trade Organization; making the Commission on Agriculture Cost and Prices into an autonomous statutory organization with Minimum Support Price at least 50 per cent more than the cost of production, and launch of a Rural Non-farm Livelihood Initiative. The recommendations remain as always under the active consideration of the government till a new commission is appointed.

It would be worthwhile to remember an 18th century English poet Oliver Goldsmith who warned of the dangers when peasantry is famished and finished. He wrote:

“Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.”

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September 11, 2007. The world is no safer than 6 years ago
Swaraj Singh
Today is the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.  However, the world is not any safer than 6 years ago. We started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both the wars show no sign of ending. Islamists seem to be winning in both places. General Musharraf of Pakistan, the most important ally against terrorism seems to be mortally wounded, with Pakistan plunging into a deep crisis.  In Somalia, Algeria, Lebanon and Palestine, Islamists are looking stronger than 6 years ago.  Iran remains defiant and continues to pose a challenge to the West.  One has to conclude that the West has been unable to control Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism.  If at all, the West seems to be more vulnerable than 6 years ago.

The various intelligence agencies, including the National intelligence estimate, have concluded that the alqaeda has regrouped itself, is becoming stronger and is preparing for another terrorist attack on America.  Its main base is in the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Its inner core leadership called Shura, has about 200 members who are based in this area.  These members often travel freely to Iraq, Turkey, European countries and North African countries.  There is also a second level leadership that is capable of running the organization in case the top-level leadership is eliminated.  This makes it virtually impossible to stop the Alqaeda from launching a terrorist attack on America.

Osma Bin Laden’s two tapes have been released recently.  He has hinted at the possibility of a nuclear attack on America and has advised the Americans to become Muslins if they want to avoid such an attack.  He said that the American people have committed a blunder by reelecting President Busch.  He has criticized capitalism and globalization.  He has also made it clear that his main confrontation is with the American capitalists rather than the European capitalists.  Some people see this as an attempt to increase the divide between Europe and America.  He has praised the leftist American writer Noam Chomsky.  He mentioned the issue of global warning and environmental damage.  He also mentioned Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  He called the moderate Arab leaders and scholars vassals of the West who have betrayed Islam.  Laden made it absolutely clear that there can be no reconciliation between the Western capitalism and Islam.

It is becoming quite clear that the traditional globalization and the western domination are not going to last very long. The Western capitalist civilization is facing challenge from two major sources. One is radical Islam and the other is China, Russia, the leftists and the third world countries. Although both are very different yet they have a common goal of defeating the western capitalism and its highest form, globalization. Ladens’ tapes show that the Islamists are moving towards the leftist ideology on many major issues. In the seventies, the west was able to survive by drawing a wedge between Russia and China, now it seems that the west is not going to have the same luck.

Sawraj Singh, MD FICS, Chairman, Washington State Network For Human Rights

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