Thought for the day
"From the solemn gloom of the temple children run out to sit
in the dust, God watches them play and forgets the priest."
-
Rabindranath Tagore (Indian, 1861-1941)
Word for the day
Furtherance (n)
The act of furthering; promotion; advancement.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
There should be a gap of three month between election
results and swearing in of MP/MLAs.
These three months may be used to impart extensive training
to elected representatives in public policy, foreign and federal relations,
public speaking, constitution, etc.
Land" does not get you votes, "No Land" does - II
The politically aided agitation over the land acquisition issue
has three clear dimensions:
1. It has provided
a common cause to parties and politicians who have been struggling to regain
the ground they have yielded to Narendra Modi led BJP in recent times.
2. It has provided
an opportunity to the medium and large farmers to seek maximization of
compensation in lieu of their land which is not commercially viable for
agriculture due to miniscule yield as compared to current land prices.
3. It threatens to
expose politicians who have indulged in "insider trading" in land
acquisition in past.
Prior to 2013
LARR Act, land acquisition used to be a surprise for the land owners. They
would usually come to know about it when the statutory notification was
published.
The
"insiders" who would get to know the project details much in advance
would accumulate the land in surrounding areas, and sell at much higher prices
once the project and the land acquisition was notified. This had been a cause
of discontent amongst farmers who were tricked to sell their land cheaper just
before the road or industrial project was announced. Barmer in Rajasthan,
NOIDA/Mathura in UP, and Gurgaon/Jhhajar in Haryana could just be some small
case studies of this phenomenon.
Let me explain the economics of agriculture in India to
explain my point:
(a) The average
cultivable land price in 50-100km radius of a city or large industrial project
is about Rs5lac/acre, It may though vary between Rs. 1 lac to Rs. 5crore/acre
depending upon the location.
The crop on the
land yields less than Rs75000/year for a medium and large farmer. Assuming 2
crops every year, for a small and marginal farmer the yield is Rs25000 to
Rs50000 per acre/year, excluding the cost of self labor.
Pertinent to
note here is that a typical landless, marginal or small farmer household
deploys 3-4 adults for 6 months in the farm. At ~Rs3000/month minimum wage rate
the cost of self labor itself comes to about Rs55000-75000/year.
If we adjust the
yield for one crop loss every three year, lease rent and 18-24% interest that
small and marginal farmer pays, agriculture is usually unviable business.
If we factor in
rising labor cost, lower subsidy in input prices (fertilizer, electricity,
diesel and water) and slower rise in MSP, the viability gap will likely only
increase going forward.
(b) A large majority
of farmer households in India are landless or marginal. Many of these farmers
take land on lease. The rent varies from Rs5000/acre to 50% of produce. A lost
crop puts such farmers in a debt trap that may take minimum 3years to get out.
Many of these
farmers do agriculture for sustenance. They grow wheat or rice for self
consumption only.
A proper
implementation of Food Security Law will ensure food for them at minimal cost.
In such a scenario, they will anyway have no motivation to engage in land
cultivation.
Remember, the
Gen X of these farmers is no longer enamored by the feeling of Dharti Meri Mata
Hai (my land is my mother). The next generation of landless, marginal and small
farmers is therefore least likely to prefer agriculture over construction or
industrial labor.(Availability of agriculture labor is likely to shrink even
further from the current alarming levels).
(c) Given the low
returns, the current generation of medium and large farmers is also not much
interested in taking up farming as occupation. Most would want to sell the land
or convert it into non-agriculture land.
So, as we can see the reason for farmers' agitation is not that
they do not want to sell their land. It is the quantum of compensation that is
the issue.
Fighting for this cause could have yielded dividend for AAP in
Delhi, because here the farmers are large and rich. Extrapolating this to
national level may not work. In fact it may prove counterproductive as this
will only alienate the agriculture labor.
A better electoral agenda for the welfare of rural population
might therefore be, inter alia:
(a) Faster and full
implementation of food security law.
(b) Higher wages
under MNREGA.
(c) Better faculties
and wages for migrant construction and industrial labor.
(d) Stringent
enforcement of Banami Transcations law to unearth Benami agriculture land in
violation of Land ceiling laws and redistribution of such land to landless and
marginal farmers.
(e) Mandatory
requirement of employment to landless farmers displaced by the project under
consideration.
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