Thought for the day
"Great minds have purposes; others have wishes."
-
Washington Irving (American, 1783-1859)
Word for the day
Brouhaha (n)
Excited public interest, discussion, or the like, as the
clamor attending some sensational event; hullabaloo:
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
A youthful Congress driven by the Idea of AAP would provide
a strong and stable opposite pole in the Indian politics.
Reporting from the hinterland
A short two day trip to rural areas of western UP and
discussions with a few farmers, agro commodity traders and food processors
provided some interesting insights into the current economic, social and
political conditions.
Though the visit was confined to the villages closer to
industrial towns, in my view, the prevailing conditions could be reasonably
extrapolated to the entire State of UP, and the adjoining states of Uttrakhand,
MP. Haryana, Bihar and Rajasthan.
The unseasonal rains have caused serious damage to the standing
crops of wheat, mustard, and pulses. The damage to Sugarcane is not very
serious from rains, but the threat from fungus and pests has increased
manifold. There is minor damage to Potato crop.
Given the late monsoon rains, most farmers were expecting a good
winter rabi crop this year and accordingly have invested higher than normal in
the crop. The losses, coming on the back of a poor summer Kharif crop, have
compounded impacting the purchasing and borrowing power of the farmers. The majority
of landless and marginal farmers may be in distress given lesser demand for
labor from construction sector and lower MNREGA spending.
The interesting thing is that most farmers are now aware of the
technology advances. They keenly follow the price movements across global and
local markets. Most farmers follow midterm weather forecasts and El Nino
developments. The forecast about likely below par monsoon this year has
dampened the spirits furthers. Most rural households appear to have fastened
the strings of their purses tightly.
Another interesting insight was provided by a senior district
administrator. He highlighted that in most of rural and semi-rural areas of UP
the popular inclusion scheme PM Jandhan Yojna (PMJY) has been marketed and sold
as some sort of blessed goose that will regularly keep laying golden eggs. It
has not been marketed as a tool to promote inclusion or enhance household
savings. The outcome in the short to midterm will therefore only be limited to
plugging the leakages in grants that are transferred directly.
On political side, the popularity of PM Modi may be on the wane
in UP. Akhilesh government is a clear beneficiary of this. The state government
has seriously enhanced its engagement with people post May 2014 Lok Sabha election
rout. Save for a dramatic improvement in the economy and performance of the
national government, 2017 state assembly election may not be a easy going for
BJP.
The social strife seen during the run up to the Lok Sbha
election has conspicuously diminished. Muzzafarnagar, Saharanpur and Shamli
were found calm and quiet; not many people complaining about the state's
apathy.
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