Rural Development in India

[Prasad]

I don't understand why one would want a rich person to stop spending. If s/he has more money then letting them spend more money is only good for the economy. Those who want them to stop spending are just jealous and nothing else. Greater spending lends itself to more people making money and moving money through the economy. Stifling demand just doesnt make sense. The same way 'oh inflation is nothing. dekhanomy is important' type speeches from mms.

[Jamal K. Malik]

Govt draws road map for rural connectivity

Under this, the government has set up a goal to provide connectivity to all villages with a population of at least 1,000 persons (500 in the case of hilly and tribal areas) with an all-weather road by 2012.

[chaanakya]

Govt draws road map for rural connectivity

Under this, the government has set up a goal to provide connectivity to all villages with a population of at least 1,000 persons (500 in the case of hilly and tribal areas) with an all-weather road by 2012.

PMGSY is being rehashed by CON Party.

[chandrabhan]

Dear Mods,
I have been touring parts of Western UP (Mathura, Agra, Meerut), Central UP (Lucknow, Sitapur, Balrampur) and eastern UP too. have been to some 100 odd villages in the past 3 months including my native village. Here are my observations...

Roads
1. Condition of roads constructed under PGSY is bad

2. What remains of them is only a sliver of tar full of potholes.

3. Lot of them are constructed without taking care of channels of irrigation (No pipes are laid under them for the water to pass) resulting in farmers digging them in between to make way for water

4. Faulty method of repair or construction in the first place - No Hot mix plan used, Current method in rural India is

i. Put lot of sand on the road

ii. Lay a layer of crushed stones

iii. Run a roadroller

iv. Spray some Bitumen to hold the crushed stones (rodi) and roll them again. This is due to high corruption , contractor saves money by using 10% of bitumen required(expensive).

v. Current commission is MP/MLA - 10% each, Dept babus - 25%, Contractor margin - 15% , Loss of material due to theft by villagers - 5%, Loss due to labor - 5%.


Farm Output & Prices

Let me give an example of musk mellon prices.

1. Price at which procured at my farm - Rs 18 for 'Dhadi' (5 Kg)

2. Sold in Mumbai for Rs27 per Kg - Rs125 for 'Dhadi' (5 Kg)

3. farmer share in consumer prices - meagre 14.4%

Let us take another example of staple food - Wheat

1. Central Govt MSP - Rs1270 per quintal (100 Kg)

2. UP govt paying Rs100 less than Central MSP and then harassing farmers at the state borders when they try and sell in haryana.

3. 5 KG Atta bag of Annapurna sells at Rs 170

4. Farmer's share in price consumer pays - 34.4%


will write on various aspects in subsequent posts. Running to the fields

[joshvajohn]

Villager asks PM: show me how to run a day on Rs. 26
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 504186.ece

Montek Ahlulwalia should be asked to spend only 35 rupees everyday and try a month. He ridicules poverty and people below poverty line.

This is where religious leaders and gurus should come out openly and radically challenge the present government in terms of their intentions of defining poverty and selling India to International pressures.

IMF is going to charge India and developing nations for Greece debts. Montek is not even elected by a constituency and does not care whether poverty kills people and anyone goes to bed without eating a full stomach a day. He is the sort of people Govt of India is using to raise prices and ridicule public with these statements.

[RamaY]

JJ garu,

The sad part is the MMS, MSA and PC are hailed as economic-trinity. Yet they fail to achieve any success in Indian rural economy.

[joshvajohn]

RamaY - cannot disagree with your comments on trinity who say it is growth. for whom? It is a pity they cannot hear the poor people's desperation!

Learned fools! we are in Dark history of India where poor people are even ridiculed.

[joshvajohn]

http://www.firstpost.com/economy/montek ... 01451.html
Montek's argument is really funny one. Go back to Mathematics please! People are dying and Montek is joking! This is like Nero's fiddle playing while Rome was burning!

The Planning Commission’s poverty line affidavit has exposed how blissfully ignorant the glorified economists of the UPA are of the true reality of India

http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-new ... itics.html

Montek, MMS and Pranab are responsible for creating many Naxal terrorists in India!

[Haresh]

Fog Catchers Bring Water to Parched Villages

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... -missions/

[joshvajohn]

Is the Recent Food Security Bill Good Enough?
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Is ... n=mostread

[SBajwa]

by Chandrabhan
will write on various aspects in subsequent posts. Running to the fields

You don't have to run to the fields this is exactly the state of affairs in India that you described. The middle people between producers and consumers are the kings.

Government is actually looting the people first by taxing them and then by taking back the money what they promised through corruption. SAD AFFAIRS!!

Farmers in India are the best skilled labour you can find but they have been converted to Rice and Wheat grower zombies due to guaranteed price by GOI (and nehru policies)

The whole land mass of India is the best in world and should only be used for Cash crops and fruits. But due to poverty and theft it is not possible in India.

I wanted my village folks to grow only fruits (in punjab) but they refused saying that "it is so hard to protect sugarcane and the vegetables that they grow for their household from theft. Wow will they protect the real cash crops like Pistachious, almonds, olives, etc?"

The problem in India is not enough respect for the rural India and too much money being spent on garbage cities like Delhi/Chandigarh/Bombay/Calcutta/Madras/etc. Rural India is what India is!! the mega cities of India are leftovers from British Raj!! and should be neglected for next 50 years (money should be spend on rural india only). Instead of building Metros for cities they should spend money on building all weather roads/rails/air conditioned storage grain/fruits/food facilities in rural india.

but GOI priorities lie in building malls and metros in Mega Cities and not in providing all weather roads to the real people of India who live in its villages.

[Theo_Fidel]

Like it or not, increasing urbanization is a fact of life, and will be a fact of life for the next couple of decades. Rural utopia is an unreasonable dream and cannot be sustained. The share of agriculture in GDP will come down - more and more people will switch to services, and in the latter half of this decade, to industry.

Not to mention rural India is a complete hell hole to which only ivory tower types would try to condemn a entire population to. Urban area create 80% of India's wealth. Rural India is a consumer of that wealth. With the latest mindless social schemes, rural India is a destroyer of Urban wealth.

Farmers in India not the smartest people in the world. Many are quite lazy and often gamble on crops to score a big pay day with ZERO planning in terms of testing, research, yields, training, etc. They grow Rice/Wheat because it is much easier and completely planned out by Government. Seeds are provided, fertilizer/pesticide is provided, crop is automatically purchased, etc. No where in the world are cash crops grown without proper fences/walls. proper 24/7 on site security and careful investment into the cropped area.

Farmers don't want to invest yet want to make more and more money. Not smart.

[SBajwa]

What I am saying is that small/urban centers need to be upgraded and well connected to the villages instead of building metros in Delhi and Bombay.

Cities do not generate wealth., they get the money from their consumers 60%+ of whom live in villages of India. So if TATA has an office in bombay and reports 100 billion of profit does it mean that TATA sold all of their TATA products in bombay and made that money? NOPE!!! The consumers of India live in villages and need to be well protected from the scammers.

Rural india is the reason that people of India really get their daily bread and butter.

GOI is the reason that Rural India has become lazier by getting into the cycle of Wheat and Rice and not into cash crops (Horticulture, Vegetables, etc) for exports.

The mindless social schemes by the politicians are the real reason that rural india is becoming a bigger hell hole by the passing day. All you need to fix Rural India is

1. Take away the guaranteed minimum support price (as fixed by GOI) and let market fix it.

2. Let villagers take their produce to all the corners of India (transportation of produce to other states).

3. Well connect villages to the Golden Quad and NW corridor, so that transportation is faster. i.e. transfer the fresh milk, chicken, eggs to Bombay/Delhi in less than 2 days from any corner of India.

I know of a smart well educated farmer in Punjab who only inherited 2 acres of land and he decided to grow mushrooms there., he is biggest exporter of mushrooms now and a millionaire (not sure how many politicians he bribed so that they allow him to export his mushrooms to outside India).

[joshvajohn]

Bailout needed for aam admi, not airlines: BJP
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ba ... jp_1611566

Govt debates Kingfisher bailout
http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-new ... ilout.html

UPA 2 Govt is so keen to bail out these businesses. The ministers are so quick to react and give money even without being asked for such business at free of cost - the common people's tax money while for common people's development no money is available.

[Haresh]

Aid Scam Sees Indian Children Go Hungry

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16116530

[joshvajohn]

42 per cent of Indian children are underweight
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... epage=true

[joshvajohn]

Food subsidy bill can be lowered by Rs 2 lakh crore through cash transfers
http://articles.economictimes.indiatime ... tate-level

India leads the world in recognising the right to food,
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 796474.ece

[joshvajohn]

I am confused by this food bill as it is kicked off by everyone from different corners.


1. First I thought it is going to be a right to food bill - which can be universal. It means everyone has right to food just reiterating and making amendment of what UN said long ago.

2. Second is the project to amend this bill. One of the projects that Congress govt is suggesting is to provide some majority of people in India with grains that they think will sort out or meet the criteria of right to food bill

3. Third for me I would set up more monitoring groups engaging NGOs and FBOs to implement right to food bill by reorganising the Food distribution rather than supplying food for 75% of the population with food grains - majority of whom may not need these grains or they may just buy it and sell it or there are a lot of possibilities of abusing this system

4. My suggestion is to just get the right to food bill as a universal bill get passed without the project of giving grains. Second engage with those who really need support for the food grains and then make the system to work for these people. In this way money is not wasted and this programme becomes a possible implementable project and also we do not need to fall into debt crises like Greece for implementing big things which we cannot bear to pay the bill in future.

[joshvajohn]

How to realize the right to food?
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/global- ... -food/3175

Parliamentary Panel to seek views of states, NGOs on food bill
http://english.manoramaonline.com/cgi-b ... =EDITORIAL

[joshvajohn]

Food security: Dampened prospects
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6ed52738-4746 ... z1kYIRFPfg

[chandrabhan]

Have been on the campaign trail for the past 1 month extensively. Travelled to the far east corners of UP - Gorakhpur, Varanasi & Balrampur. Nowdays loitering around Mathura and Agra. Here is what my first hand impression and issues of rural India are..

1. Roads built under PMGSY are almost patches of Coaltar. People have lot of regard for Vajpayiji for the initiative of roads.

2. People in Gorakhpur area are fed up of yearly flooding and really look forward to a solution through Canal

3. Mobiles & Bikes are a menace for Parents in Rural India as the lifestyle aspirations of young are leading to debts. Lot of parents come to me to arrange a job for their wards but the young men refuse wanting to do only office jobs

4. Garbage is a perennial issue and none have any clue. Most of the municipal workers hire somebody for 1/4th the price and never go cleaning themselves. Saw a lot of Thakhurs & Brahmins also enrolled as cleaning personal

5. Eastern UP really needs a good grassroot & honest leader who can make tough decisions.

6. Over the years, Kuccha houses have virtually disappeared and there is an increasing trend to have cows and Buffaloes .

7. While the English media may laugh it off with urban voters about the promised Cow by BJP, Rural voters are really appreciating it. Allows a family to sustain itself

8. Consumption of Liquor has increased manifold and the increasing availability is no less a culprit. 10 years back , rarely would see people asking for money for Daru

9. The underground water situation in Agra region has deteriorated -180-190 feet is common and the sarkari tubewells have almost redundant.

10. Condition of even the Ambedkar grams is no great.

11. In the village school of 4 teachers and supposedly 119 students only 1 teacher had come and some 18 students were attending. One more teacher came at 12..00 and school closes at 1.00. he does it everyday and puts attendance for other 2

12. Mid day meal is another disaster, its almost water in the name of dal. People are complaining and the Dm was not ready to listen.

God help.

[SBajwa]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120214/punjab.htm#1



Amritsar Pingalwara assumes a dual role
Besides serving the destitute, the charitable society now leads the way in organic farming
Perneet Singh
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 13
The All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society here has donned a new role: that of a torch-bearer for the farming community. It has set up a farm at Dhirakot village and has convincingly exhibited that farming can be done without the use of chemical fertilisers that are injurious to health.

Spread over 32 acres, the farm is being looked after by society member Rajbir Singh. Talking to The Tribune, he said: “At our farm, we use cattle urine/dung, pulses, jaggery, garlic and green chilli in different combinations to prepare fertilisers which we mix with water.” He said only 15 per cent insects were harmful to crops. “When the farmers use chemical fertilisers, they end up killing also the insects that are beneficial to the crop. However, this does not happen in case of natural fertilisers.”

Rajbir Singh said they had adopted bed farming as “crops need moisture and not a lot of water.” In this way, they could save water up to 60 per cent as compared to other kinds of farming.

He said the indiscriminate use of pesticides by farmers had had dangerous repercussions for human life. “It is unfortunate that a country like Israel, which doesn’t have water fit for irrigation, has turned farming into a profitable venture, why is our country, which have everything required to make it a flourishing endeavour, finding it economically unviable.”

The farm has produced some ground-breaking results in sugarcane production. Highlighting the feat, Rajbir said spending not more than Rs 30,000 per acre as input cost on cane, the first-year production was an impressive 400 quintals per acre. This was expected to go up to 600 quintals in the second year.

Rajbir Singh said various sugar mill owners, along with farmers, had visited the farm to “learn our technique and replicate the same.” He said they had provided sugarcane seeds to the farmers. “The quantity of seeds used by us per acre is much less than normally used by farmers,” he said.

The farm boasts of a research centre where peasants from other states come to learn farming practices sans chemical fertilisers while also saving on water. Talking of the crops grown at the farm, Rajbir Singh said they sowed almost all seasonal vegetables, apart from wheat, basmati rice, maize, and sugarcane. “We are probably the only one producing broccoli in the state. Nutrients in broccoli help in fighting cancer and heart ailments. We also produce cauliflower, peas and tomatoes.” Jaggery is also produced at the farm.

Rajbir Singh said a part of the produce was consumed by 1,500 inmates of the Pingalwara and the rest donated to the Golden Temple for langar (community kitchen).

He said a huge quantity of animal fodder was produced, which fed their own cattle as well as those of farmers of nearby villages.

He said they conscientiously followed the guidelines of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, to achieve the desired results. He lauded the help extended by Subhash Palekar, an agricultural expert from Amravati, for starting the farm in 2005.

Society president Dr Inderjeet Kaur said the aim behind establishing this model farm was to set an example for the state’s farmers in organic farming. She said they had published literature on environment conservation, which they distributed at the Golden Temple and other religious places free of cost. “We have planted at least 10 lakh saplings,” she added.

About the project

n The Amritsar chapter of All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society has set up a farm at Dhirakot village near the holy city

n The society has convincingly shown that farming can be done without the use of fertilisers that are injurious to health

n Spread over 32 acres, the farm is being looked after by society member Rajbir Singh

n The farm has produced some ground-breaking results in sugarcane production

n Spending not more than Rs 30,000 an acre as input cost on cane, the first-year production was an impressive 400 quintals per acre

n The production is expected to go up to 600 quintals in second year

n The farm boasts of a research centre where peasants from other states come to learn farming practices. All seasonal vegetables are grown

[Murugan]

India's Hidden Hotbeds of Inventions

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/anil_g ... ntion.html

[ramana]

I wish some one puts together a rural high tech package for the rain fed areas comprising of a solar power module, pump and drip irrigation.

[RamaY]

Rji

I am instiagating a budding entrepreneur to do exactly the same. Hope Indra blesses that venture.

[SaiK]

whatever happened to the gobra gas projects? rural areas could jointly dump into large plants, and supply gas to locals on 24 hour basis. solar would need quite a battery back up. river turbines is another excellent idea.. basically installed specific locations where perennial water flow exists.

ocean side rural areas can use wave turbines, and wind mills wherever possible.

--

malloo speak: - nice vatapi music, but did I hear her say even fish, chicken organic waste can be dumped into it?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O_l0d8vGms

[SaiK]

way to go!

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/l ... epage=true

[nawabs]

Government plans Rs.40,000 crore fund for rural development

http://in.news.yahoo.com/government-pla ... nance.html

The government is planning to set up a Rs.40,000-crore flexi-fund to help states address specific rural development needs.

The fund will be available to states from the next financial year till the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in March 2017. The central government will have a 70 per cent share in the fund.

"For the first time, we are putting together a flexi-fund of Rs.40,000 crore that will be available to all states to spend on rural development scheme," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said at a joint press conference with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The minister said the fund would ensure better targeting of state-specific projects.

"The fund will ensure better targeting and the states will be free to use funds as per their requirements," Ramesh said.

The fund would be available as an additional amount that can be spent either on existing centrally-sponsored schemes of the rural development ministry and the drinking water and sanitation ministry.

The 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) has proposed an allocation of Rs.490,000 crore to the rural development ministry and Rs.100,000 crore to the drinking water and sanitation ministry.

Ahluwalia said there is a need for a restructuring of the existing rural development ministry schemes, saying that those "need to be made more flexible".

"We are taking a fresh look at social sector schemes," he said.

Different states face different development challenges and Ramesh had spoken against "too much centralisation" in the programmes.

"The biggest problem today is that all rural development work is based on national guidelines that cannot take care of the specific problems of states," reports had quoted him as saying earlier.

His ministry believes the setting up of the flexi-fund would send a powerful signal about the government's commitment to cooperative federalism.

The fund proposal would be placed before the cabinet for approval.

[krisna]

A sweet tale of how neem trees yield money

Implementation of National Biodiversity Act enables people in two villages in Andhra to earn additional revenue

Some hundred neem trees have changed the lives of people in two villages, Amarchintha in Mahabubnagar district and Revalli in Nalgonda, both in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

They have helped them earn additional revenue of few thousand rupees, thanks to the implementation of access and benefit sharing (ABS) mandated under the National Biodiversity Act 2002.

Generally, Japanese do not drink plain water. Instead, they prefer green tea water, energy water or medicated water. It is because of this habit that he received a proposal from the Japanese firm for developing neem-based water, which can be easily soluble and which gives a typical taste with its medicinal benefits.

Based on the Japanese inputs, BIB decided to work with local communities for collecting the neem leaves without involving any middle men, brokers or traders and under the National Biodiversity Act principles.

The company has identified two Neem rich villages and entered into an agreement with local communities, providing them five per cent on procurement price of leaves.

[Pranav]

I don't understand why one would want a rich person to stop spending. If s/he has more money then letting them spend more money is only good for the economy. Those who want them to stop spending are just jealous and nothing else. Greater spending lends itself to more people making money and moving money through the economy. Stifling demand just doesnt make sense. The same way 'oh inflation is nothing. dekhanomy is important' type speeches from mms.

There is more bang for buck when a poor kid gets money to go to school vs say Robert Vadra buying another Jacuzzi.

[ramana]

Looks like the Gadwal saree is on the way out:

Hindu

The Last Drape

The soft rustle of the Gadwal saree can jazz up any occasion. But the centuries-old art is dying.

Fifteen-year-old P.G. Viresh, a weaver, wakes up early in the morning to the sounds of the handloom machine in his house. While many of his friends go to school, Viresh, who dropped out three years ago, helps his father at the loom. In doing so, he supports his family and tries to keep afloat an art that made waves for several decades.

For people living in Macharla, a dusty, decrepit village in Andhra Pradesh, the continuous clatter of the machines is an integral part of life. But soon the sound might fall silent. The village is part of the handloom cluster of Gadwal, a small town in Andhra Pradesh, where highly professional weavers have practiced the art for the last 300 years.

Sadly, this legacy now stands on slippery ground. This is evident in the dropping number of weavers who have failed to make enough money for their survival. Fifteen years ago, 5,000 families were engaged in this art. Now, only 1,500 families remain. They learnt the technique from Benaras where they were patronised by the royal families to weave sarees for them using gold and silver zari. The pride they took in deciding the colours, design and pattern of the sarees that became characteristic of the marvellous textile crafts of Andhra Pradesh has become history. Now, the weavers are just labourers.

The cost of procuring raw materials and setting up the looms for making a saree costs about Rs.40,000. Since the weavers cannot afford such a high rate of investment, they have to work on contract. The looms, known as Maggam, are set up in their homes where the entire family is involved in making a saree. After working for about eight hours daily for a week, two of them are paid Rs.1,500 for a saree. On an average they can make five sarees a month, which gets them around Rs.8,000. The wages vary depending on the intricacy of the pattern.

Viresh’s father, P.G. Ellapa, a weaver for the last 40 years, says, “Due to my deteriorating health and poor eyesight, my son had to leave school and assist me. With such low earnings there is no other option but for the children to take up this task to make both ends meet.”

For Ellapa, things have changed a lot since the time he was initiated into this tradition. The cost of raw materials, especially the silk threads, has soared. Even the monthly subsidy of Rs.600 from the government is not a help since they would have to bribe officials with Rs.150. {25% cut!} A majority of teenagers like Viresh are not ready to take up this tradition.

Under the circumstances, Ellapa is worried whether the art would survive. Moreover, the weavers do not engage in any other activity like farming or agriculture for their survival.

The weavers face exploitation in the hands of their employers, usually the master weavers, who provide them the raw materials, designs and financial assistance to make the sarees, but sell the finished product at a price that is five times more than the wages given to the weavers. The weavers are forced to sell their sarees through master weavers due to the absence of other effective channels leading directly to the market. The master weavers cut 30 per cent from the wage even if there is a minor flaw in the saree.

The Handloom Cooperative Societies that were formed to end such exploitation of weavers by their employers seem to be in the control of master weavers who form a nexus with government officials.

None of the cooperative societies provide medical facilities to the weavers who work under poor conditions. Continuous hard work for 6-7 hours cause back ache, knee pains. P.G Sheshadri, a weaver, says, “I lost my finger in the machine last year. But so far I haven’t received any compensation. Nobody has come to help me. I am unable to work as effectively as I used to.”

The weavers have to depend on private money lenders who charge high rates of interest. Santhan, the assistant director of the Handloom and Textile department says, “We have started a weaver’s credit card scheme, under which the weavers can directly get a loan of Rs.4,500 to Rs.2 lakh without involving the middleman. But unless the weavers bring their problem to the notice of the head of the cooperative society, it cannot be solved.” The wages for the workers have been constant for over ten years.

Weaver’s Park, a Rs.8 crore project that was initiated by the State government in 2008, has been stalled after the first phase. Its purpose was to help the weavers’ community by providing raw materials and designs, and in turn the government would purchase finished goods at the authentic rate. But this has not happened.

Today, the introduction of power looms has taken its toll on handloom weavers in the region. The sarees made on machines using low-quality silk take less time and are sold in the market as original Gadwal sarees. The true hallmark of a Gadwal saree is the merging of cotton and silk threads in the border, which differentiates it from the sarees made on powerlooms. But customers do not know this and they end up buying the fake ones at high prices.

The government has to come up with proper remuneration and incentives so that more teenagers like Viresh can acquire skills and carry forward this legacy.

maybe the art has to die off for the weavers ae being exploited and need too many incentives to survive.

If the lower rung disappears then the master weavers and the govt officials can together weave themselves in the State Weavers park!

[panduranghari]

Like it or not, increasing urbanization is a fact of life, and will be a fact of life for the next couple of decades. Rural utopia is an unreasonable dream and cannot be sustained. The share of agriculture in GDP will come down - more and more people will switch to services, and in the latter half of this decade, to industry.

Not to mention rural India is a complete hell hole to which only ivory tower types would try to condemn a entire population to. Urban area create 80% of India's wealth. Rural India is a consumer of that wealth. With the latest mindless social schemes, rural India is a destroyer of Urban wealth.

Farmers in India not the smartest people in the world. Many are quite lazy and often gamble on crops to score a big pay day with ZERO planning in terms of testing, research, yields, training, etc. They grow Rice/Wheat because it is much easier and completely planned out by Government. Seeds are provided, fertilizer/pesticide is provided, crop is automatically purchased, etc. No where in the world are cash crops grown without proper fences/walls. proper 24/7 on site security and careful investment into the cropped area.

Farmers don't want to invest yet want to make more and more money. Not smart.

Theo ji,

Apologies in advance.

I am new posting on this forum but I constantly see your holiness taking unnecessary swipes at the situation in desh. The snide remarks are not useful.

Everyone kind of knows there are problems and there is even acknowledgement of these problems. But you are making unreasonable comments.

My uncle owns some agriculture land and though he is not a farmer, he employs farm hands. I did ask him about the future of farming. He said it will be essential to undertake intense farming but unless policy changes do not happen there will be no change.

In his opinion subsidies are not the solution but the infrastructure is. The middle men who we are well aware of being main culprits are nothing but necessary evil. The concept of putting up fence etc is understandable. But there are other pressing issues like Monsanto GM seeds needs to be tackled first.

Please offer solutions.

[Haresh]

Scarcity in a Time of Surplus: Free Water and Energy Cause Food Waste and Power Shortage in India

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2 ... -in-india/

[jaysimha]

https://isc2020uasb.org/
Indian Science Congress will be held at University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, Bangalore, Karnataka on the focal theme Science & Technology : Rural Development from 3-7 January, 2020