Leave aside politics but the
recent state elections in India are a dark reminder of the discontent, grief
and anger of farmers across the country, perhaps accumulated over many years
but now coming to the fore more prominently. I am also not going to talk about
the government initiatives of the present government or the past government for
farmers because that’s a never-ending debate. Unfortunately, the farmers plight doesn’t seem
to abate irrespective of which government comes to power. In fact, the problem
is too magnanimous for a government to solve on its own, I think
I want to explore if we at an
individual level can take responsibility of the farmer community ourselves and align
ourselves, be with them, with their feelings. It’s time that we as the better
off citizens step in to do what we can do.
Let’s look at some statistics to get a glimpse of the farmer community
in India.
·
70% of the population ( around 840 million ) depend
directly or indirectly on agriculture
·
Small and marginal farmers account for 86% of
all farmers earning Rs. 79,779 ( $1100) per year as per 2015-16 figures,
roughly about Rs. 6000 ( $85) per month.
·
Farmer suicides account for 11.2% of all
suicides and some of them are for an amount as low as Rs.10,000 ( $145). Failure
of crops is the number one reason also because the farmer depends on rain for
his crop which has become increasingly unpredictable. He falls into a debt trap
unable repay money.
·
Total farming area is going down, from 159
million hectares in 2010-11 it came down to 157 million hectares. Various
reasons but lack of attractive remuneration, urban migration, non-viability of
farming are common factors.
There are various other
statistics that could be presented to understand the state of affairs of farmers
but I would also like to draw from my own experience due to my association with
farmers since the past some time and also because I come from a farmer’s family
myself.
Villages even today lack a
regular supply of water and electricity, these are the basic needs for the
community to move forward. I am not talking of remote villages even, some as
close as 50 kilometers from a district headquarters or a metro city.
Disparity between urban and rural
is increasing. Urban aspirations are
going up with our rising incomes and peer competition whereas rural aspirations
are still stuck around necessities of food, clothing, shelter, water,
education.
Most of my friends in cities have
no clue about what a farmer’s life is, what he does and what he goes through.
Believe me, I am not blaming them but they have never visited a village in
their life to be able to empathize with the farmer. Few months back, I took
some of my friends to a village where I do small charity and they were
surprised at the lifestyle of these
farmers, how they life, what they wear etc. For them this was something that
they witnessed for the first time and it moved them.
Most farmers’ children are forced
to leave school early or after they complete their high school. The reasons are
simple-they don’t see any value or application of education. They don’t know
what opportunities are available. At least if they support their family tilling
lands or herding cattle, they would be of use and so they leave school.
Farmers are bunch of shy folks
and lack in confidence. It’s not easy to lecture them about opportunities
available, they won’t get out of their shell easily. Every village must produce
a role model for them to get inspired and try an emulate that person, its only
when they see someone from their community do it, they might see a ray of hope.
But for the role model to really go out and make it, he needs to be a
super hero. Hard for us to imagine what
it takes.
My father came from a small
village and walked around 10 kilometers every day just to go to school. He was
the only one from his village, then.
When he took that first step, his brothers they got inspired, they
followed him . Together they had an accomplished life it and retired
successfully in different positions.
Because of my father, his generation took a massive leap, otherwise, I
could have been easily tilling farms like some of his friends’ sons.
I am sure there are many examples
like my father, but this is sadly just a tiny drop in the ocean, really.
So what’s the way forward? It’s a
complicated and large issue and there are no easy answers or easy solutions.
Again drawing from my personal experience, I feel that every village has a star
and if that star is groomed, his family comes out of the shackles of poverty. If
you visit a village, few curious kids hang around you, wanting to have a
conversation, they ask interesting questions, it’s not difficult to spot them.
If we, individually are able to take responsibility of this one star by
providing him for his needs at least till he attains graduation, that would be
a good step forward. A simple math- even if 0.1% of us are able to hand hold
one star child, we would be able to help 1.2 million children take a giant leap
forward.
Imagine what it would mean to
that one individual’s life, his family and his future generation.
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