Paid cultivation
The aging farmers are reluctant to take up paddy cultivation, thanks negative factors – absence of remunerative prices, high cost of labour, etc. During an interaction with the family of the farmer Ganapa Salian of Kenjar recently for a report, he said he was keen to take up cultivation this year, but could not undertake sowing because of erratic rainfall. Will he cultivate next year? He was not sure. He said age was catching up with him and cultivation of paddy would no longer be viable for him. This brings to mind what another Kenjar farmer had said on an earlier occasion: “paddy cultivation is not at all worth it any more.” According to him, the Government will have to, in future, give yearly grants to make farmers opt for the crop. One could wonder if we heading towards paid cultivation?
The other side!
Reporters attending press conferences of Karnataka State Human Rights Commission S.R. Nayak, usually have a lot to tell readers as Mr. Nayak is known to pull up the State government and officials over human rights violations.
But on Friday, surprises were in store. “I have come here to meet officials here, which was pending for a long time. I can only meet them now in this official capacity as I will retire in the next few days. I came to review some of the works and also thank them. I do not have much to say,” he said as he began his briefing.
He had an hour-long chat with reporters. Though he expressed the need for governmental patronage to the panel, Mr. Nayak said, “I did talk aloud about lack of infrastructure and you all gave good publicity. This helped in getting required assistance from the Government.”
‘Food’ for thought
Long speeches are never appreciated; especially when the speaker promises initially to keep it short and the eager audience is waiting for lunch. At a recent function held to felicitate former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda at Puttur, the delay in the start of the programme meant that the speeches from the numerous speakers delayed the grand feast promised to the audience. One speaker after the other rambled on and heaped praise on the former CM. The crowd grew restless. Finally, it was Mr. Gowda’s turn. His quip about his speech coming between the crowd and their lunch was well appreciated, and he assured of a short speech. However, the speech did eventually end only around 45 minutes later.
Before the master of ceremony could introduce the next speaker – MLA Mallika Prasad – a majority of the crowd had walked off. While, this act of spontaneous abandonment amused those on the stage, for Ms. Prasad, it was a losing battle to grab the attention of the crowd.
