As the >government fumbles for solutions to the agrarian crisis , a farmer’s suicide in central Delhi has exposed the >dark side of a political class eager to >score brownie points . What has happened in recent weeks is that anger over crop failures must have coalesced with the politics over the land acquisition issue. Most farmers who turned up for the rally may not have had a clue about the land acquisition debate but were probably more distressed about crop losses. Thousands of farmers have taken their lives, all this away from the glare of the media and have remained incognito due to the ostrichlike attitude of the leadership. A poor monsoon this year, as predicted, will only add to farmers’ woes. It is time the Central and State governments, irrespective of party affiliations, worked together to provide relief to farmers.
P. Arihant,
Secunderabad
The danger in making the issue of agrarian distress a political football is that it deflects attention from acute farm distress and its causes. Farm distress is a direct corollary of the neglect of the agricultural sector by successive governments. The rise in the incidence of farmer suicides cannot be seen in isolation from the incumbent government’s half-hearted implementation of entitlement programmes and its cut in agricultural subsidies. The implementation of recommendations in the M.S. Swaminathan Report (National Commission on Farmers) would have certainly averted the agrarian crisis we are now faced with.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
Politicians often, and inexplicably so, appear indifferent to public anger. But even in context, it is surprising that the political class as a whole has failed to gauge the extent of our disgust at their statements and actions that ensued in the wake of Gajendra Singh’s passing. His tragic death reminds me of the film, ‘Peepli Live’. I am shocked and ashamed.
Meghana A.,
NSW, Australia
The blame game has begun; there are comments from top authorities and, not to forget the compensation amount. It’s time our politicians take really concrete steps to improve the lot of farmers. The real compensation would be in the form of effective policies such as a special economic package for the farmer community.
Alka Meher,
Raipur, Chhattisgarh
The farmer cannot obviously be left to fend for himself and the need is for political parties to deliberate constructively on the matter and suggest specific and feasible support measures and strategies. Bringing in a class angle into this difficult issue, accusing the BJP of being anti-poor and anti-farmer, and then agitating for it to be discredited are nationally destabilising and irresponsible.
A.N. Lakshmanan,
Bengaluru
The depiction (“ >Cartoonscape”, April 24 ) spoke volumes about a worsening of social and political values in India. Our politicians talk only about smart cities but never a single word about “smart farming”. It was Gandhiji who said that ‘India lives in her villages’. Today’s politician appears intent on destroying villages and turning farmers to labourers.
Poduri Krishnakumari,
Hyderabad
