February 04 2018
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All those who propagate the idea of formalization, urbanization and industrialization also scream that agriculture is overburdened with nearly 60-70% of the population depending on it for survival.
Added to this, again according to them, is the ever fragmenting small land holdings that force this occupation to even greater heights of inefficiency.
According to them it contributes a mere 15% of the current GDP.
Conclusion is, move this vast humanity away from agriculture to alternative employment.
Sounds good.
Wonder what if those same bright chaps, under an opposite situation (say, like the one created by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge) are asked to change profession and go to a village and do farming. Say a bare minimum farming expectation from that order, just enough to eat and survive themselves along with their own family?!
Consider not capability. Would they even be willing to think of this as an alternative? To such a query, ‘they’ may vehemently say they need not ever have such a situation arising in their this life. They may even contemplate flying away to distant shores with their family and purchase new nationalities.
Regretfully, most Indians do not have such a choice.
The moment these ‘unproductive, low GDP generating and fragmented land owning impoverished agriculturist families stop doing what they are doing, India could certainly go into a nosedive of acute food shortages. With expensive-by-the-day oil imports, it is scary to imagine what would be the condition of the Indian economy if we were forced to import foodstuff (along with oil) to feed even half our population.
Wonder where will these brilliant pro-change jokers go to wine and dine! Don’t forget, there might be hunger driven mobs waiting round the corner to bash those fancy cars to smithereens in front of some popular fine dining food joints! And we should believe such a situation is definitely not an impossibility in India, for all one has to do is look a little beyond and observe the conditions prevailing in many countries across Africa, not just sub-Sahara.
Another question that comes to mind is what methods are the government of India using to measure the GDP output of India’s farm sector. There are families, maybe millions, that simply grow enough food for themselves but do not sell anything in the mandi. Many of us personally know of a few such families which do that even now. And for other expenses they have a small snacks & tea stall operated by the wife or a son or two hawk newspapers every morning or operate a taxi or are busy in some such ‘informal’ occupation. How are these people measured in our oh-so-brilliant statistical system is a serious query. As far as can be noticed, these families, certainly there must be few millions in this vast nation, do not have any (or at best very little) socially formal economic interface by which they are recorded in full. Not a single government benefit scheme ever reaches them. They scrape through a bare minimum existence but are usually categorised as APL (Above Poverty Line). Thus proving that even this APL-BPL definition is skewed as far as true-to-life poverty is concerned. The advocates of Aadhaar have no clue of ground realities such as this part of the population.
We talk of implementing large schemes and are supposedly pushing in great amount of funds. Look at the results. Take for example the Government’s Skill Development initiative (PMKVY) which has now been decentralised and the funding is being redirected through the state skill development missions. The training service providers across India have not been paid for the PMKVY since August/Sept 2017. Except the large ones, most smaller training companies are struggling to survive. The state missions are lacking in vision and are concentrating mainly on plumbing, masonry and other low-yield sectors. Hospitality sector hasn’t really got much of a boost. On the other hand, the RPL scheme, which was primarily upgradation of existing skills, has itself not been upgraded to a large extent. Although a policy overhaul in the training mechanism is the key, that has not yet occupied enough mind space of our planners because that is not found vital in achieving the main goal. The evil of Aadhaar can be viewed here. It is a tool to be used by those same people clamouring for formalisation and all. These could be the targeted families who will be ‘moved’ to urban milieus and compelled to ‘readjust’ to the demands of the New Social Order. The efforts are to get this vast humanity to become the slaves for strengthening the New Social Order.
A few Masters. Bulk of the population Slaves.
Lower food production is the goal. The dream could be to control food supply, which alone can hold this ocean of human beings on a leash. Add to that the surveillance capabilities of Aadhaar which would be utilised to tighten the choke collar in instances of straying or disenchantment. Freedom will be for the select few rich Masters alone.
