Government dispenses

The Central Government has a dog in the manger policy for some States, while it has chewing the cud procedures for some other States. The Union of India which is a union of States, receive different types of accommodation depending upon the Political situation prevailing at the time of sharing of the largesse. For some, the Union government is philanthropical but for some others it is a miser like Scoorge in Charles Dickens play. But vivid discrimination notwithstanding, some States are more equal than others. The thundering Chief Ministers get things done for their states by resorting to Political blackmail. West Bengal’s roar will make Parliament Road comes to a halt. Top Congress party bosses feel mellowed in the company of the simple lady of West Bengal. If she dares, government sheepishly accommodates her in spite of vehement protest by the man in blue turban- Montek Singh Aluwaliah. Government never seeks Planning Commission’s suggestions to the demand of Lady who sits in Writers Building, whether there is money in the treasury or not. She is a Lion in front of the timid Ruling party. The ex boss of Tamilnadu when he tries to get up from his wheel chair, the whole Government runs to him. When the ruling party hears that the ex boss of TN is coming to Delhi, the prime minister faints. His daughter Kanimozhi threatened the government with serious consequences if India did not vote against Sri Lanka in the US submitted resolution asking for prosecuting the human rights violators during the army’s war against Sri Lanka Tamils. The Government meekly responded by saying that India will vote against Sri Lanka resolution. Our Foreign Policy, as laid down by the architect of India Pdt Jawaharlal Nehru has been the policy of non-alignment. Madam Jayalalitha turned 180 degrees when she agreed to the suggestion that the nuclear plant at Kondamkulam in Tamil Nadu had significant safeguards and the state needed badly power to run the industries. The same CM refused the sane assurance of Bharat Ratna Abdul Kalam regarding the safety of the plant and commented that she was not satisfied with the assurance. At any hour, Congress government will help and assist Omar Abdullah, time and again. . In Andhra, solution to bifurigation of the state to Andhra and Telegana has taken the state to stupor. There are states ruled by BJP, which gets support sometimes, brick bats some other times. But the opposition namely the Congress in the BJP ruled state. Depending upon the stature of their leader, will get support from the Centre. Maharashtra, with Mumbai which is the commercial capital, the government will erase every full stop to please the State. Shard Pawar, the powerful man from there, fretted and fumed when Government applied break to Cotton exports, after it had crossed the export target. It took just a day for the DGFT to over-turn its order. Similar problem exist in sugar export. Gujarat, the birth place of Gandhi, with its BJP connection is another state, which may get central support like the monsoon rains- unpredictable! But the Gujarati businessman knows how to pull the wires in the Central secretariat, and get his demand fulfilled. Even North East region, gets 10% of every budgeted plan, so that they get automatically what is desired. Kerala is a state on the southern end of India. There are Congress leaders who will tell you that they would build a spring in a desert with Centre’s help. Some of the most powerful portfolios are held by the Kerala based leaders. Yet nothing will happen. Railway budget will come and go; the state may get one train or most of the time an empty promise that some survey will be done. It is a consumption state with negligible central investment. It depends upon everything including construction, hotel, causual, labourers from the rest of the States while, many Keralities have gone abroad in search of jobs. The nursing profession is Kerala’s brand. If Schemes are granted, the officials here do not have the expertise to implement them. There are engineering and medical colleges, at street corners but those who complete their courses have one foot outside India. The Central Government will promise the moon, and show moon’s reflection. Our state is satisfied. This state is backward, outlays are poor, and Schemes are rare. Highly literate and highly talented state has brain drain, because to draw a picture, you need a wall. There are no walls here.

India's Agricultural Policy

Even after 62 years of independence, we have not built and strengthened the institutions that are required to ensure that the fruits of democracy are enjoyed by our denizens. We are still in the planning and building phase. This requires capable people with scruples and the moral authority to guide these institutions into a beacon of hope for the masses. We need the right people in the right places during this building phase. But unfortunately we have all wrong people at the helm of affairs!
Look at our Planning. Even after 50 years of Planning, we have never achieved anything credible or worthwhile. We have deficit food production; we import edible oil, Crude oil, petroleum products, sugar, cement, steel, Ferrous and non ferrous metals, Capital goods, fertilizers & chemicals, machineries, Organic and inorganic metals, etc. The imports in 2006-7 were Rs 8, 40.506 Crores ($ 1, 85,749.2million) while Between April-Dec 2008 it was Rs 10, 53, 055Cr ($ 2, 35,420.7 million).
The average agricultural growth during the time when India’s GDP touched 9% was 4.9%. In 2008-9, it declined to 1.6%. Agricultural production in terms of percentage decrese over 2007-8 Food grain production was 0.4% and vis-à-vis target for 2008-9 was (-) 1.4%.
We seem pleased that our GDP was 9+ for three consecutive years between 2005-8. In 2008-9, it just scrapped through with 6.2%, and our Economists and planners had various explanations as to why it dipped the way it did. They blamed the draught, inflation, world recession, unseasonal rains, Our Exports came drastically down, for our attempt to reach US $ 200 billion was not achieved, but we had to satisfy with $ 168 billion. But we were perceived to be an emerging economic power horse along with Brazil, Russia and China.
Our Five Years plans which has in great theory propounded extensive positive growth levels for which Crores of Rupees are being spent, never achieve accuracy in terms of performance and achievement. The scant respect, we give to agriculture is almost evident from the fact that in a twinkle we go for Import, because of the presence of large hidden money and brokerage involved for those who are custodians of Agriculture Ministry. We seem to forget the basic tenants of the Malthusian theory of Population! Instead of making the farmer self reliant, we write off loans to the extent of Rs 70,000 Cr which result in the party writing off the loan to come back to power. Our targeted growth for agriculture is 4%, and we foresee the growth at a grand some 6% while we achieve 1.6%. Our GDP for Agriculture & allied products was Rs. 5, 57,122 Cr [in 1999-2000 prices] as against Gross Domestic Formation in Agriculture & Allied Sector was Rs 79,328 Cr in 2007-8 wherein the Public sector accounted for 8.2% of the total GCF percentage while Private Sector picked up 6.6% making a total of 7% being the share of Agriculture and allied sectors in total GCF percentage. Our yields are low, productivity dismal, stumpy quality, shrinking yields and diminished performance per hectare. In all the earth yielding crops, Law of Diminishing Returns occurs. The Minimum Support Price which when announced by the Government is most unscientific, due to faulty costing, so much so, that no segment gets the right price, while middle man squeezes the farmer, and the fall out imports devastate indigenous industry. The recent announcement of minimum support prices for various kharif crops has once again called into question certain aspects of the official apathy to agricultural pricing. True to pattern, it has come in late. It is prudent policy that cultivation of specific crops that are in short supply so that the farmers could chose the crops to sow well before the onset of the monsoon season. The twin objective of increasing domestic supply of pulses and making them affordable to the consumers may not be achieved. As with practically all agriculture products, the supply chain linking the farmer to the consumer should be fine-tuned. Crores of Rupees are spent in the R&D institutions. And their achievements are almost empty.
Except for some worthwhile attempts by Dr M S Swaminathan which has seen a semblance of result, our performance to subject the agriculture to modern scientific method of farming to increase yield, extend the area of cultivation has yieldes positive results. We had carry over buffer stocks last year, yet our granneries are impoverished and the Agriculture Ministry wants more import to balance our requirement. Our PDS has broken down due to heavy political inerfearance. Let us take oil seeds cultivation. We produce 237 lakh tonnes, yet edible oil out of oil seeds production fetches around 140 lakh tonnes, against an interim demand of 270 lakh tonnes. We export 130 tonnes, nearly 47%. .
India is a vast country and inhabitants of several of its regions have developed specific preference for certain oils largely depending upon the oils available in the region. For example, people in the South and West prefer groundnut oil while those in the East and North use mustard/rapeseed oil. Likewise several pockets in the South have a preference for coconut and sesame oil. Inhabitants of northern plain are basically hard fat consumers and therefore, prefer Vanaspati, a term used to denote a partially hydrogenated edible oil mixture. Vanaspati has an important role in our edible oil economy. Its production is about 1.2 million tonnes annually. It has around 10% share of the edible oil market. It has the ability to absorb a heterogeneous variety of oils, which do not generally find direct marketing opportunities because of consumers’ preference for traditional oils such as groundnut oil, mustard oil, sesame oil etc. For example, newer oils like soybean, sunflower, rice bran and cottonseed and oils from oilseeds of tree and forest origin had found their way to the edible pool largely through vanaspati route. Of late, things have changed. Through technological means such as refining, bleaching and de-odouraisation, all oils have been rendered practically colourless, odourless and tasteless and, therefore, have become easily interchangeable in the kitchen. Newer oils which were not known before have entered the kitchen, like those of cottonseed, sunflower, palm oil or its liquid fraction (palmolein), soyabean and ricebran. The share of raw oil, refined oil and vanaspati in the total edible oil market is estimated at 35%, 55% and 10% respectively.
We always hold inadequate rainfall as the villain of the piece for our dastard performance in the Agricultural front. Not that India has deficient rainfall. The average annual precipitation of 120 cm is adequate. Even then seven per cent of India’s children under five are malnourished and 52 per cent of the women are anemic. India ranks 66 out of 88 countries on the world’s hunger index. The problem is that we seldom try to address the anomalous distribution of rainfall. We seem blissfully unaware that the distribution pattern is reflected in the number of rainy days, not total rainfall.
Against the backdrop of the perilous food situation which makes for grim reading, we are yet to plan innovations to sustain higher production, quality yield. If we turn to the quantitative symbols or indices, the very first indicator is per capita availability, which in all probability is lower than 162.5 kg a year (estimated in 2006). It was 171.1 kg in 1972. The irony, by way of example, is Coconut is priced Rs 2 at the hands of the farmer while an egg costs Rs Three flashes Malayalam papers. And the Government sits on the Mount doing nothing, effectively nothing.
The relationship between production and per capita availability of food between 1950-51 and 2002-03 show that we messed up the things. Although per capita availability of cereals per day was on par with ‘the required levels’ that of pulses was ‘lower than the average daily requirement of 67.95 grams per head’. The suggestion of experts for ‘certain measures to solve the imbalances in the production of food grains’ alongside an increase in per capita food availability were never heeded and ignored.

The public sector banking system in India should come out of its self-celebratory mode and concentrate on making agriculture sector economically inclusive and self supporting through high intervention and not through lackadaisical feeble attempts in paper.
WPI inflation is about 1.5% while CPI inflation remains in double digits. RBI has revised its estimate of WPI According to government sources, Current bout of inflation is driven by food prices, and monetary policy is not particularly effective in containing inflation driven by supply shortages. However, there is always the chance that food inflation could breed broader inflationary expectations and have a second-round impact on other, core items.
Since monetary policy acts with a lag, a case could be made out for acting ahead of the curve and raising rates in this policy review.
Food prices could ease. The monsoon has been favourable so far and there is adequate moisture in the soil, so the Kharif crop output should be favourable. This would lead to softening of food prices. But what needs to be planned is a well documented and well planned Agricultural Policy which would yield dividends, both in the short to medium term to long term. Not incredible methods like scrapping and writing off the loans already advanced. But an effective method by which funds are available to improve the yield, productivity, and providing of decent price for agricultural produce is the need of the hour. The Minimum Selling price should be market driven, and in some laggard sectors should be fixed and slowly dismantled instead of removing it in one go like the sugar cane pricing which has met strong resistance from the farmers. People with knowledge of Agriculture, agricultural scientists, and agricultural workers should be inducted into Agricultural Ministry. Our R& D Institutions in Agriculture, which has Crores of Rupees of outlay, must be made accountable, if they cannot prescribe Common sense prepositions for growth of Agriculture and its products in a definite time-frame. The Member in the Planning Commission dealing with Agriculture should have atleast an elementary knowledge of Agriculture. People with semblance of knowledge in Planning can give clear-cut direction instead of distorting the Direction, as is vogue today.