Food Security Ordinance , the weapon of mass destruction against Indian Agriculture ..

'70% of Indian people to receive subsidized food grains ' . I woke up to this news and was so shocked at the brazenness of congress party . My first concern is the Indian farmer because along with the tax payer the burden of this mutilating ordinance would be shared by the farmers of this country .

The farmers of this country has always suffered under the socialist congress party . The congress party would stifle markets and impose such tight regime on the movement of grains that farmers rarely got their due . As a result the congress party has devised even more innovative political instrument called minimum support price . You first kill the market and then play a savior by acquiring from the farmer at a MSP which in itself is a pathetic figure . The farmers will be grateful to you irrespective of the days and nights he has to wait in front of the procurement centers for your generosity , because he has no other way of realizing the value of his hard work except through your generosity .

Lack of competitive marketing of agricultural produce is the single biggest reason why farmers get such a dismal percentage of what the end consumer pays . The government has refused to allow free trade in agricultural produce by terrorizing the citizens of the possible inflation and hoarding by private traders . The result is a license raj in agricultural marketing where a license will be given to a Mill or trader if he pays to the government in grain and coin . In many states the mills and traders will have to provide to the government the food grains at a price decided by the goverment which is well below the market price . In such a situation who shares the burden of government plans to provide low cost food grains , the farmer . Because the millers will have to sell them cheap and it mean millers will have to buy from the farmer at a low price . Because of this the government acquires hugely at a very low price and consequently other traders pay the farmer the same price because the price has been imposed on the farmers by the government as no market is allowed to develop . As a result the agricultural economics has become unsustainable and there is acute agricultural distress in the country .

The farmers cannot fight back under this circumstances because they are disorganized and they do not have sympathies of the even so called right wing parties .Even the right wing parties and some experts on agriculture cannot think beyond more government role to alleviate agricultural distress by 'increasing MSP' .They dont talk of free trade they never had the gumption to do it . The Food security ordinance is all set to destroy what ever little market build up we had for agriculture . Now the farmers will be made to beg on their knees standing infront of the government . They will have to beg for an increase in the MSP every year as the input costs increase . First they will have to beg the government to acquire their produce , then they will have to beg for government to give them reasonable MSP and then they will have to beg the government to credit that MSP into their accounts . That is what the Indian farmer would be reduced to under the regime of food security ordinance ,, a beggar .

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My Letter to Tehelka's Editor Shoma Chaudhury

Hi Shoma ,

I have been reading Tehelka for a while now and admire your conviction for the people's causes . Since you have stated that you are ideologically left of centre i can understand your efforts to understand the maoist cause . But the problem with your approach is you criticize everybody at your sight and offer no alternate feasible solutions to the problem . This mail is to question your attitude to the problem you have written about recently .

"As long as the State sends brute force into its neglected heartland to reclaim its ‘writ’, Maoists will have an alibi " .

After i read the above lofty statement i felt that you have come up with a solution to deal with maoists . Far from that you criticized every body at your sight and proposed no feasible solution . You damned the state for sending their forces to reclaim the state's writ , you reluctantly criticized the violence inflicted on this country by maoists . 

There are 2 main assertions you made in your piece that are untrue . One is that this country's polity does not yield to democratic peaceful movements and the other is that the state could not solve the problem by deploying it's forces to the naxal ridden areas .

This country's polity yields to democratic movements . It is true that this country's politics has severe handicaps but it would be a blatant lie if somebody says democratic peaceful protests are ineffective . what was singur and nandigram agitation ? It eventually turned out violent but it was basically a mass movement specifically focussed on one issue . Why are the politicians scrambling to bring about the land acquisition bill ? Why are politicians scrambling to bring in lokpal even though it might not be in the form and shape proposed Anna hazare ? And there are numerous other occassions when people organized themselves peacefully against the government and have achieved spectacular results . By accusing Indian state of  pitting poor against poor Tehelka has subtlely supported the maoist cause . 

The Indian state has evolved from utter poverty , illiteracy and a feudal society . It is true that the we have failed on several fronts but look all around India and you will learn for yourself how difficult it is to build a state . The naxalites would have achieved far more success had they organized democratic movements around their causes but the problem of tribals is not their problem the problem is this very democracy and this very political system . They want to smash that and replace that with proletarian dictatorship . And the ruthlessness they are exhibiting to achieve that goal should have shocked you had you been motivated by ideology an iota less than what you are now . The government has repeatedly tried to bring development to those areas through various schemes but the maoist has thwarted that fearing that government will win back the tribals . They feared that their larger communist goal will suffer . All across the world wars happened , freedom , equality , justice and liberty could be given to their people by the leaders only if they were able to eschew violence . Those people who wouldn't want to fight for their freedom or their beliefs were condemned . The Indian state is fighting to defend it's constitution it's value system . And we are supremely confident that the Indian state will regain it's writ in those areas where naxals command and shall ensure that every citizen will get his justice .

A lot of jounalists in this country have started believing that damning India's politicians and Indian state is an ultimate gesture of patriotism . Learn to appreciate the state's will to protect your freedoms , there are democratic and really effective ways to counter the flaws of our country . No reason can justify an armed uprising against our democratic country . Absolutely no reason .

Jai Hind ....

Long live the Democratic India ...

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My opinion on the proposed NCTC bill ...

For long we did not know who should be blamed for the failure of preventing terrorist acts on our soil . We wondered if the central government which controls the intelligence mechanisms or the state government which is supposed to act on that intelligence should be held responsible . The intelligence bureau blamed it on state police for failing to act on their intelligence and the state police always complained of inadequate intelligence . We watched at this post-terror sparring with helplessness . We screamed and howled and cursed but nothing changed about our anti-terror preparedness.

It is to the credit of Mr Chidambaram that a proposal to a create single responsible agency is being deliberated upon . It is highly irresponsible to think that the home minister of the country is creating such an organization to undermine the states powers or to undermine the federal structure of this country . Despite the allegations of corruption Mr Chidambaram faces it should be noted that he worked tirelessly to improve the national security of India . He is a man who wants to create real toothful institutions . And the NCTC bill is a result of such intentions .

NCTC will be whole and sole organization that will be acting on terror intelligence . This whole business of coordinating with state police and state intelligence organizations is not working .we need one organization to collect intelligence on terror and to act on it and that is what NCTC is going to do . NCTC is going to be carved out of IB and it will work under IB and one can safely assume that NCTC is a special anti-terror focussed cell of IB with powers to collect intelligence act on that without depending on state police and preempt terror in this country . Such a powerful organization is the need of the hour . The whole argument of undermining federalism debate is continental nonsense . we are not going to undermine federalism or state powers by having a powerful central organization to preempt terror .There is no doubt that the central government may misuse such powers but the possibility of misuse of powers is not an argument strong enough to push back a powerful anti-terror body .

Is there any institution in this country that is not being misused by the government of the day . Aren't the CBI & CVC being misused . Aren't the courts being influenced by the government . Every insititution can be misused by the men in power and this misused happens not just in India but everywhere in the world and the possibility of misuse is not the reason why we should oppose an institution that is supposed to fight terror with single-mindedness .

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