Women in Army | Empoerment

On its 66th Republic Day, during a mighty parade in the national capital, India showcased “woman power” with all-women contingents of the three Services for the first time. A day earlier, Wing Commander Pooja Thakur became the first woman to lead a ceremonial tri-service guard of honour, which the visiting U.S. President inspected. But when it comes to the overall status of women in the Indian armed forces, especially in the Army, all this represents a travesty of gender justice. Since being inducted into the Army in 1992 under the Women Special Entry Scheme (they were in even earlier in the Military Nursing Service from 1927 and in the Medical Officers Cadre from 1943), women Army officers are still denied permanent commission on a par with men: they have to be content with the short service commission. On a batch of petitions filed in 2003 by women officers demanding an end to the discriminatory practice, the Delhi High Court in March 2010 granted their just and fair claim for permanent commission — with the singeing words that it was not some “charity being sought… but enforcement of their constitutional rights”. While this prompted the Air Force and the Navy to grant women officers permanent commission, the Army took a different stand, arguing, among other things, that “the bulk of the army’s Junior Commissioned Officers and other ranks hail from rural India, who are not yet ready to accept a woman as their leader in combat situations”. In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court in 2012 while appealing against the High Court order, the Army added: “In theory women in the army may sound good but in practical terms the arrangement has not worked well in the Indian Army and as a concept also our society is not prepared to accept women in combat role.”

As the issue remains in the Supreme Court for more than four years now, the Army needs to get real, and persuade itself to go beyond symbolic and cosmetic steps. It needs to recognise women’s capabilities — as many advanced armed forces across the world have done, even committing them to combat roles — and their right to a full-fledged career in the force, on a par with men. During the 14-year short service commission tenure they now enjoy, women officers in various corps are assigned duties similar to those of men officers without distinction, to all possible field units with men officers. If it is the Army’s claim that beyond that point in permanent commission tenure women could be exposed to hostile environments — it has cited “the unique nature of responsibility and organisational requirement that… the Army Act” necessitates — that truly smacks of gender discrimination. The time has come for the Army to end this iniquitous situation.

source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/going-beyond-symbolism/article6831124.ece

algorithmic trading

In algorithmic trades, the trader feeds a computer programme into the system and allows that program to put in all his trading orders and execute them too. These are very high speed transactions which help in securing a deal on the stock market within no time

There are many different types of algo programmes. Some of these programmes sclice the order into bits and spreads out the orders through the trading session so that the price is not unduly affected by the order.

Also some of these identifies anomalies between the price of an asset in different exchanges or markets and cashes in on these differences

These algos though harmless,can be used for underhand activities as well like bluff trades so that other programmmes reveal their intended trades.

Effects of algo trades on stock markets :
1. Market volatility : increase in thr unhedgable risk and thus a decrease in risk-adjusted returns
Ex: Flash Crash of 2010,USA
Knight capital case,2012
2. Increase in liquidity
3. These trades have an unfair advantage because they put in the trade before other investors become aware of it. Thus adversely affecting other investors .
4. Some of them also bombard the stock exchanges with multiple orders thus swamping the system

On the indian NSE these trades account for about 45% of the equity derivative market. Regulators worldwide are finding means to regulate these trades. However, they are hard to regulate as these trades have grown so big in number that they cannot be banned without causing serious harm to market’s liquidity and price discovery process.

Supreme court of India

Supreme court of India is the "guardian of the Constitution". 
Under, Article 32 it acts as protector of Fundamental Rights of every Indian citizen. Article 131 gives exclusive jurisdiction to solve disputes between states and centre or between states on all matters. Article 137 provides powers to review its own judgements. SC also has advisory jurisdiction under 143 on matter of constitution and law to President of India.

If constitution repeals “Article 132-134” (Appellate jurisdiction), then only above mentioned constitutional load will remain on Supreme Court.

Indian constitution attempts to provide a panacea for the many political, economic and social ills the country had been plagued with. Supreme Court of India in its constitutional field has yet to register 500 cases a year.

So, if Appellate jurisdiction repealed India will not need 26 judges of SC to deal with just 500 cases a year. Size of SC will reduce drastically.

Though, SC is working slow, appellate jurisdiction is vital for public remedies because most cases are registered under Article 226 and not under Article 32 for constitutional remedy.

Pending cases (Backlog) remedies for Courts :

-establish lok-adalats frequently (thrice a year)

-Establish E-Courts for specific jurisdictions (small cases)

-Denounce “pleas for leave” which seems farce and unethical (save courts time)

-Stop bureaucratization of criminal justice system (police reforms)

-Stop inclusion of faulty PILs

Up the endless judicial ladder /M J Antony

The Supreme Court was meant to be a constitutional court by the founding fathers. However, only 7 per cent of its judgments deal with constitutional issues, according to a recent study. Most of the 50,000 and more cases pending in the court are appeals from the high courts or appellate tribunals. They might have trundled from the subordinate courts to the apex court, spending years and bundles of money. Even after the Supreme Court delivers its judgment, there are two more stages to challenge its final word. They are review petitions and 'curative petitions'.

Though the last two kinds of petitions are meant to correct obvious errors that escaped the attention of the judges (like typing mistakes or wrong figures) these are increasingly used as stratagems to reargue decided cases. It would seem that the judges are so careless in writing judgments that they should pass two more tests set by the bar. These two post-decision petitions have begun to choke the court. In an average week, over 30 pages of the list of cases contain review petitions and curative petitions. They are heard in chambers of the judges during lunch time, and mostly crunched within minutes. Hardly any of them succeeds in opening up the cases again. However, lawyers advise clients who still have money left after losing all the way to file review petitions, and as a last resort, curative petitions.

Earlier this month, a number of firms moved the Supreme Court challenging a proviso introduced in 1996 in the Supreme Court Rule that obligated judges who once dismissed the case to re-examine it in open court. The court rejected the demand outright (Sesa Sterlite vs Supreme Court). This was a welcome decision as open court hearing means more adjournments, affidavits, counter affidavits, rejoinders and compilations. That process would have bloated not only the files but also the lawyers. Thus, the review petitions will continue to be massacred in lunch time.

The Supreme Court, in one of its weak moments in 2003, aspired to deliver absolute justice and opened up yet another path to rehear decided cases. It allowed the disappointed litigants to return to it even after losing the review petition. This is by way of a 'curative petition', devised by the court in its judgment, Rupa Hurra vs Ashok Hurra. A curative petition must be accompanied by a recommendation of a "senior" advocate stating that the case requires re-examination as there was violation of the principles of natural justice in the earlier decisions. The curative petition has to be first circulated to a bench of three senior-most judges. They will decide by a majority that the case should be re-examined. Only then will the case be heard by the judges who heard the case originally. Such strict conditions were imposed to prevent a floodgate of curative petitions.

The court has since regretted its decision to set a revolving door to failed litigants. In its judgment inSumer vs State of UP, the court said that "the apprehension of the bench which delivered the Hurra judgment that the remedy provided may not open the floodgates for filing a second review petition has come true as is evident from the filing of large numbers of petitions. It was expected that thecurative petitions will be filed in exceptional and in the rarest of rare cases, but in practice, it has just been opposite."

There is a strong current of opinion among jurists that the Supreme Court should take up only constitutional questions. However, Article 136 of the Constitution allows appeals in the garb of "special leave petitions". The constitution makers would not have imagined that this provision would open the doors to gamblers in justice. Long ago, former Attorney General M C Setalvad told the bench when asked the difference between wager and lottery, "what happens in this court every morning from 10.30 am to about 11.30 am is a lottery." The difference, perhaps, is that you can lose lottery only once. But in the courts, you can try and try again while moving up the judicial ladder.

source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/m-j-antony-up-the-endless-judicial-ladder-115012701340_1.html

state’s limited revenue sources proved as a hindrance to the development

The state’s limited revenue sources proved as a hindrance to the development of effective federalism in the country and this needs to change. Substantiate. 

India is a "Union of states" with federalism as the most basic aspect of country's stable polity. However, resource wise the union government has far greater edge than the states.

1. All major taxes like income tax, wealth tax etc. are with Center.

2. Taxes governed by state are inelastic in nature and insufficient too.

3. States have complained that despite growth, the taxes received by states have not increased proportionately.

4. There is wide inter state disparity and politicization of in allotment of discretionary GRANTS by centre.

5.A rise in centrally sponsored schemes increases the administrative burden without rise in revenue.

6.States have no share in income from sale of spectrum etc.

7. Local government too are eating away state's resources.

For mitigating above grievances

1.Integration of market through GST is must which will have increased investment through FDI and Pvt. sector.

2. Rationalization the formula of tax distribution through transparency in functioning of finance commission and de-politicization of appointment.

3. Introduction of fixed percentage of flexi funds as per needs of state.

4. Centre should emphasize less on centrally sponsored schemes.

Fiscal federalism requires a broad framework of equity and justice. This should be followed through the lens of cooperative federalism to achieve growth and inclusive growth.

The Right of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on February 7, 2013 by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge.  The Bill repeals the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. Definition of disability: Disability is defined to include 19 conditions such as: autism; low vision and blindness; cerebral palsy; deaf blindness; haemophilia; hearing impairment; leprosy; intellectual disability; mental illness; muscular dystrophy; multiple sclerosis; learning disability; speech and language disability; sickle cell disease; thalassemia; chronic neurological conditions; and multiple disability.  Persons with benchmark disabilities are defined as those with at least 40 per cent of any of the above specified disabilities.   Rights of persons with disabilities: The Bill states that persons with disabilities shall have the right to equality and shall not be discriminated against on grounds of their disability.  Rights of disabled persons include protection from inhuman treatment and equal protection and safety in situations of risk, armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters. All existing public buildings shall be made accessible for disabled persons within five years of the regulations being formulated by the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.  No establishment will be granted permission to build any structure, issued a completion certification or allowed to occupy a building, if the building does not adhere to the regulations formulated by the Commission. Education, skill development and employment:  The Bill provides for the access to inclusive education, vocational training and self-employment of disabled persons. All government institutions of higher education and those getting aid from the government are required to reserve at least five percent of seats for persons with benchmark disabilities. The central and state governments have to identify posts in establishments under them to be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities.  At least five percent of the vacancies are to be filled by persons or class of persons with at least 40 percent of any of the disabilities.  Of this, one per cent shall be reserved for persons with (i) blindness and low vision; (ii) hearing and speech impairment; (iii) locomotor disability; (iv) autism, intellectual disability and mental illness; and (v) multiple disabilities.  The Bill provides that the reservation has to be computed on the basis of total number of vacancies in the strength of a cadre.  The government may exempt any establishment from this provision.  Legal Capacity: Disabled persons have the right, equally with others, to own and inherit movable and immovable property, as well as control their financial affairs.  Guardianship: The Bill provides that if a district court finds that a mentally ill person is not capable of taking care of himself or of taking legally binding decisions, it may order guardianship to the person.  The nature of such guardianship is also specified. National and State Commissions for persons with disabilities: The central and state governments are required to establish a National and State Commissions for Persons with Disabilities, respectively.  The Commissions will be composed of experts and be required to (i) identify any laws, policies or programmes that are inconsistent with the Act; (ii) inquire into matters relating to deprivation of rights and safeguards available to disabled persons, (iv) monitor implementation of the Act and utilisation of funds disbursed by governments for the benefit of disabled persons. Central and state advisory boards: The central government and state governments shall constitute Central and State Advisory Boards on Disability.  The boards shall advise governments on policies and programmes on disability and review the activities of organisations dealing with disabled persons.

मिलिए प्लम्बर आबिद सुरती से

आबिद सुरती फिलहाल ७९ बरस के हैं. वही धर्मयुग के कार्टून कोना ढब्बूजी वाले. वही ‘पराग’ में छपी जिनकी किस्तवार किताब ‘बहत्तर साल का बच्चा’ आज भी मेरी सर्वप्रिय पुस्तकों में शुमार है.

बहुत कम लोगों को पता है कि राष्ट्रीय ख्याति का यह अलबेला, अनूठा कलाकार, कार्टूनिस्ट, लेखक पिछले कई सालों से मुम्बई में पानी बचाने की अपनी ख़ास तरह की मुहिम में जुटा हुआ है. उनसे अगर आप उनकी उपलब्धि की बाबत पूछें तो तो वे कहते हैं कि उन्होंने कोई बीसेक लाख लीटर पानी को नालियों में जाने से बचाया है आज तक.

हर इतवार को मुम्बई के सुदूर उपनगर मीरा रोड के इलाके में वे अपने एक मिस्त्री दोस्त के साथ किसी भी घर के टपकते  नल को ठीक करने एक सूचना मिलते ही निकल जाते हैं. उनकी यह सेवा मुफ्त होती है.

इसके बदले उन्हें क्या मिलता है? इस सवाल के जवाब में वे कहते हैं “बहुत सा पानी ... और कभी कभार लंच का प्रस्ताव भी.”

“मैं मुम्बई की फुटपाथों पर बड़ा हुआ था जहां पानी के लिए कई बार भीषण हिंसा तक हो जाया करती थी. सो मुझसे एक भी बूँद पानी का बर्बाद होना बर्दाश्त नहीं होता.”  

इस की शुरुआत की कहानी जानना चाहिए तो वे बताते हैं कि एक दफा एक दोस्त के घर उन्हें निमंत्रण पर जाना हुआ. वहां बाथरूम में टपकते नल ने उन्हें बुरी तरह खीझ से भर दिया. दोस्त से इस बाबत शिकायत की गयी तो उत्तर मिला “करा लूँगा.” पर जैसा हम लोग अक्सर करते हैं दोस्त ने भी किया कुछ नहीं. अगली बार जब आबिद ने तनिक डपटते हुए पूछा तो दोस्त ने बहाना बनाया कि मुम्बई में आसानी स४ए प्लम्बर नहीं मिलते क्योंकि इतने छोटे से काम के लिए आने को कोई भी तैयार नहीं होता. .

आबिद कहते हैं “मैंने पढ़ रखा था कि अगर एक सेकेण्ड में एक बूँद पानी बर्बाद होता है तो महीने भर में कुल मिलाबर वह एक हज़ार लीटर हो जाता है. तो बिसलेरी के पानी की १००० बोतलें मेरे मन में कौंध गईं.” यह बात सन २००७ की है. और उसे इन्तार्नेशंल वाटर ईयर के तौर पर मनाया जा रहा था. उस साल आबिद को उत्तर प्रदेश हिन्दी साहित्य संस्था ने १०००० रूपये का इनाम दिया था जिसका इस्तेमाल उन्हीने अपने नए मिशन के लिए करने की ठान ली.

  

तो हर इतवार को आबिद साहब कुछेक नल ठीक करते हैं और कुल छः सौ रुपये इस काम में खर्च करते हैं. और पैसे जुटाने के लिए वे टीशर्ट्स प्रिंट करते हैं जिन पर पानी बचान के काम में लगे उनके एनजीओ का लोगो छपा होता है. “टीशर्ट छपने में १०० रूपये खर्च होते हैं और मैं लोगों से कहता हूँ कि वे सौ रूपये से अधिक पैसा उसके लिए दें. कोई ११० रूपये देता है तो कोई १०००.

टपकते नल को ठीक करने मेबं एक वाशर लगता है बस. थोक में इसकी कीमत २५ से ५० पैसे तक होती है. इस समाजसेवा में सबसे अधिक खर्च प्लम्बर के आनेजाने में होता है.

हर साल आबिद करीब १६०० घरों में जाया करते हैं. और अनुमानतः ४१४००० लीटर पानी बचाते हैं. और अब तो वे खुद भी यह काम करना सीख गए हैं.

“गंगा और यमुना को बचाने की बातें बहुत बड़ी हैं और उस के आप स्वयं कुछ नहीं कर सकते. हाँ अपने घर में टपकता नल ठीक करा लें तो बड़ी सेवा होगी.”

सुरती के इस फितूर का नाम है ‘ड्रॉप डैड’.

( कबाड़ख़ाना से साभार )

Bapu's Love Letter to Ba

दिनांक- 09/11/1908

कस्तूरबा,

तुम्हारी तबीयत के बारे में श्रीधीर ने आज तार भेजा है, मेरा दिल चूर-चूर हो रहा है. लेकिन तुम्हारी चाकरी करने के लिए आ सकूं, ऐसी हालत नहीं है. सत्याग्रह की लड़ाई में मैंने सबकुछ लगा दिया है. मैं वहां आ ही नहीं सकता. जुर्माना भरूं तभी आ सकता हूं और जुर्माना तो हरगिज नहीं दिया जा सकता.

तुम हिम्मत बांधे रखना. अच्छे से खाना खाओगी तो ठीक हो जाओगी. फिर भी मेरी बदकिस्मती से तुम जाओगी ही. अगर ऐसा होगा तो मैं तुमको इतना ही लिखता हूं कि तुम जुदाई में, पर मेरे जीते जी, चल बसोगी तो मेरी बात न होगी. मेरा प्यार तुम पर इतना है कि मरने पर भी तुम मेरे मन में हमेशा जिंदा रहोगी. यह मैं तुमको पूरे विश्वास से कहता हूं.

अगर तुम्हारा जाना ही हुआ, तो तुम्हारे बाद मैं दूसरी स्त्री नहीं करनेवाला हूं. यह मैंने तुम्हें पहले भी एक-दो बार कहा है. तुम ईश्वर पर यकीन रखकर प्राण छोड़ना. तुम मरोगी तो वह भी सत्याग्रह का एक अंग होगा. मेरी लड़ाई सिर्फ राजनीतिक नहीं है, बल्कि धर्म की लड़ाई है.यानि बहुत ही पवित्र लड़ाई है. इसमें मर भी जाये तो क्या और जीते रहें तो भी क्या? तुम भी ऐसा ही मानकर अपने मन में थोड़ा भी बुरा भाव नहीं लाओगी, ऐसी मुझे उम्मीद है, तुमसे यही कामना है.

गांधी

स्रोतः लव लेटर्स, प्रकाश पंडित.

Focus on higher education to improve states' economy

If individual states want to improve their economic situations, they should concentrate and invest in the higher education sector.

In a report on the annual status of higher educational universities and colleges in India, data analysis shows a very direct link between states that have higher "knowledge direction" and the state of their economies. In other words, states that lay more emphasis on the quality and depth of their higher education are economically better placed than those that do not.

Establishing this direct link will encourage states to come forward to invest in higher education. Or this is what the Centre and the Ministry of Human Resources Development hope.

Rohin Kapoor, senior manager, Deloitte India, who has worked on this report for two years, said: "The strength of correlation between education and economy is startling. States with superior knowledge direction have in general superior economies."

The Centre has allocated almost Rs 99,000 crore under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for improvement in higher education institutes, especially in infrastructure in the 12th and 13th Five- Year Plans. Of this, the Centre is to provide Rs 69,675 crore and states are expected to contribute Rs 28,459 crore.

The states are required to contribute financially to make the scheme a success. But states have so far in the past been reluctant to invest generously in the sector. Unless the states recognise the relevance of investment in education, the state of colleges and universities cannot be improved.

Further, at a macro level, to attract foreign investment in the education sector, the government needs to clear the foreign universities Bill but it also needs to amend and align the way different arms of the government treat foreign direct investment(FDI) in the education sector. Also, different wings of the government prescribe different things. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) says 100 per cent foreign investment is permitted in the education sector. This is one arm of government. Then, the AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) Act says no foreign investment is allowed, directly or indirectly, in setting up a technical institute in the country. So, FDI is out. The University Grants Commission (UGC), a third aspect, simply does not recognise foreign universities, so that rules out foreign investment totally.

Says Deloitte's Kapoor: "The different wings of the government need to echo the same voice. The UGC Act 1956 needs to be amended urgently. At present, it does not recognise foreign universities. It does not define it. So, it clearly cannot regulate it. If you do not recognise something, how can you regulate it?"

As a result, so far, India has only got Rs 4,900 crore of foreign investment in the education sector - not in formal education but in skill development, training schools and so on. The government has to realise that it cannot solve this problem on its own.

The number of institutes that can be set up through philanthropy will always be limited. "You can build a regulatory mechanism that has a strong monitoring and quality control process. There are companies in the US that run very high quality colleges and are firms listed on the stock exchange. This model can be replicated here too. A crystal clear regulatory framework will help eliminate the fly by night operators or those who are in it for a quick buck," explains Kapoor.

At a countrywide level, issues like enrolment and gender disparity have been addressed to some extent over the years. "The new issues are poor quality of teaching and staff. Our focus needs to shift altogether. Some of the softer issues need to be addressed far more seriously," says a former advisor to the Planning Commission. He argues that what is worrisome is that there is no plan for instance to set up teacher training academies to bridge the shortage of teachers. Nor is there any clear attempt to improve the quality of teaching staff. There are no attempts being made to try and raise salaries of teachers and make teaching a career of choice.

The HRD ministry is now trying through the setting up of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in each state. For one, there is such a high demand for seats in these institutes; this will make them more accessible for everyone. Two, this is expected to have a rub off on other educational institutes in the state. They will act as a role model, so to speak, for other colleges in the region to emulate.

But there is already a 40 per cent shortage of teachers at the existing IITs and IIMs. It is possible that retiring faculty from the IITs and IIMs might be asked to mentor staff at the new institutes.

At a micro level, there are several problems across states that need to be fixed. For instance, 40 per cent of enrolments in all colleges are for humanities, social sciences (even higher than engineering and medical); yet, in India, there are hardly any liberal arts colleges or even courses on offer, which would allow students to sample all the liberal arts before choosing what they specialise in.

Then, non-teaching staff in colleges in some states is way too high. So, in states like Delhi (where jobs are typically handed out on sifarish), the average non-teaching staff per college is 171 instead of the national average of 34. States such as Bihar have a very high pupil-teacher ratio of 37 against the all India average of 13.1.

Gender disparity, which is not as sharp as one would expect in enrolments (55 per cent males and 44 per cent females), in teaching staff, however, remains significant. Sixty-one per cent of the teaching staff is male and 39 per cent is female. This drops further when one looks at the non-teaching staff with the percentage of males at 73 per cent.

Anjuli Bhargava  Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/focus-on-higher-education-to-improve-states-economy-115012600814_1.html

Into the Abyss / Jitendra

The lot of the embattled Indian farmer only keeps on getting worse with the passage of time. In the last 10 years, the voluminous debt of Indian agricultural households has increased almost four-fold whereas their undersized monthly income from cultivation has increased three-fold. Even the number of indebted agricultural households has increased in the last 10 years. At the same time, there has been a micro-increment in the number of agricultural households in India.

All this is according to the recent report of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), released on December 19, 2014. The report, titled ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households in India’, is based on a countrywide survey of 35,000 households by NSSO during 2012-2013.

It states that 52 per cent of the total agricultural households in the country are in debt. The average debt is Rs 47,000 per agricultural household in this country, where the yearly income from cultivation per household is Rs 36,972.

The report comes after a gap of 10 years. The last Situation Assessment Survey by the NSSO was for 2002-03. In that year, 48.6 per cent of agricultural households were in debt. The average debt was Rs 12,585. And the yearly income from cultivation per household was Rs 11,628. At the time, India had a little less than 89.35 million agricultural households.

In fact, some think that the report may not even be reflecting the entire truth. “The NSSO survey gives us an idea of the existing situation but not the clear picture. In my opinion, it is not just 52 per cent agricultural households that are in debt but 80 per cent,” says Devinder Sharma, a food analyst. “If you adjust for inflation, on an average 7 per cent every year, farmers’ incomes have remained frozen in the past 10 years,” says Sharma.

The other main takeaway from the NSSO report is that the debt is being incurred by the the richer, more prosperous farmers. NSSO data shows that richer agricultural states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have the highest average outstanding loans per agricultural household, whereas poorer states like Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have the lowest amount of average outstanding loans.

This is substantiated by the data which shows that among agricultural households which possess less than 0.01 ha the share was only 15 per cent of the total outstanding institutional loan, whereas for households which possess more than 10 ha the share was about 79 per cent.

Reasons behind the rise

The question then is: why have farmers’ debts increased? Ashok Gulati, former chairperson of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), thinks outstanding loans to farmers are natural because of increasing intensification in agriculture. “As the intensification of agriculture increases, so does the loan.

The loan would be in the form of working capital, else the fixed capital will increase,” says Gulati.

Others believe that this report is like the one in 2002-2003 and brings out the same systemic problems. They add that India has not learnt anything in the past one decade. One such issue is investment in the sector. Even as agriculture has intensified, investment in it is very less. Even the yearly agriculture budget is not more than that of the flagship employment guarantee programme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

“The current year’s budget of agriculture was nearly Rs 31,000 crore while the MGNREGA budget was nearly Rs 34,000 crore. If we see the seven-year budget, the ministry budget was never more than MGNREGA,” says Sharma.

According to A note on Trends in Public Investment in India by S Mahendra Dev, Director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, the share of private investment in total investment in agriculture increased significantly over time from about 50 per cent in the early 1980s to 80 per cent in the decade of the 2000s. In other words, the share of public investment declined from 50 per cent to 20 per cent during the same period.

The public sector investment showed a negative growth in the 1980s and 1990s and a growth of 15 per cent in the 2000s. On the other hand, growth rate of private investment increased gradually from 2.5 per cent in the 1980s to 4.1 per cent in the 1990s and 52 per cent in the 2000s.

Another reason debt has increased is that market price of agricultural produce is not commensurate with rising input cost. Dev says that two-thirds of farmers do not get minimum support price (MSP) for their crops and are compelled to sell their crops at lower rates in the open market.

“Seventy-five per cent of farmers in India sell in the open market at lower than fixed MSP. Only the farmers of Punjab and Haryana get MSP. The situation of other states is deplorable,” says Dev. “For instance, in 2009, when I was the chairperson of CACP, in states like Bihar, farmers used to get Rs 700- Rs 800 for paddy when the MSP was fixed at Rs 1,000.”

The reason for farmers not being able to get MSP, according to the NSSO data, is that large numbers of them are not even aware of it. As per the data, only 32 per cent of paddy farmers are aware of MSP. But even then, less than half are able to sell their produce in government procurement centres.

“In collusion with local traders and commission agents, government agencies delay in starting procurement centres by 30 to 50 days. In between, farmers sell their produce to traders at lower than minimum price,” says Yudhveer Singh, a farmers’ leader.

Gopal Naik, who teaches agro-economy at IIM Bangalore, feels that total collapse of agriculture extension centres could also be the reason behind the outstanding loans and poor conditions of farmers. “The agriculture extension centres have collapsed. At one time, they were helping and guiding farmers in a number of situations like making the best use of pesticide, fertiliser consumption and modern tech, and making them aware of MSP and the nearest procurement centres,” he says. “Now farmers depend on dealers and sellers of pesticide for all that, which results in losses and non-profitability,” he adds.

Skewed debt

Naik believes the loan-waiving culture of the government also fuels continuation of outstanding loans. “Government policies are uncertain and increase the tendency of not repaying loans. It can also be a reason of increasing outstanding loans.encourage non-repayment of loans. The big land holders have high outstanding loans because they can easily access credit from institutions. They can access loan for other activities like setting poultry and other farms and wait till the government waives their loans,” says Naik.

The data shows that about 60 per cent of the outstanding loans were taken from institutional sources which included government (2.1 per cent), cooperative societies (14.8 per cent) and banks (42.9 per cent). But while the big farmers can afford to take loans, the small farmers still have no access to them.

“Credit from institutional sources is still a dream for small and marginal farmers,” says Jasveer Singh, a Bengaluru-based senior researcher who works on agricultural labourers’ issues. Anshuman Das, an activist who works with small farmers in Jharkhand, thinks that while they do not get institutional loans, they help in maintaining food security of the country.

“The small farmers practise farming which is different from that of big land holders. They try to keep investment low and innovate. For this, they do not access institutions for loans but are still dependent on non-institutional money lenders,” says Das.

The increasing debt and its skewed nature are surely driving many farmers away from agriculture. Agricultural house-holds are moving away to livestock, other agricultural activities, non-agricultural enterprises and wage employment. Data shows that 37 per cent of agricultural households no longer have agriculture as their principal source of income.

The contribution of agriculture in India’s GDP is nearly 18 per cent and it provides employment to nearly 56 per cent of the total workforce of the country. Despite this, as the NSSO report shows, the sector is no longer the first preference of rural households in India. It is heading towards a huge debt crisis and will need serious policy intervention instead of an ad-hoc approach.

source: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/abyss