"Arre ruk ja re bande, arre tham ja re bande,
yeh kismat hans padegi ho!"
These words are on a repeat in my mind since the mind numbing news of the death of Gajendra Singh, the farmer who committed suicide in the Aam Aadmi Party rally was seen on television, sitting in my AC room. I so wish someone could have told him those words.
The Reason for Suicide
Taking a myopic view of the damage caused due to the crops because of the unseasonable rains could be the prime reason for the suicide. But this view is fraught with a lot of doubts, since the family of Gajendra has asserted that though there was sadness due to it, it couldn't have been a reason for the suicide. Was it, as some politicians have said, an instigated suicide, where due to emphatic assertions in the rally, Gajendra could not see his future not being what he would have desired, and thus committed suicide?
One thing is for sure, that the farmer of today is not happy. Let us increase the scope of the reasons.
A recent report states that farmers do not want their next generation to be farmers and that majority of them are not happy being farmers. If so is the reason, then we have a very long term problem at hand, that where the economy is not ready to accommodate the number of people that it can employ to give 'a decent standard of living'. It was with this view that the MNREGA scheme for employment was started. Gajendra had, ignoring the long delays of payments involved in the scheme, an alternative mechanism to earn for his family. Can it also be said, given the last decade where agriculture related official number of suicides have come down, though it could be a case of under-reporting but not questioning the numbers here, that the suicide was not related to absolute poverty at all, but that related to relative poverty?
Relative poverty, in simple terms is when the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and poverty defined here is not just in the economic sense, but social and political sense as well. Since the 1990s, the relative distance between the rich and the poor is on an increase and this could be seen as a situation by the farmers of haplessness, thus taking such extreme step?
Or, this could just be a bizarre incident, where Gajendra, either lost control of his senses to take a right decision at the spur of the moment?
Solution
It cannot be ascertained as to what the reason was. What can, though be ascertained is that the economy is full of distress. And for that structural long term solutions are urgently needed.
There is a glut of labour, which is not finding employment and hence has to join agriculture.
Structural changes are required in the economy to shift it from agriculture to more productive alternatives of manufacturing.
Agricultural productivity also, using the newer scientific techniques of production shall be increased. If we are able to match the rice productivity of China, we would be able to double our production!
Mental health centers should also be made to open in rural areas and should be administered well. A recent report shows our nation's total negligence on this front.
The youth should be skilled, not just educated so that they are able to find meaningful employment.
In the short term, the government can implement populist measures of increasing the wage rate in MGNREGA scheme and increasing the number of days of employment, though through Aadhar card based direct debit transfer, stop politicians to make inflammatory speeches and start a communication campaign for psychological counselling for the poor.
Conclusion
"Natha marega! Natha nahi marega!" was how Peepli Live made a mockery of the political class being so insensitive to the problems of the agricultural poor. The media was potrayed to make a tamasha in the movie, and so it did in Gajendra's case. What is required is to work on the structural problems of the Indian rural economy. Else, as the song, from Peepli Live concluded, " samay ki lal aandhi, kabristaan ke raste, arre latpat chalegi ho!", would come alive in the near future again!
yeh kismat hans padegi ho!"
These words are on a repeat in my mind since the mind numbing news of the death of Gajendra Singh, the farmer who committed suicide in the Aam Aadmi Party rally was seen on television, sitting in my AC room. I so wish someone could have told him those words.
The Reason for Suicide
Taking a myopic view of the damage caused due to the crops because of the unseasonable rains could be the prime reason for the suicide. But this view is fraught with a lot of doubts, since the family of Gajendra has asserted that though there was sadness due to it, it couldn't have been a reason for the suicide. Was it, as some politicians have said, an instigated suicide, where due to emphatic assertions in the rally, Gajendra could not see his future not being what he would have desired, and thus committed suicide?
One thing is for sure, that the farmer of today is not happy. Let us increase the scope of the reasons.
A recent report states that farmers do not want their next generation to be farmers and that majority of them are not happy being farmers. If so is the reason, then we have a very long term problem at hand, that where the economy is not ready to accommodate the number of people that it can employ to give 'a decent standard of living'. It was with this view that the MNREGA scheme for employment was started. Gajendra had, ignoring the long delays of payments involved in the scheme, an alternative mechanism to earn for his family. Can it also be said, given the last decade where agriculture related official number of suicides have come down, though it could be a case of under-reporting but not questioning the numbers here, that the suicide was not related to absolute poverty at all, but that related to relative poverty?
Relative poverty, in simple terms is when the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and poverty defined here is not just in the economic sense, but social and political sense as well. Since the 1990s, the relative distance between the rich and the poor is on an increase and this could be seen as a situation by the farmers of haplessness, thus taking such extreme step?
Or, this could just be a bizarre incident, where Gajendra, either lost control of his senses to take a right decision at the spur of the moment?
Solution
It cannot be ascertained as to what the reason was. What can, though be ascertained is that the economy is full of distress. And for that structural long term solutions are urgently needed.
There is a glut of labour, which is not finding employment and hence has to join agriculture.
Structural changes are required in the economy to shift it from agriculture to more productive alternatives of manufacturing.
Agricultural productivity also, using the newer scientific techniques of production shall be increased. If we are able to match the rice productivity of China, we would be able to double our production!
Mental health centers should also be made to open in rural areas and should be administered well. A recent report shows our nation's total negligence on this front.
The youth should be skilled, not just educated so that they are able to find meaningful employment.
In the short term, the government can implement populist measures of increasing the wage rate in MGNREGA scheme and increasing the number of days of employment, though through Aadhar card based direct debit transfer, stop politicians to make inflammatory speeches and start a communication campaign for psychological counselling for the poor.
Conclusion
"Natha marega! Natha nahi marega!" was how Peepli Live made a mockery of the political class being so insensitive to the problems of the agricultural poor. The media was potrayed to make a tamasha in the movie, and so it did in Gajendra's case. What is required is to work on the structural problems of the Indian rural economy. Else, as the song, from Peepli Live concluded, " samay ki lal aandhi, kabristaan ke raste, arre latpat chalegi ho!", would come alive in the near future again!
