By the Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

For years farmers have been at the receiving end of neglect and empty promises. And now when their patience was over they got the bullet for their cause, yes their protest took a violent turn but things should not have come to this in the first place.

Breadwinners of this country are on streets, demanding what both BJP and Congress has promised them over and over again. Everyone is promising to forgo their debt but trust me, it’s not the solution. We lack solid agriculture support system at the ground, we have lot of schemes, good schemes but no proper implementation, every year we buy lot of pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers, seeds from foreign corporation who charge a hefty bill from taxpayers which we try to overload on to our farmers, the result is soil erosion, decreased fertility and productivity of soil. More chemicals in our environment that affect land, soil and nutrient level, further we don’t have proper storage, price control and no proper channel system that ensures our fields, even the remotest ones are connected to our river system. So we have areas that are completely arid or flooding with water. Top that off with a corrupt system from top to bottom that skims off money as much as it can instead of aiding farmers in their work, given such despair and anger I am not surprised it spilled onto streets but yet again farmers are being used as tools for political ends.

If we waive off all the loan of every farmer do you think they won’t need the money again, do you think they will not again get caught up in vicious cycle of debt. If yes, then why our politicians promise them things they can’t realistically deliver. You go to villages; there are hardly any roads, medical facilities or schools. Villages are lot more than fields and huts but our indifference has made sure we focus all our attention on cities and remember this part of Indian society in voting season. Profitability and sustainability in agriculture are thing of the past, young men and women are leaving their native homes in villages to find work in cities. This trend needs to be reversed.

Coming to the Mandsaur incident, after Vyapam I think people should have thought better what MP government can do, I am a conservative voter for sure but never had a very high opinion about MP government. The state government lives in an euphoria and anyone trying to show them the reality is dealt with the heavy hand. I’d squarely blame Bhopal for this.

Believe it or not we are a country of villages and farmers. Every Indian can trace his roots to villages and most of us still have family connections in villages. So one way or another, we are connected with them. So their problems are very much ours. Let’s embrace not shoot our farmers.