Nand Lal
Suicide of farmers is often heard from different parts of the country and recently a farmer Gajender Singh from Dasua in Rajasthan committed suicide. Our Prime minister communicated condolences and sympathies to the farmer community by giving a message that Govt is creating a better tomorrow for the farmers of India as also envisaged in the most enchanted election slogan “achhey din aaney wale hain” before coming to power. But these proved mere slogans to attract the people but no way Govt in the past or the present, may it be union or state, has felt the plight of farmers so far. Condition of every one engaged in farming is going from bad to worse as they continue not to get the fair reward of their real hardwork.
Life is definitely an upward trend for almost every stratum of society engaged in various kinds of economic activities whether businesses or jobs. But it is painfully inclined downward when we look at the plight of people engaged or associated with agriculture, may it be our State or the whole country. Sounds very strange- a farmer who is instrumental in feeding the mouth of whole society is being starved by the unfavourable policies prevailing in our system.
Every government or even private sector employee is getting the due hike in his salary from time to time along with many other monetary and non-monetary benefits. For instance in case of almost all jobs D.A. is linked to WPI prevailing in the economy and is revised after every quarter and it is noticed that on this account only, every job gets around 20% hike annually in the salary it fetches. In businesses, with every increase in the cost of input the margin of profit also increases disproportionately as a reward of entrepreneurship to the businessmen. But in case of farmers the increase in rent has to be done after every five years as a policy matter which remains alive in papers only. It is very sad to notice that the field of agriculture is fraught with lot of uncertainties, exploitation, injustice, unjust compensations, improper rents, no recognition or rewards and what not. Right from the students who pursue Agriculture as their subject to farmers who adopt agriculture as their profession to earn their livelihood and those whose land is being snatched (almost forcibly) in the most unfortunate way under old Land Acquisition Act and Rules by the Government Agencies/Defence and Para-military forces on rental basis, everyone is a sufferer. The land of thousands of farmers in the state of J&K is under the occupation of Army and other Para military forces on a very nominal rent. The last increase in the rent was made with effect from 16.02.2008 vide SRO no.- 104, dated- 11.04.2008. Thereafter, the increase in rent is due w.e.f 16.02.2013 but the successive State Governments are sleeping over the matter because poor farmers cannot go on strike like others. The worst they can do is commit suicide which does not bother anybody.
No doubt the price of land has increased a lot but the benefits of increase are going to the pockets of mafia and rich only while they purchase land a prevailing market value but reflect lower price in the sale deed just to avoid the stamp duty, registration fee and income tax etc. as a result of this clever act on the part of few rich strata, poor farmers suffer whose land is acquired by the Government agencies for public purposes on very low compensation rate due to lower registered cost of land as explained above. Thus the land worth crores of rupees is snatched by the government in thousands from the poor farmers under the old Land Acquisition Act and Rules.
Though the Union Government has replaced the old Land Acquisition Act with new one during 2013 and the farmers of J&K State were also hopeful that the J&K Govt would also adopt the pattern and save the plight of farmers but it again has become the controversy as the new Union Govt is amending the Act to make the poor farmers victim to it.
“In which age from now the exploitation of poor farmer shall be stopped by the rulers and rule making bodies?” is the question which always strike in the mind of the writer.
(The author is former Tehsildar Retd)
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