- K.P. Purnachandra Tejasvi
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Farmer: An 'Endangered Species'? - K.P. Purnachandra Tejasvi |
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There is enough farm literature available in Kannada today. All the agricultural universities and farm related research institutions are publishing umpteen numbers of journals and books. But 95 per cent of them are sponsored by the government itself. Without the subscribers' support, they are some how hanging on to dear life. The very fact that they are dependent on government aids, is the proof of their failure to make any impact on the farmers' community. People have rejected these government-aided periodicals, just as they have rejected everything else 'handed down from the government'. They are not to blame, when we look at the quality and orientation of those articles. I am personally acquainted with many scientists who write for these journals. All of them undoubtedly come from farmers' families. But, they would have undergone such a tremendous transformation during their 'academic education', that, their articles never reach the sons of the soil of India! What, I wonder, is the reason for this paradox? Is our education/ the theories taught in the colleges and modern educational discipline etc., estranging our scientists so much so that they cannot interact with our farmers regarding the agricultural practices? Why do our youth, say good-bye to their ancestral land, as soon as they get a degree, and stick to a government job for livelihood? How can these farm scientists and researchers preach to the farmers- the life style and ideologies, which they themselves have rejected? How can the others believe their sermons?! In the agro-scene, we see a host of such paradoxes and ironies. Well, there is no use in accusing the agricultural-graduates as being 'insincere or ignorant'. What are the reasons for these conflicts, confusions and absurdities? Do its roots lie deep down in the historical pressures which are moulding/structuring our society? Or in their personality? If these men who have come from the same environment can become so ridiculous, the time has come for us to reexamine our selves. The social stratification such as farmers, urban people, villagers, landlords, rulers, etc. is very transient and indefinite. We cannot neatly compartmentalize the communities. Thus, all our civil unrest begins under the large umbrella head of economic, social stratification unlike caste and religion, which are very definite and water tight compartments. Let us see how such revolutionary activities were the hallmark of industrial revolution, and modernization. These certainly brought about irreversible changes in the Indian agriculture. Within the caste system, the society, which minded its own business with a hierarchy of family owned trades to support it, underwent great metamorphosis and reorganization. The destruction of the caste system in this agrarian setup was due to the destruction of many caste ruled hereditary professions than the social ideologies of post independent India. We ought not to forget that in villages earlier; there was no such thing as 'backward' and 'forward' class. The techno-centered methodologies, which we adopted, were imported: hence stole the livelihood of people with hereditary professions to support them. As soon as Aluminum was introduced, the potter became unnecessary to the community. Plastic killed the 'Medaas' who made baskets, etc. Likewise, the oil miller, cowherd, washer man, all lost their professional backbone and became redundant. Thus, the story of modernization in India is the story of one stealing the bread of another! The remaining reliques are farmer and the carpenter. Now with the PVC fiber, light weight furniture's and modified wood products flooding the construction, materials market & due to the heavy politics involved in timber marketing and forest depletion, the carpenters are bidding adieu to their job. Ultimately, only the farmers left behind in the village. But for how long?! "As long as we have to eat"- one may argue. But the same people once believed that the earthenware profession (pottery) would flourish as long as we cooked in them. We exclaim 'Jai Jawan, Jai kisan' at the drop of a little hat. We also have many pro-farmer organizations fighting for their cause. The 'Karnataka state farmers' association's revolution did percolate deep down to the remote villages. Still, the farmers' community is not able to project itself as a strong political power. We thus come back to the same question: Is the farmer an 'endangered species'? Has the internal transformation already begun, with the farmers dreaming of marrying off their daughters to ‘boy with government jobs’, or sons becoming govt. servants at any cost/ in any capacity? The farmers' community with these dreams will not wake up, no matter how seriously we condemn industrialization and urbanization and colonization.The Indian socialists/Marxists who screamed at the top of their voice about 'land reforms', and dreamed about "nationalizing" even agriculture, were drowning in utopian illusions, never to realize their folly till the USSR Empire collapsed! We can now detect two trends of thought about agriculture: one, to consider agriculture as mere productive profession. As industrialization advanced, agriculture stopped being a way of life'. The land becomes a producing unit, like a factory. It loses its importance as the environment in which man has to live and find the purpose of life. Unless you understand these two view points, you can't realize who we are and for whom we are writing. Even I - who has lived and worked for 30 years as farmer, do not have any readymade solution to this problem. Just take a look at the queer happenings in agriculture community after Independence (in India). We had hoped that, the young farmer boys sent out for education would return to their fields in the villages and would bring a new breeze of change to the problems in the scene. But those who went for education, stayed out, lured by the luxuries of urban life. A completely different category of people migrated towards the villages! They bought the wetlands in close proximity to the cities, and invested the white-collar professions' money in agriculture: yes. This was the strategy of making black money white; not a way of life for them. The World Bank and NABARD have poured much money in to the farm sector. But always with a hitch- namely their own rules, designs and polices, which catapulted the traditional production methodologies and weakened the agriculture system and structure. After India signed GATT, agriculture sector is becoming the slave of corporate houses and MNCS. We can see MNCs mushrooming in those sectors/areas, which were given subsidies under land reforms rule. So which 'farmer community' are we talking about?! To describe agriculture as a MNC, and farmers as shareholders dispersed all over India, is the extreme limit of thinking. But I give this analogy only to substantiate my point of view. Even our government bodies, scientists etc, all think that, agriculture is just 'production'. A farmer is the producer, like the broiler chicken. They never consider him as a consumer, which is very obvious by a glance at the price policy. The prices fixed for the farmers' produce, is just sufficient for the farmer, to re-invest it in the next years' crop production. They never think that the farmer can be a 'consumer' for the Fridge, TV and scooter! Due this attitude, we have created helpless, subsidy dependent villages, though we have achieved self-sufficiency in food production. I think we are still under the charisma of Gandhian ideals like Gramswaraj, decentralisation, simple living, and 'self reliance' etc. If we don't have the courage to admit the truth, we will become laughing stocks, just like Marxists and socialists. When we think of the far-reaching implications of GATT, the words like nationalism and patriotism will lose their meaning! To the companies, which produce 100 - odd consumer products everyday, the concept of simple life must look like a contagious disease. I am not a pessimist. But let us not mislead the farmers. That the 'Karnataka farmers' movement', the only such activity to reach the villages, withered away like a trade union, is a shocking reality. If the farmer's community was innovative, result - oriented and progressive, it would have formulated an effective strategy. Thus back to the original question: if the change doesn't evolve from amongst them, all our efforts would end up in creating " farmers' sanctuaries or asylums" similar to our animal sanctuaries. Why should we bother about these farmers' communities? What does it matter to us about what happens to them? I too have thought in these lines. The death of farmer's community and its migration to other sectors is not so simple. When the developed countries galloped towards industrialization, the global context was different. Now the colonized countries are trying to follow their footsteps, without a chance for expanding their empires to different 'inviting' countries with great natural resources waiting to be exploited (as the colonisers did). As the developed countries expanded their market and geo-political boundaries, they had many countries ' thrown open' to accommodate them and their requirements. Now we don't have the privileges of expanding our resources: instead we have dense population, internal warfare, fanatically incurable religious differences as the global environment, Corruption, illiteracy, unemployment, and eco-destruction/degradation. In this situation we have to move towards globalization and modernization. We are forced to embrace the western, modern, mechanized technology. What is the future of these lakhs of farmers that it displaces? Where is the shelter for these refugees of modernization? But can we still hang on to the old grandma's values and ideologies? Is it possible? I hope that these thoughts, which I have conveyed, will at least make you change your direction of thoughts, even if you don't agree with them. About the author: K. P. Purnachandra Tejasvi, hailing from Mudigere village in Chickmagalur District of Karnataka State, India, is a well-known writer in Kannada. A unique, never- before writer in Kannada, his literary excellence has brought him many awards. He is as much known for his genuine, practical involvement in pro-farmer movements in Karnataka, as for his scintillating fiction, which reveal the inherent relationship between ecology and society, man and his life styles, urban and rural dichotomy. Needless to say that, owing to his three decades' experience in farming, he has the authentic qualification to offer a critique of the present scenario in farm sector in Karnataka today: he is no 'new convert' to speak in an excited voice about these problems! Though a committed socio-agricultural activist, he has never lost his objective/analytical outlook, weighing the farmers' problems impartially. His articles throw light on the agriculturists' lives, social ideologies, and his world-view with thought provoking suggestions to the burning issues at stake in this area today.)
Address: (Source: Adike Pathrike, Puttur) |
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