Modi Improving Farmers’ Lives: Abhijit Iyer Mitra Speaks on New Cabinet’s New Initiatives| Watch
As India leaps forward to become the third largest economy, Abhijit Iyer Mitra discusses the new Cabinet initiatives aimed at improving farmers' lives. The Cabinet has approved seven major schemes with a total outlay of Rs 13,966 crore, designed to enhance agricultural productivity and support rural livelihoods. Do watch this space as Mitra provides insights into how these initiatives could benefit farmers and transform their economic conditions.
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#PMModi #Farmers #FarmLaws #Farmers’protest #FarmersofIndia #AbhijitIyerMitra #CabinetDecision #Oneindia #Oneindianews
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NewsTranscript
00:00Personally and individually, if I have to talk about Prime Minister Modi's priorities
00:05for the farmers' welfare, what message does it convey?
00:09It conveys a message that he cares, that he's very serious about sabka saath, sabka bikas.
00:17Internal security is all about getting in there early, before the congregation even
00:22congregates.
00:23Ten people are easier to control than a hundred, a hundred are easier to control than a thousand,
00:28a thousand are easier to control than a hundred thousand.
00:30Protests against the farm laws, remember it was just one state protesting, one state plus
00:35a few allied border areas protesting in U.P. and India.
00:39Hello and welcome to this special broadcast on One India.
00:42The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved seven schemes
00:47to improve farmers' lives and increase their income, at a total outlay of roughly Rs. 14,000
00:54crore.
00:55Now this speaks volumes for a government which was criticized for having an quote-unquote
01:02anti-farmer stand.
01:03We saw what happened a couple of years ago with the farmers' protests and till now, farmers
01:09in some pockets, certain pockets of the country are still protesting.
01:13What is it that Prime Minister wishes to do with this?
01:16What does it reflect about the party in power?
01:20To discuss that further, Abhijit Iyer Mitra, Senior Fellow, Institute of Peace and Conflict
01:25Studies, also known as IPCS, joins us on the broadcast.
01:29Abhijit, thank you so much for joining here on One India.
01:32Thank you so much, Pankaj.
01:33Always a pleasure being on with you.
01:36Same here, likewise.
01:38Abhijit, in your opinion, how do the newly approved schemes by the Modi government reflect
01:44its genuine commitment to improving farmers' lives and incomes, especially in the wake
01:50of the protests against the farm laws?
01:54So you know, when we talk about the protests against the farm laws, remember it was just
01:58one state protesting.
01:59One state plus a few allied border areas protesting in UP and Karnataka.
02:06Did you see any of the other farmers protest anywhere in the country at all?
02:10That wasn't happening, right?
02:12At most, there were some small-scale staged protests by political parties, but the serious
02:19protests were all just one state.
02:21Why is that?
02:22These schemes are great, like, you know, every government announces them, so there's nothing
02:29out of the blue out here.
02:31But the problem is, farming is a private enterprise.
02:35Why is the government subsidizing a private enterprise?
02:38It really shows you how bad Indian farming is, how low productivity it is, how completely
02:44out of tune with the market it is, that, and you know, how poverty stricken it is, because
02:50these are people who are stuck in a rut, where 90% of them outside of a certain area do not
02:58want to be stuck in the rut, they're held hostage by a vocal 10% minority, who will
03:04continue to hold them in that position.
03:08And why is that 10% minority, 10% is a bit too much, it's more like maybe 0.1%, controlling
03:16that 10%.
03:17Because Punjab, we should remember, when the rest of the country went through its phases
03:23of liberalization in 1991 onwards, the rest of the country saw a very significant industrialization.
03:31When it's still not an industrial country, but we saw a lot of growth of business, the
03:34growth of the middle class, the growth of industrialism.
03:37Punjab, on the other hand, remains in that, you know, very feudal, unmodernized, I won't
03:46call it a sweet spot, I'll call it a sort of 1970s, 80s time capsule.
03:54You have 20% of the population, the Jat-Sikhs, who control 95% of the land.
04:01Most of the labor out there is not Jat-Sikh, they own no land.
04:05You know, there are several kinds of debt out there, there's a chakradhari loan, which
04:08is, you know, these guys aren't even numerically literate, so they don't know what part of
04:13the loan has been fulfilled, it keeps on rising, and things like that.
04:17Now, you know, it's very much like a conflict economy.
04:20In Kashmir, for example, you had a conflict economy, where almost 55% of the population
04:24was actually dependent on the security situation, not on terrorists, but you know, the army
04:29deployment on the CRPF, on the PSF, providing transport to them, providing food to them,
04:35catering to them, etc.
04:39And that was a complete conflict economy.
04:41This is a different, it's not a conflict economy, it's a medieval, semi-medieval economy, where
04:50there are so many vested interests riding on it, if you bring the forces of market forces
04:54and market modernization, what happens to that class?
04:57So I think the government covered to most regressive, obscurantist forces around.
05:05But there was a rape at that, in the farm protests done by the farm, there were several,
05:12you know, hacking of limbs and killings and whatnot, for bayadabi and whatnot nonsense.
05:17Yes, yes, yes.
05:19I think, and you know, in the larger scheme of things, 14,000 crores isn't that much.
05:24But congratulations, I'm sure the government, I mean, I haven't been able to win a single
05:29Lok Sabha seat.
05:30So I won't comment about the political wisdom of it.
05:34And Modi managed to win 240.
05:36So he certainly knows what he's doing.
05:39I'm just very unenthusiastic about it.
05:41Because for me, this is throwing good money after bad.
05:44Right.
05:45Got your point.
05:47So coming back to, again, the issue of the farmers here, that the government's intentions,
05:54the policy intentions, versus farmers perception, how can Modi government now bridge this gap?
06:02If at all, because farmers policies, pro farmers policies, that's what we have been hearing
06:07also about.
06:09How best do you think it can be achieved as of now?
06:12See, I think sometimes, you know, it's like a gangrenous arm, once the gangrene sets in,
06:18you have to amputate it.
06:19I think instead of penalizing the rest of the country for Punjab farmers, you just need
06:25to enforce the law again, and deal with the protests as they come.
06:31I think the government has done a very good job in dealing with the so called second round
06:34of protests, which nobody's even heard about, they're like scattered somewhere.
06:38The issue wasn't the protest, anybody's free to protest.
06:42The issue is the violence and the disruption, the uprooting of telephone poles, the hacking
06:46of limbs, the killing of people, the assault on the police, the tearing down of the national
06:51flag from the Red Fort and things like that.
06:55Let them protest.
06:56I mean, how long are they going to protest?
06:59Keep them in the fields, let them protest.
07:02You know, I think I've said this many, many times for the last 10 years, since this government
07:07came to power, internal security is all about getting in there early before the congregation
07:13even congregates.
07:1410 people are easier to control than 100, 100 are easier to control than 1000, 1000
07:20are easier to control than 100,000.
07:22They don't do that, they allow everybody to gather, congregate, they don't block off.
07:28I mean, look how efficiently, I mean, Justin Trudeau is a horrible, horrible man.
07:32But look how efficiently the truckers protest, their bank accounts were seized, their assets
07:36were seized, they were thrown in jail.
07:37If it's democratic there, why isn't it democratic here?
07:40And if the truckers, if the truckers are white supremacist fascists, why aren't the farmer's
07:49landlord fascist Aryan supremacists?
07:54Why should a Ravidian like me pay taxes to my Aryan oppressors?
08:01I mean, if you want to fall for that, you know, Romila Thapar theory of an Aryan invasion.
08:07History is all about that.
08:10But one final question, Abhijit.
08:13I distinctly remember sitting in a newsroom and early morning, around eight or nine o'clock
08:18in the morning, Prime Minister Modi announced it on television that he would be withdrawing
08:23the three farm laws.
08:25Now it was his face pasted with these three farm laws.
08:29With an allocation of roughly 14,000 crore rupees, personally and individually, if I
08:35have to talk about Prime Minister Modi's priorities for the farmer's welfare, what message does
08:42it convey?
08:46It conveys a message that he cares, that he's very serious about sabka saath, sabka bikas.
08:54But you know, it reminds me a bit of Lenin, you know, you may not be interested in war,
08:59but war is interested in you.
09:01So you know, you may be interested in sabka saath, sabka bikas, but sabka saath, sabka
09:06bikas may not be interested in you.
09:09It's a bit like that, right?
09:10He's reaching out to an audience that essentially turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to him.
09:17Right.
09:18Okay.
09:19Fair enough.
09:20Time will decide, you know, the losses and what could have been and what has failed to
09:28fructify.
09:29Abhijit, thank you so much for taking time out of One India.
09:32I really appreciate your time and input.
09:33Don't miss out.
09:35Log on to oneindia.com for more updates.