Microfinance continues to kill. The nation remains unmoved.

I always feared this. When I opened an email a few minutes ago, I wasn't prepared to see the funeral pyre of a farmer who had allegedly taken a loan from a micro-finance institution. The email said: "Sir, did you get to see this news. You were always right."

I immediately clicked on the link. The NDTV had carried a Bhubaneshwar dateline story on March 19, 2010: "Orissa: Loan driving farmers to suicides." It made a poignant reading, something that I had always warned. I would have missed seeing this if the alert reader of this blog had not taken the pains to share this disturbing report with us. This report is from Sambalpur in Orissa. I think the picture says it all.

Ironically, the last blog posting on micro-fiance that I had posted, was entitled: "Microfinance also kills". It had carried of a similar report from Andhra Pradesh.

I don't know how many more human lives need to be sacrificed before the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Researve Bank of India (RBI) wake up to the grave tragedy. I don't know how much more blood needs to flow before the Nobel Prize Committee apologise for giving an award where it was the least deserving.

The MFIs, which are nothing more than organised money lenders, must be stopped. We cannot allow loan sharks to extract their pound of flesh from innocent and gullible poorest of the poor.

Pasted below is the NDTV news report. You can see the news video also if you scroll down to end of the news report on the NDTV website.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/orissa-killing-fields-killing-finance-18040.php

In 2009, 43 farmers in Orissa committed suicide. It was a year that saw a massive farm loan waiver by the UPA government and also a record investment of over Rs 1400 crore in farm credit by the state government. But they were all small farmers who couldn't access institutional loan and had to borrow from microfinance NGOs at an exorbitant rate of interest. Many, even the state government, suspect it's this exploitative loan network that may have driven loan farmers to commit suicide.

A farmer in Sambalpur, didn't get water for his fields, subsidies, or insurance cover. What he got readily was a loan from a local microfinance NGO, at an incredibly high 24 per cent interest. The fear that he would never be able to pay back, drove him to suicide.

As more and more farmers commit suicide in Orissa, crushed under debt, loans have become a scare.

"I fear taking loans. I've never taken it nor will I ever," said Shankar Dhurua, a farmer from Kusumdihi in Sambalpur.

In rural Orissa today, Microfinance NGOs operate through Self Help Groups and local fertiliser and pesticide dealers - people who are most likely to know which farmer needs a loan.

Banks give loans at 5 per cent interest, but unable to provide documents, small farmers end up going to these NGOs where loan disbursal is quick, but the interest charged could be anywhere between 24 per cent and 50 per cent.

"Ninety per cent small farmers fall prey to well-organised loan campaigns by multiple players, without assessing whether it will benefit them or land them in trouble,'' says Durga Bag, a farmer.

A farmer who takes this loan is trapped in a life-long cycle of debt - a burden that has started driving them to suicide.

''The exploitation is visible in cases where farmers had received microfinance from NGOs, and they are exploiting the farmers,'' said Dr Damodar Rout, Orissa Agriculture Minister.   

Food processing does not make food available for the poor.

At a TV panel yesterday on food security I wasn't surprised when Amit Mitra, Secy General of the industry-lobby group FICCI, said that India ranks 66th among the 88 countries categorised in the IFPRI Global Hunger Index. This is happening at a time when 40 per cent of fruits and vegetables go waste due to improper storage and in transportation, and that too in a country which is the second biggest producer of vegetables.

This flawed arguement was very cleverly used to clamour for the urgent need to push in for food processing. Whether this will help in ensuring food security for the poor and have-nots is something that is very clearly ducked by the industry. No wonder, the Planning Commission is making available roughly Rs 1.50 lakh crores in the 10th and 11th Plan period for the food processing industry. It isn't therefore surprising when you hear radio advertisements telling you about Rs 50 lakh subsidy available if you set up a food processing plant.

When the issue was passed on to me, I made it abundantly clear that the statistical figure of 40 per cent existed when I was a student some 30 years back. I am sure ten years from now, we would still be quoting this data of 40 per cent wastage, with actually no body making an effort to find out whether the wastage has been reduced or increased. The figure of food loss is used by the industry to seek more subsidy, more funds. And the academicians, and the policy makers, ostensibly appalled by the extent of food wastage, and in their ognorance support the massive investment that is being made.

I was therefore happy when Swami Ramdev interjected and made it abundantly clear that the Patanjali Vidyapeeth in Haridwar had recently set up a food processing unit, probably one of the biggest in the country. But as someone who is actually engaged in food processing, it was revealing to learn that processed foods do not feed the poor and hungry. In fact, he said that the processed foods are expensive and therefore not an answer to the bigger question of feeding the country.

Only a few days, I was asked by a food processing publication to comment on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget allocations for the food processing industry. Just to draw you back into what the Budget 2010 provided, Finance Minister did make a provision to set up 5 more food parks, and also provided some exemptions for the import of processing machinery. Fair enough.

The Finance Minister in my opinion has been more than kind to the food processing industry. He has allotted five food parks and given concessions on machinery for food processing equipments, which ofcourse would be welcomed by the industry. Considering the impact of the policies, I wonder how will it help in addressing the food challenge for the country. Now, I am aware that food waste has to be minimised, but why do it in the name of feeding the poor?

Often the industry quotes another statistics -- only 2 per cent of the food in India is processed, which is a pittance considering what the US and Europe does. This is something that I cannot digest. In fact, this is simply a misinformation campaign simply to hoodwink the gullible consumer to believe how urgent is the need to set up food processing plants.

Let us look at it dispassionately. In the Indian households most of the food is cooked and is processed at the home level. In other words, 100 per cent food is processed, the only difference being that it is done at the household level. The statistics that we quote are therefore misleading. If this food is not being processed by the industry, is there a problem? Does it mean that the processed food in the market would be more healthy and nutritious? If not, than why are we promoting a shift in our food cosumption habits and patterns just to expand the reach of the market?

In the US and Europe people increasingly rely on processed foods from the shops because they do not know how to cook. British food for instance is considered to be bland. In the OECD countries, the agri-business industry has over the years succeeded in building up the dependency for food supplied through shops. People have simply forgotten (and I am talking at the macro level) on how to cook at home and eat healthy.

I am therefore not surprised to know that in the US alone, more than than 4 lakh people die every year from obesity, and its related suffering. In other words, from eating the wrong food.

I am sure you will agree that there is no need for us to follow the US and European models and increase the sale of processed foods in the shops. There is no need for us to spread the faulty information and 'educate' the people (including the housewives) that they don't have to waste time in cooking, and that it is demeaning for the women to be in the kitchen. But yes, there is an increasing percentage of the neorich class that feels ashamed in spending enough time at home to cook, and it is this class or generation that suffers more from diabetes and heart-strokes.

With growing awareness over health issues, consumers in India (and elsewhere) should be directed to reduce their growing preference for processed foods. The other day, I picked up ready-to-serve paranthas from a departmental store in New Delhi. I had to throw them in the dustbin, they were so bad. I was amused to also find canned dal makhani on the supermarket shelves. Oh dear ! what an aweful taste (and I am not even talking about the harmful ingredients it carries). Please don't get me wrong. Some of you may find these products very useful, but I strongly feel that we need to educate the young on the advantages of cooking at home. It is not only economical, but also healthy and nutritious.

All industries thrive on subsidies and bailout packages. This is how the GDP goes up, and the Industrialists loot the State exchequer. I think the industry is capable of taking care of itself and does not need support or handholding from the government. The subsidy allotted for the food processing industry should be removed and instead it should be given to the farmers who are in any case dying. If the farmer welfare is given adequate consideration, the entire food chain would be safe. And if you and me shun processed foods, the industry will not be able to do damage to the present generation, and also save the future generations from the unhealthy and hazardous foods that are being marketed.

Swami Ramdev has already inspired the nation to take control of their own health in their own hands. We now have to extend this to the food that we consume. We have to take control of the food we eat. There is a need to build up a nationwide campaign on healthy cooking and healthy eating. As to the role the agri-business industry can play, I suggest we divert the attention of the food processing industry to focus on rampant food adulteration that prevails.

If the industry can somehow ensure that the raw material and the ingredients that we need for our daily consumption are safe and pure, believe me it would be no less than a revolution. At the same time, processing industry need not be always high tech and sophisticated in the manner that it bypasses some of the normal requirements that people have, like milk-based products (especially sweets) that are at present highly adulterated.

I am equally worried at the increasing dependence of the industry on imported fruit concentrates. If you import orange concentrate from Brazil/Chile and then provide juice in tetrapacks, this will not help reduce the 40 per cent fruits that go waste. In fact, the fruit wastage will increase. How can one justify that our own harvest of oranges/kinnows goes waste while the industry finds it convenient to import concentrates from abroad.

Millions go to bed hungry as millions of tonnes of wheat rot in open in Punjab

Wheat lying in the open in Sirhind, Punjab. NDTV photo

As you drive through Punjab, stored wheat lying in the open is a usual sight. For at least three decades now, you have been seeing wheat stacked in the open facing the vagaries of the inclement weather. You have got used to it.

I was therefore pretty surprised when CNN-IBN and NDTV decided to take on the issue prominently in their prime time bulletins. I remember, two decades back, when I was the Agriculture Correspondent of the Indian Express, and based in Chandigarh, stored grain in the open was quite a frequent picture on the front page. My photographer colleague Swadesh Talwar and I had travelled quite extensively, and we did highlight the sad plight of rotting foodgrains time and again.

I must acknowledge that our efforts did not succed in making the official machinery, deep in slumber, wake up and do something meaningful. Ninety per cent of the procured grains still lies in the open.

In other words, the criminal neglect of foodgrain continues. What makes it a heinous crime is that those who are at the helm of affairs do not realise that these rotting stocks could have fed several million hungry. Even in Punjab, the frontline agricultural State in India, millions are faced with hidden hunger if not starvation.

Punjab, the food bowl of India, fares much below Sudan in the IFPRI Hunger Index.

For three decades now, the government has failed to act. I don't know what it means when Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar says that he will hold an enquiry. Ever since I had been on the foodgrain chase, I have heard this promise time and again. For a sound-byte hungry journalism, these statements come in handy while reporting, but after the next story takes over, the bytes are all but forgotten. I hope CNN-IBN and NDTV do not let the issue die down once again.

Look at the startling figures reported by NDTV the other day:

Punjab's rotting food mountain 2007-2010

-- 72 lakh metric tonne wheat grain stored

-- 65 lakh metric tonnes wheat grain lying in the open

-- Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 800 crore worth wheat grain rotting

While the Ministry for Food and Agricultural is trying to pass on the blame to the Punjab government, the fact remains that the food bowl provides roughly 50 per cent of the country's surplus wheat. Punjab has all these years kept the country in a comfortable position when it comes to food security. In fact, Punjab is the single most important factor in turning the country 'self-sufficient' in foodgrains. The nation therefore has to pay back, and it becomes the duty of the country to ensure that not even a single grain of what is produced in Punjab goes waste.

The problem compounds when the stocked foodgrains are not lifted in time. While Punjab is saddled with wheat stacked for over two years, the new harvest is around the corner. The bigger problem for Punjab therefore is where to find additional space for the bountiful harvest that is expected to flow in. Much of the stocks have already become unfit for human consumption.

This reminds me of a story that the noted economist and a former vice-chancellor Dr S S Johl had once shared with me. It was in this connection, that he narrated a story of a farmer who grew papaya in his backyard. Every day, he would pluck one ripened fruit and eat it. One day, he had to go out to his in-laws and he knew that he would not be able to return before the next two days. So he plucked 3 unripened papayas from the plants and kept them in the kitchen.

When he came back, the three fruits had ripened. But the one that was meant to be eaten the first day, had almost rotted. To ensure that he does not waste the fruit, he ate the over-ripened fruit (almost nearing rotting) the first day. The next day, the other fruit also became over-ripened, and he consumed it. The third day too he was left with an almost rotten fruit, which he ate.

The moral of the story is that unless the Punjab government (or the Food Corporation of India) disposes-off as cattle feed the sub-standard wheat that is stocked, it will end up feeding the population with rotten wheat year after year.

It is all a question of setting your priorities right. If successive Prime Ministers had realised the importance of saving every grain I am sure by now India would have put in place a modern network of grain silos throughout the country. If the country can invest in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) at a pace that defies the bureaucratic obstacles that are normally thrown in, and also look at the amazing speed at which the national highways are being constructed, I see no reason why foodgrain storage cannot receive the same priority, if not the topmost.

While I think it is the nation's responsibility to safely store what Punjab produces, but still I don't think Punjab government should be allowed to go scott free. If Punjab government can lay out and approve blueprints for setting up (or modernisting) 40-odd new townships, there is no reason why Punjab government couldn't have focused on storing its own harvested crops. Both the Centre and the Punjab government therefore are at fault. It takes two to Tango.

Landless poor to subsidise the IT sector !

Anyone who has a hammer in his hand, treats everything as a nail. I have always found this statement not only amusing but immensely thought-provoking. This holds true for any new technology. The hammer in this case being the new technological product. Be it the computers or the mobile telephony. In order to sell the technological products, it is not unusual to see a chorus from the academicians and the industry on the need and relevance these technologies have for the poor and the marginalised.

Some months back, Sam Pitroda was at pains to tell us how the Knowledge Commission (that he chairs) is trying to look into the possibility of making the computers an engine of growth in the rural areas. I have repeatedly heard some of the distinguished economists and scientists speaking at conferences and seminars about the turnaround that the computers can make to the life of a farmer. Of course, I am aware that with a hammer in their hand, they are looking for another nail to be nailed. 

The IT industry is desperately trying to justify its role in rural development, in other words looking for an opportunity to sell the computers in the villages. Considering that India has 600,000 villages, look at the size of the market that the industry, already faced with a downturn, is eyeing. And if they can somehow convince the government to purchase computers (obviously equipped with Window 7 software) for the poor, it will help to keep the industry afloat. This will be a bailout package. 

With the financial year coming to  close on March 31, this is time when business activities are its peak. No wonder, the Union government has sent a letter, dated March 11 2010, to all the State governments and the Union Territory administrations, asking them to lay emphasis on the computerisation of the panchayat offices. Now this is nothing surprising considering that the government had already decided to set up panchayat ghars in the name of Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) programme.

But what is surprising is that Rs 2,400 crore has been allocated for the computerisation programme, which has to be deducted from the MNREGA administration expenditure. Knowing that not more than 4 per cent of the total MNREGA allocation can be used for administrative purposes, the government has very cleverly changed the rules extending it now to 6 per cent.

According to Dainik Jagran (March 19, 2010) there is no direct relationship between the rural employment programme and the construction of panchayat offices or the computerisation of these new offices. What is however more shocking is that the money that should have actually gone in for creating additional rural employment opportunities for the poorest of the poor is now being used to bail out the IT industry (and its hardware suppliers). Now, if you are from the IT industry, you don't have to feel agitated. I know you are doing a 'great service' to the poor, and the nation should be in fact grateful to you.

In simple words, the poor and marginalised will now be subsidising the multi-billion dollar IT industry. I don't know why the IT industry, which has been enjoying income tax exemptions, and is considering to even provide helicopter services to ferry its employees to avoid traffic snarls in a city like Bangalore, can't be generous with the poor. I am sure the IT industry can on its own install computers in the panchayats (if it feels computers would be helpful) instead of exracting its pound of flesh from the poor landless labourers. Isn't it sad that you pay fabulous salaries to your employees, and you can't even appreciate a few lakh more poor to earn a pitiable Rs 100 a day!

Rs 2,400-crore can provide two square meals a day for lakhs of poor landless workers. Come on, have a heart. You can't be that treacherous. The IT sector too has a corporate social responsibility. You don't have to literally move with a hammer in your hand.

Maize crop failure leads to farmer suicides in Bihar

I have often been asked as to why only farmers in Vidharba region of Maharashtra are committing suicide. My reply has been that it is not so. Farmers all over the country are in crisis and many are committing suicide. It is only that the NGOs working on agricultural issues in that particular region have not been keeping a count of the spate of farm suicides. In the absence of any compilation of the data about suicides that is locally available, the national media does not get to focus on the farm tragedy.

It was therefore quite surprising to see a news report about the deepening agrarian crisis along the Kosi river in Bihar, and how the loan waiver and the supply of sub-standard seed led a farmer to take his own life. This news report did not appear in any of the local newspapers in Bihar, but was carried by Deccan Herald, a major daily published from Bangalore. I am sure there must be numerous other stories like this, which have failed to draw media attention.

This news report will however come in handy for the seed industry to seek government support for marketing its so-called improved seeds. What will never be acknowledged is that it was the sale of spurious seed of an improved variety that led the farmer to take the fatal route. Instead of being penalised and prosecuted for selling fake seeds, the industry will actually seek more benefits in the name of making improved seed available to farmers.

I hope the Bihar government prosecutes the erring seed company, handing out a deterring punishment that becomes a lesson for the other seed suppliers. Meanwhile, here is the report:

Loans, substandard seeds lets farmers down in Bihar

Abhay Kumar
DH News Service

Patna, Mar 15:

All those UPA leaders, who are basking in the glory of multi-crore loan waiver scheme for farmers, should take a look at this story.

Forty-year-old Jagdish Sharma, a small-marginal farmer of Katihar in the Kosi belt, had borrowed Rs 15,000 from a money lender. Having seen deluge in 2008 and drought in 2009, Sharma was quite cautious this time. Instead of paddy and jute, he opted for maize cultivation because of the high yield the crop ensured.

Sharma had thought that he would repay the borrowed amount once the crop was farmed. That’s why he accepted the money lender’s condition for a 7 per cent (84 per cent annually) loan. But the crop failed. The maize that he had farmed was without kernels, hollow from inside.

Distressed and dejected, Sharma committed suicide by consuming poison. “The maize killed my husband,” said his wailing wife Champa Devi.

In a similar incident, Purnia-based Md Nazim and his wife consumed an insecticide after the couple found that their maize crop had failed, and they had thousands of rupees to repay the money lender.

As soon as they started vomiting, alert villagers rushed them to hospital, and saved their lives. “The maize that I had raised after borrowing money failed me. The kernels were hollow from inside. The crop won’t fetch me a single penny,” lamented Nazim, recuperating from the extreme step he had resorted to.

But then, Nazim and Sharma are not the only farmers who are ruing their fate. Yadavendra Choudhary of Purnia, too, found to his dismay that the maize crop had failed. “I had sowed maize seeds at the right time, and followed all the suggestions made by the agriculture officers. Still, what I have on my 15 acres are stalks,” said Choudhary, who has appealed to the government to book all those companies which were selling poor quality of seeds. Purnia District Magistrate N Sharavan Kumar, who was aware of the problem, said the report submitted by the agriculture officer confirmed that poor quality of seeds had led to the crop failure.

Third time in a row

Purnia, which was one of the badly hit districts during the Kosi floods in 2008, has 12,225 hectares under maize cultivation this year. But the crop failure for the third consecutive year is likely to break the backbone of farmers.

"I will raise this issue in Parliament. Besides, I will also talk to the Bihar government for the speedy redressal of the problem of poor quality of seeds,” said BJP Lok Sabha member from Kaithar Nikhil Choudhary.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/58387/loans-substandard-seeds-lets-farmers.html

जीएम उत्पादों पर जोर-जबरदस्ती

This article of mine appeared in Dainik Jagran, Mar 17, 2010

आपातकाल का भूत फिर से जाग गया है। वास्तव में, अब हालात आपातकाल से भी बदतर होने जा रहे हैं। कुख्यात इमरजेंसी काल में सत्ता से सवाल करने वाले किसी भी व्यक्ति को सलाखों के पीछे कर दिया जाता था। अगर विज्ञान और प्रौद्योगिकी विभाग की चले तो आपको अपने आनुवांशिकीय संवर्धित भोजन की सुरक्षा पर सवाल उठाने पर गिरफ्तार किया जा सकता है। जिस प्रकार आदिवासी बाहुल्य इलाकों में नक्सलवादियों के खिलाफ भारी पुलिस अभियान 'आपरेशन ग्रीनहंट' चलाया जा रहा है, उसी प्रकार सरकार सुरक्षित खाद्य पदार्थ की मांग उठाने वालों को चुप करने के लिए एक और पुलिस अभियान चलाने की तैयार कर रही है। प्रस्तावित बायोटेक्नोलाजी रेगुलेटरी अथारिटी बिल पारित होने के बाद सरकार अपने ही नागरिकों के खिलाफ एक और युद्ध छेड़ने वाली है। इन लोगों का अपराध यह पूछना है कि जिस भोजन को खाने के लिए उन्हें बाध्य किया जा रहा है, वह स्वास्थ्य के लिए सुरक्षित है भी या नहीं।

प्रस्तावित बिल में बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनियों और बड़े औद्योगिक घरानों को सूचना छिपाने, अनुसंधान के नतीजों में छेड़छाड़ करने और भोले-भाले नागरिकों को नुकसानदायक उत्पाद पेश करने से रोकने का कोई प्रावधान नहीं है। न ही किसी हादसे के लिए कंपनी को जिम्मेदार ठहराया जा सकता है। स्पष्ट है कि यह बिल बड़ी कृषि-उद्योग कंपनियों के हित में और उनका मुनाफा बढ़ाने के उद्देश्य से लाया गया है। संभवत: बजट सत्र में पेश होने वाले बीआरएआई बिल के कुछ अंश प्रत्येक नागरिक को संविधान द्वारा दी गई बोलने की स्वतंत्रता पर एक अभूतपूर्व छींका लगाते हैं। सेक्सन 63 के चैप्टर 13 में लिखा है, 'जो व्यक्ति बिना साक्ष्यों या वैज्ञानिक रेकार्ड के जनता को उत्पादों की सुरक्षा के बारे में गुमराह करेगा उसे कम से कम छह माह और अधिक से अधिक एक साल की कैद या दो लाख रुपए तक के अर्थदंड या फिर दोनों सजाएं सुनाई जा सकती हैं।'

इमरजेंसी के दौरान राजनीतिक मतभिन्नता के कारण लोगों को महज जेल ही जाना पड़ा था, किंतु अगर बीआरएआई बिल कानून बन गया तो जेल जाने के साथ-साथ अर्थदंड भी चुकाना पड़ेगा। यहां तक कि आलोचनात्मक लेख के लेखक को भी जेल में डाला जा सकता है। जो प्रयोगों का विरोध करेगा या फिर इसमें बाधा उत्पन्न करेगा, उसे भी जेल की हवा खानी पड़ सकती है। प्रयोगों का स्वास्थ्य और पर्यावरण पर पड़ने वाले दुष्परिणाम जानने के लोगों के अधिकार को भी कुंठित कर दिया गया है। विधेयक के आर्टिकल 27 के अनुसार जीएम उत्पादों के शोध, अनुमोदन और विज्ञान के विषय में जानकारी हासिल करना भी सूचना के अधिकार के दायरे से बाहर किया जा रहा है। नेशनल कैंपेन फार पीपल्स राइट टु इंफोर्मेशन के अनुसार सेक्सन 2 (एच) 'गोपनीय व्यावसायिक सूचना' की परिभाषा को इस रूप में सीमित और निषिद्ध करती है कि अथारिटी के पास उत्पादों के शोध, परिवहन या आयात संबंधी किसी भी दस्तावेज को जनता को उपलब्ध नहीं कराया जाएगा। यही नहीं, इसका सेक्शन 81 सूचना के अधिकार 2005 के प्रावधानों का उल्लंघन करता है। प्रस्तावित विधेयक के अनुसार, 'इस एक्ट के प्रावधान किसी भी रूप में प्रचलित कानून से किसी भी प्रकार प्रभावित होते हैं तो इन्हें ही प्रभावी व बाध्यकारी माना जाएगा।'

भोजन जैसी साधारण चीज के संबंध में भी आलोचना के स्वर दबाने का सीधा सा मतलब है की स्वास्थ्य के लिए नुकसानदायक जीएम खाद्य पदार्र्थो को जनता के हलक के नीचे उतारने का सरकार ने इरादा बना लिया है। जीएम फसलें पर्यावरण और पारिस्थिकी पर गंभीर नकारात्मक प्रभाव डालने के लिए जानी जाती हैं। इसकी स्वीकार्यता के लिए मजबूर करने से जैवविविधता संरक्षण कम हो जाएगा। यह स्वामीनाथन टास्क फोर्स रिपोर्ट की अनुशंसाओं के खिलाफ है, जो कहती है- किसी भी जैवविविध नियामक नीति को हर हाल में पर्यावरण और कृषि के किफायती व पारिस्थितिकी टिकाऊ तंत्र की सुरक्षा करनी चाहिए। बेशक, विधेयक का मसौदा यह भी कहता है कि बीआरएआई अपनी खुद का पुनर्विचार संबंधी ट्रिब्यूनल गठित करेगा, जो बायो प्रौद्योगिकी संबंधी किसी भी मामले की सुनवाई करेगा। किसी भी विवाद की स्थिति में याचिकाकर्ता केवल सुप्रीम कोर्ट में ही अपील कर सकेगा। दूसरे शब्दों में, विवादों का निपटारा केवल सुप्रीम कोर्ट में करने के प्रावधान के कारण प्रस्तावित विधेयक आम आदमी की कानूनी सहायता तक पहुंच दूभर कर देता है। हर कोई आसानी से सुप्रीम कोर्ट तक पहुंचने के साधन व पैसा नहीं जुटा सकता। किसी भी नियामक तंत्र को विज्ञान और प्रौद्योगिकी के संबंध में लोगों की जबान पर ताला लगाने के बजाए इनमें जनता का विश्वास पैदा करना चाहिए। पहले ही भारत में जीएम फसलों के पर्यावरण पर प्रभाव के संबंध में अनुमति देने वाली जेनेटिक इंजीनियरिंग अप्रूवल कमिटी (जीईएसी) बायोटेक्नोलाजी उद्योग की पिट्ठू बनने के कारण अपनी भद पिटवा चुकी है।

यह भी समझ से परे है कि विवादास्पद जीएम फसलों के लिए एकल खिड़की त्वरित अनुमति व्यवस्था की क्या जरूरत है। यहां तक कि अमेरिका में जीएम फसलों को अनुमति प्रदान करने के लिए त्रीस्तरीय व्यवस्था काम कर रही है। फिर भी, अमेरिकी नियामक प्रक्रिया पर समय-समय पर सवाल उठाए जाते रहे हैं और इसे दोषपूर्ण बताया जाता रहा है। सबसे पहले तो जीईएसी को बीटी बैगन को अनुमति प्रदान करने के घपले के लिए जिम्मेदार ठहराया जाना चाहिए और इसके अधिकारियों को दंडित किया जाना चाहिए।

[देविंदर शर्मा: लेखक कृषि एवं खाद्य मामलों के विशेषज्ञ हैं]http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/opinion/general/6_3_6260690.html

Educating India, in a B-Grade American style.

The Union Cabinet has cleared the Foreign Educational Institutional (regulation of entry and operation) Bill, which aims to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India. This Bill follows the two controversial Bills pending for Parliamentary approval -- the Nuclear Liability Bill and the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill.

I am not the least surprised.

Kapil Sibal, the Minister for Human Resource Development, is visibly excited. He is quoted in the media, saying: "A larger revolution than even in the telecom sector awaits us." Well, we all know that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. But if you have known Kapil Sibal, be sure the intentions are not as pious as he often claims. Given a choice, he would even make the Congress party adorn the colours of the Republican party.

Nothing can be more dangerous than programming the mindset of the young generation of India through an education system that has nothing to do with the great culture, tradition and wisdom that the Indus civilisation endowed us with. The present crop of politicians, more worrying are the younger lot that the Indian Express talks about every day, are so myopic that they can't see anything beyond Europe and America.

If this is all that these these politicians are capable of thinking and doing, I sometimes wonder why shouldn't we have political representatives from Europe and America sitting in Indian Parliament? After all, they will do the job of re-colonising the country much more efficiently than their sub-standard Indian clones.

There are a large number of people in this country who are sold out to everything American. They live in India, but have an American dream. They will find fault with the higher education system in the country, and wouldn't mind even if the country's education system is eventually taken over by second-grade colleges and universities from North America, Europe and Australia. It is in this context that I find the editorial in the Economic Times (Mar17, 2009) under the title University of California, Ghazipur? interesting. This is what it says:

But such a law is unlikely to open the floodgates for foreign providers of quality education. The reality is that ‘for-profit’ describes hardly any of the world’s best institutions of higher learning. In any case, the Bill stipulates that all profits would have to be ploughed back into the Indian venture and not repatriated.

Only secondrate outfits not allergic to some accounting innovation that allows them to circumvent this ban are likely to invest in Indian campuses. But even these would offer competition to our own citadels of scholarship, such as they are, and alleviate the present, severe scarcity of educational opportunities and so are welcome.

I have nothing against the foriegn universities. They may be good in their own environment. But I always thought India had a lot more to offer to these educational institutes. Any visionary national leader would prepare for a day when Indian universities regain their lost glory. Ironically, the first two universities the world has ever known -- Takshila in 700 BC, and Nalanda University, was built in 4th century BC. It was considered to be one of the greatest achievements in the field of education. More than 10500 students studied over 60 disciplines.

Isn't it a shame that the country that gave the world its first unievsrities, is now feeling thrilled that some of the foreign universities are likely to open campuses, if the government has its ways.

I have been lecturing at various universities abroad, and have always come back disappointed at the level of competence. Please don't get me wrong, I don't mean that everyone who passes out is incompetent. The fact remains that if these foreign universities were so good, I don't see any reason why the globalisation process should reach a dead end, why the world witnessed an economic collapse, and why the world was faced with an unprecedented food crisis in 2007-08. More importantly, if these foreign universities were so good, I fail to understand how come the world has reached a tripping point.

The foreign universities have hardly any semblance to the existing ground realities. These universities are so designed that it actually aims at the building excellence in exploiting natural resources, and is aimed at programming the younger generation to the virtues of growth economics. Everything ends up with the fundamental premise on how to make more profits, by commodifying culture, nature, human body and even knowledge.

This faulty learning has been very cleverly brought out in James Cameron's Avtar. If you have had a chance to view this movie, you would have realised how faulty and miscalculated would be the futuristic thinking (obviously an outcome of the educational learning) and design of the civilised race would be 150 years from now (in the year 2154). It tells you that the programming of the human race towards commodifying nature, through the educational system, will go on unchecked in the decades to come.

No wonder, you felt outraged at what the scientifically empowered civilised generation from the Earth tried by way of first displacing and then exterminating a native population across the galaxy that lived in complete harmony with its surroundings. Without realising the intrinsic values and linkages the people had with the natural surroundings, the attack on the 'Pandora' was misplaced, and you almost felt like clapping when the evil forces from the Earth were undone by the simple folks.

The futuristic insight that Avtar provides looks like to be a scene from the tribal regions of Orissa and Chhatisgarh. Oh, my God ! it looks the world is not going to change. Our education system will continue to prepare us for the doomsday.

Well, we will continue to debate on this in the days to come, but first I want to draw your attention to the damage done by the imported agricultural education and research system. Nothing better illustrates the change in mindset than what has been achieved a century and half later through agricultural research and education. All that was taught as part of the land grant model of education that the USAID brought into India has actually resulted in an unprecedented blood-bath on the farm.

The agricultural research and education system was basically tailored to what America does, not what we do in India. We are told that our agriculture is sub-standard, backward, and inefficient. This is what we are taught in our agricultural universities, all programmed after the US farm curriculum. If you really want to improve Indian agriculture you have to follow the American model of agriculture. That is what is taught to us. We have learnt it the hard way and no wonder today we are faced with one of the biggest and worst crisis in agriculture.

Why is it that in a country, which has the second largest public sector infrastructure in agriculture research in the world, farmers should be dying or wanting to quit agriculture? If the American model of agriculture research and education is so good than why should farmers be in distress and agriculture virtually ruined? As a nation, we need to introspect and look back. There is something fundamentally wrong.