Modi goes into full subsidy mode :Wants us to remain a nation of farmers





At the risk of sounding like a  broken record Sabhlok on Modi who seems to have some odd personal vendetta against the PM, in this case he is proven right. For long subsidized crops at fixed prices were the bane of Indian farming which led to stagnation of small farmers and large farmers corruptly colluding with the central government where they will find a ready buyer and thwart competition from foreign markets regardless.U.S pretty much has the same story

Farm Subsidies Put India in a Bind (Wall Street Journal story which I wont link for reasons given in comments below)

“The market support…encourages farmers to produce much more of the subsidized commodities than they would have otherwise, exacerbating the global glut.”

In other words subsidized crops led to over supply which in turn led to low prices and this put a farmer in an uncomfortable quandry. What is the solution, well subsidize them some more of course as per Modi thus perpetuating poverty for the small farmer. The large zamindars can take a hit and recover.

“India guarantees minimum prices for certain crucial crops to protect its large population of poor farmers. When prices plunge, it has to buy more. It usually sells the commodities it collects at a loss—some to India’s needy and some on global markets. Some of the stockpile just rots in government warehouses.”

 Be it BJP, Congress , AAP or whichever character is in charge, our romanticized approach to agricultural leads to many wrong headed decisions. And oh god forbid the Indian consumer be exposed to crops from abroad! Cant let that, we have to protect our farmers, no matter what! Perhaps if farming was unprofitable for some folks, then they shouldnt be farming. At what point will the Indian government realize this?

I am reminded of some lunkheaded minister who was aghast the economic liberalization introduced by PM Rao may expose the Indian populace to that very agent of Satan- washing machines! Why , howled the minister, think of all the maid servants who will be unemployed. To which PVNR responded as he only he could "if we think like that, we would remain a nation of maidservants"
  

Similarly in his dimwitted RSS mindset wants us to remain a nation of farmers. But why single out the BJP , pretty all politicians suffer from this primitive mindset no matter how educated. The notion of the noble farmer as the backbone of the Indian economy is a hard one to displace.

To all these naysayers out there - I ask you what percentage of say U.S is involved in farming - a mere 5%! And yes they are self sufficient actually , thank you very much.

In the meantime......

“Government officials say they have no plans to reduce the subsidies….(India) even threatened to scuttle an important World Trade Organization agreement in 2014 unless it was given a guarantee that it could continue its subsidy and stockpiling programs. ‘Subsidies are meant to encourage productivity and better farming practices,’ said Sudhir Singh, an official at India’s agriculture ministry. ‘We are committed to our social-welfare programs.’”

Operation is successful- Patient is dead. That is the Indian government's mindset towards the economy.

Comments

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Adam Smith is of course the obvious start. But his book Wealth of Nations can be quite dense. For a humourous and incisive take which also gives a readable condensed version of sorts, check out PJ O Rourke epymomous book.

      There is not much to agricultural economics except by observing the disastrous attempts of forced and coopted farming on collectivized large farms during the Stalin era. Interestingly the early Pilgrims in America embarked on a similar socialist project which failed and this gave rise to the small farms.


      Another book which will give you a clear picture is Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics. I recommend that highly. On the flip side(more leftist and statist approach) you may also check Thomas Picketty ,Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman. Where these two meet is Robert Schiller sort of... Interestingly he along with Sowell predicted the 2008 crash. Sowell and other conservative economists did say government interevention in housing was a bad idea and its securitization even worse but Schiller was quite specific about the effect and timings. Though Forbes disagrees

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  2. That was a nightmare formatting effort. The article was behind a paywall at WSJ so I just copied and pasted a couple of relevant paras but not only did it come out with strange backgrounds and almost impossible to italicize and bold fonts but also I couldnt even delete the entire text(after copying to Word) by a simple select all and delete. I had to manually delete all 520 words. Only because WSJ doesnt people copying stuff that they PAID for.

    I refuse to link the article and and give them more traffic. Yes yes I know its equivalent of a kid selling lemonade not giving pedestrians directions to the nearest Walmart. But hey -death by a thousand cuts and all that...

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    1. It might help if you copy the text first into Notepad and then from Notepad to Word.

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  3. u have god gifted writing and insight YSV :) U are right in this whole topic,agriculture is profitable only when it is kept limited to a small segment of population.Precisely India today is mainly poor because 58% indians depend on agri which generates just around 15% of gdp.Rather if the % dependent of agri could be reduced to somewhere around 10% or like that,and the rest went into industries or other economic activities,not only our gdp would gallop ahead,but even the farmers would be richer by nearly 5 to 6 times.but even with all this ,I still cant blame Modi fully,INC saved its ass from getting fired in 2009 solely by the doleout of agri loan waiver given to farmers(70000 crore Rs if i recall correctly).So Modi ,by hook or crook,would need to give a similar doleout,whether one time or through subsidies,to keep this votebank intact.in the meantime,Modi can device proper plans to bring in a major shift of agri population to industrial sector,but that will have to spanned across a decade or more even.Modi shouldnt give any major shock to agri population as of now.It is a fact that farmers are very much attached to the idea of their land being like their own mothers,I often visit rural areas,and some of my close relatives are farmers,I have seen their attachment to their farms and their ways of life,whether they are earning huge bucks from it or not :)

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  4. @INiyavel

    I must acknowledge the fact that u were right on EURO 2016 predictions,Portugal went on to win the cup :) U shld start a psychic business now,because very few had guessed Portugal victory in the early part of the tournament like u :) But having said that ,the fact still remains,this portugal side is the worst performing side to win a Euro.2004 greece was far better than this portugal of 2016.ALso portugal brought back to limelight a long lost concept of defensive football.In the past teams used to work hard on defence,nowadays they focus aggressively on attack only and scoring.But portugal brought the lost case of defensive soccer back.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Happy Krishna Janmashtami to all of you!

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. captain is going to quit blogging , congratulation YSV, ITS BEACUSE OF LODURAMS AND CHOOTIYANANDS LIKE YOU JAM AND UR OTHER MINIONS, CAPTIAN HAS FINALLY DECIDED TO QUIT . U MUST BE MIGHTY PROUD OF UR ACHIEVEMENT GO AND JUMP IN TO CESSPOOL WITH UR PALS AND CELEBRATE UR VICTORY

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    1. remember now will face black clash from captains followers.

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    2. Well sir if this is true. It is indeed good news. I wont be so arrogant as to take the credit. As for you "amith mishra" you seem like a young fellow with your future ahead of you- why throw it away following cranks and frauds who know how to push your emotional buttons. So this is not just good news for me but for you as well.I hope all the best for you and recommend that not to avoid such blogs (though that would be best) but to be more open to other points of view.
      I wish you and yours the best.
      Regards

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    3. well ysv I will only apologize for harsh language ,but u have to admit
      there was something about that blogger that caught many peoples attention
      some detractors like ur self wrote a entire THESIS trying to expose vadkayail,

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    4. as more me personally I learned many things but I wont b crazy to blame everything evil for Rothschild ,

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    5. Amith it is the first time probably I saw a comment of urs that makes some sense,even though its still in vadakayils support :) since u have responded with some sense,let me respong equally.Whatever YSV has written about vadakayil is only to expose the latter's lies and hypocrisy,based on facts.vadakayil is just an online version of certain fraud gurus who demand complete authority over subjects.and add to that,the sheer amount of false facts he dishes out on his blog,will alter the thinking process of vulnerable minds.not all of what he says is wrong,but most of it is his imagination.YSV challenged only that.U need to understand that a person who extensively dished theories of Jesus having namboothiri wife,now retracts to say jesus didnt even exist,is not someone u should follow,assuming u are young,and somewhat vulnerable to false projections.

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  7. @YSV

    Also another question,I recall u had made an observation almost 2 years back,that free economy is unduely bashed for great depression of usa in 1930s.but as far as i can recall,u didnt elaborate on that later on,our discussions shifted to something else.would u mind putting ur views on the same now?To me this proposition of urs seemed pretty interesting regarding the great depression.

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  8. @YSV

    I have a question for u.In the past i used to have a not so high opinion of Veer Savarkar.But that was when I didnt get exposed to hard realities of India,both modern and pre indep.Now ,after realising some true colours of history,I feel probably Veer Savarkar had a better understanding,philosophy and insight into indic nationalism that Netaji had.This is not to disrespect or demean Netaji in any way ,whatever Netaji had achieved singlehandedly was phenomenal,and in that era of 1940s.But now i feel that Netaji's concept of integral and strictly secular(total disconnect of religion from govt machinery) nationalism was probably not the best thing for india.As per my limited understanding,Savarkar's Hindu nationalism was the way India should have gone,not any secular nationalism model.And after reading savarkar's books,I have started respecting him all the more.Anyway what do u think on this?ur holistic opinion would be great to frame a constructive understanding.Just to clarify myself,I am not putting up a Savarkar vs Netaji fight,just trying to understand as to whose philosophy would have been better for india in the long run.And as for modern indian constitution,it neither follows savarkar nor netaji,hence that is a different issue altogether :)

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    1. Perhaps the only Hindutvadi I like is Veer Savarkar. He was thoroughly an open thinker and went against the mindless gaurakshak mode of Hinduism that the current BJP seems to revel in. He advised Hindus to eat beef to improve their physique and ridiculed Hindus for believing in astrology while America was planning moon missions. While I think some of his criticism was harsh it was required to snap Hindus out of their maya and inertia.
      He alone had the courage to take the fight to English soil where his violent activities such as assasinations and arson while condemnable to our sensibilities today actually instilled a fear and some respect of English for Indian youth. Then as now it is better to be feared and respected than merely liked or loved. It is best to have all of course as say Americans directly after WWII but even that doesnt last too long as we have seen.
      Of course his reputation was tarnished because he asked the British for clemency during his stay in Kalapaani. I dont know about you but I dont think I would hold up too well in Kaalapani. If suicide or escape wasnt an option, I would probably ask for clemency as well.
      Spending even a few years in that hell hole garners respect from most people.

      I am not too clear on Netaji's attachment to Hinduism but his idea of nationalism was quite secular. That is true. I dont think he gave too much thought to how Muslims view India and that was his drawback.

      As for the constitution, I say thank god Ambedkar had a relatively free hand in the constitution before Indira Gandhi wrecked it. His ideas of governance were a bit flawed as Sabhlok had shown but his mistake was in the euphoria of independence and the optimism may have blinded him to the potential abuse of power.

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    2. @YSV

      Actually the real problem with Netaji is that we could never see him lead free india,hence everything is based on speculation.Regarding affiliation of Netaji to Hinduism,u would be amazed to know this,but he was more rightwing hindu than many in present RSS or VHP :) For example ,when Satindranath Sen was fighting against a discriminatory order of the calcutta high court that Durga puja processions and accompanying music could not be allowed to pass near the vicinities of mosques,Netaji stood by Satindranath and threatened mass protests against this discriminatory order wrt Hindu community.Infact he fought for this issue of breach on the Bengali Hindu's religious rights,and with much more conviction and aggression than what we see in modern day RSS. Again he campaigned for the equal rights of Hindu prisoners to celebrate Hindu festivals like Holi,Durga Puja,Janmastami etc in jails,since muslims and xtian prisoners were allotted even state exchequer budgets for their own festivities like eid or Xmas.He took up this issue for the first time in Mandalay jail in 1926 iirc,and then again in 1940 in Presidency jail of Calcutta.Infact with utter disgust at seeing the muslim appeasement,he wrote to the Presidency jail authorities :""There is no other alternative for me but to register a moral protest against an unjust act and as a proof of that protest, to undertake a voluntary fast. This fast will have no effect on the `popular' ministry, because I am neither the Maulavi of Murapara, Dacca nor a Muhammadan by faith. Consequently, the fast will, in my case, become a fast unto death........ My protest will serve to expose the hypocrisy underlying their policy in this unfortunate country-as also the policy of a Provincial Government that calls itself `popular', but which in reality, can be moved only when there is a Muhammadan in the picture" -The above quote from one of Netaji's own letter shows that he was pretty much aware of the muslim appeasement going on around him.And he was not ready to compromise for the Hindu's right to Hindu pujas.Now coming to the point of his personal affiliation to Hinduism,it is a myth that he was an atheist commie.Infact the reason why he shunned communism was exactly the same,ie,atheism.Netaji clearly wrote that atheist communism cannot be the mainstay of a nation like India,which is heavily and deeply religious&spiritual in its essence.This was his own views on his affiliation to Hindu spirituality : " "To be quite frank, I am torn this side and that - between my love for Shiva, Kali and Krishna. Though they are fundamentally one - one does prefer one symbolism to another. I have found that my moods vary - and according to my prevalent mood, I choose one of the three forms - Shiva, Kali and Krishna. Of these three again, the struggle is between Shiva and Shakti. Shiva, the ideal Yogi, has a fascination for me and Kali the Mother also makes an appeal to me. You see, of late (i.e., for the last four or five years) I have become a believer in Mantra Shakti by which I mean that certain Mantras have an inherent Shakti. Prior to that, I had the ordinary rationalistic view, namely that Mantras are like Symbols and they are aids to concentration. But my study of Tantra philosophy gradually convinced me that certain Mantras had an inherent Shakti - and that each mental constitution was fitted for a particular Mantra. Since then, I have tried my best to find out what my mental constitution is like and which Mantra I would be suited for. But so far I have failed to find that out because my moods vary and I am sometimes a Shaiva, sometimes a Shakta and sometimes a Vaishnava." Whatever i have quoted in this comment is from the article on firstpost ,given below http://www.firstpost.com/india/subhas-chandra-bose-the-myths-the-distortions-and-the-biases-2614570.html Its a superb work and also quoting first person sources,ie,Netaji's own writings.

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