Dad explained we are protesting as we are afraid of unknown just like that little bird I had. We are content staying poor and malnourished with the so called Hindu Rate of Growth (Hinduism got nothing to do with it, it was the socialism of Nehru which killed our growth story)
When I was in school, One rainy day I found a small bird ? which had just hatched from egg ? & had fallen from a tree and it’s mother was no where in sight. I bought it home, fed it small worms ? and bought it up. I used to call it KEECHU.
After it grew up my Dad wanted me to let it off to the wild as he believed free birds shouldn’t be kept in captivity, but the bird didn’t want to go. Whenever I set it free it came back to our home
My dad used to see the bird and say that many a times we are so adopted to our mental prisons that we feel pain even when someone liberates us
I was in school when PV Narasimha Rao opened up India to foreign companies and industries. Then there was a huge furor that we will be enslaved again by foreign companies like the days of East India company and we will become Ghulams of foreigners
Leading the pack who protested were Indian companies like Bajaj who had monopoly on two wheelers and Ambassador which was the only car available and then the usual suspects like C@mmunists (they were still powerful in those days) Workers union leaders and media
I never understood why we should protest when we are getting Fords, Hondas to Indian market as it will create more jobs and give us better cars than those boring ambassador cars. I was a big fan of Korea after SEOUL Olympics (1988) and wanted we like we should also start growing Korea & China
Dad explained we are protesting as we are afraid of unknown just like that little bird I had. We are content staying poor and malnourished with the so called Hindu Rate of Growth (Hinduism got nothing to do with it, it was the socialism of Nehru which killed our growth story)
This protests went on for all the 5 years of PVNR rule and he eventually lost after 5 years. Today everyone says he is the man who truly liberated India and we are 5th biggest economy due to his policies of Liberalization
Same thing happened when computers came to India. They said it will take away jobs and everything will be controlled by software companies. But today India is software powerhouse and it has created millions of jobs
First time farmers will be free of clutches of middle men and dalals. It is middle men who become millionaires in India while farmers are always in debts and the consumers land up paying more and more for food and commercial crops every year
These middle men are so powerful people that they form the back bone of many parties like NCP, Akalis, Punjab congress and many other regional parties
Once when Indira Gandhi was told to control these middlemen she asked “Should we stop contesting elections ? They are that powerful. Many of my family members and relatives are in controlling positions in APMCs and they are all crorepatis. Many of my family members and relatives are farmers and I have always seen them only struggle in their lives
When was studying Artificial intelligence (AI) in Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT) I met a famous Professor who was working on National Agriculture market (NAM) in India. Indian govt had asked him to design an AI and analytics model to connect all the markets of India. His team worked on it for 2 years and told the govt we can’t create a NAM until we allow farmers to sell in an open market
He told me in 2018 that Modi Govt if it wins in 2019 will bring in huge agricultural reforms in its second term which will double or treble the farmer income. Since they make 60 percent of Indian population it will truly transform India
Hence I was rooting for Modi to come back and bring these reforms
India will truly become a middle income country as more and more people will get fruits for their labor. Yes there are many farmers who are apprehensive. They say MSP will go and hence it is a loss.
Govt will continue MSP and mark my words after few years no one will need MSP as farmers will be selling to the best market and making more money than MSP. They say big corporations will monopolize and control farming
It was told the same when GM Fords Toyota and Honda came or when McDonald or KFC came. But fact is GM ran away from India and Maruti controls 51 percent market share and Honda has 3 percent share in cars.
Same way market forces and proper regulations will never let some one control the whole farming. It is too big too diversified for any company to do it
And most importantly the digital tech and AI will transform market intelligence send make every farmer access any good market without selling it to Dalal or a big company
Now the democracy has truly reached Agriculture and farmers have got their independence
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