This is with reference to your cover story on the state of adivasis in Chhattisgarh, In The Shadow Of The Gun (June 26). The adivasis of central India have been expressing their discontent with State policy for the last five decades. Unable to get an answer, some took to direct action under the leadership of Maoist revolutionaries. This ‘direct’ way largely meant violence and was met by counter-violence by the government. Hence, what we have after years of conflict is a bloody history, with no one willing to back down. In time, the roots of Maoism have spread deeper. As your story shows, Ganapathy lives and operates from a bunker of 5-6 rooms built deep in the jungles of Abujmarg, “safe even from air attacks”. It is imperative for the health of the State that Maoist insurgency be ended or drastically contained. For that, the government must have a “sensitively contained and sincerely implemented plan” to make the adivasis true partners in the development process by assuring them the title over lands cultivated by them. Give them a solid stake in the industrial and mineral projects that come up where they live, at the cost of their lands and homes.
Col CV Venugopalan (retd), Palakkad
Adivasis are paying the price of living in the shadow of forests ever since the colonial days. To ruling regimes, forests have been just revenue-yielding resources, but to the adivasis, they are home. Adivasis have always fought to protect their rights, something depicted beautifully and thoughtfully by the legendary Mahashweta Devi in her books, such as Jangal Ke Daavedar and Birsa Munda Aur Uska Teer. Little wonder, the Maoists cleverly exploited the resentment brewing among adivasis to their benefit and the establishment has declared a war over them that has harmed poor adivasis more than the Maoists. Utterly unjust and unconstitutional forces like the Salwa Judum have been used to terrorise them. The Forest Right Act was a ray of hope in this dark scenario, but nowhere in central India is it being effectively implemented, thanks to the connivance between forest officials and the civic administration. Unfortunately, adivasis are forced to get crushed between the security forces and Maoists, very much like what has been told aptly in the Kabir couplet: Dui Paatan Ke Beech Mein, Sabit Bacha Na Koye (Between two grinding stones, or in the duel of wheels, nothing stays intact).
Rakesh Agrawal, Dehradun
Ever-increasing farmers’ suicides and agrarian crises in several states warrant intense introspection (They Aren’t Beggars, June 26). Why are farmers compelled to take loans when they are given subsidies? The real culprits are the loan sharks and commission agents and middlemen besides goons masquerading as bank representatives. With reasonable freebies, the farmers are given remunerative returns on investment by upgrading the support prices of their products. Farmers should not be pushed into such a situation that they have to resort to protests for waiving of unwieldy loans.
Prakash Hanspaul, On E-Mail
Indians must desist from wasting food on celebratory occasions and flowing milk in the name of religion. When farm produces are being thrown down the road, one wonders about the absence of government retail counters that sell vegetables at reasonable prices. In my metro, they do exist but in numbers far less than sufficient. Waiving off loans is a knee-jerk reaction to the crisis on which authorities must chart and implement steps that won’t misuse the taxpayers’ money.
Anil Kapadia, Mumbai
If the farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh took an ugly turn in June, it was owing to the state government’s mishandling of the situation. By the time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan realised the gravity of the situation, things had spiralled out of control. Let such laxity be a lesson for every administration, whose primary focus should be fetching farmers remunerative prices for produces, more so when there is a glut.
K.R. Srinivasan, Secunderabad
Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and UP have together waived off loans worth Rs 1,00,000 crore! Such a wrong precedent! Only recently did we hear of the boss of the country’s largest bank SBI saying that such waivers would disrupt the credit discipline among farmers. The government should start setting up more cold-storage facilities and facilitate farmer’s access to global markets. The benefits of technology should percolate to marginal growers.
Bal Govind, On E-Mail
Earlier, feudal landlords used to mercilessly exploit farmers, occasionally giving waivers in taxes only for strategic reasons. After demonetisation caused a severe cash crunch in the agricultural economy, farmers were driven into the clutches of middlemen, brokers and commission agents. The number of farmers who are committing suicide everyday is beyond shocking, it is a national emergency. Timely calibration of import and export policies in tune with the vagaries of production has not also been done. And loan waivers are just an escapist tactic used by politicians. In the long-run, it will do nothing to better the root causes of the crisis.
M.N. Bhartiya, Goa
The agrarian distress is not an overnight phenomenon, nor was it made in the last six months after demonetisation. Rise and fall in prices of produce, at times drastic, is nothing new and depends on various factors, including the monsoon. Successive governments haven’t been able to provide succour to farmers. The unabated suicides are testimony to that. The government only resorted to temporary measures like loan waivers. Of course, farmers aren’t beggars—they are our food source. Their agitation cannot be looked in isolation, it is a matter of grave concern for all.
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
Things have come to such a pass now that even in villages, many farmers don’t want their offspring to follow the livelihood of their ancestors. The reason is the untold misery of small and mid-scale farmers, which successive governments haven’t been able to address. The recent crisis just proves one thing—how the farmers and consumers really don’t gain anything; whether it’s a glut or a shortfall, it’s the middleman who is raking it in. The core problems of farmers is well-known—vagaries of weather, lack of irrigation, improper mechanisation, lack of credit, uneconomic holdings etc. Instead of making a grand gesture of waiving loans, the Centre should intervene in a constructive manner.
Gilbert D’Souza, Bangalore
Farmer issues are seen as rural problems, but all the food we eat comes from rural India.
Vijay Kumar, On E-Mail
This is about Outlook’s story on the agri crisis and farmer fury (Demo And Other Demons in the Barn, June 26). There seems to be no respite in farmers’ plight. The government, barring the usual platitudes, just looks the other way. Yet this is not new—the suicide of 3.5 lakh farmers in the past two decades point to the alarming situation. The state doesn’t come forward in dismantling the nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and middlemen working in tandem to exploit and ruin farmers. These evil agents buy produce from farmers below the MSP, robbing farmers of their livelihood after they’ve tilled the land, toiled in the scorching sun and risked their all for months. When they are confronted with inclement weather, including droughts, low produce and remuneration, mounting debts and a plunge in prices due to a glut, the government should come forward with good policies like crop and weather insurance and ensure at least the MSP. They should also eliminate middlemen and have a clear programme for proper storage of produce, logistics and market infrastructure at the local level in every village.
M.Y. Shariff, Chennai
Even after 70 years of independence and so many five-year plans, it’s appalling that our farmers’ lot hasn’t changed much. While they continue to feed the nation, they aren’t able to feed themselves and face an uncertain future. Instead of enough pesticides, seeds and fertilisers, what they are getting in abundance are blows from lathis and bullets. They are also not able to sell or buy livestock under the new cattle trade norms. Often fertile lands are usurped by the state. Loan waivers are, of course, a short-term solution, for farmers will keep taking loans and fall into a debt trap every few years.
K.P. Rajan, Mumbai
The bedrock of India’s economy is still agriculture; the result of a crisis in this sector means the farmers and consumers will be the ones to suffer. A huge gap has opened up between rich farmers and the ones so distressed as to escape lifelong drudgery by committing suicide. In order to save our farmers, high interest loans should be paid off. Can we not have low-priced input material provided by ration-shop-like entities where the state government keeps a track of production costs?
K.K. Manali, Mumbai
Is ISIS still a force to reckon with? The outfit was a result of US attempts to interfere in the affairs of other countries (Jehadi Chickens Coming Home, June 26). The more people are suppressed, the more they will resist the oppressor. India too should learn from world history and settle the Kashmir dispute amicably. There is no alternative to dialogue.
M.S., On E-Mail
This refers to your story on the J&K Police (Policing the Trust Ceiling, June 26). It is true that direct-recruit police officers in J&K work in tougher conditions than their counterparts in other states. Unlike IPS officers, they don’t even have the option of central deputation, which could give them some respite. But any decision on how high they can rise in the state police hierarchy needs parliamentary intervention as it would affect other states too.
Lt Col (retd) Ranjit Sinha, New Delhi
This refers to The Well-Oiled Coco Comeback (June 26). The guidance on which fats or cooking oil to use is very confusing. The opinion though is still divided on the health benefits. The claim that the mixture of fats in coconut oil makes it a healthy option is disputed by the American Heart Association due to paucity of good-quality evidence. Some other fad foods making it big in the West today are turmeric, jackfruit, ginger, cumin seeds and cardamom. All these are part of our cuisine and cooking is not complete without one of these ingredients. For ages the people of Kerala and the coastal areas in Karnataka have been using coconut oil in food and ayurveda treatments. We will continue to use them irrespective of whether they continue to be a hit with western users.
H.N. Ramakrishna, Bangalore
This refers to the column Jehadi Chickens Coming Home (June 26) on violence in West Asia. We do not hold Norwegian Christians responsible for the actions of the fascist Andres Breivik, whose 2011 rampage left 77 dead. We do not hold white people collectively responsible for Timothy McVeigh, the US neo-Nazi whose 1995 Oklahoma City bomb killed 168 people, or for David Copeland, the former BNP member who planted bombs across London in 1999. Nor should anyone suggest that Britain’s Muslims are collectively responsible for the recent attacks in Manchester and London. Of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, how many commit atrocities like this?
The politicians trying to stir up trouble and racist violence in the wake of these attacks do not care about the victims, their families or the interests of any community. They only want to see Muslims attacked and a race war on our streets. Muslim youth born into British society and socialised in British schools, or naturalised after years of residence and integration, already endure frustrating barriers to socio-economic mobility and face discrimination as members of an ethnic minority. In fact, the 7/7 bombers and the British Muslim youths in Syria and Iraq are products not of Muslim schools, but of British schooling, which is the home of institutional racism. It is absurd to believe that Muslim schools, imams and masjids teach Muslim children anti-Semitic, homophobic and anti-western views.
The English, the Irish, the Welsh and the Scott hate each other and all of them hate Islam and Muslims. Britain has become “an institutionally Islamophobic” society in which Muslims are demonised. There is renewed talk of a clash of civilisations, a new global cold war and mounting concern that the already fragile foothold gained by Muslims in Britain is threatened by ignorance and intolerance. Islamophobia sometimes triggers the strangest political posturing—the far right now often presents itself as feminist to better bash Muslims on gender equality; as pro-gay rights, again to bash Muslims on their supposed homophobia, and even as animal rights activists, to better justify banning ritual slaughter.
Iftikhar Ahmad, London
The government has finally acted against the Roys of NDTV for fraud and deceit—the matter of litigation is in courts. Before NDTV became a profit-making entity, it suffered a huge cash loss . It had no funds to even pay salaries, and its shares were trading at less than par. Its fortunes soared after the UPA came to power, and it received funds through a host of shell companies floated by it after 2004.
J. Akshay, Bangalore
The AIADMK’s battle for the ‘two leaves’ symbol is reminiscent of the recent fight for the ‘cycle’ in Uttar Pradesh, which ultimately proved catastrophic for the Samajwadi Party (A State of Two and a Half CMs, June 19). Taking cue, the people of Tamil Nadu may well show AIADMK the door in the next election.
Seetharam Basaani, Telangana
