Suicide Of Farmers Now Before Judiciary
Even as Manmohan Singh was accepting another doctorate for dubious achievements and political reasons, judiciary was censoring his gross incompetence and negligence in dealing with farmer's suicides. A report has labeled India as the most corrupt country another as most malnourished and annual exports of engineering goods that too largely consists of heavy or bulky low tech products is only $20b – let me remind you friends the theme of his PhD in 60s was "India's Exports Competitiveness". (Refer ET Trends chart on Monday)
Since this quack economist and a mediocre to me has announced SEZ loot program a message has gone across the world that Industry the world over may have to deal with top thug of India Mukesh Ambani responsible for 30% of acreage in SEZs and entirely the prime properties in Mumbai and Delhi suburbs, not GOI and states and technologists and entrepreneurs who is convicted of rerouting of telephone calls etc. Increasingly world is neglecting him for GOI and states have little to offer or nothing to offer when all tax concessions are with Mukesh Ambani.
Manmohan Singh genetically pro commission agent policies and turning a blind eye to the exploitation by moneylenders have allowed judiciary to intervene in the matter.
It is a shame for India that moneylenders with connivance and promotion of the GOI are allowed to "Extort" 3% interest per month to as high as 1.5% per day interest rates. This was highlighted in "Vidharbha Report".
This has no parallel in the world in present times.
Loans and advances given to the farmers are just about $30b but to industry exceed $300b though both contribute equally to GDP of India. Also GOI allow $35b as tax dodges to industry.
Last year Indian exports of agro commodities exceeded $10b and any export incentive which ought to have gone to the farmers and agro producers too lined the pockets of traders.
His foolish ideas are not drying up but are fertilized by dubious PhDs.
His government is mulling the idea of funding moneylenders legalizing and promoting their extortion of farmers and turning their loot in to legally earned income.
Ravinder Singh October16, 2006
Suicide by farmers: HC notice to Punjab, Haryana
Maneesh Chhibber
Our High Court Correspondent
Maneesh Chhibber
Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, October 11
In a scathing comment on the lackadaisical attitude of the government vis-à-vis suicides by debt-ridden farmers, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that the "government is taking no remedial steps to save poor farmers from committing suicides".
In a scathing comment on the lackadaisical attitude of the government vis-à-vis suicides by debt-ridden farmers, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that the "government is taking no remedial steps to save poor farmers from committing suicides".
Taking suo moto notice of reports in The Tribune headlined "4 of farmer's family consume poison, die" and "farmer commits suicide", which talked of four members of two separate farmers' families ending their lives to escape continuing financial hardships, Mr Justice Pritam Pal also pointed out that banks and other financial institutions have floated many schemes such as one-time settlement scheme to favour principal debtors and industrial houses who fail to pay back crores of rupees that they take as loan.
"The said protection is not meant for the rich only. Such schemes are supposed to be framed to look after poor sections of the society as well," Mr Justice Pritam Pal's order says.
The news reports published in The Tribune yesterday had talked of four members of a poor farmer's family consuming a poisonous substance to end their lives at Khyali village in Barnala district. While a father-son duo died immediately, the son's wife died in a Ludhiana hospital later. The couple's five-year-old daughter was still struggling for life in the hospital.
The family had been facing financial hardships, making it difficult of them to make both ends meet. Despite owning 10 acres of land, the family was not able to earn enough.
The second report talked of a debt-ridden farmer in his late 20s committing suicide by hanging himself from the roof at his residence in Bhaini Bagha village in Mansa. The deceased, 28-year-old Gurjeet Singh, had 15 acres of land, out of which he had mortgaged three acres. He was purportedly stuck in a debt-trap, as he owed about Rs 12 lakh to State Bank of India and Land Mortgage Bank, Mansa.
Holding that the facts and circumstances mentioned in the news reports were sufficient for taking up the matter on the judicial side, Mr Justice Pritam Pal has stated that the governments of Punjab and Haryana be issued directions to come to the rescue of poor farmers and other weaker sections of the society, who suffer on account of natural calamities like drought, floods and crop diseases, etc, thereby failing to re-pay their loans and debts.
He referred the matter to the Chief Justice for appropriate orders.
Today, the Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Mr Justice S.S. Saron issued notices to the governments of Punjab and Haryana for November 15.
Low-cost credit to farmers only a myth
[FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2006 01:11:51 PM]
PRIME minister Manmohan Singh's directive to banks for low-cost credit to farmers from Vidarbha notwithstanding, the Maharashtra government's survey suggests that as many as 75% of the farming community still is away from any type of banking facility.
Faced with seemingly unstoppable suicides by farmers in six districts of Vidarbha, the state government had undertaken first ever door-to-door survey to study the 'distress levels' Vidarbha region has witnessed 1,900 suicides since 2001.
The survey conducted end of May covered 8,351 villages spread in six districts of the region touching 17.64 lakh families living on agriculture. The results are far from being comfortable. It shows that out of 17.64 lakh families, the crop has failed around for 12.20 lakh. Of these 8.89 lakh families have unpaid dues ranging from as meagre as Rs 1,000 to around Rs 50,000. Of the total number of families studied, 4.34 lakh families have been categorised as 'most tensed' due to variety of reasons. The most stunning feature of the survey has been the revelation that only 25% of the farming community has access to some kind of legitimate money lending system.
This means 75% of the farmers are neither on the banks' radar and nor has any financial institution approached them. This has left them at the mercy of the private lenders.
The rates being charged by these private money lenders are ridiculously high. The survey suggests that it can go anywhere between 30- 45%- a whopping 1-1.5% a day making loan repayment an impossible task.
"Though the state government has clamped down heavily on private money lending, we can't force them to shut down since it adds to overall distress levels," an official associated with the exercise told ET. The government has so far booked over 100 such private money lenders for charging exorbitant rates. The farming community is caught between the devil and the deep sea.
"On the one hand they face insensitive banking system and on the other; private money lenders exploit them mercilessly," an official said. But atleast they provide much needed cash unlike the banks that turn them away, he added. Recalling the prime minister Manmohan Singh and the finance minister P Chidambaram's directives to banks to lend low-cost loans to farmers, an official said those instructions largely remain on paper.
Faced with seemingly unstoppable suicides by farmers in six districts of Vidarbha, the state government had undertaken first ever door-to-door survey to study the 'distress levels' Vidarbha region has witnessed 1,900 suicides since 2001.
The survey conducted end of May covered 8,351 villages spread in six districts of the region touching 17.64 lakh families living on agriculture. The results are far from being comfortable. It shows that out of 17.64 lakh families, the crop has failed around for 12.20 lakh. Of these 8.89 lakh families have unpaid dues ranging from as meagre as Rs 1,000 to around Rs 50,000. Of the total number of families studied, 4.34 lakh families have been categorised as 'most tensed' due to variety of reasons. The most stunning feature of the survey has been the revelation that only 25% of the farming community has access to some kind of legitimate money lending system.
This means 75% of the farmers are neither on the banks' radar and nor has any financial institution approached them. This has left them at the mercy of the private lenders.
The rates being charged by these private money lenders are ridiculously high. The survey suggests that it can go anywhere between 30- 45%- a whopping 1-1.5% a day making loan repayment an impossible task.
"Though the state government has clamped down heavily on private money lending, we can't force them to shut down since it adds to overall distress levels," an official associated with the exercise told ET. The government has so far booked over 100 such private money lenders for charging exorbitant rates. The farming community is caught between the devil and the deep sea.
"On the one hand they face insensitive banking system and on the other; private money lenders exploit them mercilessly," an official said. But atleast they provide much needed cash unlike the banks that turn them away, he added. Recalling the prime minister Manmohan Singh and the finance minister P Chidambaram's directives to banks to lend low-cost loans to farmers, an official said those instructions largely remain on paper.
Manmohan calls for new global vision
Cambridge honour for PM
Naveen Kapoor
Cambridge honour for PM
Naveen Kapoor
Cambridge University (UK), October 11
Over a year after being honoured with a doctorate by Oxford University, Cambridge University bestowed upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Doctor of Law degree here today.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singh said he was deeply conscious of the honour bestowed upon him by two of Britain's oldest universities, and said the tutelage that he had received from teachers like Nicholas Kaldor, Joan Robinson, Maurice Dobb and Prof R.C.O. Mathews, and his interactions with contemporaries like Amartya Sen, Jagadish Bhagwati, Mahbul Haq and Rehman Shobhan — all of whom have become renowned economists from South Asia — had stood the test of time, and "taught me to be open to argument and to be fearless and lucid in the expression of one's opinions".
Describing the links between India and Cambridge as long and enduring, Dr Singh said vast changes had taken place around the world between 1950s and the new millennium.
Whereas in the mid-50s, the Cold War had frozen the world into two blocs, the world today was radically altered.
"A new age of freedom has harnessed to it new technologies that have transformed production and communication. The dismantling of state control has unshackled economic forces. More countries are now integrated into a global economic system in which trade and capital flow across borders with unprecedented energy. The age of freedom is also the age of economic growth. Prometheus has truly been unbound," he said.
He went on to say that a significant feature of the global economy was "the integration of the emerging economies in world markets. They now account for more than two-fifths of world exports compared to a fifth 25 years ago".
"In many parts of the developing world, especially India and China, per capita incomes are doubling or are expected to double over every decade. This will lift millions of people out of poverty," he added.
Referring to India, Dr Singh said the economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s had made it more competitive.
"Indian business is responding to new market opportunities. India's growth is underpinned by a vibrant and growing entrepreneurial class. Indian youth is keen to get into technical and scientific institutions —helping India gain salience as a knowledge-based economy. Our country, I believe, is now on growth path of 7 to 9 per cent per year, while maintaining price stability. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is declining," he said.
Globalisation notwithstanding, Dr Singh said the process had not removed personal and regional income disparities.
"The working classes in industrialised countries are becoming fearful of the opening of markets. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. This, coupled with the inability of the public sector to provide adequate and quality services in health and education, and cater to the needs of the poor, is causing resentment and alienation. This is nurturing divisive forces and putting pressure on the practice of democracy," he warned.
"I suggest that we address these vital concerns by making globalisation an inclusive process. We need to work for inclusive globalisation. This calls for a new global vision," he added. He said the vision must ensure that the gains from globalisation are more widely shared.
Expressing concern over the impasse of the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations, Dr Singh said: "If trade is to be an instrument of combating poverty and spreading manufacturing capacities more evenly in the world, it is vital that barriers to the export of agricultural goods from developing countries be eliminated."
"To convince people in poor countries about the benefits of globalisation we must take a more enlightened view in liberalising trade in services and labour-intensive manufactures, in which developing countries are competitive. I see trade not only as a means to prosperity but also to peace building," he added.
He suggested a more enlightened approach to the negotiations on the reduction of harmful gas emissions, intellectual property rights in the production of life saving drugs, transfer of technologies that help combat poverty and such issues.
He added that all efforts to eradicate poverty would be in vain if societies and nations continued to be threatened by the spectre of terrorism and extremism.
"Open societies like India and Britain are more vulnerable to this threat. The very openness of our societies makes us more vulnerable. Yet we must fight terrorism without losing the openness or the rule of law that guarantees the freedom of the individual," Dr Singh said.
"As democracies we must also stand together in making governance across the world more democratic. As a democracy we aspire to a world in which global institutions are more democratic and more representative of all peoples of the world. A more inclusive global process that carries the population of the world with it calls for a reform of these institutions, in which the developing world will have a greater voice. Not to do otherwise is to risk alienation and to render ineffectual the global system," he added.
In his speech, the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Prof Alison Richard, said it was rare indeed for the position of Prime Minister to be given to someone who was not a professional politician.
Describing Dr Manmohan Singh as a scholar and public servant of great distinction, Professor Richard said: "He grew up in times so perilous that for a long while when India and Pakistan were brutally created, his father went missing, and he himself could not discover his own examination results. Yet, he pursued his studies as far as Cambridge."
Professor Richard further went on to say that Dr Singh read his economics with "such brilliance" that he was awarded the Adam Smith Prize.
"Millions look to this man. They see in him someone of auspicious integrity. He is in the words of the Greek poet Simonides 'Cool and Calm', and a man of healing virtue," Professor Richard concluded. — ANI
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