PICTURE SPEAK

“Grain Drain”, June 11, 2007

“The Centre should take radical steps to boost agricultural production. Innovation and diversification will make the farm sector profitable.”

V.G. Prakash, Bangalore

Crop Circles

The Government should ban the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. Barren land that is not used for agriculture should be given to industries (“Grain Drain”, June 11). Corporate farming should be allowed so that banks come forward to finance agriculture.

Man Mohan Bhatia, Delhi

India seems so overwhelmed with its it-driven economic boom that it is totally neglecting agriculture, which is still the main sector of the Indian economy. It is shameful that agricultural growth has plunged to an all-time low and the Government is doing nothing to salvage the sector.

K. Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore

The cover story gives a very shocking picture. While on the surface things seem hunky-dory, the rates of growth of agriculture in the last decade have been poor and a major cause of rural distress. Productivity is secondary, the Centre should first take steps to give benefits to farmers.

Mirle S. SitaRam, Bangalore

It’s disheartening to see that you have used a blurb that says: “Can’t Feed Ourselves”. This is both false and mischievous. It’s unfair to say that imports are not rising because of lack of domestic production. It is, in fact, because of agri-business pressure through the World Bank, World Trade Organisation and now the US-India agricultural agreement.

Vandana Shiva, Delhi

Your cover story paints a dismal picture of the farm sector. How can you say that more than 40 per cent of the farmers want to opt out of the profession? Instead of harping on the negatives, you could have highlighted the positives. The Rs 25,000-crore package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will definitely bring about a change in the farm sector.

Onkar Chopra, Delhi

The Centre should arrange for ways to finance farmers to rid them of the malaise of age-old money-lenders. Irrigation should be at the doorstep and proper electricity and storage facility should be provided to attract the younger generation into the sector.

Trisheet Chatterjee, Delhi

Agriculture is a slow-income yielding sector. However, with vast land area and manpower, India can still produce surplus products for exports too.

Chetan Prabhakar, Gurgaon

Sharad Pawar’s interview is lacklustre and unsatisfactory. As the Union minister for food and agriculture, he should own up responsibility for the deterioration of the farm sector. How can he attribute the present dismal picture in agriculture to lack of long-term loan from financial institutions? Nationalised banks have been forced to write off several crores of rupees because loans were not being regularly repaid.

Debasish Chatterjee, Kolkata

Single Category

The recent Meena-Gujjar caste war on reservation calls for a complete overhaul of the divide-and-rule policy of political parties (“Caste in Conflict”, June 11). For proper implementation of quota, political parties should merge SC, ST and OBC into one single category.

Madhu Agrawal, Delhi

Tollywood Turnaround

It’s heartening to read that Bengali films have finally come of age (“Out of the Woods”, June 11). Post its glorious times in 1960’s and 70’s, there was a lull in Tollywood when its movies suffered from an identity crisis—they were reduced to mere rip-offs of Hindi and south Indian films. With new directors coming in, it’s good news pouring for the industry which is all set for a makeover.

A. Jacob Sahayam, Thiruvananthapuram

Profitable Partnership

Japan and India can be ideal partners in so many diverse fields (“Love with Tokyo”, June 11). Both are high-tech, peace-loving and pragmatic. Many joint projects can be started by them in various countries. This win-win situation needs total utilisation of the lucrative opportunities waiting to be exploited.

V.K. Yangri, on e-mail

Left With no Logic

The CPI(M) seems to be playing weird games (“Comrades at War”, June 11). There is no logic behind the suspension of V.S. Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan from the politburo when the two are being allowed to continue in their official posts as chief minister and state secretary respectively. The whole episode looks like a comic strip.

Asoke C. Banerjee, Kolkata

Not Just Fathers...

With today’s stressful workplace, it’s unfair to say dads alone are facing the challenge in parenting (“Overstretched Dads”, June 11). With more number of women working, young parents have ‘added’ responsibilities to share. It’s not the onus of men alone. Both men and women are trying to redefine the idea of ‘parenting’.

Mansi Aneja, Delhi

It’s not about young parents trying to meet expectations at workplaces and homes. Times have changed and with new economic forces such as global competition, there’s immense pressure on everyone to perform. Even children are bearing the brunt of cut-throat competition.

B. Umakkanth, Hyderabad

Stress Control

A spate of suicides by army personnel is a worrying development (“Combating Stress”, June 11). Fighting internal turmoil is very frustrating for the security forces. Denial of leave and ill-treatment meted out to officers are some other factors that induce such drastic measures. It is imperative to take steps to de-stress jawans. Yoga and meditation, too, can help mitigate their sufferings.

Virendra Kumar Tangri, Dehradun

THE GREAT DIVIDE

Manmohan Singh is justified in discouraging the obnoxious show of wealth as it can kickstart a social unrest (“Lurching to the Left”, June 11). As the prime minister of the country, he’s rightly worried about the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Uttam Pegu, Delhi

A social unrest is waiting to happen as the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Before focusing on economic growth, the Government should take steps to bridge the divide. After all, GDP growth and FDI inflow alone are not synonymous with development.

Srinjit Venkatesh, Delhi

30
Years Ago in India Today
JULY 1-15, 1977

The Film That Got Away

In October 1974, at the height of J.P.’s “total revolution” movement in Bihar, a young man, city bred and university educated, put everything aside to go and work in a “genuine movement of the people”. Anand Patwardhan, then 25, saw it as a spontaneous movement and felt impelled to put it on record. He decided to film the rallies. In the beginning the idea was to simply record police violence at the rallies. But soon the force of the movement inspired him to embark upon a proper film. “A film which I could show to people in Bihar, which would become part of the ongoing process of the movement.” The half-hour-long film Waves of Revolution speaks for itself. Composed of dark shots, stills of mobs and loose footage of stampedes and police-firings, it is a poignant portrait of an uprising that led to the implementation of the Emergency.

-Undergound

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