Is centre responsible for woes of TamilNadu farmer

More than fifty farmers from Tamil Nadu are sitting in dharna in Delhi demanding that the Government of India should fully compensate the farmers in Tamil Nadu for the loss incurred by them in agricultural operations due to drought conditions in the state. The agitating farmers are adopting all kinds of “strategies “ like wearing minimum dress , holding human skull, threatening to commit suicide etc. to draw the attention of the TV media and the country men.

Several politicians in Tamil Nadu belonging to different opposition political parties, some film actors and people who claim themselves to be activists , environmentalists and revolutionaries have been travelling from Tamil Nadu to Delhi to meet the protestors , taking photograph with them and speaking to them for sometime in front of camera. To cap it all , the vice president of Congress party has now visited the protestors and hailed their demonstration and used the occasion to find fault with Modi government .

Now, to add muscle to the protesting farmers in Delhi, some young men have been trying to organize demonstration and protests in Tamil Nadu to give momentum for the protest.

While there is considerable sympathy and support from the cross section of people in Tamil Nadu for the plight of farmers in the state due to drought conditions, there are many people who wonder as to whether such sort of protests by farmers at Delhi is an appropriate method to find solution for their problems?

Unfortunately , the visual TV Tamil media are organizing debates on the farmers’ protest in Delhi and seem to be trying to give a political colour to the agitation and seem to be bent upon projecting the protests by the farmers as an anti Modi government protest and spreading an impression that Modi government is acting against the interests of Tamil Nadu.

It is high time that the facts should be clearly explained and the ground realities assessed.

The fact is that south west monsoon which happen between July and September was much below normal in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states in 2016. As a result, Karnataka government could not release the stipulated quantity of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu , which considerably affected the farming operations in the delta region in the state. The Tamil Nadu farmers protested about the non release of adequate quantity of water from Karnataka and the matter was referred to judiciary. Several orders were issued by Supreme Court of India which was not implemented by Karnataka government fully, saying that there is scarcity of water in Karnataka itself.

It was then thought that the on coming north east monsoon between October and December would relieve the water stress in Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately, north east monsoon also was a near total failure.

Meanwhile, with the passing away of Jayalalitha , who was Chief mInister of Tamil Nadu , the governance in the state became unstable.

In the beginning, the farmers wanted monetary relief from Tamil Nadu government, which is responsible for looking after the interests of the farmers in the state.

Sadly, the finances of the Tamil Nadu government are in extremely bad shape with the current account deficit of more than Rs.16000 Cr. , fiscal deficit of more than Rs.60,000 cr. , outstanding debt of more than Rs. 3 lakh crore and the interest on the debt amounting to more than Rs. 25000 Cr. per annum. The ground reality is that the badly managed economy of the Tamil Nadu government has no resources left to come to the aid of the farmers.

Concealing it’s lack of finances, Tamil Nadu government demanded that the government of India should give around Rs. 39,000 cr. as aid and grant to Tamil Nadu to to give relief to the farmers in the state. There is no information in the public domain as to how Tamil Nadu government has arrived at the figures with detailed facts, calculation and explanation.

Now, the Tamil Nadu farmers are sitting in dharna in Delhi demanding that government of India should give the money demanded by the Tamil Nadu government. It is strange that they are not expecting the state government to give the money.

There are 29 states and 7 union territories in India . Several other states in the country like Maharashtra , Karnataka and Kerala have undergone drought conditions and the farmers in these states are also demanding huge money from government by way of relief measure.

There are demand for waiving the farm loans running to several thousand crores of rupees from states like UP and Punjab and these states too want government of India to give money by way of aid and grant.

The question is no one seems to be thinking as to where government of India would get money from to meet the demands of the states which mismanage their own finances. Both state governments and government of India depend upon tax income for the needs of the governance.
Senior central ministers have met the protesting farmers from Tamil Nadu in Delhi and have assured them that they would do whatever possible. But the farmers refuse to accept their promises and demand instant relief.

There are number of schemes specially introduced by Modi government in recent months such as crop insurance schemes, kisan card etc. to support the farming community and it appears that the protesting farmers are not impressed by them.

Finally, there are many political leaders and cinema actors from Tamil Nadu who cry from roof top about the plight of farmers. It is well known that many of these cinema actors earn several crores of rupees and number of political parties in the state have enormous resources , which they lavishly spend during the election campaign. However, these entities do not open their own purse even as symbolic gestures to relieve the plight of farmers but extend only lip support.

One only hopes that the Tamil Nadu government would convince the protesting farmers in Delhi that they give up the present form of agitation promising to find quick solution. However, the lack of credibility of the political leaders in the state is the real issue.

Perhaps, God alone can help Tamil Nadu farmers at this time by showering them with rain.

N.S.Venkataraman
Nandini Voice For The Deprived
nandinivoice.com more  

View all 102 comments Below 102 comments
First investigate who these farmers are and if they are really farmers? Secondly only those farmers who took farm loans and used the amount for farming purpose should be given loan waivers. Those who used it for other purposes should not be given any waiver and both the banker who gave the loans and the farmer should be punished for false representation. Stop giving cash loans - if farmers ask for loans they should be given the required seeds, water, etc upto the amount requested for. Then waiver and misuse will be reduced. more  
I would say each state will have different requirement due to the drought conditions. In different period and years.However if center helps one state, then they should help other states too. There should be a uniformity in drought relief policies without political motives. more  
If the state government is neglecting the farmers problems it should be cautioned by center helped ,advised ,then removed democratically and constitutionally . more  
Where was the money coming from to distribute free or almost free rice, free oil, free kerosene, free sugar, etc etc etc. It started with basic food items and spread to TVs, Mixer/grinders, laptops. If 'somebody' had money to do all this, they should have money to setup a sea water processing unit and run it via solar power to have potable water from Chennai/Indian Ocean. Still thinking positively. Wake up and stop the blame game, adapt to the changing environment, get used to it. more  
Point 1)These so called "farmers" want 40000 crores.If representatives of farmers from all the states demand 40000 crores for their states,the amount would be around 12 lac crores..75 percent of the total revenue of the central govt...Is it practically possible for the govt to give 12 lac crores to the farmers and make them happy?No chance......What about defence,education,tourism,HRD ,industries,salaries of employees etc...The demand is not justified.. Point2)Its the responsibility of the state govt to take care of the farmers from that state.The central govt had already given additional aid for the draught relief to the state govt of Tamil Nadu. Point3)The money which the central govt gives as aid for drought does not go to the affected people,the money goes to the politicians who use farmers as their tool and eventually do not help the farmers. Point4)Its very obvious that "all "the farmers of any states have not taken loan from govt and they have no output to reply the govt because of factors beyond their control... ---How many farmers are there in Tamil Nadu? ----How many of them are actually poor farmers(the rich farmers can repay) ? ---How many of poor farmers have taken loan and cannot repay that because of drought situation? I am sure the figure of such small farmers who are poor and have taken loan less than a lac Rs would be only only few thousands...The reason I can say this is because most poor farmers do not use banks..forget loans..They get the loan from local lenders..How can the govt track the loan amount to be paid to local lenders....... Point5)We must realize that there are a lot of factors working against our country to ensure that it breaks in pieces..India was a traditional Russia ally.America managed to break russia in small countries without fighting war.Same was applied for our country and a lot of NGOs were opened helping religious conversions so that we people fight with each other and we do not become a powerful country.America ,China and Pakistan are always in a lookout of opportunities to create differneces and highlight them so that we form groups and fight with each other. Example @Jallikattu-What was central govt's role in that.Peta is foreign funded who filed a case. @Farmers agitation--When Yogi can take the decision,what is wrong with the govt of Tamil Nadu. @Water scarcity in Tamil Nadu--Its been there since hundred of years.Why were the lakes closed down despite knowing the consequences?Why water conservation schemes were not started like rain water harvesting ,construction of ponds in all the villages.Creation of artificial lakes and so on.. There was no political mood to address the real causes but the money was rather used for conversions or distribution of gifts in elections.. @hydro carbon extraction--When the world is exploring ocean to get hydro carbons,what is the problem if we can get hydro carbons from our own country.This will help to meed the demand of the nation.. How many farmers were actually affected by hydro carbon project ..This project was already approved by state govt who is actually responsible for the compensation. The state govt is responsible for the issues and why the central govt is being blamed and these people are protesting in Delhi...................................................... more  
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