The other day one of my friends from the neighboring state of Kerala casually remarked with deep resignation: Kerala has now become a giant housing colony bereft of its once verdant paddy fields that were the envy of the nation. It is filled with people who migrate overseas chasing the lucre and then translate their money into building posh houses on the very land that for centuries was an agricultural akshay-paatra. ( And if not posh houses, it is the selling of their lands to vested housing estate sharks building NRI style residential complexes.) These resignation was also echoed by a Malayaali colleague of mine who lamented the death of agriculture at his own ancestral land. His family had never even purchased rice from outside; all their annual rice demands were met by the fertile lands of his ancestral property in Southern Kerala. But no more. The steep decline of human capital necessary to work the farms in Kerala has completely shut down his farm to the point where his ancestral lands have become a sea of grass and weeds. The same story is beginning to take shape in Tamil Nadu and sadly may be repeated in other states of Bhaarath in years to come.

So what went wrong:

Since times ancient, wealth has always been measured in terms of agricultural output and associated ventures like cattle and diary etc. Our Hindu Vedaas repeatedly talk of farming and cows as the true wealth of man. "Dhanvanaa Gaa (win cows)" is the battle cry as the fearless warrior embanks on battles of fresh expansionary conquests. Annam (rice) and fertile fields have always been the golden standards of wealth and prosperity of our ancient land. Whenever the Vedas have envisioned a prosperous nation, they have always centered on the abundance of agriculture and cows.

But fast forward to today, the meaning of wealth has taken an entirely different meaning. It means shares, real-estate, debentures, holdings, and a host of progressively complex financial jargon that measures wealth of not only the individual but also of nations. Proponents enthusiastically call this the modern economic system which they say is a consequence of human systems evolution. And from these complex financial jargon has evolved the realm of speculative economics like the share market and real-estate that is primarily defining wealth today. Agriculture viability and other tangible factors that are vital to human existence like fresh water, pollution free fertile soil have been completely erased out of the equations calculating economic viability. To put it in layman's terms, prosperity is SOLELY determined by the amount of moolah that the individual or a state possesses in their coffers. And this has resulted out of the domination of the world economic order by agri-poor nations of West in comparison with the agri-super-rich nations like Bhaarath. Modern economics increasingly risks deteriorating to absurdity. With no factors to correct for vital ecological and agricultural parameters, the economical trajectories of nations are heading in the zones of the absurd, leading to paradoxical situations where one has agri (rice)-rich verdant and fertile lands like Kerala importing most of its rice from the outside. The same thing is happening in Tamil Nadu where the share of self produced rice to the agricultural coffers of the state is rapidly diminishing against that of rice imported from other agri-rich states like neighboring AP. And it will be only a matter of time before the lure of speculative economics (read gambling and easy money) corrupts states like AP also (if not already). But one thing is for certain: the long term of neglecting these important factors into the economic equation will lead to total collapse of our financial system.

Is this really Green Revolution??

The founding fathers of Green Revolution who wanted our ancient land to regain its self-sufficiency in food grains and define our prosperity along the lines of our ancient Vedas would be greatly saddened to see that their concept has been hijacked by the green of dollar bills. Their hearts would be rendered when they see that States capable of being not only self-sufficient in agriculture but also become export surplus houses are turning their fertile lands to weed fields and concrete real estate and are resorting to the self-unraveling shortcut of importing food grains to feed themselves. The founding fathers certainly did not envision the elimination of hunger through costly imports when they launched this Green Revolution. Rather than greening the lands, it is just greening the coffers of a select few powerful elite of the land, making them richer and richer whilst the true hard working and toiling land owners engaged in the real wealth agri-production are being increasingly relegated to poverty and sometimes to even desperate measures like suicide. No doubt, we have become victims to mega-scams of corruption today.

So what is the solution:

The Governments (both at the state level and the center) should immediately take measures and pass legislation to counter this economically fatal long term ruin and neglect of agri-lands. (At least one thing is certain: If measures are not taken immediately, it will harm our self-sufficiency in agriculture for starters with other graver demons surely to follow.) Here are some of the steps:

Speak out BOLDLY against the absurd and unfair current world economic order that puts agri-poor nations on top just because of the dollar bills they have in their treasuries and ask for rewriting of the planetary financial equations.

Make agri-resources a powerful asset that will truly determine the world financial order. Fertile agri-lands in all Bhaarateeya states SHOULD BE BARRED FROM SALE to real-estate and other vested interests. More incentive and subsidies should be given for farming and children of farmers should be encouraged to pursue a degree in the Agri-sciences and encouraged to stay and work the verdant lands of their forefathers. Strong backing should be given to them during times of drought.

BRINGING BACK THE PRIDE IN AGRICULTURE AND CALLING OURSELVES PROUDLY AS AN AGRI-NATION FIRST. SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY CAN SURELY FOLLOW LATER.

Agriculture has always been the backbone of Bhaarath's economy since times ancient. Agricultural self-sufficiency is what made us great and an economic superpower in those glory ancient days. Ours was certainly a land of Anna, milk, honey. Rather than see ourselves a software soft power, we would certainly be much better off as a agri-hard power. That would certainly place us in a much better position in the increasingly uncertain environmental future of the planet.

Dr. VSH

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