Sunday, December 21, 2014

Indian Agriculture -when will it get due attention


Farmers in India have been producing 250 million tonnes of grain, tending the largest livestock number in the world, producing 2nd highest amount of milk in the world yet languishing with an average income of about 6000 rupees. I ask urbanites how many can survive on that income? how can anyone afford to send their kids to school leave alone send them to collage. How is Indian rural economy improve at this rate? Can rural youth remain in rural areas? If they migrate to cities which they are doing, then who will produce food and what will the cost of food be if government has to import food? These are not pretty scenarios. Indian youth need help their rural brothers to uplift them. They dont ask handout but only a hand up.





The Hindu

Published: December 21, 2014 01:52 IST | Updated: December 21, 2014 02:07 IST
More than 50% of farm households in debt
Rukmini S.
NSSO survey across 35000 family units

Nearly 90 per cent of India’s farmers have less than two hectares of land, according to the most extensive survey of farm households to date conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). The survey says the average farm household makes less than Rs. 6,500 a month from all sources of income.

The NSSO released the findings from its 70th Situation of Agricultural Households in India on Saturday. The new survey was for the agricultural year 2012­13 and covered 35,000 households. For this survey, the NSSO defined an agricultural household as one in which at least one member was self­employed in agriculture (even if part­time) and which produced at least Rs 3,000 worth of agricultural produce in a year.

By this definition, 58 per cent of rural households are agricultural households. “While some of the rest could be doing non­farm work, a significant number work exclusively as agricultural labourers, which the NSSO did not count,” an official from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation explained, asking not to be quoted as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Over half of all agricultural households are in debt; and 42 per cent of them owe money to banks and 26 per cent owe moneylenders. Over 40 per cent of agricultural households have Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) job cards, showing that even those households not classified as ‘labourers’ utilise the scheme.

One in three farm households has less than 0.4 hectares of land and less than 0.5 per cent are large farmers, having over 10 hectares of land. Large farmers are often absentee landlords, the data indicates; 54 per cent of farmers with over 10 hectares possess land in other states.

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farm households were over­represented among the poorest classes with the smallest land holdings, the data showed. Large farmers were almost exclusively OBC or forward caste.

While wheat is the most commonly grown crop in the first half of the year, paddy growing dominates the second half, the data shows. In both seasons, however, sugarcane is the most profitable crop, giving its cultivator an average of over Rs 80,000 per season.

Private traders dominate the procurement space, and few farmers have enough information about Minimum Support Prices or report getting the MSP for their produce, the data shows.

Rural Suicides- Impact on rural economy what you can do

Rural Suicide is becoming more and more prevalent all around the world. In India over 19000 farmers have committed suicide. This has not just an impact on the farmer per se but also permanently damages the family members, other dependents on the farmer such as extended family, rural businesses and due to loss of buying power the local kirana shop too.


What can educated people do to stop this?

1. Go to your local village and talk to local panchayat. Show them what options are avialable.
2. Lobby the rural banks and ensure they are part of the banking process. 
3. Train groups of farmers in financial literacy- show them how to open a bank account, save some part of their income in a bank, show them what is interest etc. Rural farmers dont trust banks.
4. Show farmers how to save for retirement or old age or poor health
5. If you have doctor friends encourage to go to rural areas and check blood pressure, eye check ups and blood sugar levels of farming families. Even if you rescue 1 family then that family will have better health.
6. Get a group of your friends and take them to a relaxing village tour. Take a tent and picnic basket and ask your friends to stay in a farm and realx. Pay the farmers some money and show them there is a capacity for alternative income.
7. Take a bunch of children and show them rural life for a day. Pay the farmers family with money or take a bag of rice with you.
8. Encourage children to participate in rice bucket challenge.
9. Take a bunch of families from your building and go to a near by village and show them how there is a connect between what they do in a city and impact on village.
10. Raise some money to build a toilet, a resting area or a compost tip in a rural area.

Think Think Think as to how to help your farmer brothers and sisters. Without them you don't have food.


19,483 farmers ended lives in State in 10 yrs

Dec 21, 2014, Belagavi, Dhns:


 Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said that as many as 19,483 farmers have committed suicide in the last 10 years in the State.
In a written reply to a question by JD(S) MLA Gopalaiah in the Assembly, he said among the total 19,483 deaths, only 2,414 were reported to the Agriculture department, as per the statistics provided by the National Crime Record Bureau.

Among 2,414 suicides, 1,231 cases have been found eligible for compensation by the government, he said. Stating that the number of suicides had come down since 2007-08, he said steps have been taken to make agriculture cost-effective by providing seeds and agriculture implements at concessional rates. Byregowda said in 2006-07, the number of suicides stood at 176, which shot up to 182 in 2007-08. 

The number of deaths came down to 156 in 2008-09 and it further came down to 146 in 2009-10 and in 2013-14, the number of deaths was 58.
DH News Service

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Rural India and Mental Health

Time again we see on TV and hear in news that a farmer committed suicide. Everyone assumes that is is some kind of a financial trouble and thereby the farmer committed suicide. India is a country which prides itself in family values and family supporting each other. Yet the social hierarchy of that exists in the society and family does not provide any room for issues such as mental health and the way it affects rural families.

Men in rural areas as supposed to be the achievers and darling of parents eye. This means every  man has to achieve beyond his capability otherwise he will be subject of ridiculed or undermined. This means if something goes wrong like a crop failure it is not taken as environmental failure but as failure of the man. So there is no going beyond that. Men who are then conditioned to believe that they need to be successful all the time and everything needs to be handed on a platter are suddenly faced with the humiliating situation of having to be unsuccessful and ask for handouts. In view of this scenario I have attempted to write about Mental Health so that it shines a light on this issue which exists in rural areas as much as in urban areas. Please understand and help people.

Mental Illness- Depression

The day you walk in other's shoe is the day you can judge them.

Introduction

In India, mental illness is generally either ignored or dismissed either due to a notion that it is a western or affluent country disease. Most Indians with mental illness go untreated, especially in poor and rural areas. “There is a huge treatment gap for people with depression,” said Dr. Vikram Patel a psychiatrist of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1). In large a population study conducted among urban south Indians, depression has been estimated at about 15% (2). Among rural poor a study done by The Princeton University showed that 7-28% of the men and 30-46% of the women reported at least one sign/symptom of depression (3).

Among the farmers, rates of suicide is on the increase with Andhra Pradesh itself reporting 17,500 farmers committing suicide between 2002-2006 and At least 160,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997. Studies have shown that situation is similar in Karnataka (4). Although there are many causes for farmers committing suicide predominantly financial, depression could lead to a situation where a farmer or his family can not see a solution for their problem or seek help to solve the problem or have the capacity to function on a day to day basis.

Most urban people associate mental illness especially depression with poverty and lack of education and therefore assume that it does not happen in well educated, wealthy families. This is not true. Depression is there among all castes, classes, urban or rural, rich or poor. Since social stigma is attached most of the mental illnesses, it is neither recognized nor treated and at best it is hidden or mocked. It is a hidden destroyer of a family, society and a country. The effects of depression can be reduced through medical help. Depression will not just go away. You can not just hope that it will disappear. No one deserves to have depression or any form of mental illness due to their birth caste or family situation.

So what is depression?

Depression is not just a bad mood or irritability or erratic behavior or violent behavior or stupid behavior. It is an illness just like any long term illness. Those who suffer from depression usually are normal people who work as farmers, lawyers, accountants, doctors, bus drivers etc. But they find it difficult to function everyday. Depression can cause serious health problems in the body along with that of mind. Depression can not be suppressed. It needs medical help.




How do we know of a person is depressed or just sad for a short time?

1. If the person feels sad for a long time - for weeks or months.
2. Has no interest in social activities or mixing with family and friends.
3. Stops going out of home.
4. Does not do things properly at work, not having concentration.
5. Drinks too much every time there is a problem
6. Do not enjoy any activity which they used to
7. Constantly moody and irritable
8. May end up taking drugs either illegal such as ganja, chakras etc or legal sleeping pills etc. and mixing with bad company of people.
9. Is violent towards family and children - beating, kicking, verbally abusing, screaming, putting people down etc.
10. Works excessively without spending any time in social activities. Does not want to go home.
11. Could start doing destructive things such as breaking things at home or work, creating "accidents"etc.

What are the words depressed people use in conversations ?

1. I can never do anything correctly
2. I fail at everything anyway
3. Good things don’t come to me
4. No one cares about me
5. Who wants to live?
6. I always make mistakes
7. Life is not worth living

Note the words never, everything, no one. These are words which say everything is permanent and can't change. This is not true as things do change and can change. But depressed people do not see solutions to their problems. They see all problems as permanent. Therefore they generally tell lies to people to cover up their depression and withdraw from society.

How to depressed people feel most of the time?

Just like depressed people see their problems as permanent, they also are constantly struggling to feel good but can not do that. They mostly feel as follows for long periods of time:

1. Everything from outside their capacity is controlling their lives.
2. They can't control anything in their lives.
3. They get irritated for small things.
4. They get angry quickly if they can not get results
5. They feel they can not do things properly anyway
6. They are sad
7. They cry unnecessarily
8. They can not decide and everything is difficult
9. They are angry at others for not meeting their expectations
10. They expect everyone to "obey" them and agree with their thinking.
11. They think work will solve their mental problems without trying to solve the real problems.
12. They do not make decisions, do not take responsibility for their actions and blame others.

Please note: Generally people exhibit these behaviors sometimes but it does not mean to say they are depressed.

How does a depressed person feel physically?

1. Tired all the time
2. Gets sick most of the time
3. Has headaches and muscle aches (even without doing physical work)
4. Has anxious feeling in the stomach
5. Does not want to eat properly
6. Does not sleep properly-either too little or too much
7. They either gain excessive weight or lose a lot of weight quickly.

Please note: These symptoms are seen in where people have physical illnesses also.

What are the causes of depression?

1. Family conflict or lack of happy family memebers with in the family.
2. Loneliness (not the same as just being alone)
3. Not having a job for a long time to earn money
4. Having a permanent illness-mental or physical
5. Having family memebers with permanent illness.
7. Drinking liquor or taking illegal drugs
8. Having a family memebers with depression
9. Lack of social support and help
10.Disasters such as fires, flood, earthquake etc. destroying homes, family memebers and community.
11.Poverty (although poverty causes depression, not all poor people are depressed).  
12. Lack of support from the society.


When you see a family member/friend is seen with possible depression what should you do?

1. Talk to them gently. Encourage them gradually to talk about their problems. Do not make judgments as you are not in their situation or their mental state. Learn to understand their point of view whether you agree with it or not. It is not about you it is about them.

2. Don't blame the depressed person or their family for the way a depressed person feels and don't dismiss their feelings. Elderly, very young and poor are not equipped to open up their feelings easily due to their social conditioning. Do not treat them like a burden. Depression can happen to anyone anytime triggered due to different situations.

3. Don't expect a depressed person to listen to you and change their behavior immediately just because you are an elderly person advising them. This type of social conditioning in countries such as India does not help younger people to openly talk to older people to seek help. A depressed person may not be in a state of mind to think in a logical manner. A depressed may not trust you to open unto you. You may not be in a position to help them directly either. Seek other memebers of the family for help/advice discretely. Encourage them to sit and talk to a family memebers they trust or had relied upon in the past.

4. Learn to treat a depressed person with respect and dignity as you would any other person. They have an illness. They do not need pity or mocking. They need your support, kindness and understanding. Learn to seek their permission in a manner appropriate to their age prior to getting outside help. Do not discuss in a family or a social group or work group openly.

5. Don't make them feel foolish or stupid. Don't tell them it will go away. Learn to listen not just hear. Don't try to "fix " the problem. Learn to help them to develop solutions. Ask questions to help them rather than giving "instant" answers. You will not have all the answers to their problems or issues. Do not pry into their personal life without gently asking their permission first.

6. Poverty is only one cause of depression. Giving money to them may not solve the underlying problem. Help them to seek access to financial literacy or seek access to banks and other financial organizations.

7. Encourage them to develop a social network within the family and outside the family.

8. Create situations such as family outings for example, sitting and having a family meal in a park to encourage them to go out.

9. Ensure that a depressed person goes out for short walks during daylight preferably during early mornings. Being in low light at home for long periods of time could lead to some depression especially in elderly due to their limitation in mobility.

10. Encourage them to develop hobbies, go the gym or do outdoor exercises or farmer’s fares local agricultural shows etc. where they meet like minded people. Encourage them to meditate and do yoga if they can.

11. Encourage them to stop drinking alcohol/taking drugs by finding out the root cause of their drinking/drug taking. Drinking/drug taking is an additive behavior. It will not stop immediately so encourage them to divert their attention to reduce their levels of drinking.

12. Encourage them to seek medical help. Do not force them as it will not help them. Give them the support they need. In Bangalore NIMHANS has counseling facilities. Take family counseling if needed. It is as important as for the depressed person and the family to take counseling to help one another.

13. If medications are prescribed, encourage them to take medications regularly and ensure that they do not stop taking them abruptly. Talk to their doctor and develop an understanding your self. Ignoring treatment of depression due to social stigma may lead to serious consequences for the depressed person which includes suicide.

14. If counseling is not affordable or accessible, talk to the local doctor and seek ways of helping the person. There may be options such as an elderly person in the village, or the family with skills to talk to people, local teacher or a priest that the person trusts who could be requested to talk to the depressed person in a discrete dignified manner.

15. Do not exclude them from family activities due to social stigma or your inability to "manage" them. If you are not a family member provide information to the family member who looks after the depressed person to assist them.

Conclusions

A depressed person can function effectively and even achieve at high levels in their field of work if they are given the right understanding support and treatment if needed.

A country, a society and a family does not benefit from ignoring depression amongst itself. For example, if every one of the 160,000 farmers who committed suicide were living today, they would be producing food grain, vegetables, and livestock for India and export markets.

Governmental organizations can only do so much. Every village, farmer, society, community needs to take an active part in developing effective and efficient work and home environment.

Food production system growth in India which will allow farming sector to thrive as much as manufacturing and information technology, textile etc.

Security of food production is critical to the security of a nation as food is the key to good health, productivity and growth of a nation. As the farm production increases, farmers can spend more money for their health, food and wellbeing. This can only benefit everyone.

Disclaimer

This article has been written in the interest of the Indian agricultural and associated communities. The author does not claim having conducted any original work in this area not claims medical expertise. This is only to bring awareness to all especially for the farming sector.
 

References

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/health/11psych.html?_r=1
2. Poongothai S, Pradeepa R, Ganesan A, Mohan V (2009) Prevalence of Depression in a Large Urban South Indian Population — The Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (Cures – 70). PLoS ONE 4(9): e7185. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007185
3. http://www.princeton.edu/rpds/papers/pdfs/case_deaton_healthwealth.pdf
4. http://viacampesina.net/downloads/PDF/Farmers_suicide_in_india.pdf

More Reading

http://www.thebanyan.org/
http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx?link_id=1.3


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Make in India - Do we need to keep making it and wasting it?


Prime Minster Mister Narendra Modi has been calling for world businesses to Make in India to encourage them to manufacture in India. This is good to attract investment from foreign businesses in India. However I wonder if this is is really that beneficial to India when much of what is made in India is wasted. A case in point is the subsidies given to rural areas without much thought to the logistics of how these subsidies are used. An article recently in Krishi Jagaran has highlighted that over 8500 crore rupees of money is being wasted in subsidies. I can tell you that the cost is much more than that. Why? Let us look at Urea itself. Urea is one of the few fertilizers that is manufactured and it consumes fuel to manufacture Urea. This means cost of fuel needs to be included in the waste. Next the cost of transportation needs to be included too. However major waste occurs due to the excessive and inappropriate placement of Urea due to broadcast method of distribution of urea on soils. Studies have shown that depending on the soil types over 30-40% of urea runoff into waterways without benefitting the plants/crops in anyway. However this runoff causes pollution of the precious waterways and cause algal blooms and create problems for microfauna and organisms in the water. This also breeds undesirable bacteria. When cattle or humans consume this water, they get sick too. So the cost of excessive use of Urea does not stop to just 8500 crore at all.
 
Government also has asked for Urea consumption to be brought down. It would be good to do that but increasing prices will stop the subsistence farmer from using Urea. Therefore the only way to reduce consumption is by conducting soil test each year, assessing how much urea is required for the crop the farmer intends to sow and deciding on how much Urea subsidy the farmer requires. This will reduce consumption, save government lot of money and things made in India will not go to waste but can be exported to earn revenue for the government. There is no magic wand.
 
India need to urgently stop wasting food and all the agricultural commodities. Only then Make in India will turn into Made In India becoming much more useful and much more productive. 
 
 

Government And Farmers Are Together ‘Wastefully’ Spending Over Rs 8,500 Crore On Urea: Economic Survey

December 8, 2014
 
KJ News: Fertiliser subsidy paid to the companies has declined by about 41 per cent to Rs 21,300 crore as against Rs 36,000 crore paid in the corresponding period the previous financial year. It may be noted that the government had increased the total fertiliser subsidy in the July budget at Rs 72,970.30 crore for the entire 2014-15 fiscal from Rs 67,970 crore proposed in the Interim Budget.
While the subsidy is fixed by the government in case of phosphate and potassic (P&K) fertilisers like Muriate of Potash (MoP) and Di-ammonia phosphate (DAP), companies are free to decide prices for others. In case of urea, a controlled commodity, the retail price is fixed at Rs 5,360 per tonne, and the difference between the cost of production/imported price is paid as subsidy to the companies.
The Department of Fertilizers (DoF)  had enough funds in the subsidy account but the payments were delayed as it took time to evaluate the fairness of P&K fertiliser prices.
The Economic Survey 2013-14 pointed out that the government and farmers are together ‘wastefully’ spending over Rs 8,500 crore on urea, as it is highly subsidised soil nutrient and therefore used instead of P&K fertilisers. MRP of urea and NPK fertilisers was to be so fixed as to promote balanced fertiliser use. Urea MRP was to be re-determined every six months, and those of NPK fertilisers adjusted to provide the NPK balance. Post decontrol, subsidy was to be given only to small and marginal farmers.
Following, which the government had asked the industry to suggest ways to bring down urea consumption that has resulted into a huge subsidy bill besides affecting soil health.
Subsidies on Fertilizer 
(In carores of Rupees)
 
Actuals
(2011-12)
Actuals
(2012-13)
Actuals
(2013-14)
Actuals
(2014-15)
 
Indigenous(urea) Fertilise
20208
20000
26500
36000
 
Imported (urea) Fertilise
13716
15133
12044
12300
 
Sales of decontrolled fertilizer with concession to farmers
 
36089
30480
29427
24670
Total Fertilizer Subsidy
70013
65613
67971
72970