Food on Its Own Terms Trolled Into Silence

https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone http://www.ias4india.com EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU 8 EDITORIAL THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Food on its own terms Kerala needs a new politics if its economy is to adjust to rising food prices and a shrinking Gulf economy tion of agricultural land to other legal architecture discouraging the purposes. Actually, there is legisla- leasing of land that works against tion meant to address this but its agricultural prosperity. This is the Resilience reairmed implementation is hostage to party natural environment, which in Ker- politics at the village level, and the ala today is less hospitable to agri- CSO data suggest that the demonetisation alienation of Kerala’s precious agri- culture of any kind, let alone paddy cultural land continues. cultivation. This has come about Pulapre Balakrishnan efect on GDP is less than feared It is quite extraordinary that due to the depletion of groundwa- he resilience of India’s economy has been reaf- public policy in Kerala has not ad- ter and sand mining of the river- picture, they say, is worth a dressed the problem of a declining beds to provide material for luxury irmed by the latest data, with both the third- hundred words. Two pic- production of its staple food, a house construction. There has also Tquarter and full-year growth estimates belying Atures related to Kerala, trend in evidence for nearly half a been the alienation of agricultural widespread concerns that the November 8 decision to though separated by decades and century by now. At the time of Mr. land already referred to. Land withdraw high-value currency notes would signiic- difering in content, speak to us Vijayan’s trip to Delhi, an editorial need not be turned into real estate antly dampen momentum. While the Central Statistics strongly of how we may secure its in another leading Malayalam daily to lose its fertility. Using fallow Oice stuck with its January advance estimate for gross future. Thus, a photo in a leading reported that the State produced paddy ields as ‘exhibition’ Malayalam newspaper shows the only one-eighth of its consumption grounds or for shopping festivals, domestic product in the 12 months ending March 2017 Chief Minister of the State meeting requirement. This igure needs to even when the structures made are to post a healthy 7.1% growth, it projected GDP to have the Prime Minister of India. An be vetted, but surely the situation temporary, could degrade the land expanded 7% in the iscal third quarter, relecting only a amiable Pinarayi Vijayan is seen ex- may be judged to be critical if a re- permanently. Kerala needs a land marginal slowdown from the 7.3% registered in the pre- tending lowers to Narendra Modi, gion were unable to produce even use policy that conserves every bit ceding three-month period. Notably, this expansion oc- who accepts it betraying no emo- half of it? of its natural capital. As part of this, curred in the October-December quarter, when about tion. The power equation is as- the State could consider acquiring 86% of the currency in circulation in the form of ₹500 tutely conveyed by the caption “Ar- A leaf out of Delhi’s book all unused paddy land and making iyetra…” meaning “How much GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO An obvious question emerging it available to the Adivasis on long- and ₹1,000 notes was abruptly sucked out of the sys- rice…” in Malayalam. The Chief from the Chief Minister’s much- term lease. This would ensure its tem, potentially resulting in what the Economic Survey Minister was in the national capital holds socially, and the women too where agricultural production ac- publicised visit to Delhi is why Ker- preservation, saving Kerala from termed an “aggregate demand shock” and the Reserve in January seeking a greater alloca- withdrew from the labour market. tually declined after land reforms. ala cannot jettison its dependent the hardship that is assured if the Bank of India referred to as “demand compression asso- tion of rice to the State. Then there This hit paddy cultivation most as, Land reforms in China after Mao status. At least here Kerala’s polit- present situation of more plastic ciated with adverse wealth efects”. Undergirding this is a painting by Anjolie Ela Menon. in an age-old sexual division of la- led to a surge in food production, ical leadership may take a leaf out than grain clogging the rice pad- better-than-expected performance were the agricul- Titled ‘Malabar’, it is a canvas bour, women were disproportion- which in turn led to its rise to global of the record of the Central govern- dies continues. ture, mining and manufacturing sectors and, interest- smeared with green paint bearing ately represented in the planting prominence. In theory, one form ment. In the mid-sixties, smarting Kerala needs a new politics if its no detail. Presumably it was the and harvesting of paddy. The sec- of reorganisation possible even at under Lyndon Johnson’s directive economy is to adjust to the emer- ingly, government expenditure. While the overall gross artist’s impression of the paddy- tor began to face severe labour this stage in Kerala is for those in that food be sent to India “by the ging scenario of rising food prices value added (GVA) in the third quarter is estimated to illed landscape of Kerala when she shortage. Naturally, the wage rose ownership of land but not wishing shipload” so that she may be “kept and a shrinking Gulf economy have increased by 6.6%, agricultural GVA in the period irst encountered it decades ago. and the cultivation of paddy was no to cultivate to lease it out. But leas- on a short leash”, Indira Gandhi which is sure to impact livelihoods. is projected to have surged 6%, a sharp quickening from How is it possible that a State once longer viable as cheaper rice came ing was made unlawful by the land moved frenetically to increase food Public policy is likely to adapt only the second quarter’s 3.8% pace and in stark contrast identiied by the wealth of its agri- in from the rest of India. reform Act. production in India. The Green Re- if political parties are pressurised with the 2.2% contraction in the earlier year, as the culture has been brought to the The rise in the wage may not At the time of its legislation, ten- volution followed and, despite its by a citizenry alerted to the limits near-normal monsoon in 2016 helped lift kharif crop sorry state whereby its Chief Minis- have had the impact it did if the ancy had been a symbol of the ex- negative ecological fallout, India to distributivism. An instance of ter must travel to Delhi to ensure ownership of land was vested with ploitation of the peasantry who has never looked back. Earlier how this can work is the return of output substantially. Mining and manufacturing GVA that his people are properly fed? It the tiller. The temptations of mi- were held down by the possibility Nehru had cautioned his fellow cit- paddy cultivation to vast tracts of too appear to have done far better than in the preceding can only relect the failure of public gration overseas may have been of eviction at will. But now, close to izens how India could not live per- the Aranmula Puncha, an iconic quarter, bucking the so-called ‘demonetisation drag’ to policy. held at bay had the tiller also half a century later, when the eco- manently on “handouts” from the agricultural landscape in central post 7.5% and 8.3% growth, respectively. Public admin- owned the land. But the latter was nomic position of owners of small rich countries and needed to grow Kerala, after citizen action preven- istration, defence and other services clocked double-di- Changed agrarian scenario not the case despite the much- parcels of land pales beside the her own food. There is a lesson in ted its diversion to build an airport. git GVA growth: at 11.9%, a robust acceleration from the In the early seventies, following vaunted land reforms of the State. owners of urban property in the this for those in charge of public The regeneration has been made 7.5% in the third quarter of 2015-16. the boom in the Arabian Gulf re- In abolishing tenancy the land re- State, to hold on to an archaic law policy in Kerala. possible by active support from the gion, the State saw a new form of forms had extinguished the tradi- for its symbolic value is mere senti- If the State is to remain an government machinery. When It is only the inancial, real estate and professional emigration. While Kerala had long tional landlords but did not inevit- mentality. It is unimaginative of a autonomous entity, it must reduce such synergy is replicated across services segment, which is linked to consumption, that witnessed the migration of the ably transfer land to those who public policy to not remove all bar- all forms of one-way dependence, the State, its future Chief Ministers lagged, with the pace of expansion more than halving educated for want of opportunities actually laboured on the ield. This riers to the leasing of land so that even vis-à-vis the Indian Union. A need not travel to Delhi seeking from the July-September quarter to a modest 3.1% in- domestically, for the irst time is relected in the current agitation smaller portions can be pooled to far irmer base of food production food.

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