Opinion: Is it a match-fixing between Anna Hazare & BJP?

Match Fixing between Anna Hazare & BJP

Activist Anna Hazare Cancels "Fast in Support of Farmers" Hours after Announcing. On Friday, 29th January 2021 said he won't be preceding with his planned indefinite fast against the new farm laws after the BJP leader, former Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis, and Minister of State Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary met him at his hometown Ralegoan Siddhi. Both sides decided that a committee comprising members from Agriculture Ministry, Niti Aayog, and some members recommended by Anna Hazare will make a proposal in the next "six months" to implement/fulfill Hazare's demands. This clearly reflected a match-fixing between Hazare and BJP to create confusion among farmers protesting against these three Agri Bills. This is basically because: at the same time, Respected President of India on 29th January 2020 in his address to both houses of parliament defends farm laws. We have seen an economic survey report presented to both houses of parliament on the three Agri Bills on 29th January 2021, wherein it says "Government farm laws are a remedy, not a malady". They are false claims.

Anna Hazare talks of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan committee bla-bla-. The crisis in agriculture was created by him with the so-called green revolution technology that helped MNCs of chemical fertilizer manufacturers to mint lakhs of crores since 1960. This destroyed water resources and soil on the one hand government spent lakhs of crores on fertilizer subsidy. The chemical fertilizers work under irrigation & chemical fertilizer tailored seeds. With all this, we only doubled the production and within few years the yields stagnated. The new technology as PM envisaged, known as a genetically modified seed, that replaces the seeds of the so-called green revolution technology also showed stagnation in yields in around 7 years but benefitted the GM seeds MNCs. This severely affects the food exports from India. In the USA Mississippi River carry runoff water from agricultural farms contaminated by chemical inputs created a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the case with Indian rivers. The government is spending thousands and thousands of crores to rejuvenate them. This is the reality of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan's technologies.

Past Scenario

The first Prime Minister of India, Late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru observed that "dams are the modern temples" and with this spirit encouraged the building of dams. This helped India to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, and helped India to reach from begging bowl scenario to exporting scenario. The major beneficiaries were Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, and few other states. However, even after 72 years of Independence, the progress in irrigation projects are moving three steps forward and six steps backward with the changing political priorities of elected ruling parties. Thus still to date around 60% of the net cultivated area in India is at the mercy of "Rain God". To add to the vows, Western-funded NGOs became a major hurdle in the progress of irrigation projects. BJP regime prior to 2004 shifted to watersheds. The watersheds did not rescue the farmers of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh during the 1999 drought.

N. Chandrababu Naidu as CM visited watershed programmes in Mahbubnagar and said: "They are not working". This is the situation with each and every watershed programme executed in the State of Andhra Pradesh. And same is the case with Gujarat. Anna Hazare was an advisor to CM on watersheds.

World Bank was against dams in developing countries including India. A group of activists worked for World Bank and prepared a report against dams and in support of watersheds. The government rejected this report. But these activists go around the country to get support for their report. In Hyderabad, when the main architect of the report was speaking on this I asked her, why you are worried about the government's rejection of your report? She stopped her talk and left the venue.

Now these very same groups are talking of Agri Bills and MSP with the very same government.

Economic Survey

The survey noted that these reforms were, in fact, recommended many times in the past 20 years but could not see the light of the day till September last year. "The three agricultural reforms legislation are designed and intended primarily for the benefit of small and marginal farmers which constitute around 85% of the total number of farmers and are the biggest sufferers of the regressive APMC regulated market regime. This is absolutely false propaganda by the government for contract farming.

It also says 17% jump seen in FDI in April-September 2020. This did not tell us who benefitted from raising the cap on FDI and the sudden disappearance of Foreign Banks stash accounts of Indians. This did not mention the loss incurred by senior citizens and the low-middle class on FDs by bringing down the bank interest rates in favour of business houses during the last six years.

Union Finance Minister in his budget presentation on February 28, 2011, proposed that "A task force has been set up to work out the modalities for the proposed system of direct transfer of subsidy for kerosene, LPG and fertilizers." I saw a report in "The Hindu" dated 8th February 2017 with heading "PM Saved Rs. 49,500 crore going to middlemen." I watched PM address to parliament on 7th February 2017. However, this scheme has not extended to the entire country so far. Why??? Unfortunately to date farmers are not getting their quota and sometimes getting adulterated. However, I saw an article in Sakshi daily newspaper dated 30th January 2021 on the mess on fertilizer subsidy. When the government could not do what they are supposed to do, but talking on Agri reforms!!! Here the authors of the article referred to the deficiency in payment of subsidy to the industry but not mentioned the diversion of subsidized fertilizer to the black market.