The incidents of Mandsor, Madhya Pradesh are the ugly face of Indian politics which has stooped beyond lowest possible standards of civility. The pertinent question arises about the viability of democratic setup we have grown into after 70 years of independence. Our democratic system has been reduced to controlled anarchy which is at the mercy of major political parties who least bother about public safety & order.
The protests by the farmers in MP were on for long and the law and order machinery of the state government must have reported the matter to the people in power. Taking it lightly or ignoring farmers' problems for long by Chauhan's government of MP has adversely affected it's otherwise farmer friendly image. The political price of this blunder will have to be paid by the government and the party when state goes to poll next time around. Lapses has also been there on part of the administration and the agencies responsible for maintaining the law & order situation including inadequacy of the police forces.
At the same time the role of the opposition parties and the farmer's associations must also be critically evaluated. The farmers of Mandsor are being exploited by the opportunist politicians to try and make a comeback who have otherwise been made jobless after repeated elections?. Though the issue has been given on a platter to the otherwise dead Congress in MP. But the manner of cashing in to pocket the political mileage is shameful and displays the utter disregard towards Public order by a national party. The old grand party is found instigating people on camera to burn down police stations, public & private vehicles, blocking of rail and highways. The otherwise irrelevant Farmer unions are also trying to pocket their share of the conflict in a state which is consistently performing much better than others in agriculture for last 05 years.
We as Indians are known as one of most lawless societies around the globe and soon surpass the countries like Pakistan, Somalia & Afghanistan, if we fail to check the lawlessness. The breaking of law & order and destruction of public property has become a necessary ritual in Indian politics. More the destruction of public property and higher the number of deaths is seen as better to meet the political ends. They have forgotten their responsibilities towards building this nation and we as people are only interested to fight for our rights but not responding to the duties of being citizens of this nation. The judiciary is not willing to take sou-motto cognizance of large scale destruction of public property and violation of law by these political hooligans.
The situation of abysmal law & order is also responsible for the difficulties faced in meeting annual FDI targets by this government despite several incentives offered. The economic prosperity of a state and nation depends heavily on the ground situation of law & order prevalent. The economic prosperity and the anarchic situation of a country are related adversely. We have many example around the world to take a cue from.
The farmers will have to consider the facts that their current condition is the result of sustained ignorance by successive governments. The current administration has taken some steps in the right direction and it will take some time to bear fruits of those. There is a lot more needs to be done and the current dispensation has shown the will to not only walk the talk but demonstrating by their steps including New Crop Insurance Scheme, Establishment of Cold Storage, Connecting the Mandis, 100% Neem coating of Urea, Reducing taxes on Agri Implements, Enhancing MSPs & periodic review of the policies with regard to agricultural products.
Though, the steps taken by the government are not exhaustive and a lot more will have to be done for improving the rural economy. But a responsible government has to abide by the financial limitations and fiscal discipline else the consequences will be disastrous. We have seen many examples of failure of many economies which did not adhere to the fiscal discipline. We should not force the government beyond a point that can be a risk to the economy as a whole.
Ultimately, the farmers and their fronts will have to realize the results of the outcome of loan waiver scheme brought by the UPA-1. The scheme costed to the tune of Rs 70 Millions and instead of resulting in improvement in the situation of the farmers, it divides them into two groups, one which regretted having paid their loan to the banks and other utilized the same in other then agricultural work. The bank data shows that after the scheme, the farmer who has good past record of repaying their loans started defaulting in the hope of another loan waiver.
Loan waiver schemes have failed to improved rural economy and the financial crunch of the farmers. Providing them with irrigation system, electricity, road connectivity, cold storage facility to store their additional produce, competitive pricing mechanism, linking the agricultural markets in real time stock level across the country and food parks will make a difference. The government has shown some progress on many fronts but most of these initiatives require a time period of 5-10 years to notice the visible improvements on ground.
In the meantime, the governments are to be seen as firm against the violation of public order and only demonstrative action will contain the hooligans. The people and parties responsible for the destruction of public property & infrastructure must be identified, booked and penalized with the recovery costs to the exchequer. The adequacy of the enforcement agencies must be ensured to maintain law and order. Adequate training to the security personnel for dealing with such situations without need to open fire must be ingrained in them.
The politics of freebies must be stopped as this has the potential of spreading like wild uncontrolled fire if started by one state. Many states are already reeling under the rising demands of loan waiver, free electricity etc despite facing financial crunch situations. Someone will have to rise to the occasion and put a stop to this menace of arm-twisting an elected government fueled by political opportunism.
We, the people must realize that funds and resources available with any government are ultimately the property of ourselves. No government owns a single penny other than the taxed money from us collected by different means. Destruction of the public property is hurting only us with further increase in taxes and the costs incurred on repair, re-building such assets.
