Mitigating plight of farmers
Introduction:
Birth, old age and salvation of Gautama Buddha occurred on the same day in different years in “Baisakh Purnima”. He was born in “Shalbithica” of “Lumbini”, became old under a banyan tree in the “Niranjana River Bank” and attended the salvation of “Bodhgaya” under a “Sal tree” in “Kushinagar”. The place of salvation was identified and decided upon by the Buddha himself. Now, the entire land of “Kushinagar” near Gorakhpur and “Bodhgaya” are dominated by Buddhists from Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia with no Indian in sight far and near except the trade part of the areas and the shops and the establishments being managed by Indians.
Considered as the ninth incarnation of the Lord, Buddha and Buddhism are now the most neglected and forgotten religion in India, even in the land of his birth meditation and salvation are all was forgotten. Similar is the condition of Indian peasants who weather hot and cold to feed the nation with their agricultural production. The Indian peasants enliven the mankind at his own cost and sacrifice, even at the cost of his own life with want of food to sustain his own filling. His meditation never ends as Buddhists Meditation never ended. But nobody cares for him. Nobody tries to remove his poverty and hardship and everybody turns a deaf ear to his wants.
The false prestige:
People rarely care about the cost of his pastoral production, but as seen bargaining with him for a kilogram of ladies finger or egg plant. Many such people bargaining for the purchase is not insignificant ones, but very often we find affluent people with costly dresses and cars bargaining for a few coins. Such people are never bargained in jeweler shops and clothing shops in cities and pay whatever price is demanded to purchase their requirements. However, whenever it comes to a farmer, whatsoever less costly the produce may be, bargaining is a must. The false prestige shown at the jeweler shops or at the clothing shop is gone before the farmer in a whisker.
In secretariats, officers’ seat with files in air conditioned rooms without adding to domestic production. But they never feel concern with the plight of farmers producing grains who feed the mankind. They get their monthly salaries whether they work or not. They come to agitation in the name of various associations, if their salaries are not increased periodically. Even the Buddhists have also an association, but where is the Association for the peasants? If at all any association exists it is only at a very few places in India at UP or Haryana. These associations are also affiliated or serve as the peasant wings of a few political parties. So, the agriculturists in India are the most neglected lot.
Playing music chair with peasants:
Everyone plays with the peasants as they play a music chair with, never thinking for a moment that they are playing with their emotions, lives and families. Many so called agricultural scientists receiving fat salaries from the government, recommended fertilizers and pesticides of companies receiving fabulous commissions from them and TV, fridge and washing machines as presents by the company for their generosity towards them. These scientists are often found to be very much ignorant of the cultivated plants and even they cannot distinguish between various plants. They have only read about such plants and seen them in colored photographs without visiting the agrarian lands during their study days.
But they boast of being scientists and their recommendations of use of fertilizers and pesticides, howsoever damaging for the crops those may be, are advised and distributed to the farmers as government subsidy lands becoming unfit for cultivation after a few years of use of such fertilizers and pesticides are not rare. In reality, they are looting the farmers and plundering the public wealth. They are fed on peasant’s wealth by exploiting them to the greatest possible extent. They do not have the slightest of the idea as to where rosy urad dal grows at Phulbani (a district of Orissa) or where small corns grow at Karanjia (northern town of Orissa). A survey report tells us that after the super cyclone of 1999 in Orissa, more than 300 jeweler shops, the greatest diamond show room in Asia, and 800 beauty parlors have been opened at the state capital of Bhubaneswar. Does a peasant goes to this shop?
Nevertheless, among all, the salaried classes who feast upon the unrestricted funds enjoy the privilege of these shops. Now, the state capital of Bhubaneswar is full of Babus (officers) and beggars.
The origin of rice:
Tapasu and Ballik were two Odia businessmen of the past who after seeing Gautama Buddha in the “Niranjana River” bank attracted towards Him and became his first disciples. They had fed the fasting Buddha some “Arisha Pitha” (homemade Odia cake made of rice) which the Buddha literature describes as “Madhu Pistik” in Pali. They carried Buddha to Varanasi (Benares) in cattle driven cart where Buddha gave his first sermon and gave the two disciples a few hairs from his head as memento. The birth land of paddy is Jaipur in Koraput district of Orissa. This is the reason for which the scientific name of paddy is “Oriza Sativa” (the food eaten by people of Orissa).
Voyage business has taken its birth in Orissa and it spreads its wings to the Himalayas in the roadways and Indonesia, Java and Sumatra in water. Paddy was born much before Buddha’s birth. The Buddha came to this earth 2500 years back while paddy is 4000 years old. Paddy in various edible forms such as rice cakes, steam rice cakes, fried rice cakes, dried rice, palao, khichdi, etc. are found in Orissa only and nowhere else, though a few of these items have invaded the neighboring states and the countries. Still water-rice and sun-rice remain Orissa exclusively in the present day world.
Hunger deaths:
We explore Chaitanya’s writings that 123 types of rice recipes were prepared in the temple of Lord Jagannath in the past which has come down to 56 types in the temple now. It is the irony of fate that Jaipur of Orissa, once the farm house of Orissa is now unable to feed thousands of tribal who die for a grain of rice. They have no land to cultivate upon and no resource of employment except working as bonded laborers a few days a month. Numerous tribal do not get this opportunity either and they live on grass or leaves and die of malnutrition and food. In thousands of acres in districts like Nabarangpur corns and sugarcanes are cultivated in place of paddy creating a water level decline in the whole of the state because these cultivations are water thirsty.
Use of fertilizers and pesticides has also destroyed the fertility of the land and underground water has become poisonous. Different types of dreaded diseases have pervaded the entire territory.
Conclusion:
The use of hybrid crops was first introduced by an American scientist in India who also was instrumental in the use of pesticides and fertilizers. He exchanged Indian paddy crops with these through the gene bank of America. Now, he is a columnist in a leading English news paper where he criticizes the rise of price in petrol and natural gas, increase in government subsidies, infertility and poisonous nature of land with profuse use of fertilizers leading to various human diseases and farmers’ suicide in India.
Now it is high time, that the government as well as non governmental organizations and the agricultural scientists at large reexamine and re consider the present day policy of chemicalization of agriculture and suggest and implement correct policies to see a healthy farmer and a healthy citizen of India producing healthy agricultural crops for a better and a prosperous and disease free country.
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