Even a bed has a stand, a nightstand!

A friend sent me a Youtube presentation outlining the nitty-gritty details of India's new Farm Bill 2020. This news seems to be the flavour of the month that hit most portals dealing with news from India. Pictures of Sikh farmers in a protest demanding justice is making its appearance in most channels. Wanting to research more into this, in an investigative manner, I approached a few of my many friends about it. Everything has to be taken in context, I finally understand.

The first person I interviewed said that he has no opinions as he is a Malaysian, and things that happen in India does not bother him. His ancestors left Punjab because the state could not provide; hence, he has no love lost. 

Along the way, I find that the media, which is highly influenced by the West, had a lot of negativities to say about India's 'bad' way of handling the situation. One of the darlings of the liberal society, President Justin Trudeau had a lashing towards India's 'unsympathetic' stance towards people.

Next, an economical èmigrè of Indian stock to Canada had this say. Her Prime Minister was merely echoing the world's sentiments. Only he had the fortitude to verbalise what everyone wanted to say but dare not. My opinion, however, is that she must be seen appeasing her Newfoundland, her masters and not appear showing allegiance to her Bharat Mata.

My research has shown me this. The world is a stage and what is fed to us in the media is a narrative with hidden motives acted by a sleight of hand to fulfil specific agendas. There are more than meets the eye.

In essence, the Bill tries to curb two taunting issues. Firstly, the opening of the market to the farmers and abolition of middlemen. With the change, a farmer can trade his produce with any buyer in any state with the market forces determining its price, not middlemen. For this, the substantial subsidies that the Government is forking out are abolished.

The subsidy issue is harped by the Opposition and the breaking India force to vilify Modi. They instigate the farmers to rise to oppose the claimed oppression. Here, the only who tend to lose are the middlemen. After an initial rise in the price of a commodity, the cost of goods would be stabilised by the market forces, according to analysts. The Government asserts that they are not washing their hands of the farmers' and consumers' affairs. They would periodically come in, in times of crisis, to control prices.

The hypocrisy of the Western powers is in display here. At WTO conferences, they chide India for producing cheap produce, under-cutting other producers and reducing their competitiveness. They attribute this to India's generous subsidy to farmers. The support was introduced in the first place for food security after the many famines that it had experienced, including the wheat shortage in the 70s. But, when the support is abolished, they cry foul! The Canadian Prime Minister's rant is political. It is to appease his vote bank; not to mete justice.

One interviewee told me that knowing things like these, something that would not change his day to day, as a means to stimulate his grey cells. He knows what he thinks is insignificant in the void of the Universe. Still, he has a right to have an opinion, rightly or wrongly. Even a bed has a stand, a nightstand. And a pen and an umbrella too.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. 

It is pre-determined!

Merku Thodarchi Malai (Westward Continuing Hills, Tamil-Malayalam; 2018)
மேற்க்கு தொடர்ச்சி மலை 


Vedantha teachings told us we are all the same, part of a bigger consciousness that is the Universe itself. We were told to treat each other as brothers as indeed our Athma (souls) are all part of the Paramathma which is Brahman itself, the Creator and the Created.

We have all been sold a broken dream. We were told that the path to happiness is through economic improvement. Like in Martin Luther King's cheque in 'I am a dream' speech, we were all given a bounced cheque. A cheque took naively at face value only to discover a little too late the stamp 'Return to drawer'! When we improve our socioeconomic standing amidst a life long struggle of sacrifice, we realise that the goal post has been lifted. We find that the separation between the haves and have nots had widened many folds over. We are to be, still, the mouth-agape child that once was yearning to be like his rich neighbours one day.

The farmers in India are having it bad these days. For centuries, they had had their own way of farming which kept with the local demands. With their meagre income, they led their simple lives, contended with the peace that they had. For recreation, they had Nature games, folk music and songs. Bullfighting was their way of promoting strong bulls to impregnate cows to produce resilient farm animals suited to their environment. Recycling was practised even before it became fashionable in the modern world. Fertilisers were eco-friendly. They did not need the Haber process to increase the nitrogen content in their soil. The sun grows the rice, rice is harvested, stalk in fed to cows, excrement goes back to nature to start the cycle.
Modernisation spoiled all that. Multinational companies, using local businesses as their proxies, moved in to press for sky-high yields, mixed crops, genetically modified seeds and introduction of foreign cows. Using their influence and lobbying skills the world has been hoodwinked that their way is the way to go.

The joy of acquiring a property.

Colonialism never really left our shores. It has come back in economic colonialism. With new rhetorics like environmental pollutions and the need to conform to new legislation, farming is no more profitable.

The recent air pollution over Delhi recently that cancelled flights in and out of the city was partly blamed open residue crop burning in Haryana. On the farmer's side, they complain that their animals do not want to eat the genetically modified stalks as they are unpalatable.

This award-winning artsy film is reminiscent of the 80s Tamil movies where an outdoor shooting was the norm and day-to-day living of common man was the theme. It tells its story slowly, setting the mood for viewers to grow fond of the characters, until... WHAM! the movie hits high gear. Renga is a porter who transports cardamom over the hills bordering Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He is a nice person whose life-long ambition is to do what his father failed in his lifetime, that is to own a piece of land. He is an affable chap who gets around with people and go out of his way to help people. A day in his line of work shows us the miles that we walk, the breathtaking paths that he takes daily and the mountain people. On the other side, we see estates, workers' exploitation, the union movement and the communist party of Kerala.

We are not all the same.

The world clearly favours some and discriminate others.

All under the watchful eyes of the Maker? Are we accidents

of Nature or made in handpicked to assume His mould?

To cut the long story short, he acquires a piece of land, becomes a farmer but his first harvest is damaged by torrential rains. Meanwhile, Renga gets entangled helping retrenched workers who were sold out by the Communist Party leaders. He is implicated in the leader's murder and is imprisoned. His wife and young son are left to fend for themselves. Due to financial difficulties, he has to sell off his land to a conglomerate.

The last scene of the film, which was executed so poetically says it all. Renga is employed as a security guard by the same company to guard his land. Coincidentally, his land is used as the site for a giant windmill, not farming.

Renga was seen dressed in a guard's uniform. In sociology, the uniform is viewed by a sign for exploitation and enslavement. A person in uniform has no identity. He is just an extension of his employer, doing things for the benefit of the State or MNC in this case. A human is just a tool of the system; a dehumanised coolie dancing to the tune of others.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.