Government of India, Arvind
Subramanian revealed this. In a
write up in Business Standard (23-
7-2018)he praised the Telangana’s
Rythu Bandhu as the future agri-
cultural policy in India. He called it
as QUBI (pronounced as Kyoo
Bee – Quasi Universal Basic
Income). See his reasoning: (open
quote)
“Of course, Rythu Bandhu
mainly intended as an agricultural
rather than a social policy. In fact
viewed from this perspective, it
could be the future of agricultural
policy. Consider how. Think of
current system of support to
agriculture. Right now, there are
schemes for every possible state
of the world. There are schemes
for bad harvests (monsoon failure)
such as crop insurance and loan
waivers. There are schemes for
good harvests (bumper crops that
depress prices) such as MSP-plus-
procurement and price-deficiency
schemes. And there are schemes
independent of outcomes such as
various subsidies on inputs
(fertilizers, seeds, power and
water).
“Rythu Bandhu today provided
in addition to these schemes and
hence can become financially
unsustainable. However, if Rythu
Bandhu is used to replace some
or all of these schemes, three
critical advantages would ensure.
“First, surfeit of state capacity/
administrative apparatus as well as
financial resources …
“Second, farm income could
be decoupled from production
avoiding serious distortions …
“Third, the magnitude that can
be transferred can be increased so
that farm incomes can be
augmented substantially and
quickly. One illustrative calculation
is as follows: elimination of fertilizer
contd from page 18
contd from page 19
Table-2 MSP for Paddy during the last decade
Year
MSP
Increase
% of increase
from previous
Year
2006-07 500 2007-08 645 145 29
2008-09 850 205 32
2009-10 950 100 12
2010-11 1000 50 05
2011-12 1080 80 08
2012-13 1250 170 16
2013-14 1310 60 05
2014-15 1360 50 04
2015-16 1410 50 04
2016-17 1470 60 04
2017-18 1550 80 05
2018-19 1750 200 13
TARIMELA NAGIREDDY MEMORIAL TRUST PUBLICATIONS
HISTORICAL AND POLEMICAL DOCUMENTS
OF THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN INDIA
VOL.I 1943-51- RS. 300/-
VOL.II 1963-72- RS. 500/-
August - 2018
and power subsidy in Punjab would
finance an annual transfer of about
Rs.92,000 to every cultivator or Rs.
50,000 to every agricultural worker.”
The reasoning of Arvind
Subramaniam needs no expla-
nation; it is self evident. Coming
from the mouth of Economic
advisor to the government of India
one can discern what is going on
in the corridors of powers. The
Rythu Bandhu is a project that is
being implemented to test the
waters for a larger policy of
withdrawing all the support being
given to the Indian peasantry by
creating a rosy picture of affluence
without toiling. The ultimate aim of
this entire scheme of things is to
alienate the peasantry from their
lands and to append the Indian
agricultural sector to the whims of
market forces that are serving the
imperialist monopoly capital.
For Details:
T.N.Memorial Trust, 32-13-26/1,
M.R.Puram, Vijayawada, pin-520 010.
States shot up in the rankings when
respondents were asked which the
most dangerous country was for
women in terms of sexual violence
including rape, sexual harassment,
coercion into sex and the lack of
access to justice in rape cases. It
was ranked sixth for non-sexual
violence.
Except US, Saudi Arabia and
India, the countries in the top 10
list are victims of direct aggression
or military intervention by the
imperialist countries, mainly the US
imperialism. The invading armies
used rape as weapon of war. Along
with it, long drawn war of
aggression deteriorated the living
conditions of people, particularly
women as they were forced to
become sex workers. Moreover, the
religious terrorist organizations that
sprout up with the aid from the US
intelligence agencies as well as
those who pose as fighters against
terrorism have been frequently
resorting to violence against
women.
21