Hypocrisy in the name of development

Few days back, I was in Purnia district of Bihar, also known as “Poor Man’s Darjeeling”.

I interacted with several farmers, ranging from small and marginal farmers to well-off farmers and I was shocked to know that agriculture which is so called as the priority sector is not in the
priority list of the farmers.

I tried to go for the root cause analysis, and for that I relied on primary survey and the tool used was focused group discussion (FGD) whereby I interacted with a set of question to get real insights.

The findings were really astonishing and one of which is:-

Hippocratic Policy Initiative:
Farming is still a labour intensive business in India; farmers are dependent on manual labour for their agricultural operations. These farming activities are dependent on weather, and leave a very small window for the farmers to complete their operations like sowing, harvesting, drying and threshing etc. In case the operations are delayed then the loss increases at exponential rates.

But, gradually the availability of labour has become one of the biggest problems due to NREGS policy of the Central government.

I am not against NREGS in any way, as the documental intentions of the policy is good and is sync with my thought of pro poor and pro rural. But, the way this programme is being implemented is an “OPEN SECRET” (everyone knows about it but everyone displays an ignorance) like Common Wealth Game.

This is the result of Hippocratic policy initiatives taken by the government, whereby the intention is not the work but showcasing of the number of initiatives taken which is pro poor and pro rural.

If something is coexisting and are interdependent then how policies like NREGS (now MNREGA) and Agricultural development are independent.

In addition to these Hippocratic policies, the process involved for taking government support is so complex, that most of the needy remain at the mercy of the officers, clerks or middle men to get their work done after paying out a fixed commission. (in pseud terms a service charge).