Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 34% marginal farmers in Punjab living below poverty line -Amaninder Pal Sharma

34% marginal farmers in Punjab living below poverty line -Amaninder Pal Sharma

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Nov 22, 2013   modified Modified on Nov 22, 2013
-The Times of India


PATIALA: A new study has revealed that over 34% of marginal farmers in Punjab are still living below poverty line, denting the tall claims of SAD-BJP government on uplift of the farmers, who are considered the traditional vote bank of the over nine-decade-old Shiromani Akali Dal.

Besides marginal farmers, the study conducted by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, has also brought to the fore that over 20% of small farmers in the state, who till land holdings of 1-2 hectare, are also living below poverty line. Those tilling land holding less than one hectare (2.5 acres) are categorized as marginal farmers.

The study, which was conducted in different agro-climatic zones of the states, has taken Rs 935 per capita per month as the baseline income to define poverty line. This means, that each family member of such peasant families are earning less than Rs 935 per month or Rs 11,225 per annum.

Financial conditions of such farmers continue to remain miserable despite that earlier reports on farmer suicides had substantiated that more than 78% of total farmers who committed suicide in the last one decade were small or marginal farmers.

Pertinently, marginal and small farmers constitute around 34% of the total peasant population of the state. Experts said that there were around 10 lakh farm families in Punjab of which 3.4 lakh are the marginal and small land holding families.

The study, "A Study into the Economics of Farming and the Pattern of Income and Expenditure Distribution in Punjab Agriculture", contradicts the repeated assertions being made by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance that numerous welfare measures, including heavy subsidy to agriculture sector, introduced by the alliance have made the significant improvement in the quality of life of the poor peasants of the state.

Earlier, in its report "Status of Small Farmers who Left Farming in Punjab" published in 2007, the Punjab State Farmers Commission has made a shocking revelation that over 2 lakh peasants, most of whom were marginal and small farmers, had left farming by 1991 up to 2005.

In 1991, the total number of small farmers in Punjab was around 5 lakh which was reduced to around 3 lakh in 2005. The report had also attributed exit of small farmers to the rapid decreasing profits in agriculture and their indebtedness. It was the first such report that highlighted that around 22% of the total such famers, who discontinued agriculture as profession, had started doing daily labor in cities.

"The latest study has once again revealed that large section of Punjab peasantry is still living miserable life. If conditions continues to remain the same, there will be certainly more depesantization in the state, an indication that numerous policies of both state and central government targeting agriculture sector have failed to generate positive results", said one of the three authors of the report.


The Times of India, 22 November, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/34-marginal-farmers-in-Punjab-living-below-poverty-line/articleshow/26176039.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close