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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Farmers and smartphone politics -Jitendra

Farmers and smartphone politics -Jitendra

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published Published on Sep 12, 2018   modified Modified on Sep 12, 2018
-Down to Earth

Can pre-poll sops like giving smart phones with internet connectivity to farmers increase farm income?

Last week, thousands of farmers and agricultural workers poured into the National Capital to attract and focus the attention of the Central government to their demands. The Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally, organised by farmers’ organization, All India Kisan Sabha, and the All India Agriculture Workers Union, broke all records as far as crowd numbers go. Farmers from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra took part in the rally.

But even though the September 5 rally reminded many of Mumbai this February, it did not get as much as attention. So far, the government has ignored their demands to implement the Swaminathan Committee Report, give them remunerative price for their produce, implement loan waivers for poor peasants and agricultural workers, check forcible land acquisition, provide Universal Social Security and protect labour laws.

Even as crowds of farmers and workers were marching to Parliament last week, governments in two states, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh announced plans to make their farmers “smart” by giving them smart phones. Both states would be going to the polls soon.

The Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan announced that it would provide free smart phones with Internet connectivity as part of Raje’s poll promise. Only those families who are beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the state would be covered. The number of beneficiaries in the state are around one crore families. On September 5, Raje allocated Rs 270 crore for the “Bhamashah Digital Parivar Yojana” scheme, in Jaipur.

In Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh announced another scheme called the Sanchar Kranti Yojana, at an outlay of Rs 1,467.90 crores, to provide 50 lakh smart phones to rural households, the urban poor and college students across the state. The state government gave the reason that it wants to increase mobile penetration in Chhattisgarh, a state which is the lowest in India in this regards, at 29 per cent, against the national average of 68 per cent.

But the million-dollar question is how will keeping smart phones with internet connectivity raise farm income? The recent study of rural household income by NABARD shows that only 23 per cent of total household income in rural India comes from cultivation and livestock.

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Down to Earth, 12 September, 2018, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/farmers-and-smartphone-politics-61589


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