Indian Church wants farmers to be “at the core of development”
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – In his address to the nation on the 60th anniversary of independence on August 15 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was full of optimism and national pride. He told the nation that the “best is yet to come,” urging Indians to work hard to "eradicate malnutrition within five years". India, he insisted, can only be “truly independent once it had eliminated poverty.” Fr Nithiya Sagayam, executive secretary of the National Commission for Justice, Peace and Development of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), spoke to AsiaNews about the PM’s speech and the country’s serious contradictions.
“The speech of our Prime Minister on the ramparts of the Red Fort [the 17th century Mughal fort where the Indian flag was first raised on August 15, 1947, in lieu of that of British India] was inspirational. However, the reality is a far cry from what he said,” Fr Sagayam noted.
“The PM said that ‘farmers were at the core of the development. The CBCI welcomes this statement. This is good because the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi had a dream: the welfare of our farmers.”
Indeed, as Fr Sagayam pointed out, India is largely made up of villages. “If you really want a developed India you must create developed villages. Sadly the reality in India is that all development is centred on cities. Even the developmental sectors have their headquarters [. . .] in the cities. IT (information technology) industries are all in cities. Schools and professional colleges, everything is based on cities. India has a city-based culture which has driven a wedge between rural and urban areas. This reflects the rich-poor divide in our country.”
Action must be taken to address the root causes of rural poverty, the priest said.
“Farmers, who are the main producers of food, the main link in the food chain, are facing insurmountable problems like rising costs. Many have been forced into debts, forcing some to commit suicide,” he said.
“While development was high on the agenda in the PM’s speech, in truth, the reality is not being addressed in India today. Even after 60 years of independence so many villages do not have roads and electricity. And in the last ten years at least 100,000 have committed suicide in Maharashtra’s Vidharba region alone.”
According to Fr Sagayam, “in April this year Caritas India launched a ‘Save the Farmers, Save Indi’ plan hoping to reduce the rate of suicide amongst indebted farmers.”
Globalisation is partly to blame for the situation. Lower tariffs have opened the gates to food imports making local farmers less competitive.
“People are going hungry and dying from starvation is becoming routine,” he said, “even though 65 million tonnes of food grains are rotting in warehouses.”
The government is not addressing the problems with adequate means and has failed to rethink its model of development.
“Many in the population are not profiting from government subsidies. Corruption is so widespread that BPL (Below the Poverty Level) cards go to middle class people and public officials with good pensions. Grains and other goods destined for the poor end up being sold on the market for high profits,” he explained.
For the Catholic clergyman the Singh government should also focus on the needs of the elderly and unskilled labour. But on “one thing I agree with the Prime Minister,” he said; “the best is still to come.”
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