Farewell kisan: New survey sounds alarm for the future of farming

Agricultural sector has performed remarkably well," declared the proud Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament as he announced the Interim Budget 2014-15. Statistically speaking, the estimated agricultural GDP growth for the current fiscal year had grown to 4.6 percent compared to 4 percent in the last four years as per the Budget. While the figure highlights the support India's struggling economy is getting from the farm sector, the farmers themselves have little reason to share in this number-driven euphoria. As a new survey shows, the agrarian class today stands at a complicated crossroad where they are forced to choose between the urban and the rural, between staying on the land and abandoning it. With the Lok Sabha elections 2014 knocking at the door, a first of its kind survey was carried out by Lokniti-CSDS for Bharat Krishak Samaj holding over 11,000 interviews and 5,000 of them specifically with the head of the farmer household. Among those interviewed were 4,298 women and 2,116 youths