Indian farmers take backseat as parties pitch for votes

WHILE the development issue is perhaps the most important plank for the 2014 elections in India, the farming population and the plight of the agrarian community seem to be getting little attention despite 53 per cent of the country 1.2 billion population being dependent on agriculture and allied activities. Experts and activists feel politicians and parties give lip service to farmers and their issues but are not serious about addressing their concerns. “Farmers and their issues have been ignored for long and systematically,” P V Rajagopal, President of Ekta Parishad, an activists’ movement focussing on land rights, said over phone from Jharkhand. Rajagopal, who had led a march of nearly 100,000 to Delhi in 2012 demanding a land reform policy, said land is being taken away from farmers. “The blanket mentality has been that industrialisation is the only way to growth and development. Hence, to make land available for industry, and urbanisation, they (politicians) do not want to speak about the issues of farmers,” said the activist.