 Dear Folks,
Enforce a ‘drought code’ now!, Dr MS Swaminathan, one of the most astute agriculturalists in the world, has been urging Indian policy makers. Monsoons will fail frequently and long dry spells will become a part of India’s regular season cycle. So face these
inevitable consequences of Climate Change and build reinforcements, he has been saying.
In fact, he came up with one years ago. A movement to build a pond in every farm; camps to ensure regular supply of fodder and water to livestock; setting up village level meteorological stations to provide timely weather alerts to farmers—the code includes all these steps and more. The aim is to avoid making more catastrophic blunders. Like
letting 60 per cent of our crops be at the mercy of the whimsical
monsoons, even after investing thousands of crores on dams and irrigation canals. Like the Uttar Pradesh government declaring 85 per cent of its farmlands to be ‘officially’ irrigated, even as the beleaguered farmers insist that 25 per cent is closer to
reality. Like offering free electricity to pump out groundwater, till the machines hit the rock bottom.
Yes, we need that code. Why? No, not because the lives of 700 million farm people and 600 million farm a
nimals are at stake. Because we can live without most things, but not without food.
– Pandit Gobar Ganesh
E-mail:
panditji@cseindia.org
|
