The art of diplomacy: What India can learn from the US on the diplomatic ground

IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board

Italian diplomat Daniele Vare once said, “Diplomacy is the art of letting the other party have things your way.” It is applicable between nations as much as at the individual level. On the diplomatic ground, US has been quite successful both in terms of handling world affairs as well as controlling or convincing China, Iran or Afghanistan. But India, despite being an economic giant and military power, has been struggling all the way.

India’s relation with the US has always been balanced, however, totally based on interests. For example, only when India became a nuclear power that the US started giving India strategic importance and initiated diplomatic dialogues – a similar case with Korea, Iran, Pakistan and so one. However, a glimpse of US diplomacy can be seen from the incidences surrounding the announcements of Obama’s upcoming state visit to India. Since the US presidential election, Obama’s win was perceived to be a concern for India. From his anti-outsourcing remarks to anti-immigration and protectionist economic policies, everything invited enough criticism. Even his anti-India remarks often angered many. But India became an utmost priority for the Obama administration after the Indian PM visited the US. And also because of his diplomatic failure with China, Iran and Afghanistan. As Obama announced his visit to India in June, 2010, the US Government started coming up with news and reports in praise of India and its leaders. The Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an interfaith coalition awarded Indian PM, Manmohan Singh the 2010 World Statesman Award. Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State praised "Dr Singh" for his leadership on this occasion and urged to help US in its diplomatic role in Asia. The next move certainly was more interesting. A US Government report ranked India as the third most influential power after US and China and fourth influential bloc only after US and China and Europe. It did not end there. Robert Blake, the Assistant Secretary of the State for South and Central Asia mentioned, “A new poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, shows that Americans have an increasingly favourable view of India, and Americans increasingly favour a free trade agreement with India,” at the 27th Annual Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture in California. Well timed; well said!

While US has started praising India and some of its leaders that matter to it, the nation has also been tactfully pushing its agendas including the finalisation of the defence deal worth $11 billion. Still there is no reason to distrust the US. Henry Kissinger once said, “Diplomacy: the art of restraining power!” The US understands it very well; does India?'

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Marches Ahead in B-School Rankings...
IIPM in sync with the best of the business world.....
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri's Snaps
An array of unconventional career options
Ragging rights and wrongs

Despite a series of peace efforts, including removal of security bunkers from Srinagar, the wounds continue to fester in Kashmir Valley

IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board

Shooting in the dark

The government has started the process of removing 16 security bunkers from different areas of Srinagar. The move is part of an eight-point peace package proposed by Union home minister P. Chidambaram to defuse the civil unrest in the Valley.

Apart from this initiative, the Centre has also decided to appoint a group of interlocutors to hold a dialogue with different shades of opinion to improve the ground situation in the troubled Valley.

On October 5, CRPF began removing bankers from parts of the city. “We've removed seven bunkers today. The rest will be gone within two days,” Prabhakar Tripathi, CRPF spokesman, told TSI.

The first bunker was removed from Magarmal Bagh near Lal Chowk. This bunker was built in 1990. The city has 200 security bunkers.

Kashmir's chief Muslim cleric and chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has described the move as “a welcome step” but has urged the government to start the process of demilitarisation in all populated areas of the Valley.

“If it is a first step in de-scaling the number of bunkers and security forces in the Valley then we appreciate the move,” Mirwaiz told TSI. “We want complete withdrawal of troops from all populated areas,” he added.

Educational institutions in Kashmir were opened in the Valley on September 27 after a gap of over three months. The reopening of schools was part of the Centre's s peace initiative. But frequent shutdowns and curfews have continued to be the biggest obstacles in the smooth functioning of educational institutions.

Since the parliamentary delegation returned to Delhi on September 22 after a two-day trip to J&K, the people of the Valley have enjoyed only six days of normalcy (till October 5).

The state government is also considering revoking the Public Safety Act (PSA) against political activists, lawyers and stone-pelters arrested during the last four months of turmoil. According to law and parliamentary affairs minister Ali Muhammad Sagar, the revocation of PSA is under serious consideration and could be announced pretty soon.

“The government has taken the issue of revocation of PSA quite seriously. We will release all the detainees who have been arrested under PSA during the ongoing unrest but a final decision is yet to be taken,” Sagar told TSI.

The revocation of PSA may eventually pave the way for the release of many senior separatist leaders like Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan and many senior lawyers. Among the arrested lawyers is the High Court Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoom.

Apart from a large number of important political leaders, activists and lawyers, at least 52 youths, including 31 students, have been detained in the past four months.

Despite all the confidence-building steps that have been taken in recent weeks, the situation on the steets of Srinagar continues to be rather delicate. Kashmir’s Board of School Education has announced the schedule for the Class 10 examinations to be held from the last week of this month. But Suheem Wani, a 16-year-old boy who lives in downtown Srinagar, is least bothered about the upcoming exams. Along with his friends from the neighbourhood, he is instead spoiling for a clash with the security forces. These boys, armed with stones, are frequently embroiled in violent street protests.
The irate demonstrations and stone-pelting have become a regular feature in the Valley for the last four months. An incident of human rights violation sparks such protests followed by fierce reprials by the police and security forces, often resulting in death and injuries.

Usually, young stone-pelters assemble near a police or CRPF picket or bunker and then suddenly shower stones, bricks and rocks on the men in uniform. Since June 11, 110 civilians, mostly teenagers, have been killed and more than 3,000, again mostly youngsters, wounded by the police and CRPF.

Many of these boys make no bones about their leanings and are proud of what they are doing. “You can call me a stone-pelter. Actually I am a soldier of Kashmir's resistance movement armed with stones and rocks,” says Suheem, who belongs to a lower-middle class family. He and his friends never forget to carry long handkerchiefs and scarfs to cover their faces.

Suheem’s mother, Fatima Banu, like all other mothers of such boys in the neighbourhood, is worried stiff about the safety of her son. She also frets about his education. “He doesn’t understand that he is flirting with grave danger. He is also ruining his future. I sometimes have terrifying thoughts about him. I am always worried about his security and want to keep him away from such things but he never listens to me," says Fatima.

Suheem was born in 1994, after insurgency began in Kashmir. His locality in Srinagar had become a breeding ground for militants. Ever since he can remember, he has always seen uniformed men with automatic rifles and bullet-proof vests at virtually every street corner of his area. Since his childhood, Suheem has seen frequent protests by Kashmiri people against human rights violations and arrests of youth by the police.

Analysts believe that since these Kashmiri boys have grown up seeing conflict and fearing the uniform, they express their anger and hate by resorting to violent protests on the streets. But not all stone-pelters are in their teens. Many of them are 30-plus educated men grappling with unemployment and frustration.

Interestingly, boys like Suheem are tech-savvy Internet users who update their Facebook and YouTube accounts on a daily basis to draw attention to their “resistance movement.” They also upload photos and video clips to show the high-handedness of the security forces.

Since the hardliner separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has exhorted people to use facebook as a tool to express their “aspirations”, the trend has gained momentum in the Valley and is being called “cyber intifada (uprising)” by analysts.
Allegations by some mainstream politicians that the violent street protestors are being funded by Pakistan and terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba have angered youngsters like Suheem. He says, “This is a myth. We don't do this for money. We are freedom fighters.”

The Grand Mufti of J&K Maulana Bashir-ud-Din and Moulana Showkat Shah, head of Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadees, have declared stone pelting as “un-Islamic act.” These men have argued that “Islam is all about tolerance and discipline and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has taught us to refrain from violence.” But the youngsters have paid little heed to such appeals by Islamic scholars.

Until the recent past, stone-pelting was limited to a couple of areas of Srinagar city and to Baramullah and Sopore towns. But now it rampant in almost all major towns and sensitive areas of the Valley.

The situation is worsening steadily. On Octuber 3, in south Kashmir’s Shopian area, four civilians, including two women, were wounded when security forces opened fire on protesters agitating against the arrest of a local youth.

It is not only violence that harms Kashmiris but frequent curfews by authorities and constant hartals by separatists have also shattered the people here. Experts say that the prevailing situation has deeply traumatised Kashmiri society.

“Fear, distrust and sadness have psychologically traumatised our whole society to a great extent,” Dr Mushtaq Margoob, a psychiatrist at Srinagar’s Government Medical College, told TSI. According to Margoob’s estimate, “19% Kashmiris suffer from severe depression while 16% have post-traumatic stress disorder.”

“The psychological trauma linked to the current unrest in the Valley has been enormous. People are suffering from the tremendous stress and tension due to ongoing cycle of violence,” the psychiatrist added.
Many people had expected the recent visit of a 40- member all-party parliamentary delegation headed by home minister P. Chidambaram to provide salve to the wounds of the Valley. But it seems that neither the visit nor the home minister's announcement of an eight-point peace package has turned things around.

On Saturday, on the occasion of International Non-Violence Day and the 141st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, people in Kashmir Valley enjoyed the first hartal and curfew-free day since Eid (September 11). But the very next day life across the Valley was paralysed due to curfew and restrictions.

Due to the continuous turmoil and unrest Kashmir is also collapsing economically. Every common Kashmiri has taken a hard hit. Noted economist and Kashmir University professor Nisar Ali told TSI that the state exchequer has lost Rs 8000 crore during in a little over three months.

“There are 21 public sector establishments, 50,000 small-scale enterprises and around four lakh other commercial establishments in the Valley which have been closed in the course of this unrest. This has accounted for a loss of Rs 8000 crore till now,” the professor said, throwing light on the worsening situation in the Valley.
The state government has been repeatedly imposing many kinds of restrictions to suppress the angry people. Even the media has been banned. Newspapers had not been allowed to hit the stands for 25 days during the past four months. Several times, the police seized copies of newspapers from the printing press.

All the local television news channels have been banned. Journalists are being given curfew passes by the district magistrate. But more often than not the security forces and police personnel refuse to honour these passes. SMS services have been completely banned for four months.

Despite all these severe “measures”, normalcy still seems a far cry in the Valley. Analysts say that “oppression, curfews and restrictions cannot be the answer to the grievances of the people. It can only make things more difficult.”
“The government must bridge the gap between the state and the masses. To do that, Kashmiris have to be given a sense of security and honour. Just announcing an ex-gratia relief to the families of those killed and releasing some youths cannot restore normalcy,” said noted social activist Zarief Ahmad Zarief . '

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Best Colleges for Vocational Courses in India
Indian universities and higher education institutes seem to be caught in a time warp teaching things

Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU): Students' Unions can not be banned

The hunt for hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation for students
An array of unconventional career options
Ragging rights and wrongs
INDIA'S BEST COLLEGES, INSTITUTES and UNIVERSITIES

Latin attraction for Punjab farmers

Farmers of the state have helped India gain self-sufficiency in food production. Jatinder Kaur seeks to find out if they can replicate the success abroad

Taking a leaf out of the book of farmers from Punjab who have made it big in South and Central American countries, the Punjab government is now exploring opportunities to lease land in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, grow crops there and ship it home for domestic consumption. Sources in the state government say that thousands of hectares of barren land is available in these countries which can be used for agricultural purposes. Even the weather in these countries is apparently conducive to cultivation of pulses, soya etc, the sources claim.

A delegation under the leadership of Union minister of agriculture Sharad Pawar recently visited these countries. Punjab’s deputy chief minister and other officials of the agriculture department were also a part of this delegation. Balwinder Sidhu, director of state agriculture department, said, ''The state government wants to facilitate leasing or buying of land in Central and South American countries… We want to work out the modalities to enable farmers from the state to start cultivation in these countries.”

Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is enthusiastic about the prospects. After coming back from the visit, he spoke to journalists about the plans: ''In Central and South America, hundreds of acres of land lies barren. Sufficient water is available for irrigating the fields. I have asked the agriculture department to prepare a report on this proposal as soon as possible. The populations in these countries are very low. There are many opportunities for farmers to make good profit from cash crops.” It should be noted that the policy for buying land in these countries is very flexible. Anybody who wants to cultivate can buy land without any hassle.

Simarpal Singh is a living example. The man from Amritsar district in Punjab moved to Argentina with his family about five years back. He is managing a 30,000-hectare farm of groundnut, soya and corn for a Singapore-based company. He is called the ‘Peanut King’ of Argentina.

Sukhbir Badal says, ''India imports a huge quantity of vegetable oil, soya etc. If we can provide an opportunity to farmers to cultivate land in these countries, we can use the production for meeting domestic demand.” He adds that the Centre should provide credit facilities to farmers who want to do farming abroad on the lines of industry. Badal says that the government should encourage farmers to invest money in farming abroad. ''To fulfil the growing need of food grain in the country, we have to think seriously about the opportunities of farming abroad,'' he thinks.

Dr H.S. Randhawa, retired professor of Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, said, ''It is good that the government is thinking about providing opportunities to farmers for cultivating lands across the seas. But at the same time it is important that the government first ensures the health of the farm sector of the state which is on the verge of a collapse. All farmers of Punjab can not go abroad to farm. So, it is important to take care of their needs on a priority basis. The government should think about a new model for agriculture because the Green Revolution is not working any longer. The farming sector should be handled more professionally. It is in dire need of a thorough overhaul. Without this, the agriculture sector can not survive.”

On the other hand, Master Madan Lal, vice-president of Kheti Virasat Mission, an NGO working for organic farming in the state, says, ''First, we have turned the land of Punjab toxic by rampant use of fertilisers and pesticides in the name of Green Revolution. And now we are going to do the same thing in Central and South American countries. In reality, this is a capitalist game and all states are becoming puppet regimes controlled by these capitalist companies. If the government really wants to do something for farmers, it should pay more attention to the demands of the farmers. Why is the government not taking any serious step to help those farmers who are under debt?”

The concept of farming abroad is not new. The Confederation of Potato Farmers has coordinated with the Ethiopian government to take 50,000 hectares on lease. President of the body, Sukhjit Singh Bhatti, said, ''We have planned to take 50,000 hectares on lease in Ethopia for farming. We are going to Ethiopia in the second week of October for finalising the deal with the government. The Ethiopian government has offered to make agricultural exports tax free. The lease rate of the land will be Rs 400 per hectare per annum. For first five years, farmers would not need to pay anything. This land is suitable for cultivation of pulses and corn.”

The farmers of the state have shown their mettle in making the country self-sufficient in food production. Now only time will tell whether they will be able to replicate this success abroad.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
The hunt for hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation for students
Best Colleges for Vocational Courses in India
INDIA'S BEST COLLEGES, INSTITUTES and UNIVERSITIES
After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May
Role of Media in the moulding of youth

Do Dooni Chaar: An uncommon film about the common man

Best Colleges for Vocational Courses in India

Duggal ki paathshaala

The hopes, aspirations, troubles and problems of the common man has for long been associated with RK Laxman’s old, dhoti-clad The Common Man.

After watching "Do Dooni Chaar", Rishi Kapoor could well replace the image in your mind when the subject of middle-class pathos rises. Indian cinema in the 70s and 80s often depicted the lives of the average Indians, but with the major bulk of the films of the last 20 years focussing on gorgeous locales and glamorous stars, it’s a bit startling to see the lead actress in this film in almost clownish sweaters and ill-fitting nighties. But then, this is a film that doesn’t tread the beaten path. The star cast too doesn’t include any commercial heavyweights, but instead has seasoned actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor, a duo reuniting on-screen after 30 long years. The film addresses issues that cause much agony and frustration to the Indian middle-class, yet it does so in a light, breezy manner that does not make it too serious and arty to lose its appeal for the average Indian. One can hardly guess that this is Habib Faisal’s first outing as a director of a Hindi feature film.

"Do Dooni Chaar" begins with an excited Duggal family arguing over how an Income Tax refund of Rs 7200 will be spent. The mother (Neetu Kapoor) wants to buy a refrigerator, her teenage daughter Payal (Aditi Vasudev) wants an iPod while the son Sandeep (Archit Krishna) demands a Dish TV connection. A school teacher, Santosh Duggal (Rishi Kapoor) earns just enough to send his children to good school and sustain a modest living – this after working in a coaching centre as well. While the parents attempt at living cheerfully with what they make, the children cringe at their near poverty. Things only get tougher when Santosh’s sister invites them to her sister-in-law’s wedding and insists that in order to keep up appearances they must come in a car. How they go about borrowing a car to eventually owning one is the simple premise of this film. Within this plot are incidents that will warm people’s hearts, provide unusual and compassionate solutions to parenting problems, demonstrate how ‘honesty is always the best policy’ is not just an old cliché unpractical for these times, show the pitiful state of our country’s teachers, and also comment on how consumerism has begun to dictate the terms of our happiness.

Santosh Duggal is a lovable character, and as Rishi pulls a long face or cajoles his son to make the right decisions in his life, you cannot help but adore him. One could’ve never imagined Neetu would make a comeback in such a deglamourised role, but her honest and effortless portrayal of Mrs Duggal is likely to leave a stronger impression in people’s mind than a more run-of-the-mill role would have managed to achieve. Debutants Aditi and Archit deliver strong and believable performances, Archit more so than Aditi.

The greatest triumph of the film is giving the common man the centerstage he so thoroughly deserves. There is a certain joie di vivre that shines through in this entertaining yet touching tale. People will leave the film with a smile on their lips and thoughts to ruminate about long after.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
The hunt for hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation for students
INDIA'S BEST COLLEGES, INSTITUTES and UNIVERSITIES
Anna Hazare: My Prime Minister
Social Networking Sites have become advertising shops

Back in the seventies, the pairing of Rishi Kapoor and Neetu kapoor meant spunky romance and sprightly humour

'Do Dooni Chaar', according to Shubho shekhar BhattaCharjee, CEO and Creative Director, Planman Motion Pictures, promises to be that and much more.

What do you feel is the USP of "Do Dooni Chaar"?

In the last few days I’ve been scanning newspapers and magazines; if you look at "Do Dooni Chaar", there’s a distinct flavour about it. The posters of upcoming movies come across as typical Hindi films. On the other hand, our movie has a family feel to it. I think we’re offering a very unique proposition at this time, considering it’s Navratras and celebration time with families is around the corner. Also it’s a Rishi-Neetu comeback after 30 years which is why we stand out.

How difficult was it to convince Rishi and Neetu for this film?

It wasn’t difficult to convince Rishi. Habib Faisal and I were sitting together and deciding the cast and the first name we thought of was Rishi Kapoor. We went together to him for the narration. After that, he asked, "What do you want me to play in the film?" and we told him it was the lead role. He loved the script. He asked if we had a producer and we were all ready for it.

It was difficult to get Neetu ma’am involved. Many other filmmakers have been waiting to re-launch Neetu ma’am and their positioning has been on the glamorous side. For this, she had to be completely de-glamorised and she wouldn’t agree. So, at one point we approached Juhi Chawla.

But she had issues. So we went back and asked Neetu ma’am to hear the narration just once. She loved it and said, "This has to be my comeback film!" She actually coloured her hair black, wore ill-fitting salwar kurtas and absolutely ill-fitting nighties, something not expected of Neetu Kapoor.

What made you believe Habib Faisal, a debutant director, would make a good film?

Habib is a very dear friend of mine. Whenever we met, I would talk about making a film together. He was writing for other producers but he wished to be a director. We talked about many ideas; discarded many. He’s a trained professional. He’s from Jamia and has been involved in film courses in New York. So I was very sure about his technical competence and was more convinced that he is a great storyteller.

Films from Planman Motion Pictures have won several awards. Do you see "Do Dooni Chaar" adding to your tally?

Yes, we have won a lot of awards, mostly National Awards. We definitely don’t make films with that explicit purpose. This was a very noble story that we wanted to tell and if we win, I’d be very happy.

Critical acclaim or box office revenue – what do you want more for "Do Dooni Chaar"?

For me, it’s not an either-or situation. Why can’t it be both? Yes, we have made films which have been for niche audiences, like "The Last Lear", but this film is for the masses. It’s for the middle class family. The entire country would be able to identify with that.


For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Arindam Chaudhuri: Movie time for Kapil Sibal
IIPM Marches Ahead in B-School Rankings...
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again...
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri's Snaps
Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU): Students' Unions can not be banned

Director Habib Faisal speaks on the making of 'Do Dooni Chaar'

how his personal experiences helped mould the script and how the common man is being wronged as he doggedly pursues the 'Do Dooni Chaar' way.

From television to cinema, how has the transition been?

Both are very entertaining mediums. The economics of television is such that your risks are much lesser. I strongly believe that television is able to tackle many more issues. I did my Masters in Cinema and then instead of getting into direction or writing, I chose to become a news cameraman for NDTV. I did that for five years and I covered the Kargil War, floods and poverty. I moved on to doing television fiction and then through friends, accidents happened and I got into writing films.

"Do Dooni Chaar" is set in the ethos of the modern, liberated and aspirational India. What drove you to conceive this story?

It all started when a small segment car was launched. Newspapers and television channels were full of stories about the middle class people being euphoric that a car was within their reach. It got me wondering why a car was so important. I read and researched and found out that when people prioritise their desires they put a car as the first thing that they want to buy, which is not a necessity such as shelter or education. I hail from a similar background and still remember the kind of excitement we had gone through when we had bought our first car, which was a second-hand car. So I got this thought in my head about a family and its journey from scooter to car, and I thought it would make for an interesting story. My dad was also a teacher and I have grown up with the same kind of complexes that the two kids in the film have, like why is my dad a teacher and earn a meagre salary despite being an educated man? Often we would run into his ex-students who would be doing well in their careers and driving cars while my dad would still only own a scooter. Such personal experiences found their way into the story. I had two intentions when making this film, one was to portray middle-class aspirations and how the common man doggedly sticks to doing things the right way, which is the "Do Dooni Chaar" way as against the "Do Aur Do Paanch" way followed by the rich, powerful and corrupt. The second reason was to highlight the position of the teachers in the society and show that it is a thankless job. The salary for a teacher who teaches the senior grades is around Rs 1.98 lakh. You can imagine how much the primary teachers would be making.

Was it intimidating to work with seasoned actors like Rishi and Neetu?

Only the first meeting was intimidating. I was star-struck like anyone else would be. I have grown-up watching their movies. But the moment a star says, "Oh you have scripted a great script!" you feel confident about your work. Once they had said yes to the film, we were like partners bringing the script alive.

How was the experience working with Planman Motion Pictures?

It takes a lot of guts to make a picture on the premise of a person’s journey from owning a scooter to a car. Most people want projects where there is a possibility of naach-gaana, glamour, sensuality, some chases… For a premise such as this and a script which is obsessively trying to be true to the fabric of the story, it was very gutsy of Shubho and Arindam Chaudhuri to stand by this film.

| Arindam Chaudhuri | GIDF | Planman Consulting | Business & Economy | 4Ps Business & Marketing | The Sunday Indian | The Human Factor | The Daily Indian | Kkoooljobs.com | Amaze, New Delhi | IIPM Old Brochure | IIPM 4Ps Quiz | Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Alternative Budget | For IIPM Students |

Trading the future of 700 million

TSI analyses why the government must take urgent steps to ban futures trading in the food items to save both farmers and consumers

A close look at Karamveer's face and one can't avoid but notice the contoured lines on his forehead - signs of early aging. The sugarcane farmer is a resident of Rasoolpur village in Hapur District of Uttar Pradesh where his ancestors have lived for more than a century. Nine years back, he used to sell sugarcane at the famed Hapur Mandi at Rs 95 for each quintal. The sugar, extracted in a series of mills in western UP, via hundreds of middlemen, was eventually sold in the market at Rs 12 per kg. An year ago, he sold all his produce to a middleman for Rs 165 per quintal. Sugar Prices were hovering around the Rs 40 a kg mark then. He had to bear a cost of Rs 6 per quintal for transportation.

The produce from thousands of acres of sugarcane land in western Uttar Pradesh lands up in sugar mills via middlemen who sell it on a cash payment basis to rich mill owners. Last season, one quintal fetched a middleman Rs 250-300 on the day of the delivery itself. For Karamveer, an agonising post-delivery wait of two to three months has become a part of his quotidian existence. In the off season, he produces Arhar. Karamveer found out last year to his dismay that the lentil he sold at Rs 2,700 per quintal to a local middleman was costing an end consumer a whopping Rs 8,100. Karamveer is not your run of the mill small-time farmer. He belongs to the upper echelon of farmers in his community with large volume sales. “Smaller farmers have to wait for six months for payment. The middleman comes and says that he'll make payment soon. He then disappears, sighting reasons like going to other areas for collecting payments from traders and mill owners. I deserved Rs 350 per quintal for my sugarcane. What I received was peanuts,'' sighs Karamveer on the sidelines of a farmers' organisation meeting in Delhi recently.

Under the Forward Contract Regulation Act of 1952, futures trading in all essential food commodities like wheat, rice and pulses was banned in India. The ban was slowly lifted on some commodities but in 2003, the then NDA government lifted ban on all food commodities including wheat and rice. And since 2006, the worst ever sustained food price inflation in Indian history has continued unabated. Massive speculation by big and small trading firms on fixed quantities of food grains results in a 2-3 time price surge in general. Traders and middlemen at multiple levels hoard hundreds of tonnes of food grains and sell them when the prices reach the zenith. This results in the end consumer buying the commodity at a price which is at least 4 times than what the poor farmer gets for his produce.

And the tragedy doesn't encompass a few crops. Rajinder, another farmer in the gathering, resembles a quintessential old timer from the B. R. Chopra classic Naya Daur. But this is not 1957. Another one of the comparatively bigger farmers in his region, he musters the guts to bare it all. He bought 4 quintal pea seeds at Rs 22,000 per quintal last year. He put in another Rs 1 lakh in sowing, growing and harvesting the peas. Then, the middleman told him that due to massive produce outstripping demand, he can't offer more than Rs 1,500 per quintal. Rajinder, in urgent need of money, had to sell his entire produce of 60 quintals. His loss? A shocking Rs 1 lakh, more than half of his entire cost. “We don't get to know what is happening in the mandi every hour. We can't afford to have a man placed there all the time. That's what the middlemen are for. They always say the demand is low and there's ample produce and we have to sell at the price they are offering. Then we get to know that the produce was sold at 3 times to a big trader,” says a visibly agitated Rajinder.

Dr Krishna Bir Chaudhary, president, Bhartiya Krishak Samaj, explains this clandestine system of thuggery. “There are at least three levels of middlemen between the farmers and the consumer. Cabbage fetched Rs 0.75 to 1.00 per kg ex-farm last year in Himachal Pradesh; the same cabbage was sold by local traders to Delhi-based wholesalers at a 20-25 per cent margin. The Delhi based-wholesaler sold the same cabbage to retailers again at a 20-25 per cent margin depending on demand and supply. The retailer then marked up the same cabbage by as much as 50-100 per cent and at times even 300 per cent which the consumer eventually paid. Much speculation takes place in food grains because they have a longer shelf life and can be stored for a long period under scientific warehousing conditions. This is where speculators can make a killing. That is why futures trading involves not “food” but food grains”, explains Dr Chaudhary.

The concept that futures trading results in price discovery and risk management for the farmer has proven to be a farce in India till date as the farmer does not have information or the resources to actually go in for trading on exchanges. The farmer never realises the correct price of his produce simply because the trading often happens after the farmer has sold the produce to traders. A lack of information system for poor farmers results in him not getting to know what the actual price in the futures market is.

The litany of such ordeals isn't concentrated in a region but is spread across the length and breadth of the country. Bijender Singh, a farmer from Kithwari village in Palval district of Haryana, cultivated green moong last season. He sold 100 quintal of his produce in June 2010 at Rs 4,200 per quintal. Within two to three days, he came to know that the price of moong in the wholesale mandi was hovering at Rs 8,000 per quintal. “I also know of numerous farmers in my community who sold Arhar at Rs 3,000 per quintal when the market price of the same was at Rs 80 per kg I.e Rs 8,000 per quintal,” says a distraught Bijender.

Strangely, the government seems to be echoing the sentiments of the corporations and traders. Although a ban on futures trading of certain essential commodities like wheat, rice and some pulses was put in place in January 2007, the same on wheat was lifted in May 2009. And the lobbysists are leaving no stone unturned to withdraw the ban completely. The UPA government had set up a five-member expert committtee in 2008 under Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen to prepare a report on the exact correlation between futures trading and food price rise. “The committee itself comprised commodity trading experts and people who support top agri trading companies. The composition of the committee itself was flawed and the outcome of the report supported futures trading except Abhijit Sen himself who gave a dissenting note,” says Devinder Sharma, noted agriculture expert and author. Interestingly, no committee or study till date has even been put in place to find out the involvement of a number of farmers in futures trading and the rise in real farming incomes after the ban was lifted in 2003.
In 1943, when one of the worst famines in Indian history claimed more than 3 million lives, many attributed it to the massive export of rice to the British military in West Asia and Africa during World War II and stoppages in rice exports from Burma into India.

But Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen showed the flaws of this supposition. He highlighted how rumours of rice shortage, started mainly by future trading speculators, spread like wildfires which led to massive hoarding by traders, making rice the hottest futures trading commodity. The impoverished lacked the buying capacity and a calamity ensued. In sharp contrast to that was the drought of 1965-67. First, the ban on futures trading was in place since 1952 and secondly, the system of minimum support price (MSP) and food procurement by the state was already in place.

But, with the trading ban lifted in 2003 and not many commodities included, the MSP system is showing sure shot signs of crumbling. “The government gives the farmer Rs 1,100 for a quintal of wheat when the production cost per quintal is currently about Rs 1,600. The traders and middlemen cheat not just farmers but also the consumers. Post heavy speculation in the market, the value of the same quintal reaches Rs 1,800-1,900 and the end consumer buys wheat at that price. The same thing is happening in case of all essential food commodities,” says an angry Dinesh Kulkarni, all India organising secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, one of India's largest farmer organisations.

The recent case of the Supreme Court stepping in to order release of 50,000 tonnes of food grain to hungry BPL families is testimony to the collusion of politicians, bureaucrats, traders and speculators. The nexus is busy in siphoning of grains for speculation on the exchanges or the grain ends up rotting. As per an estimate, the total amount of rotting food grains in government warehouses in India is enough to feed the population of France for a month.

One way to control the massive gains made by speculators is to put a tax on commodity transactions. Recent global data shows that many countries have imposed taxes on all commodity futures transactions in their exchanges which has brought down trading volumes to some extent and has given the governments extra revenue to spend on social programmes.

In India, a proposal was mooted by the previous UPA government but never got off the the ground. “In P. Chidambaram's last Budget as finance minister in 2008-09, the government proposed a Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) of 0.017 per cent on all commodity futures transations.

After the proposal, the notification was never issued for an entire year. Then, when Pranab Mukherjee became the finance minister, the enire proposal was swept aside,” reveals Sharma.

Even in the United States of America, where the largest commodity exchanges run and the maximum amount of trading is done, the government paid more than $300 billion worth of subsidies to farmers during 1998-2008. Most of it was in the form of direct income support. In India, during the same period, 2,00,000 farmers committed suicide. The European Union countries paid $70 billion in subsidies to its farmers last year, a huge chunk of which was direct income support. The contrast tells the whole tale.

“The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in May 2008 banned futures trading in soy oil, potatoes, rubber and chickpea for four months. It also banned futures trading in rice and wheat in March 2007 to contain sky rocketing prices of essential commodities, particularly of staple food grains. Yet the government insisted that futures trading would continue. Either the government does not know how markets are manipulated or the government itself is creating the market for speculators,” says Dr Chaudhary.

While oppression of the farming community at the hands of individual landowners (zamindars) was a highlight of pre-Independence rural India, the abolition of the Zamindari system, supposedly to end all miseries of the peasants, paved the way for institutionalised plundering of farmers’ produce through tools like futures trading.

A recent policy paper by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) concludes that “the worldwide rise in food prices two years ago might have been amplified by speculators in organised futures markets. However, limiting or banning speculative trading might do more harm than good”. The question as to why the world’s apex body on food and agriculture cannot answer the exact causes of the global food price rise with some certainty raises serious doubts on the credibility and objectivity of the important paper.

There’s no denying the fact that the basic rationale behind trading of futures contracts of food commodities as is promulgated globally (read by commodity trading companies) is to let the farmer realise the correct price for its produce and is able to do a sort of hedging against price risks.

But, with only 2 per cent of all futures contracts resulting in the actual delivery of the commodity, the amount and magnitude of speculation rises manifold. The illiterate farmer living in ill-connected villages can only hope that he may have a chance to know the exact demand and supply situation existing in the mandi on time, he may have a chance to know and understand the dynamics of the commodity exchange market, he may get to trade on the market through a representative and he may be able to realise some profit from its produce. The long procession of ‘may’s only makes a mockery of the idealised economics behind futures trading that only exists in research papers and policy reviews. The reality on the ground is something very different.

The only solution lies in an effective ban on futures trading on all essential food commodities in India through a legislation or law till the country becomes consistently self-sufficient in food commodities for many years.
The information dissemination infrastructure in our rural areas also needs to be strengthened to let farmers participate in trading to get the right price for their produce.

The best short-term solution to a farmer's woes is to entitle him to a cost plus benefit price (at least 20 per cent of production cost) for his produce. For the same thing to be implemented, it is important to have a system devised to estimate the correct price of the produce and the actual costs incurred by the farmer.

But with big corporations and traders running the show from Delhi and other cities, the farming community is quickly running out of democratic options. “Large scale protests are bound to erupt if something is not done soon,” Rajinder warns.
“If this continues, a second Naxalite movement is imminent in India. And this will not be in some faraway hinterland but will surround Delhi from all sides,” sums up Karamveer, vowing to rise up against the institutionalised tyranny farmers like him are living under. The farmers' murky future might soon evolve into a long dark hour for the government if New Delhi decides to do nothing.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Run after passion and not money, says Arindam Chaudhuri
IIPM BBA MBA B-School: Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize To Irom Chanu Sharmila
Award Conferred To Irom Chanu Sharmila By IIPM
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
IIPM Lucknow – News article in Economic Times and Times of India