Influence farmers and win Votes ?

Decades ago , author Dale Carnegie wrote a very popular book titled :

“ How to Influence People and Win Friends “

During his budget speech , Shri Piyush Goyal said :

“ Ek  Kadam  Uthe ,  to  Sau  Rahe  Khul  Jaati  Hain “

It could be paraphrased as :

  How to influence farmers and win votes  !

One of those “ kadams ( steps ) “  was :

A Direct Income Support of Rs 6,000 per year to small and marginal farmers

( Marginal = those holding less than 1 hectare / Small = those holding between 1 to 2 hectares )

As per available data ,

#    Total number of farmers qualifying = 125 Million

#    They constitute 86.21 % of all farmers

 

     [  therefore , total numbers of farmers must be  145 million  ]

#    They hold 47.34 % of total area

     

(  source : 10 crore farmers to get Rs 2,000 by March-end: Junior agriculture minister )

But the main problems likely to be faced while implementing this scheme , are :

#   Unreliable and insufficient land records in most states

#   Dependence on humans to collect / compile / record such data ( takes weeks / months )

    ( The state agriculture department will write to district collectors, who will ask sub divisional magistrates, tehsildars and patwaris ( land record keepers ) to collect the required information. )

In addition to this just announced PM-KISAN yojana of Direct Income Support , farmers are currently being assisted in the following ways :

Input Subsidies :

Input Price Subsidies are given for Seeds – Fertilizers – Power ( Diesel / Electricity )

Price Support :

This is given in the form of MSP ( 50 % more than the production cost of food item )

Crop Insurance :

A certain amount being given to compensate a farmer in case of loss due to ,

#   drought ( lack of enough water in the soil ),  or

#   floods destroying crop ( excess of water in the soil )

All of these existing “ Support Mechanisms “ also require,

#  computation  of the amount of money to be handed out to a farmer, and

#  distribution  of the amounts so determined

Both of these are “ Human controlled Processes “ , which by their very nature , are slow and inefficient

What is worse , in many cases there is an element of “ human judgement “ , making them arbitrary !

No wonder these processes lead to leakages / corruption / frustration / distress !

Can we take help of TECHNOLOGY to solve these problems ?

Yes , of course !

All that is required is ,

#  a genuine desire on part of the political parties [ to really stop farmer suicides ]

#  a readiness to “ compromise “ on part of the farmers [ for speeding up the disbursal ]

#  a willingness on part of the “ bureaucrats “ [ to transfer the decisions to Technology ]

What Technology ?

We need technologies which will , dynamically / automatically , compute for each crop ,

#  the costs of all the INPUTS (water-fertilizer-seeds-power –labour ), based on NORMS

#  “ Output “ from the area of land owned by these farmers ( in Kg )

#  MSP ( since INPUTS will vary from crop-to-crop and area-to-area )

#  transfer the amount to Jan Dhan bank accounts of each beneficiary farmer ( DBT )

It is possible to get our constellation of 7 NaviC satellites to “ map / geotag “ , each and every farm ( with a resolution of 1 meter ) and calculate its area

This can be verified by using technology offered by…. what3words

For each type of crop , INPUT NORMS are already established , using historical data

OUTPUTS NORMS ( kg / acre ) for different crops , are statistically established figures

“ Agricultural Crop Assessment “  is being offered by Planet , BlackSky, Satellogic

“ Humidity Sensors “ developed by Dr Shalini Prasad

As far as CROP INSURANCE is concerned, Remote Sensing Satellites are already being deployed

I realize that experts ( agriculture and economy ) might laugh , if I urge Shri Modiji :

Give our Scientists and Software Engineers a chance to develop such a TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM , based on the following matrix , which will ensure DBT to our farmers , within 24 hours of pre-determined EVENTS or DATES or CABINET DECISION ANNOUNCEMENTS , without the delay and arbitrariness of “ human intervention “

But , I cannot escape a feeling that the party ( BJP or Congress ) which incorporates my suggestion in its ELECTION MANIFESTO , is bound to :

“ Influence 145 million farmers and win their votes “

Who knows , I might have the last-but-one laugh [ last laugh being reserved for the farmers ]  

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05  Feb  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com

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Added on 14 Oct 2020 :

https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-alphabet-building-farming-robot?mc_eid=a96c428172&mc_cid=813732adea