It was reported in yesterday's papers that BJP is planning to
install , all over India , some 7,000 boxes and request 100 million voters to
write down on pieces of papers , what they want included in BJP's Election Manifesto - and
drop these papers in those boxes
I am sure , Congress must have planned something similar
I am not well enough to write , then to go find one of those
boxes
So , as per my practice of past 6 / 7 years , I will just
email this suggestion to the persons concerned and hope it gets included in
their Manifestos
I must give credit to Congress ( - its Computer , at least ! ) that ,
for past 2 weeks , I do receive , at least an " acknowledgement " !
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
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
#
MSP based on these inputs
#
“ 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
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 ]
========================================================================
05 Feb 2019
Rsvp : hcp@RecruitGuru.com
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