The authors' suggestion in “Time to scrap licence raj in farm marketing' ( Business Line , March 12) to remove fruits and vegetables from the purview of the APMC Act to stem bouts of inflation is most welcome.

The moot question, however, is whether the farmers (mostly small farmers who lead a hand-to-mouth existence) have the financial power to stand up against the financial prowess of traders and middlemen who will take advantage of any new system that is advocated.

The best antidote to unremunerative prices to farmers and unaffordable prices to consumers is strengthening the financial muscle of farmers and financialisation of the entire agricultural processes and encouraging the establishment of working consumer organisations (not just pressure groups) under the Consumer Protection Act of the 1990s.

The authors' suggestion to encourage farmers to form producers' associations to aggregate the produce of small and marginal farmers to increase their bargaining power deserves to be acted upon.

Chidambaram Kudiarasu

Telangana issue

This is with reference to “Telangana: History and economy”. Clearly, no sane person would agree with the wanton damage caused to the statues by the frustrated, but ignorant marchers. On March 10, the State Government used draconian measures to thwart the peaceful assembly of the “million person march”.

The police stopped all public transport into Hyderabad, implementing a virtual siege of Osmania University campus! Many students were arrested; some committed suicide out of sheer frustration or other psychological reasons. In 2009, the Union Cabinet agreed to re-create the state of Hyderabad, but a day later, reneged under pressure. These very same elected members had earlier given a written undertaking to Delhi that they were agreeable to the break-up! The Central and State Governments are playing with the lives of innocent Telugus for too long. The people of Andhra Pradesh and, by extension, India,will be worse off for the delay.

Sunil

Related Topics