Observing that the income of a landless family is more than the income of an agricultural family with land between 100 square meters to 4,000 square meters and 1 to 2.5 acres, NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand on Friday said it was “respectable” to think about Is required. Jobs” specifically for these two categories.
Delivering a lecture organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as part of its ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav ICAR Lecture Series’, Chand spoke about the definition of agricultural households to be adopted in ‘Status Assessment of Agriculture’ as “serious”. Issues were also raised. Households and Land Holdings in Rural India, 2019′ organized by the National Statistical Office (NSO) and released earlier this month by the Ministry of Program Implementation and Statistics.
Discussing the findings of the survey, Chand said, “Then, there is another message, which I think deserves attention, is that the income of landless households is higher than the income of agricultural households who have 100 sq. The land is between meters. Up to 4,000 square meters and those having land between 1 acre to 2.5 acres.
Chand cited survey data that showed that the monthly income of a landless household was Rs 11,204, while the monthly income of agricultural households with 0.01-0.4 hectares and 0.4-1 hectares of land was Rs 7,522 and Rs 8,571 respectively.
“So, you see these two categories, which I have marked in red, their income is less than the income of the landless labourer. So, I just tried to write something in my sympathies, with my sympathy with these two farm size classes that those who stick to small holdings are less than the landless people,” Chand said in a video on the subject. Giving a lecture through the conference, he said- ‘Agriculture in Independent India: Looking Back and Looking Ahead’.
Highlighting that members of farmer households are unwilling to work on NREGA sites because of “stigma”, Chand called it “respectable” for agricultural households with land between 100 square meters to 4,000 square meters and 1 to 2.5 acres. Emphasizing the need to create a job”.
“We know that the social system is such, the social stigma is such, that we can tell why they don’t go for NREGA, but because of the social stigma and so many reasons, for someone who comes from a farmer family from generation to generation. It is not easy, that he go to that NREGA. Yes, some people are going out out of serious compulsion.”
“Even in my village I have seen some women from farmer families, they are going for it with a great compulsion, but we need to think about respectable jobs especially for these two categories . This is very, very important,” he said.
Chand raised “serious” issues regarding the definition of agricultural households adopted in the recently released NSO survey, which defines an agricultural household as receiving more than Rs 4,000 as value of produce from agricultural activities. (for example, the cultivation of field crops, horticultural crops, fodder crops, plantations, animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries, piggery, beekeeping, vermiculture, sericulture, etc.) and has at least one member in agriculture Are you self employed?
Responding to a question about the upcoming reforms in agriculture, Chand said, “As far as the reform path for the next 10 years is concerned, yes there is disagreement but the three new agricultural laws—they were the beginning of reforms. ..we had a very big plan. We thought that 2020 was the moment of 1966 and we thought of turning this challenge into an opportunity. But as you see, the fate of these three agricultural laws hangs.”
“Yes, there may be some loopholes in those three agricultural laws, but if we have to move forward, we need to sit down and address these shortcomings, which the government is ready to address. So, I would say that the reform agenda was to start from that… If these reforms are adopted in a modified manner you will see amazing results,” Chand said, referring to the three agricultural laws- Farmer’s Trade and Production of Commerce. We do. Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Agricultural Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 – against which farmers mainly from Punjab and Haryana have been protesting at the borders of Delhi since November 26 last year.
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