Alfred J. Rebello, Kundapur/Dubai

I am very impressed with these photographs. As I said long ago, there is NO any better advancement than increasing agriculture products, which we need in our daily life to survive. The industries, also we need because, it gives job opportunities to some but it should not be on the cost of the agriculture. The industries may give us some comforts but not food to eat. If there is no agriculture products available, what we can do with the money.

No money will give food to eat but we can trade money to buy foodstuff only when foodstuff is available. Therefore, destroying agriculture land and giving this land for industries, means the Government is denying the poor their daily bread. What the use one day we see full of industries and NO food grains.

Yes, we also need industries but NOT on agriculture land but on barren lands. I hope the Government, be it any, thinks wisely so our land has enough foodgrains rather only the industries in the name of development, before it is too late. The Goverment's priority should also be to protect the farmers, who cultivate the food grains rather supporting only the industrialists. We can not call it a development, unless all the citizens enjoy it.

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Joe Britto, Nakre/Bangalore

AGRICULTURE & SEZ Agriculture is the culture of all cultures . This rule applies all the world over. The agricultural production in India is about 200 million tonnes and it just about meets the minimum requirement. This is an alarming situation. Industrialisation is dominating the Indian scene and the emphasis is today is improving the economy at any cost. The 11th five year plan has already set a target of 9 % growth with double digit increase ( 10 % ) GDP during the final years to propel the economy.

The land use for Agriculture is undergoing a drastic reduction and use of land for non agriculture purpose is on the increase . The service and industry sector is getting priority. The average land holding in India was about 2 Hectares in 1976 -77, 1.8 hectares in 1980-81 and presently it is just between 0.1 to 0.2 Ha. Every year about 2 million landless labour is being added to the Indian population. The share of Agriculture in the national income has declined from 50 % to 22 %.

Development in Indian Agriculture therefore cannot be done by collective means or by joint stock farming and the focus will be mainly the individual farmer who alone can achieve the seemingly impossible task. Hence we can see the only way out is to increase the yield and productivity and to an extent be done by increasing the area under irrigation and water efficiency. Watershed programmes, precision farming , sustainable farming , organic farming , holistic approach etc , etc are only some of the options which can be but adopted in a very limited way.

The long term Agriculture plan should involve Women empowerment, child nutrition and home nutrition. Emphasis should be on all around investment in developing infrastructure like railheads, roads, power, warehouses, processing , grading, packing and post harvest technology. Promotion of SEZ’s at the expense of fertile land will ring the death knell for Indian Agriculture and the begging bowls of 1960 ‘s will be out .

India's big city malls catering to the palates of well-off Indians, an average family in the country's rural areas has less to eat today than it had six years ago. "The average rural family today is eating nearly 100 grams less of foodgrains than six or seven years ago and the average per capita availability of food grains has declined sharply. In 1991, when reforms began, availability of food per person was 510 grams, today it has fallen to 437 grams," . "At a time when people of our class are eating foods like we never had in our lives before, India's agriculture sector is in the midst of a collapse,"

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Jerald Pereira, Permude/Bajpe

Farmer's Day celebrated on 19th was admirable. Looking at the clips of products of Farmer's felt happy. Farmers are back bone of India, even though the government allows our permude land to SEZ to come up, it is very boldly condemmened by us.Hope government wil not kill more Farmers here after.

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Nelson Lewis, Kingdom of Bahrain

The Government of Dr. Manmohan Singh and also the State Governments are doing the biggest blunder and crime by allotting lands and that too prime fertile and agricultural lands for setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) throughout the country. If the Governments want to do this, they should allot fallow, fertile and arid land, which is available in plenty.

Liberalisation should take care of the poor and the underprivileged and should reduce the disparities of wealth. Rich should not become richer, if poor are going to become poorer and their lots are going to worsen. Having said this, I would say that there is no harm in the likes of Rattan Tata, Azim Premji, Narayana Murthy becoming richer, simply because they lead simple lives and plough quite a bit of their earnings for helping the have nots.

I personally feel that certain media moghuls are out to destroy the country in their relentless greed for money and power. Our Government, corrupt politicians and civil servants and greedy industrialists are destroying the country, instead of protecting and preserving it for future generations. I do agree with the comments of A.D. Cunha Shenoy and feel that the poor should survive and be able to lead happy lives and achieve realistic goals.

Otherwise, the meaning of liberalisation is lost. There is no need for certain industrialists to become more richer to gift their relations custom-built civilian aircrafts to romp around, hold extravagant parties, etc., when million of my countrymen do not know from where their next meal will come from. In fact, they are a bunch of crooks, with no business ethics and would bend all rules to make good money. They behave as if their are the members of the privileged Palm Beach community with no poor people around them.

Please do not tell me that only the privileged and affluent work hard, possess brains and pray to Almighty God and the unfortunates lack brains, industrious qualities and do not think of their Creator. Forget all this hogwash. It is only a matter of kismet or fate.

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A.D'Cunha Shenoy, Mangaluru

Agriculture is the backbone of our society, fundamental to the economics of our nation. Industrialisation is unsustainable like agriculture. Today's massive reforms do not address the farming of our nation where more than 600 million people are farmers and the livelihood of other 600 million for the food they buy from the farmers. Our fertile lands are vanishing in todays reforms particularly in SEZ areas.

The total madness of Sez at the cost of agriculture is unthinkable. We need special prtotected zones for maintaining agriculture. This is the only way our nation can sustain balance in its drive for economics. We do not need millionaires or billionaires coming out of Sezs. What we need is farmers who grow food and the lands protected for agriculture and above all the wellbeing of these nature fellows through government help.

We need organic form of agriculture for the preservation of chemical free fertile lands and the food we eat. This way we do not end up in eating poison grown out of industrialisation. Support organic agriculture because that is your good food.

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