Agrarian economy fared better under colonial rule: Prof Patnaik

Warangal: Agrarian economy was in good health under the colonial era than in free India, observed JNU professor and noted economist, Prabhat Patnaik. He stated that farming sector has been crushed under the weight of neo-liberal policies adopted by successive governments at the Centre and farmers have become vulnerable to the whims and fancies of internal market players.

“Thus, the farmers have been experiencing bad days under the rule of their own people. Foreign direct investment (FDI) proposed in banking sector would prove to be a great detriment to the rural economy,” he noted.

Farmers in the villages had already been exploited by private money lenders as they were not provided financial assistance by the banks, Prof Patnaik said while addressing the delegates at the eighth national conference of the All India Agriculture Workers Union (AIAWU) in Hanamkonda on Thursday.

Further, he revealed that in the recent past there has been steep rise in poverty and hunger in India. He alleged that Narendra Modi-led BJP government at Centre was trying to weaken the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) introduced by the UPA under the pressure from Left parties. The BJP government was unmindful of the growing poverty in the nation and was not increasing the funds allocation to NREGA, which he opined could address the problem.

“There was an outstanding payment of wages to the beneficiaries of the scheme to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore. The central government should have allocated Rs 42,000 crore but has allocated Rs 34,000 crore which was the same amount sanctioned by the UPA government,” he stated.

Patnaik said that the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje had asked the Centre to do away with the NREGA and NDA government was seriously planning to amend the Act introduced by UPA. He called upon the agricultural workers and rural poor to fight against any such move. Dismissing the notion that free food distribution would lead to inflation and impose burden on the economy, he said as on June 2012 stocks of 82 million of food grains were stored in warehouses.