Neglect of farm sector detrimental: Jayati

​Hyderabad: Development economist Jayati Ghosh on Sunday pointed out that fondness of both the Telugu-speaking State governments to promote “ease of doing business” in a big way and neglect of the farm sector would have a cascading effect on the economies of the newly formed Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States.

She observed that both Telangana and AP governments had failed to implement some major recommendations made to the undivided State government by her in 2005-06 for the well-being of farmers during the agricultural crisis which had resulted in several deaths of poor farmers.

Ghosh had prepared and submitted a report on the unabated suicides by farmers in undivided AP and had made several recommendations to bring farmers out of distress and make agriculture a profitable profession to then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s government.

Speaking to The Hans India on the sidelines of a one-day seminar on ‘The impact of 25 years of neo-liberalism on our material lives, minds and moral universe’ here on Sunday, Ghosh said she had recommended more public expenditure in the agriculture sector.

In a reverse, both the State governments had been reducing budget allocations to farming sector every year. The quantum of bank credit accessed by farmers was also on the decline in the last five years in the erstwhile AP and also in the bifurcated AP and Telangana States, she said.

Other recommendations like input subsidy to the poor and marginal farmers, crop insurance and waiver of loans were only partly under implementation, Ghosh said and added that drastic decline in the farming sector’s contribution to the State GSDP was a stark example of the neglect of the agriculture sector.

Earlier, farming contributed 50 per cent of the GDP and now it was down to 15 per cent, she contended.

The professor of economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi also clarified that the erstwhile AP and the present TS and the residuary AP governments did not prepare any reports on the implementation of her recommendations also.

Referring to AP and Telangana States vying to attract private investments under the “ease of doing business”, the economist cautioned that an impending financial crisis was staring at both the States.

The new concept had been conceived by corporate companies to exploit natural resources and snatch away assets owned by the States.

The environmental clearances accorded to “Projects under ease of doing business” would give negative results as the norms had been violated in many cases, she said.

Ghosh predicted that the concept of ease of doing business would have little impact on FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).

By: Patan Afzal Babu