THE DRIED PETALS

THE DRIED PETALS

The dark pink for the Tamil marriages,

The bright orange for the Telugu weddings,

The Kannadigas liked the glowing yellows.

There were many types of whites for all the fellows.

And the reds were loved by all.

Chosen and tended were we, with stems thick and tall.

We were symbols of the good times,

Never bothered when ignored and thrown,

The rolling bad times were waited out to be gone.

But the Crown of viruses has only left us to mourn,

Seems like the bad times have no near end in sight.

It is paining to be uprooted with no one to hear the plight.

Petal by petal the flowers have dried,

So have the flori farmers, who have really tried.

Are they just tired or have they died?

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ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆ ಮುಹೂರ್ತಗಳಿಲ್ಲ!

ಪ್ರತಿ ರೀತಿ ಮದುವೆಗೂ ಆರಿಸಿ ತಂದಿದರು ನಮ್ಮನ್ನು,

ನೋಟಕ್ಕೆ ಸ್ನಿಗ್ಧವಾದ ಕೆಂಪು,

ತಿಳಿ ಬಿಳಿಯ ಮನದಾಳದ ಮೌನದ ಕಂಪು.

ಸೂರ್ಯೋದಯಾಸ್ತಗಳನ್ನು ಭುವಿಗೆ ತಂದ ಹರಿಶಿಣ ಮತ್ತು ಕಿತ್ತಳೆ ಬಣ್ಣ.

ಆ ಚೆಲುವಿನ ಗುಲಾಬಿ ಬಣ್ಣ ಸೆಳೆದಿತ್ತು ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನು, 

ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಶುಭ ಘಳಿಗೆಗಳ ದ್ಯೋತಕವಾಗಿದ್ದೆವು ನಾವು.
ಶೂನ್ಯ, ಆಷಾಡಗಳು ನಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಭಾಗಿಸಲಿಲ್ಲ,
ರೋಗ ಕೀಟಗಳು ಬಾಧಿಸಲಿಲ್ಲ,
ಇಂದು ಶ್ರಾವಣದ ಶುಭ ಘಳಿಗೆಲಿಲ್ಲ,
ಕರೋನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಿಂದ  ಜಗತ್ತಿಗೆ,
ನಮ್ಮ ಚಂದದ ಅರಿವಿಲ್ಲ,

ಹೂದೋಟದ ಮಾಲೀಕರಿಗೆ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯ ಮುಹೂರ್ತಗಳಿಲ್ಲ!

 Dedicated to all the Floriculturists especially the cut flower farmers who have taken loans and built polyhouses but only to know that the parties have stopped and they have been left to pay the bill. 

We don’t even have an organized market and we sell on the foothpaths in the morning and that too when its free, but now even that seems distant.

It is an appeal to the authorities & government to consider the plight of these farmers who are often ignored and forgotten. 

It’s the Corona Surprise test and we have the failed in the Agriculture paper

It’s the Corona Surprise test and we have the failed in the Agriculture paper!

Vaibhav B S

vaibhavbs@gmail.com

The corona virus has announced the surprise test to the whole world, of how prepared they are and the top countries have started to shudder and their papers are filled with red marks. For all the crowns and laurels that India is the emerging super power, it was provided the paper fairly late and yet it was found wanting for preparation. India prepared for the healthcare paper but it has been served the Agriculture paper along with the healthcare paper and in the opening test India has failed the agriculture paper!

An economy or the social resilience of a country is tested by how quickly it has been able to respond and support the weakest link in the chain of its social structure. The war waged by Covid-19 has exposed India’s preparedness in the agriculture supply chain and value addition. The lock down has been a lock down of the farms with the perishable produce also locked inside and the rot is killing the farmers. The most disappointing aspect has been the silence of the Agri startups and their eco systems especially the startups who were promising to bring changes in the agri supply chain. Of course, there have been few startups who have transformed quickly to address the need to the consumers of urban area but that’s easier of the problems to address and its impact is just a blip in the cauldron of problem faced by the real victim of the crisis – the farmers. The hour of crisis should have been seen as an opportunity by the agri – startups to display their flexibility to manifest and deploy their resources and solutions but instead the startups have either behaved just as any big corporate with no flexibility or like an evanescent entity that go missing during the hour of need.  

The surprise test has exposed India’s priority and planning in the agriculture and horticulture sector during crisis. During the crisis hour, the District magistrate of each district becomes de-facto power center to handle the crisis but amongst all the standard operating procedures, supporting agriculture supply chain seems to be missing. The government planning should be relooked to make agriculture/ horti sector as top sectors during crisis. It is to be remembered the end of the German Blitzkrieg in to Russia during World war 2 was brought about by Russians farmers (who burned their field and emptied their food storage in the path of the German troops). Every crisis/ internal strife in the country is linked to the agrarian crisis.

The most effected populace due to Covid 19 is not the patients – they have been cradled by the government, not the traders who have the higher negotiating power, not the input suppliers, not the wholesalers, not the retailers, but the farmers whose crop has come to harvest but has no market to be taken in to. The worst effected, even amongst farmers are the farmers of the products with lower shelf life. The private supply chain has forsaken these farmers and it has left them to the ex – gratia of the government to help. The government which planned for the patients, municipal utilities, PDS, essential supplies through its network had forgotten about these farmers. When news started pouring about the plight of the fruit & vegetable farmers and how the urban consumer base is getting restless without these suppliers, the governments started reacting. Even the reaction couldn’t yield great results for the farmers as the government’s own setup doesn’t have the infrastructure and planning for addressing the supply chain of the agri products during the crisis and that too on an immediate basis. Instead of considering the farmers’ product movement as priority, restrictions have been placed for people and material movement.   

The government with the help of other stakeholder such as FPOs, farmers, trader associations, food processors, Agri startups and agri linked industries should be planning the following at the earliest:

Ø  Resource Assessment and mapping: Mapping of all the agri and horti related resources including farmers, laborers, land diversity, roads, agri transport related transport, shandies, local markets, APMC yards, processing industries, input dealers, government offices, raitha samparka kendras, government horticultural farms, etc. available in the hobli, taluk and district levels for planners to have the clear understanding of the resources available.

Ø  Season wise assessment: Season-wise mapping the crop wise & village wise agri zones and the likely area productivity and the total yield. This data can be updated by the revenue authorities (through RTC data) in consultation with the agriculture, horticulture and agri -marketing departments. Based on the state level and national level intelligence the farmers should be advised on the crops to be considered for production.

Ø  Variation assessment: With the help universities, ICAR institutes, experts and agri startups the authorities have to be advised on the likely factors which will be affecting the productivity like disease, environmental factors, etc. for each season. The collection of data can be made real time with the available software and hardware of the agri startups. A prediction model has to be put in place for predicting the likely yields and to take corrective measures.

Ø  Gap assessment: This will be most important aspect to be taken up after the above factors. After mapping the present resource and likely effect on the income of the farmers, a gap analysis has to be done in terms of the infrastructure either to help the farmers to achieve the threshold productivity and the likely infrastructure required to market and process the product thus produced. After understanding the gaps either in terms of basic infrastructure, marketing infrastructure, processing infrastructure etc. government could setup the infrastructure or incentivize the private sector to develop the infrastructure.

Ø  Resource allocation for bridging the gap:  The government budget should be allocated to the bridge the gaps and thus help the best return of the investment for the government budget allocation.

Ø  Minimum Production returns: The farmers’ production activity should be considered a social activity taken up for the benefit of the society thus a minimum production fee has to be given to the farmers in case of the price drop due to the market vagaries or due to vagaries of the weather.  

Ø  Development Cooperative structure or FPOs: To increase the farmers’ capabilities and negotiating power the Government has to stay invested in the FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) or cooperative structures. Despite of the many failures there is no alternative to this as any other alternative may not be inclusive. The following problems of the FPOs should be addressed through the course of time:

1)     Lack of expertise and lack of resources to hire expertise.

2)     Lack of product specific focus and long-term vision and thus no quality and quantity-based planning.

3)     Lack of Marketing and supply chain infrastructure nor Government support for larger out reach

4)     Lack of priority-based procurement by Government from FPOs

5)     Attrition of skilled work force

6)     Lack of financial strength or credit worthiness for establishing large infrastructure for processing and manufacturing

7)     Land conversion laws restrain the commercial activity in agriculture lands

8)     Lack of Government laws to minimize the land related issues

9)     Internal Politics among board of directors

10)Feudalistic mind set of village level politics decreases the inclusiveness

The above planning has to be made available for the disaster management team to address the immediate problems of the farmer. For example: during the present crisis if the district authorities had the list of the processors and their capacities, they could have directed the farmers to take their produce directly to the processors and allowed the processors to procure at a threshold price. Further, essential supplies could have been allowed to the regulated markets and also allowed the last mile retailers and wholesalers to procure. The rest of the produce could have been moved towards storage and released based on the requirement and expiry. However, no such resource map was available to the decision makers and thus leaving the authorities to scamper for helping the farmers.

The Covid 19 exam is still not over and the Agriculture paper is going to be re- presented, with a whole new set of low shelf products coming to harvest, the next test will be tough and the failure in the up coming test will be unforgiving for all the stakeholders including the government.     

    

Anubhava to Bhava

12^th Century of Karnataka were surreal times, the most successful Rulers of those time Chalukyas of Kalyana had gone down but were not completely out but their absence from the main stage had created space for their Commander in Chief to take over as the King. This has been described by historians as the Kalachuri Interregnum and the King who ruled during this interregnum was Bijjala. Interregnums are times of confusion; the King and the ruling class are always confused and are looking for any opportunity to establish their authority through any of kind of support and legitimization. Amidst this chaos rose a positive force which was encouraged by the king himself as it seemed the right and the popular thing to do. Basaveshwara – Basavanna - The Basava – the bulwark of the social and spiritual revolution was that positive force which gravitated all positive forces of those days under one roof and created an institution which was live and alive in functioning.

Basaveshwara was the Treasurer and then the Prime Minister of the interregnum. He used his stature for positive reinforcements all the goods of society which existed then.  The institution that The Basava created was the Anubhava Mantapa – the House of Experiences. Anubhava Mantapa was the water shed of all the positive forces of those days and flagbearer of all the knowledge which had no language barrier, no caste barrier, no religion barrier and no gender barrier. It was pure and it was experiential. The experience that the Sharanas had were written down for futures to come as Vachanas. When watershed reached its threshold, the bulwark of this institution – The Basava moved ahead of the times he lived in – he caused a sudden revolution – The Kalyana Kranti. The ruling class and the challenged class were threatened by this sudden upsurge, the King was ill advised that Basavanna was becoming a political force who will challenge him. When the ruling class is threatened they do what’s obvious, they use their weapon of power even on the positive forces around them…. Kalyana Kranti turned in to Chaoas …. Anubhava Mantapa and The Basava were attacked and the institution …  the Sharanas and their Vachanas got lost in this chaos … The King – Bijjala Deva was killed … the name used for legitimization of his killing was that of The Basava – but it was obvious for a political observer to understand that killing was for Political Gain and The Basava had nothing to do with Politics.

Kalyana – the capital of those days may have descended to chaos and utter confusion but the river of positive energy that Basava created through Anubhava Mantapa never vanished. Philosophers such as Plato have always conceptualized a perfect Society and the rule in that society was that of a Philosopher King. Basava did what all the philosophers of the world couldn’t do at that time – to actual develop a society which was based on a firm yet positive philosophy where artificial and selfish divisions weren’t allowed.  He developed a society based on social and spiritual justice. The ruler who delivered this Justice was the Philosopher King which the Anubhava Mantapa recognized as Shoonya Simhasana – The Throne belonged to that man/ woman who had achieved nothingness or spiritual absoluteness. The only Philosopher King that the Anubhava Mantapa could experience was Allama Prabhu and the force behind the throne was Basava who stood as a Bulwark for its social existence.

The house of Experiences was the house of feminism, social equality, unbound spiritual enlightenment which had no entitlements. It was a spiritual movement which had Shiva at its Heart and the tenets of Veershaivism as its core path. The concept of Shiva became a loved concept as Shiva was one among the trinity, the deity of death, deity of complete nothingness, the feminist who gave half of his self to his better half, the god who lived in cremation grounds unbound by the rules of society, the deity of all creeds who knows no threads of entitlements, the rebel of the untruth and the destroyer of the evil, the warrior who image inspires even the dead, the ever forgiving divine, the fountain head whose dance moves the cosmos – Shiva, The Shankara – The lord of all positivity in the cosmos. The idea of Shiva had always existed but Anubhava Mantapa made the concept of abstract Shiva a personal philosophy for each human through the Ishta Linga … it broke the barrier of the large temples which were the chosen places of worship and made the idea of Shiva more important that the methods and physical form of worship. It makes human (Manushya) to attain Godliness (Mahesha), the path from Manushya to Mahesha is the path of continuous empowerment enabled by a guru. This path doesn’t require being averse from reality or regular family life. It’s a path which takes everybody towards spiritual enlightenment.

The ideas of Anubhava Mantapa weren’t new even for those days. Those ideas existed amongst best in what is called Hindutva of today – or general way of life of those days, the ideas followed were majorly from Veerashaivism – a philosophy of Hinduism which kept Shiva at its center and the Guru and Shishya parmapara as the method of learning – which was crudified as Lingayatta (The bestowing of ishta/ personal Linga/ philosophy of god by the Guru). However, the Anubhava Mantapa made these ideas the center of its philosophy and broke the barriers of caste/ gender entitlements to gain through these philosophies. People from so called untouchable communities sat as equals in Anubhava Mantapa and were celebrated for their stature and enlightenment. The stature of women was first time seen in the same light as any men. The records of the discussion between Akka Mahadevi and Allama Prabhu is probably the best feminist literary classics which was far ahead of its times and is relevant for the future as well.

Basavanna is amongst the best social forces that the world has ever seen. He had a sense of Divinity is all his activities. He used his position and wealth to augment the positivity in the society. His work and the work which he enabled through the Sharanas of the Anubhava Mantapa would transcend thousands of years and inspire millions through the generations. He understood the core solution to break the caste barriers of the society was in marriage and his act of enabling a marriage between getting a lower caste boy to marry and higher caste girl became a triggering point for the King who had already been suspicious of the growing popularity of Basavanna. The solution that Basavanna took (i.e of inter caste marriages) may have been the most effective method of breaking the caste system but it was erroneous of not taking the King into confidence and taking measures against the caste hierarchies to protect the Anubhava Mantapa. The chaos which followed Kalyana Kranti sent the Sharanas and their vacahans in to hiding and their energy got scattered as they were being hunted down by the ruling class.

Despite the scattering of the vacahanas, the Shoona Smpadhane (collection of vachanas) activity taken up during the Vijayanagar empire period ensued that the knowledge was not completely lost. The ensuing movement of Veershaivism/ Lingayatism made sure that the philosophy of the Sharanas was promoted as a way of life through the Mutts (religious institutions) and being a movement, which was opposed to many regular ways of the lives, it was both defensive and aggressive in many fronts and it took a form of a caste under the Umbrella of Hindhuism instead being a living alternative philosophy under the Hinduism. Further, given the nature of humans some of the Lingayats and Veerashaivas took their professions and their forefather’s professions as more important for the society and started claiming superiority and thus leading to further segregation as sub castes. These are the ills of any Human groupings, we always find differences to segregate and form groups for our own immediate benefits. However, if the tradition of Anubhava Mantapa would have been alive through this course the number of selfish indulgences/ groupings would have been relatively controlled.

Cutting back to the present reality the - 21^st century, the Democratic era, these are days where political interregnums are more of a rule than an exception. The political ruling class often comes to power based on unsustainable means and thus are often in fear of being eliminated. When a Monarch such as Bijjala Deva tries to align with all the backward forces to legitimize his power in times of uncertainty, then we can’t expect broadmindedness from electoral Politics of the present day where every day is a day of uncertainty and each leader has a parochial base. In an unenlightened society, the politicians are narrow minded enough to interfere in the fabrics of the society and break the tranquility for their power needs. However, the socio/ religious leaders in the society are supposed to resist such interferences and hold the fabric of society together. But given the times we leave the socio/ religious leader such leaders of Mutts and such other institutions are bereft of the Philosophies that have transcended time.

Today there is a growing call for recognizing Lingyatism as separate religion. The fight is for a minority status and there are wild promises being spread amongst the people regarding the advantages of being declared a minority. The fight has become a ridiculous one with dictionaries and pictionaries taking the forefront of whether to declare this minority as a Lingayat or a Veerashaiva when there is no difference between either. However, what is being skipped is the question of How can an advanced way of life based on the very ideas of Hinduism or its way of life be declared a different religion? Shiva the core of Lingayat way of life is one among the trinity conceptualized in Hinduism. Would these new claimants for minority status claim for a Patent on Shiva or ask him to divorce his family and join this new madness for minority status? Would they claim a patent towards the path to Parashiva or Parambrahma? The Advaita, Vishistaadvaita and the Shakthi Vishistaadvaita may all make same claim because they all have the same path in spirit but described in different words….. It will be time to play the dictionary game all over again!

The Mandal brand of reservation has brought in a bad culture of easy division politics. The easy path of every political party is to augment some of the castes/ sects based groupings is to promise a reservation or elevation in their reservation by declaring them more backward. The Lingayats/ Veershaivas are relatively a large group of political significance and have achieved certain level of development due to their stress on education and educational institutions. However due to adoption of backward imagery politics by other caste groupings who are similar in status and size these have been declared backward and have taken up few more public offices due to the reservation both at Central and state level. Due to the Judicial Interference it has become difficult for better developed communities such as Lingayats to gain higher reservations thus a new trend has been ensued by few people of this community to find some unknown difference and bring them to fore and then seek Minority status. This is a new argument in minority politics and will not be the last one.

The Lingayats / Veershaivas can’t be blamed for such a parochial argument because other communities with similar politicking have achieved public offices through such arguments. However, the background of this new argument has been based on Election Politics which is aimed at splitting the Lingayat vote and thus benefitting from it. This is dangerous and condemnable by any standards of the politics. When this is done by the government in power, it’s becomes an anti-thesis for democracy itself. Fringe voices who are heads of unknown mutts have become forerunners in this argument and the government aided elements have created stages for this hate politics. Forums have been created to enhance and viralize the argument for minority status. The owners of educational institutions are going to benefit from minority status and they are standing as support for minority status. Unfortunately, this support also means supporting fringe elements of the community and castigating the nay Sayers. The critics for this movement are classified as Veershaiva or Hindutva people and branded as traditionalists who are not part of the community. The history itself is being re-written at the convenience of the so called propogandist of Minority status.

Politics for seeking more legitimate benefits for group of people is acceptable in democracy. However, this new brand of minority politics is an artificial demand for a minority which doesn’t exist. It will bring the fraternal relations that the Lingayat/ Veershaiva community has with the general Hindu Populace to a friction. The social confluence which is at the core of Lingayat movement will be first casualty to the minority status. Lingayat have similar tradition like of any Hindu community and their practices which require deep study and understanding. However, any ignorance or blatant laziness to understand their traditions is termed as Basava Tatva and this ignorance is being celebrated. There are Basavanna’s statues measuring in 100s of feets being built which is a dishonor for a man who abhorred blatant and blind statue worships. These are acts of people who don’t have any understanding and they are merely seeking popularity under the stature of Basavanna. The movement for minority status is popularizing such voices who are proponents of ignorance.  

A Lingayat has the freedom to seek every avenue for his/ her next level spiritual upliftment.  He can do what the Sharanas may not have promoted as long as it is a path towards spiritual upliftment. The Vachanas are a classic literature which if followed are paths to an enlightened person but these are not religious scriptures. If these vachanas, written by various sharanas are boxed as a religious scripture then it will be an anti-thesis to the individualistic spirit of the sharanas. Minority Status is being claimed based on the ideas of these vachanas which would be an artificial creation and blatant misuse of a poetic creation. To impose scriptures and rules where none exits, is nothing but an act to rob an individual of a Spiritual liberty which is the core of Veerashaivism and Hindutva

I’m a trying Hindu and a trying Lingayat and a trying human. I use ‘trying’ deliberately because although I’m born with these aspects as my immediate social associations, I feel these are qualifications which we should qualify in to. I as an individual have the liberty to choose my path of spiritual upliftment. My social identity can’t at the mercy of a loud group supported by a government which is looking for votes in the next election. My spiritual liberty can’t become a sacrificial lamb for the trivial benefit of a Minority status. The minority status on paper today will grow up to a big wall tomorrow and will sacrifice the social fraternal fabric of my country tomorrow.

The path from Anubhava (Experiential) to the Bhava (existential) needs can’t usurp my spiritual Identity.