By Japan K Pathak, Ahmedabad, 8 May 2012

On last Sunday, I was in north Gujarat’s interior village. jotting down some observations.

During informal talks with some common villagers, I was curious to know about their political stands. The villagers were pro-BJP(couldn’t find a pro-Congress one during this visit).

An old man associated with farming said, “dadagiri of Darbars ended during BJP rule. Earlier in the time of Congress, we couldn’t dare to complain against dadagiri of Darbars, or against intrusion of Rabaris. Police would not listen to us, as per the dictation given to them by ruling Congress men. But now the situation has changed. Lawlessness has ended. Our crops are safer. Incidents of dadagiri happen rarely. The Police listen to our complains in impartial manner.

Another farmer said that he and other farmers of this village received great benefits due to Narmada sub canal during the BJP govt. They said Narmada sub canal water has come to them as blessings of God. “We need to pay some charge for using the Narmada water for irrigation in accordance with the size of our land. Thanks to Narmada water, we grow various crops across the year. Earlier our agricultural activities were limited to few months of monsoon season. During rest of the time, we had to rely on underground water and we were very much dependent on the govt supplied power.The situation has changed now.”

The farmers also talked in detail about their experience with BT cotton. They said the desi cotton variety would take four months to give results, but BT variety takes only two months, and the crop is ready. Then on the same plant, another yield will be achieved in next two months.

Farmers said they were very happy with (in this case)Rajnikantbhai Patel local MLA of BJP(Chanasma). They said Rajnikantbhai would visit the village once in a month and would do any genuine work of public cause in his capacity.

While meeting some more local people, it could be concluded that in Narmada command area and in BT cotton belt, farmers are more or less happy with the state government. Of course the works of local candidates would also play role.

I inquired whether farmers know who messed up the cotton market in last two years by imposing export ban, and was amazed to know, that the farmers had in-depth knowledge on how the central government started putting ban on the export, and how the Congress led centre imposed registration process over cotton export.

On a flip side

-The farmers in Narmada command area now increasingly rely on Narmada water. Such attitude has made them little careless and lazy about local water conservation efforts. They must understand that continuous local water conservation efforts are important, because Narmada water supply is not guaranteed for infinite period.

-The farmers are yet not adopting drip irrigation on a large scale in this sample area of my visit. It seems the govt needs to force them to use drip irrigation. They are careless about adoption of drip irrigation or new farming techniques. They are satisfied with whatever techniques they are using.

-Something has to be done to prevent precious fresh water of north Gujarat going in to the little rann of Kutch. The govt in partnership of NGOs and people successfully did similar job in coastal Saurashtra, now there should be north Gujarat’s turn. Local water bodies of north Gujarat should be developed and linked in a way that maximum amount of water stay intact on surface before reaching the Rann of Kutch area.

Shree Bruhad Gujarat Sanskrit Parishad premises to be renovated

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