Agent of change

In view of the current farmers’ protest, child activist Neil Binoy suggests some policy ideas to make farming a more attractive and rewarding occupation

A few days back, the visuals of teenage girls pulling the ploughs, were all over the internet and media. Being a teenager myself, the visuals still reverberate and haunt me.

The state of the children in a country portrays the state of the society they live in. It is important to address how national or international issues affect the lives of children and youth of a country. 

The new farm laws have stirred up hotbeds of controversy, bringing up various issues across the country. Laws meant to ‘improve’ farmers’ lives have ended up causing them to protest. Across the country, we see farmers marching to major cities to protest.

What has forced them to resort to such extreme measures? Well, here are some reasons:

• Many farmers fear that the removal of the APMCs will force them to sell their crops to corporates for prices far below.
• Agitations of farmers over the past few years, like rejected insurance claims, droughts, undervaluation of crops, and corruption, have piled up.
• The nerfing of the Minimum Support Price, so that the full MSP will not be paid was the final straw.

It is important for us to look at a farmer with the same dignity with which we see other profession such as law, teaching, etc. To bring this about, we need to educate our newer generations as well as the existing farmers.

I would like to propose three policy ideas for the government to make farming a more attractive, rewarding occupation.

• Farming and agricultural studies should be added to the school curriculum.
• Farming should be a compulsory subject at a primitive level. The younger generations must learn about agriculture properly since they are better equipped with technology. The combination of novel technology with older, more traditional methods could be effective.
• Awards should be instituted from the national level to school level.
• Like the mandatory solar panel system, a terrace garden should be made mandatory. If 10 square feet of ground is enough to produce a meal for one family, one terrace can be used to produce meals for a family throughout the year. This would inculcate a farming culture and will also the enhance food quality. In metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai and beyond, this could help reduce pollution and the effect of soaring heat.

As Booker T. Washington said, “No race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”

Finally, the book for the fortnight: It would be Barack Obama’s A Promised Land. Altogether, an excellently woven autobiography, detailing his life and trials in his journey as the President of America. It has a very friendly feel, as though he’s there, talking to us in person, and inspiring the reader that anyone could dream to become a global leader.

(The writer is a teenage activist and founder of Voice of Kids. He is also a winner of international prizes in creative writing and English Olympiad.)