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The Indian farmers are now rational, maximizers of utility and perfectly informed. How else will one explain the current stand taken by farmers of not selling their wheat crop to the government, of asking for a higher price and of willing to wait for a better price in the future.
They are acting in self-interest, aimed at maximizing their profits with the full knowledge of the market forces in operation. Why is anyone complaining then?
It is now up to the Government to act rationally, given the pulls and pushes of various stakeholders.
The growth of any industry can be ascribed to the productivity of its workers who are highly competent in the work at hand; the incompetence at the higher echelons does not seem to affect them and they produce results.
'Peter Principle' expounds that "at the base of the pyramidal structure of any hierarchy there exists a large workforce who, by virtue of their intelligence and education, is still functioning at levels where they are superior to their job or competent", before they are pushed up to higher, incompetent levels.
A look at India's growth throws up interesting observations. India is besotted with problems from many angles. From standing pretty low down on the world rankings of the global Corruption Perception Index, to infrastructure problems, to below par standards of literacy, sanitation, drinking water, increasing number of undernourished children and so on.
Yet no one can dispute the fact that India is growing and is considered to be an emerging superpower. What is it that keeps it going like a well-oiled machine without any serious breakdowns?
The primary sector, which comprises agriculture, is the backbone of the Indian economy. The workforce dependent on agriculture is now 60% with an average holding of about 3.5 acres, with a majority (64%) not having assured irrigation, with over 50% dependent on moneylenders, and to top it with public investment continuing to remain low, but managing to feed more than a billion population.
Agricultural growth has averaged around 2% for the major part of the last decade, thus threatening food security. It is now recognized that major interventions are in order to increase production and productivity in agriculture. However, what is not evidently seen is the industry of farmers, which has not slackened.
The farmers have worked, rather toiled, oblivious of the myriad problems that confront India-they are performing their jobs to their competence level and doing a good job at it! Whether prices rise or fall theirs is not to question why!
Have we ever heard of farmers going on strike? I wonder what would happen to our food supply if ever they did not perform their jobs. Their tasks are time bound and have to be carried out with exacting standards and precision. A small delay can unfurl untold damage.
Each farmer goes about doing his business, without a thought as to how 'others' are doing. Only Nature has the upper hand over them, when there is drought or floods. They are thus the 'competent managers', without whom the Indian economy will collapse.
The impact of agriculture on the other sectors of the economy is far reaching. A drop in agricultural performance leads to a reduction in the demand for trucks for transport, which in turn initially leads to a reduction in the freight rates and later to a fall in demand for new trucks, which will affect the transport industry and further on. This is in fact visible even today. The signs are evident.
Agriculture, though relegated to the background after an initial support, has now regained hopefully, its rightful place in the Indian economy as the driving force of growth-without whose growth the magical 9% overall growth rate may not be possible.
The author is a Civil Servant. The views expressed are personal