The Delhi story has repeated in Patna. To say that the BJP lost the Bihar election because it overplayed the same Delhi tactic would be rather oversimplifying a complex political process that set into motion before and after NaMo was swept to the office of India's Prime Minister. Before winning the 2014 Parliamentary election, the BJP and NaMo sold to the people the idea of "minimal government, maximum governance", transparency in government's business deals and accountability for ensuring "Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas."
But from the short fifth month in power, there have been distinct and clear signals from October 2014 that domestic governance was suffering, even as administration of foreign policy was moving in the top gear. Frankly, foreign policy achievements were so dazzling and impressive that the Modi administration was naturally induced into believing that domestic issues could wait. And that started taking its toll.
Disenchantment is not something that happens overnight; it's a process that takes a while to bloom.
In the 600,000 villages spread across the country, farmers got the first whiff of minimal government and maximum governance in October when they went for shopping urea for their Rabi crop. The cheap fertilizer that sells for anywhere from Rs 280 to Rs 320 for a 50 KG bag had disappeared and was being sold in black at Rs 450 a bag. The reason was simple: no urea was imported by the new government to bridge the demand-supply gap of 10 million tonnes. That was a double whammy, came as it did on top of a poor monsoon. Even as the poor farmers further suffered untimely rains from January to March 2015, the NaMo's government had nothing to offer, despite having promised in the election speeches of topping the cost of productions of agricultural produce with a 50 per cent margin. Let alone topping the costs, the Modi administration ordered state governments for withdrawing state bonuses on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed for the Rabi crops.
The momentum in bad governance continued. Even as reports flowed in about heavy damage caused to Rabi pulse crops like chana, masoor, matar and arhar by the untimely rains from January to March 2015, the NaMo administration kept sleeping on them. Even in normal years, India has been importing pulses for stabilizing domestic prices. But no attempts were made from April till September 2015 to assess the quantum of shortage, much less to bridge the demand-supply gap. Even when the decision on import was taken, it was for a minuscule quantity of 7,000 tonnes in two lots against the real shortage of as much as three million tonnes. So you have prices of dal skyrocketing to incredible level never heard or seen before.
Having failed to tame dal prices through raids and other coercive methods of the past, the NaMo administration has finally announced the MSP for Masoor and Chana that is not even half way to encourage farmers to shift from wheat to rabi pulses production. Please be clear that farmers prefer wheat to pulses because the former provides the fodder for their cattle as well, whereas pulses and oilseeds offer no such indirect benefits. Here comes simple economics: unless the prices of pulses and oilseeds are adequate enough to compensate for the loss of wheat fodder, farmers would not shift to their cultivation.
Agriculture is the prime example of policy paralysis that has crept into the Modi administration. And its misgovernance has caused the maximum damage to the BJP in Bihar which remains a poor agrarian state.
Bihar asks PM to keep his governance promise
By IndianMandarins - 2015-11-08 17:30:46
The Delhi story has repeated in Patna. To say that the BJP lost the Bihar election because it overplayed the same Delhi tactic would be rather oversimplifying a complex political process that set into motion before and after NaMo was swept to the office of India's Prime Minister. Before winning the 2014 Parliamentary election, the BJP and NaMo sold to the people the idea of "minimal government, maximum governance", transparency in government's business deals and accountability for ensuring "Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas."
But from the short fifth month in power, there have been distinct and clear signals from October 2014 that domestic governance was suffering, even as administration of foreign policy was moving in the top gear. Frankly, foreign policy achievements were so dazzling and impressive that the Modi administration was naturally induced into believing that domestic issues could wait. And that started taking its toll.
Disenchantment is not something that happens overnight; it's a process that takes a while to bloom.
In the 600,000 villages spread across the country, farmers got the first whiff of minimal government and maximum governance in October when they went for shopping urea for their Rabi crop. The cheap fertilizer that sells for anywhere from Rs 280 to Rs 320 for a 50 KG bag had disappeared and was being sold in black at Rs 450 a bag. The reason was simple: no urea was imported by the new government to bridge the demand-supply gap of 10 million tonnes. That was a double whammy, came as it did on top of a poor monsoon. Even as the poor farmers further suffered untimely rains from January to March 2015, the NaMo's government had nothing to offer, despite having promised in the election speeches of topping the cost of productions of agricultural produce with a 50 per cent margin. Let alone topping the costs, the Modi administration ordered state governments for withdrawing state bonuses on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed for the Rabi crops.
The momentum in bad governance continued. Even as reports flowed in about heavy damage caused to Rabi pulse crops like chana, masoor, matar and arhar by the untimely rains from January to March 2015, the NaMo administration kept sleeping on them. Even in normal years, India has been importing pulses for stabilizing domestic prices. But no attempts were made from April till September 2015 to assess the quantum of shortage, much less to bridge the demand-supply gap. Even when the decision on import was taken, it was for a minuscule quantity of 7,000 tonnes in two lots against the real shortage of as much as three million tonnes. So you have prices of dal skyrocketing to incredible level never heard or seen before.
Having failed to tame dal prices through raids and other coercive methods of the past, the NaMo administration has finally announced the MSP for Masoor and Chana that is not even half way to encourage farmers to shift from wheat to rabi pulses production. Please be clear that farmers prefer wheat to pulses because the former provides the fodder for their cattle as well, whereas pulses and oilseeds offer no such indirect benefits. Here comes simple economics: unless the prices of pulses and oilseeds are adequate enough to compensate for the loss of wheat fodder, farmers would not shift to their cultivation.
Agriculture is the prime example of policy paralysis that has crept into the Modi administration. And its misgovernance has caused the maximum damage to the BJP in Bihar which remains a poor agrarian state.
