(Image Courtesy: National Crimes Record Bureau)
Several
Indian MPs and journalists have once again proved right Lord Macaulay's
maxim--Half Knowledge is worse than ignorance. They did so by ranting over love
affairs and impotency, which figure in the list of non-agrarian causes of
farmers’ suicides.
These causes were mentioned by Agriculture
Minister Radha Mohan Singh while answering a question in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
The written reply also mentioned agrarian causes such as indebtedness, crop
failure, drought, etc.
Certain
TRP-obsessed Shrill TV channels and camera-friendly MPs chose to overlook or
underplay these factors. They could not digest the fact that farmers, as
members of society, can also be victims of impotency and failed love affairs.
They conveniently forgot that honour killings are outcome of unapproved love
affairs including extra-marital relationship.
What
they would find now nauseating is the fact these very causes of farmers
suicides have been mentioned several times in Parliament over the years without
inviting any tantrums. And they have been reported by media without any fuss!
Was
the parliamentary ruckus and media ridicule in the instant case driven by their
proclivity to run down Modi Government at the slightest pretext? Or was it another unintended tribute to Lord
T.B. Macaulay, 18th Century British administrator? He introduced English-medium
education and Indian Penal Code in the country.
The
Indian intelligentsia right from Prime Ministerial prospect Rahul Gandhi to
obscure social media activists deplored Modi Government's insensitivity towards
suicide committed by farmers.
Mr.
Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should advise his ministers to
visit villages to check the ground realty. The Samajwadi Party MP Naresh
Agarwal
reportedly demanded an apology from Mr. Singh for his “irresponsible” remarks.
Another leading MP KC Tyagi described the reply as insult to farmers. One
Nagendar Sharma tweeted: “Modi Govt breaking all record of absurdity:
agriculture ministry now blames love affairs, drugs & impotency for farmers
suicides.”
All
leading TV channels and dailies reported the furore in Rajya Sabha over Mr.
Singh's reply with shrill TV channels ridiculing the reply. One Channel quoted
an MP threatening to file a privilege motion against the Minister for giving a
wrong reply!
There
is in fact a case for filing a privilege motion in the deemed Citizens' court
against the intelligentsia for misleading the country time and again through
their half-knowledge, ignorance and distortion of facts.
“Love
affairs, barrenness/impotency” have figured in the long list of non-agrarian
factors in the answer to Parliament questions for several years! These two
factors that rattled Intelligentsia's conscience have been mentioned almost
verbatim in the reply to Parliament questions posed during NDA and UPA regimes.
‘Love affair’ and ‘impotency’ were mentioned in at least seven questions raised
during the tenure of UPA-II. And these two offending terms figured in the
answer to six questions posed during first year of Modi Government before the
seventh one triggered the storm.
All these years no one even squirmed over such
non-agrarian factors that the Ministry sourced from “Accidental Deaths & Suicides
in India” report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). In some replies,
they figure prominently in the open paragraph.
And
the most derisive aspect of the brouhaha over impotency and love affairs is
that they were reported by media in a sterile manner in August 2012.
The media
that carried news stories including Indian Express (http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/2.90-lakh-farmers-committed-suicide-during-19952011-govt/995981/), Economic
Times (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-08-31/news/33521331_1_agrarian-reasons-bankruptcy-or-sudden-change-change-in-economic-status) and Outlook
Magazine (http://www.outlookindia.com/news/printitem.aspx?773784).
The
news stories were developed from the reply given by UPA regime's Minister of
State for Agriculture Harish Rawat (presently Uttrakhand CM) in response to a
question dated 31 August 2012. (http://164.100.47.5/qsearch/QResult.aspx).
Did Mr. Gandhi snub Mr. Rawat for mentioning
two offending causes in his reply?
Parliament
questions in which impotency and love affairs figured in replies during the UPA
regime include: 1)Answer given by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in response
to a question numbered 147 and dated 16th August 2013. In the very first
paragraph of written reply, Mr. Pawar stated: “Number of suicides of farmers
since 1999, yearwise and Statewise, as compiled annually by National Crime
Records Bureau is at Annexure I. Causes of suicides include family problems,
illness, drug abuse/addiction, unemployment, property dispute, bankruptcy or
sudden change in economic status, poverty, professional/career problem, love
affair, barrenness/impotency,
cancellation/non-settlement of marriage, dowry dispute, fall in social reputation,
causes not known, etc.”
Ten
days prior to this, Mr. Pawar had given the same verbatim reply in the very
first sense of response to the question numbered 24 put in Lok Sabha on 6th
August 2013.
The
Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar stated the same non-agrarian
factors (including the offending ‘love affair’ and ‘impotency’) in the very
first paragraph of his reply to question numbered 2964 raised in Rajya Sabha on
21st February 2014.
It
is not only NCRB that has recorded non-agrarian factors as the additional
causes for farmers’ suicides. Expert
Committees and studies have delved into these issues.
Answering
a question numbered 483 in Rajya Sabha on 1st March 2013, Mr Anwar stated: “The
Expert Group on Agricultural Indebtedness pointed out, interalia, that suicide
is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, the risk factors can be either
neurobiological or socioeconomic and root cause is not indebtedness alone,
which is just a symptom.”
The
underlying message of this uncalled for ruckus is that all stakeholders of
shoot-and-scoot journalism should do
their home work before speaking.
