#WritingsOnTheWall
Writings on the Wall is a metaphor that emerged from travels across India and the neighbourhood, particularly, but not necessarily, during election campaigns. ‘Writings on the Wall’ because as you zip across the cities and the fast urbanising countryside, your eyes and ears wide open, it’s what is written on the walls, or echoes off them, that tells you what is changing, and what isn’t. The subcontinent bares its heart on its walls.
Two years back, Madhya Pradesh beat Punjab and Haryana to emerge the largest contributor of wheat procured in the country. From wheat, to soybean, to pulses, oil seeds, onion and garlic and of course that special crop, legal opium poppy, Madhya Pradesh has granaries and mandis overflowing with more produce.
The incumbent chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has led the state to this incredible miracle over 13 years, should be sitting pretty as he seeks his fourth term.
The questions we need to explore as we travel through Madhya Pradesh, with Kharif harvest completed and some Rabi sowing underway, are these. Why is farm distress, not boom, the abiding theme in this election? Why does the state now record among the largest number of farmers’ suicides? Why are farmers you meet so furious?
Why has a decade’s agricultural boom become a punishment?
Connect with ThePrint
» Subscribe to ThePrint : [ Ссылка ]
» Like us on Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
» Tweet us on Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
» Follow us on Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
» Find us on LinkedIn : [ Ссылка ]
