Page 55 - #letter to son

#SangamNiti NOONTIME PLEASANCE
were secure and liquid. They knew that my father could be depended
upon on a rainy day. Just like my Corporation Bank savings account, he
was the savings account of the village.

While business integration is fancy management jargon today, my
father practiced it with élan many decades ago. From a grain merchant
business, he forward integrated into linking supply with demand and
it was here that he became acutely aware of the pricing mismatch –
what the market intermediary was willing to pay was misaligned with
farm costs. In fact, the chasm was huge, which left the farmer with little
money in hand and little confidence in his backbreaking work.

Yet, the psyche of the Indian crofter and cultivator is such that he toiled
on. And to match his deficit, he often had to resort to borrowed money
that came affixed with high interest rates. So much so that these were
designed to perpetually enslave him in debt, to keep him indebted to
the local moneylender or the usurious financial system.

In a bid to wipe-off this desperate shortfalls just the way my ‘surplus’
helped peers meet their deficit, my father thought of something
ingenious. He started flour and oil mills with three-phase electricity
connection and diesel generator backup for ensuring continuous
operations. Through this value-added forward step, fellow villagers were
assured of a better price, while also securing their own ration needs. This
is perhaps the earliest instance of a comprehensive and sustainable agri-
ecosystem. It attracted customers from over several villages. With his
knowledge of the grassroots and a burning passion for people welfare,
the professor of entrepreneurship was noontime pleasance for not only
his village but also for several adjacent settlements.

When I look back on this today, I understand my father created this
ecosystem to also free his colleagues and comrades from the nasty
clutches of debt. And it was in this creation that he taught me the
invaluable lesson - that life cannot be fulfilled by debt. In fact, debt will
only throttle its peaceful existence. It will only subjugate the free. Yoke
them. And who is more free-spirited than the Indian farmer? Who can
dare break a bundle that is united at the core?

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