Page 10 - EducationWorld October 2020

Editorial

AGRICULTURE BILLS NEED CAREFUL SCRUTINY food processing businesses. The result
is that only 10 percent of the agricul-
ture produce of rural India is processed
he disruptive ruckus in the rajya licence-permit-quota raj in industry, cf. 65 percent in the US and 70 percent
Sabha on September 20 over the completely bypassed the country’s in Brazil.
Tpassage of three Bills whose ob- massive farm sector. Consequently, to According to the well-respected
jective is to liberalise, deregulate and this day farmers aren’t free to sell their economist Shankar Aiyar, agriculture
revitalise India’s moribund agriculture produce — especially horticulture pro- produce valued at Rs.92,000 crore
sector, was unwarranted and irrespon- duce — to purchasers of their choice. “perishes between farm gate and
sible. It’s incontrovertible that the farm With agriculture a state subject under market gate” (New Indian Express,
sector in which 60 percent of India’s the Constitution, most state govern- September 20). The outcome is huge
1.35 billion citizens are employed, but ments dominated by rural gentry, have differentials between farm gate and re-
which contributes only 16 percent of enacted legislation preventing farmers tail prices paid by the consumer, with
annual GDP, needs urgent reform. from selling or mortgaging their land middlemen and intermediaries the ma-
India’s rural citizens reap a per capita except to bona fide farmers, thus de- jor beneficiaries of 21st century India’s
income of a mere Rs.40,925 per year, pressing its price and enabling large primitive agriculture sector.
against the national average of Rs.1.35 farmers to consolidate their landhold- Therefore, these Bills which envi-
lakh. The objectives of the Farmers’ ings. sion a free market for farm produce,
Produce Trade and Commerce (Pro- Moreover, contract farming is and contract farming that will infuse
motion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, prohibited and horticulture produce new technologies into the rural sector,
the Farmers (Empowerment and Pro- (fruit and vegetables) has to be sold will ensure better farm gate prices. Yet
tection) Agreement on Price Assurance in daily auctions supervised by 2,477 it’s pertinent to note that the demand
and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and Es- Agriculture Price Marketing Commit- of the opposition parties is for refer-
sential Commodities (Amendment) Bill tees which are packed with kith and ring the Bills to all-party standing com-
passed by the Lok Sabha on September kin of rural politicians formed into mittees of Parliament for examination
17 and by the Rajya Sabha three days self-serving cartels. Simultaneously to and ironing out their wrinkles. Perhaps
later, are to undo this historical wrong. perpetuate distress sale of farm pro- not an unreasonable request for such
The plain truth is that the belated duce, state governments discourage a major reform, which the BJP/NDA
liberalisation and deregulation initia- establishment of private warehousing, government should accept subject to
tive of 1991 which substantially ended cold chains and growth of downstream time-bound deadlines.

CRIMINAL NEGLECT OF CHILD NURTURANCE four in India can expect to complete
A child who starts school at age
11.1 years of school by her 18th birth-
he 65-page national education by the academy and intelligentsia, has day. But her ‘learning-adjusted years
Policy (NEP) 2020, proclaimed been very heavy. Just how damaging of school’ which factors in actual
Ton July 29, has set ambitious is indicated by the Human Capital In- learning outcomes, is only 7.1 years —
goals. Yet with each passing day, dex (HCI) 2020 of the World Bank re- cf. 11.5 in the UK, 10.6 in the US and
there’s additional apprehension about leased on September 16. A human de- 9.3 in China. Moreover, on the param-
policy implementation capabilities velopment measurement innovation eter of harmonised test scores with
of the bureaucracy and red-tape en- introduced in 2018 by the bank, HCI 625 representing most advanced at-
snarled government machinery, to measures the quantum of productivity tainment and 300 the minimum, HCI
deliver its exciting promises. (on a scale of 1-100) a child born today 2020 awards India a modest 399. And
In particular, there’s rising concern in 174 countries can expect to attain perhaps the worst news is that 35 per-
about the capability of the Central and by age 18. Unsurprisingly, against the cent of children born in India today
state governments hamstrung by se- global average of 56, because of sub- will be stunted — because of child and
vere loss of tax revenue in the econ- optimal education and healthcare, a maternal malnutrition and lack of ac-
omy which is forecast to contract by child born in India will attain only 49 cess to healthcare facilities — and “at
5-14 percent in fiscal 2020-21, to dou- percent of her potential productivity risk of cognitive and physical limita-
ble their combined budgetary alloca- when she attains the age of 18. Against tions that can last a lifetime”.
tion for public education from the cur- this, the productivity potential of an Even as academia and intelligentsia
rent 3.1 percent of GDP to 6 percent as Australian child is 77, China 65, Brazil maintain the silence of lambs, NEP
promised by NEP 2020. Please note 55, UK 78 and US 70. 2020 forecasts the transformation
this promise has been made repeat- HCI 2020 provides several other of 21st century India into a “global
edly ever since the Kothari Commis- data points which measure the prog- knowledge superpower” and believes
sion first made this recommendation ress of nation states in nurturing their the new policy which multiplies gov-
in 1967. But it has never been fulfilled human capital. Predictably, contem- ernment control-and-command over
by any government at the Centre or in porary India whose leaders and com- education, will “instill among the (sic)
the states. pliant television anchors are given to learners a deep-rooted pride in being
The price of this brazen and con- boastful rhetoric relating to the coun- Indian”. Lofty rhetoric is not suffi-
tinuous neglect of public education by try’s huge achievements, fares miser- cient; it needs to be supplemented
government, and mute acquiescence ably under all parameters. with purposive action.

10 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2020