Pretext: If to contemplate the list for Indian Civil Honor and Awards
(starting from Bharat Ratan to Padmsee to any other equivalent/parallel/indicative award -
see the complete list from here), it proves to be the source of motivation for individuals to prove their talent in their respective fields of work and expertise except for a FARMER. This seems like grading of the fate of a farmer is as jeopardized as of a woman, where on one hand society proclaim woman as a
"DEVI-Goddess" but on the other hand same declines her being as a human. And same goes on with farmer that one side we proclaim them as
"ANNDATA - God of grain" but same time decline their being as a human. After all when will a farmer be considered as human? Why such an important class is yet deprived of these national civil honors or was someone ever honored in dark? This case study is a try to douche the bucket of awards and its share to farmer community?
Reasons behind this study:
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To search out if and like others any separate category was made for agriculture to confer these awards.
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Was any of national leaders from agri community like Sir Ch. Chhoturam, Ch. Charan Singh, Tau Ch. Devilal, Ch. Nathuram Mirdha (these examples are symbolic, there can be many more such leaders) ever conferred with any of these awards?
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Was any; if yes then how many agriculturalists of root level directly from the fields?
Why such awards/rewards/appreciations are important:
- Appreciation and awards work as motivator of good behavior.
- It would generate feel of proud and motivation to do par excellent in agriculture.
- Recognition and award systems have always been dose for boosting up the moral spirit and sense of self-realization both for the beneficiary and its community.
- Appreciation and awards increase the competition of life thus betterment and quality thinking among farmers.
- It spreads the sense of real democracy and confidence of your efforts being patted.
Should have either been that farmer’s heart is the biggest of community classes or they would have tried to make it for them but there has been no body/system in nation to heed their excellence in anyway possible. Question is like as official awarding and recognition give the reasons behind necessity of being recognized and honored starting from an LKG class student to throughout age groups, professionals and sexes then wouldn’t farmers be having the same psychology and psychological needs and desires?
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Bharat Ratna Award  |
An introspection of current system of civil honor pertaning to a farmer: Lets envisage how these needs and desires of a farmer and its community were recognized by Indian Civil Honour System. Below is an introspection about the persons, who hailed from farming class, and might get any of these honors while patting their contribution:-
Bharat Ratan Awards:
- Detailed criteria list is still to find what is written in it for Agriculturalists to make them eligible for conferring on this honor.
- Till date out of 47 recipients of Bharat Ratan, there is no single personality while being stayed just a farmer of exceptional excellence in their ground root work, as is evident no criteria is made so far to recognize such famers.
Padam Vibhushan Award:
- 288 people have been awarded with this honor till recent.
- Only 4 persons under the category of “Science and Technology” Category are awarded till date. Out of these 4, two are foreigners; the other two Indians are Mr. Kurien, father of Indian White Revolution and M.S. Swaminathan for his contribution in Green Revolution as a scientist.
- So in this way no farmer direct from root fields have ever been conferred with this honor.
Padam Bhushan Award:
- As of January 2010, 1111 people have thus so far received this award.
- Numbers are just indicative in this category, hardly to point out a true root soil farmer ever got this award.
Recipients of Padam Shri Award:
- As of 2013, 2577 people have received this award.
- Number are just indicative in this category too, hardly to point out a true root soil farmer ever got this award.
Postmortem: Seeing the above figures analogically, it gives a pitiably mere representation of famers in these awards. Point is to mug up on whether the farming community has been narrow piece on talent or they are deprived to cradle others only? There have been so many popular farmer masihas like Sir Ch. Chhoturam, Ch. Charan Singh, Tau Ch. Devilal, Ch. Nathuram Mirdha, who not only protected the rights of farmers, dalits, laborers but hailed from direct roots of agriculture.
Similarly there are so many examples that being famers or hailing from farming background have done so extraordinarily that their single innovation or initiative has changed the lives of farmers tremendously. A few exemplary to name are Sh. Ramdhan Singh Hooda, Sh. Ishwar Singh Kundu, Sh. Mansukh Bhai, Sh. Raghav Gowda Ji, Late Dr. Surender Dalal and many more. If a separate criteria and category is defined for agriculture all of these examples deserve a minimum of Padma Shri upto Bharta Ratna.
When asked from public, they mutter, “You are right that no such award is construed for farmers, and the persons who raised the voice of farmers are forgotten. Whether it was the par excellence and execeptional work of Chaudhary Charan Singh for betterment of rural India livelihood or
Chaudhary Devilal, who raised the compensation of land that was given to farmers 30 times over what the previous governments were giving. You will be surprised that before it farmers in Delhi were paid less than rate of cloth for their lands
{Land compensation to too many villages in Delhi (Munirka, Sahapur Jat, Peera Garghi, Pitampura) was less than the rate of cloth i.e. even less than the rate of 1 meter cloth}. Such decision not only benefited the farmer community but other professions too. These are examples of work done by two farming stalwarts, if would count for Sir Chhoturam and Maharaj Mahendra Pratap, the first ever Nobel Prize Nominee, everything will fall short of justification.
Analogical Reasoning: Analogy has been the factor behind deciding various traits and practices in society. So should be for farming community and if one says that it is of no logic as it doesn’t require any kind of specific training or course because more than 99% farmers get it in their heritance and doesn’t require special efforts to specialize or show extra courage in learning or doing this extra-ordinary in this profession. Then on such response I would say that then why these honors are for a businessman, why for a singer/actor and why for an author, writer and philosopher or even for a politician? Because if one takes birth to a shopkeeper, it is understood and most probably that most of his/her childhood would spend sitting with his/her father in shops and in learning/observing the accounts and business, or if born to a priest/pandit chances are by default that he/she would become a writer or philosopher or if born to a Mirashi/Actor family then chances are by inheritance that he/she would inherit all skills and tactics of a singer/actor by birth?
- So what makes them so specific which don't imply by farming class?
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What make others so different that categories are made for conferring Bharat Ratan and Padam Shri Award on them but not on a farmer?
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When one just being an actor, musician, dramatist can receive or get recommended for these awards, then why can' a farmer?
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When a politician, socialist, bureaucrat, scientist, sportsman and/or any other so possible domain or field can be eligible for these awards then why not farming?
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Why no criterion written in any clause of constitution for recommending a farmer for these awards (our research going on to complete this point, by research made so far no such thing found)?
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If to design such a draft for farmers then with what parameters?
Debate: What people in argument say:-
Sr. |
Disregard |
Regard |
1 |
Agriculture falls under Science and Engineering category of three Padam Awards series. |
Then why “Trade and Industry, Medicines” have separate categories, these can also be included in “Science and Engineering”; after all more than 70% of these fields use science and engineering? Even under current system even if someone gets award from field of agriculture then it would be difficult to define if the award was given for his contribution directly in agri-fields or in engineering and technical contribution in segment of it. For example Sh. C. Subramaniam, nowhere mentioned that this award was conferred on him for his contribution in agri or as independent activist or being Minister of Agriculture. |
2 |
While some people are refusing to accept these awards, why are we asking for same? For example: S Janaki |
She has refused the “Padma Vibhushan” in seek of "Bharat Ratna" award and not for just shake of discarding it as no value to her. She seeks bigger than what she was nominated for. You may like to read it from here: Janaki rejects award says she deserves Bharat Ratna |
3 |
There are many names with pure agri background in these awards. |
When trawls the full list of these awards not even a single name from pure farming activity, making not even 1 % of awards to anyone from 65 % of national population. |
4 |
Do I care about such an award? Not at all.... |
Either you are the one who never got any kind of reward, award, degree or certification in life else if it would have been of no care and importance then why a full fledged system of awards and rewards is in place beginning from LKG school standard upto Bharat Ratna? |
5 |
The criteria for Bharat Ratna were changed in 2011. Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for these awards. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavor. |
Just mentioning of this line will ever change the fate of Farmer in this regard? Least to most we need to envisage the award nomination rules and categories for farmers in it and if nothing as of the date in place then we need to build it. |
6 |
Instead of focusing on these issues, we should put our children on the path of technical efficiency. |
It is almost impossible to put whole agri-generation in technological and corporate fields. Need of the hour is that we need to regularize agri on pattern of corporates. And if for one moment assume that all agrarians are transformed into technical studs then who will toil in the field to feed the nation? So we should have to enquire such practices which could make the agri class as reputed and recognized as any other. And their recognition in these awards is one option. So getting a category for farmers in these awards is the way to keep thei psychology healthy and striving. |
Now having mugged up the necessity, let’s have a glance on some of the most deserving candidates from agri community, who no way and in no mannerism are less than any awardees of these awards. Few examples from farming community, who deserve to be in list of these awards are:
From pure farming contribution (No way this list just freezes with these examples, there may many more and our counting goes on):
- Sh. Ramdhan Singh Hooda [Ref-5]
- Sh. Ishwar Singh Kundu [Ref-6]
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Sh. Mansukh Bhai [Ref-7]
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Sh. Raghav Gowda Ji [Ref-8]
- Late Dr. Surender Dalal, the flagbearer of highly acclaimed "Keetpathshala of Nidana" now spread and adopted across nationwide
From farming plus political cum ruler contribution (No way this list just freezes with these examples, there may many more and our counting goes on):
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Mursan Naresh Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, a brief about why he deserves "Bharat Ratna" is readable by clicking here
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Rai Bahadur Rahbar-e-Hind Sir Chhotu Ram,
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Shaheed-e-aazam Sardar Bhagat Singh
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Sir Malik Khijra Hayaat Tiwana
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Ex. P.M. Ch. Charan Singh,
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Ex. Deputy P.M. Tau Devilal Ji,
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Ch. Nathuram Mirdha Ji: till date stalwart known for his land reforms in Marwar
Conclusion and further scope of this case study: Though study is made on the basis of proper research and information available on various Indian Government websites and other e-resources but still there are scopes left for further work as follows:-
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An RTI should be filed to get the indetailed (if left any from or in what was found by us so far) list of nomination rules and conditions for each category of these awards for cross-verification.
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Awardees in category of “Padam Bushan” and “Padam Shri” need to be glanced again to find out exact number from farming community.
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On the basis of review of RTI documents, we should analyze that what is included (if included) for agri class and what further should be added or modified so that in addition to a better review and analysis an effective suggestion/recommendation could be presented and farmers should be directly categorized for these awards.
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Social Media should be awared about the importance of these awards for farming lobby.
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A list of all innovators and extra-ordinary doers from farming field should be made with proper records.
Additional facts which are essential to provide a suitable platform to farmer in organized way:
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Why there is no legal/official farmer/agrarian welfare cell in country?
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Farmers should be liberal in choice of selection of seeds for sowing, where as a continuous pressure for purchasing hybrid seeds is increasing day by day and several hurdles are put in their way to purchase seeds of foreign brands.
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Why around 3 lakhs of farmers have committed suicide in last one decade and no end yet?
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Government and many NGO’s are playing wistfully, one side they pretend to observe their duty through T. V. serials like Satymev Jayate on Pesticides and their ill effect on health and on other end they are narrowing farmers to purchase their own banned pesticides and chemicals for crops through middleman and other indirect means.
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Why average income of a North Indian farmer is just INR 3600 per month, which is even half less than than the standard labor in Haryana which is INR 8100 per month?
