In the news today, villagers gathered in Calcutta to rally and demand food, education, and jobs. In other related news today, India's agricultural sector is forecasted to hit an annual growth rate of 2.6% by the end of March. Keep in mind this percentage is down 3.8% from the previous year. However, service and communications industries in India are continuing to expand with a predicted 12.1% increase in activity. Interesting statistic: 70% of India's 1.1 million is engaged in agricultural production.
Consequences of a rapidly developing service and communications industry:
Last fall, thousands of farmers (25,000 registered at the end of the march) from central India marched over 200 miles for 26+ days to New Delhi to protest unfair loss of land. With the rapid development and industrialization in India, land has become a valuable commodity. The government in India needs the land in rural areas for development projects such as dams, steel mills, power plants, and economic zones. Development projects, such as these, place villagers in direct competition with the government for control over land that they have farmed for generations. When villagers lose their land, they are often relegated to areas where sustainable living is not an option. The other problem facing farmers in India: marketization of agriculture. This problem is best documented by the rash of farmer suicides (numbering in the thousands) in northern Karnataka.
I have to stop blogging now, this is just too bothersome. *Brought to you by BBC world news online segment: "Today's news in pictures"
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