Posts
(7th April 2013)
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE RAILWAY
MINISTER:
Respected
Sir,
I am
writing to you this letter with the simple solution to benefit the nation in
totality towards green abundance. The solution will benefit the Indian
Railways, majority of the landless farmers of our nation and the citizen with
fresh healthy greens (saag) throughout the nation and the nation’s economy.
To
understand the simple solution, first I wish to write about a farmer from Uttar
Pradesh, who provided me the insight to suggest such a reality that is simple,
effective and possible to make India proud.
THE CASE STUDY:
Farmer:
Ravindra Kumar Kewat
Village:
Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh
Farming:
On a patch of acres adjacent to Guru Teg Bahadur Station in Mumbai
Family Consists of:
Father:
Working in BMC, Mumbai
Mother:
Housewife / Farm Labourer
Brother:
Working in Merchant Navy
Self:
Full time farming, growing greens / vegetables since the last 13 years in
Mumbai.
Wife:
Housewife / Farm Labourer.
Daughter:
2 years young
Farm
Labourers: Four
Monthly
Salary of each Labourer: Rs. 3 to 4,000 /- Monthly + Meals two times daily.
Annual
Rental of the patch of land (1 acre): Rs. 9,000 /- (is given to the Railway
Employee, who has leased the land, as Railways don’t give the land to farmers
directly – the rental for Railway Employees is very-very less as compared to
what the farmers pay the employee who leases the land.)
Farming
is done 12 Months of the Year.
Mode of
Irrigation: Drainage along the Railway tracks.
Urea
& Fertilizer are used.
During
Summer & Winter: GREENS: Palak, Pui Saag, Hara aur Lal Maat, Chauli,
Raddish
During
Monsoon: Bhindi, Chauli
Yearly
income (after all expenses are taken care of) Rs. 1,00,000 /-
SIMPLE & EFFECTIVE:
When I
was living in Mumbai, I was always fascinated to see farmers from Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar farming in hot sun and monsoon all along the railway tracks, keeping
the area green and clean from local residents along the tracks, who defecate
early morning by farming on these tracks of land all along the railway lines. These farmers do wonders, to supply the daily greens at cheaper
rate for the citizen to benefit all along the local markets and local railways
stations.
Because
of these farmers, the foul stench of early morning defecation, in many stations
along the Western, Central and Harbour Lines have seen a drastic change since
the last couple of years, all thanks to the dedicated lot of farmers from UP
and Bihar.
I
interviewed farmer Ravindra Kumar Kewat on 15th March 2013 and the
startling revelation made me to write this open letter to you. Ravindra
revealed that near about 90 per cent of the farmers, who grow vegetables are
from UP and Bihar. Majority of them (near about 85 to 90 per cent) do farming
for 8 months and return to village during Mumbai monsoon season. However, 10 to
15 per cent cultivate greens and vegetables throughout the year.
When I
told him I will be writing about him and his hard work in my blog, Ravindra was
very happy and insisted that I should write for the whole nation to benefit
from such an endeavour. I assured him that was my sole aim in interviewing him.
He was candid and didn’t hesitate to narrate the dangers and problems faced by
farmers like him. He said, “We don’t get any security from the Railways. If
Railways provide us security, we can be more effective and can grow more and
more vegetables. Sometimes local goons from the nearby shanties and drunkards
create problems for us. Sometimes, the locals steal greens and on purpose
defecate in fields to create unwanted problems. We have to keep high level of
patience to see all these things happening on and off.”
Farmer Ravindra Kumar Kewat
When I
asked how Railways can help these farmers, he said, “There is no electricity
supply for us and there is no drinking water available. We have to fetch water
from far away. If electricity supply is provided, we can use it to run our
pumps to irrigate the vegetables and our investment will come down. Sometimes
some railways’ employees throw dirty oil in the drains, which makes us to fetch
water from far away to irrigate our land. If these problems are looked upon by
railways, we can grow more greens per acre.”
ONE OF THE LARGEST NETWORKS IN
THE WORLD:
As per
Wikipedia: It
is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 1,15,000 km
(71,000 miles) of track over a route of 65,000 km (40,000 miles)
and 7,500 stations and as per TOI report: India comes fifth with 62,658 km of
railroad after Canada and China.
Now
imagine the scale and magnitude at which, we, as the nation, with the help of
all the landless farmers can do, if all along the tracks greens and vegetables
are cultivated with the help of Indian Railways.
MULTIPLE
BENEFITS:
Indian
Railways will earn huge yearly revenues in billions by leasing the unutilised
track of lands to landless farmers directly (not through their employees).
The
landless farmers of the nation will get to earn their own by working on this
patch of lands, which in turn, will contribute in billions towards nation’s
earnings to simultaneously eradicate unemployment of landless farmers.
The
green abundance will make India as the nation to export greens and vegetables
to various countries to earn foreign exchange for the nation in billions.
The
green abundance will feed the nation’s billion plus population and there will
be no shortage of vegetables anywhere in India.
All
along the tracks, because of green fields, beautification of the whole area
will be an added feature of Indian Railways for the passengers to enjoy.
These
farmers will also save Indian Railways’ lands that are mostly grabbed by local
goons and politicians for vote banks.
The
nation will be an example for the whole world to replicate the model in their
respective countries to benefit their citizen and nation.
Yours
truly,
Johnny D
support 4
suicide farmers families
Dhantoli
Chowk
Wardha:
442001
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