Talking Shop: Lest I buy a tractor

“The objective toward which

deceit is directed is to capture

marketing and political power,

and use this power to keep the

common man in subjection.”

― Henry A. Wallace

The other day, I was watching an Opinion Piece on Social Media and was flabbergasted when the anchor said that while interest rates for farmers on tractor purchases are up to 23.26 per cent annually in the case of some banks, the same financial institutions provide ready car loans for people buying a high-end Mercedes Benz, BMW or Audi at around 8-9 per cent. Is this for real, I wondered and I dove into frenetic online research. I was amazed to find out that the anchor was spot-on—these are the going interest rates today from some banks for loans on humble tractors on the one hand, while swanky and luxury SUVs, even top-end sedans and hatchbacks are much leaner on the interest front.

When on farmers and the elite class, here’s an equally compelling statistic. While India’s leading banks have till recently written off loans of over Rs 140,000 crore given to our top Corporates, the same banks and their partner institutions have been quick to send collection agents to farmers’ homes, even when their loan amount is just Rs 10,000 or thereabouts. The agents are rude and aggressive, often threatening to attach the meagre belonging of the said farmers (that may or may not include the tractor bought at a 23.26-per cent annual rate of interest).

Be it our farmers, hapless villagers, the teeming Indian lower and middle classes, our hired help and the over 80 crore people who cannot fend for themselves anymore, it is almost as if they are being targeted intentionally. I shudder when I recall what happened to India’s lower classes when events like demonetization and the Coronavirus-induced lockdowns happened. While some perished walking on our roads and highways, others died of starvation, spurring millions to never return to metropolises in search of employment. But hang on, there’s more to this column, little of it inspiring news though.

Sinking industry sectors

Indian’s core and manufacturing sectors are facing tough times today, a grim reality that has seen the exit of a plethora of foreign giants from the country and scaling down of operations by dozens of Indian manufacturers themselves. Why am I talking of manufacturing operations in a column on the common man? It is simply because these exits and the slowdown in the industry space have seen crores of people getting unemployed, witless and financially-ruined. The few slivers of hope for livelihoods and earnings that were left after demonetization and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) have been smashed to smithereens by the slowdown in the economy, bringing the common man completely to his knees.

Let’s talk about small businesses, MSMEs, our kiraana (daily essentials and ration) shops and what happened to them just few years back—their businesses have been obliterated and the 50-100 people employed by millions of these small institutions are mostly twiddling their thumbs in their small towns and villages now. Some took the MNREGA way out and worked for minimum wages to keep home and hearth running. Others studied for competitive Government examinations like the Railways, the Indian Armed Forces, Public Sector Undertakings and the like.

Reality has now caught up with them too—years after clearing the exams, for which our youth flailed on train doors or travelled on the roof to reach examination halls which were sometimes a 100 km away, they are yet to receive official letters offering jobs and asking them to report for duty. I am all for a vibrant, effervescent and resurgent India. Yet, I am appalled by the mental miasma and nemesis maiming a cross-section of the good people left in our country.

Common man’s media

I am not learned enough or entitled to and will not cast aspersions on anyone, but what is happening with sections of our media industry today (especially on television) leaves my heart in despair. They have been misreporting on the most important of developments and activities, even shamelessly resorting to gross untruths just to remain the apple in their bosses’ eyes. In the process, the average Joe and Jane on Indian streets—the common people—are often quite clueless about what is really happening around them, and to them. Bad news is seldom shared, while repeated bombardment of ‘fake news’ has ensured that millions have been brainwashed over the last many years. Increasing instances of religious clashes throughout the nation are a startling and worrying development and even the Hon’ble Supreme Court has had to intervene, but the inane media barrage continues.

Another disturbing development in the week gone by is the ‘boycott’ of 14 media anchors by the latest coalition to hit our country’s political dais. We have always prided ourselves on being not just the world’s biggest democracy but also a socially and culturally sound, and a deeply united nation with a strong secular fabric. However, in the face of careful selection and often dramatic presentation by sections of our media, the rips are beginning to show. And it is the common man who scratches his head and wonders which way to turn, debilitated as he already is on many fronts—financial woes, joblessness, social ostracization, even deepening family rifts and widening chasms. The results are grim, with suicide and divorce rates at never-before highs.

Farmers’ stir and MSP

This is not a walk down memory lane—as the definition of history goes, these are relatively recent happenings, and their reverberations are still being felt and their backlash may be felt in the future too. Since we began the India’s commonest man, the farmer, let’s touch upon him some more. The agitation by our ‘annadaataas’ (food providers) was finally put to rest after months and months of them standing at our Capital’s borders, with many of them perishing on the streets. Farmers were promised that a panel of experts would be appointed to look into the issue of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce and a resolution acceptable to all provided quickly. Nothing has happened; in fact, just last week, one Indian state announced the procurement of a breed of crop at prescribed MSP rates; hundreds of farmers hired tractor-trollies, loaded them up and rushed to ‘mandis’, only to be informed by the authorities that they had received no such intimation or directive.

Jose Ortega Y Gasset once said: “We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter makes no demands on himself...” I disagree with Gasset—the common man makes demands on himself all his life, but he lacks the connections and clout to make his efforts speak in terms of achievements and multi-faceted success.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal