Saving the Farmer

When Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressed a gathering in New Delhi on August 12, he spelt out some harsh home truths. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare bluntly stated that India’s farmers were in no position to compete with their American counterparts, something that Donald Trump had in mind when he demanded that India open its agriculture sector to commodity exports from the US. As expected, India said no.

American farmers, Chouhan said, have vast landholdings that run into thousands of hectares. In con­trast, India’s farmers are mostly small and marginal with some having plots as small as half-acre. Then there is the issue of use of genetically modified seeds in American agriculture, some­thing that is yet to find acceptability in India. Together, these factors bestow economies of scale that Indian farm­ers cannot hope to match. Over and above this, the scale of crop and farm subsidisation in the US is huge. India’s farmers, perforce, have to be sheltered. No country can push its farmers on the path of extinction; India certainly cannot.

The three farm reform laws passed by Parliament in 2020 were a way out of this cul de sac. The option to sell produce to the private sector or in government-controlled market yards would not only have led to better price discovery but more importantly, give choice to farmers. Right now in key agricultural markets, monop­sony prevails and prices are politically determined, a situation that has distorted these markets badly. But a small section of farm­ers—mostly from Punjab—blocked these important reforms. Now the entire farming community, across In­dia, is being threatened by an external event: an American president who is ramming his wild ideas on the world.

The Narendra Modi government has held to its position with tenacity. But this is a lesson for all those involved in the farmers’ agitation: never pass an opportunity that can improve your lot. (By Siddharth Singh)

Newsmaker: Al Jazeera
Identity Crisis
The channel is making news in Gaza as much as breaking news

IN 1996, WHEN Al Jazeera was launched in Qatar, in a region not known for democracy or free press, it gained a reputation as a progressive voice. When Al Jazeera English went on air in 2006, among its line-up were shows of luminaries like David Frost and for the Western audience, it was a network that for the first time brought balanced information from the other side of the civilisational divide. It was even the first network from the region to give time and space to Israeli positions. Bahrain once banned Al Jazeera for being pro-Israel. When the Arab Spring happened, it was a powerful amplifier of those protesters who were demanding democracy.

And, yet, today, as news organisations and human rights groups across the world condemn the Israeli strike that killed five of its reporters in Gaza, Al Jazeera retains little of its credibility. It has been banned not just by Israel but even the Palestinian Authority. Israel terms the reporter it killed as an active soldier of Hamas and claims to have proof. Al Jazeera itself has faced ac­cusations of being pro-Hamas. It has also been accused of providing legitimacy to terrorists by giving them airtime. It defends itself as only doing a media organisation’s job, which is to cover all those who are making news. The channel has denied that the reporters killed were Hamas operatives.

Part of the reason for the change in how it is perceived is that even though on paper Al Jazeera is a private organisa­tion, the Qatari government owns most of it. As the coun­try pursues a foreign policy that plays all sides, Al Jazeera has had to follow a parallel path. (By Madhavankutty Pillai)

Noisemaker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
Cause and Effect

All politicians are sensitive to so-called ‘pork barrel’ projects or opportunities that can bring jobs and wealth to their constituents. They may also cater to the political sensibilities of their electorate. But Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s advocacy for Gaza that translates to a condemnation of Israel adds up to vote-bank politics at its crudest. The Israel ambassador’s questioning of Vadra has raised hackles but is to the point. Can Hamas accounts be taken at face value?

Ideas
Adaptability

Kodak, or the Eastman Kodak Company, the firm synonymous with cameras and photography and which was, in its heyday, one of the biggest firms of its era, told its investors recently that it might not survive much longer. In its earnings report, the firm warned that it doesn’t have “committed financing or available liquidity” to pay its roughly $500 million in upcoming debt obligations. “These conditions raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” Kodak said in its filing.

When that fall eventually comes, it is certain to become a fixture in B-school case studies about the failure of businesses to adapt to changing times.
It wasn’t as though Kodak was unaware of the digital future that lay ahead. The company that took photography to a mass market, invented the digital camera, and it was among the first to distribute pictures on CD-ROM disks.
Where it failed was in appreciating just how sweeping the new future was going to be. Wedded to the profits its existing business in film was generating, it adopted a wilful blindness to what was happening. By the time they came to realise what was happening, digital photography had already overtaken film, and all its competitors had far superior digital cameras. The market for cameras has seen even more disruption since, with mobile phones replacing the compact cameras of the previous era.

Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012, tried to get into other businesses in later years. But none of these steps have helped it turn its fortunes around.

Money Mantra
The Ascent Of Silver
Investors are eyeing the metal as an undervalued asset

JIM ROGERS, THE famous commodities trader, recently said that he had just bought more silver and would keep buying it because it was cheap. Silver has, in fact, jumped up in price in recent times, in the last one year by around 40 per cent. And yet, many investors still consider it cheap and there are a number of reasons for it. For one, when times are unsettling, as now with US President Donald Trump throwing all conventional economic stability to the wind, metals like gold and silver become harbours of safety. Here, an interesting equation comes into the picture. The two metals move in tandem and there is a historical silver-to-gold price ratio. When silver is overvalued, that ratio becomes low and vice-versa. It is right now at a high point, indicating that silver is undervalued.

There are other reasons too why silver is in vogue. The US dollar has been the traditional medium for other countries to park foreign reserves, but in the Trump era, they are shifting to gold, the other default option. But central banks are also mulling buying silver. Russia has already started doing it. Unlike gold, silver also has industrial uses, which means whenever there is a boom in the global economy, demand for silver rises. It is however a double-edged sword; in times of recession, demand can decrease.

Having silver as part of a diversified portfolio might be a sound investment strategy given the number of tailwinds propelling its price. Since holding it in physical form is neither advisable nor convenient, the best option is to go for an exchange traded fund whose units can be purchased from an online trading account. The value of these funds mirror the price of silver. They have the advantage of even small amounts being invested, and ease of buying and selling. (Photo: Madhavankutty Pillai)

Viral
Selfie Seeker Triggers Jaya Bachchan

There is perhaps no profession that trains an individual to be as comfortable in front of a camera as an actor. But shove a phone camera over their face, and watch the anger tip over. Celebrities usually just ignore poorly-behaved selfie seekers who take pictures without permission, but quite a few give an earful to offenders too. And there is perhaps no Indian celebrity who tolerates egregious behaviour as less than Jaya Bachchan, who is often seen reprimanding the paparazzi. An unassuming individual, perhaps unaware of her penchant for prickliness, tried to take a selfie with her recently without seeking permission. In the video of that moment which has since gone viral, Bachchan’s anger boiled over as she pushed the man forcefully and reprimanded him. The offender probably just wanted a photo to share with friends, but by inviting Bachchan’s rebuke, he ensured that the video would get shared a lot more than he had bargained for.

 

agriculture produceAl Jazeerafarmers’ agitationJaya BachchanMoney MantraPriyanka Gandhi VadraShivraj Singh Chouhanstock marketTrade Tariffs