Skip to content Skip to navigation

Seeds of penury

By Rituparna Goswami Pande |
After the raging havoc unleashed by the fury of floods Assam now runs the risk of drought that is looming large over the farming family due to the alleged anomalies in seed distribution. Man and Nature both are in their elements in Assam whether it is the raging rivers or the ravaging rebels everyone is targeting the Assamese people in the form of floods and ethnic killing sprees. After the floodwaters destroyed the Sali crop in some parts of the state the government resolved to help the farmer-community by distributing direct-seeded rice varieties like Luit and Lachit. This resolution came as a favourable opportunity for the flood hit farmers as these crops can be sown and harvested after a comparatively short span of hundred days. But according to reports it is now evident that this might prove to be a false promise to farmers as these seeds are in short supply and may not be helpful after all. The aim was to distribute such seeds to farmers in flood hit areas like Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Morigaon. The requirement was for 1,000 quintal of certified seeds whearas the Assam Seed Corporation would be able to supply only a meager 300 quintal of seeds due to the shortage of the same. Since floods are a recurrent ill in Assam the government and Agriculture Department should have forecasted such a situation. However in this seedless situation the farmers would have to tide over a period of low or zero productivity which would also have an impact on the Agricultural economy. The All Assam Field Management Committee last year’s post drought like situation has alleged that the State Agricultural Department has filed to compensate the farmers affected by the corruption in distribution of CRF paddy seeds. An inquiry has been demanded to look into the matter. If timely help is not provided to the farmers it may affect thousands of farm families which depend on their own produce as a means of sustenance. After braving floods and bullets they may have to continue their quest for survival with a new tormentor -- poverty.

Comments

jaay's picture

Submitted by jaay on Thu, 06/12/2007 - 03:24
So, what’s new? The sole aim of politicians or rather the administration is to show the lollypop to the child and the moment child looks the other way, he EATS it. And the class of people to which the LOLLYPOP is being offered, comes from lower and lower middle class, who can easily be distracted. Now, whom do you blame? Of course the people, because one they are keen for the false promises that being doled out, two they are poor and illiterate to really understand the game behind those games which our administration love to play. Awesome, you did your homework, nice article.

Pages

Add new comment

Random Stories

AASU reveals Clause VI panel report

11 Aug 2020 - 9:46pm | AT News
Guwahati: In a landmark act that rattles both Delhi and Dispur, the All Assam Students Union has put the Clause VI panel report in public domain which the Centre has not received yet. Apart from...

Power Grid engineer kidnapped

16 Feb 2013 - 10:20pm | AT News
Unidentified miscreants kidnapped an engineer of Power Grid Corporation from Baksa district on Saturday even as security forces are on rescue operation.  The engineer, Santhala Taidy Raju, was...

NRL Quiz held at Golaghat

3 Dec 2010 - 12:10am | Ritupallab Saikia
The highest ever price money inter-institutional quiz competition of country, the NRL QUIZ kicks off with its Golaghat Zone qualifying round which was held at District Library Golaghat. The NRL...

NEDA dumps APP

12 Aug 2017 - 11:45am | AT News Itanagar
A new political development is gradually going to change the entire scenario in Arunachal Pradesh since North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) have severed its alliance with Arunachal Peoples’ Party...

Other Contents by Author

Benazir Assasination

Strife torn Pakistan witnessed yet another blood bath when a suicide bomber detonated himself inches from Pakistan’s former Prime minister Benazir Bhutto after she was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaqat Bagh Park. A gunman also shot her on the neck and chest ensuring that Bhutto does not escape death for a second time. Bhutto had earlier escaped a bid on her life on October 18 at Karachi in which 140 people died. Leaders in Pakistan it seems are either doomed to have violent deaths or are banished from their native lands. Benazir’s father and former Prime minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto was hanged in this garrison town in 1979 after a military coup....

JBF (India) inaugurates Animal Relief Center

JBF (India), Guwahati Chapter inaugurated an Animal Relief Center for street and stray animals at Chandan Nagar, Survey, Beltola. The aim of the relief center is to provide medical help to the stray and street animals. However it also has a treatment cell where privately owned animals will also be treated and the donations received from owners will be used to run the Animal Relief Center.JBF (India) is an organization promoted by JBF(Scotland), a professionally managed organization working in the field of Animal Welfare since the year 2003. JBF (India) is a member of the Society of World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA). JBF (India) is also a recognized by the Animal Welfare Board...

Solving the 'ST' issue: Need of the hour

Star crossed Assam witnessed yet another assault last night when a powerful bomb planted on the tracks ripped off the luggage van of the Rajdhani Express killing five persons and injuring four others. The 2423 A Down Rajdhani Express was proceeding from Dibrugarh to Guwahati between Naojan and Chongajan railway stations in Golaghat district at about 1.06 am on the ill fated night of December 13.Though the police have not yet ascertained the identity of the militants however they claimed that Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) militants were presumed to be behind the blast.A Central team is coming to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the blast. It is alleged that the Home...

Muga incurs loss

Just as the future of Assam’s handloom dreams had found wings in the form of the GI status of the muga silk a sudden turn of events threatens to clip those wings in the bud as reports of heavy loss in the muga sector starts pouring in.This winter the muga farmers are staring into eyes of a financial crisis with the failure of the Central Silk Board’s (CSB) summer muga crop popularly known as the Bhadiya. Officially the loss is estimated to be of fifteen crores this year however the farmers and dealers claim it to be around fifty crores. The cause of this calamity has been stated as weather related.Assam produces three different varieties of Silk viz, Pat Muga, and Eri or Endi....

Keeping a tab on the Media

The role of the media in today’s society is two fold. It reports the goings on of our society as well as tries to reform its social evils. But there is a certain section of the electronic visual media which also attempts to kick off a controversy by exaggerating their reporting which ultimately leads to a public outcry followed by its repercussions.The recent furor created by the Beltola violence where Adivasi rallyists clashed with locals is a direct result of such a trend. Moreover, it also exposed the gaping ignorance of the national channels regarding the region that is termed the northeast.The media’s attempt to sensationalize the incident of the Beltola clash reached...

Violence revisits Assam

Violence has revisited Assam with a vengeance. After a comparatively peaceful period once again Assam bleeds. The unfortunate incident of group clash jolted Assam out of its reverie and has triggered a kind of a chain reaction of bandhs, blasts and increased the probability of ethnic clashes. Ethnic clashes were an alien occurrence in Assam till black Saturday dawned upon the people of Assam on the fateful day of November 24.An allegedly peaceful rally of Adivasi Students’ Association demanding the status of Scheduled Tribes status of the Adivasi community turned into a gory battleground for local residents of Beltola area of Guwahati and the rallyists. Hundreds of vehicles, shops and...

Assam tea gets GI status

Assam tea has reached new heights with the recent conferring of Geographical Indications label ,GI status to the Orthodox Assam tea. Orthodox tea is the second Assam product to bag the GI label after muga silk. The GI label is exclusive to only a handful of generically identifiable products such as Swiss watches, Czech crystals, champagne, Mysore sandalwood oil and Kancheepuram silk.There are certain requirements that the product has to fulfill before getting the GI status. The products should have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are special to that particular state or place of origin to qualify for the GI status.The GI status is going to be hugely...

The education business

“The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values,” a maxim which seems to have lost its true meaning in the rampant commercialization of education in our present day. Value education is an important rung in the ladder of education but sadly our schools and colleges fail to provide the same to our students. Today education has been taken over by the syllabus as education ends with the completion of the syllabus, a trend which in turn has given rise to a number of institutes and universities carrying forward the wheel of education in a mechanical sense.Imparting of knowledge has become a business to certain people who claim to provide various courses for...

Secret killings still a secret

Now I know you now I don’t that’s the secret game going on between the former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his estranged party members. After splits, expulsion, reunions, agreements disagreements the former AGP chief is once again surrounded in controversy as his reputation is once again tarnished by the indictment in the “secret killings” case. Constituted in 2005 the justice (Retd) KN Saikia Commission of Inquiry on Secret Killings carried out between the year 1998 and 2001 after studying 35 cases of the nature of secret killing in four phases, in its report held Mahanta the then chief minister as well as in charge of the home department responsible...

The tourism boom

The tourism sector of Assam is a boom waiting to happen. Picturesque landscape, cultural heritage, historical monuments and artifacts all are in abundance here albeit in various stages of neglect. A little effort on the part of the government and people can turn the state into a tourist hub. Many steps are in the pipeline to give the all important push to the fledging tourism industry of the state. One such project jointly funded by the state government and the Centre promises to give a new lease of lie to the neglected Ahom era monuments in Siva sagar district, a project which was initiated by Hemoprava Saikia the chairperson of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation. The budget of...