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By:

Akhilesh Sinha

25 June 2025 at 2:53:54 pm

Beyond the Waiver Reflex

As Tamil Nadu approaches a high-stakes election, its farm policy will test whether voters favour a blend of immediate relief and long-term reform over familiar short-term populism CM MK Stalin uses a handloom during an early morning outreach campaign ahead of the state Assembly elections in Ramanathapuram. Pic: PTI New Delhi: India’s farm policy is generally trapped in a loop. Each crisis, whether drought or flood has shown state governments usually reaching out for the same palliative...

Beyond the Waiver Reflex

As Tamil Nadu approaches a high-stakes election, its farm policy will test whether voters favour a blend of immediate relief and long-term reform over familiar short-term populism CM MK Stalin uses a handloom during an early morning outreach campaign ahead of the state Assembly elections in Ramanathapuram. Pic: PTI New Delhi: India’s farm policy is generally trapped in a loop. Each crisis, whether drought or flood has shown state governments usually reaching out for the same palliative instruments – be it loan waivers, raising procurement or subsidising inputs. However, these are measures that do not solve the problem, The underlying system of fragmented holdings, fickle markets and water stress remains brittle. What distinguishes Tamil Nadu’s recent approach in recent years - particularly under Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s tenure as Chief Minister - is not that it broke from this cycle, but that it tried to bend it. That matters all the more in a poll-bound state. As Tamil Nadu edges toward its next electoral test, farm policy is poised to become more than a ledger of promises. It is a referendum on whether voters reward immediate relief or longer-term repair - or, as this model suggests, a calibrated mix of both. Take the Rs. 12,110 crore crop loan waiver of 2021. The waiver came in the wake of the economic dislocation caused by COVID-19 and the destruction wrought by cyclones Cyclone Nivar and Cyclone Burevi. It functioned as a stabiliser during systemic shock. Crucially, it was paired with measures designed to reduce the likelihood of such distress recurring. Among the most consequential was the notification of the Cauvery delta as a Special Protected Agricultural Zone. Covering eight districts, the policy imposed restrictions on non-agricultural activities, effectively redrawing the boundary between industrial expansion and fertile land. In a country where urbanisation often consumes prime farmland, this was an explicit political choice: preservation over encroachment. Revival and Expansion Water management - Tamil Nadu’s perennial Achilles’ heel - was tackled through a blend of revival and expansion. The Kudimaramath scheme, rooted in traditional community-led tank restoration, was scaled up significantly, with thousands of works completed. Alongside this decentralised effort, the state pushed forward with the Athikadavu-Avinashi project, a large-scale attempt to divert surplus water from the Bhavani River to drought-prone regions. River-linking proposals and negotiated land acquisitions aimed to extend irrigation benefits further. The logic was that resilience begins with water security. Yet improving production is only half the battle. Farmers’ incomes depend less on what they grow than on what they earn. Here, too, Tamil Nadu attempted incremental correction. Procurement under price-support schemes was expanded beyond staples to include pulses and copra. The state set relatively generous support prices for paddy and sugarcane, seeking to inject a degree of predictability into an otherwise erratic market. Such measures cannot eliminate volatility, but they can soften its edges. Mitigating Ecological Risk Diversification has formed another layer of the strategy. India’s long-standing bias towards water-intensive monocropping has heightened ecological risk. Incentives were therefore introduced to promote millets and horticulture - crops better suited to changing climatic conditions. By integrating millets into the public distribution system in cities such as Chennai and Coimbatore, the state attempted something more ambitious: aligning production incentives with consumption patterns. It is a subtle but important shift. Lowering the cost of cultivation was another priority. Subsidised solar pump sets hinted at a convergence between agriculture and renewable energy, while assurances of continuous three-phase electricity addressed a mundane but critical constraint on farm productivity. These are not headline-grabbing reforms, but they shape the everyday economics of farming. Beyond the farm gate, attention turned to value addition. Plans for Mega Food Parks in districts such as Dindigul, Krishnagiri and Salem sought to integrate farmers into processing-led supply chains, reducing post-harvest losses and capturing greater value. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University released dozens of new crop varieties and hybrids, spanning cereals, pulses and horticulture. Such investments in research and development rarely yield immediate political dividends, but they underpin long-term productivity. Institutional reform, too, has been part of the picture. Proposals for a State Agricultural Commission suggest a move towards continuous policy calibration rather than episodic intervention. Efforts to strengthen Farmer Producer Organisations through financial support, federated structures and tax relief reflect an understanding that aggregation is essential in modern agricultural markets. The contrast with the broader Indian pattern is instructive. Agriculture is often treated as a sector requiring periodic rescue rather than systemic redesign. Tamil Nadu’s approach, imperfect and incomplete though it is, hints at a different framing: farming as an economic system that must be made more resilient, diversified and knowledge-driven. The emphasis shifts from producing more to earning better. Under subsequent administrations, including that of M. K. Stalin, improvements in irrigation and output have continued, though the translation into higher farm incomes remains uneven. Tamil Nadu does not offer a ready-made template for India. Its geography, politics and institutional capacity are distinct. But its experience illustrates that where political intent aligns short-term relief with long-term restructuring, the contours of a more stable agrarian system begin to emerge. Over to the voters now.

Evergreen Asha becomes immortal

Legendary singer Asha Bhosle dies at the age of 92 following chest pain

Mumbai: With the passing of Asha Bhosle, Indian music’s daring and rebellious diva – the country has not merely lost a singer, but a symbol of sound, emotions, reinvention of a voice that conveyed mischief, sensuality, passions that will haunt listeners for generations.


If Asha could sing a frolicking and timeless qawwali, “Nigahen milan ko jee chahta hai…” (Dil Hi To Hai – 1963), she could croon a velvety “Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko…” (Yaadon Ki Barat, 1973), or a lilting “Ankho se jo utri hai dil me…” (Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, 1963) to the rocking “Dum Maro Dum…” (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), with equal ease and poise, winning heartbeats all over.


Hailing from the illustrious Mangeshkar family, Asha’s musical journey was hardly a bed of roses. A favorite of her dad Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, she often faced the brunt of her own rebellious nature, was uncharitably compared with her sister, Lata Mangeshkar’s singing style.


Though she eloped with an aide, Ganpatrao Bhosle in 1949, at the age of 16 and married him, she did not abandon music but developed her own unique style - blessed with her husky, expressive, versatile and nasal timbred voice – to jostle for an identity among the legends like Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt and Mubarak Begum.


Creative Boost

Her persistence, with a creative boost from the masters Ghulam Mohammed, O. P. Nayyar and later R. D. Burman, paid off and hoisted her firmly on an equal but independent pedestal among the top female singers of that era.


“Asha Bhosle’s voice was refreshing and unique … I built my entire musical career on unconventional voices. I never asked Lata to sing for me as my music was also very different and her voice did not suit my composition styles,” Nayyar had once told this correspondent.


Under the batons of Nayyar, Burman father-son duo, and many other great composers, Asha blossomed and grew, singing silky melodies to powerful crescendos, pop, disco, rock, classical and adapting easily to diverse genres. Her repertoire spanned soft songs, romantic melodies, peppy cabarets to exhilarating qawwalis, soulful ghazals, divine bhajans and classical compositions. She crooned under the batons of masters like Ghulam Mohammed to young geniuses like A. R. Rahman and many more.


Groomed, guided by different ‘Gurus’, Asha radiated energy from “Piya Tu Ab To Aaja…”, “O Mere Sona Re Sona Re…”, captured the rebellious spirit of the 1970s generation with “Dum Maro Dum” (1971), “Ek Main Aur Ek Tu” (1975), musical depth in ghazals of “Umrao Jaan” (1981) that earned her a National Award with “In Ankhon Ki Masti Me…” and a bhajan “Tora Man Darpan Kehlaye…” (Kaajal – 1965) or the vivacious “Tanha, Tanha, Yahan Pe Jeena…” (Rangeela, 1995) and “Sun Sun Didi Tere Liye…” (Khoobsurat, 1980).


Musical Genius

In a chat with this correspondent, Lata Mangeshkar once grudgingly acknowledged Asha charting her own musical journey to emerge from the elder sister’s shadows. “In many ways, she is even better than me,” Lata laughed and said.


Bollywood composers said that Asha’s musical genius was understanding the mood of the song, the situation in the film and the final audiences, and make an effort not just to ‘sing’ the lyrics but ‘perform’ them, swinging and gliding silently from the sensuous to the sublime. Some examples: “Aiye Meherbaan…” (Howrah Bridge, 1958), “Aage Bhi, Jaane Na Tu…” (Waqt, 1965), “Jhumka Gira Re…” (Mera Saaya, 1966) , “Aao Huzur Tumko…” (Kismat, 1968), “Saiya Le Gayi Jiya…” (Ek Phool Do Maali – 1969), “Reshmi Ujala Hai…” (Sharmilee, 1971).


Besides Nayyar who gave Asha a strong foundation and Ravi who explored the heights and depths of her voice, her second husband R D Burman’s musical creations were the most iconic and redefine film music from the 1960-1980s. They offered a cocktail of Indian melodies, jazz, rock, Arabian and Latin influences, experimenting with the Indian listeners and laid the foundation of the future of Bollywood music.


“Piya Tu Ab To Aaja…”, “Parde Me Rehne Do…” “Rakkasa Mera Naam…”, “Sapna Mera Toot Gaya…” “Ye Ladka, Hai Allah, Kaisa Hai Deewana…”, “Jaane Jaan, Dhoondhta Fir Raha…”, et al, were some masterpieces.


Across Genres

After the music directors of the golden era faded or passed away, Asha seamlessly adapted to the contemporary generation of creators like Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit and A. R. Rahman, shattering myths about musical evolution across generational gaps. She continued delivering the same, and more, with her staggering range of songs across genres that left even the afficionados breathless.


Inspired by Elvis Presley and Bill Haley who influenced her pacy singing style, Asha set eyes on wooing the global audiences with experimentation, remixes and fusion, turning ears long before such collaborations became a rage. Asha joined hands with artists like Boy George, Stephen Lauscombe, Leslee Peter Lewis, Michael Stipe, and bands like Code Red, Cornershop, Kronos Quartet among other similar ventures.


Over seven decades of a crooning career for heroines or vamps, emotional and defiant, romantic and spiritual, traditions and rebellions, she notched over 12,000 songs and a Guinness World Record, top honours, awards and accolades, with her passion for singing equalling that of cooking to found her global chain of restaurants, “Asha’s”.


Despite Asha’s running feud with Lata, the duo showed none of it and sang scores of memorable numbers together. “Mere Mebooh Me Kya Nahin, Kya Nahin”, “Main Chali Main Chali, Dekho Pyar Ki Gali”, “Chaap Tilak Sab Cheeni Re, Tose Naina Milayke”, “Man Kyun Behka Re Behka, Aadhi Raat Ko”, plus more.


However, over the years, the two sisters buried old bitterness and rivalry, both professional and personal, and Asha paid glowing, tongue-in-cheek tributes to Lata after her demise at a public function graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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