Education to become a farmer

"India's economic growth is 8% this fiscal", " The IT industry is really the growth engine of our economy", "Manufacturing sector contributes to the bulk of employment and it will remain our priority", " We want to be the factory of the world". These are some of the common headlines apart from scams and bomb blasts (though I don't find the difference between the two seriously) one sees these days. When I go to a village and ask a farmer what is your son going to do, " My son will become an engineer. When he finishes +2, I will sell this land for his studies" is the reply. From his point of view it is the best way of life. According to them the logical conclusion of education is becoming an engineer or doctor and to earn more money.

But in the process everybody forgets the basic necessity of mankind. Food. I am proud to say that India is an agrarian economy. But India is slowly losing this tag. I see land conversion on around country side. Recently there was a protest in Ooty calling for setting up an IT Park in Nilgiris district. Won't you guys leave even that place. What are we going to do if all land is used up for manufacturing and service sector and nothing for agriculture? So here is a thought that I feel will take care of food security as well as ensure literacy and improve standard of living in the country side of India.

An agricultural university with practical curriculum and ample future. Today's agricultural universities mostly do research in genetic modification, biotech etc but never focus on practical issues faced by farmers. A two year degree course in agriculture for future farmers. Here is the curriculum. A course in fruit sciences and vegetable sciences. Another course in crop sciences. Then a course on soil sciences and geology. These are the basic courses that is needed by all. Apart from these a course on environmental sciences is important in today's context.

Other subjects that are important include irrigation methods. People don't understand and practice modern irrigation methods which is very important. A course on modern farming practices and machineries is also very important. A course on fertilizers would do a world of good to them. There maybe electives in horticulture farming, spice and plantation crops which can be chosen by the students according to the farmland they own. Last and most important, a course on marketing which is a necessity to any farmer. The last semester can be given as a project work that can be used to design new machines and mechanisms or farming methodologies from their learned concepts and past experiences. A stipend amount can be given to the student during the course completion phase.Though there are courses in some of these subjects, it is not for farmers. It is only for researchers, microbiologists and biotech engineers.

Instead of 'Vayalum Vaazhvum' and 'Kisaan ghar' programmes, if these programmes are introduced, It would reach the farmers better and as well as there is a higher probability of people retaining their agricultural lands for farming and lead to rural growth. Why do people come to city? In search of better opportunities and standard of living. If this could be brought to villages then the urban-rural divide will reduce as well as ensure food security and inclusive growth.

The story of the great Indian T2O game

The format is considered the shortest. The event is considered the most flamboyant of all. The brand is considered the costliest of all sporting events. It has achieved in recognizing cricketing talent. Not for India, but for outsiders. The tournament that gave recognition to the talent of Sohail Tanvir, Shaun Marsh, Albie Morkel etc, the tournament that brought back to form players like Dilshan, Kevin Pietersen, the tournament that gave a new lease of life to Gillie, Warnie, Haydos etc, failed miserably in finding local talent. One must remember that the 1st T20 World Cup was won before the advent of IPL.

So what has IPL done to Indian cricket? The already rich cricket board became richer. People from different regions got to see atleast one international level event being hosted by a city nearby for a month.

When Modi was given the task of starting a desi T20 league that could throw away the slowly establishing ICL, his main aim was reach and money and not cricket. So he went the same way as the most popular sporting league event in the world. The English Premier League(EPL). But one must understand that though EPL is the most popular league the national team has won only one World Cup in the long history. That doesn't matter to football fans. National level matches happen occasionally, either the World Cup or Qualifiers or the Euro Cup. Fans have seen loads of club football and are devoted to it much more than to national football. They've grown up enjoying these.

But that is not the case in cricket. For ages we have seen only national and international tournaments at that level and never club tournaments. Also had every team been under the respective state associations, cricket would have taken centre stage and not money. But Modiism isn't about that. Its about extravagance, glamour, money and entertainmant rather than cricket. In what was supposed to be the pitch that should be under spot light, the dugouts and parties became the centre piece and the cricketing part just an add-on but a necessary one. Money ruled the roost.

Also cricket has other aspects of it that needs to be looked into. For example, in the sub continent the pitches will be flat, dusty and the grounds rather small. So the kind of cricket that one plays here is different from the one that he plays Down Under or the Carribean. In a format that is already a batsman's heaven, flat and dusty pitches add more voes to the bowlers. They fail to bring out the best possible talent in the circuit as a batsman is not tested fully and a bowler is let down by the wicket. For example, the Chennai pitch for the CSK-RR match this season was a belter. More than 400 runs scored on a day may be good for entertainment but not for the sport. So there is no point complaining about the T20 debacle.

Including 4 foreign players in a team should be instrumental in mentoring the young players in the team. But from all the three editions of IPL it is clear that the foreign players have been largely responsible for a team's victory.

Case in point is M.Vijay. The day before he had a 400 run opening stand with Abhinav mukund in a Ranji league match. The next day he opened batting for India along with Sehwag against Australia and scored a brisk 40 and 33. This was in India. An year later he scored an audacious 127 against RR that followed another match winning 79 against RCB in IPL-3. But apart from the 48 against Afghanistan, he was struggling in all other matches in the carribean. Definitely his test performances show that he is of international material but he hasn't been exposed to international conditions. This is a very important element.

We have a flamboyant domestic extravaganza that has cricket as a part of it. We don't have proper domestic T20 league like KFC T20 league in Australia. Only when cricket takes centre stage, can we blame that inspite of IPL our players sucked.