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The Panchakroshi has been a societal
attire of India since the time in memorial till almost
recently. However as on today the concept is only in
existence for a namesake. The Panchakroshi consisted
of a land area of around 256 sq. kms with a cluster
of around 5-10 nondescript villages. However, this non-descriptness
vanished as soon as the village was considered part
of a Panchakroshi. This was a unified area which was
ideally valid from every aspect of the society needs
such as social, financial and governmental administration.
The life in a Panchakroshi was almost always peaceful
and streamlined. The lifestyle had a personalized touch,
a sense of relationship with every part of the society,
agriculture, business, educational facilities, adherence
to cultural heritage, collection of revenue and the
relationships between villages in the community. Therefore
a Panchakroshi was very convenient from every point
of view. For a well organized and rich Panchakroshi,
there would be a race to win the hearts and for betrothals.
As the Governmental units changed shapes, the Panchakroshi
concept slowly went out of play. Although in the Taluka
and other governmental set-ups today, some of the facilities
seem to be improved than earlier, the agriculture system
of the Panchakroshi can still be called modern and beneficial. |
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In our State today, the
farmers’ suicide has become a terrible societal
problem. When we learn that thousands of farmers have
committed suicides, we hear only voices which ask for
calm with words such as “They (the farmers) should
not have resorted to suicide”…This is not
palatable for a common man. Although it is understood
that a decision to commit suicide is a mistake and should
have been avoided, the serious truth that so many farmers
nipped their lives by committing suicide cannot be negated.
With the huge number of such incidents, one cannot also
plead that this was their personal issue. This is because
the farmers are still committing suicides after being
aware that it is a criminal offence. Although the thinkpots
and the social leaders have all agreed that the reasons
for the suicides were mainly the terrible losses in
the agriculture and the resultant heavy loans with huge
interest rates, nobody has ever taken in to account
the root cause of their unbearable losses.
Under the circumstances, the reasons
for these terrible losses are varied from the quality
and quantum of the soil held by the farmer, the differences
in provision of water resources for the said soil, the
differences in capabilities in investments related to
the essentials such as seeds and fertilizers, total
absence of planning, the high handed behavior and total
control of the middlemen in the markets, misunderstandings
about the use of fertilizers, wrong methods of taking
the crops and a host of other lacunae in knowledge levels.
All these result in agricultural losses. The farmer
bearing such losses becomes penniless as also he loses
the social prestige earned by the family over generations.
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The Indian sub-continent has been famous basically
as an agricultural nation. When India was really based
on agriculture, the perennial agriculture had GODHAN
as one of the most important components. A backyard
filled with cows and siblings used to be the estates
for the owner. The cow family labour and the elements
like cow dung and cow urine were used as fertilizers.
These gave the farmers a green and fulfilling harvest.
The farmer was able to match the golden shades of
the harvest with the festivities.
The concept of GLODEN HARVEST came from this era
alone. The rich harvests made the farmers even richer.
They had an elite lifestyle. If the farmers were rich
the village became rich and famous. If the village
was rich the Panchakroshi automatically became rich
and famous.
Such rich Panchakroshis contributed heavily to the
revenue of the regional and countrywide governments.
The foreign trespassing and invasions on India were
only with the aim to make a loot of the richness embedded
here.
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However today the definition
of food grains is firmly related to the money associated
with it. The thought to earn from the food grains was
sidelined and what you acquire by the use of money is
food grain became the new definition. As we have conveniently
converted ourselves to the wrong thought of purchasing
food grains through money, we have turned away from
the important convention of harvesting agricultural
crops and neglected it completely. In the earlier generations
we had a concept of best is agriculture, medium is the
business and lower is the service. We have thrown that
concept out of gear. The service which provides stability
and safety became prime. Business went up from medium
to top ranking and the agriculture was thrown on the
third step of lowest importance. The best Service, best
business and lowest agriculture is the string of priorities
of the present generation. This is the reason why the
younger generation is running to the cities and towns
for searching a job somewhere. |
