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I don’t understand the hype over Amitabh and Aamir declaring themselves to be farmers. Incidentally, you have to be a ‘farmer’ if you wish to own agricultural land in India. My dad has made oodles of money by doing the the paperwork for converting lands to non-agricultural post-sale (mind numbing bureaucracy also makes a market, eh?) So it is important to understand here that you don’t actually have to till the land, mind the cows, and sing Mere Desh ki Dharti to be a farmer in India.
Like any other titles that you can get bestowed on you in India, it is fine as long as a measly paper says you are that. Just like you need a official death certificate to prove you are dead and you cannot cart in the dead body to prove your claim or a simple form that lets your community be ‘backward’ and lets your future generations slack off. So don’t blame the actors, I bet there are thousands of other corporate businessmen, rich baniyas, IT professional, or even full-time politicians who are ‘farmers’. Or they at least have a paper that says that they are and no one can be more truthful than a ‘official paper’, right? Blame the law that makes those huge loopholes through which we all can jump through.
by Patrix | on Saturday, June 9th, 2007 at 11:46 am | 
Governance, India, Law . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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June 10th, 2007 at 10:40 am reply
The new age ‘farmers’ or are they the new domain squatters?
Land conversions . . . . ahem!
June 10th, 2007 at 4:09 pm reply
Anil, trust me, all those qualification and land conversions are perfectly legal.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:43 pm reply
lets your future generations slack off
Isn’t it interesting how casually this statement entered an unrelated discussion.
June 11th, 2007 at 4:18 pm reply
Niket, not entirely unrelated. Doesn’t a mere certificate from the government deem someone ‘backward’ regardless of the fact that they might not have been even by traditional Indian society standards? Aren’t those who lobby for such a certificate looking for a free ride and hence hampering the chances of genuinely backward and disadvantaged people? All is related to the government doling out special status be it of a farmer or of a backward caste.