Reflections

In the previous articles on the farming scene in India, we saw the basics of farming, and a look at the economics of Paddy in a few states in India. In this article, I shall go deeper, and add another crop : Wheat, as usual with data. The assumptions remain the same as they were in the previous article on the subject, which can be found here :  INDIAN FARMERS : A LOOK AT ROUGH ESTIMATES OF PROFITS In the previous article, we looked at the returns from paddy; let me present another view from the same data set :  The chart above is average earning from Paddy crop calculated on C2 Cost Concept. The C2 Cost concept includes cost of seeds, fertilizers, manure, human labour including family and hired labour, animal labour, machine labour both hired and owned, insecticides, irrigation charges, interest on working capital, rental value of owned land, rent paid for leaded-in land, land revenue cess and taxes, depreciation and interest on fixed c...

Clean India : Swachhtaa Abhiyaan; at long last, we have a Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, a leader, interested in setting an example, becoming an exemplar to the people by focusing on all the right values : cleanliness, closeness to our culture {Yoga as an example}; he has faults – but let us praise where praise is manifestly due in all fairness. But, that does not mean that this attitude, while setting an exemplar, an example before us, will automatically solve our cleanliness issues, even without the systemic flaws I pointed out in my previous article on this issue: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Or Clean India - Does It Meet The Problem? As I wrote earler, do you really require the Prime Minister of your country to tell you keep your nation clean? Do you really require to be told to throw things in dustbins? Do you really require to be told to keep your city clean, not throw waste outside your home? Do you really need to be told to throw the waste inside the dustbin, not in i...

Harvard Business Review literature and studies stand at the pinnacle of management thought in the world – at least if you consider the popular realm. While there are many other institutions that are competing with Harvard in terms of Research, at least in India Harvard stands all alone in the popular imagination. This is clearly in evidence if you take a look at Indian Book Stores, which routinely sport its HBR series of books on management thought. This is the 2 nd HBR I am reviewing; and in this I will attempt a different style, anaylsing each article in short points, as well as underscoring the crying need for quality research in India… The saddest aspect of this review is that try as I might, I cannot find even one single book – easily accessible  - on Indian Management Thought from Indian Universities, attuned to Indian Realities and Examples, while book stalls are chock full of books from Foreign Universities loaded with theories and examples from an alien m...

This is the first part of an ongoing series on Agriculture - specifically Profits from Farming. This article is the first in the series, and first appeared here 3plus years ago. This series is targeted at the average Urban Indian, who does not know the status of farming as a business enterprise in India, and its problems. The numbers are calculated as per the methodology given below for all articles, and are to be used ONLY for comparative understanding; these are from authentic sources, but calculations of Profit or Loss are done be self. Stay connected as I go deeper into this. In the original source this series is into its 8th article INDIAN FARMERS : A LOOK AT PROFITS Most pink papers and white papers in mainstream media are usually habitual of carrying informed, and reasonably accurate articles and analyses on Agriculture Taxation, Cost of Power etc; a few also carry articles on the scenario of farming distress, usually focusing on suicides – an extreme step with a multi...