MBETHA VILLAGE (SOUTH GUJARAT): Contrary to the rosy picture being painted of Gujarat, farmers in Narendra Modl’s home state are a discontented lot this election season.

Vast tracts of their lush green land –about 43000 hectares – have been marked out by the Gujarat government for acquisition for a Special Investment Region (SIR) that will soon see them setting up large scale industries and they are awaiting the results of the Lok Sabha elections underway with trepidation as they prepare to agitate to force the government to withdraw its notification.

Sapna Hitesh Patel, t he 30-year-old Sarpanch of the village, is not sure what ‘SIR’ is actually about. All she knows is that she and her fellow parish villagers are set to lose half of their lands to the government and she will not allow that to happen.

Under a new law farmers have to compulsorily give up fifty per cent of their fertile land for free and they have to pay a progressive and cumulative tax of 7.5 per cent on the remaining annually, making farming increasingly difficult and less and less profitable each year.

Amit Patel, an Englishspeaking farmer, who has a B.Com and a LLB degree, gave up his job in the city – paying Vast tracts of their lush green land –about 43000 hectares – have been marked out by the Gujarat government for acquisition for a Special Investment Region (SIR) that will soon see them setting up large scale industries and they are awaiting the results of the Lok Sabha elections underway with trepidation as they prepare to agitate to force the government to withdraw its notification. him Rs8 lakh annually – to take to farming his father’s land from which he should have earned a profit of Rs20 lakh annually, growing paddy and sugarcane . “But this progressive tax leaves me with just about Rs6-7 lakh annually. “I was better off with a job in the city. I have told my wife : we are educating our son but don’t expect him to return to the farm for a living. By the time he grows up, farms and farmers will become extinct in Gujarat.’’

 

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